An Author Meets An Author

Ever since Annabel declared that she wants to be an author when she grows up, she's also said how much she'd really LOVE to meet an author and ask them all kinds of questions. I totally wanted to make that happen for her! So I've been on the lookout at our local bookstores for an author for her to meet. An author whose book she would enjoy or an author she already knows would be great.

Enter Pete the Cat authors James Dean and his wife, Kimberly Dean! In town...this very week!! Totally doable! Annabel was very excited to meet an author! And Pete the Cat is a hilarious cat and we've loved his books for years. One of the first real books Daniel ever read was a Pete the Cat book. We can always count on Pete the Cat for a good laugh! So this seemed like a great chance to meet a fun author!

I went to the bookstore earlier this week and bought the newest Pete the Cat book and got our signing line number. The event started at 7:00 tonight and we were in the bookstore well beforehand, of course, just so we could look at books! We sat right in the front on the floor- Annabel was eagerly and oh so adorably waiting. Annabel had prepared a list of questions she wanted to ask, in case there was a chance to do so. She had her new book in her lap, too. When the authors came out to greet us, we were all given Pete the Cat ears to wear- so cute! James Dean talked about how he became an artist, showed us his first drawing of his cat that inspired the series, and then he read one of his books, with his wife Kimberly up there with him, too. Then James showed us how he draws Pete the Cat, and Snoopy. Annabel had a ball watching and taking pictures. After that, Kimberly read the newest book and then had all the kids do a little dance. It was a really fun story time done by the authors!

Then Annabel waited so patiently for our turn to get her book signed. Did I mention that she wore her "Meet the Author" shirt that I made for her career day last week? She was SO excited to show that off and everybody noticed it and asked her all about the book she wrote. Annabel was so proud! I was proud, too- she just did great! And then when it was her turn to get her book signed, she went right up there, gave them the book, talked to them, and she asked James her number one question- "How long did it take you to make the book?" He loved her question and said this one took about 4 months to write and illustrate; they would sit on their front porch and work together to write the book. He said they wrote another book on a beach trip- Kim liked that trip! It was so cute. He was so sweet to take the time to answer Annabel's question. I loved that Annabel spoke up and asked- I was so proud of her! She even posed for a picture with them! Such a fun night out for the two of us!!

So- just like that- my little author has met a real author! (Although she has met one before actually- at least 2 maybe even 3 years ago; she met the author of A Girl with a Cape, Amy Logan, who was just as sweet and spunky as can be- and just yesterday Annabel told me in great detail about this day- she clearly remembers this meeting! I was shocked!) Annabel's writing passion has been reignited! She wants to write more, more, more! And the bookstore employee and James Dean both said, "Keep writing! Someday it'll be you sitting behind the table doing a book signing!" Oh how Annabel's eyes twinkled! This idea completely thrilled Annabel!! I see more books in my future...

Meet the Author!

Annabel's class did a Career Dress Up day this past Monday, as part of their year end countdown activities. Annabel wants to be an author when she grows up! Thankfully we had the weekend to make her costume. I made her a shirt advertising a chance to meet the author and get books signed, complete with a picture of Annabel holding a book she wrote. I also made a really cute necklace with some broken crayons- that turned out great! And then Annabel also wore her leggings that have pencils all over. She carried a copy of the book she's written which she's super proud of; it was her first hard cover book! And voila- we had an author to send to school! We had a lot of fun coming up with this cute costume!

Meet the Author!!

Annabel wrote this book back in March, immediately after we bought this hardcover book. She worked SO hard on it and had a ball doing it! She is SO so proud of this book! We're proud of her, too! She's been showing everybody this book!

An author's reading...

For the costume, since the original hard cover is so special, I'd scanned each page of the book and then printed it, so she had a paper copy she could take to school as a prop.

Thought you'd like to read her book, too, if you haven't seen it already! I'll translate, although most of it you could read with no problem. :)

Ribet ribit frog

About the author (on the back cover)

My name is Annabel. I wrote this book when I was 5 years old. This is my first hard cover book!! I was so excited. My next book is going to be called frog's friend. I will like to be a traveling family when I grow up.

 Written in 2017. (She did also write the publishing city, too! So cute.)
 Ribet Ribet frog (Title page- girl knows her book parts!)

 

Once upon a time there was a frog.
She was hopping from lily pad to lily pad to get out of the pond.

When she got out of the pond she hopped along the path.
She was hopping to her favorite frog restaurant. The restaurant was called fly's frog. She ate fly soup and fly apple juice and fly oranges.

After she ate she went for a walk. On her walk she found a treasure chest. In the treasure chest there was lots of gold.
Then she brought it home. But she couldn't find a place to hide it. 

Then she went for a swim because she was hot and the water was cool.
After her swim she went to the library. And got nonfiction books. And got fiction books. 

Then she went home.
Then it was time for bed. There's a big day ahead.

Well. She was sleeping something woke her up. What was it?
Then she investigated. There were clues.

