Books

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My picks this week Vol.3

September 27, 2016September 27, 2016by Sheridan Johnson1 Comment

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Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming– this book was so cute because it rhymes while teaching the kiddos the alphabet. Great fun, letters, and graphics for the kids!
First words by Roger Priddy– This book is an english/spanish book and is SO fun! It’s great for a one year old, but is also great for my three year old to learn basic words in Spanish! I even learned a few new ones.
Nuts to you by Lois Ehlert–This book is so cute, and creative and tells a story about how this squirrel is looking for food and just wants to eat nuts. It’s all about his journey, high and low to find what he is looking for. Love the images and how well the blended in the squirrel so the child has “to find it”.
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly by Simms Taback–This book is SO FUN! And it’s a bit long for my 3 year old to understand how the story keeps going..and going.. but I loved it! It teaches her learning, how to use her memory, and how to follow along to the story!
Yellow by Sara Schuette –This book is about ALL things yellow.. and it’s so fun for color practicing and for identification of real life items that are yellow that are all around us!
Ocho Monitos by Steve Haskamp–This book is all spanish. I picked this one because Brielle knows this song by heart in English and I thought she would LOVE to read about this in Spanish.. and she did! So fun!

What are some of your favorite books that you have read lately? Would love to hear!

Book club, Book review, foster, learning

My picks

September 8, 2016by Sheridan Johnson8 Comments

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Every Thursday, since the kids have been in school, I drop off them off in the morning at Happy Hearts (Mother’s Day Out) and I head to the library with baby girl. I have loved doing this, because it gives me time to actually go through the books and select which books would be best (rather than letting a 1 year old little boy and a 3 yr old little girl choose their own).

The library is the best idea to getting out of a rut and watching the your children choose the same books, night after night, and not switching up their choices.

I love our little local library, because the people there know me (and my husband) and my kids by name and always asking how everything is going with us, and the kiddos. Story time at the library is especially fun with all the fun crafts, and activities they plan for the kids. They get to use their imagination, and also learn how to learn patience when listening to direction. I love it, and I wish they had it weekly (they only do story time about once a month, here)! You should definitely go check out your local library, and find some good reads!

This week, I wanted to incorporate some of Brielle’s favorite things (pink and cupcakes), and also little mans favorite things (eating, and animals) into the book choices, and I think I made a pretty good selection! I always try to get one bilingual book as well, because I think knowledge is power, and number two.. I could always help learning spanish!

Here are my picks for the week:

Pinkalicious by Victoria Kahn and Elizabeth Kahn- This story depicts a little girl, who is obsessed with all things PINK. But she could not listen to her parents with they were telling her that she could not eat any more pink cupcakes. Well, turns out she ended up pink. It’s an adorable read for young girls and shows the importance of listening to your parents.
The Gobble Gobble MOOO Tractor Book by Jez Alborough- This story is cute, because it incorporates a lot of animal sounds, plus a cute little story on how all the animals hop on a tractor and want to take it for a ride, but then the farmer finds out and they get caught.. cute story, very good pictures and colors!
Fancy Nancy by Jane O’ Connor- This story is about a little girl, who loves to pretend to be glamorous, and doesn’t understand why everyone else in her family is so plain. It wasn’t until her family decided to be dressed up and fancy with her, that she got to appreciate the effort they put in, but that they were more happy just the way they are.
Just Me and My Babysitter by Mercer Mayer- This story is cute, because it details all the things that you can do with a babysitter around, that your mom and dad wouldn’t particularly like you doing. He loves to just have a mess, and play with his sister, and it’s fun to let the kids read about.
10 little Fish (Pececitos) by Harriet Ziefert- This book is so cute and teaching the kids to count in english/spanish and the differences between the colors, and shapes of all the fish. Very Cute and love this read!
Bedtime for Button by Stewart and Layn Marlow- This is such a cute story about a little bear who was having trouble sleeping and his Dad told him a cute story about how when the little bear was born he would song a sweet lullaby to him every night and it would put him straight to sleep, with no worries in the world. It was so sweet and is definitely good for Brielle when she has nightmares at night.

Faith, grief, loss, Rochelle

A room without books

September 24, 2015September 24, 2015by Sheridan Johnson1 Comment

A room without books is like a body without a soul-Marcus Tullius Ciciero

If I have ever had a life changing experience in a book, it would be the one book by Author Angie Smith called I Will Carry You. This book is written from a mom, who finds out that she is pregnant with her fourth child and the baby is “incompatible with life”. Not only does this woman exemplify faith throughout the whole process from finding out her results, to the birth of the her baby girl, all the way to when her baby girl passed and beyond.

She describes the grief she feels and how she will always be coping with the grief, just in different stages. She provides prayers for us moms who have gone through what she has gone through, or are currently in the situation right now. She provides scriptures in the starting of each chapter from the Bible and one of my favorite ones from the book is “Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering in this:Your promise preserves my life.” Psalm 119:49-50

I wish I could say my life without reading would be the same, but honestly I feel so good when I truly take the time out of my busy life to sit down and read every night. There is something amazing that washes over me when I finish a good book that I can’t wait to tell everyone about! I think reading is knowledge, reading is learning, reading is powerful.

Books are amazing and I know today in this world everything is read through the kindle or through the phone, but take a step back and really savor holding that book, flipping the pages, and having to use a bookmark so that you don’t lose your page.

I LOVE good book recommendations about all walks of life and if you have a great one in mind, feel free to leave comments/suggestions!

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Book Review: The Lost Concerto

September 9, 2015September 12, 2015by Sheridan Johnson2 Comments

This image encapsulates this novel so well, with traveling being the core of the book.

Title: The Lost Concerto

Author: Helaine Mario

Chapters: 92

Pages: 430

This book was down-right amazing. I definitely had to re-start it when my toddler little girl was asleep, so I could fully focus on the story. This story starts off with a woman and her son trying to escape from what appears to be a very scary person. From then on, you on our your toes with every single story within each chapter.

There are three separate parts to this novel. Parts 1,2, and 3.

Part 1(Lost)

Where the author Helaine Mario, set the characters of the story up so well. The descriptions of each person involved, was unbelievable. I have no knowledge of music, yet the way the author made the connection from the music and lyrics to each of the main characters was astonishing.

Part 2 (Searching)

Where one of the main characters was convinced by a CIA agent to find out the truth of what happened to her friend and her friends son (her godson). This section went back and forth with what each character (the good and the bad ones) was feeling at different moments throughout one day. It seemed as if so much time was passing in this section between everyone, yet it all happened so quickly in a mere few days.

Part 3 (Found)

This was of course my favorite part of the novel. It had a long of big french words and locations that I had a little trouble pronouncing in my head, but that did not keep me one bit from understanding what was happening. This section was where all of the answers from the first two parts came about, and even when you thought you had all of it figured out, the ending was the most shocking of all.

I would definitely give this review 5 out of 5 stars, and I would highly recommend it! To purchase the book you may click here. I love the fact that this novel is such a great read for anyone, especially those of us who like to solve a good mystery! 🙂