A Day at the Lake--physical education and nature study, all rolled into one

Today's Picture Books

This book is soooo cute and kids have been enjoying it over and over again. Of course, it is based on the rhyme "I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly".

The old lady shows up for Thanksgiving and swallows everything, even the big cooking pot.

The kids just laughed and laughed---this will be a book we come back to every November.

Thanksgiving is fast appoaching, so we are learning about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.

This story is one of the series of books by Kate Waters.

This book tells about the life of an indian boy at the time of first Thanksgiving.

The kids are looking forward to listening to Sarah Morton's Day and Samuel Eaton's day.

Both are set during the first Thanksgiving.

"Most days, Mary loves her new home in America. But now it's Thanksgiving time, and her family has little food. Mary begins to wish she could go back to Ireland. Life isn't fair. Even the gift of a pumpkin pie from a kind neighbor doesn't cheer her. So, Father tells Mary a story of how the Pilgrims struggled when they first came to America. The seeds they brought with them wouldn't grow. Native Americans showed the new settlers how to make the soil grow crops. That instruction helped, but the Pilgrims still faced hardships. There were times when they had barely enough food. But five kernels of corn helped the Pilgrims survive and made their faith stronger. Will the legend of the five kernels help grow a new faith in Mary too?" Amazon

I use the "If You Lived" series of books as a jumping up point when we are starting a new unit.

The Civil War is the new unit and the kids are enjoying this book, as they do all the books in this series.

I Heart Faces---Orange

I haven't joined in the I Heart Faces posts in quite a while, but when I saw that this weeks subject was "orange" I knew just the photo I wanted to post.

Winter hat season---Makes My Monday

Very cute little boys, in big, knitted winter hats, Make My Monday!!

Creepy Crawly Macro Monday

After all these years, my hubby is still excited to bring me little gifts!!

Look at the size of this guy!!

Thanks hubby, I love you, too!!

Head over to Lisa's Chaos for more Macro Monday posts.

Our Picture Books

Erin, over from the 4RealLearning Forum put forth a sort of challenge a week or so ago.

"Read 3 picture books a day at minimum, and because it seems to make us more accountable, write titles down. I thought to share our picture book journey here along with any other mums struggling to read picture books daily, I'm certain I'm not alone.
Share your titles daily, alternate days, weekly, whatever rhythm supports you the most."

I thought that this was such a great idea, especially since I have already discovered many "new to me" picture books. I thought it would be great to post them here, for others to see.

Maybe you will find some "new to you" books that you and your children will enjoy.

I always love to discover great picture books, so I hope many of you will join in the fun and make a blog post and put a link in the comments section of this post, or simply put some of your favorite picture book titles in the comments of this post.

We have been learning about the Civil War in history and I discovered these two great books.

Young Abe Lincoln: The Frontier Days 1809-1837 and

Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington both by Cheryl Harness

Both of these books have marvelous illustrations and includes detailed maps which my 10 year old son especially enjoyed.
Three Pebbles and a Song by Eileen Spinelli, pictures by S D Schindler
"In Spinelli's new picture book, a take-off on the fable of the ant and the grasshopper, a young field mouse named Moses is instructed by his mother, father, and sister to collect food and warm belongings for the family nest. Moses tries to comply, but he's constantly distracted by twirling and skittering leaves, the "whistle-y" song of the wind, and pebbles from the creek. When the snow arrives, the family has food and warm possessions--thanks to Mama, Papa and Missy--and when they becomes bored, they have a song, a dance, and a juggling show thanks to Moses." Amazon
The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell
"An elderly couple, Ann and Ed, go to the New World Cafe on Thanksgiving Day because Ann has burned dinner. The door is open, and the tables are decorated--not only with Pilgrims and Indians but also with tiny, bearded, probably Russian dancing figurines. The cafe owners, apparently immigrants, wonder why their door was open and who has crashed their party, but Grandmother is welcoming, and dinner is fun for all." Amazon
Tops and Bottoms by Lesley Conger, illustrated by Imero Gobbato.
A lazy goblin and a hard working farmer match wits in the fun adaptation of this folk tale. The farmer outwits the goblin 3 times,offering half the crop, "tops or bottoms" until the goblin finally disappears forever. Of course, when the goblin chose "bottoms" the farmer grew corn, leaving just stubble and roots for the goblin. When the goblin choose tops, the farmer grew carrots in the field, leaving useless carrot tops for the goblin.
My five year old, Luke, has chosen this book as his favorite this week. Giving it a definite 2 thumbs up!!

Won't join in and share a few of your favorite picture books in the comments.
I love finding new books to share with the kids (and enjoy myself!!)

Golfing under the black lights

We have been having fun!!

I loved when Mark realized all our sock glowed under the black lights!

I believe if we had kept score, Daddy would have won.

(although Mommy got 2 holes in one---just thought I'd tell you)

Trying to get Kim to hold the club the right way was a challenge.

Still working on Kimmy's stance.

I just don't think Kimmy will ever be a natural golfer.

Is a power outage a problem?

Not when the kids set me up so I can still knit!!