Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

Head over to Ginny's blog to join the fun.

This is the fourth time I have made this ripple afghan.  I keep giving them away, and everyone has loved it.  The pattern can be found here.  I made it by crocheting rows 2-5 twice in blue and then rows 2-5 once in off-white.  I continue until it is long enough to keep me cozy while I work on it.

 

I can't seem to find a book (or the time) to read for myself, but I seem to always enjoy the read alouds I read to the kids.  Everyone has been enjoying Storm Makers.

It's about 12 year old twins, one of which discovers they can control the weather.  It's a vocabulary booster for my 8 and 9 year olds, and the 12 year old always asks for one more chapter.

Trumpet of the Swan--Art

We recently finished our read aloud, Trumpet of the Swan. We all enjoyed it. After we finished it I thought it would be interesting to have the kids watch a movie based on the book. I found this movie....

They were very excited about this movie, but quickly became disappointed. They enjoyed the book much more, and immediately noticed how much the movie left out. Some of the favorite scenes in the book were omitted from the movie, and quite a bit of the book was changed to fit the movie. We do not recommend this movie-sorry.
We do recommend trying your hand at drawing trumpeter swans. I have some of the Draw Write Now books, and I found this website that happened to have a Draw Write Now sample swan drawing lesson.

These books are very elementary and the lessons very simple, but for a momma with absolutely NO artistic talent (crafting with a pattern-yes-drawing-no) these books do the trick.
I am very proud of Mark and Grace's "Louie the Swan". It was a fun ending to a fun book.

Mark's Dr Dolittle Book Review

My mom finished reading The Story of Dr. Dolittle out loud to us and we all loved it, especially me.

It is the story about Dr. Dolittle going across seas, fighting off pirates, and going through dangerous lands.

He went across seas to Africa to help the monkies not be sick anymore. He knew they were sick because he could talk to animals.

He was thrown in jail twice when he was in Africa by the king of Jollikinki.

He had many adventures getting home.

I know that you would love this story, so go to the library near you. Go straight to the front desk and ask for Dr Dolittle.

Thank-you, Mark (8) , for dictating this wonderful review of this great story that we all enjoyed together.