Tag Archives: Stories

Read To Me Dad

Story Time for Me

Eva and I have been reading stories through the online site called http://StoryTimeForMe.com. It is a really unique site that has interactive storybooks for children. There are cute characters who have different adventures. There is Ben the Mouse, Fern the Fox and Flame the Dragon. Each of these characters is part of their own storyline. Each storyline is for different age levels.

Fern the fox is a series about a fox named Fern and is intended from children from 1-4. The pages have few words and the stories are read quickly. There are also highlighted words that are hyperlinked to images to explain what the words mean. You can read the book to your child or you can have the book read to them automatically. Eva and I have done both of them. I’ve read some books and I’ve let the books be read to us together. There are 27 books in the series so far.

Ben the Mouse is a series that Eva enjoys most. This is about Ben, a little mouse who goes to school and has lots of friends. This series is for children from 4-8 years old. As the book is read aloud by the narrator each word that is read is highlighted. This allows the child to associate the word they are hearing with the word they are seeing on the screen. There are 24 books in this series so far.

Flame the dragon is a new series that is for children from ages 1-4. The series has one story so far all about how a young girl named Mimi finds a little baby dragon. There is one book in the series so far.

Pricing for the books is really decent too especially if you buy 50 of them. For $59 you can get 50 of the books in your library. The animated illustrations are cute, the stories are nice and both Eva and I have enjoyed them very much. Go Check out http://StoryTimeForMe.com for more info.

Disclosure: I was given credits to build my own library of books to read with Eva. The opinions are my own.

Photo-A-Day

Preserving History

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Preserving History
Photo-A-Day #1514

Today our family came together to celebrate Grandma Theresa. They came with an amazing array of photo albums. My Uncle Richard and my Aunt Donna brought many photos that they had. My Aunt Luann brought albums that were my Grandma Theresa’s personal albums. I spent a good five straight hours scanning each photo or shooting the photos with my camera. The loose photos got scanned and the ones in the albums were photographed. What was really nice about the albums was that under most of the photos were names of a few people in each photo written in my Grandma’s hand.

It is a little overwhelming to pour through moments in a persons history in one afternoon. Seeing them grown from young to middle aged to old. The thing that came across in seeing all these photos was that my Grandma valued family very much. When she was surrounded with family her smile radiated. She loved large gatherings and making sure that everyone had everything they needed. She wouldn’t sit down until everyone had a full plate. She was busy keeping everything going behind the scenes. And she made it look easy. She was the quiet ringmaster of this three ring circus called family.

So, did I spend any time with everyone who came to the house? Yes, I had a really nice morning with my cousin Shaun and his wife Morgan and their son Logan. I took today’s photo of Eva and Logan because they were very cute together. Well, that was when Eva wasn’t being bossy. She needs a sibling to temper that bossiness.

I also spent some time with my Dad going grocery shopping and getting ready for the cookout. We made sure that we got plenty of corn on the cob for everyone in honor of Grandma’s love for it. I don’t know the number but I’ve heard that she broke some family record for eating corn on the cob. I remember one cookout at the house in Wareham where we had fried chicken and corn on the cob on the octagonal table that my Great-Uncle Richard built and the one that now graces our patio. There were many family gatherings with my Grandma and she remembered what everyone liked and made sure that there was more than enough of it on hand. As a kid I loved mashed potatoes. I could eat tons of them as a kid. As I got older I moderated more of what I ate but I remember that Grandma always made a huge pot of mashed potatoes because I liked them. She was great like that.

My Cousin Carissa (In California) chatted with everyone via the webcam on Allison’s netbook. I also got a chance to talk with my Uncles about my Grandma, that was great because I will be giving the eulogy along with my sister Tara. So talking with everyone and seeing the great photos from Grandma’s life helped spark many of my memories and also learn stories from my family to properly honor Grandma’s memory at her funeral on Tuesday.