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I love these two picture books about artists: Michealangelo's Surprise , by Tony Parillo is a story about Michelangelo sculpting a snow sculpture in the Medici's courtyard during a snowstorm in 1494. We are past this date in our history lessons, however, I thought it was great because we recently had a nice little snow storm and we also enjoy "sculpting" snowmen. Handel and the Famous Sword Swallower of Halle, by Bryna Stevens and Ruth Tietjen Councell is a nice introduction to the life of George Frederick Handel. 1685, Handel's birthyear, is where we are in history lessons. The timing of this story is also nice since Handel's Messiah is a beautiful Christmas song, and 'tis the season.

One crisp morning early in November, the kids and I woke before the sun and headed down to the park where the beavers live. As we walked toward the lake, with eyes sharp on the water, I did not expect to see anything. But there in the middle of the lake a lump of something gently bobbed and moved off in the opposite direction. Apart from jumping in the lake, we couldn't get closer. We stood on the bank squinting in the half light, hoping beyond hope that something would happen to confirm that we were seeing  a beaver swimming. Nothing really did happen, the shape in the lake simply moved off out of sight. We were disappointed, the kids started asking for granola bars and "Can we play at the playground now?". I decided we needed to hike out to the dam sight, so we did. We saw this great blue heron and we inspected the dam. No beavers popped out and said "Good morning", so I let the kids go to the play ground. We saw lots of squirrels, and a few ducks on the lake...