Ready Teddy (repost from MJL)

Matthew wrote a bit about Teddy's arrival--to tide you over in case you didn't see this yet.

Ready Teddy

Another Katie Video

More pre-recorded posting...

No school on Halloween, which meant we had time for life as it should be lived.  Katie made Baby a Halloween costume.  Here she is to tell you about it.

Ingleside 10/28/14

I took these pictures a while ago but haven't had a chance to put together a post.  Here's what life was like last month.  

Katie really wanted to wear this shirt as pants.  

I did the Pinterest thing and got a big drip pan from Amazon to use as a magnet board.  Then I was grouchy about magnets on the floor.   We started with letter magnets, but they were all over the floor and in a frustrated fit I took them all away.  Then they took all the magnets off the fridge and left them on the floor.  The past few weeks have been better, and I think I'll be less grouchy about it (everything) when it's a bit easier to bend over.  :)

Baby diapers are so impossibly tiny!

We got out the baby stuff.  

I took the girls shopping for some dress shoes for Anna and found glitter shoes for both girls on clearance.  I haven't done something spontaneous like that with Anna and Katie for a long time and it made me really happy.  

One night at bath time I kept picking up books around the house that I was in the middle of, and the three of them together made me laugh-Siblings Without Rivalry, Introduction to the Devout Life, and Donna Parker at Cherrydale.  I enjoyed all three!

I'm glad these days are behind us.  This is what time I gave up on waiting for MJL to get home and went to bed one night.  

Surely some day we'll have a baby post, right?  :)

L's!

Here's the end!  I was so happy to finish this before my leave.  And I got all the books processed and in the library-so this week is just pretty relaxed!  I've got my classes to teach, and books to pull for teachers, and last minute notes to write up for my sub, but compared to the last month of working as hard as I can, this is easy.  :)

L is another big letter.  This was a clever story about a cat and a mouse trying to outwit each other. 

I like the Froggy books, they're especially good for kids who are reading at a higher level, but don't need to dive into chapter books full time.  

Arnold Lobel is one of my favorites.  I always read Mouse Tales aloud to 1st graders and then they check out like crazy.  This is one from the picture book section which has nice stories and is a Caldecott winner.  

A sweet story, appealing to boys and girls. 

Funny historical fiction tall tale.

Another good dog book!  About noticing the good that is in front of you. 

A town works together to solve a big problem. 

A really fun read aloud.  The kids have to find what the letters are for.  

The title is hard to see- Ellis Island Christmas.  You know I can't resist an immigrant story.

More historical fiction, from the point of view of a Chinese family. 

I just got this one last year.  There are many stories about lost things making the rounds and finding their way back again-someday I'd like to gather them together somehow and do some comparing and contrasting with the kids.  There's something very appealing about them.  This one circulates all year round, the kids really like it.  

I love this song, and this version is a Caldecott winner.  

An animal book!  And I don't even like animals very much.  This story about two pets that survive Hurricane Katrina was surprisingly touching.  

That's it for picture books this semester!  If you read any, let me know what you think!

K's!

All of Ezra Jack Keats is fun, but I really liked this one and I'd never heard of it before.

A true story from Pioneer days!  I'm going to have to read it aloud to the kids because even though it was on my featured shelf, STILL no one checked it out.  And it is great.  

When we were in Las Vegas at the ALA convention, Jon Klassen walked by in the exhibit hall and I felt like I was seeing a celebrity.  I told MJL "Do you know who that is?  'This is not My Hat'?  'I Want My Hat Back'?"  and he laughed at me.  

But these are great books.  Fun for kids and grownups alike, and nice and simple.  A great 1st/2nd grade level book is so important!  How else are we going to hook them on reading?

I like to read this one at the beginning of the year, though sometimes it almost makes me cry.  A sweet story inspired by the lions at the New York City Public Library.  

This is one of my all time favorite Halloween Stories.  It has a little witch in it, but it is a great story and not a bit scary.  

These are all pre-scheduled posts.  We're past 40 weeks now, so hopefully there'll be a baby soon!

J's!

I finished!  All of the "Everybody" books with authors F-L!!!  Here are my favorite J's.

A new book I bought last year.  What a relief that it is good!  It's about  a little girl who feels bad that her family is not eating turkey for Thanksgiving, but she finds out there are lots of different ways to celebrate.  

A really fun take on the "Princess and the Pea" story.  

Simple pictures, simple story, but this boy trying to convince his mother he should have a pet snake was charming.  

Another great farm book, I think 4H kids, kids who love animals, farm kids would all love this one.  

I like Simon James.  I like his pictures and his stories, and this one was my favorite of his.  And it's always nice for kids to read about something completely different from Kansas.  

Books from Penguin Random House!

We got our $5000 in books from Penguin Random House in late September.  8 boxes.  342 books.

It took me a couple of weeks to quit being overwhelmed and start the giant project of getting them processed and into the library.  

 They're all in the computer, all stamped, all have call numbers on the spines, all have "donated by" labels inside, and all the books for regular checkout have clear plastic dust jacket protectors on, but I'm still working on finishing up the novel sets.  But they're ready for checkout today!    

  

Is there anything better than kids and books?  What a blessing for our little school.  

Bossy Betsy:Halloween Clearance

I apologize if you all already know about this--I thought everyone in the world did, but this Halloween season I saw several references to pumpkin carving being dangerous--even one from one of those giant parenting blogs with zillions of followers--so I just have to make sure.

If you are still trying to carve pumpkins with sharp knives-STOP!  Your life is about to get awesome.  The little pumpkin carving kits are amazing and wonderful and totally safe and about a katrillion times easier to use than knives.  AND they will go to at least 75% off, probably 90% off if you're patient, now that Halloween is past.



You just need to wait as long as you feel comfortable, then buy a kit for each one of your children, because the knives are a bit flimsy.  I broke two this year because I was being impatient.  But you can afford that because each kit has multiple knives and they're 75% off.

Now--throw away the instruction book that comes with the kit!  It will just give your children grandiose ideas about what pumpkins should look like, steal their creativity, and frustrate them.  Plus it's much easier to store a little baggie full of knives.  Just throw it inside your Halloween box or in one of your trick or treating pumpkins.

I think it's OK to keep all of the other little tools because they're fun to experiment with and don't cause too much trouble.

Last year I bought a couple of these scoops-and they were great.  They really got the guts out quickly.

Don't we look happy?  All of these kids carved pumpkins with very little supervision.  No injuries, all fun.  

Bossy Betsy out.