Hello everyone!! We are close to afternoon at this point but I am still counting it as morning. Why not?

Wyatt and I are enjoying a fairly lazy morning. We had another crazy week, just trying to get everything in place for September and school and Cub Scouts.

However, I do have some very exciting news. Wyatt, for the very first time in two years, took steps without any assistance from anyone else. He was using a gait trainer, and it took every bit of his determination and strength, but he did it. I literally had tears running down my face as we drove home. It has been a long long road back to walking for us. Years ago, before Covid, before epilepsy, Wyatt was walking with a walker, and about to graduate to crutches. Then epilepsy reared its ugly head, and the medicine they gave him to control his seizures changed my boy. He was more lethargic, less Wyatt, in every area of life. In school, with mobility, with everything. He gained weight, adding to the mobility issues. I tried to tell doctors for months and months that I thought it was causing him other problems, and finally, one doctor listened to me. She looked over his file and 100% agreed, and said he needed off that medicine ASAP. Now he is on a new one, and my little boy is back. Slowly but surely we are getting there, but seeing years stolen.. I can’t even describe it. Anyway. We are mending, we are working, and nobody harder than Wyatt.

So yeah, I shed some big tears over this moment. He walked most of that hallway under his own power.

Last Saturday’s game night we had guests! My dad and stepmom joined us, and it was such a great time. Wyatt enjoyed sharing some of his favorite games with them, especially the game Outfoxed. He really loves that one. It was a fun night, and we all ate way too much junk – cookies and candy and chips and popcorn. But we had fun!

We of course went to the library this week, and checked out a pile of books. Then we met one of my friends at the coffeehouse to discuss Cub Scouts and just hang out. Nicole and I seem to have a lot to say to each other all at once and Wyatt was so good while we chatted. We stopped at the cake bakery for cake pops as a reward. I also finished up Vera Wong while we waited for her (we got there early) and oh my gosh, it was so entertaining. I loved Vera! I’m behind on book reviews so I need to do a post on that soon too.

We are finally, finally basically an official unit for Scouts. That was my biggest focus this week and we are pretty much there. I started this unit for Wyatt and let me tell you, it was so much more red tape than I was expecting, but I made it through and we are pretty much on the other side now. Our first official meeting is in September, and then our first activity is already planned as well. The kids have the opportunity to go to a Detroit Tigers game and run out on the field, meet a ballplayer, get a game ball, a whole bunch of cool stuff. I am super excited and I think it is a great way to kick off our scouting adventures!

I also met up with my friend crew for a ladies night in Kelly’s backyard. It was a very very much needed night out! I think we have all been just going and going this summer and it was nice to finally meet up again and just relax and laugh, because we laughed. A lot. Especially over a story about an airport and an electric guitar!

I also finished my second embroidery piece. I am still learning but having fun! I haven’t rinsed the outline yet, but I think it is ok. I need to not leave so much space in between but I will get there. It is for fun and I am having fun.

Now some random pics!

Have a good one everyone!

Guys, I have a confession. I miss picture books. I love picture books – I think they are just so beautiful, with their large pages of illustrations and little stories that can be so special. I think it takes a lot of talent to be able to tell a whole tale that teaches or encourages or makes someone cry from the beauty of the story, in so few words. However, Wyatt is not really interested in them. I mean, he is nine. Lol. But I still check them out and read them sometimes with him. Lately just one, Prunella, which I highly recommend.

At first glance, you see a little girl in a garden. Then you look closer, and see that the garden is maybe a bit darker. The plants a little..creepier. She is holding a fly, there is no pretty butterfly here. Prunella was born with a purple thumb, unlike the green thumbs that her gardener parents have. What does this mean? Well, it means that Prunella’s gardening talents are more inclined to a garden full of plants that are not the usual. Things like Venus flytraps. Fungi. Corpse Flowers. Poison ivy. And because of this, she doesn’t really have many friends. Her friends are her plants. But then one day, a little budding botanist stumbles into her garden, and then something wonderful grows.

I really loved this picture book, and Prunella’s garden of strange and unusual plants.

Wyatt lately has been picking out graphic novels. One of his friends read them all the time, and so we picked one up to see if Wyatt would like them too. Turns out, he did.

Like his mother, he is obsessed with snails. He even wants to be one for Halloween which has Billy and I scratching our heads trying to figure out how to manage it – but we will. It might take a little creativity but I think we can do it.

The whole Tales of Tiny Folk series is cute. They are very thin and not very long, and they are adorable, in my opinion. The Mika Song books are also super cute, with the little squirrels, Norma and Belly, having little food based adventures.

As for chapter books, he has been checking out some of the new Hardy Boys books, as well as a series called The Haunted Library. Currently at our house we have:

He also recently checked out this really neat nonfiction book, that everyone in our house liked. It was really cool and we all loved flipping through it.

These are just a few of the books we have circulating right now!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt: Relationship Freebie (Pick a relationship type and choose characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.)

