Tag: book review

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Hello everyone!! It has been a very very long week. I am so glad that today is Friday. Wyatt and I have no real plans except a little school. I try to keep Fridays open for field trips, library trips, reading, and art. Fridays are the best. Plus we have pizza every Friday as well so I don’t need to plan and make dinner!

So, this week was a bit crazy. Some of it fun, some of it was not as fun. Let’s start with a fun day, Tuesday.

Tuesday I woke up and the sun was shining and I wanted Wyatt and I to get outside somehow. My friend Sarah has the most magical yard, and I had the idea a few weeks ago of Wyatt using it as a small ecosystem study for the spring and fall. We will miss summer in person due to his surgery, but Sarah is going to send videos for him. Anyway, we had been trying to get the day together but it kept raining on us! Tuesday morning I texted and was like, it is sunny, are you busy? And she texted me back to come on over! (and also that us winter people are crazy because it was pretty darn cold!) So big thanks to her for having us cuckoo winter folk over on a chilly sunny morning when she is a high summer type person.

Can I just say, she was so accommodating to my boy. So concerned and thoughtful about his wheelchair and maneuvering her yard, and wanting to show him things. She even had a fire lit for us to sit around. It was a very lovely start to our day.

The fish were awake and swimming, and very greedy to be fed. She told us to come back and feed them some worms so we are looking forward to that. (well, not really me. Wyatt) We had coffee and we caught up with each other and we talked with Wyatt about all the signs of early spring. About the life we could see emerging, and about what was coming. There were signs of life everywhere. Flowers pushing through the cold ground, birds feeding at her numerous bird feeders, seeds germinating in the earth in her greenhouse, the fish in the pond, and knowing that soon there will frogs and toads lining the rocks that ring the pond. She told us stories of raccoons on roofs, swimming in the pond, the possums that come and hang out in her garage. It was a great time and I am so thankful she is sharing some of that magic with Wyatt.

Later that night, I met up with my friend’s at Kelly’s house. It was the first time the four of us had all been together at once since the holidays and it was so nice to hang out!! I also took Lisa’s book with me and we all fun trying to find different spots to take its picture around the house for my Instagram post.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I went with the last photo for my post. Which one would you have chosen? I am curious!

Then we started our gauntlet of appointments. Wyatt had three appointments this week in two days. It was rough, especially on him. The first appointment was at 7:30 am on Wednesday, where we learned that Wyatt is not having just one hip done in July, but both. To say that I have been struggling with this since getting the news has been an understatement. I am terrified everyone. This is my baby. But his PMR doctor, who we have known since he was a baby, told us that if he is going to end up having the other one done eventually, it is better to do it at the same time rather than separately for a few different reasons. It doesn’t necessarily make it easier emotionally or physically for Wyatt though while he is going through it. We sat there listening while wind and rain were whipping against the windows, wishing she was telling us different news. It was like the weather was reacting to it as well. Angry and upset and full of grief that it has to happen.

We headed home where we had more coffee (me) and toast (Wyatt) then waited for his therapy appointment a few hours later. The weather was a bit nicer when we went there, and he had a good visit.

Our last appointment was yesterday morning, when Wyatt had to go to the orthotist to get fitted for his braces. His regular orthotist is semi-retired and is training a new person. However, this appointment was going to be tricky with Wyatt’s hip pain. George, his regular orthotist, and the trainee were concerned because Wyatt’s muscles were pretty tight and they had to maniuplate him into leg positions that were painful. George told me that if they couldn’t get a good cast in the office yesterday, they would have to do it as a home visit with sedatives. It was pretty tense, and I even had a job, to hold Wyatt’s thigh in a straight position up off the wheelchair, while pushing down on his knee at the same time with my other hand. I could tell he was uncomfortable and in some pain, but I distracted him with stories and trying to make him laugh, and he toughed it out. (If you have read Watership Down, I felt a little like Bluebell to Wyatt’s Capt. Holly) But my kid was a trooper. He got the job done and even was giggling at times. George came in after and told Wyatt how proud he was of him, that he couldn’t believe he had even heard Wyatt laughing when he had been afraid he was going to hear crying. I hate that Wyatt has to be tough, but he really is. When he was in the NICU, we had a sign made that said Team Tough Cookie and that is really Wyatt.

After that appointment, I could literally feel my whole body relax and I was exhausted from the crazy week of emotions and running. Wyatt was tired too, and after a quick stop at Barnes and Noble, where he got a book about otters and I got a set of two new blank books, we headed home where it looked like Wyatt was about to just pass out in the car. When we got home I popped him into my bed, where he conked out hard and I vegged out.

