Fall Books

October is the start of the holiday season, and in our house we have a special basket with holiday books to help us celebrate. Here are some of our favorites:

Where is Baby's Pumpkin? by Karen Katz. A lift-the-flap book perfect for the baby/toddler set.

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins. We were introduced to this book at storytime last year, and loved it so much we added it to our home collection. It combines counting, animal sounds, and a poor farmer who just wants an apple from his tree!

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. I have loved this book since my friend Chiska introduced it to me in London about 9 years ago. A cat, a duck and a squirrel get together to make pumpkin soup...and learn something about sharing and friendship in the process.

A Very Hairy Scary Story by Rick Walton (who, incidentally, taught a picture book writing class at BYU that yours truly took years ago). A little girl lingers too long at a friend's house and has some scary (and hairy!) encounters on the way home.

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin by Rick Walton. This is probably our most favorite Halloween book. Sweet Mrs. McMurphy is haunted by a mean pumpkin who threatens to eat her...don't worry though, the ending causes lots of laughs as we all shout the text on the final page together.

What are YOUR favorite Fall books?

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

My friend Becca wrote a book and it's fantastic.

It's out today. Go buy it. And then read it. You won't regret it.

Madeline: 5 Months

Baby Maddie is now a whopping 5 months old and is more fun by the hour. I love this stage--her personality is really starting to shine and she is an easy, happy baby.
**As evidenced by the previous entry, Madeline is now mobile. Luckily she has yet to venture out of the family room, so it's pretty easy to keep her safe.
**Maddie is very curious, and likes to investigate things by licking them. I don't mind this too much in the house, but when we go out in public, ick!
**She loves paper--crumpling it, eating it, usually a combination of the two.
**Frau Madeline speaks German. She has been practicing her gutteral sounds on us.
**She has discovered her feet, and apparently they are quite tasty.
**Madeline likes music--whenever she hears a particularly catchy tune, she cranes her head around, looking for the source of the music.
**She loves her new exersaucer, and enjoys when we stand her up.
**She is still happy to be dragged around, as long as she is either sitting up in the stroller or carried in the Baby Bjorn. She gets bored of her carseat.
**Maddie is still long and skinny--even the elastic size 3-6 months falls off her waist. I didn't notice this too much over the summer (probably because she spent so much time in onesies), but most of her pants fall down. It makes for easy diaper changes. :)
**It is getting hard to photograph her--all she wants to do is explore!

Watch out world, she's mobile!

On Monday afternoon, after a good nap and a snack, I set Madeline down on a blanket in the middle of the family room to practice rolling. (She recently mastered rolling over both ways). I figured she'd roll around a little and probably suck on her fingers a lot. I head off to check email and get a phone call. Fifteen minutes later I find this:

She was going to town on a pile of newspapers. She had made it about five or six feet across the floor. Here's a picture to give you some perspective (she started on the pastel blanket on the right).

Vacation Flashback: the Beach

Of course, we couldn't go to Cali without going to the beach. The beaches on Monterey Bay are absolutely gorgeous, though I wouldn't complain if they were about 10 degrees warmer. But it's the beach! Who doesn't love the beach?

Emma, apparently. The sand was dirty and the water was cold, both of which led to tears. She spent most of her time like this:

But after a couple of days of talking her off the towel, we got her to go into the water (but only if one of us was holding her):

Madeline was unfazed by the beach:

Though she spent much of her time like this:

or like this:

(In case you couldn't tell, Maddie is that little white hat sticking out of the yellow blanket and blue towel.) Yes, it was cold, but despite the chilly temperatures, we had a swimmingly good time!

Vacation Flashback: Monterey Bay Aquarium

We love the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and it was the perfect outing one morning before the fog burned off the beach. It was espeically fun to go with cousin Kate--she and Emma are only 3 weeks apart, and they are finally old enough to really have a good time together.

Emma and Grandpoppy learn about waves.

Amy and Kate check out the touch pool. (Emma would have nothing to do with it.)

Emma and Kate playing with boats.

Emma shows off her gymnastics moves on the water trampoline.

Grandpoppy and Madeline.

Emma and Kate busy playing with some fish.

Can you find the seals?

Vacation Flashback: Driving, Dives, and Swings

After our day in San Fransisco we drove down to the Seascape Resort in Aptos, CA. On our drive down we stopped for a special lunch. Dave's family are fans of the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so we visited Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero for some Crab Ciopinno.


After being in the car, we headed for the playground for some quality time with Grandpoppy. Up next: the beach!