Montana Trip

Darrin and Drew finally arrived home last night around 9pm. Drew was so tired, I could see huge bags under her eyes. The babies were freakin' out on Daddy being home! Beau was like a magnet to Daddy all night long, wantin' to "fight"!
They went fishing at Holter Lake, near the Missouri River, and Drew caught 3 fish! She loves fishing, and Daddy got some great pics for me! She also got real close to a deer and they snapped a quick one! Grandpa Dee sent home an engraved pocket knife with a carved buffalo on one side of the handle for Beau. He said it kinda looked like a shark, and kept calling it an 'ife', or a sword. Funny! ( A keepsake of course, NOT for play!)

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Friday Favorites

Today...

...Leah covered her entire face and hands in diaper rash cream! Not so funny to clean up, but none-the-less, FUNNY! Unfortunately I was working, and missed taking a pic.

Some fun with comcast photo shop... Beau had had enough of Mom asking him to say cheese! See his sarcastic 'cheese' while lovely Leah stands ever so innocently beside him! lol

Build your very own Sand Castle!

Had to try this, very cute, Mom, you will love it!

BUILD A VIRTUAL SANDCASTLE!

Poppies, and Poopies!

Today I tried to get out there and water all the flowers, and the garden. I love having them all, but it take some time to care for! I had to trim back some roses, and dead head alot of flowers. I try to keep up with this so that all keeps growing, and maintaining new blooms. I planted the new plant, had to stake it up since it was windy...and low and behold, I found some poppies in my wild flowers! YES! They are there! One pink one was in full bloom, and 2/3 butterfly bushes are now blooming. Beau grabbed his red bucket and ran around in his underwear picking strawberries! lol!

Later on in the house, Leah, who supposed to be napping d/t her nasty demeanor, was NOT napping one wink. I got her up and her and Beau played in his room while I made lunch. I heard Beau playing Drew's barbie guitar, yelling out over and over, "oh yeah! yeah! oh yeah!" So I went back to let them know lunch was done, but he wasn't expecting me to walk in, and became emmediately embarrassed by my seeing him playing the guitar. He's getting older, and along with it comes some shyness/embarrassment. Funny.

My sister came out and babysat for me since I had to work today. I guess the little ones really gave her a run for her money! They must have really been trying to test the waters since my sister isn't really an authoritative figure with them. She is the fun one. Mom means business, but they had to feel Auntie out tonight. I feel bad, but then again, they will learn. Unfortunately Beau pooped his pants while my sister was watching them, I had made sure he wore a pull up in case of this, but it's just getting ridiculous. I honestly think he is afraid of the toilet. Regardless, my sister was not gonna clean him up and I had warned him of this, she made him start taking care of it himself. Maybe this will make him think!

One BIG surprise...I haven't started potty training Leah, but she just might potty train herself since tonight while I was at work, she told my sister and Grace both that she needed to pee, and sure enough did just that once they sat her on the toilet. And, she had a dry diaper too! WoW! I am SO impressed, not a single one of my other 3 did this on thier own incentive. I just have to get that stinkin' ba-ba away from her. Not sure why, but she has taken to wanting one after another, and not eating! Drives me crazy! (Yes, my dtr still has a bottle at 2 yrs. 3 months old! I have not taken the bottle from any of my kids till 2 1/2, and not a single one has EVER gotten baby bottle tooth decay, that comes from Mom's that give kids juice and pop in bottles and let them run around with it all day long, and NOT brushing thier teeth for them!)

Books & Flowers

I love shopping ROSS once in awhile to find a bargain. Today we stopped in to browse, and I came across this adorable book, THE THREE LITTLE FISH AND THE BIG BAD SHARK. It is so cute, done in the theme of the three little pigs. Beau loves fish and sharks, so he loved this book!
The first little fish builds a house of seaweed, the second a house of sand, the final and toughest is the abandoned boat house. The shark says, "LITTLE FISH LITTLE FISH, LET ME COME IN!"
The fish reply, "Not by the skin on my finny fin fins!" Too cute!

