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Being married to a graphic designer who specializes in books, we’ve been on the lookout for a way for him to easily take his book covers and make them look like actual books for use in ads. This has been difficult for many years… until I was emailed about BookBrush.com. I looked over it briefly, then asked Will if he wanted to try it out for review and he said, “Sure.” So I requested the review, and we’ve been playing with it a bit over the past couple of weeks.

Using the website was fairly easy for Will, considering his experience with graphic design programs in general. In just a few minutes, he was able to poke around, learn how it was laid out, and upload his own book covers onto their templates. Now his flat image looks like a real book, ready to be used in ads! In a matter of 20 minutes, we were able to put together 3 “books” and one Instagram ad. And before we’d been at it very long at all, he was already asking me, “How much does this cost?” I think that means it’s safe to say he was very impressed with the site and already thinking beyond our review access and into purchasing a subscription.

(For the record, there are two pricing structures. You can set up a free account – no credit card required – and make up to 3 images per month, plus have access to a limited number of Book Brush’s 3D templates, stamps, and fonts. Or for $8 per month, you can create unlimited images, have access to ALL of the 3D templates, stamps, and fonts, the ability to upload your own fonts for better branding, get 5 free video creation credits per month, and customer support. Both accounts give you access to over a million background images and the ability to upload your own.)

In addition to making your flat cover images look like real books, there are templates for e-books, so you can put your book cover right on an “iPad.” The stamps I mentioned in the pricing structure paragraph are things like the Amazon and Audible logos (among many others), which show customers where they can buy your product. There are loads of fonts available for the text you include on your ad, and you can put it in a box (like we did above) or right on the transparent background. There are also image-based backgrounds you can use. We went with a plain one because that fits our product best.

If you’re in the business of selling books, you should definitely check out Book Brush. I think they’ll be your new best friend.

Blessings,

Because it’s been a few weeks since I posted here, here’s a “photo dump” of some of the things we’ve been up to lately. Some of them will justify a post of their own, so look for those in the next couple of weeks.

Dragonfly turned 3 back in November, and he really loves PJ Masks (a show on Netflix for those who are unfamiliar). We had a small party for him, and I made 2 cakes inspired by the characters. This is “Gekko.” The other one was “Catboy.”

When you have a baby to care for and laundry to fold, sometimes this is the easiest way to transport both together 🙂

Karate Frogs is a new feature in Will’s Casey and Kyle magazine. Seahawk (now 15) is the illustrator for the stories.

We made “ninja bread” cookies at Christmas time.

I let Dragonfly watch a movie one day while I was at the house with just him  and Bumblebee (the others were at dance class). I needed to care for the baby, so a bit of tv was necessary. I came back a few minutes later to find him like this. 

We got each of the boys one “big” gift for Christmas this (well, technically last) year. For Dragonfly, it was this suit because he’d long outgrown his previous one. This picture was taken by Seahawk.

Seahawk danced the title role in the boys’ dance studio’s production of The Nutcracker. Munchkin got the role of the toy soldier, which had been Seahawk’s the past two years. Small Fry was finally able to start classes (girls start practically from birth, but boys have to be 6), and he was so cute as a part of the Russian dance with his Boys’ Movement peers (including both big brothers).

I made this knitted Nutcracker doll for Seahawk as a commeraration of his lead role.

Bumblebee turned 4 months old on December 29th.

Seahawk got a crystal growing kit for Christmas from one of his aunts and this was his first attempt.

We got some apples from church the week before Thanksgiving, and they were terrible. Absolutely no flavor. So we didn’t eat very many of them, but ended up leaving the box on the back deck. Several weeks later, we noticed that many of the apples were missing (the box was nowhere near as full as it had been) and most of those left had been eaten. A few days later, we learned why!

We, especially Will, have been reading the Bible with a much more literal interpretation, and ignoring our own cultural points of view on it. That, plus finding a good Greek interlinear version online, led us to discover and believe that contrary to popular belief, the Old Testament laws regarding things like the Sabbath and clean/unclean foods are still very much in effect. We have since given up all unclean foods (in our diet, this was primarily pork and non-fish seafood). The boys and I also work hard on Fridays to prepare the food we need for Sabbath (sunset Friday until sunset Saturday). On the week I took this picture, I made burritos on homemade flour tortillas for Saturday lunch.

