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So Close, Yet So Far From The Pioneer Woman

November 1, 2009 By Mom Spark 16 Comments

UPDATE! Check out this video and article on the Pioneer Woman book signing event in OKC. I’m in the video towards the end taking a photo with my iPhone. (stalker) Coupon Princess is also mentioned in the article!

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Last Thursday evening, Coupon Princess and I headed out to the Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City to met the one and only Pioneer Woman, who was promoting and signing her first cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.

The ideal scenario went like this: show up at the bookstore, get into a somewhat long line, wait, get our cookbooks signed, get a pic with Ree, then hang out with Ree at the Pioneer Woman tweet-up that followed.  Doesn’t seem like too much to ask, right? Except, I forgot one thing.  Ree is, like, a rock star in Oklahoma.  Okay, she’s a rock star, period.  So, yeah, she has a LOT of fans. [Read more...]

Filed Under Amy, Blogging, Conferences & Events, Contributors, Reviews, Reviews & Recommendations Tagged With book signing, books, cookbooks, cooking, Food, OK, Oklahoma, Oklahoma blogger, Pioneer Woman, Professional Photography, reading, recipes, Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Story Time Extension: Make Reading Fun!!

May 12, 2009 By Wendy 3 Comments

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I love reading to my children. We find ourselves cuddled up in the chair reading books several times a day. If you have a favorite title, a great way to extend that book is to create an activity based on something that happened in the story.
Today I read The Gingerbread Man to Lani and my other child care children. To extend that story we baked our own gingerbread cookies. While baking the cookies we talked about the book. What were their favorite parts? Singing the silly song. Discussing if cookies could really run and talk.
Here are some pics from our morning!! (oh yes, I washed the table before rolling out the dough)

Like Lani’s apron? You can get it here!
Happy Reading….Wendy
Filed Under Arts and Crafts, Family Activities, Fun Tagged With Family, Family Activities, kids, reading

15 minutes a day

February 9, 2009 By Mom Spark 7 Comments
Ok, so I know I usually write about food. And more food. And still more food.

But I realize there is a little more to life than food.

:)

Something else I am very passionate about is literature. And sharing that love with my children.

We try to read together almost every day. Sometimes one book, sometimes ten. And I try to find children’s literature that both my children AND I (or my husband) can enjoy together. Something that won’t make mommy and daddy want to fall asleep in the middle of page two.

There are amazing classics out there, and incredible up-and-coming children’s lit authors yet to be discovered. You really don’t have to read about “Swiper-no-swiping” or the Disney Princess falling in love with the Disney Prince for an hour every night! There is hope. I promise. You might even be surprised at how quickly 15 minutes goes by when you are exploring The Garden of Abdul Gasazi for the first time, or getting Fancy with lessons from Nancy.

Reading often to your children inspires creativity, language and comprehensive development and it’s just seriously fun. Especially when you give the characters funny voices or accents, ask your children probing questions after the story about what they noticed or thought, and let your kids fill in the sight words they might be currently learning in school. It is typically recommended that parents read to their children just 15 minutes a day. Not so hard when even mom and dad are looking forward to it!

I find it is helpful to compile a list of titles or authors I want to introduce my kiddos to before I go into the library. This list usually comes from memories of books I loved as a kid, news of new authors I’ve seen around the web, or recommendations from friends and family.

Sometimes we find a book at the library we just fall in love with, and end up purchasing our own copy after the kids sadly return the original to the library. Amazon.com is an excellent resource for this.

Following is a small list of some of our most favourite authors and titles:


author of our favourites: Knuffle Bunny and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog

author of Strega Nona Books and a very fond memory from my childhood, Charlie needs a Cloak.

author of The Polar Express, Jumanji and many more amazing stories…
our personal favourites include The Garden of Abdul Gasazi and Two Bad Ants. His illustrations alone are incredible.


Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Series by Betty MacDonald

The Sneetches and Other Stories by the great Dr. Seuss

We really, REALLY love his stuff – this man is a genius. (for those with younger kiddos like we have – he does use the naughty “stupid” word *GASP* in some of his stories. sometimes we just replace it with “silly”.)
Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor:
shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but even my manly 5 year old son likes this book!
I read Little Critter books when I was five…and remember loving them!
The Giving Tree makes me cry every time. An incredible story of love and sacrifice.
His poetry is also hilarious and ingenious. So much to choose from – read them all!
And of course, for the little ones, Sandra Boynton is a fun choice.
I would really love to know your personal favourite reads, and am thinking we might compile them into a Part Two Post!
Enjoy reading together!
love,
chanelle

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Filed Under Family Activities, Fun Tagged With Family Activities, kids, reading