Thank you to Jessica at FoodMayhem.com for passing on the Sweet Home Blogger Award to us.We have the honor of passing on this award to Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen.
The book I am a Ballerina, by Valerie Coulman, tells the story of a little girl who goes to see a ballet performance and then wants to become a ballerina. "I am a ballerina. Well, almost a ballerina." She begins to take lessons, practices all around the house, and then performs on stage in a recital. It's a great book for little kids who are interested in ballet. I like that her ballet class includes a little boy and also that her family is biracial (her mom is Asian and her dad is Caucasian).
You will see teams compete in a fast-paced race along the south branch of the Chicago River at Ping Tom Memorial Park on beautifully decorated dragon boats. There are about 24 participating teams, including groups such as the Chicago Police Department, the Fire Department, United Airlines, Citibank, Asian American professional organizations, and others.
Opening ceremonies begin at 8:30 am. The competition begins at 9:00 a.m. and races end at approximately 4:00 p.m.
There will be music, food, bubble tea, Asian dance, caricature artists, acrobats, and crafts, as well as performances from cultural centers all across Chicago. Each year, approximately 10,000 visitors attend this enjoyable day-long event.
Proceeds of this year's race will go to the Chicago Public School system, Office of Culture and Diversity in the Chicago Board of Education to help promote literacy, culture, and diversity in our schools.
Olivia is a bright young pig with high hopes and dreams. "This is Olivia. She is good at lots of things. She is very good at wearing people out. She even wears herself out." I love how the author incorporates famous paintings by Degas and Pollock into the story.
Madeline is a young girl who lives in a boarding school in Paris. "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines-the smallest one was Madeline." The rhyming can be a little awkward at times, but the story and illustrations are so charming. I love how you can find famous landmarks of Paris in the scenes: the Eiffel Tower, the Opera, Notre Dame, the Church of Sacre Coeur, and more.
"This is George. George was a good little monkey and always very curious." George lives with his friend, the man with the yellow hat. This man always seems to leave George unsupervised and allows him to get into trouble. Somehow, George always manages to fix the problem and save the day in the end. Then, the man shows up again to take him home. The stories are engaging & funny.
NCS was an architect living in Boston, NYC, LA, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Poland before she became a mommy. She had also written a book on the lake and river baths in Zurich. She's one of those people who are curious about almost everything and hence, like to do nearly everything (that doesn't harm anyone else). She had liked to hear concerts, see movies, and go away for the weekend, and has found that having a kid has definitely made it more difficult to do these things. Lately, anything for personal leisure or anything spontaneous is pretty much put to the side.
Now, NCS divides her time between the Chicago suburbs and Katowice, Poland. She has found that part-time architectural jobs are rare, and a full-time architecture job is basically a job-and-a-half. NCS has a pretty strong independent streak, so she decided to have a go at being self-employed, which would allow her to schedule her time as she wanted and to spend more time with her 4-year-old son.
NCS's ultimate dream is to have a peaceful, daily routine. But basically, in the morning, there's a mad dash to get her son up and to make and eat breakfast, a mad dash to get him to preschool on time, a mad dash to then try to make the most of her time and be productive while he's not at home. This means working on their family violin rental business, cleaning up after her son, thinking about lunch, thinking about dinner, daydreaming about how to relax, and constantly wondering about how to make things easier. And then there's scampering to pick her son up, dashing to get dinner ready and have him eat it, and taking a bath. And then there's the monumental task of putting him to bed before falling asleep herself first.
Check out the 
Come join the fun at the 2008 
Olivia
Madeline
Curious George
NCS was an architect living in Boston, NYC, LA, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Poland before she became a mommy. She had also written a book on the lake and river baths in Zurich. She's one of those people who are curious about almost everything and hence, like to do nearly everything (that doesn't harm anyone else). She had liked to hear concerts, see movies, and go away for the weekend, and has found that having a kid has definitely made it more difficult to do these things. Lately, anything for personal leisure or anything spontaneous is pretty much put to the side.
son, thinking about lunch, thinking about dinner, daydreaming about how to relax, and constantly wondering about how to make things easier. And then there's scampering to pick her son up, dashing to get dinner ready and have him eat it, and taking a bath. And then there's the monumental task of putting him to bed before falling asleep herself first.
