Source: Quick and Easy Nutella Brownie Cake
I don’t know if I could avoid eating too many spoonfuls of Nutella to get enough in the brownie mix! Sounds very yummy.
Mr. Rogers Lives Here
Yes. It’s true. We are a family of Mr. Rogers’ mini-me’s.
I just caught myself making the correlation between one of his daily rituals and a habit of ours.
As soon as we enter our home (sooner for my husband), we remove our outside shoes and don slippers. Coats come off and I add a sweater to keep me cozy, as our indoor temperatures never get above 66 in the winter.
This process is reversed as we prepare to leave. Away go the slippers and on go the outside shoes. My sweater is tucked away and a jacket or coat is worn to protect me from the elements.
Do you remember what Mr. Rogers did each time he came inside at the beginning of his show and and reversed at the end of the show?
Mr. Rogers removed his outside shoes and replaced them with indoor shoes. He also took off his outdoor jacket and put on an indoor cardigan, all the while singing about the beauty of the day in the neighborhood. Yes. That song.
Mr. Rogers was so organized. He didn’t just toss those shoes and jacket on a couch or floor. He tucked away the shoes and carefully placed the jacket on a sweater in the closet. I may occasionally toss my sweater on the washer, but I also have a designated cupboard right by the door for jackets, and shoe racks for both of us.
You have no idea how many times I compare myself to Mr. Rogers when I change gear as I am going out or coming back inside the house. I think his habits were ingrained in my subconcious as I watched his television show. Maybe that was one of his purposes, to model tidiness, organization, and care for our belongings.
And this is a good thing. We are a shoes-off household. Not only does this habit keep icky germs and gunk on shoe bottoms out of the house, it also provides a cleaner environment for my babies to crawl around on and plenty of (mostly) dirt-free floor space for playtime. Mr. Rogers’ transfer of clothes and shoes fits perfectly with our efforts to keep as much of the outdoors, well, outdoors.
That Mr. Rogers was ahead of his time, yet many considered him a fuddy-duddy. I disagree. He was a great role model.
Sitting here in my cardigan sweater and indoor slippers, just humming a certain melody.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, isn’t it?
A Picture Book for Newbery! (REJOICE!)
Source: A Picture Book for Newbery! (REJOICE!)
I love this book!
How to Plan an Author Skype Visit (Fun Tips for Authors, Teachers and Librarians)
Source: How to Plan an Author Skype Visit (Fun Tips for Authors, Teachers and Librarians)
Excellent suggestions on how to play exciting author Skype visits to classrooms. Thanks, Tara.
Advice for publishing a children’s book : Mom Click
Source: Advice for publishing a children’s book : Mom Click
Straight forward advice for becoming a writer for children.
Some Humor for your Saturday!
Source: Some Humor for your Saturday!
Descriptions of a book to the younger generation.
6 Tips to Encourage Your Child to Read
Gingerbread Party – Not for the Faint of Heart
Never fear. Nana had the grands over for a wild and seriously crazy evening of decorating gingerbread cookies. That is not an understatement.
For the past few years, I have decorated gingerbread houses with the grands. But this year, with 3 boys and 1 girl, six years old and younger, I thought gingerbread cookies would be much easier. I was right.
But we still made a big mess, gobbled too many decorations, and spread icing far and wide. One nice thing about decorating cookies instead of houses was that we could eat our work instead of letting it sit around and petrify into cement.
I’m not so sure the parents agreed. But like any good grandparents, we played, made memories, fed them too much sugar, and sent them home.
Here are a few photos from our Gingerbread Party. Notice the series when Gage decides he is GOING to have his plate and cookie (Nana had to decorate his, as he can’t eat cookies yet). Of course when we are all watching his actions, Donavyn chooses that moment to look at the camera instead of eating the icing and candy off of his gingerbread boy.
Tips:
1. Make the cookies in advance. Definitely. I used giant cookie cutters and made 1 girl and 3 boy cookies. The extra dough was used for normal cookies.
2. Sort candy into individual bowls. That way, each child gets the same things to put on their cookies. Or, I mean, the same amount of sugar to eat.
3. Give each child a cookie sheet as a workspace. Escaping candies and sticky knives stayed right where they needed to be.
4. Forget the fancy icing. Just buy a tub of white icing. It spreads so nice and easy. The icing in the gingerbread house kits is horrible and making a glaze icing that doesn’t spread is frustrating.
5. Enlist someone else to take photos. No way could this Nana help everyone, keep Gage from eating stuff, and take photos. Even with assistance, taking pictures of our completed cookies was the hardest part!
6. Have fun! Eventually we will get back to the houses. But for now, keeping it simple makes more sense. And next year, when we have 5, I think I will have to adopt yet another helper for crowd control.
Happy December traditions!
10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers
Source: 10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers
Thanks for the great tips! Sound advice, writers.
Smorgasbord Health – Vitamin of the Week – Vitamin A – Beta-carotene
Source: Smorgasbord Health – Vitamin of the Week – Vitamin A – Beta-carotene
We love sweet potatoes! Boiled, mashed, and combined with a little bit of butter, sour cream, and cayenne. Tasty and spicy. Thanks, Sally.
Love, Laughter, and Life 