Author: Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life

I try to create a culture of celebration in our home. For life, for the little things, for wonder and for whimsy. I try to find the beauty around us and teach my son Wyatt to find it, and appreciate it and love it as well. We are a homeschool family, and we love it. We love the freedom it gives us to explore a topic or idea more deeply, and I like that I can adjust our schedule around Wyatt’s other needs. Wyatt has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and his week often has therapy, doctor’s appointments, naps peppered throughout which would make a traditional school schedule difficult. He is also an asynchronous learner, and I love that I can tailor learning to where Wyatt is at that moment. We have a house full of animals and will probably add more because we like a zoo. We have one cat, Miso, who is a rescue. She is 14 years old and my little floofy girl. We also have one leopard gecko, Luna, a pictus gecko named Harlow, a pacman frog named Freddy, and two crested geckos, Applejack and Oliver. We love all of our little friends! My husband Billy, Wyatt, and I are all curious, creative, stubborn humans which makes for some fun times around here. We love the outdoors, except we are not made for high temps so we retreat inside when the temps start to soar. We are nature lovers through and through. We are trying to downsize our lives too, to live more simply, to buy things that last and eat real food from small local farmers. (and of course Goldfish crackers) We live seasonally and are always up for adventure. We love books and reading, and can be found at the library at least once a week!

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello everybody! I hope you all are doing great this week! I am here with my Caribou Coffee today, a new favorite around here.

It was a blissfully slow week around here last week. I caught up on a lot of projects around the house, and my dad came over to hang out with Wyatt for a bit while I went out and had a little time to myself. I decided I wanted to go to the library and read on the big porch, so I did! It was so relaxing and the weather was perfect. I loved how the deep porch made me feel like I could see everything but that maybe no one could see me.

Billy’s birthday was this weekend, and we thought we would do something different this year. Every summer a local park hosts a jazz festival so we thought we would go and sit in our normal picnic spot and eat ice cream and just listen to the music. We knew that they have the concert on the river side of the park and we sit on the other side, the canal side, so we thought we would be fine in that area. Well, we are pretty naive and uninformed about this event, because we were soooooo wrong. We paid our five dollars to get in (for the whole car for a whole day, good deal!), parked in our spot, set up our blanket and then…… realized it was getting super busy. Like, they were starting to park cars on the grass on our side of the park, and they were very quickly getting to us. We had to scramble to gather our things and head back to our car (slightly embarrassed on my end!) before they started parking rows of cars all around us!! Wyatt was like what the heck is happening around us? We vastly underestimated the popularity of this event, and with no prior knowledge of how it runs, we were just like squatters in the midst of chaos!

We decided to just leave all together, and it took a while to wind our way out of the mass of crowds of people. It was pretty cool though to see how it works I guess. There were people set up for the whole day, with tents and coolers and bounce houses for kids, barbecues were rolling and the scent of grilling burgers filled the air – as did the scent of weed. I had to keep rolling our windows up because it was so strong!

There was a whole row of huge RV’s too – some sort of club, and their area was really neat. They all had flags set up in front of their vehicle with their names or camp names and it looks like they travel together in a pack quite often. And these were humungous RV’s! What a cool way to spend the summer. Heck for all I know they do this year round!

Anyway, it was a learning experience for us, and although we won’t do this again, too many people, too much weed, just so much everything, it was pretty funny that we were so clueless. At least we got to finish our ice cream, although we ate it in a huge hurry! And now we have a story.

Wyatt had a bunch of appointments between last week and yesterday. We were busy! We love his team though, and every appointment was very helpful. Yesterday Wyatt’s super in charge doctor, his PMR, who sort of evaluates everything about Wyatt, from his specialists to his equipment to just about everything, told us she was extremely pleased with how Wyatt is progressing from our last visit, where we had a few issues we were trying to work on. I now have a ton of homework to do, filling out tons of paperwork and forms and applications, but it will all be worth it if we manage to get what I am applying for! One of the items is a wheelchair ramp, which we desperately need! My mom is coming over today for a bit so I can hide in the office and work on some of these forms and applications.

I also found a special needs gymnastics class near us! I have been trying to find a class or group of some sort where Wyatt can go and play and be with other kids and this class seems perfect. I hope to enroll him this September!

