Pp is for Pink

I know this blog has been mostly for and about little boys.

I know that summer is nearing an end and I've haven't

finished all the alphabet picture book posts I had planned.

But I believe the birth of my very first granddaughter is

the perfect occasion to pause for a moment and

think pink!

Pink is the color of cotton candy . . . bubble gum . . .

and babies, especially little girls.

Pink represents sugar and spice and everything nice.

I happen to love pink popcorn, lemonade, grapefruit, salmon

and strawberry and Bear Lake Raspberry ice cream.

I don't care so much for spam which is Grandpa's favorite pink food.

Many flowers are pink-- even blossoms on some trees in spring.

When your mommys were little girls they ate a tiny

pink pill every morning to keep their teeth strong.

Once upon a time I lived in a pink mansion in the avenues.

I have a pink winter coat, pink raincoat, a pair of pink shoes,

and lots of cute pink stuff in my craft room.

You boys may not think you have anything pink,

but look at the littlest finger on each of your hands.

You have pinkies!

Celebrate the birth of your newest cousin

by reading "Pinkalicious" . . .

eating a pink cookie or cupcake . . .

watching a princess movie . . .

or Strawberry Shortcake cartoon . . .

and/or making a pretty pink page

in Chapter Pp of your alpha-book.

Welcome to the world Lindsay Lu!

Love, your tickled pink Grandma

Ee is for Elephant

This is a picture (or board) book about a colorful patchwork elephant named Elmer. Because he is no ordinary elephant, it is a story of being unique. Elmer the elephant inspired me to have the first ever coloring contest on this blog. Please color, paint and/or decorate your elephant in an extraordinary way and you could win a fabulous prize! All entries due by the end of August, okay?

Have an Eeeeenormously fun day!

Love, Grandma

Ll is for Letters

I love to look in the mailbox and find an envelope with my name on it. Lots of times it's just junk mail, but once upon a time I got letters from my Mom and Dad or little sisters while I was in college. And when I was even younger, I got letters from my Grandma Beal sometimes! Nowadays you probably don't get letters in the mail too often. So I decided to send you one! It may not be as exciting as the letters I liked to get. It may not be as cute as a storybook filled with little letters like this book. But the letter I'm sending you does have a couple end-of-summer projects inside. So don't forget to look in you mailbox in a day or two!

Have a Llllovely little day!
Love, Grandma

Uu is for Umbrella

The little girl in this wordless picture book has the right idea about the weather. She just uses her magic un-brella whenever she goes outside and the weather becomes whatever she wants . . . winter turns into spring then summer back into winter. My umbrella doesn't quite work this way, but if it did I would turn August into fall--my favorite season of all!

Have a Uuuunique day!

Love, Grandma

Rr is for Rain

I just love rainy days. Sometimes I wish we lived in Seattle where it rains 9 months of the year instead of here in a desert. Fortunately, we finally got some rain this weekend . . . complete with thunder and lightening. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the night when it was not nearly as enjoyable or cool as it would have been in the daytime. Oh well! You can imagine how fun a rainy day would be if you look at Peter Spier's wordless picture book called "Rain".

Have a Rrrrrip-roarin' rainless day!

Love, Grandma

Jj is for Jam

I just realized July is virtually over and I have lots of letters to go before summer ends . . . so I better get jumping.

"Jamberry" is a book about a boy and a rhyme-spouting bear romping through a world of berries. "What a jam jamboree!" they have. It makes me hungry for a jam sandwich so I think I'll go get a snack!

Have a Jjjjjolly good day!

Love, Grandma

Tt is for Truck

As you have probably heard, Brandt and Betsy have a new silver truck. We went to visit them last week and Eddy was very excited to have us go on a bumpy ride with them. It was bumpy all right, but also fun watching Eddy get so excited. And getting ice cream on the way home wasn't bad either. I'm sure Eddy would love to go on a bumpy ride with you, too, sometime. For now you can check out this book about noisy, very bump-inducing trucks. And you don't even need to go to the library if you don't want to. During July this story is available at Barnes and Noble's online storytime.

Have a Ttttterrific Tuesday!
Love, Grandma

Ii is for Ice Cream

Happy National Ice Cream Month! Before July slips entirely away have an "ice cream for every meal day"! Start with a scoop of ice cream in hot chocolate for breakfast . . . have a homemade ice cream sandwich for lunch. . . then make ice cream in a bag for dinner! At bedtime read a "cool" story like "Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star" or any sweet treat board books by Kevin Henkes.

Have an Iiiiiiice creamy day!

Love, Grandma

Pp is for Peas

The best way to eat peas is fresh from the garden. Pick a pod . . . pop it open and count the little peas inside . . . then pluck them one by one into your mouth. We just pulled up our pea patch because they stopped growing now that it's so hot.

However, there are much cuter peas to peruse in the picture book "LMNO Peas" by Keith Baker. It is an alphabet book featuring "pea"ple doing all kinds of jobs like "acrobats, artists, and astronauts in space, builders, bathers and bikers in a race". I think it is such a creative book, I'm putting it on my Christmas wish list.

Have a Ppppleasant day!

Love, Grandma

P.S. . . . How many puzzle pieces have you glued in your Alpha-Book so far this summer? Count them up and tell me so I know how many mid-summer prizes to send your way!

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

Nn is for No

Well, it's that hot boring time of summer when you might be hearing "no" alot if you are anywhere near as naughty as the David in this and other "David" books by David Shannon.

If you can't think of anything better to do today, why not make a mess--I mean, No Bake Cookies:
Put 3 cups sugar . . . 3 Tb. cocoa . . . 1/2 cup milk . . . and 1/2 cup butter in a pan. Bring to a boil for one minute. Remove the pan from heat. Stir in 3 cups oatmeal, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/3 cup peanut butter. Drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper. Allow to cool to set, then eat a few.

Have a Nnnnice (not naughty) day!

Love, Grandma

Mm is for Midnight

Grandpa and I just got back from our vacation to Alaska where we learned it really is the "Land of the Midnight Sun". We didn't see night for two weeks. One evening while we were still on the ship, we saw a sunset around 10 p.m. But even after the sun was all the way down, it wasn't very dark--more like a gray blue sky. Later when we headed north to the middle of Alaska, the sun set around 12:30 a.m. and rose again at 3:30 a.m. It was very weird to go to bed with the sun shining brightly outside. The first souvenir picture book I bought on this trip is about a little girl who gets to stay up as late as she wants playing under the midnight sun!

Mm is also for many other things we saw in Alaska like Mt. McKinley (the tallest mountain in North America) . . . a lumberjack show . . . a totem pole village . . . glaciers galore . . . whales, dolphins and sea otters swimming in the ocean . . . dog sled dogs . . . and a gold mine where we "panned" for gold and Grandpa found $24 worth of gold! We also saw eagles, snowshoe hares, caribou (which are wild reindeer) and two moose right beside the road in Denali National Park. So the next picture book I purchased was an Alaskan tale called "The Cabin That Moose Built".

One of our favorite parts of this vacation was eating seafood, mostly salmon, every single day! I especially liked seafood mac 'n cheese. So the last picture book I bought was "The Salmon Princess" which is an Alaskan version of the story of Cinderella. I don't know if any of these books are available at your local library, but you know where you can come if you would like to look at them.

Have a Mmmmarvelous Monday!

Love, Grandma