My Favorite Books and Authors for Children

We'll start with children's picture books--

Any book by Kevin Henkes--Chrysanthemum, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, Wemberly Worried, Owen, and a few more that aren't coming to mind right now.
Any book by Robert Munsch--these books are really weird--I'll warn you now. I actually do not really enjoy reading these books but my kids LOVE them. Hannah at age 8 just checked out a huge stack today. Some favorite titles--Makeup Mess, We Share Everything, Boo!, I Have to Go, Wait and See, and Alligator Baby.
Any Eric Carle book of course.
Harry the Dirty Dog and the other Harry books by Gene Zion. This is Joe's all time favorite.
The Big Green Pocketbook, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie and so on. All by Laura Numeroff.
CinderEdna
Hana in the Time of the Tulips
The Quiltmaker's Gift
The Magic Hill
Because I Love You, If Only I Had a Green Nose, and other books by Max Lucado
Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type
Princesses are Not Quitters
Anything by Dr. Suess--Joe really loves these.
Madeleine and all the other Madeleine books

Anything you'd like to add???

Feeling Better Today

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words and even a few phone calls.  I am feeling much better today.  Still sad and empathetic for the hurting friends in my life but not letting it bring me down so much.  I'm lifting them up to the One who can handle it.  I spent about four hours at the park and got all my lapbook stuff cut out so we could actually start on those today.  So, we are moving forward and I have hope that we will indeed finish and maybe even soon.  
One of my favorite things to talk about is books.  I love to read and love to read to my kids.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  So, I am going to devote my next post to that topic.  Book suggestions.  Summer is upon us so make it a reading summer.  Share some books with your kids.  All kids love to be read to and it is a relaxing way to spend some time with your kids.  Go find a fan and a few books or one if you are reading a chapter book and go for it!

In a Funk

That's how I feel today.  I have a few reasons to be in a funk but I can almost guarantee we can all guess why I'm in a funk.  It'll probably be obvious in a day or so (girl stuff).  Aside from those nasty hormones though-- I have been blessed/cursed with an overdose of empathy for others.  When I know someone is hurting I hurt with them.  Right now I know some people who are hurting, they've lost someone very special to them.  He is walking streets of gold and that is a comfort but I ache for his wife and kids.  How lost they must feel.  God has His hand upon them though and I know He will comfort them and carry them through this.  I also have a couple of others on my heart and I am praying for them regularly.  So, that partially accounts for how I'm feeling.  I have little to no motivation to do what I need to be doing.  Remember those last few projects and then I'd be done with school???  Haven't started them.  No motivation to start them.  I figure I have until June 28, that's the homeschool exhibition.  I may need that long.  At least we have finished our main academics for the year.  
I am choosing to focus on the positive today.  When I feel frustrated/overwhelmed/stressed about my house and how badly it is in need of a good cleaning--I decide to feel thankful that I have a house to be cleaned.  A lady came to my door yesterday asking for work because she was homeless and needed $13 more dollars to pay for one more night in a hotel before she can go to the women's shelter.  That really put me in a funk.  When I don't want to deal with cooking dinner I can be thankful that I have dinner to cook.  My cabinets are overflowing and I wish I had more space but I can be thankful that I have so much food that I need more space.  That's my thankful list for now.  The girls are home and duty calls!

As Though Four Shows Weren't Enough For One Weekend...

After yesterday's show we impulsively decided to go to Disney with J and her kids.  The passes block out for the summer in a week so why not go one last time before summer.  We made it to Magic Kingdom at about 6 and rode Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Mickey's Philharmagic, the Carousel, the cars, Barnstormer, and The Carousel of Progress, had some ice cream, watched the fireworks and came home completely exhausted!  One word about the cars--if you've ever been to Disney you know what I'm talking about.  You get to drive a little car around a track.  You can barely top 10 mph if that.  Not exactly thrilling if you get to drive a real car every day but to a kid really thrilling.  I went to Disney when I was four or five and the cars are the one thing I really remember.  What I don't get is the ADULTS who wait in line for 20-50 minutes to drive this little car less than 10 mph.  It is really funny!  Hannah and I were driving near two such adults last night.  What's the point???  That cannot be that fun at all.  I guess it's Disney though and when you go to Disney you have to try it all!

One More Video

This is all the video I could get of Grace. She is in the back a lot of the time. I told her to move to the front but she would rather be towards the back. Anyway, she is the little squirrel on the left that gets completely blocked by the big squirrel halfway through. :0)

The Last You Will Hear of Wonka

We wrapped up our show weekend yesterday. The kids did great. I think this was one of my all time favorite shows. I videoed all but the last 10 minutes--battery ran out--and I will be making it into a DVD if anyone wants to watch it that way. It's not that great but you'd get the idea. Next up will be Wizard of Oz in mid July. Mark your calendars--the weekend of July 12. That will be the summer camp show. We have two weeks off and then four weeks of camp. I am thankful for a short break. It will be nice to have no real commitments for a couple of weeks. Thanks to all of you who were able to make it this week. My girls love seeing familiar faces in the audience. And to those of you who couldn't make it--most of you have assured me that it's not because you think I'm fat. I am okay with it. Except for the one who used her absence to tell me I'm fat--thanks shell! :0) You guys are funny and I loved your comments. Thanks for putting up with my really warped-third-grade-potty-humor-sense of humor.

Speaking of which--Joe is all about potty humor and knows that potty humor will usually make me laugh so at the show on Saturday night he decided in the middle of one of Charlie's songs that he wanted to make me laugh. So, he said in a stage whisper--"Your butt stinks." And then he said it again and again. It was hard to get him to believe my command to stop when I had to say it through my giggles. Where does this kid get this stuff???

Alphabet Soup

A is for age: 36 for one more month!
B is for burger of choice: I love Sonic burgers and Chili's burgers. I like mustard, mayo, ketchup, lettuce, and tomato. Yum!
C is for what kind of car you drive: Mostly a Chevy Conversion Van--this is no mini van! My other car for after hours is a wonderful Honda Accord.
D is for your dog's name: No dog!
E is for essential item you use everyday: the computer! I'm addicted to e-mail and blogging.
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: The Office, It was American Idol while it was on though.
G is for favorite game: any card game, I used to absolutely love spades but now I have no one to play with.
H is for Hometown: Snellville, Georgia
I is for instruments you play: absolutely nothing!
J is for favorite juice: freshly squeezed tangerine juice
K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: Joe's (just kidding :0))
L is for last restaurant you ate at: McDonald's
M is for your favorite Muppet: Gonzo
N is for Number of Piercing: 4, 2 in each year but only the first holes are still open.
O is for overnight hospital stays: 6--a couple of days with each baby born
P is for people you were with today: my family (it's still morning and I haven't gone anywhere yet)
Q is for what you do with your quiet time: read!!!
R is for biggest regret: not walking with God during my early college years
S is for status: Exhausted! Crazy but fun weekend!
T is for time you woke up today: almost 8
U is for what you consider unique: unique about what?
V is for vegetable you love: artichoke hearts, cooked carrots, green beans
W is for worst habit: eating when I'm stressed
X is for x-rays you've had: my teeth and my feet
Y is for yummy food you ate today: a bowl of great grains pecan cereal
Z is for zodiac sign: Cancer
Tag to anyone who wants to play!