Then she got out her special investigating book. And she looked up what animal has those prints.
And she figured out it was a dog. And she figured out it was actually cute.

So she went back to bed smiling so much.
Then she kept sleeping.
9:00     10:00     11:00     11:30  (This is maybe my favorite part of the book- the time lapse! Love it!)

When she woke up it was the big day. After she did her morning chores she made a pie. Because she was going to a pie contest that was in a fair.
After she made a pie she went to the fair.

At the fair there was a booth for the pies first she went there.
When it was her turn she gave it to the person and the person gave her some tickets for the other things to do.

Then she went on the roller coaster.
Then she tried to win a stuffed animal. 

Then it was time for the contest. The judge tasted all of the pies.
And then she won first place. Whooohoooo!!!

Then she went home. Then she called some workers. Then they came to her house. She told them what she wanted them to do.
So they got their tools ready. And they got to work. They drilled out a hole. And then they put a door inside.

Then she put the treasure chest inside.

Fair map (Annabel drew this on the endpaper at the back- such a cute addition to the book):
entrance, pie booth, roller coaster, stuffed animal contest (with lines traced to indicate the frog's path at the fair!), and strength tester, lego contest, and bathroom (other things frog could also have done, says Annabel).

Isn't that a GREAT book?!! This was all done by her- absolutely NO prompting or spelling help from me! We sure do have an author, don't we?!!

Happy Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day. Hoping all you mothers out there did, too!

The kids each got to decorate small cakes at Mariano's with Daddy on Saturday (it was a store event), while I enjoyed a delicious tea that afternoon with my mom, sister, and sister-in-law. That night after dinner and before cake time, the kids excitedly presented me with their handmade Mother's Day projects they'd made at school. It was so sweet. When Daddy was getting the cakes out, Daniel disappeared and came back, hands behind his back, asking if he could give me his present now- the light in his eyes was just precious. He'd made a flower pen- so cute! Annabel also ran and got her project, a handprint flower vase with reasons she loves me- loved it!

The next morning, they made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we all ate on our screened porch- I think perhaps that was my favorite part of the day, breakfast outside! Annabel was very excited about giving me some more presents, and sure enough, there on the table was a stack of wrapped presents and a pretty green gift bag. It was all so sweet. The gift bag contained a pretty bowl Annabel painted in her pottery class (she only painted this one, she did not make it, it was a "freebie" she said, from when they had extra time), complete with a heart in the middle of the bowl- Annabel was so proud of this! I love it- it's a red bowl and the heart is a periwinkle blue color, great colors! My other presents were a couple books that have been on the top of my list; I've already started reading one of them!

Funny story about those books. One night, about a week before Mother's Day, Annabel and I lay in bed talking. Then she so innocently fished, "Mommy. What book is next on your reading list that don't already own?" I had to laugh. (Ben later said he did not prompt this at all, this was all Annabel! Isn't she sweet and thoughtful?) She said I had just a week to think about it. Long about Friday night, while eating dinner on our porch, Annabel asked me if I'd thought about what book was on my list next. I told her my top three books to choose from, and after each one, her eyes glittered and she'd glance at Daddy, her eyebrows wiggling as if to say "yes let's do it!" while Ben was furiously scrambling on his phone. Oh man I had to laugh! Annabel is a hoot. She is so thoughtful, even if Daddy had to help her out!

The rest of Mother's Day was spent hanging out as a family. We did have swimming lessons that morning, but then straight afterward, I wanted to go mini-golfing. I'd noticed an advertisement at a local mini-golf course saying mothers could play free with their kids. Sounded good to me! We had a lot of fun. Cute story here, too... At the entrance, Ben said three were playing and one was a mother, the guy at the counter said the total would be $15. Annabel did not miss a beat and said, "And if you were playing, Mommy, the total would have been $20." (And no, there was no mention of prices nor any board to read with prices. She did this figuring out all on her own!) Wow. Just wow. Girl knows her math.

We hung out the rest of the day, most of it outdoors at home in our yard. Grandma Mary Kay and Grandpa Larry came over and enjoyed a new favorite dish of mine for dinner, Mediterranean Shredded Pork on Couscous (a super yummy slow cooker meal!), which we served with roasted vegetables. We had a choice of strawberry shortcake and German chocolate pie for dessert- some of us had both! We played some more and then bedtime was upon us. Annabel let me read three of my favorite stories to her- "because it's Mother's Day and you should read things you like, Mommy!"

It was a wonderful weekend full of love!!

Handmade Mother's Day projects!!

 Lovely decorated cakes!

My pretty flower pen and some good books to read!

Mini-golfing fun!!

Need a Laugh?

Here are two things from Daniel that made me laugh recently. Maybe you need a good laugh too!

