Top 30 Picture Books

Over at the Bookworms Booklist she has listed these 30 Books that have been given the title of THE Top 30 Picture books by School Library Journal! She has challenged us to see how many we have read from this list! I marked the ones we have read in blue. I would love to see your list!!!
I was totally shocked at how many of these we have actually read - considering Froggy is a big hit in our house - but I was even more suprised by how many we own but have not read!!! We will be doing some reading this week - a little good literature never hurt anybody!!! I love that so many of htese books I read when I was a little girl!!!

#1: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963)
#2: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (1947)
#3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1979)
#4: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962)
#5: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003)
#6: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1941)
#7: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955)
#8: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939)
#9: Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)
#10: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (2004)
#11: The Story of Ferdinand y Monroe Leaf, ill. Robert Lawson (1936)
#12: Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (1994)
#13: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (1948)
#14: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, ill. Lane Smith(1989)
#15: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996)
#16: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (1987)
#17: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)
#18: In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (1970)
#19: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)
#20: George and Martha by James Marshall (1972)
#21: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999)
#22: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone, ill. by Mike Smollin (1971)
#23: Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1964)
#24: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, ill. Lois Ehlert (1989)#25: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942)
#26: Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976)
#27: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)
#28: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, ill. Ray Cruz(1972)
#29: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1969)
#30: Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr., ill. Eric Carle (1967)

I am Guest posting at Today's Housewife...

go over and check it out http://todayshousewife.blogspot.com/. You should also peruse their whole blog - they have some really good posts and lots of helpful info!!!

Lots of Ice Cream

will be eaten in this house for awhile while the baby has his owie!! Every once in awhile the tears break out and he will scream that it hurts but so far it is going much better than I thought it would!!! He was screaming for me to get the splint off this morning(wait till Monday and the real cast goes on) but it seems okay now! He still has his stickers he got from the hospital and doesn't want to take the shirt off.....

Could you resist this face and his ice cream pleas???????

ANOTHER Owie....

Thomas broke (fractured) his wrist tonight! He was playing on the playground at Alex's school (we were there for his 8th grade graduation - more on that tomorrow) and fell off and must have landed on his wrist. The poor little guy was in so much pain - it was horrible to hear him just crying and crying. We headed to the ER - again - and he was fine after they put in an IV with pain meds!!! He even told the xray guy that it was okay and could take as long as he needed it too!!! I was in awe of how quickly they took care of the little guy - we were outof there in less than 2 hours! He has a splint(which is lamost just like a cast) on his right wrist and we will head to the ortho tomorrow to find out what will happen next!! We know for sure he will have to have a cast!

the Pool...

is now empty!! We went to sleep and when we woke up it was almost empty!! The spot where we put it was not completely level and so it tilted and I guess I put too much water in it because the water knocked over the top and emptied right out!! El sucko!!! My in laws are here and my father inlaw is sweet enough to help me fix it so he started to make a level spot for the pool with mulch and dirt and timbers - it is going to be sooo nice when it is full - again - and we can play in it!! My hubby keeps asking is it worth it?? YES!! Even when it is only part way full the boys will play out there and have so much fun and mommy doesn't have to drag all our 'stuff' to the pool every day because it is in our backyard!!!

Summertime is Here......

The Pool is full - it only took about 4 days off and on - the water bill is going to suck!!! It is going to be so much fun once it warms up - the boys have been in but it is still WAY too cold for mommy and especially Daddy(it might be august before daddy actually gets in it)!!

The Ice Cream truck has started coming and that means summer around our house!!! Lucky for us he comes every Tuesday and slowly makes the turn in the cul de sac we live on becasue he knows that all of our kids will come running! They are usually already out front waiting for him because they heard him coming at least a mile away - if not further!! Another item we are going to have to add to the budget Because - I dont know about you but - I just don't have the heart to say NO to the ice cream truck!!!!

A friend or two came running as well!!!

This is the second time alex has gotten his tongue stuck to this exact same flavor popsicle!!! The first time(last year) he was crying it hurt so bad because he stupidly YANKED it off his tongue - along with about 3 layers of skin!!! This time he ran to the hot water and it came off very nicely!!! Every time, we retell the story of how Grandma got her tongue stuck to the jungle gym bar when she was a little girl and how she was stuck there and how they got it off!!!!

The boys are going camping on Friday and leaving Mommy home alone - NOW that is what summer is all about!!!!

What's Up....

