JenEric Designs

Week 36 – Strange World

May 16, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

The last new movie! The first time I saw this, I knew exactly what I was looking at once they descended into the caves. I look forward to this week.

Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (I hope this works…please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
learn about body systems	Watch movie	gardening	Flex	draw by numbers

Summary of the week

Daily details:

Dance

Ballet and martial arts on alternate days

Music

Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar

Basic Information

We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.

Printing words

Download material

Counting objects/math-type activities

Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – (in download material)

Addition and pattern – worksheet

Storytime

Activity

Gardening
Learn about body systems (digestion, respiration, circulation, nerves)
Draw by numbers – in download materials

Next week: Curious George

Caitlyn

May 15, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

Caitlyn from League of Legends visited with her cupcake (fitting, since it was this cosplayer’s birthday yesterday!). Go follow Princess of the North on all the socials – she’s awesome!

Week 34 – Elemental Results

May 14, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

Pegasus was entranced by this movie, rightfully so. The worldbuilding in this is absolutely brilliant, as are the animations.

Dance

As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.

Music

His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book.

Basic Information

We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.

We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.

Printing words

I feel like his dangling letters (g, y) are doing better. He still doesn’t care about spaces or keeping the letters within the space required.

Counting objects/math-type activities

He did a great job with this one this week.

Math worksheets. He did them both on Monday morning because he was so excited to do them once again. He did need a little help with the 3D shapes and with seeing the pattern for the 33, 43, but once I showed him the basic shapes and helped him see the pattern for the numbers, he didn’t need my help beyond that.

Storytime

We have no French library books this week, so he read some French books through Boukili.

Activity

Learn about immigration – he understood the concept and seemed surprised that it happens in real life too (I clarified that it wasn’t fire people in real life, and he seemed less surprised after that).

Make a mini zine – This activity was to write a book, but unfortunately due to sickness, we didn’t spend as much time on this as I had wanted. We only got the outline down on Thursday, and then we used images that he had already manipulated, or unmanipulated images in order to build the picture book. This was entirely Pegasus’s idea, I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I have no idea where he got the idea to be eaten by a bear, or cutting a bear open from the inside.

Speculating Canada interviewed Éric

May 13, 2024 by Éric Desmarais

Hello Friends, Fans, and Family,

Speculating Canada is an award winning podcast and interview series that interviews fantastic Canadian and genre personalities.

You may remember a few months ago that Jen was interviewed by the wonderful Derek Newman-Stille. You can see her interview on their website.

Well I (Éric) was interviewed last week. It was a lot of fun, and Derek is a fantastic interviewer, steering my hectic mind in a semi-coherent direction.

Go watch the interview on their website.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

The Secret World of Arrietty – JenEric Movie Review

May 11, 2024 by Éric Desmarais

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2010 film The Secret World of Arrietty.

Story

I found it very soothing and calm but I can see where it could be considered stressful. I remembered just enough from the books and reviews to know nothing bad happened.

The overall story is similar to the book but fairly different at the same time.

Score: 0.5

Characters

The characters are extremely well animated and voiced. They grab attention, even in the slower talky moments.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue is cute and I love the term Bean for humans. There’s some interesting thoughts on what it means to be alive and trust.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The animation is breathtaking and absolutely spectacular. I could re-watch it in slow motion and still not catch all the details.

The music was lovely.

Score: 1

Fun

I grew up reading the Littles and the Borrowers, and although I barely remember them, I still love the aesthetic.

The kids absolutely adored it and the rest of the family loved it too.

Score: 1

Overall

This is a wonderful melding of cultures, with a sweet and fun story. If you liked the books you’ll love the movie. Highly recommended.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

If Kennedy Fairfield had Instagram

May 10, 2024May 10, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

If Instagram existed in 2003, this is what Kennedy would’ve posted during the first portion of the book Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests.

@jendesmaraisauthor
If Instagram existed in 2003, this is what Kennedy would’ve posted during the first portion of the book “Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests”. “Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests” is an Urban Fantasy Romance. What happens when superheroes plan a wedding? Monsters, that’s what. Kennedy and Jason are ready to get married. They just have to deal with evaporating monsters first. Available for pre-order now! https://www.jeneric-designs.ca/books-and-timeline/universal-book-links/#MIWG Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 #MonstersIncidentalWeddingGuests #JenDesmarais #ÉricDesmarais #authors #book #PressesRenaissancePress #pinkpiggy93 #artist #UrbanFantasy #RomanceBook #superheroes #BattleCouple #original #booktok
♬ Magical Fantasy – Dmitriy Sevostyanov

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests is an Urban Fantasy Romance. What happens when superheroes plan a wedding? Monsters, that’s what.

