Attention Children's Book Fans

It is an awesome thing going to the bookstore and library. There are aisles upon aisles of books and not nearly enough time to dig in and find the few that are actually worth buying. For unsavvy shoppers like myself this is a problem. Thus, I am trying to compile a children's book list of "favorites." I am a big fan of David Shannon's books, the dinosaur book series, and of course classics like Dr. Seuss and Harold and the Purple Crayon. If you have any suggestions for books, new or old, that can stimulate little imaginations, please leave a post.

Thanks!
Hez

Havest time!

One of our favorite things about Rochester is picking fresh apples. Unfortunately, Isaac decided that this trip would be a perfect time to learn what wet pants feel like in cold, rainy weather (poor kid). So we didn't get any pics of the apples. (Strangely, however, Isaac is suddenly very good about letting us know if he needs to go potty when we are out.)

The raspberries were wonderful, and since the apples were just in season, we had the whole patch to ourselves! Really, they should have taired and weighed the kids rather than the raspberry buckets. We left sticky, red and very satisfied.

The picture of Ashton is a very stereotypical face of his. He is a real flirt, and often will creep next to someone . . . anyone he wants to charm, and just grin like this until they can't help but grin back. If you don't respond? Well, he'll be a litte confused about why you don't think he is the best thing since sliced bread, and then keep trying. He loves a challenge.

Fun with shells

This is Mom's counterpart to "fun with paints."

Fun with paints

This is what you get when you mix a one year-old and watercolors. Really, he took his work quite seriously.

Halloween Hauntings

Halloween was an exciting two night of trunk and trick or treating. After feeding the missionaries, we carved pumpkins and set out to show off our little "pelican" and "bigaffe". Aukai and I even got in the spirit, dressing up as robin hood and a fairy.

The best part of Halloween was choosing out Isaac's costume. He picked out the colors and pattern himself . . . every other pattern was

too "leafy" or too "bally." When asked what he dressed as, he will tell you "a pelican," and don't even try to tell him otherwise.

I think Ashton ate more candy that night than he had in his first 16 months combined. It took him two full days to detox. He really, shall we say, got into the spirit. He had one piece of candy to munch on, one unopened in his other hand (though he kept chewing through the wrapper) and still got very frustrated whenever we took his hard-earned candy and put it in a mysterious black bag.
We hope everyone's Halloween was so hauntingly happy.