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I recieved a free pdf copy for the purpose of review. I have not been otherwise compensated. All thoughts and opinions expressd herein are entirely my own. Ginnie West leaps before she looks when the school bully Pierce Owens tries to pick a fight with her twin brother. Besides getting suspended for fighting, and the consequences that brings from her dad, her brother is less than happy at her chivalry. Not to mention how angry Pierce is after being bested by a girl in the middle of the cafeteria. Ginnie and Toran come face to face with some big choices. What makes a bully? Can a bully change? Do they deserve a second chance? I like the character development in this second Ginnie West Adventure, all the main characters are faced with difficult choices, and navigate some very harsh realities. There are some intense scenes between Pierce and his dad. But, this book can be a really good way to open up a dialogue between kids and parents/teachers about subjects like violence, bullying, and...

I received a free pdf copy for the purpose of review. I have not recieved any other compensation. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are entirely my own. I finished reading the first book in the Ginnie West Adventure series a couple of weeks ago.  The basic plot: Ginnie and Tillie are BFFs, but they would love to also be sisters. So they hatch a plot to try to get Ginnie's widowed dad and Tillie's divorced mom to fall in love. Along the way their own friendship is tested, and Ginnie begins to question the plan when she finds her mom's old journals. When her dad suddenly takes the journals away, she feels like she looses the mother she was only just beginning to get to know all over again. Operation Secret Sisters just might be over soon no sooner than it began! My thoughts: First off, I really like the characters, Ginnie, Tillie, Ginnie's Dad, and Tillie's mom especially. The girls are well written. They are flawed, they have big...

Welcome to Fresh Brewed! Each week I will write about a topic that relates to families. Then, at the bottom of the post is a Linky Tool so that you can link up your posts related to the topic for the week. It doesn't have to be a new post from the past week, if you have written about it in a previous post, link it! The topics will be broad enough to encompass many avenues of thought, but do please only post related posts. Opinion posts are welcome, but not bashing ones please. Please keep it respectful. There may be posts with vastly different viewpoints, or addressing points on vastly different areas of the topic. That's fantastic as every family is different and struggles with different circumstances. If you are not a blogger, but you have an interesting article to share, or read something another blogger posted, please feel free to leave a link in the comments section of the weekly post and a short description of how it relates to the topic.  Fresh Brewed Weekly Link...

I recieved a complementary pdf copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are entirely my own, however. I was very excited to sign up to review this book as I am always on the lookout for books written for children pertaining to Autism/Asperger's. This book was interesting and different than I expected it to be. I like the approach of learning to accept oneself rather than trying to change to fit in. "No matter what I did, I could not change what made me uncomfortable...I decided to go to the river, the place where I knew I could be happy, and learn how to be myself...Rosie, a pink hippo." That sentence is so very powerful. That lesson was, to me the most profound, and I relates to it both as someone who has struggled to "fit in" many times in my life, but also as a mom to kids on the Autism Spectrum. I felt the illustration of the river choosing it's own path was not as clear or concise as the...

Hi guys! So excited to let you know that you can get a great deal on this wonderful book right now! Scroll down for details under the subheading "Purchase"! We love this book and had so much fun trying out recipes for our Secret Garden Tea Party . Hope you find it as fantastic as we do!   Title: A Year in the Life of the Secret Garden | Author: Valarie Budayr | Illustrator: Marilyn Scott-Waters | Publication Date: November, 2014 | Publisher: Audrey Press | Pages: 144 | Recommended Ages: 5 to 99 Book Description: Award-winning authors Valarie Budayr and Marilyn Scott-Waters have co-created A Year in the Secret Garden to introduce the beloved children’s classic, The Secret Garden to a new generation of families. This guide uses over two hundred full color illustrations and photos to bring the magical story to life, with fascinating historical information, monthly gardening activities, easy-to-make recipes, and step-by-step crafts, designed to enchant read...

What is dysgraphia? Put very simply, it is a learning disability in which an individual struggles with writing due to difficulty coordinating motor planning and information processing skills. Symptoms often include poor handwriting, confusion of capital and lowercase letters, poor spelling, difficulty putting thoughts into writing, difficulty with storing words and ideas and organizing them into written form, and many more. For an excellent, and much more in depth look at this learning disability visit this article .  Here today though, I'm going to share with you how it affects our household. In particular, Grace. Holding a normal pencil and trying to write on regular paper is incredibly difficult for Grace. She works so hard on the mechanics of the task that she is unable to give hardly any mental energy to the point of the exercise which is to learn how words are spelled. Even basic writing exercises quickly dissolved into angry outbursts or tears due to ...

Here it is, as promised, Grace's Mud Pie recipe! She did all the work, I helped explain terms and measurements, stirred at the very end to make sure everything was evenly coated (at her request), and helped hold the pot. She let one of her friends spread the Nutella and add the "dirt" to one of the pies while she did the other.  This is a very kid friendly recipe, I highly recommend it for ages 8 and up! The original recipe is in the book The Cooking Book, by Jane Bull. But we modified it just a bit. Here are our supplies: 3/4 c butter 1 tbsp cocoa powder 1/2 c sugar 1 c graham cracker crumbs 1/2 c dried fruit 1 chocolate bar (we used Nutella spread instead) We added: Heath chocolate and toffee bits Black Sixletts (found in the party aisle) These are the original measurements, we doubled the recipe though. Step 1: Crush graham crackers. We used a gallon size zipper bag and a coffee mug (I don't own ...

We are still buzzing with excitement from this weekend. Our house was transformed Saturday afternoon into a dazzling venue for our Mid-Summer Indoor Garden Tea Party in November.  Confused?  No worries. I'll explain. First, allow me introduce an amazing book: A Year in the Secret Garden by Valarie Budayr & Marilyn Scott-Waters I recieved a beautiful paperback copy for review, but otherwise I have recieved no compensation. All thoughts and opinions of the book are entirely my own. Inspired by and written as sort of a companion and activity guide for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this book is divided into twelve month sections. Each month highlights traditional activities, recipes, life in that era, and a character study. It is a wonderful, hands on, practical way to take kids on a journey back in time and see how children and families lived in another era. The illustrations are colorful and whimsical. The photogr...