The end of school is rapidly approaching. Am I the only one who feels this year flew by? This is the time of year where schools send home notes with encouraging words like --- "Let's all stride to make this a great end of the year! Keep studying! Keep up the good work!" It's like a rallying cry. Every note has lots of exclamation points. I always smile when I read sentences with lots of exclamation points. They make me think someone is trying really hard to convince me of something.

Some of you have mere days of school left while others of you have just a few more weeks. Our Poll this month asks about your summer reading. Does your school have a summer reading list? Scroll down to answer!

If your house is ANYTHING like mine, right now your life is a swirl of sporting events, recitals and other end-of-the-year commitments. I feel like my calendar needs a calendar. At the same time, I am plotting out summer with a week-by-week itinerary.

I am a cupcake overachiever. There, I said it. I love to bake cupcakes and decorate them for every occasion. Thus, I was thrilled to see that Anne Byrn, the author of THE CAKE MIX DOCTOR had a new book out --- CUPCAKES FROM THE CAKE MIX DOCTOR. Oh are there ideas in this book! There are flavored cupcakes, great frostings and decorating ideas. Lots of ideas. Last weekend for my mom's birthday I made her a cupcake bouquet. This entailed sticking cupcakes into a Styrofoam dome and sticking flowers around them. Okay...sticking is not a great verb here, but since I stuck them on toothpicks, it's very applicable. Well, this was a big hit. I am eyeing the Cupcake Wreath, the Fireworks Confetti cupcakes...I could go on and on.

Tonight I took my younger son and his friend Josh to see Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series. Josh and Cory have bonded over reading. They constantly compare what they are reading and introduce each other to new series books. Tonight Colfer entertained the crowd with humorous stories for more than an hour. We all commented that he could have a second career doing standup comedy. I loved seeing the audience just mesmerized by his stories. After he signed the boys' books I thought we were headed for the car. But no, the two of them took off to do more book shopping. In the car on the ride home they sat in the back seat reading by the light of their book lights. Really nice experience.