We started this book last week on Audible. (It’s not part of the free collection being offered right now during the pandemic…but here are my recommendations of the free ones being offered.) We’re doing a chapter a day. I learned about it from my sister Emily who highlighted it on her “First Friday” book recommendations on her blog. She quotes Kate DiCamillo as an enthusiastic reader of the book, who actually wondered how it could be the author’s first work. What a great testimonial! My sister gushes over it, saying she’s jealous of anyone who hasn’t read it and that it gave her many moments of mother-child bliss while listening to it and sipping cocoa. See what you have to look forward to? So far I’m loving it, especially that it shows the main character as a teen who doesn’t have a phone and is cool about it.

Then I let my son read aloud the book below. I love that it touches upon each of Dr. Gary Chapman’s five love languages. Next year I will read it during Valentine’s Day week. Sometime soon for Family Night I’m going to encourage my kiddos to brainstorm about the five love languages and family members and encourage them to act on that. Why wait for Valentine’s Day for that?

We then played a rousing game of Apples to Apples Jr. Bugsy, at age 10, won the game. The metagame went well, as nobody got upset or stormed out of the house. Everybody smiled or laughed at some point. This is such a great game! I love that everyone can play on every turn. It teaches new vocabulary words. It’s a good game to peek inside people’s souls a bit to see how they perceive definitions, also to see if they play seriously and pick honest matches (“small=mosquito bites”) or just want to be silly and pick crazy matches (“tame=pillowfights” ?!?!). And…it’s always fun when someone, the “judge,” picks a person’s card that if that person knew who submitted it, wouldn’t pick it. As is what happened this morning.

I love the surprise in that moment! I was pleased that a certain someone was slightly foiled when he/she did that. It’s also good for showing the players that some people can actually agree with them with clever choices, who they thought maybe couldn’t or wouldn’t. It’s fun to see when people are thinking on the same wavelength. We’re going to play this more often on Mondays, our language arts days. Another game that makes my mind reel with DIY-themed possibilities! Like using family photos or family-themed words and names.