How can one resist a story that is free on the Kindle AND has the title Cozy Coldwater Chrismas… so many “C’s”. Now this novella by Jenn Roseton is simple a blip on the radar in her Coldwater Springs series… a BBW romance… I admit it I looked up on Amazon what BBW means… Big Beautiful Woman.

Anyway… curvy Kate gets asked by a friend to be Mrs. Claus to her crush Flynn’s Santa in the local Christmas parade… this quick (and I mean QUICK) read is all about the time up to the parade and a kiss that apparently requires perfecting. 

I honestly thought that Kate was cute… it did feel like the idea of her being CURVY was thrown at you often, but this could be a part of the genre. I have read many mysteries and cozies that are about a girl who is not a rail thin model and found that you really didn’t need to remind the reader all the time. 

The romance is quick, but then again the book is short. While there is not a huge amount of room for development and the dialogue MR and MRS Claus were practicing was … unusual, the book brought a smile to my face and was an enjoyable way to spend a soak in the tub after a long day. 

A contemporary romance for a short read do check out Cozy Coldwater Christmas. 

August 8-10

After so much fun and amazing company with the parade the night before I was rather proud of the kids for getting the book work and learning done that we did.

Everyone was excited to head out to the garden to see if the sun had helped our vegetables along. It is amazing how many green cherry tomatoes we have just awaiting that little bit more sun and heat to be ready for eating.

This has been the year for toads in the yard as well. When one is found we MUST stop everything and photograph it. I think we shall have to spend some of our time this winter and do a unit on frogs and toads!

And of course we had to do some mugging for the camera… selfies being a “real” word and all now!

On the weekend we figured we should take advantage of the sales and pick up some school supplies for our new school year. I try to keep a surplus around but at the beginning of the year each kid gets their own pencil case and supplies in those. Something new to start a new year with. I am amazed how hard it is to find duotangs here (the folders with the 3 sets of prongs for the paper holes).

Miss Echo sets her own style lately… quite well I might add!

The boys wanted to share their current display of Mixels. Gammie has sent them TWO series! There is a third yet to come. They are SO thankful that she felt she should send them these. A collection AND Legos… a match made in heaven!

Saturday evening we had a last minute plan change. With a garden full of cucumbers and lacking the knowledge about canning we called up Renee and Christopher. Their church was having a fair and is just down the road so after their mass they came over to our house for dinner and canning!

So the kids ran wild in the basement while Ken and I were educated in how to make pickles!! Thank you so much Chris and Renee… we cannot wait to taste the pickles! And now we can move this knowledge to face the coming tomatoes and maybe even touch on our peppers.

After we saw everyone off Ken ran out to take pictures of the (almost) full moon. This happened to be a lucky choice as at the high point (Sunday) we ended up with rain and clouds. I love it when we get a chance to play with the camera beyond the simple kids and pets.

On Sunday we got our butts out the door to finish the bulk of our school shopping… (pictures above) and Ken yielded to temptation and got these… mixed results!

Oh and buy a dress for Miss Echo for her birthday – that was her gift from Mommy and Daddy this year. We lucked out at H&M and got a teachers discount!

What to do what to do to round off the weekend? Why… head to the beach once more!!!!

August 7

Some of the new season of Wild Kratts have been really interesting… Crocogator was fun… comparing a crocodile and an alligator (Emanuel was later able to repeat this knowledge to a friend! So proud!).

We had another wonderful series of garage sale finds. I love finding books for a steal!!!

The night of the 7th was a parade! In fact, Karen (Renee’s sister) suggested we go to this one. It is a long time favourite of hers and we were more than happy to join here and Cory for the event.

Of course we got there early to get decent parking and lucked out with a Catholic church/school with an adjoining playground. We actually ended up at the end of the beginning of the parade so it was easy to know when to return to our choice spot.

Karen is a HUGE fan of parades and was right there with the kids trying to get the big trucks to honk their horns and cheering on everyone.

She was a great sport, even getting a big black mustache with oil make up that the kids were TOTALLY not going for.

there was a florist handing out roses to all the ladies as well.

And a group right at the beginning that gave out carrots. ECHO loved that as did Ken and Cory.

So many cowboy hats and as usual around here, princesses.

We finished off our evening with dinner and a visit at our house. Talk about an amazing once a year experience (as that is the grand total of parades Ken is willing to go to). Thanks for the heads up and for joining us Karen and Cory!!