Weekend Reading, 3.7.14

awesome_redshutters

“It’s awesome.”

That was the response of my son when he played with the new PBS Kids Dinosaur Train A to Z app on the iPad earlier this week. We were given a complimentary code to try out the game (the kids are big Dinosaur Train fans), and they both, especially my six-year-old, liked how they could learn about—and x-ray!—26 dinosaurs. (I’m going to give it a try after they go to bed.)

Another new thing in our house is Thursday afternoon swim lessons. The kids spend about an hour in the pool improving their skills and making new friends. I sit and watch. Occasionally, I chat with the other waiting parents. Mostly, though, I cheer them on and wave back when their little blonde heads pop up out of the pool and they call out “look, Mom!” It’s the perfect antidote to our polar vortex winter (other than spring itself, of course).

I hope you’re heading off to a weekend of warmth. Here’s some reading to help you relax and get inspired…

1 | DIY projects both mystify (how do they think of this stuff?) and inspire (I want to do that) me. I normally read about those projects online and in magazines, but never quite make the commitment. This one, however, I can do.

2 | This speech by Lupita Nyong’o blew me away.

3 | For the science geek in me…and, hopefully, in you: bringing back extinct animals.

4 | People with great vision undertook this home renovation—and the finished product is stunning.

5 | Work-at-home, stay-at-home: it’s all hard.

6 | “Rejection just means polish it up a little.”

7 | For all of us with princess-loving kids at home…

8 | Recipes for easy, peasy energy balls and yummy spaghetti squash pizza

9 | Is your kid the jokester in his or her class?

10 | I loved this piece about finding your place.

happy_weekend_redshutters

 Disclosure: Thanks to PBS Kids for complimentary access to the app.