Home in Carolinas Book Review

I was excited to get to the next Sweet Magnolia book and see which character was going to be followed. Home in Carolina (Sweet Magnolias) by Sherryl Woods was the fifth book in the series and the next in my reading pile.  I was super glad that I reserved ahead and started it just after finishing the last book.

There's no place like home, especially if it's Serenity, South Carolina. For Annie Sullivan, though, the homecoming is bittersweet. She'd always envisioned a life there with her childhood best friend, Tyler Townsend. But Ty's betrayal has cost her the family and the future they'd once planned.  For Ty, losing Annie was heartbreaking. Still, he can't imagine life without the three-year-old son whose mother left him for Ty to raise. Ty wants it all—Annie, his child and the future he'd dreamed about—and he's back home in Serenity to fight for it. But getting Annie to forgive and forget may be the hardest challenge he's ever faced. With the stakes so high, this is one game he can't afford to lose.

It was great to read the story about the next generation of the Sweet Magnolias.  I enjoyed reading the different generations and how they started to create adult relationships with the moms and girls hanging out together and providing support to each other.  There was a lot going on with Annie trying to deal with moving home and living with her parents while trying to make her own life by working in the Corner Spa to help women with physical therapy and personal training.  She is starting to set up her new life when her ex-boyfriend comes backs to town with his son and turns her life upside down.  It was really interesting to make sure that she stayed healthy and figured out how to live her life the way that things were going to be.  It was just a bonus that things went better than expected!!!  I hope that you pick this up at your local library or bookstore soon.  Great summer reading!!!

Menu Plan Monday 7/20

Monday- Grilled Spicy Honey Mustard Chicken with chicken rice
Tuesday- Chicken Nuggets Wraps with homemade fries
Wednesday- Olive Oil Pasta with pizza bites
Thursday- Chicken Stir Fry with white rice and egg rolls
Friday- Tacos with saffron rice
Saturday- Leftovers
Sunday-Hamburger for my husband, Breakfast for Dinner for my son and me

I know that the week is going to be exhausting after not getting this ready over the weekend and a busy week of fun things to do but I think that we are going to try for a real meal plan and getting back to the way we used to live.  If it doesn't work, I might switch back to the list at least for the summer months until school starts.  We have a lots of meals that are more rushed in the summer because we spend too much time at the pool or out having fun instead of being at home.  I have been working on making things in the morning before we leave the house so that we have less to do at the end of the day.

Learning by State: Maryland

My son was very interested in learning more about the states so I decided to set up a summer learning program for a few of the states near us that we were going to visit and start from there.  We started with Maryland.  The great thing about learning is that you can expand on anything that your child is interested in and make it appropriate for their age or learning level.  My son is 6 years old so I am aiming this at something he would be interested and learn something from including some interesting facts about states we are going to visit.

I downloaded and printed the great resource from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom (found here).  It is very detailed and includes the following:

• Creative Writing (Make a Travel Brochure)
• Door Hanger (Completion Certificate)
• Handwriting Practice
• Puzzles
• Research Project
• State Bird
• State Capital
• State Flag
• State Flag Wall Card
• State Flower
• State Location
• State Landmarks
• State Wall Card

You can use the things that are helpful for your children's learning and leave out the ones that you might not want to use.  If you are looking for a different state, here is the page with all the states here.

There was another Maryland worksheet (found here) which is nice and simple if you want to print in black and white and just want an easier sheet to fill in with some details on the state.

That same website also had some great word searches which is something my son enjoys and it helps him to slow down and take his time (which is something we are constantly working on).  If you would like to download the Maryland word search, click here.

I also checked out all the books about the state from the library and found them to be mostly boring.  The best ones that I kept were these two.  They didn't have the one that I was looking for so I settled for one with boring pictures and one that might be a little too long.

Then I went to another library and found one of the series that I like.  It is a good length for kids to find the information themselves and not have too much.

Then, I looked at a list of books that were set in the state that gave you a different look at the states from the NEA.  (You can find the list here).  We checked the books out of the library and read one in between some of our worksheets and other learning.

