Reading In The Dark

Our triplets are in first grade and have begun to read books on their own. All four of our children have discovered the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series.

They all love to read. They love to be read to as well.
Recently I found these wonderful Coleman LED mini headlamps at our local Walmart store. They had them in four colors. Perfect. 

Pink for Charlotte, blue for Benjamin, green for Max and black for Grant.
Grant is sick. On Wednesday the school nurse called and said she thought he had an ear infection. I drove over with the pup and picked him up. He did not look well. Dark circles under his eyes and a little green in the face. I called his pediatrician right away and thankfully they could get us right in.
On the way, he threw up in the van. We had an airsickness bag from Grandpa and Grandma so he used that for the next few times.
Poor guy, we walked into the doctor's office with him holding the partially full bag. 
We didn't wait long in the waiting room but, then we waited forever in the examining room. I finally stuck my head out the door and mentioned that I would need to leave soon to be home in time to get our triplets off the school bus.
I could hear a doctor chit-chatting away in the room right next to ours. Sure enough, it was the doctor who was scheduled to see Grant. I started feeling frustrated because we had been scheduled to be seen at 2:10 and now it was 2:40!
I think the gal at the front desk said something to the doctor because she came in soon after I said I was going to have to leave.
Grant has a bad ear infection and possibly pneumonia too. 
We got him on an antibiotic and thankfully he's kept the medicine down. He's been sleeping and hanging out on the sofa since Wednesday afternoon.
While we were in the doctor's office, the dog must have eaten the vomit because the van smelled a little better when we got back. Dogs are good for many reasons.
We made it home just in time for the trio to get off the bus.

Grant has been reading this book every night. You can find it here.
Here is another book worth reading! 

Twig ~ A Book We Love

My dear friend Rhonda introduced me to this wonderful book by Elizabeth Orton Jones called Twig. It is a delightful book. Our four children would beg me to read another chapter each night. Even our 9 year old son enjoyed the story.
Twig is a little girl who lives on the fourth floor of a "high sort of house" in the city. One day Twig finds an empty tomato can and places it upside down in the bare back yard. She thinks it looks like a pretty little house perfect for a fairy. A fairy queen shows up and is wearing a fur around her neck. There is an elf, a couple of sparrows with eggs, ready to hatch, in a nest, Old Boy the ice-wagon horse, Old Girl the cat, Lord Buzzle Cobb-Webb a magician and humans too. The story is full of magic, fun and fantasy interwoven with reality. It is a tender story and encourages imagination.

Elizabeth Orton Jones captured the innocence of childhood in such a precious way in this tender story. I highly recommend it. She wrote and illustrated this book in 1942. Miss Jones was born in 1910 in Highland Park, Illinois. In the early 40's she moved to a house in Mason, New Hampshire. She bought her first house with her first royalty check from this well loved book.

She named her new house Pickity Place. Miss Jones passed away in 2005 at the age of 95. Pickity Place is a charming place. It is still open today with a gift store, cafe and garden.

In the story Twig, the Fairy Queen is wearing a fur. Elf is very interested in this fur and calls to it, "Here Kitty-Kitty". The fur crawls away. It is a fuzzy caterpillar. When Charlotte found a fuzzy caterpillar this week, she was thrilled.

Max named it "Kitty-Kitty". Charlotte made sure her new friend was safely returned to our backyard after I told her, "No, we can't keep Kitty-Kitty".

What are some books you enjoyed reading or having read to you when you were a child?
My mother and sisters read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to me and when I was old enough, I read them to myself. My siblings also read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings aloud while we took road trips. J R R Tolkien remains one of my favorite authors to this day. I also loved Nancy Drew mysteries in my pre-teen years. If you want to know more about these books or authors, follow the links. Here's another great book for kids and adults ~ The Dragon of Cripple Creek. It is an intelligent read, with adventure, mystery, and moral. You won't be disappointed.

Road Trip to NYC (Part 1)

Why are our children holding dragons in a bookstore you ask?

Could it be that they are waiting to hear someone special read to them about a dragon?

Maybe it is their Uncle Troy?

 Yes! It must be.

Here is it at last! 

The Dragon of Cripple Creek by Troy Howell! It is a modern day tale of the last dragon, a girl, greed and gold!  I will post more tomorrow about our road trip to New York City to see my talented brother, illustrator and now published author Troy Howell sign his new book!