~

My husband is on his way to Montana, and has already called me 2x, when he just left today at about 10am. Drew went along for the ride, they are going to visit his Dad. Funny how you can get so irritated with someone when you are always around them, but once they aren't around you for a number of hours to a day, you miss them. I enjoy my 'alone' time, but I also enjoy that time of the evening when we get the time to actually sit down and talk together without a child in the middle, which is an extremely rare thing during the summer with the late nights, kids staying up because, "we don't have school tomorrow Mom!"

~

I also stopped to visit my parents in town today. I love looking at my Mom's flowers. She has a neighbor with tons of flowers in thier front yard, and I saw something I wanted, so my Dad went over and asked if he would mind if we took a clump of it. So, I have something new to plant, only I'm not sure what it is. The stems feel like velvet, and they have a gorgeous hot pink/magenta colored bloom at the top, very long stems, but very small flowers. My three butterfly bushes are started to bloom, but slowly. Only one has fully opened blooms. I'll post a pic once they are filled out more, all 3 are different colors. I have been anxious about my wild flowers, this is the first year that I have planted them, and I go out to look everyday now, since most of the flowers have bloomed, but I am still awaiting the cosmos, and the poppies. So far, I cannot even see a sign of a poppy. I went back and read the bottle, and it states only 2% of all seeds are poppies. Very dissappointing to read now, but then I caught a glimpse of some poppies in another persons yard, and the stems look alot like what I have pulled out of my wildflower bed, thinking they were some type of weed! This infuriates me! I mean, I have planted Zinnia's from seed 2x this year, and not one has come up, and these are 2x/4x total in the past few years I have planted zinnias.
Now, thinking the poppies just aren't in the mix, or not coming up for some reason is much less dissappointing than thinking I have pulled some of them up. I don't think I've pulled up many, but a few. I'll just have to keep watching, and checking...Beau is my garden buddy, he'll help out. Also waiting on the first bloom from my Yucca, it's finally got a shoot with buds (see photo @ right), but not yet open.

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Grace is now officially the big 1-2! I cannot believe that so much time has passed. She is making me sooo OLD! She had a couple friends sleep over out in the trailer, and Darrin and I tried to play a trick on them. He hid with a mask on in the dark, I tried to lure them out of the trailer, but it didn't work, so he knocked on the trailer door, and for the 3rd time, they thought it was me, so they opened it and fell back screaming, and hitting Darrin trying to take the mask off. Good enough I guess. I was hoping to get footage of them running screaming in the yard back to the trailer, no such luck.
On Friday, I must brag, she joined in the Relay for Life, and walked 44 laps with my sister. They lit a luminary in loving memory of our deceased Grandmother, GEORGIA MAE MCCLAIN, she died of lung cancer when I was 12. This is who Gracie gets her middle name, MAE from. I am proud that she did this. Not many 12 year old kids would.
Today I took Grace for a haircut. She wanted it layered, shorter, and once she got it done, I could not believe it! She does not look 12 at all. Heaven help me!
Here are some photos from the party, and some silliness of Grace, 'dancing' being her overdramatic, attention-craving self...and I HATE THE SONG SHE'S PLAYING. She knows this, and this is why she played it!

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What we did today...

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Friday Favorites

SONG LIST

My twuck boke!

Beau Michael pushes his 'big twucks' all around with an energy that is out of this world! It's amazing that they hold up as long as they have. Well, last night as we were all enjoying the evening outside, Beau was pushing his favorite big blue dump truck around when suddenly he stopped and started screaming, "OH NO, MY TWUCK IS BOKEN!" and then he began to cry, so heartbroken. I noticed the right rear wheel had popped off, and try as Daddy might, we could not get it back on. So, 'another one bites the dust', I guess. He'll get over it I'm sure.

~

On another note...yesterday our plan: SEE SHREK 3. I thought it started at 12:45, so we all got ready, left by 12:30, and when we got there the movie had started at 12:25, and so we had already missed the 1st 20 minutes. I know that the trailers take up alot of the 1st 20 minutes, but I didn't want to feel rushed to get into the theater, and try to find a seat for 4 kids in the dark. So, the next showing was scheduled for 2:30, I decided to go have lunch, and play till then. Drew did not want to leave. We went to a nearby Burger King, and Drew was telling me how she was starving, yet she did not eat one bite of her food! This made me so angry! I don't take them out to eat anymore due to this, I pay for the food, then throw it away!