Last but not least, Bumblebee turned 5 months old earlier this week.

Blessings,

I love forensics. When I was a young teenager, I’d watch Forensic Files with my mom. As an adult, I watched CSI (Vegas and NY; didn’t like Miami for some reason) with my husband. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of those shows, but I still have that ingrained interest in the topic. So when I heard the title of the book I’m reviewing today – Forensic Faith for Kids – I was intrigued. 

This book, from David C Cook and Case Makers Academy, was an interesting read. We read it out loud together during our daily lunch break; this way we could read the book without interrupting the school day. It tells the story of a group of kids (their ages aren’t specifically stated, but they seem to be about middle school aged) who are part of a detective group in their local police station. They learn a variety of detecting skills from their mentor, Detective Jeffries. This character is based on the author’s real-life mentor of the same name. Author J. Warner Wallace is a cold case detective who has shared his knowledge on such shows as Dateline. He is also a former atheist, and he now uses his background as a criminalist to write books proving the truth in Christianity. Forensic Faith for Kids is his fifth such book.

During the baseball team car wash fundraiser, a dog shows up out of nowhere. There’s no sign of an owner. The only clue is a name, Bailey, on its collar tag.  

At church, Tiana tells her friend Hannah about a new friend named Marco. Marco believes that Jesus was “just a prophet.” He even has a book to back up this belief.

With the help and guidance of Detective Jeffries, using forensic science, the kids will solve the mystery of the dog and discover more about Jesus. Because the book was written by a cold case detective, it follows the real steps one must go through in order to solve any mystery, and it does so in reasonable detail. Besides showing the required actions in the story itself, there are callout boxes explaining different investigation terms and why they’re important. Sprinkled throughout the book are also “CSI Assignments,” which include scripture to read and critical thinking questions. This is in addition to the illustrations, each of which is captioned with a line from the text.

The book is unusual in its writing in two ways. First, it’s written in present tense (Jason asks, as opposed to Jason asked). This isn’t unheard of, but it is definitely rare. The second thing I’ve only ever read before in Choose Your Own Adventure books, and that is that it’s written in second person. This simply means that “you” are a character in the book. While that perspective was different, I think it’s very effective in this format – namely, because it’s challenging kids to explore their own faith and learn to defend it, putting them right into the book is very clever.

When I asked the boys their favorite parts of the book, Seahawk said he liked the CSI Assignments. Munchkin and Small Fry really liked the pictures. I liked how it took a potentially difficult, boring subject and turned it into an engaging story for kids.

Blessings,

No words necessary  🙂

I’ve been working with Small Fry (6 years old) on a new math website called I Know It. From the creators of Super Teachers worksheets, I Know It is a completely online program offering supplemental math lessons for kids K-5. 

Even though it’s designed to work as extra practice for your child’s main curriculum, we don’t actually have one right now, so we’ve been using as a main math curriculum the past few weeks. Because Small Fry is only in first grade, that’s been okay; seeing the program in action, though, I agree that it would be best as just a supplement.

Setting up the account was really easy. It was just a matter of entering my son’s name and grade. Everything else was automatic, specifically the available lessons.

When you go to the site and log in, there’s a little pop up from which you choose the student who is using the site. Once you do that, the pop up closes and age appropriate lessons are available. 

You can assign specific lessons to your child or just have them choose from what’s available in their grade. I tried the assign method to see how we liked it, but in the end decided it was better to choose a lesson on a day to day basis. If you have upper elementary school students who can work semi autonomously, though, that would be a great tool to keep them from having too many choices and therefore not being very efficient with their time. Another reason assigning didn’t work too well for us was because my son doesn’t read independently yet (he’s still working on CVC words). Since I was sitting right with him during these lessons, I could just select the lesson I wanted him to work on that day. 

Once I’d logged in and selected a lesson, the questions would start right away (one at a time). I read the question aloud to Small Fry, and he would answer it on his own. There are lots of different types of questions: fill in the blank, multiple choice, q & a. One thing I appreciated was that on the questions that required a typed answer (all numerical in the first grade level), the website used its own keyboard rather the standard iPad one. This made it a lot easier to focus as Small Fry wasn’t distracted by the letters. 

