October Eve

 

Two of my siblings randomly called me while they and their spouses 

were on a drives to find autumn foliage and colors. I love it. 

We have some plans to do the same in October.

I'm grateful for the sentiments of the 1st picture.

Life is stressful and keeps throwing fastballs at us,

so to speak. But we are blessed and going to just keep

hitting them out of the ballpark!

September's author of the month

 Karma Wilson is a relatively new writer. She was born to a single mother who named her Karma, hoping  the name would bring her good luck. When Karma was a young mother taking her kids to the library, she decided she would like to contribute, and write children's books full of joy. She ended up a success at it, and her most beloved books to date are "The Bear Books", which we are very fond of.

In an interview she shared the following:

"My life is a series of lessons and moments that see me to the next lessons and moments. Some moments are sweet, some scary, some a blur gone too fast and forever missed. I write for children because all of these steps started there, in childhood, and that sense of wonder, keen curiosity, and the ability to see things much kinder and more magical than they actually were, fades as time passes and years and experience claim your naivety. For me it is a feeling only rekindled when I am creating books, stories and poetry. 

It is always my desire to entertain children and encourage them to think about and explore their world, and the worlds beyond, embrace creativity, and love learning for the duration of their life. Knowledge comes through words, so for me literacy is the foundation of education, and it bears the fruit of intelligent and empathetic citizens of this world and humanity."

September Sunsets

 How can it be Friday again already? I have more things I want to blog about, and hope to this weekend, in spite of the busy line up I have already. But that's ok, if I get even one thing done it will be a success.  One evening this week I stopped for half an hour to "smell the roses", or in this case, watch the sunset. It reminded me of all the good things.

A Little More Snoopy to get me going

 

Happy Friday!

 I am 80% done with my work week this morning! Here some stuff to get me through the day, and to enjoy that Friday feeling! And, to go with my hopes of taking a walk in my beloved, hardly ever go there anymore, Pacifica. Hang in there everyone, no matter what your Friday looks like!

Our Grandsons's Baptisms

 We have been blessed with so many special occasions in the last few months, including that of our grandsons, who after turning 8 years old, were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The fact that these cousins were baptized on the same day made it even all the more special. Their Dads had the honor of performing the baptisms, and everyone else in attendance helped in one way or another. 

Reggie/Grandpa Hanaike, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. This is what touches my heart the most. To have that "gift" as it is called, has certainly been priceless in my life. I feel comforted, inspired, and a million other positive things as I go through the joys and difficulties of life, with the Holy Ghost's companionship and influence.

Before the baptism we stopped at Deseret Book, to get some booklets, magazines, picture cards, or whatever seemed a nice treat for the boys. I also did some "impulsive Christmas shopping" which I in no way regret. We get to a Deseret Book about twice a year.

After the baptism there were treats and fun at the Dobbins house, which was full of family and friends.

I am so grateful to be able to look back on this special moment, and I hope the boys will always remember it. (I will be sure to remind them of this special day by accessing this blog post throughout the years.)

August's Author of the Month

Mary Pope Osborne is a writer most famous for her children's book series "The Magic Tree House". She was 1 of 4 children in her military family, and grew up traveling the world. She has said that "Moving was never traumatic for me, but staying in one place was". As an adult she graduated college, travelled quite a bit and then held various jobs, including medical assistant, travel agent, drama teacher, bartender and assistant editor for a children's magazine. Combining her love of travel with this last job, she started writing The Magic Tree House book series. Each book takes brother and sister Jack & Annie Smith from their tree house to adventures and missions through various times and places from history.

Besides winning many awards for the series, she has also won many awards for her efforts at promoting children's literacy. In 2012 she created a free children's literacy program to instill a love of reading. She has donated hundreds of thousands of Magic Tree House books to "underserved" schools.

She and her husband of almost 50 years, and her sister, collaborate in some of the writings and projects.

I remember that my kids and now grandkids have really loved these books. But when I saw and climbed into our Dobbins' family backyard treehouse I just knew I needed to feature Mary Pope Osborne in this year long project. Here are some pictures I took from laying in their tree house.

Hurray for imagination! Hurray for writing!  Hurray for tree houses!

 

Catching up on monthly theme - July

 Even though I haven't been blogging about it lately, I have been keeping up with my monthly theme, which has been good for me. 

July's children's book author of the month was Kevin Henkes. From Wikipedia:

"Kevin Henkes is an American author of children's books. He is known for writing and illustrating picture books, the most notable of which feature young anthropomorphic mice as their main characters. Henkes also writes middle-grade books. As an illustrator he won the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon."

One reviewer described his work as "joyful picture books to engaging early chapter books". Another state that "He captures the emotional highs and lows of young readers". I agree.

I am mostly familiar with his "mouse" books, and I love them.  He tackles such subjects of navigating friendships and self confidence in Chester's Way, Chrysanthemum and Lily's Plastic Purse. When reading Lily's Plastic Purse I was pleasantly surprised at how funny it was, and the grandkids and I were certainly laughing, but also got the point of it all. 

Mariah's family got the prize for the month, pictured here. It actually has some additional information about Kevin Henkes inspiration, like how some of the characters and plots have been taken directly from his childhood. It also includes some statistics of how important reading to a child is for their growth and development. Next time I am at their house I'm going to take some notes on the things he says, cause I too think they are important.

Butterfly

Just when I thought I couldn't admire Dolly Parton anymore than I already do. 

One article said the following:

Dolly Parton never shows up halfway, and this time she swooped in beside Zac Brown Band to deliver a song that feels more like a lifeline than a duet.

 She takes Zac’s words about mending broken wings and turns them into a promise that healing is possible, even when your heart feels crushed under the weight of the world.

For Zac, the song started as a letter to his kids, a way of telling them that the world is rough but they’re tougher. 

family get together

 A few weeks ago we had an official family-get-together (of the Nancy & Reggie Hanaike family).  We planned out food, activities and where to sleep for the Saturday & Sunday before school started. As I watched everyone play and interact, it felt like a family reunion, because of the size, but not like a family reunion because there was none of the "getting to know you" aspect. Luckily there had been a lot of smaller visits to each others' houses all summer long, so everything and everyone was just so natural and familiar with each other. Some of the things we did:

Water Fight - Dads & Grandpa vs. everyone else. It was EPIC!

Water Slide - We learned that next time it should be on soft grass, and a bit of a hill. But they all had fun anyway

2 Trampolines  

Backyard Tree House -  This was my favorite thing! I was even able to climb the small ladder to get inside. I told the kids that next time I visit I am bringing a mattress and sleeping in there. I'm going to blog more about this later.

Games & prizes - the prizes were all in bags so you couldn't tell what you were getting when you were the winner, or when your name was just called out to pick a prize. It was funny to see some matching the person wonderfully, and some not at all. But the designated trading time at the end of the day (kind of like the "Pit's Open!" from the card game) left everyone feeling satisfied. 

A visit from a Magic-Zombie-Demon-Hunter - Yes, that is a Disney movie that is all the craze, from our 12 year old down to the 3 year old. In fact, Isla had spent a couple of days making a costume for herself of one of the main characters so that she could surprise her little cousins. They were so happy!

California Cousins Concert - 

Night Time Backyard Movie - 

A visit to the park before we all headed home