XYZ is for The End

 XYZ is the end of the alphabet and this is almost the end of the
Doodle Days of Summer because soon it will be the first day of
school for some of you including . . .

one little person who has an August Birthday and is Cute,

Daring, Eddy's little sister, Fun-loving, Granddaughter #1

and a Happy, Independent, Juicy, Kindergarten Kid

 and Loud, Little Lady who is also a Mother-hen, Nice,

Parker's big sister, and a Quilt-snuggling Rascal who is

 Sassy, Talks alot and has Unending Vim and Vigor and

Wonders when this list will ever end!

Before your back-to-school homework piles up, and 

before the Suitcase of Summer Surprises is totally empty,

maybe you could write one last list in your Doodle Book

of the ABCs of you!

Happy back-to-school all and . . .

Happy Belated Birthday Lindsay Lu!

Love, Grandma

Find a Christmas X, Y and Z

'Twas the night before Christmas
and all over the blog . . .
All the grandkids were reading
and drinking eggnog?

Okay, so I'm not as great a story poet as
Clement C. Moore. But if you read his
famous book tonight, you will find a Christmas "x"
near the very last page:
"But I heard him e_ _ _ _ _ _,
ere he drove out of sight,
Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night."
 

For a Christmas "y" sing this little song:
"_ _ _ better watch out;
_ _ _ better not cry;
Better not pout;

I'm telling _ _ _ why:

Santa Claus is comin' to town."

And last of all . . .
Once you are all snug in your bed with visions of
sugarplums dancing in your head, ask Mom

or Dad to put a sticker on the letter "Zzzzzzz".

Merry Christmas Eve!
Love, Grandma

Reading Y-Z's

Oh me, oh my . . . Why we're nearly at the end of the road

of the amazing summer reading racetrack.

Maybe you would like to read:

"You are Special" by Max Lucado

my "Yankee Doodle America" alphabet book

"The Year of the Book" by Andrea Cheng

"A Year with Friends" by John Seven

or "The ABC's of Yoga for Kids" by

Teresa Anne Power

Some zany "Z" titles:

"Zap! a Brief History of Television"

"Zap! I'm a Mind Reader"-- one title in a series called

"The Zack Files" by Dan Greenburg

"A Zeal of Zebras--an Alphabet of Collective Nouns"

"Zelda and Ivy"--two fabulous fox sisters

in a book by Laura McGee Kvasnosky

"Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin" by Lloyd Moss

"ZooZical" by Judy Sierra

and the zaniest of all:

"Z is for Moose" by Kelly Bingham

This may be the end of the alphabet . . .
but the actual reading race does not end until
the end of August. You all still have time to
win an amazing summer reading race trophy
(even if all you read is one book, Zach!)

Happy Summer Reading!
Love, Grandma

Halloween Yy

Yy is for yummy mummies and other

yummy yuck served at a mystery meal

one Halloween at my house!

Care for some more this year?

Happy October!

Love, Grandma

XYZ Question-of-the-Day

How many yummy summer reading words can you read?

Just wondering . . .

Happy end of the yummy summer of reading!
Love, Grandma

Disneyland Yy

You may not know this bad guy from the
Disney movie "Mulan", but his name is Y _ _.
I hope we don't see him at Disneyland--how about you?

Merry 1 day before Christmas!

I spy with my little eye
the last itty bitty bits of Christmas!

I was so _ X _ _ _ _ _
to finally finish this project full of x's
that I wanted to say hooray!

Santa will say Y_ _
if he sees a treat on your table
like this tonight.
 

And you better be saying Z _ _ _ _
before he comes!

Best wishes for sweet Christmas Eve dreams!
Love, Grandma



97. Make some yogurt dots to enjoy while you read about:

Yy is for yummy food on our cruise like:

Alaskan scrambler, artichoke souffle,

burgers and baguettes, crab appetizers,

croissants, danishes, quiches and tarts,

eggs benedict and fruit in every form,

gelato, ice cream cones and Irish lamb stew,

linguine with clams and lobster three ways,

a real French "pain au chocolat",

Maryland crab cakes and a mushroom tart,

pizza, prime rib, made-to-order omelets,

salmon, shrimp, and all sorts of seafood,

surf and turf and authentic British fish 'n chips,

sweet potato and shrimp bisque,veggie spring rolls

and way too much of everything!

Yellow Yarny "Y"

Why not go find your paper plate with an upper-case Y on the front of it and pull out the little baggie with a lower-case y inside while you're at it. Take the yellow yarn out of the baggie and glue it all over the paper plate Y. Yahoo! You're one step closer to completing your Alpha-bug! Celebrate by reading "You Are Special" by Max Lucado and eating something yummy. Maybe something yellow like a banana or corn on the cob or some lemonade would be yummy. Or maybe you would rather choose a favorite yummy treat from any past "fun food" posts.