They played for awhile, Beau started to look as if he needed to go potty, I hollered him out to take him, and he actually pooped in the toilet! I was so happy about this, and so he ran back out to play. Only within minutes, he's hollering, "Mom! I pooped!" He had pooped more in his underwear! AUUGHH! I carried him to the bathroom, and luckily had a plastic bag and an extra diaper of Leah's. Got that taken care of.

As we are leaving Drew becomes terribly upset that we left only steps ahead of her. This puts her moodiness into motion. Then I announce that I wanted to stop at the craft store to look at stepping stone supplies, and she goes over the edge! She is bawling that we will miss the movie again, and keeps on, NEVER calms down. She insists to stay in the van and wait for me, I say NO, I don't let them do that, plus it's 78 degrees outside, so much hotter in a still van. She started throwing her booster seat down, hits Beau in the leg, he's bawling now, everyone's tired already. I tell her, "NO SHREK! WE'RE GOING HOME!" I hate this, but she has to learn a lesson. TANTRUM=NO MOVIE! So, this prevents all my plans for the day while we are in town. Once I got home, I had all 3 youngest lay down for naps. Drew is running on empty, these long summer days are catching up with her. I know this about Drew, she needs her sleep or all falls apart. And would you know, after she woke up from her nap, she said to me, "I should take a nap everyday Mom!" Yes, especially during the summertime!

Just swingin'

More Beauty...

This is my 'bearded tongue' plant. Not sure why it is called such, nothing about it's blooms look like a beard or a tongue, go figure! In any case, I think it is a beautiful flower.

Full view

When my Mom went to Arizona last month, Beau insisted she bring him back a snake. Well, a real one was out of the question, but she brought back a resin one that is so real looking it's scary. In fact, my husband, not knowing Beau had placed it in the bearded tongue plant, was mowing the lawn one day. He said he always runs into a gartner snake or two, but when he came up on this peeking out of the bush, he just about had a heart attack and was near trying to run it over with the lawn mower before finally remembering that it was Beau's fake snake. Haha!

Babysitting Class

As a child, young girl, I always loved babies! I just adored them, and still do! I started babysitting at about the age of 8 years old. I babysat a neighbors daughter that was 2 years old when her Mom had to go get her hair done, or her and her husband went to dinner. My Mom was always home, right next door, so if I had any difficulties I was able to have my Mom help me. I babysat till I was 16.
My parents placed me in a 'babysitters class', as soon as I was old enough. Then, I learned infant CPR, and the basics of caring for infants&toddlers. Alot of it was stuff I already knew, but it did make it easier for me to get jobs, with the parents knowing that I had taken this class.
So...today I was thinking about this, and called around to find out how to get my Grace into a class, being she is turning 12 this saturday, which is the general age specified to babsit, or be at home alone with other siblings in Oregon. Also, she could earn some money for summer activities with friends and family. I finally found a class, actually occurring Monday from 9a-4p. It is through the Red Cross. They said they will review: safety, care of the child, first aid, decision making skills & age appropriate play. I signed her up! I think this will be very good for her to atleast have this class, and the review, even if she doesn't end up babysitting this year. And, she will recieve a card indicating completion of the one day course to show parents that she may potentially babysit for. YAY!

Blooming Beauty

Just another day

I was asked to go in to work from 2 am till end of NOC shift last night, which is about 6:30am. I agreed to it, I really love to work. I had my hands full all day with kids, but managed to get to sleep around 10pm, and had my alarm set for 1am. Ofcourse, as always happens, I awoke on my own around 12:30am, so missed out on that extra 1/2 hour of sleep. Nobody even knew I was gone! I got home around 7am, expecting that Beau would soon be waking, but after wandering through the house waiting for someone to wake up, I decided I would try to just lie down on the couch and wait for Beau and/or Leah to wake up, BUT NOT FALL ASLEEP. It must have been around 7:30am, because, about 8:15 just as I had started to fall asleep, NOT MEANING TO, I hear 'MOMMY!' from Beau Michael, and as I go to get him, I hear Leah kicking around in her crib. They are both so sweet to awaken, Leah always says, "Hi, Mommy!" So sweetly, like she hasn't seen me in days! Beau's first words of the morning... "Hi, Mom, my stomach is so hungwy! I need some ceweal."
I got them their breakfast, and drinks, changed diapers, and then went to lie on the couch beside Beau as they watched some cartoons. I just could not shake my fatigue. My plan had been to stay awake till about 1pm when both of them lay down for naps, but my body was not wanting to wait that long! And, it ended up that we had visitors at 1pm anyway!
Drew had gone to stay the weekend with my cousin, and her kids, camping. So, she was coming back home at 1pm. I was rummy! I hate that, I feel like I am floating through the day, and nothing I said, or did seems real! But, by late afternoon, I picked up again, and have made it through. Don't think I could be a FT NOC Nurse...ever!

