Friday Funnies (Phteven)

Have you guys seen this dog?  He is cracking me up!
The first time I saw him was this:

Then I found these other two funnies:

Happy Friday, friends!  Have a great weekend!

"Whatever You Grow Up to Be"-review

Whatever You Grow Up To BeKaren Kingsbury, Valeria Docampo

Big thanks to Zondervan and BookLook for sending me a free copy of this adorable book!  I've long enjoyed reading Karen Kingsbury's novels for adults, so I was eager to see what she had for children.  "Whatever You Grow Up to Be" is a mother-son story of the mother's love for her son from birth through adulthood, no matter what he grows up to be.  

Here is the summary from Zondervan:

Whatever You Grow Up to Be, by New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, brings the mother-son relationship into new light, as a young boy discovers the unlimited possibilities God has for his life, while never forgetting the special bond he shares with his mother.

My thoughts:

• I love how the book comes full circle in the end with the little boy growing up and becoming a father, and the mom becoming a grandma!
• The illustrations are precious.  Very well done, engaging while not being over-stimulating for little readers.
• Fantastic gift idea for a Grandma-to-be!   
• Karen Kingsbury presents the image of a loving mother-son relationship. As the mom of boys, I've noticed that many events, particularly Mother's Day events, tend to focus on mother/daughter and the Father's Day things are for father/son pairs.  It's nice to see something celebrate a mother's relationship and affection for her growing son.
• Text is rhyming on each page, this is a pretty short read-a-loud.  My 3 year old enjoyed listening to it multiple times.

"Whatever You Grow Up to Be" is available in hardback format pre-order through Zondervan.  List price is $15.99.  I was given the book for review purposes, but I do not make any money off your potential purchase, so you know I'm not trying to sway you one way or the other! :)

Final thought-Can I just say KUDOS to Zondervan for having a paypal checkout option on their site?!  I noticed that and love it.  That makes it a lot easier for people who don't use credit cards to be able to shop.  Thank you!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Post shared at: I Can Teach My Child

Friday Funnies

Time again for our Friday Funnies!  Try to guess which one is my favorite...  ;)

Have a great weekend!

Squishy Board (DIY)

Yesterday I happened upon this blog, Play Dr. Hutch, and this post of hers with the most fun looking kids activity.  

I've done Squishy bags before (ziplock bag, hair gel inside, maybe glitter).  Kids can smoosh these bags for sensory fun.  Older kids can draw shapes, lines, letters, numbers, or spelling words on them.  Super fun.

Well Dr. Hutch takes it a step further and duct tapes these bags down onto boards---making them more stable, less likely to leak, and super portable for fun in the car.

I decided to grab the supplies and make our own.

Supplies

• Foam board (I bought one large poster sized from the Dollar Tree and cut it to size)
• 1 gallon size ziploc bag
• Duct tape--pattern of your choice
• 1 bottle clear hair gel (from Dollar Tree, you'll use about 1/2 of it)
• 1 bottle glitter glue (3 pack from Dollar Tree)
• 1 small container silver glitter (4 pack from Dollar Tree)
• Scissors

Squeeze the hair gel and glitter glue into baggie.  Add small container of glitter.  Use colors of your choice--I did red glitter glue and silver glitter.  Zip up bag and squish around.  Lay bag on cut out of foam board and tape on.

The back will look like this. Ugly.

Add tape around the back to make the board more stable and prettier.  Who can resist the splatter paint pattern of duct tape?!

Now the back of the board will look like this:

Finished board: (I swear it is more fun in person. These phone-pictures are ick!)

Finally, turn this over to your preschooler and watch them enjoy!  :)

shared at: Chaos&Clutter, MirandaBee, Serenity Now

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Friday Funnies (Valentine)

Happy Friday and Happy Valentine's Day friends!  Hope you all have a great weekend, here are some funnies to get the fun started. :)





Finally, what would a holiday be without Grumpy Cat?

1,000 and counting... [pinterest]

Something fun happened this week....

I had my 1,000th pin onto my Quotes/Inspiration/Funnies board.

(Apparently what did NOT happen was me learning how to properly size a screenshot)

I have lots of other pinterest boards...teaching things, beauty/fashion, crafts, kids parties, and so on.  But I find myself drawn to the funny stuff the most, and it's been the first board to reach 1,000 pins!

I chose the special 1,000th carefully...it had to be Grumpy Cat!

If you are on pinterest you can follow the funnies here. 

Do you have a board of funny stuff on Pinterest?  Leave the link in the comments so I can follow you.  I love to laugh!

Friday Funnies: Jay Leno

Can you believe Jay Leno is gone from The Tonight Show?

Today's funnies are in his honor.







Have a great weekend and try not to worry too much about how we're going to survive without Leno on late-night tv.  ;)

Swagbucks code alert for NEW members

Swag Code Alert!

It's no secret that I love earning amazon gift cards through Swagbucks.  

Swagbucks is free to join and you can earn through searches, a daily poll, etc.  If you've been thinking about signing up but hesitating, NOW is the time.  When you enter "FreeGiftCards" when you join, you'll get an extra 50 swagbucks to get you started!  

You can save your points and amazon gift cards to help pay for birthdays, Christmas gifts, or just treat yourself to things off your wishlist.  It's not going to make any of us rich, but you can pretty easily get $10 free to amazon each month and hey, I'll take it!


If you decide to join I'd love if you used my referral link here, I get nothing for you joining but do earn a few bonuses as you earn later! 

2014 Reading List

  

Like many of you, I love to read!  Here's where I'll document the books I read this year, along with my ever-growing "still to read" list!  

Do you have a favorite book that isn't on my list but you think I can't live without?  Leave a comment and tell me about it!

None of these are affiliate links or paid posts. I get exactly jack squat if you rush out and read the book---except for the knowledge that I helped another person discover an awesome book.  :)

In Progress:

When We Were On Fire-(Addie Zierman)                   Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson)
                                                  
           Orphan Train (Christina Baker Kline)
           

2014 Finished Reading:

   















   

  

   

Still to Read: