Photos from Phones - February 2023 Round Up

2.1.23
(As I watched the (end of) the ALA awards program on my computer, I had my library app on my phone putting all the winners on hold. And because I was so speedy, I had this giant stack waiting for me today at the library. 😳 I’m planning to start with Freewater since that won the Newbery Medal. We’ll see how far I can get through the rest of this stack in the next three weeks before they’re all due. 🤞🏼)
(Update 2/10: Finished Freewater and it was so good! Told a slave runaway story that I had never heard of before ... to the Great Dismal Swamp! Definitely worth a read! Gregg told me about this podcast he listened to a few years ago. (I wonder if the author of Freewater listened to it, too!) Super interesting!)
(Update 2/14: I just read Ain’t Burned All the Bright, which is 384 pages but is really just three reeeallly long sentences of poetry. It’s a pandemic story and a black lives matter story. And it actually won a Caldecott honor this year! (How often does that happen for a YA book?!))
(Update 2/16: Frizzy was a good and quick graphic novel. Cal liked it, too.)
(Update 2/18: I also read Star Child... but I made a separate post about it, so check that out below.)

2.1.23
(our library is doing a year-long reading challenge for adults
and I got my first badge for completing January!)

2.2.23
(Sam made this coupon for making "any tipe
of pancake breakfast" and I just think it's
adorbs)

2.4.23
(Gregg's cousin's wife, Jodi Gallagher, died recently after some extended health problems.
Gregg wasn't close with his cousin, so we didn't know their family very well
(except through facebook/instagram because Jodi friended all the Gallaghers),
but we felt like we should be a supportive group at the funeral.
Here's a pic of some of Gregg's mom's family that was there:
Heather Wihongi; Kim, Callie, Sam, and Gregg;
Kim and Paul; Ann and Shawn Gallagher; Craig and Leslie Gallagher;
Tyler, Kendal, Sarah, Leon and Lori Bird)

2.4.23
(after the funeral, since we were in the area, 
we decided to knock off another of Gregg's birthday bucket list:
visit the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. He remembers
seeing it being built when he lived in Payson, but had never
been to check it out, so we made a field trip out of it with Paul and
Kim, stopping first for the vegetarian buffet for lunch)

2.4.23
(pretty tasty!)

2.4.23
(then we went upstairs to see the temple room (they didn't have
any tour guides that day so we just walked around and read the displays)
and after that we moved outside to visit the animals and watch the peacocks)

2.4.23

2.4.23

2.4.23
(a really cool place to visit and learn about!)

2.5.23
(Just another little stack of mostly 2022 books that had award potential or actually won a few (I’m looking at you, A Seed Grows). Plus Almost Time thrown into the mix just because we love it and it’s ... wait for it... almost time for maple syrup season back east.)

2.6.23
(I came across these graphic nice cook books in the adult graphic novel section and immediately checked them out for the kids since they are big ramen and dumpling fans. They have loved reading about different folding and cooking techniques and have all kinds of dreams for the next time we make dumplings (I think that one is the definite favorite, but both are fun).)

2.6.23
(We’ve been learning some microbiology lately! It’s good and gross science haha. We started by watching a magic school bus video about pickles and have been doing some experiments with our own Petri dishes (in Sam’s favorite word: blech!). 🤓 🧫)

2.6.23
(just making valentines for cousins and grandparents and
friends and calling it writing . . . as you do)

2.6.23
(so many number words that could fit but didn't!)

2.6.23
(Still plugging along through the Vanderbeeker series. The narrator is not my favorite... I don’t really know why. Maybe because there are so many characters sometimes I can’t tell the difference in voice (or she mixes them up). But she does better than me, and it’s not bad per se. Anyway. The kids love the story and beg for more, even when it’s sad. We listened while puzzling this month for a few chapters a day and it’s been a great addition to our school!)

2.7.23
(Kylie told us about a cool opportunity some of her students
had to talk to a real live astronaut on the ISS with the help of
BARC (the HAM radio club in Logan), so we tuned into the live
stream of it while finishing up valentines and had a great time listening
to him answer the students' questions)

2.7.23
(this was in that other stack from yesterday, but
I was sharing it with my friend so I snapped a pic of the cover
and I figure it's worth seeing here too. We loved this story of
waiting for a tooth to fall out and for the maple sap to run.)

2.7.23
(I laughed out loud at this quote from a picture book bio we were reading
today. and then my friend was texting me about how she was sick but it was
dinner time and she didn't know what to cook and she'd rather just lay down and read.
it was too funny that they both came up at the same time.)

2.7.23
(this is the picture book bio that quote came from above. It was great!
Led us on a rabbit trail about comets, specifically the green comet
that was visible this week (but we never could see, even thought I tried).)

2.8.23
(this was a highly unusual book - mostly
paintings with a few words/captions/poems/thoughts
for each, all with the theme of "Women Holding Things"
and not always what you would expect. I had never heard of
it before, but I was browsing my favorite shelf at the library:
the Mind Benders Collection, and I opened it up and saw
it would be a quick read, so I sat down and read it in one
sitting)

2.8.23

2.8.23
(Cal and Sam got letters written in invisible
ink in the mail, so we grabbed some grape juice
and a q-tip and they got busy solving the mystery)

2.8.23

2.8.23
(can you see the greenish message showing up?)