~
My cousin, Melissa, has a darling boy, ACE is his name. No middle name, just ACE! He's a doll! I had found an old picture of my Dad as a boy, this age, Ace is the same age as Beau, 3 1/2-ish. I told my cousin, she had to see this picture! It looks just like, or atleast ALOT like Ace to me! Amazing how that happens. See for yourself, I don't think it was me 'floating' when I noticed this...(click on photos for close up)

My Dad in 1960

Drew holding Ace, when he was probably around 8months.

Ace, to the left of Beau, both age 2 1/2.

~

It was quite warm out today, and so the kids played in the sprinkler this evening, and I set out a wading pool for Beau&Leah to play in. We still have to get the big pool cleaned out and filled up for the girls. Leah was in a diaper, and it was full, so I just took it off. Beau, he had picked out his own swim trunks this year, SHARKS, he loves them, and so he had made sure he had them on, however, once I filled the pool, he took them off. Not sure if he was thinking like bathtime, or if it was because I had taken Leah's diaper off, but he was determined to play naked. Grace made them all an icecream cone, and the little ones would not get out of the pool to eat it, they insisted on staying in the pool. Beau took the longest to finish, and by the time he was done, his whole entire body was shivering so hard he could hardly move to stand up! He refused me to get out though, till he had finished. It had begun to cool down quite quickly by this time. Grace grabbed Leah in a towel, I-Beau, and we brought them inside to get into PJ's, but Beau had this idea that they were coming in to get dry and warm, ONLY TO GO BACK OUT AGAIN TO SWIM MORE! Needless to say, this spurred a tantrum. :(

~

When I was filling the pool up, a new neighbor behind us hollered me over. When I got close enough, she asked if I wanted some watermelon starts. She had planted many seeds, and all had taken, so she has way too many starts, and not enough room in her garden. I readily accepted them, she gave me 6. I believe she called them 'yellow star' and said they are supposed to be very sweet. I planted 3 right away in our garden, which is quickly filling in. Then, I gave 3 to another neighbor that we have been friendly with for many years, since they have not yet planted thier garden. How very nice of her that was!

Ramblings...

The other morning, Beau was going potty, as he does every morning first thing. I was getting out his clothes to wear for the day, and suddenly he yells out to me, "MOM, I TINK MY DING-A-LING IS BOKEN!" I was like, what? I ran to see why he was saying that, no problems, not sure what the deal was, but I assured him, it's NOT broken!

He has been having accidents lately, diahrrea, and so I have been putting pull-ups on him. He ran out, and so I had to put on one of Leah's 'girly' ones that I had, and he nearly refused for me to put it on him. It has the disney princesses on it, and he was not havin' it! I told him that his shorts would cover up the pull-up, and no one would see that he had princesses on. He finally gave in. But, for the past few days, he still continues to have loose stools (nurse talk there)and so today as he was playing 'in the dust', he came waddling over, and on his rubber boot, down his leg, and drip drop on the driveway was poo! Then, it drips on our porch steps,and my welcome mat. I had to wrap paper towels, double thick, around his butt and legs to get him to the bathroom! It was a mess! I just don't understand. I have placed him on soy milk to help with his exzema, and I can't see how this could be contributing. Last week, he had 3 mornings that he threw up in the night, many times, and I attributed that to having had some dairy, or eating to late in the evening. I just can't pinpoint it anymore. I have decided that only water will do till I see a change. No more juice, no soy, no dairy. I have to figure this out!

