Good Books!

You are in your local library perusing the shelves and suddenly, a book catches your eye. You just have to stop and read it, then take it home to share it with your family. This book isn’t a classic, nor a heart stopping thriller, or even on the best seller list…It is a picture book. Yep, a children’s picture book.

I love reading aloud to my children and I think high quality literature is wonderful, but sometimes you need a good old fashioned romp into plain old silliness! I have found two of these jewels recently. Two books that just made me laugh out loud with the unexpected story lines and hilarious illustrations.

Book number one is Uncle Frank’s Pit authored and illustrated by Matt McElligott. I love a book with a surprise ending and this book had that, as well as some surprises throughout. As I read and watched the pit take shape, I loved how imaginative the author was in drawing the pit. Look carefully at the details for fun things to point out to your children.

Book number two is Millie Waits for the Mail written and illustrated by Alexander Steffensmeier. Once again this book was completely different from what I imagined. This book absolutely requires you to really look at the pictures! The story line is funny, but the artwork makes it very funny. We read this book many, many times, each time finding new details or laughing at the expression on Millie’s face (Look carefully at Millie after she sits on the bike). This book is wonderful as a read aloud because there is so much to “act out” with your voice.

If you have kids (or even if you don’t) look for these books at your library – and let me know what you thought of them!

Resurrection Sunday

Maggie and I came home from a wedding shower yesterday evening to find this:

Fastest Runner in the World asked Kirk to help him make these three crosses so we all remember that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

How Does My Garden Grow?

I'm so glad you asked! It grows with tomato plants and lettuce leaves and potatoes all in a row! My garden just makes me smile. I love seeing those tiny leaves appear and grow and grow and grow. Just look at these potato plants and the lettuce behind them.

We started some tomatoes, crookneck squash, zucchini, watermelon, pumpkins, and okra plants and they are sprouting and growing quickly. The weather is warming up so they spend their days outside and their nights in the house. We plan to put them in the ground after Easter.

This pumpkin plant is from a seed we saved from a huge pumpkin Grandpa grew last year. Hopefully we will get at least one as large as his were!

Most of my seeds are heirloom seeds and we should have some interesting produce this year. We are growing Jarrahdale Pumpkins which are bluish (click here for a picture of Jarrahdale) and Lumina Pumpkins (click here for a picture of Lumina). We also plan to plant some different colors of corn: Blue Corn, Oaxacan Green, and Smoke Signals (reds & browns), as well as the traditional yellows and whites. If we can find the seeds we plan to grow some Strawberry Popcorn!

Our tomatoes are Brandywine, Eva Purple Ball, Red Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Beefsteak, and Italian Roma. I will also be planting Purple Queen, Cherokee Wax (yellow), and Blue Lake(green) snap beans. We are going to have such a colorful garden!