My Crazy in Pictures

The last few months have been full of crazy. Or I could use other adjectives like exciting. Fun. Adventure. Sports. Play. Work. Celebration. Food. Art. Writing. Culture. Bonding. Homecomings.

Lots of good things. But LOTS of things. I'll be going off-line for a bit since we will be moving in a couple of weeks. But for your viewing pleasure, my crazy (and by crazy, I mean awesome) life in pictures:

This might have been one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Ile de Ré on bikes!

Oh wait! I mean THIS was my favorite part. Tartelette aux fraises!

I could have stayed here forever. So peaceful!

You can't go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Or the Mona Lisa.

 

(Do I look exhausted??? Yeah, it was the end of a full day of travel and site-seeing. I was EXHAUSTED. All-caps are needed to fully capture the feeling.)

And Versaille. (Though it wasn't my favorite. Don't hate me!)

My 11-yo and I took the stairs to get to Sacré Coeur.

Yep. We are that awesome.

And Crèpes. Need I say more?

Home never felt so good!

 

Because I got to watch my soccer star!

 

And play with my crazy, pink-loving Girlie.

 

 

And yes! This is me making my book deal all official. Release date is Spring 2016!!

 

I hope you all have a great summer! I'll be back as soon as I get my world organized in my new place.

In Which I Gush About Librarians

I LOVE our local library. And more importantly, my kids love our local library. My sons aren't shy about asking the wonderful librarians for help, and my daughter knows right where to go to find the cool computer with kid-friendly games (which are, of course, all educational).

One of our favorite things is the summer program. The nationwide theme this year is:

Every Hero has a story

 To add to the fun, our library made this awesome photo background (complete with cape and mask) for our photographing pleasure.

And see that kid right there? My second grade graduate? This reading program has fueled his love for reading. All year he's been meh about it. Reading wasn't horrible for him, but it was something he did when we made him.

But since the summer reading program started, he's been determined to get in the minutes to earn those books and prizes . . . he's a different child. He just finished Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein.

And before that it was all three of the Case File 13 books by J. Scott Savage. And he's now dying to write to Mr. Savage who is now his favorite. (My reluctant reader as a favorite author!)

Obviously I love the summer reading program as an author. How great that kids are reading!

But I love it even more as a mom. I just want to thank all you librarians out there who work so hard to encourage a love of reading. Who put awesome books on display, and make going to the library a treat. Thank you for sharing your passion. Thank you for making it fun. Thank you for opening doors upon doors of opportunity and adventure to my children, because that's what reading does.

Is anyone else out there participating in their library's summer reading program?