More Library Book Fun

The Reader


Wheels on the Go! by La Coccinella

Alton LOVES this book. He learned some new transportation items, and it is a book has very happy to sit and read to himself.

Big Words For Little People by Jaimie Lee Curtis and Illustrated by Laura Cornell
I was VERY pleasantly surpised by this book. I didn't think that Alton would be that into it, but since I myself have a pretty large volcabulary, I hope that Alton will too. He LOVED this book and asked for it over and over again. He can't say all of the words, but he still loves it anyway.




Home Run by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Mike Wimmer

I got this book for Alton to read with his Daddy. They both loved this book. It's kinda like a two part book. They have beautiful illustrations and a short little story on each page (whoot for easy bed time reading). Then they have another blurb on the page (in a smaller font) that contains all of the sports nut trivia that Daddy liked to read on his own.





Alton has a new favorite Character.

Tip the Mouse Can't Sleep by Carol Ottolenghi and illustrated by MArco Campenella

I love love love the illustrations in this book. Did you know that in a mouse house a sink is made from spool of thread, a bottle cap, and a straw suspended by tooth floss? I didn't either. I love the colors and drawings in this book.

Tip and Alton are apparently on the same development path. Alton thought this book was hilarious and asked for it multiple times daily.





If we were going to buy another book right now, this would be it.

Jon Scieszka's Trucktown Truckery Rhymes
written by David Shannon, Illustrated by Loren Long and David Gordon

This book borrows on old Mother Goose nursery rhymes and relates them to transportation items. Easily Alton's favorite library book of all time. It is over 50 pages long and he repeatedly sat through the whole book. Love this one.

Grandma, if you are reading this, Alton wants this book. ;)

Trip to the Fire Station!

Alton and I joined MOMS club last week. Our first trip with them was to Fire Station 6 in Torrance.

Look how tiny my big boy looks next to the hook and ladder truck!

He had the best time climbing all over this thing!

Alton driving the front of the hook and ladder truck.

Alton was very excited about trying on the Firemen's gear. Here he is suiting up.

As you can see, Alton is not at all shy. He stood right next to Fireman Kubota the entire time and even held his helmet for him later.

Trying on the helmet while holding it for the fireman. He figured out how to turn on the head light after about 5 seconds of wearing the helmet.

It was all I could do to keep Alton from climbing up to the back of the hook and ladder fire truck. Finally they let the kids climb in. Alton was very eager and as soon as he sat down, he starting asking for a hat to wear. Fireman Kubota helped Alton find one for this picture. :)

Right after Alton climbed out of the back of the hook and ladder truck, they got a call, which effectively ended our trip to Fire Station 6. Thank you Torrance Fire Fighters, we had a great time!

Dan and Sarah's Wedding

This is an Alton picture free post, so if that's what you are here for, you can ignore this post. ;)

Travis and I traveled to Ramona for Dan Krans and Sarah Krans's (nee Label) wedding. Props to Sprint and Google maps app for Blackberry because we had a signal and map all the way there, even in the sticks were there were unpaved roads. Unpaved roads are not a friend to the tatas by the way. LOL

Traffic was awful though. We stopped on the freeway in about every city between San Onofre and Ramona because traffic was so bad. We got there just as Dan and Sarah were kissing as husband and wife for the first time.

It must have been a fancy occasion, Mama wore make-up! ;)

One of the best parts of any wedding is seeing old friends. Not that we don't see Brian, John, and Maggie, but we definitely see Maggie and John less since they moved back to Sacramento. Le Sigh. I just love candid photos, don't you?

John paid to dance with Dan during the money dance... of all the times to not have my camera on me! I got this shot just at the end. I think Maggie got a better one of them in more of a dancing position....

Look! Mama and Daddy all dressed up with somewhere to go! Darned flash though, we are all washed out looking. :(


This one is one of my favorites:

Jen Graham, Travis Graham, Dan Krans, Sarah Krans, Brian Anderson, Maggie Gedeon, and John Gedeon. Also known as The Cal Polys and their associates. The associates of course being the non-Cal Poly alum spouses.

I love weddings. Someone else needs to get married so we can go to one. It is the only time I can get Travis to dance with me. LOL Which is funny because he CAN ballroom dance and I am utterly hopeless. I am worse than someone with two left feet.

Thank you Dan and Sarah for a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Napping is very hard work

Library Book Finds

We have been enjoying story time at the local library for a couple of months now. There have been some wonderful books that we have read that we most likely would have never found if we were just buying them at the book store.

Toot and Puddle

Holly Hobbie (author)

This book is gorgeously illustrated. I think that is my favorite part of the book in fact. Alton really liked this one because he recognized some of the art and other things that are in the book from Little Einsteins. It's very sweet and I would read it again.

A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems (Hardcover)~ Deborah Ruddell (Author)
Joan Rankin (Illustrator)

This book is genuinely funny. Both Travis and I laughed out loud when reading it to Alton. He sat through the reading of the entire book, and he also enjoyed looking at all of the different pictures of animals. It also taught him about different animals not covered in your basic Boynton, like salamanders. My favorite poem was the one about the turkey.

The Squeaky, Creaky Bed (Hardcover)

Pat Thomson (Author)
Niki Daly (Illustrator)

This book was very funny too. It has a lot of repetition which is apparently good for pre-school aged kids. (It's been a while since my child development classes...) Anyway, my favorite part of this book is the grandfather. He is totally a hippy. He wears birkenstocks, drives a VW bus, and his hair is longer than Grandmas. Alton loved all of the animal noises in the book. :)

The Tickle Monster Is Coming! (Hardcover)~ James Otis Thach (Author)
David Barneda (Illustrator)

This is our favorite one I think. Needless to say there was lots of bedtime laughter and tickling going on when we had this book. I highly recommened this one, and we will most likely re-check this one out again.

Alton also loved The Secret Shortcut by Mark Teague and Matilda the Moocher by Diana Cain Bluthenthal

The Lap Puppy