Big Imagination:

My oldest daughter, Rachel, writes stories every day. There is never just one story because she has so many swimming and around in her head. Some are stuck in a little eddy in her brain and don't get finished. The ones that come out in torrents are mostly spoken to me in a very animated way. Sometimes they are written down. Her stories themes are sometimes Mysteries, Friendship Development, and love for Animals. Rachel, also, loves to illustrate her stories. These sample illustrations are to a story she is developing around the character, "Donna Dustmite". Donna is one of the many dustmites that live in Rachel's house. I think her illustrations are a lot of fun and hope she writes down her story soon. Her is a sample of Rachel's illustrations:

<sub>background paper, doodled font, and painted frame from Sing Spring Collection by Sausan Designs, flower doodle and doodle frame by Sara Carling, Border Line by Sande Krieger, font: GypsySwitch


Red taped frame from Joined at the Hip by Tia Bennett, Doodle Arrows by Kate Hadfield, Border Line by Sande Krieger, Journal cloud and Smile title from Silly Noodle by Summer Simmons</sub>

:::::::::::::::Went Walking:::::::::

to the library and around the park, then back home, yesterday. The weather was in the upper 60s Farenheit. I used my new:
to give me something to sing with while I walked. I found that I really enjoyed listening to "Last Dance" by Donna Summer and "I'm Your Boogie Man" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band. I think I will have to walk further next time to see what else picks up my steppin' pace. I took along a bottle of berry flavored Propel, which was a nice taste.

:::::::::::::::Bill Nye, the Science Guy:::::::::

was on the television via VHS tape last night at our abode. The kids laughed and learned for about 2 hours. Evey was trying to explain to me about the homemade pulse counter made using a straw. She was surprisingly accurate. The kids loved the way he illustrated the different concepts. As Bill Nye says, "NOW You knowwwwww!"

:::::::::::::::Mornings at the Taylor house:::::
are always chaos at 7:40a.m., which is ten minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive. Noah pretends he can't figure out how to take his shirt off. He is certain it shrank during the night. (This shrinking phenomenon happens almost every night. I might want to call Mythbusters.) Rachel has usually misplaced something, or forgotten to have something signed. She acts like such a space cadet. Not surprisingly, she has pulled reminders about not using time wisely and following directions. I figure she acts that way at home, too, so does that make her a consistent performer?
Noah was very excited to run down stairs to inform Rachel that he, "...almost tied his shoe." Noah's concept of achievement is often set at second place, which is astounding to me. He always wants to be right (that's genetic), but he can except not winning.
This morning as Noah ran down our yard to catch the bus I called out, "I love you! Y'all don't get hit by the bus, or any cars!" Noah yelled (Noah always yells), "BRING IT ON!" In a long drawn out exclamation. What a goof ball!

::::::::::::::::Compliments:::::::::::

When Noah got home from school yesterday he said that his teacher, Ms. Tiller, really liked the outfit he had on for school pictures. Then, he said, "So, thanks for picking them out for me!"

Noah also told Evey she was pretty the minute he saw her after getting home from school. What a cool dude!

He had a time line project of his life to present to his first grade class on a big piece of poster board. The teacher told him that she thought he had been to more places than any other kid in his class. We hope to go up North this Summer and visit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York, Niagara Falls, and go over into Canada. Michael and I plan for the best possible scenario by throwing in all the sites we want to see, then we have several back up scenarios, so we at least get to see some of our major sites. I've never been further North than Maryland.


:::::::::::::The Phantom Tollbooth::::::::


is our new family reading time book. Here is a link to the synopsis from Spark Notes. Eve fell asleep, so we stopped reading at the first chapter. I have never read this book, but I'm MEGA excited about it from reading the forward by Maurice Sendak. There was also a film of the book done by Chuck Joneswho did one of my favorites "Rikki Tikki Tavy" about a mongoose. I've never seen this video, so I checked for its availability at Amazon.com and since the video is out of circulation it costs from $42.00 up.

The kids I enjoyed reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It had an interesting message about keeping secrets, so I suppose it will be my secret until you read the book for yourself :).

I look forward to reviewing The Phantom Tollbooth. It looks to be an interesting ride.