Happy March Friday Favorites: Massachusetts Children's Book Awards; Tops and Bottoms; and a Perfect Quote!

Welcome to March and Daylight Savings Time!  Today I'm delighted to link up with Andrea from  Momfessionals and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything for their weekly link-up:

Massachusetts Book Awards = Some Perfectly New Books to Check Out!

Even though I'm now retired, I still love children's picture books.  These are the winning and honor Massachusetts Book Award Winners from 2024:

Click on cover to read more at Amazon!

Picture Book / Early Reader Award

Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin and Kate Messner (Little, Brown Books For Young Readers)

Two great authors means ONE amazing book! This colorful and vibrant book underlines the importance of imagination and visualization when reading.

Picture Book / Early Reader Honors

Night Owl Night by Susan Edwards Richmond. Maribel Lechuga, illus. (Charlesbridge Publishing)

This is a beautiful book about science! The mom in the book is a scientist who studies owls, and her daughter (Sova)is finally old enough to come observe (this would be a great accompaniment to Owl Moon by Jane Yolen). Sova observes and learns about owls as well as how to keep owls safe.

Now that we're so entertained by the bald eagles, Jackie and Shadow, this would be an amazing opportunity to learn about owls!

Picture Book / Early Reader Honors

Mole Is Not Alone by Maya Tatsukawa (Henry Holt and Company)

Mole is going to a party, and he is nervous.  He's afraid he won't know anyone.  Also, he is shy.  This book sounds perfect for adults (like me) and kids!  This is a sweet story for kids of all ages!

Perfect Read-Aloud for Spring And/Or Plant Life Cycles:

One of my favorite read-alouds is Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens.

Tops and Bottoms is a beautifully illustrated book that teaches lessons about character and plants.  In the story, clever Hare tricks lazy Bear by offering him the parts of the plants that you can't eat ("So, what will it be, Bear?  The top half or the bottom half?  It's up to you - tops or bottoms?").  This is an all-around awesome and engaging book!

Some skills that could be covered include:  character comparison; summarizing or plants.

 I also found this free activity on TPT:

 Here's the direct link:  Click here or on the picture.

Perfect Quote From Weight Watchers

 

This quote is a great reminder for those days that are totally hectic and overwhelming:

I no longer go to Weight Watchers, but I know it's an effective program. . .

Have a wonderful week!

Friday Favorites: Wrapping Up February!

Happy last day of February!  Thanks for checking in as I link up with Erika from A Little Bit of Everything and Andrea from Momfessionals for:

It's Been A Year....

One year ago this week, my husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.  It's been a whirlwind of treatment, surgery, aftermath symptoms (hopefully, you don't know what this means), etc.  Amazingly, his latest CAT scan and blood work look good.  For the next several years, he will need follow-up testing every 3 months, but every day is a gift.  Here's a picture of Matt from - what he calls - the "before times."

Since diagnosis, he's lost over 40 pounds.  Due to his esophagectomy, his stomach has been greatly reduced and is located between his lungs.  It's all amazing that medicine is this advanced.

Do you need a unique personalized gift?

When we went to San Juan last year, we were so enchanted with the art in this store:  The Poet's Passage.  We bought 3 personalized casita doors and 2 prints.  Now my niece is engaged and has bought a house in Texas so I am ordering her a casita door, too!

I'm leaning toward this one, but I haven't made my final decision.  I just think they're so colorful and fun!

Cuticle Cream Worth Checking Out!

My hands, especially my cuticles are so dried out right now.  I've been using this Onsen cuticle cream, and I really love how it absorbs quickly and helping to moisturize my ragged cuticles:

Jane Brocket:  Colorful Non-Fiction Books

Every Saturday I take my weekly trip to my local library.  The first thing I do in the Children's Room is look at the new books.  Lately, I've been trying to find more non-fiction picture books, and this week I was extraordinarily lucky to find a new-to-me series, Jane Brocket's Clever Concepts.  Here are 2 examples:

 Bright color and photographs automatically attracted me to these books as well as the math connections, shapes and patterns.

Circles, Stars, and Squares has beautiful pictures of real life examples of two and three dimensional shapes:

 My students can always review different shapes as well as the difference between 2 and 3 dimensional shapes.  Plus, look at those delicious pictures, and that's only one of the pages. 

In Spotty, Stripy, Swirly, the pictures are equally vibrant and fascinating. 

I know that I'm going to be on the look-out for patterns when I'm out and about.

If you want to learn more about this amazingly talented photographer, author and blogger, she has her own Substack.

That's it for now!  I'm looking forward to more sun and daylight.  What are you looking forward to?

Thursday Favorite Things: Houses; Socks; Free Covid Test Kits

Hello!  I'm trying out a new link-up:  Thursday Favorite Things hosted by An Artful Mom and Katherine's Corner.

A Normal House is a House for Me!

I saw on Instagram that there's a trend to live in a normally decorated house vs. the decorated houses that are always shown on Instagram (of course, I can't find the post now..).  Anyway, these top two picture show my very normal house.

On the lower left is a picture of an ornament I keep on my twinkle tree in the living room.  In addition to my normal house, I have a Texas street dog who is a lovable and loving mutt!

A Free App to Redecorate Your House

On Instagram, I also learned about the Onton app that virtually redecorates your house in the style of your choice.  You upload a picture of your room, and the app. generates a picture of the redecorated room.

Check out my normal dining room complete with my husband's puzzle board:

Here's the dining room transformed into cottage-style:

I have been enjoying seeing what my house could look like.  Honestly, I am just trying to keep it neat, tidy and somewhat clean!

Fun Socks!

I LOVE socks!  I also LOVE shopping at TJ Maxx or Marshall's.  I got these online:

These socks are colorful and comfortable!  

You can find these and Smartwool socks at TJ Maxx.  They also have Balega socks on Amazon.

Covid Tests

Last week I had Covid ~ just a mild case.  Consequently, I realized all my Covid tests were expired so off I went to CVS wearing my mask to buy a new testing kit.  Since then, I have ordered four free test kits.  Click here to learn more!

Thank you for visiting today!  I hope you enjoy virtually redecorating your house!  It's a fun diversion when you are isolating or the weather is uncooperative.