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Anne B. Cole--Author and Preschool Teacher
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Purple Painting in Preschool

3/31/2015

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My preschool class (3 and 4 year olds) loves to paint. Finger paint, water colors, puffy paint (glue and shaving cream), ice paint, tempera paint---you name it, they love it.

Sometimes I don't think it matters what they paint. The process of dipping their paint brush or fingers into the paint and transferring it on to paper captivates their attention. Dip---paint, dip---paint, dip---paint. 


Many kids like to paint the same small spot on their paper until there is a glob of funky looking colors and the paper turns mushy. The pretty paint blob may disintegrate into a hole in their masterpiece, possibly resulting in an unhappy artist.

Of course I encourage kids to paint more than just one section on their paper...but there is some learning happening with that gooey paint glob. What happens when two or more colors are mixed together? What happens when too much paint soaks through the paper? What happens when I try to pick up a paint saturated paper? 


I encourage children to explore the painting process and learn by doing. It is much more fun to watch them go through this process than to tell a child, "No, don't do that" and having them ask, "Why?"  I rarely answer a "why" question. Instead, I usually respond by saying, "Let's find out."


Finding out by doing (even if the result isn't ideal) empowers kids to try again. I make sure I have plenty of paint and paper to ensure enough attempts for success. 

Herve Tullet's book, Mix It Up takes the reader on an interactive journey of mixing colors to make other colors. Shades and tints are also explored. I read this to my class on our Purple Day. Afterwards we mixed red and blue paint to make purple during circle time and then we finger painted.

Some kids LOVED to smear the paint around and draw with their fingers.

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The first group of kids used up all of the purple paint that we mixed. Yes, a few papers were soaked with paint and ended up in pieces. The kids persevered and made more. I grabbed more red and blue paint to mix, but the kids insisted I use a bottle of purple tempera. The painting continued:) 

Other kids were not as excited about getting their hands into the paint and needed a little encouragement. One boy really doesn't like to get his hands 'dirty' so I asked him to use one finger to paint with. After watching the other kids he made a great painting with not one finger, but two! I was very proud of him doing something out of his comfort zone!
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I LOVE hand prints and when kids learn how to write their names all by themselves. It is a work of art and will be cherished for years.

So the next time you do something new and it really doesn't turn out the way you expected or it falls to pieces...just think about Purple Finger Painting. Then get a new piece of 'paper', apply what you learned, and create a masterpiece you will be proud of.




---Anne
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Coming Soon! The Missing Mah Jongg Player by Iris Wynne

3/29/2015

3 Comments

 
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Today is the final day of Spring For Love Blog Hop and Giveaway. Be sure to check out the Facebook Event Page and Enter in the Rafflecopter to win all kinds of neat prizes, and a chance in the $50 Amazon gift card drawing!

I'm anxiously awaiting the release of today's book, The Missing Mah Jongg Player. It will be available on amazon.com on April 22, 2015!
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Five frantic Mah Jongg Players are in search for one of their players who goes missing after meeting a man on an online dating site. They turn to a handsome private investigator to help with the search, but he doesn’t realize what he was getting involved in.
RELEASE DATE: April 22, 2015 on Amazon.com!

Here's a little bit from author Iris Wynne!
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario I’ve always had a passion for writing. It wasn’t until I retired and my two girls grew up, that I decided to make writing my full time job. In my spare time, I enjoy cuddling up to a good murder mystery novel or my laptop to write my next book.
I love spring because that means summer is right around the corner. :)

Thanks for stopping by today Iris and I can't wait to grab a copy of your book!

To follow Iris and learn more about The Missing Mah Jongg Player CLICK on your favorite social media below!

Website

Blog  

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Thanks to everyone who followed the Spring for Love Blog Hop this weekend!