Then we had to get ready for Mermaid Girl! She came over last night for Mexican food and crafts, and we had such a good time with her. She is so full of energy and light, and bounces all over house, telling us story after story. We love having her here. I had also made chocolate chip cookies for dessert and they were delicious! My brother, SIL, and little Hurricane came over to pick her up and hung out for a while which was nice too. And they ate a bunch of cookies which is awesome because that recipe made like 500.

And that leads us to this morning. I am going to have another cup of coffee, hopefully have a pretty easy day.

Just me hanging in there!

I hope that whatever you guys do today, that you do something that makes you smile!

Hello April!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Hello April!! The sun is shining this morning for the first time in days and I am so happy!

April is so many things. This month, it is Easter. It is also my mom’s birthday month, and she will be 74 this year. It’s also the Springtime in Paris movie event that Lisa and I are hosting, and I am hoping to find some fun French things to do this month to really lean into the theme. (I have a few ideas but we will see!) I am currently working on a new embroidery project that is French themed so there is that!

It is also the month I am going to reread Watership Down again, for the whoknowsthenumber time.

Let’s start there, with Watership Down. Reading this book is liking walking down a path that I have traveled so many times, it is well worn, it is well known – yet I always find something to surprise me. Depending on my frame of mine, my life at the time, different parts resonate with me more than others. It’s even hard to say now why exactly this book appeals to me so much. I know that it is upsetting to some people, some people don’t like anthropomorphic characters, etc, but to me this book is about bravery, and friendship. About community and resilience. About breaking free to live the life you want. Perseverance. Adventure. And it is all wrapped up in a little story about rabbits, a story that Richard Adams never intended to write and publish, one that he just started making up and telling his children and they eventually encouraged him to put it on paper. I am so thankful that he did, because I have loved this story of brave, clever rabbits for thirty years.

Sometimes this time of year, I am yearning to get outside and in the garden. We had some plans for gardening this year, but Wyatt’s surgery has been scheduled – July 9th. So instead, Wyatt and I are going to start some pumpkin seeds today. They will grow through the spring and summer, and then, when Wyatt is hopefully through his recovery, the pumpkins will be ready as well. And that is the extent of what we are planning. Billy may throw down some wildflower seed, and let them flourish, I am hoping to maybe maybe make a small water feature on the deck so that Wyatt can see it and access it until his surgery. Maybe it will attract a frog or two.

I am thinking long term these days. Something we can start, that will take us through to fall, as we are going to have some rough months ahead. Something to hope through, look forward to.

Switching gears here – back to now, back to April. I have some really cool stuff planned for homeschool this month. I am very excited about it and I hope that Wyatt likes it and finds it fun. I have a whole concept for a sort of immersive type learning, for language arts and science. We are reading The Wheel on the School, which is new to me as well, and Wyatt will be learning about the Netherlands and habitat loss and restoration, windmills and renewable energy, dikes and climate change, among other things. We will talk about white storks, and eat Dutch babies, and stroopwaffel and try limburger cheese. We will learn about tulips and wooden shoes, about canalboats. I am very excited about this everyone! Can you tell?

I plan to post this week about our March homeschool too, which was also pretty fun but not as immersive or wide in scope.

I have some field trip days planned this month as well. The Detroit Institute of Arts, the zoo with a homeschool friend, member preview day at Greenfield Village. Maybe for that one we will take a blanket and throw it down somewhere, and enjoy a little picnic. Wyatt loves picnics -maybe because I read Wind in the Willows to him for the first time when he was 6 weeks old and just home from the hospital. He came home April 13th, after being in the NICU since March 2nd. The day he came home was rainy and cold and gloomy, but I always say he brought the sun because then it seemed like the days were sunny again, and I had open windows with warm breezes filling the house, and I would look out and see our apple tree in full glorious bloom. We haven’t seen it like that since that year, which sounds fanciful but it is the truth. Right now our tree has tiny buds on it, but no blooms yet.

And I will leave you with one of my favorite poems, a poem by Mary Oliver.

Why I Wake Early
by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety–

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized22 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 all! I hope life is being kind to you right now. I am currently enjoying all the new growth my plants have had recently – and I think my violet might even pop out a flower! It never has before and I would love it! I just see this little shoot getting ready to unfurl, and I am hoping it is a flower. I have been using the water from our aquariums to water all my plants and I think it has been giving them some extra nutrients!