Since we are doing a lot of different things to deal with the states (and tons of other summer things like going to library programs, playgrounds and pool), we are stretching this out to a few weeks for each state depending on how much we get done.  I think that we had a lot of fun doing the worksheets and starting our state binder which we are excited to add information to as we learn about more states. I am aiming for Maryland, Delaware and Virginia for our summer states.  We might do a few through the school year to keep is going but not sure if there is going to be time.  If we only finish three states a summer then we might get through all the states before college!

Welcome to Serenity Book Review

I was sad over the holiday weekend because I didn't get enough books from the library so this was the first book that I reserved while I had extra time because I wasn't reading that came in! Welcome to Serenity (Sweet Magnolias) by Sherryl Woods was the next book that I was so excited to read!!  I was glad that the author carried on the series because I thought that it was only going to be a three box set but super lucky that I get to read more about this great town.

When Jeanette Brioche helped launch The Corner Spa in Serenity, South Carolina, she found a whole lot more than professional satisfaction. She discovered the deep and loyal friendships that had been missing from her life. But even the Sweet Magnolias can't mend the terrible rift between Jeanette and her family or persuade her that the holidays are anything more than a season of misery.  Pushed into working on the town's much-loved annual Christmas festival, Jeanette teams up with the sexy new town manager. Tom McDonald may be the only person in Serenity who's less enthused about family and the holidays than she is.  But with tree decorations going up on the town square and a bit of romance in the air, Jeanette and Tom take a fresh look at the past and a hopeful look into the future. Together they discover that this just may be a season of miracles after all.

It was a great look into a character that we got to hear a lot about in the first three books but didn't know much about.  It was great to learn more about this great character and at the same time, meet a brand new one and get to know him too!!  Learning more about Jeanette gave an interesting perspective into her based on the things that were revealed about her past.  It was also great to meet and get to know Tom with all of the family ties to the Charleston society.  I enjoyed seeing the difference between the two and how that brought them together.  I hope that you enjoy this book and this series as much as I have.  I hope that you add this to you reading list and pick it up the next time you are at the library or bookstore.

Menu Plan Monday 7/13

I did pretty well last week sticking to the plan.  I did go a little overboard at the store but that was mostly because I had my son with me and he picked out two kinds of Pringles and two kinds of cookies so I put them in the cart instead of fighting it.  It isn't like we aren't going to eat them so I went with the easy way. Justifying that, I used noodles at home instead of buying another bag of the noodles we are used to using in the dish.  It was interesting to have the rigatoni noodles in the Philly Cheese steak pasta instead of egg or thinner noodles.  It took a little longer to cook but it was super tasty!!  My only meal that was a little off the mark was the salsa sloppy joe because there was only one container left in the freezer and it was actually french dip so we had those with chicken rice on Friday night instead.

This week I am hoping that we are getting a little more into the groove and can expand our meals to include a little prep but I am telling you that even with the meals prepped for the last few weeks, it has been hard to get dinner on the table before 7 pm because we aren't home!!  The meals for the week are:

Tacos with saffron rice
Grilled Chicken with white rice
Chicken Nugget Wraps with homemade fries
Spaghetti with Pizza Bites
Breakfast for Dinner: Waffles
Quesadillas or Nachos (with leftover taco meat, grilled chicken and rice)
Leftovers

I am not sure that I this is exactly how the week is going to go but I am going to try and see if we can get these meals on the table because we are going to be going on vacation soon so I want to save our restaurant use for when we head to the beach.

Two Books for One- Tea and Destiny and Light of the Stars Book Review

My son was at the library with me and I was waiting to get some books from the hold list and I didn't have any books!!!!  This was near a crisis in my life but I was determined to find something to read while I was waiting for the books to come to my reserve shelf at the library.  My son picked out this book for me because he said that I liked tea :)  Tea and Destiny: Tea and Destiny\Light the Stars (Harlequin Bestselling Author) by Sherryl Woods, Raeanne Thayn was the next book that I was reading shortly after picking it out.

