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Book Review: Fly Safe

29/9/2021

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by Brianna
Brianna and Ariel review and discuss the book Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home, by Vicki Cody. If you order the book through our affiliate links, you're helping to keep Busy Nest News going at no extra cost to you. Thanks.

Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home, by Vicki Cody 

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Ariel and I recently received copies of Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home, by Vicki Cody. We’ve read a lot of books by military spouses, from awesome to cringeworthy, so we were cautiously interested to see what this one would hold. 

Summary:

Fly Safe is Cody’s memoir from the Gulf War, with details filled in by her journal entries and letters between her and her husband while he was deployed. She describes life on an Army base (post) before, during, and after the conflict. During the deployment, she covers what her husband was doing (the details of which she only learned of afterward) and the challenges he faced, as well as the challenges she dealt with on the homefront.

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You Are Awesome

21/10/2019

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By Brianna

In which Brianna and Ariel discuss Neil Pasricha's upcoming book, You Are Awesome. Who is this man, what is his book about, and when is it available? We received advance copies of this book so that we could give it our honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

You Are Awesome, by Neil Pasricha

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Summary & Review:

Hello, dear readers! It has been a while since our last book review because we have been busy making book club kits. However, we’ve missed sharing our thoughts on helpful books with you and with each other. There’s a long, long list of all the books we want to review or that friends have asked for our take on. We were excited to take on this book because we were fortunate enough to get early access to it. So what is this book? It’s called You Are Awesome, by Neil Pasricha.

​Neil Pasricha is the best-selling author of six previous books, as well as the creator of (at least) six failed websites. He’s also the son of two very wise and patient parents, whom I’d love to meet. In his book, which is an interesting blend of autobiography and life advice, Pasricha explains how he went from working the careers he was “supposed” to want, to finding his own path to success, happiness, and resilience.

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Summer Reads Part 3

5/8/2018

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by Brianna

​Brianna and Ariel love to read all year, but there's something special about summer reading. This article is part three of a series about books that are perfect for summer. Using our affiliate links to purchase these books will help keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks for your continued support!
Get great suggestions for summer reads on BusyNestNews.com!

Author Spotlight: Sophie Kinsella

Sometimes you find an author whose works you enjoy so much that you automatically buy whatever their latest book is, as soon as it’s announced. In fact, you pre-order. I tried to pick my favorite Sophie Kinsella book, and pretty soon I had six! You might know this author for her Shopaholic or Undomestic Goddess series, but it’s her collection of stand alone novels that I can’t get enough of! I made myself pick two. If you haven’t checked out her latest yet, run, don’t walk to get them. Both of these books pair well with a towel or plane flight in paperback form, but their audiobooks are sooo great, too. Fiona Hardingham reads both, but always does an excellent job of portraying a variety of characters with a multitude of personalities and accents. You’ll think your sweetest, most optimistic best friend is telling you about her bizarre troubles, only laughing out loud won’t hurt her feelings.

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Book Review: Apple Pie 4th of July

2/7/2018

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by Brianna

American Independence Day is coming up! Here's a picture book to help your littles celebrate, and learn what it means to be an American. If you use the affiliate links in this article, you're helping to keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks for your continued support!

Apple Pie 4th of July, by Janet S. Wong and Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Here at Busy Nest News, we cannot get enough of holiday books. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas all get the literary treatment in our homes. It will surprise no one, then, to learn that Independence Day, July 4th, gets the same treatment. We’ve dug up some fun books to review, and to introduce our littles to the customs associated with Fourth of July celebrations. ​
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The first book I checked out is Apple Pie 4th of July, by Janet S. Wong and illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. It follows a Chinese American girl on Independence Day. She watches the parade go past her home, and can’t understand why her parents are in their restaurant all day, preparing Chinese food. The little girl tries to convince her mom and dad that Americans don’t want Chinese food on the 4th of July. At first, it seems as though she is right; people trickle into the shop throughout the day for only small things, like ice, chips, and matches. But by dinner time, there’s a line out the door! Their fellow Americans think Chinese food will hit the spot as they prepare to watch fireworks. At last, the whole family watch the show from the roof of their building, and their upstairs neighbor shares her apple pie with them. ​

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Book Review: Raising Men, part II

22/6/2018

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by Brianna

Recently, Brianna and Ariel reviewed Raising Men by Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli. Being women and mothers of daughters, not sons, they wanted a little backup for this apparently testosterone-fueled book. Read on to find out what their Marine husbands made of a parenting book written by a former SEAL.
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Here at Busy Nest News, we try to evaluate a variety of parenting books for our readers. Ariel and I take turns selecting the book that we’ll both read, and then we discuss it as our own, little, two-person book club. Our latest book, Raising Men by Eric Davis, points out that there can be no growth without getting outside of the comfort zone at least a little bit. Reading this book, that’s exactly where we initially found ourselves- about a yard outside of our comfort zone.