Read Last Week:

I loved both of these reads! Malamander was so cute and fun, and Gladwynn took me along for another unputdownable mystery! Book reviews will be up this week.

Reading This Week:

I am looking forward to reading both of these! Then next week, I am starting my annual reread of Watership Down!! I have been waiting for it to feel a bit more spring, and I think it is finally feeling less winter around here. And, I hope I didn’t just jinx Michigan!

Posted Last Week:

Monday Morning Coffee Catch Up

A Severance Style Get To Know Me Post

Watching:

Billy and I finished up Season 2 of Severance! It was such a ride from start to finish. The whole show is so well conceptualized, well acted, and well written. It is also a bit weird. I love it!

I was afraid that we wouldn’t be able to follow it up, and have a bit of television hangover, but luckily we had episode one of Season 3 Beyond Paradise to watch! It was the perfect show for how I felt last night.

In My Blogging World:

 Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I are hosting another film watching event for springtime. It is six weeks, six movies, and very easy going! If you want to watch one or all or a few, we would love to have you join in. Just watch along and comment on our posts or post your own thoughts and link up!

If you are interested, this is the schedule of movies! Our first post will be up this week!

Also, in January and February, Lisa and I were hosting Crafternoons and they turned out to be so much fun that we are continuing them on through the year. People craft, color, sometimes just chat, and we just have a lot of fun. They are drop in style, so no time commitment, just if you have some time to just craft or hang out one scheduled afternoon, drop on in! We will have our schedule up for spring this week!

Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile! I am going to watch Wyatt bowl this afternoon and that always brings a smile to my face!

Monday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized31 Comments

Hey everyone! It is cold and gray here today, with a chance of snow! What the heck! Wyatt and I are going to hole up inside today. We have a huge day of school, and then I think we will make muffins.

So, I have been very distracted the past few days and it has been hard for me to keep up on anything, other than fretting. Wyatt had an appointment with his orthopedic doctor last week, who follows his spine and hips, and we got some news we didn’t want. We learned that Wyatt’s right hip bone is 50% out of the socket, and that he needs surgery. The doctor actually told us that it was not 100% necessary right now, but that if we waited until it was 100% out, it would be far worse for Wyatt all around – more pain, a longer recovery, a more intense surgery. So of course we are going to do the surgery before all that happens. It just makes me want to vomit, I am not going to lie. I am going to be honest – I am so so tired of my son having to go through all of this. I feel like he just reaches a good stride with things, and then boom, something else happens. I hate this for him so much and I just want to take all this away from him. And I can’t. It is alternately all I can think about but I also can’t think about it. He is literally the toughest person I know, and he is so resilient and despite everything he has gone through in his little life so far he manages to be one of the happiest people I know as well. We haven’t gotten the date for the surgery yet, but it will more than likely be sometime in the summer or fall. If you are a praying person, please send up some prayers for my baby, and we also welcome all the good vibes for him too.

Ok. Phew. Now that I have gotten that off of my chest (but not out of my head or my heart) we have been doing some other things around here too. Yes, lots of appointments because they all seem to fall at the same time, but still having school and some good times too.

We had two family parties last weekend! My cousin hosted a St. Patrick’s Day party for the kids – Wyatt, his two girls, and my nieces. Devin and Chrissy couldn’t make it, since they were prepping for party number 2, a birthday party for my youngest niece, so we took Mermaid Girl with us when we went. The kids decorated shamrock cookies, and the we played a trivia game and the kids acted out charades while the adults guessed, which was hysterical. Wyatt participated too, with the help of his dad, and he absolutely loved it.

The next day was the Hurricane’s second birthday! It was a blast, and she was so funny! In typical two year old fashion, she didn’t want to stop playing with her toys when it was time to sing happy birthday and have cake, and she flung herself face down on the floor and just cried while we sang. She had already eaten the frosting off of four cupcakes so she didn’t care about the cupcakes too much by that point. I was happy that she seemed to really love the present that we got her, which was a set of little houses, maybe ten or twelve, all different colors, that were numbered, and each house came apart and a little plastic animal was inside. She was having such a good time just taking them all apart and putting the animals inside, etc. Success! The two ten year olds also seemed to like them. Lol.

I also had a few hours to myself over the past two weeks! Billy had paid for a massage for me at Christmas time, and I finally cashed it in! I had a lovely hour massage followed up by a twenty minute nap and it was glorious. Then yesterday I had a lovely hang out in our Crafternoon session with Lisa and Cat, where I colored using the markers Billy bought a while ago. We decided a few weeks ago to treat ourselves to a coloring book each, and these markers and we spent an afternoon coloring, Wyatt and Billy and I, and it was actually really relaxing.