When the student answers the question correctly, a positive word shows up in green and the robot mascot did a little animation. This changed from question to question, though there were some repeats. 

Each week, I received an email from I Know It detailing what was worked on. It spelled out exactly how long he spent on the lessons, how many questions he answered, and the names of the lessons completed. This wasn’t super important for me since I helped my son each day, but if you have an older child working largely on his own, this information would be invaluable – especially if you live in a state that requires curriculum reporting. 

We have had a very positive experience with I Know It. Small Fry enjoys the lessons, he’s getting good reinforcement on age appropriate concepts, and it doesn’t take too long to get through a lesson (8-10 minutes for 15 questions). But don’t just take my word for it; click the banner below for more reviews. 

Blessings,

 

When I was in the hospital last month, the kids (Seahawk was babysitting) did some cool things with pictures, so I thought I’d share.

My csection went great. Much better than my dream the night before, in which everything was going wrong. The anesthesiologist was amazing! And my doc got a cyst removed from a sensitive area while I was already numb, so that’s good.

We got bumped back by almost an hour because there was a 34 weeker delivering at my time. Vaginal, but the NICU team was needed for him/her and they like having them on hand for csections too, so we waited. I haven’t heard yet how that baby is doing, so maybe keep the family in your prayers. 

They had a designated picture taker for us, and he gots of good ones using my iPhone throughout the entire procedure. I got a few minutes of skin to skin in the OR, which was a first for me and I loved it.

I spent  2 hrs in recovery eating ice chips, then got moved up to the mother/baby unit where we’ll be for the rest of our stay. I was a bit dizzy from lack of sleep and quite itchy on my face from the anesthesia, but rest and IV meds took care of those. He’s nursed successfully three times now, by just 13 hours old (as I write this at 2:15 a.m.).

Weight: 7lbs, 4 oz. He’s the exact middle of my kids in this regard.

Length: 19.5 inches

Time: 1:20 pm

Apgar: 9, 9

Blessings,

 

I wrote recently about our trip to see La Cenerentola (Cinderella), and now I want to talk about when we saw Orfeo ed Euridice (or-fay-oh ed yoo-reh-dee-chay). If you read the Cinderella post, you’ll know that we took Small Fry to see that show. For Orfeo, we took the big kids (Seahawk, age 14, and Munchkin, age 11). We thought this would be a great one for them because it was advertised to be a combination opera and ballet, and they dance ballet.

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the oldest on the planet (excluding the Bible), and has been the basis for many, many things over the years. Let me give a short rundown, just in case you’re unfamiliar.

Orpheus is a demi-god in mythology (meaning he was the child of one god and one human). He was in love with Eurydice, and on the way to their wedding she gets bitten by a viper and dies. Orpheus, in his anguish, finds favor with the gods and they tell him that they will allow him to go into the underworld and save her. But there’s a catch. There was always a catch with those guys! He’s not allowed to look at her during their trip back. If he succeeds, she will rejoin him in the land of the living and they will have a long and happy life together. If he fails, she will be pulled back to the underworld, essentially dying again. They get all the way back to the opening, and Orpheus, so excited to have made the journey successfully, turns to look at his beloved only to discover that she hadn’t stepped out yet. Because she hadn’t completed the journey fully, she is pulled back to the underworld.

This is the basic story that Orfeo tells, but there was a bit of a twist at the end. I won’t worry too much about spoilers since the opera is no longer “playing.” After Euridice is pulled back to the underworld, Orfeo sings songs of great sadness and eventually Amor (Cupid) comes to him with good news. Love conquers all, and he has heard Orfeo’s anguish and knows that he is truly in love with Euridice. Therefore he is overriding the other gods and allowing Euridice to rejoin Orfeo back on Earth.

For this opera, we arrived early enough to the theater to participate in the pre-show, where an opera expert gives a short (30-minute) lecture on the play and the composer. It was really interesting, and especially good for the kids to get some background on what they were about to see. They got a bit of history (both fictional, in the history of the story, and fact, in the history of the composer) in addition to just having a better grip on the story before it even started.

