A Little Library Love

We are loving our local library this summer. They have so many great summer programs! The girls are especially excited about the Summer Reading Program. They received a passport and nylon bag when they signed up. Each week they get stamps in their passports, depending on how many days they read for 20 minutes or more, and a little prize. Both girls love reading and the library but this little incentive has made going to the library even more fun.

Another program they happily participated in raises awareness about our local farms and eating healthy. The children were required to visit six local farms and catalog a fruit or vegetable the farm offered. Our entire family has enjoyed exploring the many small farms in our town. As a reward for completing the task the girls received a canvas bag they could color. As you can see this is serious business ;)

Stay cool in this heat and check out your local library! I am sure it is not to late to join your towns summer reading programs. Happy reading, Mama King



Hello! I wanted to share with my readers a new blog and group I started, Adult Adoptee Connecticut. I am very excited to offer a group and resources for adult adoptees living in CT. I came from a very active adult adoptee in NJ and was disappointed to find there was no group or resources in place in CT. I finally settled in to our new home and town and felt ready to embark on this venture. I  know the majority of my readers are here for the crafts, but for the handful came to 4 Crazy Kings because their lives have been touched by adoption and represent one facet of the adoption triad, please pass the word on. Right now I am the sole member! So, if you know of any international adult adoptees in CT looking to meet other adult adoptees let them know about AACT. You also do not have to be a CT Adult Adoptee to become a follower of the AACT blog. I will be posting the majority of my adoption related material on the AACT blog. Be sure to LIKE the Adult Adoptee Connecticut page on Facebook!

I have some other exciting adoption related news...



Gulp! My artwork made the cover and a short essay are included in the new publication, More Voices: A Collection of Works from Asian Adoptees, Edited by Susan Soonkeum Cox. More Voices is followup to Voices From Another Place: A Collection of Works from A Generation Born in Korea and Adopted to Other Countries.

Making Clouds

We took this terrific book, Explore Spring! 25 Great Ways to Learn About Spring by Maxine Anderson, out of the library. It is full of kid friendly experiments and fun facts. The first activity Lu wanted to try was the Make Your Own Cloud experiment.

Luckily the experiment required common household items.

The directions were clear and simple.

1,2,3...





Success! Our own little cloud.

Book Inspired Character Mobile

 Have your kids turn their favorite characters into an easy mobile (no wire cutters necessary!) See how we made ours...

Book Inspired Crafts

It is Winter Break. The girls and I are stuck at home with the sniffles. We decided to work on some suggested literacy homework. Children were asked to keep a reading log and create a book inspired project (i.e. mobile, diorama, puppet...)

I read Clara and the Bookwagon by N. Smiler Levinson to Lu. We checked our book out of the library but if you are interested it is available for sale here. The I Can Read Series is an excellent introduction to chapter books. This is a particularly great one! Lu wanted to make a bookwagon for her project.

My First Little House Series

I was obsessed with the Little House on the Prairie series when I was younger. (OK, who am I kidding, I visited the Laura Ingalls Museum when I drove cross country after college.) I was so excited to find this picture book version, My First Little House Series, for my girls. It is a wonderful way to introduce Laura and her family to young children. The girls love hearing about the "olden days" and have so many questions to ask about Laura and her family.

Great Children's Book Gift Recommendation

If you are looking for a great gift for toddlers on up, under $15, check out this fantastic book and included CD by John Lithgow. I Got Two Dogs is an ode to the owners much loved and very silly dogs who are complete opposites. The girls never get tired of singing this song (nor do my hubby and I.) Even before Emme could speak she would howl along with the song. It is just one of those books and songs the kids keep going back to time and again. I just realized I can change the Dogs names to Emme and Lu (instead of Fanny and Blue.) Well the girls just think I am the funniest Mom in the entire world!

I Got Two Dogs: (Book and CD) by John Lithgow and Robert Neubecker
(Hardcover - Oct 21, 2008) $12.95

This review is completely unsolicited and purely my opinion.

Alison Larkin: An English American

Picture from left (Mama King, Alison Larkin & LW. Alison is holding up not her book but her friend and fellow adoptee, Susan Cox's book, Voices From Another Place.)














Two weekends ago I spoke at the Let's Talk Adoption Conference hosted by the Concerned Person's For Adoption at Rutgers University. I moderated our topic, Conversations I Might Have Had: With My Adoptive Family and the second session, Conversations I Might Have Had: With My Birth Family. We had a great turn out and a lot of great questions and discussion.

The highlight of my day was meeting Alison Larkin, author and performer. She is the kind of woman you meet and instantly want to be best friends with! So warm and bubbly! Alison wrote, The English American: A Novel. A wonderful, humorous and, at times, touching story of reuniting with her birth parents. Although it is a novel, much of the story is based on her personal experiences. Her book is going to be made into a movie! If you read the book (and I highly recommend that you do) you will see instantly how it will make for a great movie. The English American makes for a great book club selection...I know because our mom's group chose it for their last book selection.

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

(From the left) Emme's Choco, Lulu's Choco

A Mother for Choco is a wonderful children's book (regardless if your child is adopted or not) about a little bird looking for a mother that looks like him. In the end he discovers a mama bear who does not look like him but is the perfect mother. My girls LOVE this book. Even though my girls are not old enough to understand the concept of adoption they just think Choco is so cute and are happy for him when he finds mama bear. They were thrilled to make their very own Choco. I will be reading this book and doing this craft with Lulu's class to celebrate National Adoption Month. For all you Adoptive Mommies out there: Just ask your child's teacher if you can do something because most teachers will not think of doing anything unless they know someone who is adopted. Lu's teachers were more than happy to have me come in and do something.




















A Mother for Choco (Paperstar) by Keiko Kasza (Paperback - Mar 19, 1996)

Buy new: $5.99