Beau, and Leah being so close in age has been a great thing. For them, and for me in many ways. Don't get me wrong, there have been some troublesome times, but for the most part, I LOVE IT! But...lately, they have been fighting like cats&dogs. It's driving me crazy! I will blame it on toddler-hood. I mean, Leah, terrible two's, Beau 3. I have resorted to time outs. In thier rooms. Short, but seperate! The main instigator is usually a small toy. Most recently, a toy train. Beau's toy train that Leah wants. Leah has her own little pink one, Rosie, but that doesn't seem to make a difference at all! AUUGGHHH!


Today, we put up a tent that Beau had gotten for his birthday this year, it is so cute! He is so excited about this. He begged for me to do it today, his request.."If we make my tent, then Papa can stay the night with me!" Well, it's way too small for Papa to spend the night with him in, but none the less, it is perfect for Beau to play in on warm summer days...until Daddy decides it's killing his perfect lawn!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I love you so much! I am so blessed to have you for my Father. I am greatful for all you have ever done for me. I love that you always give me a hug as I'm leaving, even though I may seem in a hurry to shake you off. Thankyou for your unconditional love.

To my DH...I adore you. I could not imagine life without you in it. I am so proud to be the Mother of your children. Thankyou for being an honest, reliable, loving, and hard working man. HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Friday Favorites

All time favorite books, these have been handed down from my oldest Gracie, to Drew, now to Beau. He loves them! Eric Carle is one of the best childrens book authors, in our book! Beau has each of these memorized just by memory of the photos, and colors of the animals. He calls them the 'rainbow' books, since inside each cover are rainbow watercolor stripes. Definitely worth a check out.

Babywearing

I guess babywearing is a real fad these days, when I had Beau, I started using a sling because I wanted to hold him all the time, but couldn't without a sling. I thought he would be my last, but then lovely Leah came along, and she demanded to be held. So, fortunately I still had my sling, and it recieved alot of use. I do not have any photos of my 'wearing' Leah, but I did find one I took of her asleep in the sling. I had just lifted the sling over my head, and gently laid her down on her boppy to finish her cat nap. I miss my little babies!

Today...

...as I was getting Beau dressed, out of the blue he said "Mommy I really really love you!" AWWWW! My heart melted.
...I was sitting on the front porch with Beau and Leah, they were playing with sidewalk chalk, I leaned over with my head in my hands, and Leah says "Mom, you sad?" I told her, "I'm not sad, I'm just tired honey." She says, "You not sad, you tired? Ooohhh, I hove you." And then she gave me a hug. What a sweetie!
...Beau pooped his pants...AGAIN!
...the girls had thier last day of school.
...I cut back the roses.
...we took cans back, got McD's, and went to the park.
...I locked myself out of the house LOL
...I have done 3 loads of laundry (will it ever end?)

ALERT: Thomas the Tank Engine Recall

I just found out today from my Mom, that there has been a recall on various WOODEN toy trains from the Thomas the Tank Engine line, as you know, Beau has been a diehard Thomas fan and I found 4 of the recalled trains in his collection, the fire trucks, mail car,and musical caboose. I have since removed them, and found that there are bite marks on all three, undoubtedly from little sister Leah...the problem is that the recall is over lead paint being used on these trains. She is fine, and so I am not at all worried since this is some time ago that she bit on them. If you are curious which trains have been recalled, you can click on the link below to see a detailed list of all recalled items, and contact information to request replacement trains.

Thomas Tank Engine Recall

Future BIL

My sister has always been a bit of a tomboy, no boyfriends, just focused on her life, but she has finally met someone through a dating website. He lives in Port Louis, Mauritius. Which is off the coast of Madagascar near the Indian Ocean. She has been talking to him for 2 years or more I think. This post is just to say, HI ANDY, since my sister has informed me that you read my blog. I look forward to meeting you someday in person.

To be a Nurse

As a little girl, all I ever wanted to do was work in healthcare. I love being a nurse. I love the interaction with people. I love caring for people, and the other night at work, I recieved a reminder of this.
I was in the room with a patient, administering medications. This patient became short of breath, and so I was hooking up some oxygen. He became very emotional, and began relaying to me his experience while he was undergoing heart surgery. He was telling me how he never believed in God, and how now he does. How he had died 2 times under surgery, and that he had seen the light. The light he never believed existed, but that it is REAL. He was saying how all of his life before was so stupid, he's changed. He was crying. I was going to cry too. I let him talk, I LISTENED. He expressed his greatfullness for my willingness to LISTEN.
This is what I love about nursing. Being there for these people! The one on one of it. There are times when I get frustrated, and feel so flustered, so overwhelmed with paperwork, and 'to do's', but that just goes along with it all. I cannot imagine any other job with which I would look forward to going to work everyday. I LOVE BEING A NURSE!

