Book of the Week: Maccabee! The Story of Hanukkah

This little family has instituted a new activity as part of our weekly routine: on Tuesday evenings before dinner, the 3 of us take a walk at dusk to the Los Angeles Fairfax Branch Public Library to take out 2 books for the week. We started the first week we moved here. Well, to be quite honest, Manasseh started the tradition. As I was cooking dinner one Tuesday, he said he is taking Freida out for a walk (mind you, she was in flour-covered leggings and fuzzy bear houseslippers) - and came home 45 minutes lady with a bright faced little girl carrying her very own library card! Her excitement over the whole event (application form, her name - in bold, black letters - on the card, and the 2 new books she excitedly shared at the dinner table) was insanely adorable! Since then we've been taking these lovely walks each Tuesday once dinner is in the oven, and it's quickly become one of my favorite times of the week. This week we've been reading a charmingly illustrated Chanukah title: Maccabee! The Story of Hanukkah.

I thought the author and illustrator did a lovely job at conveying the actual message of the Chanukah miracle in it's time.

It's humorous and heartwarming, and definitely depicts the images I would have liked to relate to Freida...

I won't lie, her favorite parts are the quirky illustrations :)

Check it out if you're looking for a new Chanukah book - we've really been enjoying it!!

It's a Wrap: the Caterpillar Unit

Finally, after spending the last 2 months crawling through our little bug's life unit, we have graduated. We finished off with an art project that will hang out as a reminder of all the bug-lovin' fun and learning. We did a basic paper plate caterpillar, but when I couldn't find a frame at the thrift store big enough to host those plates, I grabbed a smaller old frame and shaved down the bug's body a bit. Freida helped glue on the legs and antennas (and made sure they got some glitter as well)! :)

The finished product turned out cute enough to be given a permanant home with the rest of our living room decor, and Freida is incredibly proud!

We also reviewed the whole bit via library books and magazines on life cycles...

We're now moving on to a little unit on vegetation, in sync with the whole upcoming Shavuot theme....

Read a Book.

I'm totally smitten by this campaign for reading!! Fantastically (in the literal sense of the word!) genius!!

Here's their point:

"When one reads books, he/she starts living it and identifies (or not) with main hero. These print ads for the Mint Vinetu bookstore, which sells lots of classics, focuses on the idea of becoming someone else. And provokes people to try on different personas."

Awesome.

P.S. I just started the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated - if you haven't seen that film - do so this weekend!!), and I'm totally stoked to get good and into it!! Don't you just love being involved with a novel??

Meet Tom

The Los Angeles Times featured an interesting article interviewing the legendary guru behind TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie. While the article touches upon some of the core values of the whole "one for one" concept behind TOMS, I couldn't help but notice these neon green crocheted version of the buttery canvas kicks! Apparently these are his next steps, available next month as part of the Summer collection. I could totally live in these all summer (neon slip-ons, little white-washed jean skirts, white tees + a cruiser bike)!! It's summer bliss meets granny-chic! :)

You can learn some more about Blake and the fantabulous things he does on his blog "Start Something That Matters".

Sears. Ferber. Mansbach?

Not even released yet, and booming with Amazon pre-orders and "likes", this book is just cracking me up! Get in on the laugh over at DaddyTypes!