The combination of opera and ballet was stunning, and the sets and costumes were gorgeous. This was one that I wasn’t entirely sure about when I found out that Will had bought tickets, but after having seen it, I’m so glad he did! We both agreed after seeing Italian Girl, Cenerentola, and Orfeo that Orfeo was our second favorite. (Italian Girl still wins in our books, and Cinderella came in third despite being my favorite fairy tale.) The kids loved it too.

Blessings,

There are tons of literature opportunities for older students, but not as many for younger ones (outside of reading good books to them, of course). Today I get to review one such option: Paddington Bear from Branch Out World. 

This unit study is based on the original Paddington picture book, and there are lessons to cover 5 days. It is available as a digital download and does not include the book. There are plenty of options for the book, though: you can likely find it at your library, it’s for sale on Amazon, and there’s even a narrated video for it on YouTube. For many reasons, we weren’t able to access the actual book, so we used the YouTube video (which is about 10 minutes long).

The study opens with notes for parents. This includes things such as how to keep and store your child’s work and what will be studied each day, as well as what you need in advance. There’s also a list of additional resources that can be used in conjunction with the picture book (the Paddington sequel, for example). Finally, there’s a comprehensive list of supplies you might need (based on which activities you choose to cover each day), separated by day. 

After this section, you get to the heart of the study. Each day focuses on one aspect of the story (setting, words, pictures, science, and “crafts and more”). You read the story to your child each day (or in our case, have them watch the video), and then do the activities you’ve chosen. For the first day, where the focus is on the setting, it’s all about map work (physical setting) and making a timeline (the timing of the book). There are printables included for these activities in the appendix of the unit study. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have easy access to our printer, so Small Fry and I used the digital versions of these for our studying. Adding the PDF to my iPad, I utilized the “marking up” feature in order to show him some of the locations of the story on the provided map.

Day 2, words, opens with a short biography of author Michael Bond and then moves on to the main themes of the book (primarily helpfulness, which is a great thing to focus on with little kids). There are also instructions for vocabulary and a basic grammar lesson. This was pretty much a discussion day for Small Fry and me.

Day 3, pictures, talks about the illustrator and his method of drawing (pen and ink colored with watercolors). Students are encouraged to create their own still-life of a bowl of fruit using either magazine cutouts or just by drawing. 

On the science day, there are two experiments. One is edible and the other is not. Because Branch Out World is a British company, some of the necessary elements for these experiments are either unclear (washing liquid, for instance – I’m not sure what that is) or difficult to find in the US (like caster sugar – I know it’s a type of sugar that’s somewhere between granulated and powdered, but I’ve never seen it in the stores here). If you can’t find what you need, though, it’s not the end of the world – there’s also a nature study included that you could do instead.

The final day is for math, crafts, and more. Math activities include drawing parallel lines (railroad tracks) and finding the numbers in the pictures, amongst others. Then there are options for art projects and recipes to make together – including Paddington’s favorite, marmalade. We haven’t gotten to those yet.

Overall, this has been a very rewarding study for my 6-year-old. He’s enjoyed the activities (even if we stuck to the basic ones like studying the maps and drawing pictures), and it’s been a really good introduction to both unit studies and quality literature. I was initially a bit skeptical (for no good reason, unfortunately), but am glad to have been proven wrong. We really enjoyed working on this together!

Blessings,

We recently watched the new Jumanji film for family movie night. A couple of days later, we went back and watched the 90s one with Robin Williams. Small Fry (6 years old) absolutely loved them, so Will came up with a clever idea to have some with our son’s new fascination. We would buy a copy of the game (it’s a real thing now!) and hide it in the bushes outside for him to find. To make the illusion more complete, he found a track of the “Jumanji drums” on YouTube and hid his iPad, playing the music, inside the box.

With everything set up, Will took the boys outside to “play catch.” They tossed the ball around for a few minutes, and then Will threw it right to the bush where the game was hidden. It took some coaxing to get Small Fry to notice the drum sounds coming from the bushes, but when he did, he started digging around right away. When he found the game, he was excited – but fooled for one second that it had magically shown up!

It’s been about a week and a half now, and Jumanji is definitely his favorite game ever. He asks someone to play it with him almost every day. Luckily he has big brothers and a neighbor friend who are (usually) all too happy to oblige.

Blessings,