We are starting to close in on the end of summer already! It is hard to believe that it is almost time to start school again – but to be honest, I am looking forward to the fall weather and our routine. This summer has been just weird, and sort of crummy honestly in terms of weather and then Wyatt getting sick. I feel like it has either been intensely hot or stormy or the air quality has been bad – just not a great summer for getting outside.

We do have one thing left on our summer bucket list – a family trip with my dad and stepmom, and my brother, his wife, and two girls. It will be here before I know it, and I have a million things running through my mind that I need to do!

I just have a few random photos today!

A fire skink I did not buy, my little Luna the Leopard Gecko exploring my desk (but not too far!), my whale fin snake plant is having twins, Miso is almost camouflaged, Wyatt is silly, all the tiny art, and my book and tea one night when it felt like fall.

And….. that is it for this morning. What has been going on in your world?

My Sunday-Monday Post!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn My Sunday Monday Post40 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone! I hope last week was a good one for you all! We just sort of puttered around but it was nice to just putter!

Read Last Week:

Last week I read another cozy, Farm to Trouble and I absolutely loved it. It was seasonal, it was Michigan, it was cozy, there was an adorable little dog named Huckleberry. I can’t wait to read the next in the series but since that one is pretty autumnal I am going to hold off until fall, although it will be tough to do!

Reading This Week:

I have high hopes for this week, listing two books! We will see!

Posted Last Week:

Game Night! For Kids, by a Kid!

Road Trip: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching and Listening:

Hmm.. what are we watching? Nothing really new. We watched some Death in Paradise, and to my great excitement, the first new episode of Season 10 of When Calls the Heart. I loved it so much I could have watched it a second time. I feel on some level I love that show so much because it makes me think of my youth and Little House on the Prairie, of which I grew up loving so much!! I still read the books, and while as a kid I wasn’t a huge fan of the television show, I did watch it. Especially the Christmas episode, such a great one. In fact, I should see if I can find it. I wonder if Wyatt would watch it? Hmmmm.

Saturday nights used to be our movie nights, but we have sort of tapered off. Maybe because it is summer? Later tonight (Saturday) after dinner, we are walking down to the next street over’s block party. We were out for a walk while Wyatt rode his bike and one of the neighbor’s spotted us and invited us down. So if it is not too late we might take a little stroll down, even briefly.

I’ve been watching my YouTube faves as well, Darling Desi, With Love Kristina, and Dainty Diaries.

As for listening, same stuff. I am looking for some book podcasts, if anyone has recommendations!

And that is about it from ’round here! How are things in your neighborhood?

Game Night! Games for Kids, by a Kid

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized7 Comments

Wyatt is always asking me what I am doing when I blog. I tell him I am blogging but he better understands it if I refer to it as “work”. So I am working. Lol. I thought it would be fun to ask for his input on what I should blog about, and his response was games. He is really into playing games right now, so it was not a big surprise. Books and games, that is what we do these days! It works though, it has been such a weird summer for us.

Note: This post does contain Amazon Affiliate links. I will make a small commission if you were to purchase anything from the link, at no extra cost to you.

Anyway, back to games. These are Wyatt’s current favorites! Some of them are super simple, that pretty much even the youngest child could play, but they work really well for Wyatt’s occupational therapy and speech therapy goals. Good thing he loves the games she chose – so much, that we had to buy them for home. One especially has grabbed his attention… Pop! the Pig

I can’t tell you how often everyone, and I mean, everyone, in our family has played this game with Wyatt. His speech therapist introduced this game to him, and we have all had to play it a million times. But it helps him so that is good! We have him follow the same requirements his speech therapist wants from him, multiple words strung together, so every time we play, it is just more speech! Win! Basically, you roll the dice, find the burger that matches the color, read the number on the back, feed the pig, and push down on his hat that number of times. As you feed him and push on his hat, his belly gets fuller and fuller until his belt pops! Then you just push his head to deflate him. (I wish it were that easy for me to flatten my belly!) I told his therapist that we had to buy this game because he loved it so much in her office, and she told me that so many other families have told her that as well!