---Anne

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Voodoo Butterfly by Camille Faye

3/28/2015

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Day two of Spring For Love Blog Hop and Giveaway brings us Camille Faye's Mystery VOODOO BUTTERFLY.
Check it out on Amazon by clicking the cover!
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When twenty-five-year-old Sophie Nouveau inherits her grandmother's voodoo shop, she knows nothing about voodoo. Or her family's history of Mind Changers who have the power to change evil people good. To complicate matters, someone doesn't want Sophie in New Orleans and sends a series of death threats to scare her away from her new enchanted life.  

Tipped off by her grandmother's ghost, Sophie realizes her mind changing spell has been missing one magic ingredient: true love. If Sophie cannot experience transformative love, she cannot make her spell work, and she will be powerless to fight back when confronted by the one who wants her dea
d.


I love a good mystery, spooky things, and butterflies! I can't wait to get my hands on this book! Here's a little bit about the author...
Camille Faye lives in Missouri, loves on her family, and writes during the baby’s naptime. She grew up in a haunted house, which sparked her fascination with the paranormal. The Northwest Houston RWA named her novel, Voodoo Butterfly, a 2013 Lone Star Contest finalist. Read an excerpt at www.camillefaye.com.

What one thing do you love about Spring and why?  
Flowers! My grandma scattered daffodils in her front lawn and, when I was a kid, I used to think it was so magical to see them pop out.

I'm anxiously awaiting the first daffodil blooms. I have hundreds of them planted in my flower beds that my grandmother gave me when she was alive. Every year when they bloom I think about her and how she loved flowers.

Want to connect with Camille? Click on your social media preference below!

Website
blog
Facebook
Twitter  
Goodreads
Amazon Author Central:  

To enter the GIVEAWAY Click on the Rafflecopter button Below!

Rafflecopter
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March 28th, 2015

3/28/2015

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Spring For Love Blog Hop! Author Sarah Hoss with Sins From the Heart

3/26/2015

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Spring is finally here! I snapped these pictures last week. Yellow crocus and snow drops are the first to bloom in my yard. 

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Growing flowers and reading books are two of my favorite hobbies. 

Today is Day One of a three day Spring For Love Blog Hop & Giveaway. 

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I will be highlighting three fabulous authors starting with Sarah Hoss and her contemporary romance, Sins of the Heart. 
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Abigail Crenshaw is an antiques dealer searching for the perfect item. When she stumbles across a warriors shield at a flea market,  she knows she can’t leave without it.

Grant MacFie is the Scottish Laird of Clan MacFie. When he discovers his great grandfather’s shield has been stolen, he will stop at nothing to get it back and punish the one who stole it.

Now, in America he has found the shield but discovering  the truth behind who stole it and falling in love with Abigail could cost him his life. How far will he go to get the shield back?


Click on the cover above to see Sins of the Heart on Amazon.com

Author Sarah Hoss grew up believing she could try anything and if she set her mind to it, she would succeed. Sixteen years of dance lessons, cheerleading, and school plays proved to her that her parent’s words rang true. Writing was no exception. Reading the Outlander series made her fall in love with time travels and the historical places books could take her. Always a child with a vivid imagination, she realized as an adult, she could put her imagination to good use and began writing. Marrying her very own hero, they live in Indiana in the town where she grew up. They have three beautiful children and one hyper dog. When Sarah isn’t writing, she enjoys gardening, camping, and watching her kids’ play sports.

Here's Sarah's response to Name one thing you love about Spring: 

"I love to watch Spring come about with the flowers and trees blooming, the birds singing. Nature is reborn and it’s a beautiful thing to watch."

Check out two other books by Sarah Hoss. To see them on amazon click on the covers!
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Click on the links below to check out or follow Sarah through social media: 

Website:  

Blog .

Facebook:   

Twitter:  

Goodreads: 

Amazon Author Central:   

Pinterest: 

And now for the GIVEAWAY!
Click the button to go to the Spring For Love Blog Rafflecopter giveaway!


Rafflecopter!
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March 26th, 2015

3/26/2015

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Blog Hop and Giveaway this Weekend!