This one made me chuckle (and also feel a little sad). It is probably a pretty honest indication of how Daniel feels about school. Poor kid. Wish I could wave a magic wand and make him more excited about school. I will say- he's also pretty obsessed with jails and police and SWAT teams lately, so that may have had a part in this illustration as well. I love the video camera in the corner!

And then there's this video! Hilarious, I think! I was laughing out loud when I downloaded and watched this for the first time while the kids were in school. I didn't even know Daniel had made this video. Ben came in from the other room and asked what I was laughing at so hard. I showed him- and then we were both cracking up! Check it out!

A Hard Goodbye...We Miss You, Jack!

A couple weeks ago we had to endure a very hard goodbye for our family. Our family made the very hard, but ultimately kinder, decision to put Jack, our beloved sweet black cat, to sleep. April 28th was a very hard day for me, for all of us. Thankfully the kids were in school and were able to say their goodbyes that morning and then remain rather blissfully unaware. This was all hard enough as it was.

Losing Jack was on our horizon; we didn't think it would be long. Jack had been losing weight since winter, we'd tried different foods, taken him to the vet who looked at him and examined him and said "he looks healthy just try more different foods." Right. Real helpful vet we had. Still we kept at it. But then other not so pretty symptoms started to kick in. In fact there was a weekend when Jack was so sick and we thought that was the end, but then he totally turned around and was back to his normal self again.

However, three weeks ago (the weekend of Annabel's family birthday party, actually) Jack got very sick again and we knew this time there would be no turn around. We did give him the week, well- maybe we were giving the week to ourselves since we were really not ready to say goodbye. But that week- ohh, breaks my heart to think about. In the end, Jack stopped bathing (that was the biggest clue- when they stop caring for themselves, you just know it's over), he stopped meowing, he couldn't jump up onto anything not even one step, he could barely walk- it was clearly painful for him, he wasn't sleeping, he was just lethargic and so sad looking. But he was still always around us, he was still following us when he could- he wanted our company and our love and I truly believe that's what kept him going so long.

So we spent that last week petting Jack, loving him up, sitting with him as much as possible, I literally didn't leave my couch for two days just hanging out with Jack. We carried him all around the house with us so he could be with us for all the things he loves- bedtime, couch snuggle time, playtime...we wanted him in all his favorite spots with us and I know Jack wanted it, too.

The decision to put Jack to sleep was both hard and yet easy. Hard because I hate that it didn't happen naturally, it's a really hard moral issue to make that decision. Hard because he was our cat, he was Jack, he was just the best and we loved him SO much. Hard because, well, just hard. And yet, it was easy because watching Jack become so lethargic and not able to do the things he loved on his own- that's just no way to live, it was kinder to just let him go peacefully and full of our love. So with that explanation, the kids filled him with love and agreed yes let's put him to sleep, let's let him go. Although they were under the oh-so-sweet-and-innocent impression we would do that ourselves at nighttime when he went to bed and that it would make him better and he would be okay then- so, we had a little more explaining to do. But I think they got it and they did see the wisdom in it, and they were able to enjoy the week's worth of cat snuggles in the meantime. Nothing much more was said about all this, ever.

We do so miss Jack. I keep "seeing" him and "hearing" him all around the house, especially in the places he would always be. A few of Jack's favorite places- Daniel's room- under the bed or on the bed (always, and in the end, a lot- he was Daniel's cat, he really was, and my cat), under my bed comforter (that lump in our bed was not wrinkled sheets- it was Jack), my library, on top of couches in our family or library, my bedroom corners, on top of my neck if I was sitting on a couch- I called him my kitty-boa, and anywhere there was a blanket to lay on or a square of sunshine to soak up on the floor. These are the places I see him, even now. And I still keep a paper ball, the kind Jack would have loved to bat and chase, in my pocket.

The kids didn't say much past that Friday goodbye. Getting another cat has come up from them- Daniel says we'll name it "fluffball," well hmm we'll see. But right now, I'm feeling sad and lonely and missing Jack, I need time to miss him, and we're adjusting to being cat-less. It's not much fun. Little things have struck me in the days since- like we could put out our rugs again (he was making lots of messes in the end- not fun), litter boxes got put away and feeding him doesn't need to happen, we can close our basement door now, my Mother's Day flowers won't get nibbled, Annabel's balloon ribbons can't float free without cat chewing worries, and just he's not there, he's not running up the stairs past me at bedtime in a hurry to snuggle my feet when I read, he's not with us when we read to the kids, his purring motor isn't in my ear when I'm watching TV. I do so miss him. We all do. Daniel used our foam blocks to make a cat about a week later, "It's Jack" he said and then he laid down next to "Jack," right there in the sunshine where Jack would have LOVED to flop for some belly rubs and attention...broke my heart all over again. It was a fitting final goodbye.

With that, here are Jack's last pictures from the past few months...may they bring us happy memories.

And now the last week...the week of filling Jack up with love...

Ben slept on the couch in the family room with Jack the night before. That melted my heart, too.

Time to say goodbye...this is it.

"Jack" by Daniel