He loves Pop! the Pig so much, that last weekend Billy and I picked up a similar game, Chompin’ Charlie. This one is actually a little better at honing his fine motor skills, because the acorn game pieces are pretty small, and it’s a little difficult to stuff them in the squirrel’s face. He loves this game, but misses the more physical part of pushing down on the pig’s head from the other.

Next is Pop-Up Pirate – a variation on a theme here. Another simple game but one that allows him to work those fine motor skills. You stick the pirate down in the barrel, and take turns shoving swords into the barrel in the slots until the pirate pops out. And he really pops up, higher than you expect so don’t have anyone’s face over the top! We actually bought this for Wyatt for Christmas because he loves pirates so much. It was more about the pirate than the game, then it became a favorite. Wyatt loves the anticipation and when the pirate pops, and we like it because first, he loves it, and second, it is a quick and fast game to play when you want a quick and fast game!

This next game was a reward for summer reading, in June. It is called Ghost in the Attic from Peaceable Kingdom and it is so fun! The best part is that it glows in the dark, so it is super fun to play at night, or camping. We are going to take it on our family trip at the end of the month so that Wyatt and Mermaid Girl can play together. It is a cooperative game, which means everyone plays together toward the same goal. We are actually big fans of all the Peaceable Kingdom Games, even though Wyatt is sort of outgrowing some of his earlier ones. We play them now mostly because they are old favorites. 

Outfoxed is another favorite! He got this for Christmas and it is a cute “whodunit” type game for kids. This is another one we are taking with us on our trip!

Finally is the game My First Dragon Adventure, an adventure fantasy type game by the company Jumping High Five! They are a brand new company just getting started, and they are so sweet! We also have another game by them called Candy Train, which is also fun, but Wyatt just happens to love the dragon more, even though he is a huge train fan these days.

And there you have it! Wyatt’s top favorite games of the moment!

Road Trip: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn day in the life, nature15 Comments

This past weekend we set out for a new adventure! It was close to home, just an hour away, and it was a new to us place, we had the time, and needed to get out. The perfect recipe for a road trip! I threw some snacks in my bag, filled our water bottles, and we piled into the Jeep, and headed to the wilds of …. Ohio?

Yep, Ohio. Who knew Ohio was hiding such great wonderful wildlife? I know when I think of Ohio, I think of the many farms, with their beautiful green fields of corn and other assortment of produce, that spread out over the state. And we did see such farms on our journey, like little jewels in the landscape. If I don’t think of farms, I think of cities like Toledo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, full of their own fun activities. We were so surprised to find that hiding among the farms and cities was a huge wildlife refuge of wetlands, grasslands, and forest! Pleasantly surprised!

The Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge made our radar when we visited our local wildlife refuge and bought a passport book for Wyatt, called The Blue Goose Passport. It has places for stamps from all the wildlife refuges in the country, so we started with our local one, Humbug Marsh. The volunteer told us that about Ottawa National, and told us it was only an hour away, so we knew we wanted to go and get Wyatt a few more stamps. If you read here, then you know that Wyatt uses a wheelchair right now for most of his mobility, so I went first to the website to see how accessible it was going to be. Well, as far as trails themselves go, not very, but they DO have an wildlife drive! So, we decided we would do the small boardwalk trail near the actual nature center, then do the wildlife drive. It was going to be gross hot anyway, so we would stay cool on top of it all.

We arrived in good time, after passing through Toledo and past farms, and made our way into the nature center. We didn’t have a ton of time to do all of the activities they offered, since we timed our visit to be closer to late afternoon in the hopes of seeing more wildlife and the center closes at 4. (but the park is open until dusk) First thing we did was get Wyatt his stamps for his book! Then we toured the building, checking out the exhibits and making notes for next time, because there will definitely be a next time.

We started with the movie, then moved into the old hunting lodge type room, which was really neat. It had fantastic furniture that Billy and I loved, and an old radio playing. I would love a chair like that wooden one – or a few!

From here we moved on to the main exhibit and Wyatt had fun wheeling into the muskrat den!

Then because Wyatt is obsessed with gift shops (no seriously..he is like my dad lol) we had to go in there. We each picked out a sticker for our water bottles, and moved on. The ranger told us that had we had more time, there is a scavenger hunt for kids that they can do in turn in for a prize, and all sorts of gear you can borrow for your hikes, like nets, binoculars and exploration backpacks for kids.