3/24/2015

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This Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be participating in the Spring For Love Blog hop and Giveaway! Be sure to stop by this weekend to see three fabulous sweet/inspirational romance authors and have a chance to enter the giveaway!
Happy Spring!
---Anne
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Dinosaurs or Dragons?

3/18/2015

5 Comments

 
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     People of all ages love to read and explore the mysterious and unknown. My preschoolers LOVE dinosaurs and dragons. I asked my three year old class to tell me what a dinosaur looked like. 

"Green with spots, Spiky scales, Sharp teeth, and Drool..." 

Next, I asked them to tell me what a dragon looked like.

"Fire coming out of their mouth, Big Tails, Scary, Really big."

Great answers! Now the big question...Which ones are real? Dinosaurs or Dragons?

Blank faces stared up at me as if I turned into an alien creature. I could see their little minds thinking and one of my boys started to laugh and said, "There are no more dinosaurs."

Perfect!

We talked about possible things that could have happened to the dinosaurs and how after millions of years scientists are finding dinosaur bones to study and learn about them. I just couldn't help myself and had to ask..."What about dragons?" 

Another long pause...more thinking..."There are no more dragons!" a girl giggled. "They are sleeping with the dinosaurs!"

I couldn't keep from giggling and soon we were all laughing. I knew I had to get them back on the right path or I'd be receiving emails, texts, and phone calls from concerned parents. So I explained that there are no dragons and that all of the dinosaurs are extinct (many young children refer to being dead as sleeping). 

We talked about the difference between real creatures and fantasy creatures and I told them that scientists don't think dinosaurs ever breathed fire...but the idea was very cool so authors created dragons for stories. 

We read the story THE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BIG DINOSAUR and then later in the day we read DRAGONS LOVE TACOS. These are two of my favorite Dinosaur and Dragon books.

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We also made a dinosaur 'bones' craft to reinforce the fact that people can see dinosaur bones at museums.
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Our day ended with my class dinosaur stomping down the hall and out the door to their smiling parents. We had a great Dinosaur/Dragon Day. 

I have to admit...I was keeping my fingers crossed that the kids would talk to their parents about the difference between dinosaurs and dragons and not that they were sleeping together.
5 Comments

COVER REVEAL: Guardians of Terath Book One:               Seeking Sorrow by Zen DiPietro

3/11/2015

6 Comments

 
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An earth-like world of high-tech humans faces the reality that their world is not as safe as they thought it was. Five people are thrown together to quietly get to the bottom of an unfathomable mana event that must stay quiet. If the population of Terath becomes aware of the truth, it will spark a civil war. That war would pit the majority of the population against the powerful minority with the ability to harness and manipulate mana. The resulting cataclysm would decimate the population and tear apart the foundation of society.

The five people chosen for this must reconsider everything they thought they knew about mana, even as they learn to trust one another’s abilities. They must embrace everything they never wanted in order to prevent the devastation of their world. One of them will be forever changed. Love will be denied, badassery will be unleashed, and Terath will never be the same.


Even success comes at a price.


Very cool cover---I love swords! Sci-Fi/Fantasy is one of my favorite genres. Can't wait until MARCH 25th when Seeking Sorrow is available on Amazon.com! You can check it out now on Amazon.com by clicking the cover above:)

Today I welcome author Zen DiPietro to share 5 secrets behind
Seeking Sorrow.

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There’s a story behind every novel. Lots of them, actually. Writing a book is such a fascinating tapestry of inspiring events, personal history, and imaginings. I’ve put together five of my favorite bits of behind-the-scenes trivia to share about the first book in my Guardians of Terath Series, Seeking Sorrow.

1) The entire book started with the battle scene on the ridge and the first time Arc and Kassimeigh met. I saw these scenes over and over in my head, and developed the rest of the book around them. I wrote the book in linear order, so when those scenes came up, I wrote them with my heart pounding.

2) The justice’s childhood recollection of getting back at a bully was inspired by my own real-life events.

