The Talens' Tales

For some reason over the summer, ancient Egypt grabbed Joash's attention and interest. I am pretty sure he has had every book in the Jr. Non-fiction section out of the library (though he finds photographs of real mummies creepy.) He was super excited because his class is studying ancient Egypt as well. And he is currently building a coffin with a non-creepy mummy out of lego. Copying hieroglyphics. He has also written his name in hieroglyphics.  It is so fun to see his whole imagination get caught up in something. I am interested to see where it turns to next.

Sometimes I get a little worried thinking about some of the "big" issues that we need to teach our kids about. But, I have been encouraged by a lot of people to be proactive about it because you would rather your kids learn about it from you than someone else. So, this summer I decided to become a little bit proactive. We love books and a few books had been recommended  by people I respect about these difficult topics. Here are the ones I got and that we intend to use with our children. God Made All of Me - by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb This the only book from these that I have read with my oldest kids so far, and I really liked it. It focuses on the proper names of body parts, why some parts are private and the difference between a surprise and a secret. A great, basic and age appropriate book and a good foundation for the rest. Good Pictures, Bad Pictures - by Kristen Jenson and Gail Poyner This is more of a workbook style book that teaches children about what porno...

M(om): Gideon! What have you been up to this last month? G(ideon): Lots of first things, Mom. My first time on a plane. My first time out of Canada. My first time in a hotel. My first steps, which happened in that hotel. Lots of firsts. M: Yes, we know you can walk and you are doing it a little bit more. When do you think you will start walking all of the time? G: I don't know. Crawling and climbing get me where I want to be so much faster. I don't know if it is worth the effort yet.   M: Well, I am pretty sure some day soon you will change your mind. What else is new? G: Teeth! I have been getting lots of teeth lately. M: Yes, you have. I will be glad when these come in. You have your top molars now and the bottom ones are starting to come through. And I think there are some more teeth making there way through on the bottom as well. G: It does make me a bit grumpy sometime, though. M: Yeah, but hopefully they will be through soon. You got a nice haircut ...

Well, Joash's second tooth finally came out. It had been very loose for a long time, but it hung in there. We were hopeful that since loosing the first tooth was not a very dramatic event, loosing teeth would be  breeze. This was not quite the case. It was just before supper time and Joash and Mataya were on the trampoline together. Mataya came running to the house to say Joash needed me, so I went to him and he is crying and saying his mouth hurts. I am still not sure what happened exactly, but I eventually figure out that his loose tooth hurt. I had a good look and could tell it had just been pushed out of where it normally sits, causing the pain. I told him it just needed to come out and then his mouth will feel fine. But he would have nothing to do with it. No one, including himself, could touch his tooth. He could not push it with this tongue and also he refused to close his mouth. This meant droll was pouring out of his mouth. Then it was time to eat supper. This, of co...

By March of Owen Edmonds’s senior year, eleven students at Masonville High School have committed suicide. Amid the media frenzy and chaos, Owen tries to remain levelheaded—until he endures his own near-death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality. The people around him suddenly appear to be shackled and enslaved. Owen’s heart-pounding journey through truth and delusion will force him to reconsider everything he believes. He both longs for and fears the answers to questions that are quickly becoming too dangerous to ignore. When I began this book, I wasn't looking for much beyond a good story. I also didn't realize this was a book intended for the YA audience. So, while it may not have been exactly the kind of book I was looking for, as a former high school English teacher, I believe this book has merit, especially for the YA audience. The story is gripping both in the content, but also in how it moves through time. The characters are complex and it isn't unt...

Being stuck in Detroit meant that Joash missed the first two days of school. But last Thursday he finally made it to the first day of grade 2.  He was not super excited about having his picture taken for the first day of school. "Why do you need to take another picture of me, Mom? You have enough pictures of me already." He had a good first day, but I think it was a bit overwhelming coming in a bit behind everyone. It was nice for him to have two days and then a break. This week has been going much better.  And Mataya had her first day of preschool on Tuesday. She was super excited and didn't mind having her picture taken at all. She was so excited to go to school. And she had a great first day. She didn't mind at all when I left and it was so fun to see her playing with her friends from church and having fun.