Doesn’t that bird cruise sound cool! I also took some pictures of books I want to read. Because of course I did.

The center was getting ready to close so it was time to hit the wilderness! We stepped outside, and behind the building was a butterfly garden, all yellow and green and full of butterflies! Wyatt was ready to be on the move so we didn’t stick around too much, but I caught sight of Black Swallowtails, Red Admirals, and Yellow Swallowtails before the garden was out of view. We did the short boardwalk through the woods, listening to the wind rushing through the trees, one of my favorite sounds in all the world. I could sit and listen to that for hours, much like people can listen to waves. I also spotted an Indigo Bunting, the first of our many bird spottings! We also ducked into the adorable little wildlife blind building, which was full of really cool painted benches. I loved the frog!!

I gave Wyatt the space to explore under his own power, but that was short lived when I thought he was going to crash right off the side! He was just too busy looking all over and being danger boy.

When we finished our exploring by foot, we headed back to the Jeep for our wildlife drive! And I was so glad I packed snacks because we were closing in on 4:30ish by this point and danger boy was now a hungry wolf boy, or so he told me. He happily ate his raisins while we drove around, and I will be honest, Billy and I were way more excited about this then Wyatt. It was seven miles and we were going to do all seven miles darn it. About halfway through Wyatt started getting antsy, which I understood, but he did get excited when we spotted the cool birds, like the egrets and swans. He would also occasionally burst out with a “Wow!” over the scenery which I loved.

Overall, the day was a successful outing! We saw 19 different birds, a few of them new to us, saw some new things, explored a new place, and had a great time! We are looking forward to heading back in the fall, to see how the landscape looks once the green has turned to warmer autumnal colors, and there is a chill in the air. I can’t wait!

So…I have a reel of Wyatt and the part of our drive, but for the life of me I can’t get it to work!

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP9 Comments

Hello everyone! Another early morning over here…. Wyatt sure is an early bird. I mean, I am a morning person, but he is a different story altogether. Billy and I try to prolong getting up as long as we can but eventually we have to get up because Wyatt is up and at ’em in full force. Thank goodness for coffee!!!

Wyatt and I were obviously over the moon to get out and do something last week after weeks of being stuck at home. I mean, really, this summer has been a weird one, between the weather, the air quality, Wyatt’s allergies, and his bite/cellulitis/antibiotic issues. So getting out to the library was like a dream come true and we took full advantage of our time out, and got a little silly on the porch taking photos. Wyatt is such a ham, and loves his picture taken. I am not as thrilled but, for my kiddo, of course I will. We picked up a ton of books and even saw our tiny art on display!

Billy’s isopod is in the front row, while the paintings by Wyatt and I ended up in the back row…hmm. I love his sun and moon painting! My snail is pretty sad, but we had a really good time painting these together a few Saturdays ago. There are some really cool paintings actually, and I plan on going back and taking some more photos. I thought this idea was so cute.

I’ve been happily busy working on our school year plans! And extremely thankful for my electric hole punch, and that my husband works at an industrial printer who prints all the curriculum for me every year. My little bit is a drop in the bucket of what they print every week but it is always so nice of them to make time in their day for it. I very contentedly punched holes and organized and put it all in binders the other day. Then I was able to flip through and make plans for field trips and different studies and readings to go along with what he is going to be learning this year. (I posted a bit back what we are using this year if you are interested) We are still going to be filling in with Traveling the States from The Waldock Way as well, as we didn’t quite finish them all yet! We will actually begin the year with Ohio, our neighbor to the south, move into Pennsylvania, and then New York, as we read Paddle-to-the-Sea.

Speaking of Ohio, we took a road trip to a wildlife refuge over the weekend that was so much fun. I am going to do a whole post on it since I took a billion photos and videos, and feel like I have a lot to share about the day.

And now, just some random photos from the week – Wyatt is back on the bike, we have apples (and some are turning red!), Miso likes to random pose for me, the cucumbers and nasturtiums are going wild, the canopy is still up, and my neighbor cat wants some pets.

