My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized38 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! Last week I took an unscheduled break from just about everything. I think the past 8 weeks finally caught up with me and I needed to take some downtime. It was nice to be lazy with Wyatt after the months we have been through! We had a play date with his cousin Mermaid Girl, and I had a grown up play date with my friends, who I haven’t seen in months in person. It was so good to see them. Then Saturday I had a video chat with a friend who lives in another state and that was fun as well! I feel much more refreshed after all of that.

Reading:

I am slowly meandering my way through Hill House Living by Paula Sutton. Sutton has a famous Instagram account, Hill House Vintage and her life looks so gorgeous. I am also reading through my favorite book again, Watership Down. I like to take my time with this book. And this time I am also listening to it as well! I have never done that before and it gives it a whole new feel. The audiobook I am listening to is fantastic, the reader Peter Capaldi does the best voices and is just a very talented reader. I highly recommend it! I am doing a read some/listen to some method. This will probably take me to the end of the week so nothing new here.

Posted Last Week:

Books that Feel Like Spring!

Book Review: Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Homeschool Journey – Maine!

Watching/Listening:

Billy and I have been watching Beyond Paradise, which I love. I love that it is different than other British cozies in that there is not a murder every episode! It is set in a small little coastal town in Devon, and to make it more realistic I guess the mysteries are all different types of crime. I love this departure.

We are also watching Ted Lasso, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, and My Life is Murder with Lucy Lawless. It’s been a good week of tv! No movies this weekend yet, we had a surprise visit from my dad last night instead of movie night, which was nice. We are getting ready to join in on Lisa at Boondock Ramblings “Spring of Cary Grant” though, and are planning on watching Houseboat tonight.

As for listening, I am listening to Watership Down.

And that is it from my corner of the world! How are things in your neighborhood?

Books That Feel Like Spring!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review, books and reading20 Comments

Spring! It is not quite here in Michigan yet, but it is coming. The crocuses are popping up, birds are happily chirping in the morning and evenings, the sun streams through my windows until much later in the day, and I am soaking it all up. I love fall and winter, but I appreciate spring for all it brings. The sunny days with warm breezes, not too hot but just perfectly warm, the return of the color to the landscape, and even rainy days too. Worms and birds and rabbits, and flowers and picnics and afternoons in the garden. I can’t wait for it to be fully spring here but until then, I have books!

Wind in the Willows is the first book I read to Wyatt when he got home from the hospital as a teeny baby. The windows were open, letting in a slight slight breeze, I could hear the wind chimes, and I held my sweet preemie and read to him. I will always associate this book with Wyatt and spring.

How to be a Wildflower by Katie Daisy is a wonderful journey! It is a field guide and journal that allows you to dream away lazy afternoons. Billy got me this one Mother’s Day and I love taking it on all of our spring and summer adventures.

This next one I haven’t read but I just discovered! I am not sure how I missed this as a kid because Mandy looks like a book I definitely would have read – and I plan on doing just that this spring.

Things to Look Forward To doesn’t need much explanation. Spring is about hope and dreaming and small joys, and this book is all about those little joys. I love Sophie Blackwall and this book is so fun. (also $1.49 on kindle!)

The Secret Garden. Of course. Because what spring book list can be complete without it? One of my childhood favorites!

If you read here often then you know that I love Watership Down. It’s my favorite book of all time and I reread it every spring. These courageous, clever rabbits are always so inspiring.

Those rainy days of spring deserve some magic and maybe even a little mystery. Mary Stewart is one of my go-to comfort reads for life and Thornyhold is one of the best in my opinion. If you like a cozy mystery with a bit of edge, I highly encourage you to read Mary Stewart, although some of the ideas may be considered a bit old fashioned these days.

The Cottingley Secret – I love this book. I love fairies and have always been fascinated by the real story behind the Cottingley fairies, especially Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s belief in it!

Sarah Addison Allen is always a must read for me too, and Garden Spells was the first book I read of hers. It is magical realism and cozy and just fun. It definitely gives me springtime feels.

These two are actually in progress over here. I checked out Hill House Living from the library because I love Paula Sutton’s Instagram account. Her life is just so beautiful! And I have A Poem for Every Spring Day on order from Amazon to add to our collection. That cover! I am in love!

Are there any books that sing of spring to you? Nostalgic reads, or new reads, or just anything that speaks to you? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Book Review: Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review9 Comments

Publisher Summary:

Sometimes all you need is a pinch of magic…

Eva Evergreen is determined to earn the rank of Novice Witch before she turns thirteen years old. If she doesn’t, she’ll lose her magic forever. For most young witches and wizards, it’s a simple enough test:

ONE: Help your town, do good all around.
TWO: Live there for one moon, don’t leave too soon.
THREE: Fly home by broomstick, the easiest of tricks.

