Honorable Mention Books of Summer

At the end of last school year, a friend showed me a new book from our school library, Larry Gets Lost in Chicago. I was immediately smitten Larry, a dog that gets separated from his owner during a trip to Chicago.  It's not just because I'm partial to the city setting, but I'm thrilled about the content.  As Larry looks for Pete, his owner, he visits all of the important sights in Chicago.  Larry rides the El, sees Wrigley Field, the Shedd Aquarium, the Picasso sculpture, and the lakefront to name a few.

Don't worry Larry reunites with Pete in a wonderful place.

After I read this book I knew my own kids would love it.  They love it so much, they recognize the landmarks when we visit the big city.  G especially loves to reference Larry when we go past the Art Institute lions.

As I was purchasing Larry Gets Lost in Chicago, I saw that Larry gets lost in other cities, too!  Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle to name a few.  I didn't want to buy all of them so I went to the next best place, my library.

They did not have any of the Larry books in the collection.  However, the website has a tab to request books.  I listed the entire Larry series and crossed my fingers.  Not more than two weeks later I received an email from the library to say several of the Larry books were in and on hold for us!  By the end of three weeks they had bought every one of the Larry books. 

I love my library.

Now I need to write the author and have Larry & Pete go to Europe :)

Fourth (and Final) Book of the Summer

The last book of the summer falls into the young reader category.  Gregor the Overlander is written by Suzanne Collins of the Hunger Games series.  Gregor was her first book series.

Gregor is a teenage boy living in New York City with his mom, grandmother, and siblings.  His father has been gone for two years.  One day Gregor and his baby sister discover an underworld via their laundry room.  He becomes known to the underworld residents as Gregor the Overlander and is an integral part in fulfilling/solving a prophecy that was written long ago.  

His adventure involves royalty, cockroaches, spiders, rats, and bats.  I think this story is great for the late elementary/early middle school reader.  I'm excited to read the next books in the series.  For an adult, it's a quick read!

Goodbye Old Friends

We have to say goodbye to some old friends.  They have been a part of our lives on and off for almost 9 years and their absence leaves an empty spot in our home.  There's an empty spot in the cabinet and another in the dresser drawer.  However we've gained in our pocketbook.  

Can you guess who left?

Diapers!   Wahoo!!!!

G starts preschool soon and diapers are not on the supply list.  So it was an all hands on deck affair to get him ready.  

Matt and I cannot take the credit for this.  G's preschool does not start until after Labor Day, which does not work out so well with my public school & Matt's travel schedules.  G has spent the better part of the last two weeks at my parents' house, and we give most of the potty training credit to them.

By the time he returned to us this past Friday he was independent using the loo.  We have to prompt him to go when we leave the house, which is sometimes a battle.  Thankfully we are stronger and can transport him to the WC.  Otherwise he's becoming a big kid .


Another bonus of no diapers - G's pants that were getting snug, now fit because the bulk of the diaper are gone.  Yay!

Well That Was Weird

I received a message from my friend Renee last week asking what happened to the blog.  I know I've been really busy with school starting, and I have not had time to update it.  I figured her message meant something more than old posts.

When I went to our site I only saw a white screen.

?

No message saying the server was unavailable, just pure white.

It was all Matt's fault.  He remembered seeing something in his email about changes to our hosting (or something technical that I don't understand) and never changed anything.  Apparently August 15 was the day the changes took hold and the blog went silent for a bit.

We're back!