Wyatt was also excited because for his birthday month, the local used bookstore gives you a free book, so we took a trip there with my cousin and his girls (his youngest is also a March birthday – we have four birthdays in March!) to shop. Wyatt spent some of his birthday money, and ended up with quite a stack of dragon and wolf books! He was super happy. Nonfiction books were buy one get one free, and they are already half off, so I bought one and got another free. Both were summer crafting books that I thought would be cool to do, either as a family or by myself. I also threw in a Rachel Carson book as well while I was at it. It was a good little trip out.

And that is about it!

Just throwing in some random photos from the roll!

So that last picture of Wyatt. Wyatt lately, like most kids, has been imitating and wanting to make YouTube videos (we don’t but I told him I would try to think of a way maybe if he really wants to). Wyatt however likes to imitate the booktubers we watch and I think it is so cute. I don’t dare say that to him though, he would die of ten year old embarrassment. He also writes down books, like I do when I watch them, and then he looks books up to read on the internet like I do. I have to say that I am flattered that this is what he is imitating, and also love that it is so book centered. That booktuber in the photo is his favorite, Liv of Liv’s Library. Wyatt and I watch her new video together every Sunday night before reading a book before bed.

And that is it from around here! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile! I will be trying as well!

Mini Book Reviews: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Emily of New Moon, and Greenwild

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s time for another mini book review post!

First up: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa

A book about books and bookshops – I had a feeling I was going to like it. And I did! Takako is a young woman, who was blindsided one day by her boyfriend, when he tells her that he is getting married – but not to her. I think this could throw anyone for a loop! She falls into a depression, and an unexpected phone call from her uncle whom she hasn’t spoken to in years changes her life, when he offers her a job, working for room and board in his bookshop. For maybe anyone else this would be a dream come true. But Takako is not a reader.

I of course loved all of the aspects of being a reader who loves books that is touched upon in this book, but what I loved most was the relationship between uncle and niece. It just felt unexpected, and I found it refreshing. Her uncle Satoro is a bit of a free spirit, and at first Takako has a hard time relating to him. Throughout the book however, their relationship figures itself out, and Takako learns some things about her uncle she didn’t know. I absolutely loved this short read.

“No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live our lives trying to find our way.”

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

I had been wanting to read Emily of New Moon for awhile, although I wasn’t sure if I would like Emily as much as Anne. Imagine my surprise when I liked her maybe a little bit more? Don’t come for me Anne fans! Lol. I still love Anne!

However, I loved Emily of New Moon. She is feisty and temperamental, resilient and independent. I loved reading her story. There were flashes of Anne, with her whimsy and love of words and writing and poetry, but Emily is her own character. In the foreword written by Kate MacDonald Butler, Montgomery’s granddaughter, she states that Emily was her grandmother’s favorite creation, and that her grandmother has been quoted as saying “People were never right in saying I was Anne, but in some respects, they will be right if they write me down as Emily.”

I only had two criticisms – and a TW – there are a lot of references to cat deaths and also a character that had some off-putting vibes.

Otherwise I was completely sucked into this story that Montgomery has said reflected a lot of her own inner life in childhood.

“Emily had inherited certain things from her fine old ancestors – the power to fight – to suffer – to pity – to love very deeply – to rejoice- to endure.”

Greenwild by Pari Thomson

I loved this book. I love the idea of green magic, the green wild, the characters. It was just a really fun middle grade read for @middlegrademarch!

One thing in particular that I really loved was the fact that they said they were not witches – they were Botanists who worked with the magic of nature, but not witches. I thought that was just a neat distinction. I also loved that all wore overalls; I too love overalls. The whole Greenwild reminded me of Harry Potter, if Harry Potter was all nature-based and immersed in plants and greenery, greenhouses, trowels, dirt, parakeets. I could go on and on but I won’t. I will just urge you to go ahead and read this! I have already recommended it to all the moms I know who have middle grade aged children, but if you are an adult who enjoys middle grade, like me, I suggest you read it as well!

“Daisy began to feel like a seed taking root. She was insect-nibbled and wind-ruffled and elbow-skinned. Her hair was full of twigs, her fingernails were filthy – and every part of her felt hungry and alive.” That passage just feels so spring to me! It makes me excited to get outside and get my own hands in the dirt, planting things.