3) Netty was my own doll when I was a girl.  She had a ketchup stain on her foot because I often held her even when I ate. Drove my mom nuts.

4) In my head, Kassimeigh’s theme song is Godsmack’s “I Stand Alone” from the Scorpion King soundtrack.

5) One of my characters was inspired in part by a Star Trek captain (with some big changes, of course). (If you read the book and guess which character, and which captain, hop over to my blog and let me know. I’ll want to recognize you for your cleverness!)


Thanks Zen for sharing your behind the scene secrets!
Here's a little bit on Zen:

Zen DiPietro is a lifelong bookworm, a fantasy/sci-fi writer, a dancer, and a mom of two. Also red-haired, left-handed, and a vegetarian geek. Absolutely terrible at conforming. Particular loves include indomitable heroines, Star Trek, British accents, baba ganoush, and the smell of Band-Aids. Writing reviews, author interviews, and fun stuff at her website.
Very active on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

To connect with Zen click on your favorite social media.

Website    Twitter    Pinterest   Facebook   Goodreads

Don't forget to grab your copy of 
Seeking Sorrow (Guardians of Terath Book One)
 on March 25th!

6 Comments

A Yummy Recipe from Romantic Suspense Author, Jennifer Lowery---Check out her book,  Maximum Risk!

3/4/2015

13 Comments

 
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Maximum Risk (Book #1, Wolff Securities) 
Romantic Suspense

It should have been a simple rescue mission…

Retired Pararescueman, Quinn Wolff, wrote the book on how to stay alive during a mission when he founded Wolff Securities, an elite private sector security firm. When he fast-ropes down to save missing humanitarian aid worker, Avery Marks, in the remote mountains of Azbakastan he isn’t prepared for the brave, stubborn woman who challenges the rules he wrote in order to protect her.

But when it comes to matters of the heart nothing is simple…

Avery Marks learned a long time ago to take care of herself, but when her convoy is attacked, her friends and coworkers murdered, she has to rely on the aid of intensely capable and handsome, Quinn Wolff to get her safely out of the country. His skills keep her alive, but his kisses put her in danger. In danger of losing her heart. That’s a risk she can’t take ever again.



Sounds and looks like a great book! Here's Jennifer with a recipe of one of my favorite cookies! Welcome Jennifer!


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Hi Anne and all you fabulous readers out there *waves* Thank you so much for having me today! My romantic suspense, Maximum Risk, released recently so I’m very excited to be here! Thank you so much for sharing it with me!! 

In honor of my release I am giving away an e-book copy of any one of my books (go to my WEBSITE to choose) to one lucky commenter so please leave me a comment with your EMAIL so I can contact you if you win!!

I love cooking almost as much as I love writing. Almost. Writing is definitely my passion, but cooking can be fun sometimes too. I often include cooking scenes in my writing and it is usually the hero that is doing the cooking. Hmm…wonder why that is, lol. Probably because I don’t have the time anymore! And, probably why I started a cooking blog called Romance Recipes…Authors cooking up more than romance. So I can introduce readers to a blog where they can meet new authors, try a new recipe and pick up a new book all in one place! If you’d like to check it out here the link: Romance Recipes.

In Maximum Risk, my heroine, Avery, is cut off from her life due to the bad guys wanting her dead. To get her mind off the danger she bakes a batch of her mom’s No Bake Cookies-the only thing she can bake since she isn’t a cook.  Quinn gave them his approval and he comes from a family where his mom cooks Sunday dinner and leaves Tupperware in his fridge when he’s away-so you know they’re good J So, here’s the recipe for Avery’s No Bake Cookies from Maximum Risk. Enjoy!

Avery’s No Bake Cookies 

 ½ c cocoa
2 c sugar
½ c milk
1 stick butter
½ c peanut butter
½ tsp. vanilla
3 c quick-cooking oats


1)      Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a saucepan and boil for 1 minute
2)      Take off heat
3)      Add peanut butter, vanilla and oats.
4)      Lay out on wax paper and let cool before enjoying!