The only problem? Eva only has a pinch of magic. She summons heads of cabbage instead of flowers and gets a sunburn instead of calling down rain. And to add insult to injury, whenever she overuses her magic, she falls asleep.

When she lands on the tranquil coastal town of Auteri, the residents expect a powerful witch, not a semi-magical girl. So Eva comes up with a plan: set up a magical repair shop to aid Auteri and prove she’s worthy. She may have more blood than magic, but her “semi-magical fixes” repair the lives of the townspeople in ways they never could have imagined. Only, Eva’s bit of magic may not be enough when the biggest magical storm in history threatens the town she’s grown to love. Eva must conjure up all of the magic, bravery, and cleverness she can muster or Auteri and her dreams of becoming a witch will wash away with the storm.

My Thoughts:

This book was absolutely adorable! Eva Evergreen is daughter to one of the most powerful witches in the land – however, Eva herself only seems to have a pinch of magic. She is finally of age to gain her rank of Novice Witch, and sets off to the town where she will spread her wings and work on her challenge. She has one month to prove that she can do this, and will need the support of the town mayor, who doesn’t seem to like her much. The town was expecting someone not quite like Eva, but more like her mother.

However, bit by bit, Eva starts to make friends and finds ways to be helpful to her town. She makes friends with a little a flame fox, who like her doesn’t quite fit in, as well as some human friends as well. She finds she has an affinity for repair magic, and can fix problems, in her own Eva-like way – sometimes which have rather explosive results. Her biggest challenge however is looming off in the distance, something called The Culling, a magical storm that can take out and destroy whole towns. Witches defend their towns with their magic, and Eva feels she is not up to this task. The longer she is there, the more anxious she becomes. Her mother can’t see her or help her until after her month is up, and if this storm comes while Eva is in Auteri, her mother will more than likely be defending another town. So it is up to Eva.

What I absolutely loved about this book is that while Eva found she only had a pinch of magic, she found the power to do great things and solve problems by using her other skills, the non-magical ones. She is clever and resourceful and she finds that these two qualities are just as, if not more, important than her magic.

I really enjoyed this book, and now I need to read the next one. The ending set up a whole new situation that I need to know the answer to!

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s a chilly, sunny morning and I am so grateful for the return of the sun to these parts. I feel like it has just been gray and gloomy for months. I have a very happy cactus too – it is either a Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus but it is pretty confused because it is all bloomy and pretty.

This weekend I finally got to meet my new niece! It was a bit of a wild ride for little girl – she had jaundice and ended up having to go back to the hospital for an overnight. She is doing great now though, and we got to meet her. It’s been so long since I have held a wee bebe and I very reluctantly handed her off to Billy for his turn holding her. We didn’t stay long, but long enough to chat and squeal over the baby and play a little with Mermaid Girl. I also made lemon tortellini soup for them so we took that with us as well.

Before seeing the baby though, we had another stop. We drove about half an hour to get something to eat that kept being targeted to me on Instagram. Lol. It looked so good and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Imagine my surprise when we arrived and it was in a gas station. Ok, I am not a food snob or anything but I do get a little weird about eating from a gas station restaurant. However, Billy went in and ordered it and brought it out to us, and it was delicious. There was a never ending line at their drive through, and it was quite busy! Definitely a hidden gem.

Sunday was absolutely beautiful, in the mid 50s and sunshiney. We opted to work outside in the yard for a bit, clearing some of the front beds and laying cardboard down over some areas in the back that have been taken over by decades old ivy. Anyone know how to get rid of ivy without chemicals? I am hoping that this plan of suffocating it works, other wise we will have to try something different. It grows over our neighbor’s garage, and destroys it, and they are not happy about it either. I think our previous neighbors there planted it, and now it has moved from that spot in their yard into our yard and just keeps spreading. Wyatt played in the yard while we worked then afterwards we all went to our favorite ice cream place! It opened for the season last week so we were waiting for a perfect time to go – and Sunday was it. We all got our favorites- Black Cherry for Billy, Mint Chocolate Chip for Wyatt, and Scooby Doo for me, which is peanut buttery. So good!

I uncovered these babies who were buried in leaves – I can’t wait for them to bloom!

So spring is springing around here! What is going with you all today?

