Books of the week

The grandparents Pate were here this weekend and we went to the husband's campus to show them around on Saturday morning. We enjoyed the museums and the kids picked out these tiny Bible keychains from the gift counter. When Harper got home she got out her microscope and a printer's loop to try to read the minute print. She claims she was able to discern a few verses.

I'm going to start posting more often. It's part of my Resolutions Upon Turning 42. If you know me at all, you might know that I am long on resolve and short on actual follow-through. Which is actually one of the things I am trying to change.

I would also like to be more structured in all that I do, and it's going to be lots of work, and probably painful. Similar to the work involved in getting my wiry, enormous hair to look presentable. So basically I am going to employ an extremely hot Chi flat iron to my frizzy, out of control character. We'll see how it goes.

Harper went upstairs after breakfast and decided to craft an octopus Christmas ornament out of felt.  This was not on my morning agenda. I was quickly reminded that felt is very annoying when it comes to trying to glue anything on it. Then I got out my really cheap hot glue gun and it doesn't work either and then we decide there is going to need to be sewing involved. It went downhill from there. Because if anything will remind you of the lack of structure in your heart and soul, it is an unplanned craft project involving a felt octopus in need of stitching.

So, a list will make me feel better I think. Here are some books we have enjoyed this week:

1. Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses
--the B's gave us this when Helena was born and she LOVES it. The only drawback is that she feels I should read ALL 100 verses every time we read it.

2. Kate and Pippin: An Unlikely Love Story by Martin Springett, photographs by Isobel Springett
--This is the true story of a Great Dane named Kate who adopts an orphaned fawn. I love these stories of inter species affection, because I think it's a tiny glimpse of what heaven is going to be like with all the lambs and lions.

3. Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella and Craig Hatkoff, Paula Kahumbu, photographs by Peter Greste
--Another true story of animals taking care of one another. Owen is a baby hippo who lost his mom in  the tsunami in 2004. He meets an ancient Aldabra tortoise named Mzee and the two form a special bond.

4. Melvin and the Boy by Lauren Castillo
--The boy desperately wants a pet and his parents come up with lots of (very good) reasons why he can't have one. He finds a turtle at the park and brings him home and names him Melvin. The boy realizes Melvin really wants to be back in his pond and decides to return him. This book is timely because a certain girl in my family desperately wants a pet frog, so we went to Petsmart last weekend only to discover that pet frogs need things like a weekly supply of living crickets and there was Great Mourning when I told her I was not about to work a weekly cricket run into my schedule. Hudson really wants a pet turtle and they are slightly less work, but it probably won't happen until he is around 12 and can do all the work himself.

5. Hopper and Wilson by Maria van Lieshout
--Hopper is an elephant, Wilson is a mouse, and they launch a paper boat to sail to the end of the world.

6. A House in the Woods by Inga Moore
--Two pigs, a moose and a bear recruit a team of beavers to build them a big house where they can all live together. The beavers agree as long as they can be paid in peanut butter sandwiches. Cuteness abounds.

7. Ballerina Swan by Allegra Kent and Emily Arnold
--Sophie is a swan who longs to be a ballerina. Helena really likes this one.

8. Stars by Mary Lyn Ray and Marla Frazee --Simple and delightful:"White stars in June grass become strawberries in July. Yellow stars on pumpkin vines become October pumpkins." I love books that remind us to look closely and marvel.

 9. Stuck by Oliver Jeffers --Hudson in particular liked this silly story of a boy named Floyd who goes to extreme measures to get his kite unstuck from a tree.

 10. The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel --The little red pen belongs to a teacher who has fallen behind with her grading. There are lots of other desk supplies who band together to get the papers graded and save the world. This one gave me a terrible flashback to my days as a teacher who was forever behind with my grading, but the kids thought it was hilarious.

 That will be all. I'm going to try to be back soon..