Gotcha!

At Drew's birthday party, my Mom taught Beau how to put his finger just right in the middle of the water stream in the water fountain to make it spray out Then she told my Dad to come see what Beau had done, and as he walked around the corner, Beau did this, and he just lost it, cracking up laughing so hard! And, ofcourse, he had to try and do it to 'Weah' as well...his face just cracks me up!

The many things we plan to do this summer...

Go camping (atleast 2 more times)~ Go to the Washington Zoo~Go to Omsi~Go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium~Make a stepping stone together~Pick blackberries~Go fishin'~ Go for a walk~Spend time with Grandparents~Build a Pond~Go the the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village~Go to the Enchanted Forest...again
~Watch the sun set~Finish filling in my huge collage picture frame~Start potty training Leah~Go garage saling~Sit on the porch and eat icecream cones together~Spend a day on the beach (or 2 or 3...)~Go to a Dave Matthews Band concert (MOM)~Lose 20-25 more lbs. (MOM)~ Get new haircuts~Read books together~Go to the movies~Dance around to music in our living room~Make chocolate bananas~Swing~Water balloon fights~Bake Zucchini bread ~Bake blackberry cobbler~Make fresh salsa, with home grown tomatoes/onions/cilantro/jalapeno's~Clean the ceiling fans...YUCK~Renovate our bathroom~Bird watching~Go to the Art&Air Festival to see the airplanes~HUG~Color with sidewalk chalk~Blow bubbles

Ooohhh! Bubbles!

Here is Leah going crazy over one of Drew's birthday presents, the TRILLION BUBBLES BUBBLE MAKER...

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A change for Drew...

Drew on her birthday, so pretty wearing a piece of the broken pinata on her head...before she asked me to cute her hair...

Drew, after her haircut...Dad's pretty mad, but she is thrilled with it!

Drew's 7th Birthday Party

We finally had Drew's birthday party, she had really wanted to have a pool party like last year, but the weather was set to rain, so we changed the location to a local park, very nice, with a great covered are perfect for parties...and great in case of showers...which did occur once, but very light showers. Overall, the kids had a blast, and Drew was very pleased with her Hannah Montana cake I made, as well as the Hannah Montana pinata I had made for her at a great new party store called SWEET FLOWERS floresteria...pinatas originate from Mexico, and this store makes the original star formation, it was so cute!

The Cake...by Mom

Beau, taking his first swing at a Pinata!

Drew so surprised at her present from Mom and Dad
The Crayola Rainbow Rake

Awww...what a nice card!

Pink Eye X2

I took Beau to the doctor earlier this week concerned about his eyes being so gunky, and stuck together in the morning for about 4 days, thinking maybe he just had minor irritation that would resolve itself, but the doctor said he has conjuctivitis, and so she prescribed some sulfacetamide eye gtts. The first time I administered them to Beau, he was okay with it, he was calling them 'rain drops' for his 'broken eye'. But, each time following he was fought me, and screamed so loud in anticipation. It is NO FUN trying to hold down a 3 1/2 yr old boy to give him eye drops all on your own. And, what do you know, the next morning after we started Beau on the eye gtts, Leah woke up with a nasty, gunky eye full of green crusts! So, now, 4xday, I am pinning down not 1, but 2 feisty children and attempting with all my might to make sure I get a drop in each affected eye, which I tell you, is darn near impossible! And, we still have 4 days @ 4times/day left for Beau, 5 days for Leah...AUUGGHH!

Friday Favorites

We read ALOT of books in my house! Bedtime cuddling with a book is the best! One of Drew's favorites is THE MAGICAL, MYSTICAL, MARVELOUS COAT. It is a darling story with very unique illustrations. One we love!

A great idea: I often take all those book club advertisers, and keep the catalogues just to be able to take along to the library so we can look for some of the books that seem interesting to us.