We have cooler temps and good air quality right now, and it feels like fall and it is marvelous around here. I wish you all a great day!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Sunday-Monday Post42 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everybody! Last week was a better week for Wyatt – yay! It was a much better week – we got out of the house here and there, including a really cool trip to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ohio, which was spectacular, and Wyatt got some actual relaxing down time to recuperate while I caught up on some things around the house, including finally starting some homeschool planning for next year. I am super excited already about some of the things we are going to be doing! We also got to sit on the porch at the library, which I love. I think my dad is going to visit this week and watch Wyatt so I can get out for some “me time” and my plan is to grab a coffee, my library book, and read on the porch here for a bit. It was nice to hang here with Wyatt though for a minute or two.

Read Last Week:

I read Flower’s book Prose and Cons and just devoured it, but now I want it to be fall. Lol. I am saving the next one in the series until wintertime, since it looks like it takes place around the holidays. I did however, put another series by Flower on hold at the library..

When I finished Prose and Cons, I wasn’t feeling like a new book really, but I was looking for some lighthearted comfort and remembered how much I loved the MG book Gone-Away Lake last year. So I grabbed that copy off of Wyatt’s shelves and started rereading it. Yep, just as good as it was last year. I love this book honestly. It is a little old fashioned in some parts and in the way of the Little House series, maybe just a few problematic phrases but overall it is full of adventure and whimsy. Wyatt is not really a fan of it yet, he prefers books with animal characters, but that is ok. I mean, my favorite book is Watership Down, so it tracks.

Reading This Week:

I am excited about this one, since it is set in Northern Michigan, near Traverse City, one of my favorite places to visit.

Posted Last Week:

What Wyatt’s Reading – July

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching and Listening:

Nothing too exciting right now on this front – we finished up When Calls the Heart (just in time for the new season to begin, yay!), and are working on rewatching Death in Paradise. We tried to start White Lotus but for some reason that night Wyatt was being a pill about going to bed so we switched it off to come back to a different night, and then just haven’t gotten back to it. I was enjoying it though!

As for listening, we have been just all over the place. We have been listening to a lot of Billy Strings, the National Parks, and occasionally some Jim Croce or James Taylor or Carole King. It sometimes depends on the weather what we listen to.

Anyway, that is about it from around here! How are you all doing?

What Wyatt’s Reading – July

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review5 Comments

We are in full swing with summer reading! July was a bit of a crap month around here, between Wyatt’s health and the weather and the air quality, and although we did get out and do some things, we spent quite a bit of time reading indoors.

This post does contain Amazon Affiliate Links.

We go to the library, a lot. It is one of Wyatt’s favorite places to go, and they all know him and talk to him when we go in. They are part of his little community and I love that the library plays such a huge part in his life. So we check out stacks of books weekly around here.

There are of course favorites, for both of us, every month. Let’s start with Wyatt’s!

Dandylion Summer was at the top of Wyatt’s list. That one was constantly a go-to before we returned it; it is a cute story about two sisters who make a wish on a dandelion for a great summer and soon find themselves with a new friend, a lion made of dandelions and flowers. They play with him all summer and then as the leaves start to turn and the days get cooler, they see him less and less and then one day he is gone. They know they will see him again next summer though so they are not sad. And, as the girls walk down the street filled with trees of autumn leaves, the reader spots a tiger in the trees, looking very autumnal so we know they will soon be making another new friend.

Fox the Tiger is another of Wyatt’s favorites of the month. It is a pretty simple story, about a fox who wants to be a tiger, and then every other animal he meets likes that idea and transforms themselves as well. He and his friends play at being something different for a bit, then eventually it rains and their costumes are destroyed and they go back to being happy with who they are. Then there is Everyone Loves Bacon! This book was a really fast, really quick and easy picture book read- with a shocking ending! (not really, I said that for drama, although it did surprise Wyatt and I!)

Finally, Wyatt also enjoyed That Book Woman. When we went to Greenfield Village for Father’s Day and their classic car show, they had a woman at the CCC camp who was dressed as a pack horse librarian and Wyatt loved talking to her. I knew I had to find a book for him about it afterwards, and I am so happy I found this one. It is a pretty long book, a little more serious, but he was wrapped up in the story of Cal and his sister Lark and the librarian who delivered free books in rain and snow, all the way up the mountain to their family. Cal hadn’t been much of a reader before, but after seeing the Book Woman deliver books in all types of weather he wondered just why they were worth all that, and started reading “that chicken scratch”, and became a reader. It was a wonderful book, and I loved it as well!