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Raising Men

2/6/2018

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By Ariel

In which Ariel and Brianna discuss Raising Men: Lessons Navy SEALs Learned from Their Training and Taught to Their Sons by Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli. As parents can we learn something from the way the military shapes our men and women? Read on to find out. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for your continued support.

Raising Men By Eric Davis & Dina Santorelli

Raising Men: Summary, Review & Discussion on BusyNestNews.com

Summary:

Should we be tempering our sons in the crucible of extreme parenting before they set out on their own path? Eric Davis thinks so. Raising Men: Lessons Navy SEALs Learned from Their Training and Taught to Their Sons by Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli takes the Navy SEALs philosophy and training techniques and applies them to raising “real men.”

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My Dad Used to Be so Cool

21/5/2018

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by Brianna

In which Brianna reviews a fun picture book, featuring a child wondering how his dad could have given up being cool, and what might have made it happen. We've provided affiliate links if you'd like a copy of your own. By using them, you're helping to keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks for your support!

My Dad Used to Be so Cool, by Keith Negley

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In preparation for Father’s Day, we’ve been reading stories about dads and their kids. One of these is My Dad Used to Be so Cool, by Keith Negley. It’s told from the perspective of a little boy. As he watches his dad cleaning the house and preparing to take them to the playground, the boy tries to reconcile his dad with what he knows about his dad’s past. He’s pretty sure Dad used to be in a rock band. It sounds crazy, but he has proof! There are instruments in the closet, and pictures on the wall of Dad rocking a bold, red mohawk. And for some reason Dad’s selling his cool motorcycle. Throughout the book, the boy wonders what could have made his dad give up his awesome lifestyle. After spending an afternoon at the park playing with his dad, the boy considers that maybe his dad is still a little bit cool, after all.

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Mamasaurus & Papasaurus

16/5/2018

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By Ariel

In which Ariel discusses Mamasaurus and Papasaurus by Stephan Lomp. Though she was initially less than enthused these books are perfect for toddler paleontologists. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for your continued support!

Mamasaurus & Papasaurus
By Stephan Lomp

Mamasaurus & Babysaurus by Stephan Lomp featured on BusyNestNews.com
I will admit, I chose Mamasaurus and Papasaurus by Stephan Lomp based solely on their name. How cute! How clever! But after our initial read, I was less than enthused. It wasn’t the first time that Bean loved a book that I was only half-heartedly amused by and it certainly won’t be the last! She was hooked from the start but I was irritated - for no reason that I could easily articulate. But over a week of repeated rereads I have come to see the charm they hold for a toddler fascinated by dinosaurs.

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A Chair for My Mother

14/5/2018

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by Brianna

In which Brianna reviews a special book about a girl, her mother, her grandmother, and their shared goal. This article contains affiliate links which help keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks for your continued support!

A Chair for My Mother, by Vera B. Williams

Review of A Chair for My Mother on BusyNestNews.com
A Chair for My Mother, by Vera B. Williams, is told from the perspective of a little girl who is helping her mother save to buy a comfortable chair for their home. The year before, their family (the girl, her mother and grandmother) lost everything in a house fire. She explains that the community and the rest of their family came together to outfit their new home with their old furniture. The little family is very grateful, but they’re still saving every coin in a huge jar towards a new chair. That way Grandma will have somewhere comfortable to sit during the day, and Mother will have somewhere to rest after working at the diner all day. The three save together all year to make the precious purchase, and when the big day finally arrives, they can’t even wait for the chair to be delivered, making arrangements of their own to bring it home right away.

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Misfit Shine 2

7/5/2018

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by Brianna

In which Brianna reveals the best activity tracker you've never heard of. The Misfit Shine 2 is just the best activity tracker, especially if your hands are frequently tied up pushing strollers or carrying children, or you enjoy other cardio besides running. Read on to learn why we've rejected the Fitbit.
An activity tracker for parents (that isn't a Fitbit)
Activity trackers have been around for a little while now. They started as glorified pedometers but now offer other features, as well. The most popular, or at least the one everyone says they have, is the Fitbit. But is the Fitbit really the best choice for parents on the go?

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