Doodle Day May #17 & 18: Fruit & Swirls

Had to add this pic

Mother’s Day 2013
Ivy, Josiah, Felicity, & Lincoln & Me

Busy weekend- babysat ALLLLL my grandchildren together on Saturday for about 2 hours.   I had my youngest (14 mo)  here for  4 hours and the other three (4, almost 3 and 18 mo)  for only about 2 hours.  Fun wise it wasn’t long enough…stamina wise ….well let’s just say – I felt my age (713 mo.)  tee-hee.

Sunday was also a very busy day as our church had planning meetings for a Memorial Day Kids Carnival and then our Church’s Anniversary Picnic was at our house.  So that’s why no posting done over the weekend.

FRUIT

The First doodle  ‘FRUIT’ is from my memory of last summer.  I had rinsed a big bowl of strawberries and set them on the table to cut up and sugar to go on ice cream.  My granddaughters wanted to taste and I said okay.  The 3 1/2 year old winced when she took a taste and the 2 yr old stuffed one in her mouth and kept reaching for more.

Alison’s SWIRLS prompt was just fun and relaxing to do.   I’ll have to remember that next time I’m stressed!  Thanks for stopping by!  Blessings on your day!

Swirls

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Doodle Day May #3 & PPBF: Big Chickens Fly the Coop

Itty-bitty Bounce

Regular PPBF readers will note a short addition to today’s post.  I’m also participating with  Alison Hertz‘ (author of FLAP!) challenge to Doodle every Day in May.  Alison has created a FACEBOOK GROUP called DOODLE DAY MAY so join the challenge and the group.  It’s for ALL ages and ALL abilities.You can even still join in the fun.

Here is today’s doodle from me (you can scroll backwards to see my other doodles.)

Now on to a delightful pick for Perfect Picture Book Friday:

Title: Big Chickens Fly the Coop  

Author:   Leslie Helakoski

Illustrator:   Henry Cole

Publisher: Penguin Books 2008

Genre: Hilarious Fiction

Audience Age: 2-8

Themes/Topics: Bravery, Chickens

Opening Sentences: Four big chickens sat on their nests and sighed.  It’s nice and safe at home in the coop said one chicken.  Yes, said the others.  We should always stay home.  We could always stay home.  We would always stay home except…we’ve always wanted to see the farmhouse.

Synopsis: This is a sequel to the cowardly Big Chickens.   Once again the fearsome feathered friends step out of their comfort zone to explore the farmyard.

Why I like it:  I have to admit that this was not a favorite when I read thru the first time by myself…but when I read it to my grandchildren  I couldn’t control my giggles and chortles and guffaws!  Right away they got the silliness of the caper and were delighted by the goofy getups the chickens wore (skirts, aprons, and even boots).   It has become a repeat request from my 3 yr old granddaughter.  She asks for ‘the big scared chickens.’   You can almost hear the squawking and flapping just by looking at the lively, bright and humorous illustrations.  The expressions are comical in their wide eyed, wide mouthed panic as they explore the farm and encounter dogs, dirty tractors, and stampeding horses.   And don’t miss what these laughable ladies use for nesting boxes.  It is a fun barnyard adventure.

Activities/Resources:  The author, Leslie Helakoski, has lots of suggested activities on her website, from songs, fingerplays, popup cards and even lesson plans for older students on modifiers and figurative language.

Availability: Major booksellers  

(Susanna Leonard Hill is the originator of PPBF and you can find all the other PPB recommendations and links  on her blog.)

Enjoy the read and don’t forget to take time to doodle!!

Blessings, Laura (Grandmamiller)

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Groundhog’s Day in Michigan

Cyber friend and very talented, creative, Susanna Hill, the author of Punxsutawney Phyllis, invited readers of her blog to celebrate Groundhog’s Day (click to see other adventures) with her.    So I got a copy of ‘Phyllis’ from the library, a

camera and my grandgirls and here follows our adventure. . .

After church, lunch and naptimes I read Susanna’s story to my grandgirls.   They of course loved the story and we especially paid attention to the ‘signs of Spring’ that Phyllis spotted…chicadees singing, a zephyr wind, water dripping (but no bubbling brook for us).  We have a real groundhog that lives under our deck.  So we were going to venture outside to see if we might spy her.

Looking for Woody & Phyllis with ‘nonoculars’

Now, that morning the family was running late to church, so the girls didn’t put on boots, or mittens.  (They got carried to the warm car, then  right into church and later over to our house.)  By the time naps were over, it had snowed and was only 15 degrees outside.  Bad Grandma that I am I said, “oh, it’s okay we’ll only be outside for a few minutes and just on the driveway…”

Before leaving the house I got a pair of binoculars…I thought they would look good in the pictures.  But’  Grandgirl #2 (the 2 year old) said, “I want nonoculars too,”  and grandgirl  #1 (the 4 yr old) didn’t want to give them up.  Finally #2 was content with a viewmaster to look through (she thought they were ‘nonoculars’).

We went outside and stood on the driveway….so far so good….just a dusting of snow….we took a few

Still looking for our Waterford Woody

Is it Woody or Phyllis?

pics….then I turned my back to put Phyllis down for a picture next to a shrub  2 feet away and #2 grandgirl decided to try and follow, fell down in the snow and started shrieking like she’d fallen in scalding water.  I picked her up and tried to soothe her saying, “it’s just snow…it’s okay….”   Nuh-uh.  Still screaming.   So I took her in the house to her aunt.  So far we’d been outside a total of about 90 seconds.  Granddaughter #1 stayed with me to take a couple more pictures, but then it really started snowing hard.

Nonoculars confirm it is PHYLLIS

We went inside and decided this:

Cuddled under a warm quilt with Phyllis

It was such a nasty day that Phyllis would have the sense to stay inside, bundled up in bed under Grandma’s nice warm quilt.   So that’s what we did and took some pictures.  (How long ago did you try to take pictures of  two wiggly children, a book and a paper cutout and get all of them in the pic and none of them blurry or obscured?….this is one tired grandma.)

Oh – and did Phyllis see her shadow?   Will we have an early Spring or more Winter?    It’s Michigan.  Last week we had 56 degrees on Tuesday and by Thursday it was below zero, and schools were closed because of snow and ice.   So, Spring may come early but we’ll also  be watching out for  falling icicles.

Anyway – that’s our adventure with Phyllis.  Oh and if you’d like a guide to pronouncing Phyllis’ name, click here, my grandgirls will tell you in a very short video.

Stay warm and keep looking for Spring!

Laura (Grandmamiller)

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