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello everyone!! We have been going hard the last few weeks, and it has caught up with us. Wyatt has a cold – so we are hitting the brakes and slowing way down. We have been doing just small lessons in school this week, and having more free time to just relax and rest up.

I shared last time about Wyatt’s actual birthday, that we celebrated the three of us by bopping around Detroit and hitting a few really cool places. We didn’t do much again until Wednesday, when Mermaid Girl came over for dinner and a makers night. We had hamburgers and Doritos, a Mermaid Girl favorite, and then broke off into groups. I was showing Mermaid Girl how to embroider and chatting with her about different things, while the guys were on the floor making a cup holder for Wyatt’s wheelchair out of leather. This wasn’t a boys and girls thing; I just wanted some one on one time with my niece and it was good for Wyatt to have some one on one with just his dad as well. We worked on our projects for almost an hour, then I got out a chart I have been making for Mermaid Girl. She has been interested in our family tree, so I got it started and then she and I will continue to add to it in the coming weeks. We had a really good time, and loved having her here with us!

The week kept rolling along, way too fast for me. I did squeeze in a girls night though! Chrissy and I spent an a few hours at Kelly’s house, and it was some much needed time with my crew. Kelly has a menagerie of animals as well, cats and toads and frogs. I managed to catch a few in photos while I was there. Her toads are coming out of brumation from the winter and they are so huge!

I also scrambled about making sure I had everything I needed for the party Saturday, along with help from my dad, stepmom, and mother-in-law. Thank goodness for family! We had it at the nature center at a local metropark; now this particular nature center is one Billy and I have been going to for at least twenty years. We are friends with the interpreters and they have known Wyatt since he was born. We had his last big party there right before Covid, and this was sort of a nod to that one, five years later. We had around 40 people there, and it was so awesome to be surrounded with people we love and who love Wyatt, including the interpreters. We had pizza and cupcakes that turned everyone’s mouths blue from the frosting, a presentation by Roni for the kids on different animals in Michigan, and the kids just played and played in the kids area, people took walks nearby on the trails, and there was so much chatting and catching up. Some people hadn’t seen other people at the party since the last one five years ago, and the room just felt full of love and joy to me.

Sunday was bowling! He is hit or miss (lol) with attendance but it is a non-competitive type of thing and it is ok if they don’t go every Sunday. Which is good for us, because we missed on his birthday and we will miss next Sunday for the Hurricane’s birthday. Wyatt had a really good time this last Sunday, although, halfway through he asked if we could leave and go shopping. I swear, this kid! It’s only an hour of bowling so it’s not like it’s too long. Afterwards though, we realized we could go to Ikea for lunch since we were five minutes away – and Wyatt could get his shopping fix in. We had lunch (those meatballs are so good!) and then shopped the main shopping floor and skipped the whole showroom floor. We didn’t buy much, since we hadn’t planned on shopping. We got some chocolate, some small plastic organizing bins that I use for our homeschool and art supplies, a medium sized pot since we ruined one of ours boiling wood for our fish (don’t ask), chocolate of course, and a new bath mat for my mom’s bathroom. I also bought two new plants, since they were $2.99 and 20% off! One of them landed in Luna’s tank vivarium, and another is in our all purpose room.

And then, Wyatt woke up Monday all congested. And now he is in the congested and coughing stage. He is acting normally and eating and drinking so I am hoping this is just a short lived little cold thing. But we have been laying low, and I have been catching up on things here.

I’ve been reading a lot on the interwebs this past week, and I read that Scotland has designed a new tartan to honor the women killed under the Witchcraft Act between 1536 and 1763. Every single bit of this tartan has been thought about carefully and meaningfully, from the thread color to the thread count. I love that this is how Scotland chose to remember and memorialize these women, it is such a living remembrance, organic and fluid and easily accessible. This project was the idea of two women,  “Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi, who founded the Witches of Scotland campaign in 2020.” I just thought this was such an amazing memorial for these women, and wanted to share, especially during Women’s History Month.

And I think that is it from me for today! Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile my friends!

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up: Birthday Boy

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized19 Comments

Hello everyone! It is a sunshiney morning here today, although we do have some severe weather on the radar for tonight. We are also having Mermaid Girl over tonight! She is coming for dinner and then we are going to hang out – I am going to teach her embroidery. I think she is going to come over once a week for dinner, we have missed her! We will also work on our family tree some too, per her request. I am looking forward to it.

