Heading to the Beach: Guest Post on NTFFC

School’s out, vacation has begun and what better place to spend the hot summer days than at the beach. My July book review post on Allie‘s site No Time for Flashcards shares a few book about visiting the beach and exploring the water to help get your little ones ready for your next seaside visit. Pop over for a read. And if you have a beach book your kids enjoy I’d love to hear about it.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

Going on a Trip: Guest Post on NTFFC

With school coming to an end and the warmer, sunnier weather finally upon us, June tends to have our family on the road more. My June book review post on Allie‘s site No Time for Flashcards shares a few books about going on a trip, to help get your kids in the traveling frame of mind. Pop over for a read. And if you have a travel book your kids enjoy I’d love to hear about it.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

NTFFC Guest Post: Mo Willems

You may be familiar with Mo Willems‘ Pigeon books but what about Edwina or Elephant Gerald or even Cat Cat? These are characters in other books written and illustrated by Mo Willems. Mo Willems is one of our favourite author/illustrators so for my May book review post on Allie‘s site No Time for Flashcards I take a look as some his other books. The post is up if you want to hope over and take a read.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

Spring, Earth Day, and Gardening: Guest Post on NTFFC

Spring officially arrived at the end of March and now the weather is catching up too. This means we’ll be spending more time outside, getting the yard and garden ready for Earth Day and the summer. My April guest post on Allie’s fantastic site, No Time for Flashcards is about plants and gardens. So if you’re looking for some books to get your kids excited about the gardening season and developing an appreciation for plants, be sure to jump over. And if you have a garden or plant book you enjoy reading, please add it in the comments so others can enjoy it too.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

Days of the Week: Guest Post on NTFFC

Today is Saturday. On Saturday, the first Saturday of each month, I do a guest blog post on Allie’s fantastic site, No Time for Flashcards. This Saturday in March, we’re talking about the days of the week. So if you’re looking for some books to reinforce the different days, be sure to jump over. And if you have a day of the week book you enjoy reading, please add it in the comment so others can enjoy it too.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

Lauren Child books: Guest post at NTFFC

As everyone does their end of the year recap posts (yes, I did one too), I couldn’t help but think about all the great books we’ve read and reviewed and purchased over the year. For my January post on Allie’s site No Time for Flashcards, I share some of our favourite picture books from one of our favourite author/illustrators: Lauren Child.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

And so that was 2009

2010 is here and I’m excited but at the same time I can’t help but look back over the past year. I started this blog last Spring because I thought this would be a year of change and I wanted to record it. The year didn’t bring quite the change I was looking for but it did consist of a few (both big and little) important events.

We celebrated a few birthdays

My oldest daughter turned seven and I hosted my first kids birthday party. My middle child turned five and we surprised him (and everyone) with a trip to Disney World. My husband actually kept a secret and surprised me for my birthday (Disneyland‘s Haunted Mansion and I celebrated our 4oth birthday together). We even made a trip to Disney World just after my youngest turned three, but both her and her brother ended up sick (my oldest and I had to celebrate on our own)

We celebrated a few other milestones too

My seven-year old decided she wanted to two-wheel it and there was no going back. It was another summer of participating in the library’s Summer Reading Club, but this year we actually finished the program. My son started Beavers and my oldest daughter graduated into Brownies. My son is actually starting to read on his own. And we’ve been experiencing the ups and downs of potty training with my youngest.

I did a little writing (beyond just this blog)

Not only did I participate in Writer Digest‘s Poem-A-Day competition, writing a poem each day in April based on a prompt, I completed it. I’ve actually met a lot of amazing people through blogging and twitter, one is Tara Lazar. I started participating in her weekly post idea Write a Review Wednesday and have enjoyed sharing great children’s books each week (and have met some amazing book publishers in the process). I even participated in my first book blog tour with Tundra Books Medina Hill book launch. Along with my weekly book reviews, I started writing a monthly book review post on Allie‘s amazing site No Time for Flashcards (she’s an amazing lady online and I hope one day to meet her in person) as well as a book review post every second week on the blog Best Tools for Schools. As for fiction writing, I submitted two children’s picture book stories and started an outline for a middle grader story. I wrote an article for Today’s Parent magazine also (it appeared in their November Toy Issue) and they even sent a photographer to our house for a photo shoot to accompany the article.

There were even some personal gains

It was hard, but I came to terms with becoming a van mama. I discovered twitter which as a work from home mom can be a lifesaver. I joined Mom Central Canada as one of their Canadian mom bloggers and test panel members (I had the chance to meet Kathryn, the head Mom Central Canada lady which was pretty awesome too). I spoke with and eventually met Erica Ehm, Yummy Mummy Club founder. And through the Yummy Mummy Club I’ve actually had the chance to meet some other amazing ladies. I even learned how to deal with ignorant parents with the help of my son. I started an additional blog on Michelle‘s mom site Everything Mom.  Michelle also gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and offered me the position of Review Editor on Everything Mom, which I still enjoy doing. And of course I can’t forget about catering our Christmas dinner (okay, maybe that’s not a real gain, but I don’t regret it).

Yes 2009 has been eventful but now it’s time to move forward. And I have high expectations for 2010. I hope it can deliver.

Christmas Reading, my guest post at NTFFC

I can’t believe Christmas is just around the corner. We’ve been busy doing renovations downstairs. Not big renovations, but enough to prevent me from doing any holiday decorating. I usually have things up at the beginning of December so we can enjoy it as the days to Christmas count down.

All I can say is thank goodness for books. Even without Christmas decorations, at least we can get into the Christmas spirit reading a few holiday favourites. You can find a list of a few of our family favourites in my December guest post on Allie’s site No Time For Flashcards. This list is in no way complete (it’s hard to narrow down such a loved category). I’d love to hear what some of your Christmas favourites are.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

Bundle Up Books, guest post

Even though Fall has arrived my kids have a hard time letting go of their love of summer, their summer wardrobe and dressing habits specifically. Now that November has hit, the real cold has started to make its way here too. Like it or not, out come the mittens, hats and scarves, If your child is a little reluctant to put on the warm wear, then you might be interested in my November book post, Bundle Up Books, at No Time for Flash Cards.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.

Mad about Monsters, guest post

My children love stories about ghosts and zombies and things that go bump in the night. They like to read them and make up their own stories. This is especially true in October, with Halloween fast approaching. If you’re looking for some fun monster stories to share with your kids, visit my October post, Mad about Monsters, at No Time for Flash Cards.

You can find my book reviews every first Saturday of the month over on No Time for Flash Cards. I hope you’ll pop by and check out some great books to share with your kids.