He Leadeth Me

Some of the women from our church got together for a FAVORITE THINGS party.  Julie Andrews serenaded us.     We ate our favorite cookies. String--anyone remember the connection? From decorative tape to favorite lipsticks. What would a party be without a children's book? Here's the string connection. We took notes on favorite things we thought we couldn't live without. More favorite things. The always favorite Koji Punch. Why a goose? Now you know why. Some of the precious women who attended. More friends. and more favorite people The party was Kelly's idea so she explained the process of sharing our favorite things. Is anyone surprised? She is so creative. More guests It was so interesting hearing about everyone's favorite things. From ice cream to pens to coffee to lotions to Funyons to jewelry to omelette makers to lots and lots of chocolate. Everyone took home 2 items that they thought they cou...

This is the scene when the dads and Ducca watch the boys while the mama's talk. The room is a wreck. The chairs are turned on their sides. The guys are watching football. And the children are happy.

I have a friend from our church, Tonya, who is both a contributing author and photographer for Cottage Magazine . This year the magazine, published a cookbook as seen above. The link above will also take you to information about the cookbook. Tonya has a beautiful section that you might want to check out on pages 220-235. What makes that very exciting to me is that she used various pieces of my home decor for some of the photo shoots.  If you have a chance to browse the book, see if you can figure out which photos have items belonging to me and which photos have items belonging to my friend Jeanette. Tonya spent the day at my house recently shooting a possible spread on my Grandchildren's Room . I'll keep you posted on when and if that will be featured in Cottage Magazine .

We are having our first nighttime freezes of the autumn here in Colorado. This summer was the first real summer that I enjoyed gardening. My roses are still blooming and the grandsons' garden is still producing tomatoes. I thought I had better bring the green tomatoes in so that they wouldn't freeze and be ruined. Does anyone know if they will turn red off the vine?   I'm really going to miss my garden this winter, but I guess that is what makes springtime oh, so sweet.  

It's so much fun to watch children learn, especially when they are your kids or grandkids. Caleb wanted to show me how he can now write his numbers to 10. Such a smart boy!!!

If you are looking for a fun Halloween picture book, look no further.  Frenkenstein:  A Monstrous Parody is adorable.  On the front cover, you see a Caldecott looking sticker which says, "A CaldeNOT Horror Book."  A great spoof of the Madeline books. Frankenstein by Rick Walton My rating: 5 of 5 stars I loved this book.  Children will especially enjoy it if they have read the Madeline books.  The back book jacket says "Ludworst Bemonster is the pen name for author rick Walton and artist Nathan Hale, who got bored one Halloween and decided that thier favorite children's book would be much, much better if there were monsters in it.  Perfect for Halloween. View all my reviews

This is the sight that I see when I drive in after the sun goes down. My sweet husband always turns on the front porch light for me and the geraniums in my antique washstand never cease to make me smile. Thanks to our friend Bill Walker, who landscaped our lawn at the beginning of the summer, I have had lots of blooms to make me happy. I'm going to miss the color when the first freeze comes, but look forward to seeing them again in the spring.  

For today's Ten on Ten, I thought I would feature some of the most beloved children's books of all times. Little Golden Books These are some of the Little Golden Books my children had when they were young. We often read this one at bedtime. This one is backless because it was so well loved. We must have really loved this one because we still have not one, but two copies. This is a favorite of many, many children. I don't think Jeremy was too fond of this one, but Kelly loved it. A Christmas classic. Excuse the blurriness of this photo. Our books ranged in price from 39 cents to 89 cents. This one was really special because it helped teach my children how to be true friends. If you would like to know more about the history of Little Golden Books , Leonard Marcus, an excellent children's literature historian, has written a delightful book called Golden Legacy . Photo above  Copyright © 2012 Follett Library...

One of our favorite things to do in The Springs is go to the Balloon Fest every Labor Day. This year, my sister Kim and her husband Randy visited us during that time. Kim's favorite balloon was the bright yellow one with the starburst on the side. Since David and I love to chase the balloons and watch them land, we decided that this would be a good balloon to chase. Isn't that bright blue sky amazing? The crew started bringing the balloon down in a field off one of the main highways. But evidently they changed their mind, and headed to a nearby neighborhood. You can get such a good close up view when the balloons are coming down. Watching the balloon deflate is really exciting. It takes a whole crew to bring it down safely. The crew wears gloves to keep from damaging the delicate fabric of the balloons. The crew turns the basket on its side when the balloon comes down. I would love to know why. Packin...