Happy yellow yummy day to you!

Love, Grandma

Yy is for Year

WhY is a letter Y hanging by my calendar? I will tell you whY. When you wonder what day it is, you can look at the calendar. When 28-31 days have gone by, you can turn the page to see the name of the new month. When you turn the pages of the calendar 12 times, you have seen the whole year. Therefore the calendar represents the new year and Yy is for year--got it? Let me tell you more. . . Here is a poem about the whole year with a picture and book suggestion for each month . . .

January brings the snow

"Caps, Hats, Socks, and Mittens" by Louise Borden

illustrated by Lillian Hoban

is a book about all the wonderful things of all four seasons.

February--hearts aglow

"How Do You Say It Today, Jesse Bear?"

by Nancy White Carlstrom

illustrated by Bruce Degen

is the story of a little bear who has his own way

of saying a special message and celebrating every month of the year.

March roars in and then it's spring
"The Wind Blew"

by Pat Hutchins
tells a story in rhyming verse of the day

the wind blew, and blew, and blew until it seemed

like everything might be carried away

April showers make us sing
especially after looking at the great picture book

called "Peter Spier's Rain"

May makes flowers bloom and sway
My favorite four season book of all is called
"First Comes Spring"
by Anne Rockwell.
It is about another cute boy bear and everything
he and his family are busy doing each season.

June has Father's special day
"Bear Wants More"
by Karma Wilson and
illustrated by Jane Chapman
is about another bear who is so very hungry.
(Boy, I sure have a thing for bear books)

July has fireworks that blast!
"America: A Patriotic Primer"
by Lynne Cheney
illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
is the perfect book to read around America's birthday.
It is a combination of cute pictures,the alphabet,
and a simple history of the United States.

August comes and summer's past
It may be about this time of year you may
get bored with summer.
"Bored---Nothing To Do!"
by Peter Spier
tells about two brothers who seek an escape
from boredom by building an airplane!

In September--friends we meet
"Mouse's First Day of School"
by Lauren Thompson
with very cute simple illustrations
by Buket Erdogan
is another one of my favorite books!

In October "trick or treat!"

"Ten Trick-or-Treaters"

by Janet Schulman with bright,

bold illustrations by Linda Davick

is a Halloween counting book about

ten trick-or-treaters who are scared away, one by one.

In November--pumpkin pies
"Thanksgiving at the Tappletons'"
by Eileen Spinelli
illustrated by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
is the hilarious story of a family who have
one calamity after another while preparing
for Thanksgiving dinner.

In December Santa flies

"Bear Stays Up For Christmas"

by Karma Wilson

illustrated by Jane Chapman

is a cute Christmas story of Bear and his friends.

(Are you surprised I actually came up with a new

title after all those books I mentioned in December?)

Maybe sometime this year you can look for any or all of these books at the library . . . or you know where else! In the meantime, have fun guessing which pictures have your Mommy in her younger days in them.

Happy book reading

Love, Grandma

Yy is for Yule

"Yule" is another name for Christmas. You can read "Peter Spier's Christmas!" all by yourself because it has no words! His many pictures (from the beginning to the end of the Christmas season) are worth more than a thousand words. And just out of curiosity, are your "yule" alpha-trees looking anything like this?

Merry day before the day before you know what!

Love, Grandma

Yy is for Yellow

My favorite color is yellow.

Maybe it's because I grew up in a yellow house. Or maybe it's because I live in a yellow (on the inside) house now. Or maybe it's just because yellow is such a bright, cheery, warm, happy color. You can see great yellow things all year long like yellow daffodils in the spring . . . yellow sunshine in the summer . . . yellow sunflowers in September . . . yellow leaves on trees in the fall . . . and twinkly lights on houses and Christmas trees in winter. There are just as many yummy yellow things to eat like bananas, corn-on-the-cob, lemonade, lemonsnap cookies, and cheesy scrambled eggs. In fact, Eddy thinks the color yellow is "lemon". And don't forget all the everyday yellow things like pencils, school buses, the middle "caution" light on traffic signals, Big Bird, little rubber duckies, and my Kitchenaid mixer.

Celebrate the color yellow by wearing, eating,

and looking for yellow today.

Maybe you could also draw or find a yellow picture

to put in Chapter Yy of your Alpha-Book.

Happy (as Eddy would say) Lemon Day!

Love, Grandma

Yy is for Yes

Have you ever dreamed of a day

when your Mom or Dad would say

"Yes" to everything you asked?

You can read about just such a

day in this book by Amy Krouse

Rosenthal. Maybe then they will

be inspired to allow you one

"Yes Day" a year, too.

Hope you have a Yyyyyyes day soon!

Love, Grandma