Let’s catch up!

Hello Friends! We have been so busy over here with the holiday prep for parties. Last weekend we had Dave’s family over, not the entire family, just a fraction of them. We served up a family favorite- two large dishes of Lasagna. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal and we spent hours around the table telling stories and planning upcoming trips. I included the lasagna recipe for you. It is truly the easiest and best lasagna I have ever made or tasted. You can prepare it the day before with uncooked noodles, refrigerate it and then bake it the next day. I hope you enjoy!

I can’t believe Christmas is only 15 days away. We are still shopping, wrapping and cooking over here. How are things in your neck of the woods?

Lasagna: Taste of Home Classic Cookbook from Amazon for a whopping $1.35. This book has amazing recipes- I use it all the time especially for entertaining groups during the holidays. I bought my copy at a used book sale at my public library.

Dave has been searching for CBS- Canadian Bourbon Barrel Breakfast Stout from Founders for the past two weeks. I will tell you about that on Wednesday. Check back because he actually wrote something for the blog. Surprise, surprise. 🙂

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Your kids SHOULD take advantage of the summer reading program the Public Library offers!

All public libraries offer a summer reading program and YOU should definitely get your kids or grand kids signed up. The program works like this- the child reads for 15 mins. a day and records his time on a calendar provided by the library. Each week the library offers a reward for the student for reading and recording their reading time. It’s a win win for you and your child. I remember when the girls were young and I would sit them down on the couch and instruct them to read. I would also tell them that after reading we could go outside and play. I loved it because the house was quiet and both girls were entertained. Olivia would end up falling asleep and Lauren and I would continue reading in silence-it was magical. I have such fond memories of each of us looking at pictures books and reading chapter books. One story that we read aloud was Beverly Clearly’s Dear Mr. Henshaw, a book about a little boy who is writing letters to his favorite author. This starts off as a class assignment, but when Mr Henshaw actually writes back, a friendship is forged and the letters become very personal. This is such a lovely story about a young boy looking for guidance and friendship and he finds it in his favorite author. Dear Mr. Henshaw won the Newbery Award in 1984. You can never go wrong with a Newbery Award book- they are always books written for the young and always seem to contain a moral lesson.

More on the Newbery Award and a list of the book winners

Back to the Public Library Programming – The theme this year (each year the Library of Michigan comes up with a new theme) is “Build a Better World”.
The Library of Michigan website has so much useful information for librarians and parents. This year’s focus is helping kids think globally and how they can help their community. Books, displays, speakers, and programming all promote the idea of constructing a better world and community involvement. Although, students can read anything they want, their book choices don’t have to focus on community, the idea is to just get them to read:)

National Honor Society students get their service hours by volunteering at the library throughout the summer.

Every Wednesday most Libraries have a children’s program going on. Today, we had puppetry, singing, and dancing from the Michigan Storytellers Guild. They were very entertaining. It’s nice that the library offers these programs (for free) because it breaks up the day and week for parents and kids. Not only are the programs fun, but they also offer a learning opportunity.

Feel free to share stories you have read with young children.

“Reading can take you places you have never been before.”

― Dr. Seuss