Now, my favorites!!

Let’s start with…. A Bed of Stars. This book is about a child who just feels overwhelmed with the world, until they go camping with their father out in the desert one night, “to shake hands with the universe”. It was a beautiful story, about our place in the world, about family, about comfort. I really enjoyed this story, it’s illustrations, and Wyatt snuggled up with me while we read it.

Let me also talk about Frogness for a minute too. We both loved Frogness, it was about a child and her dog who go searching for frogs in the evening, and experience so many small moments of wonder on their adventure. However, it is not until they take a moment, to just be in the moment, no looking, no searching, just being, that they find what they are looking for. A fun look at mindfulness – and frogs, of course.

I also loved Home of the Wild, although it tugged hard at my heartstrings! It was just such a sweet, wonderfully lovely, bittersweet story of a boy who loves the wild and all the creatures in the wild, and one day finds a fawn who needs some extra help. So he takes her home, makes her strong, and although his mother has told him that the fawn will need to be released into the wild when it is time, because that is where wild things belong, in the wild. The two become inseparable, and then the day comes that the boy has to let her go. But when he becomes lost in a storm some time later, looking for the fawn, the fawn finds him and leads him back home. The boy knows now, that his little fawn is big enough and strong enough to be on her own, although they do spot it each from time to time. Ok, so writing that out made me a bit teary again! It makes me feel the same way I did watching The Fox and the Hound as a kid (my favorite Disney movie of the classics) and the Widow Tweed has to say goodbye to Tod.

All of these are going onto the wish list for our own home library! I have started to whittle through our collection lately, weeding out books to give away, and it is hard, y’all! We just don’t have enough space for all of our favorites!

Have you read any of these? Any making your list of to be reads to the littles?

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP12 Comments

Good morning everyone!! I have almost finished my first cup of coffee already, and am getting ready for my second! Little man decided to get up super early!

Speaking of Wyatt, if you have been reading here, then you know we have been battling some health issues with him this month. He seems to be on the upswing, fingers crossed and all the prayers please that we continue on this path.

Last Wednesday I did have the opportunity to go to outdoor yoga in the park in my city. I can’t tell you how absolutely refreshed I felt afterwards. The night was beautiful, warm but not too warm, breezy, with swallows chittering overhead. I could have just stayed on my mat all night but I did have to go home. Lol. And yep, I totally wore my Agatha Christie t-shirt. I 100% needed this after the time we have been having! I was planning going this week but it is going to be close to 100 degrees Wednesday so I think I will skip it… otherwise I will melt and pass out probably. I’m not an outdoors heat kind of person.

This weekend we were able to get out a little bit more, and we had such a nice weekend. A slow paced one, which I love.

Wyatt has been asking to ride the train at Greenfield Village for WEEKS, and we finally had the chance to go and ride it on Saturday. He was ecstatic. We rode it all the way around twice, and he would have been ok with us doing it all day, honestly, but it was time to get him home after twice around. One day I think I am going to take him and pay for the all day ride pass and we will go on all of the transportation options that day. The antique cars, the horse and carriages, the train, the carousel. He will love it. We did have a few extra moments, so we took a quick little zip around the makers area, where all the potters, weavers, artists are.

Later that night, we went to my brother’s for an impromptu cookout, where I got to hold Tiny Bebe the whole night practically and chat with my niece Mermaid Girl, who I have been missing! She was having us solve the mystery of the smashed mushroom, and my Detective name is now Detective Sapphire, in case anyone wants to hire me.

The next morning I took my mom to church. We started going again a few weeks ago, and that also has been so good for my soul and spirit. It is a nice quiet time between my mother and I as well, just the two of us. And although it felt super weird, I couldn’t resist snapping this quick photo before services of this window. The stained glass is beautiful.

Later that afternoon, we took a ride and then ended up taking refuge from an incoming storm at the nature center at the Metropark we were traveling through. Wyatt was very happy about this unscheduled stop!