Ok. So I know that my title is super long. I really couldn’t figure out how to say it in a more efficient way. Some of them have cozy sounding lives and jobs that would be a perfect spot to hang out with them, have a coffee, a chat about books or life or whatever. Other characters just would be neat to chat with about whatever! And..maybe this post turned out to be more setting than character. I am going to call it equal though – both character and setting are appealing!

Legends and Lattes || Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

I absolutely loved Legends and Lattes and the quirky community that Viv built up in her coffeeshop. It would be a cool spot to hang out and talk to Viv about her adventures and coffee.

Yeongju’s bookshop is the same. She created such a wonderful spot for people to come together and feel comfortable, to read and drink coffee and even crochet.

Other Birds || Christa Comes Out of her Shell

Other Birds is one of my favorite books. I love it so much. Can I please please go to the Dellawisp on Mallow Island, and have a drink with all the people who live there?

So, Christa is a bit antisocial so I would probably have to track her down on her island to chat. But that is ok, because then I could walk the beach with her and learn all about her beloved snails! I love snails too and I would love to hear all the little facts that Christa could share about sea life.

What You Are Looking For in the Library || The Komogawa Food Detectives

Sayuri Komachi. Need I say more? I would love to get tea with her and craft. She can make her felted pieces and I could embroider, and then we could talk about books. I wonder what she would recommend to me?

Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare from the Kamogawa Food Detectives. This book was really fascinating. I loved this idea of recreating a particular meal, and how Koishi and her father are able to piece together exactly how to make it is masterful. I could imagine stumbling in there, having a cup of tea and a bowl of noodles and chatting away.

And I am going to stop here. I had some runners up, but.. I was going for a certain feel of a character and place with this topic and they didn’t quite fit. If you are interested, the runners up were Greenglass House, Little Beach Street Bakery, The Little French Bistro, and The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. All wonderful books but just not quite there. Except maybe Little Beach Street and that is purely because Neil the puffin is awesome and I would want to meet him. (I almost chose to write about pets from books and Neil was on that list too)

Ok. Now I am really stopping. I am looking forward to what everyone else picked for this topic!

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 missed posting yesterday – we were helping my cousin to move as much as we could from his late parents condo to get it ready for selling. It was pretty emotional, as well as physically difficult – and hot! The A/C wasn’t working and I was melting. We got a lot done though.

Also – I am so behind on visiting blogs and commenting and responding here. It is a goal this week to catch up!

Moving on to books!

Read Last Week:

I am actually still reading Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. It is a quiet, thoughtful read and I am taking my time. There is a lot to mull over while reading and is not necessarily a book you race through. Or at least I can’t. Primer and Punishment on the other hand was a fun fast read. I really enjoyed it and I just adore Sawdust the cat!

Reading This Week:

In addition to reading the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, I am also reading Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. I just started it last night before bed, but I was so wiped out I only got through a few pages before I needed to turn off the light and sleep. I have a feeling I am going to love it though. This is also a book from my fall TBR – I have dipped in before September, my own boundary line for fall content and fall things. I guess all these Augtober posts are getting to me and influencing me! And we are not that far away now so… I went for it.

Posted Last Week:

Top Ten Tuesday – Houseboats!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

Not a whole lot right now. When we have time at the end of the night, we are watching The Great British Sewing Bee. We actually have caught up to the latest season! I found a Frog and Toad cartoon that looks so cute – Wyatt is not going to want to watch it with me now that he is at the advanced cool kid age of 9, but … too bad he is going to have to. It just looks so cute and I want to watch it, so he can watch it with me.

And that is it from me today! I hope you all are well!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The Top Ten Tuesday for today is all about transportation!  Prompt: Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel (books whose plots involve travel or feature modes of transportation on the cover/title) (submitted by Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next)

Well, it is summer. I live in the Great Lakes State (Michigan). And I love the setting of a houseboat! There is just something that feels so nostalgic/retro and wholesome about a houseboat, and I love the idea of just floating on the water, living there, waking up to sunrises and going to bed with sunsets out over the water. It just sounds so peaceful! All this paired with the fact that I am currently reading a book set on a houseboat, inspired this list of books with houseboat/canal boat settings!

I have only read two of these (well one and a half) but I am intrigued by them all! So I guess this list is my top ten list of boat books that I want to read!

I have never read Katie Fforde but I know a lot of people have. I might have to start with these two, The Rose Revived and Life Skills.

I love the vintage covers on both of these middle grade books, especially the Houseboat Mystery. (which is the one that I have read lol) Houseboat Girl looks really cute too! I am very into older middle grade books, and I will have to pick this one up!

I had not heard of either of these but look how adorable they both look!! And look, Katie Fforde endorsed the Cosy Canal Boat Dream. I might have found a new theme for myself here.

The Houseboat by the Quay sounds like a great summery read! It is part of a whole series and the entire series looks adorable, honestly.

The Tail of Emily Windsnap is not the original book I picked for this spot (that was A Kiss, A Dare, and a Boat Called Promise) but I decided this one just sounded more fun, despite not having a boat on the cover. The main character has lived on a houseboat her entire twelve years of life, and it has mermaids in it. So cute!