Homeschool Journey: Maine! Week 1

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling9 Comments

We are working on our very last New England state – Maine! I decided since it is our finale and goodbye to that region, that we would spend two weeks working on it. Last week was all about the sea and coastal areas, and it was seriously so much fun.

In addition to general Maine facts, I focused on lighthouses and on whales with Wyatt. I need to get this kid to the ocean and to an aquarium! I really believe in hands on learning and I see Wyatt light up when we can experience what we are learning about as opposed to just, well learning about it at home. However, since we can’t visit everywhere all at once, or really just everywhere we do our best and travel through books and music and food and whatever else I can think of.

The lighthouse study was pretty neat. He really enjoyed learning more about lighthouse keepers and seeing diagrams and pictures of the insides of lighthouses, than in what the purpose of lighthouses were and how they worked. We watched a few videos, read a few books, and together made this rendition of a lighthouse on an island. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

As for whales, we did a proper whale study, learning all the facts about them. We also listened to whale songs which are so otherworldly – they actually sort of creeped Wyatt out. I think it is pretty, he is not a fan but he is 8. He much more enjoyed all the sea shanties we listened to, and I get it, they are much livelier.

Our poet of the week was Mary Oliver! As the teacher I get to pick all my favorites so I am. Lol. The book we read, My Poet, was about a little girl who is friends (fictionally) with Mary Oliver and together they collect words. It was really well done. We also read a few different poems by Oliver which are sort of eh, not quite for kids but we read them anyway, and zoomed in on the poem “Children, It’s Spring” for our painting inspiration. As an additional painting project that correlated with the book My Poet, I had Wyatt describe four things – a pine cone, sand dollar, agate slice, and Freddy our frog. Lol. Then I had him pick one and paint it, and we surrounded it with his words.

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

L is for Lobster || Welcome to Maine || Hello Lighthouse || One Morning in Maine || My Poet

We will be continuing on with Maine this week, and turning our gaze from the coast to the more inland areas.

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized36 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 am super excited that our forecast today calls for sunny weather and a high of 55! Finally! And our favorite ice cream place opened for the season last week, so I think we are going to get our first cones of the season today as well. I am hoping they have my favorite, Scooby Doo!

We had a pretty busy week last week, with appointments every single day. Ick. But they are over and done so that is good, and Wyatt will be starting speech again in two weeks and will be getting his new braces which he desperately needs. His other orthotics/braces are just so small on him now!

Read Last Week:

This book was so cute! I read it as part of Middle Grade March and it was adorable. Eva is a spunky little semi-magical witch, with just a pinch of magic, but as she is clever and resourceful, that is all she needs!

Reading This Week:

I was planning on reading one more middle grade book this month, but I am not feeling it right now. It is instead time to read Watership Down, like I do every spring! My favorite book of all time! I am so excited to read it again!

Posted Last Week:

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Book Review: The Grace of Wild Things

Homeschool Journey: New Hampshire and Robert Frost

Watched/Listened:

We watched Beyond Paradise, and are all caught up on the available episodes, which I am bummed about! I am enjoying this spin off of Death in Paradise. We also watched Ted Lasso and finished up season 2, and watched some of the old Hamish Macbeth episodes on Acorn, even though I get all upset since they are not like the books. However it is an easy peaceful show to watch and I look for those on busy weeks. Oh! We also finished up the newest season of All Creatures Great and Small! I was sobbing!

For our movie night this week we watched the remaining movie in the Irish Folktale Trilogy I mentioned last week. It is actually the first in the series but the last we watched. It was ok, but not our favorite. It was also super dark and sad! The name of this one is The Secret of Kells. As we were watching, Billy remarked that Brother Aidan looked like Willie Nelson and then the rest of the movie I could not get that image out of my head!

As for listening, I didn’t really listen to anything new last week, just my normal line up of true crime podcasts – Morbid, Redhanded, Casefile, Going West.

And that is it from around here! I hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Homeschool Journey: New Hampshire and Robert Frost

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

We are slowly making our way through the New England states in our homeschool studies and it has been a fun little “trip”. We vacationed out east one summer when I was a kid and I have never forgotten that trip. I loved it so much and would love to take Wyatt out east as well! However for now we will just learn about the states that make up New England.

Last week we were studying New Hampshire! I have to admit I didn’t know too much about New Hampshire myself. Two of my favorite books are set there (A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Hotel New Hampshire) and that is about the extent of my familiarity. So Wyatt and I both learned some neat facts last week together!

