Amanda's Books and More: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

Make My Saturday Sweet - Blog Hop #17

This was Amanda's little playgroup's end-of-the-year concert. They sang and danced to three songs, two were in English and one in Afrikaans. She was Marie in the song "Let It Grow" from the Lorax movie and had to sing/say her lines to the original song, which she did super sweetly. She beamed the whole way through and was really brave on stage. Here's a portion of these fun lyrics with Amanda's/Marie's lines in red. You can find the whole version on Wiki.

Lyrics

Crowd song

Sai: You don't know me, but my name's Sai.

I'm just the O'Hare delivery guy.

But it seems like trees might be worth a try.

So I say, Let it grow.

Dan: My name is Dan.

Rose: And my name's Rose.

(together) Our son Wesley kind of glows.

And that's not good, so we suppose, we should let it grow.

Mrs. Wiggins: Let it grow, let it grow.

(crowd joins in) You can't reap what you don't sow.

Plant a seed inside the Earth, Just one way to know it's worth.

Let's celebrate the world's Rebirth, We say Let it Grow!

Marie: My name's Marie and I am 3!

I would really like to see a tree.

La la la la la la la lee, I say let it grow.

Norma: I'm Grammy Norma, I'm old and I've got grey hair.

But I remember when trees were everywhere!

And no one had to pay for air, so I say, Let It Grow!

Everyone: Let It Grow, Let It Grow, like it did so long ago.

It is just one tiny seed, but it's all we really need.

It's time to change the life we lead, time to Let It Grow.

O'Hare: My name's O'Hare, I'm one of you. I live here in Thneedville too.

The things you say just might be true. It might be time to start anew.

And maybe change my point of view.

(speaking) Nah, haha! I say let it die! (singing again) Let it die, let it die, let it shrivel up and - (speaking) Come on, who's with me Huh?

Marie: Nobody.

She was also in a Monkeynastix end-of-the-year event.

You can read my previous post to find out more about it.

Now on to the blog hop...

It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet (M.M.S.S.) blog hop! Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop. All family friendly blogs are welcome!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to link them on my Blog Hops page!

Also, I'm looking for bloggers who would like to be guest co-hosts on my Wednesday hop and on my Saturday hop. If you're interested, then please send an email to: morleychristina[at]gmail[dot]com

If you are already following me with Google Friend Connect, then how about following me on Google+, Pinterest and Twitter or liking me on Facebook too. Thanks!

Here are the easy rules:

Follow Tina (your host) @ Amanda's Books and More. If you're following me for the first time, leave a comment letting me know which way you're following me and I'll be sure to follow back.
Link up your family friendly blog, Facebook page, Twitter, etc. Be sure to indicate which one it is in the name.
Grab the button below and add it to your most recent post or on your side-bar.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Follow at least three new blogs and tell them you found them through this hop. And, they should follow back.

Blog Button Code:

This is a blog hop!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Picture Perfect Party Linky #18

Since yesterday evening, we have experienced a number of happy events and one traumatic event. The traumatic event came on the tail end of a happy one. It's the end of the year, not only on the calendar, but also for the schools and extra curricular activities, so a lot has been going on. For example, Jeremiah, who is turning 16 on Saturday, wrote his last exam for grade 10 today. In January he will be going to grade 11.

Yesterday and today were two end-of-the-year events for Amanda. The first one was her Monkeynastix. It's a movement program for children up to age 8. They do all kinds of things that include fine and gross motor skills. It's lots of fun.

We were driving home from this happy event when the traumatic event happened. It was only around 6 pm and there was still plenty of daylight. We were in our VW Micro Bus when Samantha and I were the first to witness a dog owner take the leash off of his dog, climb into the back seat of a vehicle, close the door, leaving the dog outside of the vehicle, and then the driver take off laughing. We saw him laughing because he drove right past us. The dog was frantic and ran into a busy intersection. Thankfully, the cars waited for him to get across safely. All of us in the car were horrified. We were so worried about the dog that we never saw the license plate.

Hubby got out of our car and tried to coax the dog to come with us. We wanted to make sure he got safely to the animal shelter. He ran away from Hubby and circled the area where he was last with his owner. Then he took off. Our house was close by, so we drove home and phoned the animal shelter's emergency number, but no one returned our call. This morning I phoned again, but there was very little that they or we could do. The lady told me that people do it all the time and that they are cruel. We prayed a lot for the dog yesterday and again today. I had peace this morning about the dog's situation, but that doesn't make the actions right of those people who abandoned him.

It's hard to switch gears after that story, but this evening was another happy event in that Amanda had her class concert. She loved being on stage. I'll share photos later. Today I'm sharing pictures of fresh flowers from my garden. Enjoy!

Linking with:

Now on to my blog hop...

Here's your chance to link up your Wordless Wednesday (with or without words) or any picture post at this Picture Perfect Party Linky (P.P.P.L.)! Come join me (Tina @ Amanda's Books and More) on this fun and easy blog hop!

If you host your own blog hop(s), then feel free to link them on my Blog Hops page!

Also, I'm looking for bloggers who would like to be guest co-hosts on my Wednesday hop and on my Saturday hop. If you're interested, then please send an email to: morleychristina[at]gmail[dot]com

If you are already following me with Google Friend Connect, then how about following me on Google+, Pinterest and Twitter or liking me on Facebook too. Thanks!

Here are the easy rules:

Follow me. Please leave a comment so that I can follow back (as long as your blog is family friendly).
Link-up your post with a picture and follow as many new blogs as you like. Make sure you let them know that you’re following through this P.P.P.L. hop, tell them how you are following them and add your URL to the message, so they can follow back.
Grab the button below and add it on your post or on your side-bar, so that we can spread the word and get more people to the party.
Share about this hop on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.

The Button Code:

This is a blog hop.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Inspirational Quotes on Food

I thought you might like to see how my family celebrated Thanksgiving Dinner in South Africa. I'm including the links to the recipes that we used, but we didn't follow the recipes exactly. I also have three images below of holiday meals from previous years that we had at other relatives' homes. I've added quotes from the Bible to go with them. I would be thrilled for you to pin any of my images to your Pinterest boards. I have a "Pin it" button on my right-hand sidebar to make it easier for you.

I have one daughter that hates nuts (even peanut butter) and not everyone

is crazy about cranberries, so I placed mixed seeds and cranberries on the

table as options for people to sprinkle over their stuffing/dressing. I used

the stuffing recipe from Martha Stewart and mostly added ingredients that

we already had in the fridge.

We roasted the turkey according to instructions. Believe it or not, it came

all the way from Brazil to South Africa. We do have turkeys in this country.

I'm including a photo that I took earlier this year to show you.

Another side dish that Hubby and I made was

Pumpkin and Cauliflower Casserole from Delish.

I don't particularly like goat's cheese,

so I used mozzarella instead.

Samantha helped her dad make our dessert. We had a lot of

fresh apricots and nectarines that needed to get used up,

so they made Nectarine Cobbler from Food Network.

I'm linking up with these Monday blog hops:

Friday, November 23, 2012

Make My Saturday Sweet - Blog Hop #16

My family plus Amanda's friend, Sarai

I hope everyone who was celebrating American Thanksgiving had a fabulous time with friends and family over a scrumptious meal. We still managed to create a feast too even though Thursday wasn't a holiday here and it's also the beginning of summer. Hubby and I put in several hours in the kitchen to pull it off. Later he said that he had to play the role of three aunts and one Oma (grandma). Hahaha!

I'll share eye-catching photos and links to the wonderful recipes in my next post.