Ears to You Review

New Our Generation Accessory Set

Target was having an Our Generation sale and I had a hard time making up my mind about what to add to our collection. Then I saw two accessory sets that I hadn't seen before. Today we take a look at Ears to You. The set is not on the OG website yet, so no links this time.

Lanie, Melody, both, Xyra

Set Introduction

Hi, Melody! How was the game today?
Not bad. The score was much closer than in our last game. 8-6.

Nice. Where's Kaya?
She's still getting her stuff out of the car.
Ah!
Hey, what's in the box?
New fun stuff!
Let's check it out.

Ears to You...(giggling)...what a name!

Let's see...it includes a hat, a roasting stick with marshmallow and hot dog, hot chocolate, and s'mores.

I LOVE s'mores!
That hat is something else! Try it on, Mel.

Won't go over my ponytail. You try it.
How do I look? (giggling)

(giggling) Love it!
I think it will fit you better. Not going over my curls too well.

Reminds me of the purple bat hat Xyra has.
Yeah, it does.
The roasting fork is nice. But seems kind of short. Whoever uses this will have to get pretty close to the fire.
True.

It's nice that you don't have to roast both items at the same time. See the marshmallow and hot dog can be removed.
Cool.

The s'mores look super yummy!

 Yes, yes, yes.

This hot chocolate mug matches the tea mug from the Under the Weather set. 
Nice.

And the hot chocolate is topped with whipped cream.

Yum!

At the Fire Pit Comparison

I love roasting marshmallows.
Me too. 

I see what you mean about the roasting fork. It is much shorter than the one we have from The Queen's Treasures. 
Here you can see the two sets together.

The Queen's Treasures set did not include a hot dog, but that's okay.

You have the jumbo marshmallow.

But I'll give you the jumbo s'more. I'm not that hungry for dessert right now.

What?!
(laughing)

What is your favorite item from the OG Ears to You set? 

Happy campfire roasting!

Book Review: Percy Jackson #1

Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1

The Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

Another great book. I can see mythology purists not liking it. Ah, but that is their prerogative. True. Now on to our reviews.

Haley

I can't believe Percy is only in sixth grade! He's doing so much and acting so much older. He's nice and caring too. I like that in characters. Love this book. I wonder if book two is just as good?

Kaya

I love Greek mythology. This doesn't exactly follow everything as we learned about it in social studies, but a little literary license isn't bad. I'd highly suggest reading something like Bulfinch's Mythology to get more knowledge on the characters' backgrounds. This was a pretty hefty quest for Percy. I'm glad he had help. I'm also glad he used his head and learned things along the way.

Kirsten

I wonder if Mr. Riordan will write any books about Percy meeting the Norse gods and goddesses? That would be interesting. Of course, almost everyone thinks they know Thor and Loki from The Avengers movies...

Kirsten!
Yes?
Focus on this book, please.
Okay. 

The Lightning Thief is a very interesting read. Percy finds out a lot about himself and his mother that he didn't know. Then he has to try and find his mother with the help of a few friends, but there are also those working against him. A great quest story. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

Lanie

I may never look at garden statuary the same again. Ugh! Anyway, Percy is really cool. He has to deal with a lot of strange stuff happening very quickly and he does so pretty well. It is kind of interesting that Percy is the lead of a trio with another guy friend and a girl friend. But getting too many people working together can make character development difficult.

Melody

So very much NOT the movie! However, to paraphrase our one friend (who was really talking about Harry Potter, but it applies here) the movie is a lovely and exciting visual companion to the book. Another friend hated the movie because it was so off the book, but in reading the book I can understand why they did what they did. 

The Lightning Thief is a great read! The story flows well and it is very interesting as well as exciting. Percy is already on a quest when he is given the next quest. It's good the two compliment each other. He grows a lot during the story. I like that he is able to rethink things to see a bigger picture after given more facts.  Looking forward to book two.

Xyra's Review

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Super cool is not quite the same as amazing so 4 stars. Well, 4 1/2 stars! :-)

I have always been drawn to mythology - ever since we studied the Greek gods in social studies in middle school! One of my favorite songs is Brian Ferry's Don't Pay the Ferryman (about Charon). So it is no surprise I really liked this story. Although, it might be shocking that I didn't read it right away. In this case, it was better that I saw the movie first. Since then I have been looking for an opportunity to read The Lightning Thief.