***BONUS***

For everyone who signs up for my NEWSLETTER you will receive an e-book copy of my short story, Taking Chances ($.99 value) for FREE!

Thank you for having me today, Anne!! I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to all my readers out there! Without you I wouldn’t be here. My wish is to one day meet each and every one of you so I can personally thank you for your generosity and support! 


All my best, 
Jennifer


Thanks Jennifer for the recipe! 
Here's a bit more about Jennifer Lowery and how you can connect with her!

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NY Times & USA Today bestselling author, Jennifer Lowery grew up reading romance novels in the back of her math book and on the bus to school, and never wanted to be anything but a writer.  Her summers were spent sitting at the kitchen table with her sisters spinning tales of romance and intrigue and always with a tall glass of ice tea at their side. 

Today, Jennifer is living that dream and she couldn’t be happier to share her passion with her readers.  She loves everything there is about romance.  Her stories feature alpha heroes who meet their match with strong, independent heroines.  She believes that happily ever after is only the beginning of her stories. And the road to that happy ending is paved with action, adventure, and romance. As her characters find out when they face danger, overcome fears, and are forced to look deep within themselves to discover love.  

Jennifer lives in Michigan with her husband and two children.  When she isn’t writing she enjoys reading and spending time with her family. 

Connect With Jennifer:
Author Website   Facebook   Twitter   Romance Recipes
Jennifer’s Newsletter   Jennifer’s Street Team

Buy the Book:
E-book:
Amazon Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iTunes
Print:
Amazon Createspace

Other Books by Jennifer Lowery:
The Maze (Book #1, ATCOM)
A SEAL’s Song (Book #1, SEAL Team Alpha)
A SEAL for Christmas (Book #2, SEAL Team Alpha)
Hard To Handle (Book #1, Sawyer Sisters Trilogy)
Hard Core (Book #1, Onyx Group)
Murphy’s Law
Taking Chances (short story)

And Now......an excerpt from Maximum Risk! Enjoy!
Copyright © 2014 Jennifer Lowery


Quinn sat back on his haunches and scrubbed a hand down his face. Avery slept soundly. He wanted to tend her other injuries, but sleep would heal her body faster than anything he could do.

Escape and evasion would be slow going with her injured feet. Without boots to protect them, it would be agony for Avery. Even with boots, walking would be difficult. Running, out of the question. He would carry her.

Quietly, he packed up the supplies and sat down a few feet away from where Avery slept. He snapped off the penlight, his NVGs next to him in case he needed them before his eyes adjusted to the dark.

Avery whimpered. Seconds later, a stifled scream.

Quinn repositioned to where she lay and put a hand on her shoulder.

She flinched and tried to scoot away. “Please. No more,” she moaned.

A nightmare. Instead of waking her, he stretched out on the ground and pulled her into his arms. The last thing he wanted was to wake her and make her remember. Bad enough she couldn’t escape her torment even in sleep.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, using his other arm as a pillow. She lashed out, her nostrils flaring as she drew in deep, gasping breaths.

“Avery, it’s Quinn.”

“PJ,” she murmured and instantly settled down. Her body relaxed and little by little her breathing slowed.

Quinn rested his chin on top of her head. More protective urges surged through him and he shifted a little closer.

“What did they do to you, Avery Marks?” he murmured.

Oooo! I'm hooked!
Thanks for stopping by today Jennifer! 
Tomorrow, March 5th, 2015 I will be on Jennifer's Recipe Blog, Romance Recipes so be sure to drop by her blog for another yummy recipe!
---Anne
 


 


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    Anne B. Cole

    Anne B. Cole is my pen name. In real life, I'm Becky Blystone, a preschool teacher, wife, and mother of three fast growing teenagers. In my spare time I like to run, garden, take pictures, and read books! 

    I blog recipes, preschool activities, updates on my books, new releases from other authors, and more.

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