Books we read before Katie's morning nap

The Napping House
Hey! Wake Up!
Doggies
Curious George's ABCs
The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!

The pigeon book is by Mo Willems, who I hope to meet when I attend the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators annual conference in less than two weeks. Mo is one of the keynote speakers and is conducting a workshop for writers. Elisa Primavera will be there, too. She wrote and illustrated another favorite -- Auntie Claus.

This site makes me happy

www.wherethehellismatt.com

Alice Cooper

Steve's maternal grandmother, Alice Cooper, 93, died Saturday in Dallas. She had lived here for more than four years, after moving from Upstate New York. We'll miss her terribly, but we're so thankful for the time we spent with her. Cooper was very fond of "Grandma Alice" and liked to talk to her about all kinds of things -- movies, books, school. The photo is from Christmas Eve 2005, when he's showing her a Star Wars sticker book and explaining all the characters.

Viewpoints debut (sort of)

I have a column on the Viewpoints (op-ed) page of The Dallas Morning News today. I've written hundreds of headlines and re-written a few columns for the page, but this is my first credited piece.

Cooper, my biggest fan next to Steve, was so excited to see my photo on the page this morning. "Mommy! You're famous! Everyone will want to meet you because you're in everyone's newspaper!" If only his enthusiasm for daily papers could stem the painful death of the industry.

Birthday cousins

Katie (June 20), Cooper (July 3), Molli (July 11), Brooke (July 15)

It wasn't on purpose, but my sister Melane and I spaced out our kids almost perfectly. Brooke was first, and Cooper was a year later. They have grown to be great friends. Three years later came Molli, Katie a year later. In less than one month, all four cousins celebrate a birthday.

Happy 4th!

It's a lazy day at the Damm house. We're recovering from a great weekend of houseguests and Cooper's fifth birthday party. Of course, there are dozens of photos, but I'm too tired to edit them now. This one is from Jim & Betty, taken after Cooper's party.