So the big thing around here lately has been Wyatt’s birthday! Double digits for this kid! It is so hard to believe sometimes – time has flown. I feel like it was yesterday he was born. I am planning to share our story about his birth this month. It just feels time, and maybe it will help someone who stumbles on my blog. March is also cerebral palsy awareness month, so it is all sort of fits.

Anyway, Wyatt turned ten Sunday! We had a celebration the three of us, and he is having a big party this weekend. We haven’t done a big party in years but we felt like we needed to this year, for many reasons. I am all nervous about it but it will be ok. However, Sunday was a blast! We had a slow morning, Wyatt opened a few little gifts (he is my kid – his favorite was the scented markers), and then around noonish we rolled out. We had a big day planned! We had originally planned to go to the zoo, but the temps stayed solidly in the teens, so we pivoted.

First stop, the Detroit Dye House! This is a tie dye place in Detroit, and my friend Kelly goes here all the time and has told me over and over to take Wyatt. Well, we did on Sunday. We did the drop in sessions, instead of a class, and it was so fun. The woman working was sweet and nice too – she explained what we needed to do, made sure the tub was low enough for Wyatt, and then it was time to begin!

That place was really cool. I want to go back and make something myself! They have a lot of different things to make, from tshirts to scarves to wraps to headbands. If you take a class, then you also make a pair of socks, that the Dye House provides, and then they donate the socks to the unhoused population in Detroit. They are having a peace sign design class in April that I want to go to. I want a headband and I don’t know what else.

Wyatt had a great time doing this, and so did Billy and I. He chose a spiral design because it reminded him of a snail. Of course.

After we finished here and had our saturated and wet shirt safely stowed in a special bag to take home with us, we headed to our next stop. We were all a little peckish so we stopped in at Mexicantown Bakery to choose a little something. Billy and I each got a ham and cheese empanada, Wyatt chose an M&M cookie, and then we picked up a few extras for the next day while we were at it. That big gigundo cookie tasted like a churro and was delicious! We ate it over the last few days.

We had reservations for an early dinner but we still had a few hours before it was time to go there, so we went to an old favorite – Belle Isle. And we hit all the attractions! They are all free to the public, so we just made our way around the island stopping at them all. It was a really fun way to spend those few hours!

We explored the Conservatory, which has recently reopened after being updated and restored, the Aquarium (the oldest one in the United States!). It was so refreshing to see all the green plants, and even the citrus trees with their oranges and lemons. It was jam packed in the conservatory since it recently reopened, and everyone is flocking there so we sort of were in the shuffle along and look mode with everyone there. but it was still nice. The aquarium was busy but not as full so that was a little better. They had a scavenger hunt for kids and at the end Wyatt got to pick a sticker. He chose an otter and then wanted me to wear it so I did.

After we visited these two, we went through the recently redone Nature Center. They have been doing a lot of work on the island and it shows. The nature center looks really cool! I actually didn’t get any pictures here, we were just busy looking around and playing with the exhibits.

By the time we left here, it was time to go to our reservation at JoJo’s Shake Bar, near Comerica. I was super excited about this place. It looked like it was going to be an awesome place for a kid, full of music and big giant shakes! I was so glad that we had made reservations, even at such an early time (4:00) because it was PACKED! Like literally parents and kids and strollers everywhere, out the door, inside… it was a bit overwhelming for me, who gets a bit of sensory overload! However, I knew that Wyatt was going to love it. And he did! Everything there was huge – the sandwiches, the shakes, the drinks – it was crazy. It is a bit pricey, but since everything was giant and we knew that we were all splitting a giant shake for dessert, Billy and I split a sandwich and Wyatt got a grilled cheese and fries. Billy and I split the Clevelander and it was freaking awesome! We also sort of shared an adult beverage. It was mostly mine though as he was driving. I saw it on the menu and I had to order it, out of nostalgia for the name. The Blueberry “Gin and Juice.” This place is crazy y’all. It is kid friendly but also, has drinks. It was also huge so I was nervous to drink it all, so I only drank about half, with Billy taking a few sips. It was delicious.

Then the grand finale! The shake, the whole reason I chose JoJo’s. Wyatt chose the Birthday shake, of course. This thing had a huge full size cookie, a giant cake ball, and cotton candy, in addition to cotton candy (he was not a fan). Even with the three of us sharing it (Billy again only having a bite or two) we couldn’t complete it, and we took the cookie and cake ball home, minus a few bites from Wyatt. It was fantastic though.