Ann Davies was always giving away her heart—to her therapy patients, and to the dolphins she used to help them. For any stray kid that needed a home, she opened her arms in welcome as a foster mother. She never hesitated to give herself to anyone who asked, until Hank Riley. The big contractor demanded everything—her body, her heart, her life.  Part of her wanted to give it all to him. She craved being desired, being cared for—after all, what had she ever done for herself? But another part feared everything he stood for—losing control, throwing away logic, living for the moment, surrendering. If she allowed herself to do that, what would be left when he walked away?

I thought it was a great book and I was sad that it wasn't part of a series to read any other books about this great little family.  I thought it was good and I would love to read more with these characters.  It was so fast moving that it was hard to put down and I wanted to find out what happens next.  I hope that you check it out for yourself and see how you like this book filled with tea and family.

Bonus Book:

The second book was really a great bonus!  I didn't know it was there when my son picked out the book until he told me.  It is written right on the cover so I guess I would have figured it out but always good to have a helper.  It can be purchased for your Kindle from Amazon but the books are no longer in print but this comes free in the other book so no worries!

WADE DALTON WAS HAVING A VERY BAD DAY! His five-year-old had accidentally set the kitchen on fire. His daughter was surly, as usual. The baby hadn't been fed yet. And his mother—aka "The Childminder"—had eloped…with a scam artist. Could it get any worse?  Turned out it could. Because the annoyingly beautiful daughter of said scam artist was now at the door, batting her doe eyes at him and proposing that she be his temporary nanny while awaiting the newlyweds' return.With no other options and a TV crew coming in just a few days to feature the ranch, he says yes after checking her references.

I loved it and I checked the library to get other books in the series and I see none.  I am super sad and I am going to have to figure out another way to get some of the books but reserved another series that I did find so that I could get a little more of this great writer.  I am hoping to be able to read her new series soon.  The first book is available and the second two are on order and already have a waiting list of 40 people so other people have read her books and enjoyed them too.  I hope that this check out this two book publication to check out both great authors with a whole bunch of great characters.  I think that you will enjoy both of them!!

Wicked Charms Book Review

I went to the library and saw Wicked Charms: A Lizzy and Diesel Novel (Lizzy & Diese​l) by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton on the shelf!  I was so excited so I grabbed it up.  I looked at the beginning and it didn't look familiar so I went to the computer to check my blog to see if I read it.  See what I use my blog for!  It replaces my brain because I wasn't certain whether or not I had actually read it since all the books in the series start with "wicked."  The great news is that I hadn't read it and I was excited to check it out and see what crazy stuff was going to happen in this book.

Murdered and mummified nearly a century ago, notorious bootlegger Collier “Peg Leg” Dazzle discovered and re-hid a famous pirate’s treasure somewhere along the coast of New England. A vast collection of gold and silver coins and precious gems, the bounty also contains the Stone of Avarice—the very item reluctant treasure seeker Lizzy Tucker and her partner, Diesel, have been enlisted to find. While Lizzy would just like to live a quiet, semi-normal life, Diesel is all about the hunt. And this hunt is going to require a genuine treasure map and a ship worthy of sailing the seven seas . . . or at least getting them from Salem Harbor to Maine.  Greed is eternal and insatiable, and Lizzy and Diesel aren’t the only ones searching for the lost pirate’s chest. People who have dedicated their entire lives to finding it are willing to commit murder or make a deal with the devil just to hold the fortune in their hands. One of those people may even be Wulf, Diesel’s deceptively charming and enigmatic cousin. Wulf desires the Stone of Avarice. He also desires Lizzy. It’s hard to say how far he’s willing to go to gain either one.

I loved it and read it way too quickly (I think that it might have been less then 12 hours).  I was sad when I got to the end because that meant the chaos was over and there wasn't another book in the series to pick up and go to because this was the newest.  There was laughing and crying and I couldn't put it down which meant that I again lost sleep to another great book.  I enjoyed the great writing and the great characters.  I am not sure how two authors wrote this book together but the characters held true to the first books and the plots ran just as quickly with as many twists and turns so I couldn't tell the difference.  I hope that you check out this book and others in the wicked series the next time you are at the library or bookstore.