Kennedy and Jason are ready to get married. They just have to deal with evaporating monsters first.

Available for pre-order now!

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

49th Shelf Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Indigo Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Archambault Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Rakuten Kobo Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Apple Books Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests

Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!

Week 35 – Brave

May 9, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

This movie is perfect for playing around with the elements of a fairy tale, and I look forward to teaching it.

Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (I hope this works…please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
elements of a fairy tale	Watch movie	bake spell cake	Flex	learn about bears

Summary of the week

Daily details:

Dance

Ballet and martial arts on alternate days

Music

Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar

Basic Information

We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.

Printing words

Download material

Counting objects/math-type activities

Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – (in download material)

Addition and pattern – worksheet

Storytime

Activity

Elements of a Fairy Tale – sheet found in download materials
Bake Spell Cake – link to recipes
Learn about bears – link to references, link to video

Next week: Strange World

Formal

May 8, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

I adore these outfits, especially the gorgeousness of the dress. I think (correct me if I’m wrong) these might be based on the movie versions at the end.

I also got a picture of Dragon with these two, once she got over her shyness and came out from hiding behind me!

Week 33 – Super Mario Results

May 7, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

Pegasus was VERY invested in this movie. At the Rainbow Road, and again at the end, he kept hopping around as if he was trying to help the characters. He definitely followed the story, as he told me all about it afterward (even though I half-watched it with him).

Dance

As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.

Music

His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book. He’s only 20 pages away from finishing the first book.

Basic Information

We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.

Printing words

He tried harder to leave a space between the words this week, which was a nice change. Still not paying attention to the bottom line though.

Counting objects/math-type activities

This was an easy one because I wanted him to practise the smaller numbers. He did a great job.

Math worksheets. He did them both on Monday morning because he was so excited to do them once again. He didn’t need my help at all. He wrote one 7 backward, but fixed it when I pointed it out.

Storytime

We have no French library books this week, so he read some French books through Boukili.

Activity

Learn about friction – We watched the video about friction twice, and he was engrossed. I think he understood; he answered the questions I asked him about it afterward correctly. Who knows how long the information will stick though.

Make a board game – He started off wanting the board to look like “Snakes and Ladders”, but after realizing how much work it was going to be to colour in 100 squares, he decided to change it to a pathway board. Sunk-cost fallacy didn’t play into this decision, which I found interesting. He was quite enthusiastic about colouring the new board and completed it in two days. He was enthusiastic about making the dice and his mind was blown when it folded up into 3D. He is very happy with how this turned out.

Introducing Secondary Characters – Others

May 6, 2024 by Jen Desmarais

With a wedding book, there are many characters that show up from the first book, but there are also some new faces, or at least new faces that deserve introducing. We already introduced some of the family members last month, so here are some of the other new faces that are important in Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests.

Reverend Patrick Mitchel

Age: unknown

Appearance: Grey hair, pale blue eyes, average, white

Job: Reverend at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Anglican Church in East Westmeath, professor at Westmeath University (Ethics and Mythology), sits on the Oldtown Council, Watcher

Family: Niece Veronica Giles

Dr Karen Mästare

Age: unknown

Appearance: Golden brown hair cut in a bob a shade darker than her skin, light brown eyes with flecks of gold, average height

Job: museum curator at the Royal Canadian Museum of Natural and Cultural History (NCH, or Niche)

Ellen O. Door

Age: 27

Date of Birth: November 22, 1975

Appearance: Red hair, tall, white

Job: CEO of Door Technology, main office in Westmeath

Parents: Margery Door and Robin

Siblings: 11 older siblings

Carol Jenkins

Age: unknown

Appearance: Curly light brown hair, average height, white

Job: Archeologist, works for Door Technology Foundational Technology Division

Sibling: Brother Jacob

Jacob Jenkins

Age: unknown

Appearance: Brown hair, average, white

Job: head of Door Technology Foundational Technology Division

Sibling: sister Carol

Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available for pre-order now!

Add it to your “Want to read” on Goodreads here!