One of Wyatt’s favorite things that we learned was that New Hampshire is home to the oldest floating post office. This kid is obsessed with the postal system and thought this was so cool. This “floating post office” was started in Lake Winnipesaukee in 1892 and the Sophie C. delivers mail to the islands in that area. It also delivers ice cream! How awesome is that! It did look really cool and if we ever get to New Hampshire we will definitely take a ride on it. Wyatt was fascinated!

Interestingly, when I googled oldest floating post office, I found that there is one right near us, in Detroit! They like to call themselves the only floating post office, which is confusing, but this postal boat has its own zip code. The J.W. Wescott delivers mail to passing freighters which is really neat, and also delivers the occasional pizza. These floating post offices seem to be multi-purpose! The J.W. Wescott was founded back in 1874 (so before the post office in New Hampshire). The Sophie C. and the J.W. Wescott deliver to different types of people, to people just living on the islands, and then the crews stationed on freighters so maybe that is why they both hold the title.

We are going to try to amble downtown this weekend to see if we can find this floating post office!

As part of our Poets and Painting theme we are doing this spring, Wyatt listened to a lot of Robert Frost poems, learned a little about the poet, and then painted a poem inspired by one of Frost’s most famous poems, “The Road Not Taken”. I was not surprised Wyatt chose to paint a yellow wood – yellow is one of his favorite colors!

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

New Hampshire || A Stone Sat Still || G is for Granite || Papa is a Poet || The Road Not Taken (this book was lovely by the way!)

Stay tuned for what we have been doing this week!

Book Review: The Grace of Wild Things

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review12 Comments

Publisher Summary:

An inventive and fantastical reimagining of Anne of Green Gables—with magic and witches!—that explores found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination, from the acclaimed author of The Language of Ghosts and The School Between Winter and Fairyland.

Grace has never been good at anything except magic—not that anyone believes her. While other children are adopted from the orphanage, nobody wants Grace. So she decides to make a home for herself by running away and offering herself as an apprentice to the witch in the nearby woods. After all, who better to teach Grace to use her magic? Surely the witch can’t be that bad.

But the witch is that bad—she steals souls for spells and gobbles up hearts. So Grace offers a deal: If she can learn all 100½ spells in the witch’s grimoire, the witch will make Grace her apprentice. But if Grace fails, the witch can take her magic. The witch agrees, and soon an unexpected bond develops between them. But the spells are much harder than Grace expected, and when a monster from the witch’s past threatens the home Grace has built, she may have to sacrifice more than her magic to save it.

Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, this is a magical story of found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination.

My Thoughts:

I thought this book was so much fun! I would have absolutely loved it as a kid – I loved it even as an adult!

So the big question everyone wants to know the answer to…how much of it is an Anne of Green Gables story? In my opinion, the similarities are mostly very broad ones. Grace is an orphan, her first adoption didn’t work out, and the character Grace is very inspired by the character of Anne. Grace is enthusiastic, curious, is prone to flights of fancy and romanticism, has a very dear and close friend, and there are two direct incidents that were definitely directly out of Anne of Green Gables but with a twist to make it work with this book.

There was magic, and witches, fairy princes, and a quest that Grace had to fulfill. The witch was not nice, she was definitely an evil witch (at least in the beginning) but the book takes a turn, and Grace and the witch become a family of sorts, so it is also a book of found family, which I love.

By far though one of my favorite characters is Windweaver, Grace’s familiar and pet crow. She found him as a baby and nursed him to health, and Windweaver is arrogant, yet loyal and loving with Grace. He also adores poetry, but only poetry about birds.

The ending felt maybe a bit rushed but it was also emotional, and moving. I was actually pretty upset over something that happens in the end but like Grace I understood it was the right thing.

Overall, this is a fantastic book that is like Hansel and Gretel meets Anne of Green Gables, yet strong enough to not simply be a retelling. Grace and the witch, Windweaver and Sareena, all are wonderful characters in their own right and stand on their own against these famous backdrops and comparisons. I do think this book might be scary for sensitive young readers, who are not fans of scary stories. While most of the book is not scary there are references to children being cooked in the oven, so be mindful of that if there is a child in your life who would not react well to those parts.

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP14 Comments

Good morning everyone! (or afternoon or evening or whenever you are reading this) It’s a chilly morning today although it is supposed to warm up – finally! I have my delicious cup of coffee sitting next to me on one side, and Wyatt on the other, and it is a good morning, despite having to get up early and get blood work done.

