Top Ten {Tuesday}: You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs

Today's Top Ten {Tuesday} is in honor of my daughter, Annie. She is our third-born, my fourth pregnancy. She is the baby I really wasn't expecting to expect!!  She is our most social child, very friendly yet not willing to let people push her around. She's the sweetest thing! And she's a petite little girl, too.  We call her Bitsy Bug.  Bits loves the color green - and frogs.  Oh, this girlie loves "fwogs!" So, today, I bring you all sorts of frogs from Etsy...

1.  This crocheted hat on Etsy is too stinkin' cute!  I seriously might have to buy one of these for her. 

She would sooooo love this!

 2.  Annie loves to wear stuff in her hair so she'd be all over this little sculpted hair clip - cute! 

3. Oh. My. Gracious.  To quote Rachel Zoe - shut. the. front. door!  I love this!

 4.  And the shoes...oh the shoes!

 5.  Or the sneakers...these are adorable, too.

 6.  This coloring wallet would be perfect for church (love the vibrant colors)

 7.  Adorable birthday banner - and what a treasure! 

 8.  And speaking of birthday parties - a cute goodie bag!

9.  Annie has a travel pillow that could use such a pillowcase.  My mom made her a pillowcase for her "big" pillow out of some fun bright pink fabric with fairy frogs on it...she loves it.  :)

And last but certainly not least...and not from Etsy...

 

10.  The cake I will be decorating for Annie's 5th birthday party in December.  I've made it once before - for Harrison's 1st birthday (froggy theme) and Annie told me then that she wanted it for her 5th birthday.  

So, that's what we'll do!

For more Top Ten {Tuesdays} see Amanda's blog. Write one of your own and link it up!

Elizabeth's Reading List - October 2010

Okay, so we've covered all the stuff E has read in September (including the four books that are on her reading schedule for this week).  Here's what is on my calendar for her to read in October:

October 4-8:

1. Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard
2. The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward
3. A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert
4. Stone Soup as retold by Marcia Brown (this was the Caldecott winner in 1947)

October 11 - 15:

1. Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea by Cynthia Rylant
2. Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
3. Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
4. The Emperor's New Clothes - we'll probably use this one (Veritas Press has their own version but I'm not buying it)

October 18-22:

1. The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit and Other Favorite Stories  by Beatrix Potter
2. The Rooster Crows:A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles - she'll start this one if she finishes Peter Rabbit.  

October 25-29:

1. The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles
2. Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall
3. Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
4. The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese

If she blows through the list above more quickly than I have planned, then she'll work on these:

• Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff
• Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald Sobol
• The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
• Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
• My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
• Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne
• Owls in the Family by Robert Frankenberg
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

There are several that I'm looking foward to introducing to her this year. Should be a great year for her!!!  And for me.  :) 

Reading - Katherine

Katherine doesn't have a reading list for September.  We've been busy finishing up Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Bless her - she has wanted nothing more than to learn to read since she was three years old.  Finally. She can do it.  She is a little afraid of "real" words and "real" books.  I have heard her sitting in the hall, all alone, reading Little Bear. And she's attempted some of her Fancy Nancy I Can Read books - and done well.  I'm trying to encourage her at every turn. 

Now that we are finished with learning to read, it's time to work on reading comprehension.  We'll use the First Favorites Guide from Veritas Press.  First up, she'll read Curious George by Margaret and H.A. Rey on Monday.  I have scheduled one week for the book and all the comprehension activities (this is the case for each book we'll do from the guide).  We have The Complete Adventures of Curious George and she'll read the story from there. She saw the book in her school crate earlier this week and squealed. 

October 4-8 she'll work on Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.  October 11 - 15 is Corduroy by Don Freeman.  The following week, October 18 - 22 is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff; followed by Blueberries for Sal (Robert McCloskey) to close the month of October. 

Elizabeth's Reading List - September 2010

Elizabeth has been reading some books on her own and some she's been reading to her younger sister and brother.  My goal for her is to read 16 books a month (4 a week) Here's what she's read this month - links are not affiliate.

1. The Zoo I Drew - Todd Doodler
2. Clifford & the Halloween Parade - Norman Bridwell
3. Clifford's Valentines - Norman Bridwell
4. Fancy Nancy: Pajama Day - Jane O'Connor
5. Biscuit's Day at the Farm - Alyssa Satin Capucilli
6. The Big Leaf Pile - Norman Bridwell
7. Lewis the Librarian - Charnan Simon
8. Froggy's First Kiss - Johnathan London
9. If You Give a Cat a Cupcake - Laura Numeroff
10. A Tisket A Tasket - Ella Fitzgerald
11. Dooby Dooby Moo - Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
12. Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead - Ruth Krauss and Jane Dyer
13. Trucks - Anne Rockwell
14. Madeline - Ludwig Bemelmans
15. Little Bear - Else Holmelund Minarik
16. Little Bear's Friend - Else Holmelund Minarik

Books she will read next week for school -

1. Bread and Jam for Frances - Russell Hoban (only E's isn't an "I Can Read" book - she has the library-bound edition)
2. Doctor DeSoto - William Steig
3. Nate the Great - Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
4. Nate the Great and the Lost List- Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

It's that time of year

My last blog post was the day before preschool started.  That should tell you what things have been like around here since then. 

Annie is loving preschool.  There are only 10 children in the class; but, the break-down required a co-teacher.  Six boys, four girls. Apparently there was some significant wildness in the class.  That's not to say "boys are wild, girls are not" because I know from personal experience that's not true.  The teacher said it is the combination of boys - they feed off one another.  When we ask Annie, "Who did you play with today?" The answer is always, "Penelope and all my girls."  Penelope is one of the girls in the class. She and Bitsy have become fast friends.  Danielle and Happy are the other girls.  Drew is the one boy Annie will play with.  It's a cute group of kids. 

School is going well for the big girls. They are loving history (Story of the World, Part One).  We read the story of making mummies last week and I think we'll be there for another week. The girls are fascinated by all things mummy-related now.  We'll be checking-out some books at the library to do some more reading on the pyramids and mummies.  That'll be fun.  Katherine is becoming more confident in her ability to read.  The sweet girl has wanted to learn to read since she was three...and now that she knows how, she's scared to do it! I'm trying to encourage her as much as possible.  Elizabeth is blowing through library books, so we'll be starting chapter books this year.  I'm going to start with the original Boxcar Children and will use the comprehension guide from Veritas Press. 

I'm also hoping that we'll get to the All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor, which were some of my favorite books when I was a little girl.  I found a discussion/activity guide for the first book in the series.  I'm afraid many publishing houses would consider them too "old-fashioned" for today's children.  That is precisely why I love them, though.