Buon Giorno!

We've just finished Papa Piccolo, caro mio! We finished up by making the biscotti recipe in the FIAR cookbook. Mmmm!

Along the way, Abby enjoyed painting and the art lessons in the manual, learning about cats (and playing with our kitten, Jesse), finding out about Italy, and reading a few good books.

Peppe the Lamplighter doesn't take place in Italy, but in Littly Italy in New York City. It's the story of a little boy who gets a job as a lamplighter and stuggles to win his father's respect. It is a very thoughtful story, which can spark some good discussion. The illustrations fit well with Papa Piccolo (light and dark), and a lot of the story takes place on the street, as does Papa Piccolo.

Another one we enjoyed was Galileo's Leaning Tower Experiment by Wendy Macdonald. Abby and I had not read about Galileo before, so this was a good opportunity to learn about him.

We're off school this week to do some things around the house. When we return after Labor Day, should we row The Glorious Flight, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, or perhaps Truman's Aunt Farm? Hmmmm, too many great choices!

A Happy Occasion

Abby was baptized on Sunday night at the lake......

Storm in the Night

We're enjoying our time with Storm in the Night!

We read a Caldecott book, Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman, which an endearing book with great illustrations.

And a very interesting book, Shelterwood by Susan Hand Shetterly. It is about a girl and her grandfather, who is a logger. This story would be a good nature book to come back to on its own at a later time.

We also made a cloud cake: a chocolate layer cake with 7-Minute frosting. A yummy kind of fun today!

The Last of Read-Aloud Week

Since we didn't have school at the end of last week, we finished up some books today. We must say that we all liked the ending of Snow Dog, which we finished on Saturday morning, and hope you'll read it sometime.

Abby and I need to finish some books for Gramma's Walk and we decided to start Storm in the Night today, too. And we started a new chapter book for history.

Abby's Birthday!

For Today (August 17, 2009)

Outside my window...
It's alternating between sun and showers. And it's supposed to be a bit cooler this week!

I am thankful for...
Carrie, who is a wonderful helper.

From the learning rooms....
Storm in the Night for Five in a Row - perfect weather for this book!
We're going to begin studying the art of William Bouguereau, listen to more Mozart, and read a few poems, too.

I am reading....
A Louis L'Amour book, with an Earn Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason) waiting in the wings.
Sorry, nothing profound.

I am hearing....
Emily sweeping the living room, Thomas, Carrie, and Anna playing Monopoly.

Around the house....
The washing machine repairman is supposed to show up tomorrow. Happy Day!

One of my favorite things....
My husband is right at the top of the list.

A few plans for the rest of the week....
Schoolwork. A wedding next weekend which involves several members of our family.

A picture I'm sharing....
Abby's birthday was Friday (she turned 7). This picture of the cake is only a teaser - I'll post the other pictures tomorrow.

Read Aloud Week, Day 3

Today's reading:

We read this today for Abby's history. It's new at our house and worth finding for yours - the text is a bouncy poem with pretty illustrations.

Go-along for The Door in the Wall


Go-alongs for Gramma's Walk

The chapters for Little House on the Prairie and Snow Dog were especially exciting today, too! But we're going to be very busy for the next couple of days and may have to finish our books next week.