I was happy because I had forgotten they had a whole huge display full of information about the Wyandot tribe, and learning about a local tribe is part of our history curriculum this fall. So I was pretty excited!

And here are some just random little photos of the past few weeks..

That last picture of Wyatt and the framed map – my friend Kelly was out shopping and spotted this treasure and she knew I would love it. She didn’t even know that Wyatt absolutely loves learning about all the state birds! It is so perfect for us, and is the sweetest gift!!

And now, I am off to grab that second cup I mentioned! I hope you are all doing well, and staying safe. This weather is wild!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized24 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hey all! So last week was just a repeat of the week before, dealing with some unpleasant side effects of medication for Wyatt. We are all hanging in there though!

Read Last Week:

Honestly, I was so exhausted that every chance I had to rest, I actually slept or listened to a book. I was just to tired to read!

I am almost done listening this one, and it is really good! I kept it cozy too, since I am on a cozy mystery binge.

Reading This Week:

I enjoyed the first in this series so much! I am looking forward to reading this one!

Listening:

Doesn’t this sound so good?? As soon as I finish up Assault and Pepper, I will start listening to this one.

Posted Last Week:

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Book Review: Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing

Watching:

We didn’t watch too much! We did watch When Calls the Heart (and I am super squealy about the new season coming out soon!), Newhart, and the highlights of the Tour de France (all we have time for these days!)

And that is it from my corner of the world! How are you all doing?

Book Review: Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing by Lisa Howeler

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review8 Comments

Summary:

A little bit of mystery, a dash of romance, and a whole lot of heart

After being laid off from her job as a librarian at a small college, Gladwynn Grant isn’t sure what her next step in life is. When a job as a small-town newspaper reporter opens up in the town her grandmother Lucinda Grant lives in, she decides to take it to get away from a lot of things – Bennett Steele for one.

Lucinda has been living alone since Gladwynn’s grandfather passed away six years ago and she isn’t a take-it-easy, rock-on-your-front-porch kind of grandma. She’s always on the go and lately, she’s been on the go with a man who Gladwynn doesn’t know.

Gladwynn thought Brookstone was a small, quiet town, but within a few days of being there, she has to rethink that notion. Someone has cut the bank loan officer’s brakes, threatening letters are being sent, and memories of a jewelry theft from the 1990s have everyone looking at the cold case again.

What, if anything, will Gladwynn uncover about her new hometown and her grandmother’s new male friend? And what will she do about her grandmother’s attempt to set her up with the handsome Pastor Luke Callahan?

Find out in this modern mystery with a vintage feel.

My Thoughts:

I was looking forward to this one, as I am on a cozy mystery binge right now – I love a small town setting, cats, quirky characters, and an independent main character, and this book had all of those things! The actual mystery for me is sometimes secondary to setting and characters, does that make me weird? Anyway, with just those things we were already off to a good start.

Howeler, however, ties all these elements into one whopper of a mystery! There is just so much going on in little Brookstone – a not-so-sleepy small town. Gladwynn is nervous about her new job, as it has been a while since she worked on her college newspaper, but it turns out she has a nose for news as she uncovers secret after secret. She is a digger and not a quitter, and can’t stop won’t stop once she gets an idea. Nothing stands in her way – not a field of mud while wearing red high heels, or local law enforcement telling her to leave it to the professionals.

Her grandma has a bit of a romance going on, and Gladwynn is not so sure how she feels about it – just who is this man her grandmother is hanging around with? As for Gladwynn, is there romance on the horizon? “You will have to keep reading to find out”, is what I was told by Howeler when I asked her about a potential hopeful. And keep reading I will, as I loved this book.

I enjoyed the book, meeting the characters and the town, the crazy mystery that had so many components , but I liked the ending most of all. Gladwynn grabs hold of her life in the end, and while I felt like Gladwynn was a bit unsure and unsteady during the course of the book, I felt in the end, she put her foot down and declared what she wants. It was such a powerful way to end the book, and I loved it. I can’t wait to read more about Gladwynn, Lucinda, and their cats Scout and Pixel!

You can find a copy of the book here, and Howeler’s website here.