After this totally hedonistic type meal, we finally headed home. And we were all ready for it. We were exhausted by the time we rolled through the door! We all sort of found our little places in the den and decompressed. Wyatt was quietly drawing with his new markers, and Billy and I vegged on our phones. It was a very full, very fun day, in celebration of our little guy – who I guess is now a bit bigger guy.

And that is part one of Wyatt’s birthday story this week! Saturday is his party. Wish me luck!! Oh, I forgot to share a picture of his finished shirt! I think it looks really cool!

Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile my friends!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized35 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! Today is Wyatt’s birthday – he is a big time ten years old today! I am all sorts of emotional over this. We are going to the zoo (even though it is absolutely freezing today!) and then a special meal at a fancy shake place in Detroit.

Read Last Week(s):

These were both really good!

Reading This Week:

It’s Middle Grade March! I don’t usually do reading challenges because I am usually trash at them, with no discipline. This one is pretty simple with five prompts, and I think I can do it! Week one we are supposed to read a book by an author with three names – so I am picking Emily of New Moon! I love this cover btw. These are the prompts, in case anyone is interested!

1. Read a book by an author with 3 names
2. Read a book with flowers on the cover
3. Read a book that is part of a series
4. Read a book that involves travel
5. Read a book written in the 1900s

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Mini Book Reviews: The Sad Ghost Club, Temple of Swoon, and The Honey Witch

Hello March!

Watching:

We are watching a few different things! We have been watching Murdoch Mysteries, The Great Pottery Throw Down, and we just started Dickinson. Dickinson is a fun little show, and is just silly and escapist. However, I do feel they get some of the details about Emily’s life correct, like her intimate relationship with her friend Sue, who her brother later marries. It is done in the style of the movie A Knight’s Tale, or Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes, with modern music, language, sensibilities interspersed. I am a Dickinson fan, so I hope that this show sparks interest and curiosity in young people for poetry and words and Dickinson herself, and maybe they will watch and search out more information or look for her collections of poetry.

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Hello March!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Today it is sunny and snowing – and this is so like March here in Michigan. It doesn’t know whether it is winter or spring and just throws everything at us at once.

I love March. Do I love it more than I love October? Probably, because something very special happened ten years ago in March. And as you probably have guessed, that something (someone) is Wyatt! Wyatt turns ten tomorrow! I can’t believe my tiny little peanut baby is now going to be double digits. He is growing up! I will probably be all weepy and emotional tomorrow; in fact, I guarantee it. We are going to the zoo to celebrate, because that is where we went on his first birthday together. Of course then he was in one of those babywearing carriers and in a cozy little full body bear coat thing that you tuck little kids in and he looked super adorable. He also shares a birthday with Dr. Seuss, which I think is perfect for a boy who loves books. We took him there for his birthday too, and look how giant Billy’s hand looks next to him!

March is also the birthday of three other very special children in my life – I have two cousins who had children in March, and then my brother’s youngest daughter, Hurricane, was born two years ago in March as well! Her birthday party is in a few weeks. We don’t usually do a big party for Wyatt, and after age like five I think, didn’t have a real party at all, preferring to go away for the weekend somewhere nature-ish. Last year we went to a dark sky park; the year before that we went to the wolf sanctuary. But we decided for number ten we would give the big old party. So Wyatt is having a wolf themed party at the nature center next weekend with most of his family in attendance, along with some friends as well. I am extremely nervous about getting everything perfect because I am a weirdo, and I am trying to remind myself that is not the important part.

I think March is so full of magic and wonder, don’t you? Here in Michigan, it is the turning point month usually. We have wild weather to start the month, cold and snowy somedays, warm other days. The day Wyatt was born it was the coldest day of the year, in the negative temps, and this year it is going to be 30 degrees. Other years it has been warmer – I think last year we were wearing sweatshirts and no coats up north on our trip. Spring bulbs might be starting to wiggle their way up to the surface. (and for other nature nerds, worms are as well) Birds are returning. Soon we will hear the spring peepers going crazy in the marshes and ponds, one of my favorite sounds of spring. On warmer days we might see a bee lazily bumbling around, maybe a bit confused about why she is awake. Spring ephemerals will soon be able to be spotted in the woods, adding a tiny bit of color. In short, the world here is waking up, and it always seems so magical. We are starting to emerge from our cozy winter cocoon as well.

It would be hard to ignore St. Patrick’s Day, with its leprechauns and rainbows. I love to visit the fairy tales and mythical creatures of Irish lore in March, and this year Wyatt and I are going to do a little study on them. I have books and stories lined up, from real life people like St. Patrick and Brigid, to people of myth and legend like Finn MacCool, and then scary little creatures such as pookas and water horses and banshees. I think it will be a fun little shake up for school.

