Are you ready for A to Z ???

The A to Z challenge starts on Sunday - are you ready? Are you participating? Are you aware of how it works?

Sunday April 1st will be "A" day - hundreds upon hundreds of bloggers will be posting the start of their alphabet. Including me, I guess, since I'm all signed up. Then each successive day will be the next letter, except for the rest of the Sundays in the month. We get Sunday's off after the first one. 26 days, 26 letters - soooo many possibilities.

For more information, click the A to Z icon on the left column of my blog and check out the official website and the list of fabulous bloggers who'll be participating this year! Should be a blast!

What will you be blogging about?

Looking for Great Children's Books?

Over at The Book Buff blogspot, I found a link to a list of the 100 best children's books of all time, according to Scholastic and Parent & Child magazine.

To see the list for yourself, go here:
http://www.scholastic.com/100books/

Some of these books I remember from my childhood, some I can remember reading to my own children ad infinitum. Who else knows the words to Green Eggs and Ham by heart? How about Goodnight Moon?

But it's not just books for small children - the list includes all kinds of wonderful books through the ages and through the years, from Goodnight Gorilla through the Hunger Games. Did your favorite make the list?

Check it out!

Underage Puppy Trying to Sneak into Dog Party...

Sorry, Louie, recognized you even with your disguise on. Besides, by the time you get here for Easter, the Dog Party will be over, the other visiting dogs all gone home again.

(Maybe next time, when you're older.)

Dog Party, a big Dog Party

So sorry I've been negligent with the blogging lately. There's just too much going on around the house and with the kids' activities... and now we're having a Dog Party through the first week of April. So there are no quiet moments in my house.
 
We have a few extra dogs staying with us for a few weeks while their owners are away. And everyone has decided that my daughter's bed is THE place to be. Luckily, the Big Puppy decided it was too crowded for her to join, or the Pug might have gotten smooshed. Or my daughter, for that matter.

Which is good, as it allows me to work at the computer for an hour at a time while they all nap. It's almost like having babies in the house again, the way someone is always needing something. But then you look at how cute they are, and how could you get mad at that face?

Hope everyone's having a restful weekend.

Puppy Says...Happy Saint Patricks Day!

...so what are your plans for the Holiday Weekend? Puppy plans to sneak off into a corner and shred this tie as soon as she possibly can...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all !

Happy 100th Birthday Week to Girl Scout USA!

( You can never have too much cake to celebrate a 100th birthday!)

Girl Scout Cookie Time is Almost Over!

Have you purchased Girl Scout cookies this season? I know that it varies from state to state and council to council, but Cookie Time on Cape Cod is drawing to a close. My Cadette troop's final cookie booth is tomorrow!

*Yea*

Don't get me wrong, it's been a good cookie season. Everyone turned in their money on time. We haven't had any bad experiences at our cookie booths - in general, people are friendly when the girls talk to them, even if they are saying no to the cookies.

I'm just tired of it. After seven years of playing cookie mom (okay, six, as I did have that one year when I wasn't in charge) I'm ready for it to be over. I wrote an article about the role of Cookie Mom in the current Winter Issue of CapeWomenOnline magazine (read my story here.)

But... I keep signing up. I promised my daughter I'd stick with scouts as long as she wants to be a Girl Scout. She's learning lots of positive values and skills, and having fun. Selling cookies is part of that - it helps build confidence, helps them learn to interact with adults, to make a business plan, to set goals, and to speak up and make their voices heard.

The cookies help pay for the crafts, and the badges, and the camping trips.  For example, I had to go to the Girl Scout shop the other day, to get all the badges and patches the girls have earned so far and what I know they'll earn by the end of the school year. Cookies paid for it all, but sometimes it's the leader who foots the bill. Or the parents.

The next time you walk past a Scout selling cookies, and think $4 is a lot for one box, remember all the positive things that one box of cookies can do. People spend $4 for their morning Starbucks, which is gone in 15 minutes. The cookies last longer (most of the time) and the lessons learned last a lifetime.