2.8.23
(This one was trickier, but it was still cool. yay science!)

2.9.23
(at my chocolate tasting class at the library, put on by a professor
at USU. It was really interesting and fun!)

2.11.23
(oops! that explains the scratchy throat and achy/fevery feeling
I've had over the past couple of days!)

2.11.23
(oh look, Sam has it, too. Not surprised since he started the
scratchy throat and sniffly nose thing a couple days before I got them)
(Update: Gregg started feeling sick a few days after me, but didn't test
positive for a few days after that. But finally he did. He said round two was
not nearly as rough as round one last year. Maybe because we didn't lock him in his room
the whole time this time? Cal never tested positive or had any symptoms this time (why in the
world would she have it a month ago by herself and the rest of us get it now?))

2.13.23
(A trio of marvelous picture book biographies of inspiring and courageous women that we enjoyed last week during school. We had fun following some rabbit trails on YouTube about comets, Chladni plates, vibrating wine glass music, and a Sesame Street appearance by Evelyn Glennie herself. They don’t seem to have a lot in common on the surface, but two of these women won gold medals for their work (and one was knighted, which seems sort of close). Another fun similarity between two was that they studied or lived with vibrations. Just some really great conversations and stories to discuss and learn together!)

2.13.23
(Cal wanted to make special valentines brownies for our party, which
even included making frosting and piping it in a cute design! ps - they were delish!))

2.14.23
(my friend gave me cheery valentines tulips that were so fun 
to have on the table all week)

2.14.23
(we brought back the pink sticky note heart to help
us determine which activity we'd do next during our 
valentine party school)

2.14.23
(Cal gave me these valentines - she's so sweet and thoughtful
in making gifts and notes for everyone.)

2.14.23
(this is a fun and super easy tradition that I think we'll keep around!
Each note has an activity like "read the stack of valentines books" or "sing love songs"
or "valentine candy graphs" or "minute to win it games". some are educational
and some are just for fun but the surprise of what is coming next is the best part)

2.14.23
(poetry tea time valentines style)

2.14.23
(valentines wreaths, which are basically just heart-filled
snowflakes)

2.14.23
(Heatha recommended this one to me a long time ago and for some reason now finally felt like the time to read it. I really feel like I’m part Swedish haha! (I could especially relate to a story early in the book about her walking around town and multiple people stopping to offer her a ride just because it was so rare to see someone walking anywhere.))

2.14.23
(this is one from that giant stack at the top that I read (in one sitting since it's just
three long sentences / poetry) - it's the one that won a caldecott honor as a ya book, which
is very unusual!)

2.15.23
(I was a little slow getting my holds in for Valentine’s Day books so I didn’t get my faves (I’m thinking of you, Mr. Hatch) in time for the holiday, but we still had this pile to read and enjoy yesterday during our Valentine’s Day party (some were better than others, but they’re all definitely festive?).

2.16.23
(We’ve been reading all the Sleeping Beauty retellings we can get our hands on in preparation for he ballet this weekend with Grandma B!)

2.18.23
(This was great. Sort of a picture book biography for a little older audience. She tells the story of author Octavia Butler’s life and career through poetry, quotes, photos, and short “traditional” biographical blurbs. It’s only about 100 pages long so it’s a quick read. And now I’m even more interested in reading some of Butler’s books.)

2.18.23
(Ladies day at the ballet! Cal's first time coming to this Blanchard
women's traditional February outing to the Capitol Theatre. We saw Sleeping Beauty
and it was marvelous!)

2.18.23

2.18.23
(out of order, but we got treats at Siegfried's before the show
and it was delish!)

2.20.23
(we've been learning lines from Midsummer all year, but we're finally
getting into the story now. I love this series for introducing Shakespeare stories
in a way that kids can relate to, since it's being retold and illustrated by kids.)

2.21.23
(we read A Long Road on a Short Day (on the kindle app and I didn't take a screenshot,
though this is not our first time reading this story) for a family book club
this week. Our teatime included all of the food (donuts, apples, cheese and hot chocolate)
 that Samuel and his father ate during the course of their very long day
trying to trade up to a brown-eyed cow for
the mother so the little sister can have good milk to drink.
It's a great story and a delicious feast!)

2.21.23
(This made us chuckle. But also the backmatter had some
new facts about chickadees for us to learn, too!)

2.23.23
(Kylie is an assistant coach for the Sky View Girls Basketball
team, who happened to be playing in the state championships in the Spectrum
this week. So we braved the crazy snow to go watch their first game on Thursday night.
We only got to see the second half (due to said snow - it was a weird squall that followed us
through the canyon) but Sky View pulled it out against Mountain Crest!
It was so exciting! And fun to see Ky so excited for her team.
They had another exciting game the next day and won at the buzzer to send them to the championship
game, which they ended up losing to Ridgeline, who hadn't lost all season. We watched those at home online.)

2.24.23
(My second time reading this but the first time for the kids. I read some of it and sometimes we listened. Any way you can get this one, I highly recommend it. We all loved it.)

 

 Every other round up here (whew!):

2023: Jan 

2022: Dec | Nov | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan (I got really behind last year, but I'm working on catching up!)

2021: Dec | Nov | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2020: Dec | Nov | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar Quar + Mar | Feb | Jan
2019: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2018: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2017: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2016: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2015: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2014: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2013: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June