It is funny because the book Wyatt and I are reading for school is a more fun book than anything else. We were supposed to be reading Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter for language arts but neither of us could get into it so I switched to one of Wyatt’s books, The Wolves of Greycoat Hall. Well anyway, this book takes place in Scotland so we are going to be learning a bit about Scotland as well.

Last year Billy and our friends and family built a ramp for Wyatt, so he can go outside into the yard and play. One of our friends convinced us to make it a little bit wider, so that he can also go outside and play on the deck itself, which we did. I am so grateful for this suggestion because Billy and I realized that without it, he would only have been able to play on the driveway as wheelchairs are not good on grass. We were so focused on the getting outside part that we neglected to think about what would happen next! Billy finished it up right as the weather was turning, so we didn’t get to get outside with him too much before it was too cold. But now with the weather turning, I am excited to get outside with him more. We have been coming up with different activities and items for him to do out there, from a basketball hoop to a mounted bow and arrow (for kids, not like real arrows, he would kill a neighbor accidentally) to a raised garden bed on legs that he can roll up to and plant things. I am excited, and I know he will be too.

I could go on and on today I think! I should probably wrap this up before it becomes a novel!

So, that being said, that is it from me today. Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

Mini Book Reviews: Sad Ghost Club, Temple of Swoon, and The Honey Witch

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Hello all! Welcome back to another edition of mini book reviews! It seems to be the best way for me to write reviews, in these little bite size reviews.

First up! The Sad Ghost Club

The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings: “The universe is most pleased we met.” You guys this book was just so good. I could relate to this so well; I was so shy and awkward in high school and had such anxiety over social things, much like these characters. This graphic novel is a very sweet look at anxiety, loneliness, feeling like you don’t belong anywhere.. it is just wonderful honestly. I am adding the rest of the series to my library holds ASAP!

Two “ghosts” meet at a party, both out of sync with the rest of the party goers, and it is a wonderful conversation between two people who have possibly found a kindred spirit. If you visit The Sad Ghost Club website, and you are in the UK, there are also helplines posted for those who are feeling like thye need a helping hand.

Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura: I’m an adventurer at heart. While in reality I am an introverted stay at home homeschool mom, there was a time I dreamed of discovering lost cities and digging up relics, having all sorts of wild adventures along the way. I am glad I actually pursued that outside of daydreams, because the reality is I much prefer reading about them in climate controlled, bug free spaces. Temple of Swoon is the perfect read for armchair adventuring archaeologists like me – this book has danger, a steamy jungle, a lost city, some crazy shenanigans, and romance. I ate this book up, like Miri eats her snacks. Miri is the main character, who is smart, resilient, a bit of a goofball, and prides herself on always having the best snacks. I thought she was awesome! Rafa wasn’t too bad either…

This book is for you if you like

🥾 Enemies to lovers
🥾 Indiana Jones
🥾 Cinnamon roll MMC
🥾 Smart women

Also if you like this book I highly recommend the old classic movie, African Queen. It was also an adventure story that made me laugh out loud.

The spice level: It is explicit open door, but it is almost all the way at the very end of the book. If I compare it to Under Loch and Key, which I reviewed last round, it seems tame. I haven’t read many romances honestly so I am still working out a system. Let’s say if Under Loch and Key is 5 jalapenos, this one is 3.5?

“These are the wild women who run barefoot through the meadow, who teach new songs to birds, who howl at the moon together. Wild women are their own kind of magic.” After all of this snow and being indoors – as cozy and wonderful it has been – I am more than ready to wake up to the songs of the birds in the morning and to run around barefoot again, to see colors again! That is why I decided this long gray February of the snow moon was the perfect time to read The Honey Witch – and it did not disappoint. The imagery was beautiful and conjured up long summer lazy summer days, bees buzzing around the garden, fireflies at night. It had a very cool magic system I thought, of a honey witch and an ash witch, a yin and a yang, balance. But the balance was out of order in this book, and Marigold had to find her place as the new honey witch and overturn the curse .. and that is all I will say!

This book:

🐝 Cozy Fantasy
🐝 Enemies to Lovers
🐝 Sapphic
🐝 Slow Burn Romance
🐝 Cool Magical System

For the spice level, which is sapphic, I would give it the same as Temple of Swoon – 3.5 jalapenos. Explicit open door but it is fairly short as well as near the end.

Thanks for reading! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!