Hmm where to begin? Let’s start with the best news of all – my new niece is here! She was born Saturday afternoon and is 6 lbs 9 oz, and 19.5 inches long. She was born so fast that the staff was surprised and the doctor never even made it! They thought it would be hours before she arrived – she showed them, and made her arrival after an hour after her parents arrived. I get to meet her today, maybe. I am can’t wait!!! We decorated their house for their welcome home, and delivered flowers to Mermaid Girl, who was excited but also missing her mom and dad. My brother was of course exposed to Covid right before little girl made her arrival so he is being super cautious. Or, as Billy says, covering up photographic evidence that he shaved his beard off after a shaving incident. Lol.

However, before Baby E’s arrival, we had many other adventures! On Thursday morning Wyatt and I went to the Henry Ford Museum to visit the Scooby Doo exhibit!! I was so excited. More than Wyatt, honestly. Scooby was my absolute favorite growing up and I still love it. Ghosts and dogs and mysteries? I guess I have been the same my whole life! Anyway, the exhibit was really fun. It was set up with a mystery to solve but Wyatt was not interested in that part, he just wanted to explore all the fun and interactive displays, which is fine. We saw bookcases and pianos with secret compartments that revealed themselves when you pushed the right book or played the right tune, and Wyatt got to act as a behind the scenes villain! They had an area where one side of the wall was a suit of armor, and the other side had buttons and levers that would activate the armor, rattling it or causing its eyes to glow. You could also make a disembodied laugh happen and flying ghosts. My child absolutely loved this. You could see people on the other side via a camera feed and surprise them! Wyatt had a blast.

There were other interactive displays as well, and then a whole play restaurant which Wyatt also enjoyed. He made pizzas and sandwiches and Scooby Sundaes. And I saw a toy doll house that I would have loved as a kid – how did I miss that when I was growing up? Maybe it is new.

Then of course Friday was St. Patrick’s Day! We spent the day listening to the Irish Rovers, the Pogues, and Van Morrison, read some books, and created some fun nature art. We had “leprechaun” bread (pistachio pudding bread), Lucky Charms treats, and then for dinner Irish beef stew over mashed potatoes. It was all delicious! Wyatt enjoyed the Lucky Charms treats the best – and the leftover marshmallows. Later that evening Billy and I watched Wolfwalkers, which is part of an Irish Folklore trilogy and it was excellent. I am thinking about doing a big review of the trilogy.

So it has been an exciting few days! Lots to do and see, and a new family member even!!

This week Wyatt and I both have lots of appointments which stinks. I hate weeks like that. But at least the weather is supposed to be nicer which will make things easier.

I was going to include our homeschool journey from last week in this post, but I feel like I have blathered on quite enough for this morning, so I will do that later on this week instead. Enjoy your day everyone!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized29 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! Last week was very thankfully a slow week! We had one outing and the rest of the time we focused on things at home. We are also all on babywatch over here- my SIL is due any moment now and I can’t wait to meet my new niece!! She will be the fourth kiddo in our family with a March birthday!

UPDATE: Baby girl is here! Mom and baby are doing well!! Welcome to the world baby E!

Read Last Week:

I am still in the midst of Middle Grade March and finished two fun little books last week! The Grace of Wild Things was a fun, Anne of Green Gables inspired read. I hope to review it this week! And The Tea Dragon Society is so darn cute!! I want a tiny adorable tea dragon!! It is a graphic novel and the artwork is very Ghibli-esque.

Reading This Week:

Speaking of Ghibli, this book has big Ghibli vibes, specifically Kiki’s Delivery Service. It looks like it will be another fun little read for Middle Grade March.

Posted Last Week:

Homeschool Journey: Easing Back Into Our Routine

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Made in Ireland: A Few Irish Etsy Artists

Watching and Listening:

Billy and I have been watching a weird range of shows this week. Ted Lasso, Beyond Paradise (a Death in Paradise spin off), and Ghosts. Then Friday night we watched Wolfwalkers, which is part of an “Irish Folklore Trilogy”. I used to watch Song of the Sea with Wyatt when he was a baby all the time, and I still love it. This one was amazing as well, but I don’t really think it is for kids. Maybe older kids, like high school? The description:

Wolfwalkers follows the story of Robyn Goodfellowe, a young apprentice hunter who arrives in Ireland with her father during a time of superstition and magic to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to turn into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the Wolfwalkers and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.

It was pretty intense actually, but also perfect for St. Patricks day. We still need to watch the first in the trilogy, The Secret of the Kells, but if it is as good as Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers I know I will love it.

As for listening, on Friday we listened to a lot Van Morrison, The Pogues, and The Irish Rovers. Naturally. Lol. I also started listening to a long form podcast (True Crime) called Black Hands about the Bain Family murders.

And that is about it from my corner of the internet! How are you all doing? What is happening in your neighborhood?