Following the Truck Parade, we spent a bit of time at a park near Nick and Dawn's house. And then off to airport.  We were nicely on time. Check-in went fine, but a little longer because of Gideon not being connected to our family. Security was a breeze and we were soon on our way and in Detroit. We easily found our gate in Detroit, had a 10 minute delay for boarding, but soon enough we were on the plane. And that it when the bottom fell out.  While on the plane, the pilots revived notice that Toronto was shut down due to weather. We waited about 20-30 minutes on the plane. They gave us snacks. Then they had us get off the plane and wait in the terminal. Every 30 minutes or so we would be updated that we were still delayed. And we were watching dark clouds and lightening roll into the area surround Detroit, too. Soon, the Detroit airport was shut down too. They brought out snacks and drinks a few different times, but finally around 10 pm (so over 5 hours of being ...

Lots of reading happening in August. Several of these books were ones I just could not put down. Which probably explains how I got through so many. It was a good reading month! The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy - An interwoven story of a modern day journalist doing a feature on a local German Bakery and the daughter of a town baker in Germany during World War II who finds herself in a position that ruin her and her family. Not a bad read, but rather predictable. The Antelope in the Living Room by Melanie Shankle - A series of essays that focus on marriage. Both funny and thought-provoking. The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Steadman - A lighthouse keeper and his wife living on a remote outpost in Australia who find a life boat with a baby in it on the shore of the island they live on. I devoured this book in 3 days and I am happy to report the movie is really good too. Still Life by Louise Penny - I feel like I am bit late to the Louis Penny train, but I plan to rec...

 Once we got to Michigan, we had a GREAT time in Michigan. The weather was fantastic and we tried to do one thing every day. Here are some of the things we did:  We spent the morning at Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan. I hadn't been here since elementary school, so it was fun to see it again and share some of the things I grew up with. We learned to Dutch Dance and saw the large street organ. Joash did a few rides on the Ferris Wheel.  The kids also got to make a stropewaffle. It was a great snack!  We also stopped into visit Grandma VerBeek. It was so nice to see her again and for the kids to put a name with a face. Another day we went to the Boulder Ridge Wildlife Park . This was a fantastic park! There is a safari ride you take to see many of the larger animals. The rest of the animals are in a very nice area that is easy to walk around. This park was originally started as a business that bred animals for zoos. Because of this, you are able to...

So, after much discussion and finding out the facts around the credit we got from the airline that if we were going to use our credit, we needed to go to Michigan yet this summer. So we booked tickets for the last week of August to return late in the night before the first day of school. However, if you know us at all, you know that it is rare for our travel to go as planned when flying. We left at quarter to 7 in the morning from Charlottetown. I love living 10 minutes from the airport.  Gideon was pretty pleasant on the plane.  We made it to Toronto and that is when things fell apart. First, we had to sit on the plane for an extra 10 minutes to wait for our gate to open up. . Then we had to stop at the ticketing counter to get our boarding passes. We had learned in Charlottetown that somehow when our tickets were booked, something went weird with Gideon as a lap infant. He wasn't connected to our family, but was still booked, just out on his own. So, that made eve...

Tapped as lead counsel in a corporate cover-up lawsuit against Mason Pharmaceutical, Kate Sullivan knows this case could make her career. What really drives her, though, is getting justice for the victims whose lives were ruined by the company's dangerous new drug. But when a whistleblower turns up dead, it paints a target on the back of everyone involved.  Former Army Ranger turned private investigator Landon James steps in to handle security for Kate. He's still haunted by mistakes in his past and is determined never to let something like that happen again. But it soon appears someone is willing to do anything--even commit murder--to keep the case from going to trial.  As danger closes in, Landon can't help but admire Kate's courage and resolve--but will her determination not to back down become too great of a risk?  The one thing I like about this book was the focus on the lawyer side of things, rather than the detective or police officer side of things. That...