Fall

We made it out to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. Thanks to the rain, rain, rain we've been having here in the mid-south, the place was a muddy mess. However, we were undaunted in our quest for the perfect pumpkin. We rode a "hayride" (think smallish flatbed trailer hooked up to a smallish tractor) and we walked among the orange gourds. Enjoy the pictures. I love a good pumpkiny background in photos, don't you?

Fashion forward: Career Day

Yesterday was "Career Day" at Zach's school. He was supposed to come dressed up in the attire of the profession of his choice. Zach wanted to dress in a Navy uniform. He says he wants to fly Navy airplanes when he's grown up. So, Mike brought home his everyday jumper uniform. Zach thought it was completely awesome that he was wearing a uniform that said "US Navy" on one side of his chest and "Bishop" on the other side. He was super excited when he left for school. He was still excited when he came back home.

Zach and Daddy

Of course, Alec had to get in on the picture taking action.

F. . . um, ffffff. . . I can't think of anything clever today

I'm grading papers today. Oceans and deserts full of papers. Too many papers with silly mistakes and misplaced modifiers and comma splices and transitions in verb tenses. Too many papers with absolutely no coherent thought. Bleeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh. My brain is suffering.

Quick, someone tell me something funny and/or clever!

Fabulous Favorites: Top 25 Kids' Books

Here is my list of "Must Have" books for kids ages three to five. Thanks for all of your input; you mentioned a few books that I haven't yet read. Now I'll be on the lookout for your favorites. I had to limit myself to 25, and that was not easy. Also there are many books that I consider to be a must for a children's library, but maybe not for this age bracket.

1) Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown)

2) Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Bill Martin, Jr.)

3) Llama Llama Red Pajama (Anna Dewdney)

4) Harold and the Purple Crayon (Crocket Johnson)

5) Papa Please Get the Moon for Me (Eric Carle)

6) The Belly Button Book (Sandra Boynton)

7) Corduroy (Dan Freeman)

8) The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle)

9) Guess How Much I Love You (Sam McBratney)

10) Time for Bed (Mem Fox)

11) No, David! (David Shannon)

12) Good Night, Gorilla (Peggy Rathman)

13) Not a Box (Antoinette Portis)

14) The Kissing Hand (Audrey Penn)

15) The Napping House (Audrey Wood)

16) How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? (Jane Yolen)

17) Big Red Barn (Margaret Wise Brown)

18) Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Mo Willems)

19) Puff the Magic Dragon (Peter Yarrow)

20) Duck on a Bike (David Shannon)

21) Owen (Kevin Henkes)

22) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst)

23) Harry the Dirty Dog (Gene Zion)

24) Curious George and the Dump Truck (H.A. Rey)

25) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Laura Numeroff)

Well, what do you think? Anything else to add or anything on here that your family doesn't like?

Favorite Children's Books

I'm on a mission. I want to make a list of books for my friend Maria. She has a 3 1/2 year old boy who hasn't been crazy about book time. So, I'm starting my list of must-reads for the 3 to 5 year old set. I need your favorites. I've got a million of them, but I'd like to come up with a top 20.

What is a favorite in your family library?

Fundraisers

Okay, do you remember selling some ridiculous, completely unnecessary sort of fundraising item when you were in school? Popcorn? Gift wrap? Cookies? Weird kitchen gadgets? Yeah, not too exciting.

Brace yourself. I am THRILLED with Zach's fundraising items this year. He has two catalogs. One is coffee. No, I'm not thrilled about the coffee, but I do see the practicality of such an item. The other ~and much more exciting ~ catalog is (drum roll please) YANKEE CANDLES! I love Yankee Candles. Seriously, Mike buys me a Yankee Candle to celebrate each and every one of my 29th birthdays and to kick off each Christmas season. Love them. So, you can imagine how thrilled I am to be able to buy them from my son as a way to support his school!

I know, I'm easily excited. But seriously, last year we "sold" plastic kitchen gadgets. I felt so guilty for charging my dad $10 for a red rubber spatula. You know?

What are your kids/nieces/nephews selling this year?

Friends, furniture, fraternity

Wow, so I've been a major slacker on my blogging lately. Apparently working two jobs, being a mom of two boys, and a wife to a super guy is a bit time consuming? Seems to be.

Anyway, I'm going to try to do a quick catch-up today. Pardon the random thoughts here.

First of all, my college roomies from Harding came over for a girls-only weekend. Cara, Sara, Maria, and I had a great time catching up with one another. While we were getting pedicures (ah, yes), the lady doing my toes asked how long we'd all been friends. I gasped just a bit as I realized the answer was about 16 years! What a blessing though, right?

We giggled, talked, slept late, ate out (a lot!), shopped, and just completely enjoyed our time together.

In addition to my friend weekend, I am also happy to report the purchase of new living room furniture! I now own the most absolute best "napping couch." It seriously is comfy and I like how it breaks up our oversized living room.

Of course, no post is complete without an update on my boys. Alec is actually home sick today. He's got a low-grade fever and a really runny nose. He's been curled up on the awesome new couch pretty much all day. Hmmm, maybe that's why I suddenly have time to blog! When he's not sick, he is completely LOVING preschool and has a new special buddy named Jack. Jack and Alec have had a couple of playdates and they seem to be really compatible buds.

Zach has good days and bad days with school. But I think (hope) that I'm seeing a trend in there being more good than bad. Yesterday, he actually auditioned for a speaking role in our church's Christmas musical. He seems to really enjoy doing that kind of thing, which I think it completely cool. Anyway, we won't know anything for another week or so, but I'm thinking he'll probably get a speaking part. He's just so dang cute!

Here are my boys in their school t-shirts!