Summer Reading -- Fun Picture Books

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Are your kids working on their summer reading and/or summer homework? I know we are and I have to admit I find it to be a bit of a pain. The part we enjoy however is the daily reading. Hazel reads at least a book or a chapter if it is a chapter book to my parents each night before bedtime. If they are not available, she reads to me. She is loving reading from her summer reading list but she also loves to read some of the new picture books we have received. Here are four fun ones to share today. Next week we will share some middle grade chapter books and have some suggestions throughout the summer. Be sure to check back for all of our recommendations. The books today are fun books. Many of them are rather funny.

Sharing Saturday 16-24

Be sure to check out my on-line Thirty-One Review & Party!! Get all your summer organizing essentials!!

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.  A new one will start Sunday morning!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week our features are lessons, crafts and parenting themed.  Enjoy!!

Baby & Sibling Fun -- Book Reviews

Be sure to check out my on-line Thirty-One Review & Party!! Get all your summer organizing essentials!!

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copies of these book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own, and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

As we enter our summer I think about family. Summer to me is a time for family. It is when our family reunions happen or have happened and when I had more time to spend with my siblings. It is also when we took our family trips. Today I am going to share three books with you. The first is about a baby (gorilla) and the other two are about siblings and their relationships with a bit of a twist. First we will start with Who Woke the Baby? by Jane Clarke and illustrated by Charles Fuge. 

Quinceanera -- Exploring Hispanic Heritage

Congratulations to Sara S. for winning the WordWorld Kooky Spooky Halloween DVD!

Since Hazel loves birthday parties, I thought reading some books about a quinceañera would be right up her alley. A quinceañera is a fiesta for a Latina girl who turns fifteen. The fifteenth year is traditionally when girls turn into women in Latin American cultures. The traditional celebration differs from country to country. Most include a special dress for the quinceañera and a dance with her father (often a waltz) followed by a meal, dancing and a cake. Often there is a mass before the fiesta to honor the girl. In some countries the quinceañera has a court of friends ranging from 7-14 of each gender. (Source)

Teddy Bear Picnic Food

Special announcement: I was quoted in an article at Ballooning Nest Eggs. Please go check it out!! I'm so excited!

Well we hosted our Teddy Bear Picnic the other day. It was so much fun. The idea came to me when we went to one at a local museum, and I was not very impressed. It was too large, loud and chaotic for the kids to focus. Hazel enjoyed visiting the museum but really did not enjoy the picnic. So I told her we would have our own. We did. We e-mailed some invitations and two of her friends were able to come (three if you count the three-month-old sibling). I made teddy bear ears for all the kids and the moms. The tutorial for them can be found here. I have to admit that one of the other moms and I were the only ones who wore them the whole time. Hazel and I spent a lot of time preparing for it. We made some sugar cookies in bear shapes. We used a mix. Then left them for the kids to decorate. Hazel had a bit of fun with the frosting and decorations. She always overdoes it!

We also made some bear paw cookies. We were going to use bear claw cookies, but I found this easy recipe on Disney Family and I liked that they actually looked like the bear paws. Since the two friends coming are allergic to nuts I had to find something to replace the almond slices. We used freeze-dried banana slices that I cut. It worked and it gave a nice taste to the cookies. Aren't they cute?

We also served some food we could buy that were teddy bear shaped. We used Teddy Grahams and gummy bears. It is not easy to find gummy bears that have no nuts or were not prepared where nuts were. I ended up with some without any, but they were prepared on the same equipment so the friend who is deathly allergic could not eat the gummy bears. 

Our final food was a fruit arrangement. We love Edible Arrangements, but I do not like their prices. My mother-in-law often buys these to bring to Hazel's party. I have kept all the containers and sticks, so we reused the small one. We used our cookie cutters to cut teddy bear watermelon and cantaloupe (Hazel did this with the slices I cut). Hazel also put the berries on the sticks. She also chopped the banana for me and put the slices on sticks. We then froze them and dipped them in chocolate like we saw at Sharing Saturday from School Time Snippets (we just put them on sticks as well). I also dipped some strawberries in chocolate. The only problem we had was that it melted a bit outside, but it was enjoyed by everyone!

I should also add that I asked everyone to bring their own lunch and let them know we would provide the dessert and drinks. With everyone's food allergies and what they eat, I figured this was easier. Tomorrow I will share some of the games, etc. we played. And now I will start planning our next mini-party with a butterfly theme. I hope you are enjoying your week! Happy Family Times is still open if you would like to share your family together time this week and inspire all of us to have more time with our families!