The one thing I had trouble visualizing is Percy as a sixth grader. I would have had this issue had I not seen the movie. Very few of the sixth grade boys I know of speak or act the way Percy does. Plus in this day and age kids that age aren't allowed to do many of the things Percy does unaccompanied by an adult (buy bus tickets, train tickets, etc.)

Setting that aside...this was a great quest and coming of age story. I liked how there were forces trying to protect Percy until he was ready to go up half-blood hill. It was interesting to see his experiences there and how he started to feel as if he fit in despite grumpy Mr. D and the Ares cabin's attempts for him to feel otherwise.

It was sad that it took him so long to realize who his father was. Even though the clues were small, they were there.

Mr. Riordan was quite imaginative in how Chiron and others could mask their true forms in modern facades.

Overall this was a really good read. Those with no mythological background will hopefully look up the origin stories of the gods, goddesses, monsters, and other beings otherwise they may be slightly confused. I am looking forward to book 2 and the others in the series.

Kid Lit Blog Hop

it's getting near the end of the school year? Looking for something fun to read over the summer? Check out our book reviews and those in the Kid Lit Blog Hop - the other book bloggers have lots of interesting suggestions.

[This post links up to the Twitter Linky party from our Magyk/Septimus Heap review, but to a different hostess site.  Our next review will link into #59.]

Happy reading!

Discovering Nature

Not So Egg-cellent

Our kitties have taken a liking to watching outside one of the bedroom windows. We've seen birds sitting in the tree; even a couple looking back in at the kitties. Too funny. The other day I noticed something white on the ground. 

I took a closer look; it's an egg. 

But a misshapen egg. That's so sad.

Although, where there is an egg, there is a nest. Cool, huh? There was a bird in the nest but when we zoomed in for a closer shot it flew away.

Xyra and I started looking at the tree more closely and found another nest. Super cool! 

We have bird apartments outside our house. No wonder the cats love watching that window!


Do you like birds? What is your favorite bird?


Stop again soon. Have a nice day!

Model Monday: Haley

Preppy Layers

Hi! I threw on this outfit and liked it so much I had to share it with you. 

Then the team brainstormed and decided to start a new series called Model Monday. It's not going to be every Monday, but sometimes...


The skirt and shoes are OG from the Cabin Chic outfit.

The white tee shirt is Springfield from the tee and jeans outfit. I can't find it on the Springfield site anymore.

The button-down shirt is from Kit's Overalls Outfit. You know, the original one that Kit wore to the Hobo Jungle, not her new chicken feeding overalls.


Finally, I put my hair up in a messy bun using clips from Dollar Tree.

What do you think?

Have a great Monday!

Heading to the Library

Need Something to Read

Continuing Book Series Reading

Hey, Kirsten what are you up to?
Writing down titles and authors to take to the library.
Why?
So we can continue reading about Septimus and Percy!
Oh, cool! Have fun.

(A few minutes pass)

Do you have the list?
Yep.
Let's go.

(Xyra and Kirsten arrive at the Upper Perkiomen Valley Library)

Hi! Welcome to the library. Can I help you find something?
Hi! Yes! I'm looking for these two books.

Do you have your library card?
Yes, it's right here.

Great! Let me put the request together and we will call you when the books are ready to be picked up.
Thank you! Have a nice day.
You too. Bye!

(A day passes. On the answering machine is a message from the library. 

The books are on hold and ready to be picked up.)

Kirsten!
Yes?
The books are ready for pick up. Do you want to go?
You bet!

(Xyra and Kirsten arrive at the Upper Perkiomen Valley Library)

Hello, may I help you?
Hi. We have books on hold.
The name, please?
Silverleaf.
Here they are.

Thank you.

Let's check out Simba before we go.

Okay. 
He looks like he's sleeping.

Do you have a public library (outside of school) where you can borrow books? If yes, do you go often? If not, what is your favorite place to find books to read?

Thank you for reading. Have a great day.