Alex had his second weekend of Sea Cadets and got to go for the whole weekend this time instead of just saturday. He LOVES it and is so excited to be doing this and all the military training! He has got his whole next year of promotions and skills trainings planned out and we are just loving watching him be so into this! The driving 2 hours to and from one weekend a month might not work out so well for his brothers - we left at 445 saturday morning - way too early for anybody in our house(except daddy who wasnt even going for the ride - next time)!!!! It might be time to invest in the dvd players for the car!!!Hmmm!! Target has some on sale this week....

The other boys and mommy messed around with trying to get the pool set up this weekend. We didnt get it up because it has to be on level ground and the only level ground in our yard is the front and we will not be having a big blue pool in the front yard for the next 3 months!!! Tomorrow the boys and I will be getting mulch or sna dto do what w ecan to make it a little mor elevel so the whole pool doesnt tilt and spill over!!! We got this 16ft buy 3.5ft pool at walmart last year on clearance for $25 and we are going to make it last as long as possible!!!

I finally got to hang my laundry out on the clothesline(it stopped raining briefly) that my hubby and father in law built for me last year and I was so excited!! there is just something about hanging those clothes on the line and watching them blow in the wind hanging on my line that just makes me feel like a real country girl!!! Am I weird???

I am now headed over to the homeschool blog to share what I have been working on tonight to be ready for our back to school day tomorrow!!! I needed a week vacation from life to get ready to get back on track with the boys now that I am no longer working so tomorrow our time is up!!!

TV Guardian...

I used to work at the christian bookstore and we sold this thing called clear play which would bleep out language and some violence but I could never bring myself to pay $70 for it!! Well - i have had several customers come in and say they wished we still sold TV Guardian and that is so much betteer than this clear play - I don't know as i have never had either...until Today!!!
I just got the TV Guardian at a thrift store for $2!!! I am soooo excited and can't wait to see if it actually works!!! It is supposed to be able to determine when bad language is cominga nd it bleeps it out!!! We soooo need that inour house - the boys love things like batman, hulk, xmen but mommy hates the language so.....I will be praying over this little contraption like crazy till my hubby puts it in to make sur eit works!!! I am totally stoked at my find today!!!

I have soooo missed you guys....

I am having total blog withdrawals and now that life has calmed down a little.....I am back!!! It started out by offering to help a friend get ready for her yard sale, then I had to get ready for my own yard sale, have the yard sale, then I was working on a couple gifts and things for the house - which I will gladly post pics of below - and next thing you know weeks have gone by - my goodness!!!

These are a couple of things I did awhile back that I couldn't remember if I showed you or not so....here they are!!! The mail thing is something I saw someone do on another blog and I loved the idea so much I had to try it - of course!!! The bench was a find at the local thrift store and I found this awesome chicken(or rooster) fabric and knew it just had to go on this little bench!!! I painted the bench with some left over paint I had and then distressed it!!

I keep seeing these banners all over on other people's blogs and I decided I wanted to make one! Some new scrapbook paper, a few embellishments and my creativity went to town!! You can't see it real well in the picture - it says Spring and looks super cute hanging on one of the many bookshelves we have in our house!!!

Do you remember those houses I posted a couple months ago and wanted ideas on what to do with them???? Well - I decopauged paper onto this one after painting the background and then decopauged this saying I saw on some artwork at work! I made it for a really good friend who abandoned us and moved to Texas!!! I really hope she finds somewhere special for it!

That same friend was throwing away this lovely bulletin board and I was able to rescue it for my own uses!!! I painted the corkboard part with LOTS of coats of chalkboard paint and the outside edge with(once again) leftover paint and then I wrote the verse from Deuteronomy 6 around the edge! I painted a little tin cup black, filled it with chalk and an eraser and hung it up next to it! Super cute and way practical for school!!!!

And last but not least - I made these for a girl at work who graduated from college this weekend! Ilove them and how they turned out! I have had the idea for awhile - I got the frames from super duper clearance at work after christmas(i have lots more too) and have had this idea but noone to do it for...so...I found someone to make them for and I do like how they turned out!!!

That is why I have been offline for so long and I must say when I see all the fun stuff I got to paint I am not as sad as I was at not blogging when I started this post!!! I am now off to get started on teacher gifts - a week late!!! I will share when i finish them - I have 8 to do!!!

Is it just Me????

I was just picking up and vacuuming because the house is a pit(as always) and I found two new(brand new but cheap - $$store) toys that are already broken laying on the floor!!! Are my kids the only ones who terrorize almost every toy they get and rarely ever play with it the way it is intended?? Is it because they are boys? Is it because I don't watch them close enough?? They have fun - there is no doubt about that but to what extent!!!!!

FREE....FREE....FREE....

I just found about this and wanted to pass it along....This website Learning A-Z has freebies all week long - all you have to do is register!! I have been downloading goodies and having fun looking around - hope you do too!! Pass it along!!