Primer and Punishment is the book that inspired this list. I am currently reading it and it is so fun. I want to live on a houseboat, even for a week! And the cat is named Sawdust, I love it!!!

The Narrowboat Summer has been on my list forever and ever. I just love that cover and the idea of a summer spent on a narrowboat.

And that is my summery homage to living on the water!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This weeks prompt is: Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series

I am not really much of a series reader! There are times when I just will stop reading a series because I don’t want things to change in the series; I like it just the way it is. I did this with Outlander – I didn’t want to read on while Jamie got older. I wanted to keep the book memory of him just how I liked it, thank you very much. Or sometimes I start a sequel, and I just don’t like it. The magic of the first book is gone. This happens to me a lot. So, saying all of this, this was a difficult TTT for me. It was a fun one though! I can’t say that these are my favorite series or not, but I must have liked them quite a bit to read more than one book, and I will leave it at that!

I love Amanda Flower! I love these two series by her, and also her Living History series as well. I haven’t started the Garden magic one yet but I know I will love it too. And, I guess I must like the Halloween/fall theme quite a bit since all three of these are autumnal! I also love the Lighthouse Library series – I mean who would not want to be a librarian living in a lighthouse library? What a cool job!

Three very different books in this row! Lol. The Farmer’s Daughter by Lisa Howeler is the first book in her Spencer Valley Chronicles books, and my favorite of them all. I just love the story of Alex and Molly, the humor that Howeler infuses into her books, and the community as a whole.

This is not the last book in the series that I have read, although it is my favorite. I love Claire and Jamie in America, although the previous books were awesome as well.

I have read and reread the Little House series a billion times. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have read them, it is insane. I do have a few standout favorites in the series, but of them all, I love this one. I love the little sod house – as a kid I thought that would be amazing to live in! As an adult, I can understand why Ma was a little less enthused.

I really enjoyed the Fox Crossing Maine series by Melinda Metz. For three years I could count on a new one to bring in the new year with. There was just something so fun about this little town in Maine that made me want to read about it – plus, a magical fox!

I LOVE the Truly Devious books (except for the last one). This one was my absolute favorite so far. I was so wrapped up in the mystery and could not wait to find out whodunit.

So I am still waiting for the third book in this series to come out, and I am hoping that there is one in the works. This is a newer series by Karen White and I absolutely love it. I love New Orleans and always have, I love historic preservation, and I love ghost stories, so this series is a huge win for me!

And finally Harry Potter. It probably is one of my favorite series of books I have read to be honest, so I don’t think I should leave it off the list (even though I did mention HP in my last TTT post! So repetitive of me!) This one was really cool I thought, with the whole Triwizard Tournament and dragons!

And there you have it! I am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s posts and then putting a hand to my head and saying “Oh yeah! I love that series too!!”

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 you all had a terrific week! Ours had a lot of up and down moments, but we have made it to the weekend, and to Billy’s birthday which is today. We went out for a fancy brunch yesterday to celebrate at a Parisian-inspired brasserie named Le Supreme in Detroit and it was amazing!! I will share all the photos and a full write up later this week, but it was so much fun and so delicious.

I had really good reading week as well!

Read Last Week:

I was gifted a copy of The Blue Castle and I absolutely loved it! So many people told me that this was their favorite Montgomery book and while I have not read very many, I can say that I adored it. The nature writing alone made me sigh with happiness, and the plot of Valancy coming into her own was such a good story.

The Bewitching of Aveline Jones is a middle grade that was really well done. It actually sort of gave me the creeps in a part or two or three! This is the second in the series, and while I haven’t read the first it didn’t really matter. I wanted to read this one first since it takes place in the summer, while the first one is a fall read. I know, I am super weird.

Reading This Week:

These are the two I have lined up! I don’t know if I will get to them both however. Primer and Punishment looks so cute, and I LOVE a houseboat setting. When She Was Me I am reading as part of my own Spooky Summer Camp reading that I am doing this summer.

Posted Last Week:

Thursday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Book Reviews – The Berry Pickers

Watching:

We are boring with our viewing over here this summer – we just are totally binge watching The Great British Sewing Bee. We are trying to find the Pottery Throw Down for winter, because apparently we can’t get enough of British television.

And that is it from me today! I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

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 you all had a good week last week! We had just a normal week around here. Nothing exciting – which is a good thing sometimes! I finished up some things to make our Cub Scout Pack official, and I started working on planning for school in September.

Read Last Week:

The Berry Pickers was phenomenal. Definitely one of the best books I have read all year, hands down. It was also a tear jerker! I needed a giant emotional break after reading it and Crime and Cherry Pits was perfect for a follow up. Summery, a light little cozy set in Michigan, it was perfect.

Reading This Week:

I am still sort of recovering from The Berry Pickers but I have a few I am going to be choosing from.

I really don’t know where I will land this week!

Posted Last Week:

Our Animal Menagerie

Top Ten Tuesday – Debut Novels

Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

I was pretty emotionally drained after The Berry Pickers so I told Billy I needed to go back to the Sewing Bee for a bit. Lol. So we watched The Great British Sewing Bee all week.

And that is it from around here today! I hope you are doing well!