Favorite Children's Books

I co-hosted a baby shower this weekend.  In lieu of a greeting card, we asked the attendees to write a message to soon-to-be mom, dad and baby in the front cover of their favorite children's book. That got me thinking about a few of the favorites around this house, that we love to read, during our bedtime reading rituals.

 Have you read this one?  I feel like it flies

way under the radar, but it is such a fun

read, with a great message about being humble.

 It is sooo good!

This has been a favorite of mine since I was a

little kid.  I remember going to a book store in

Minnesota to meet the author and illustrator,

and we still read the copy that was signed 

to me, as a kid. 

An honorable mention by this writing and illustrating 

duo is, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. I also have

the signed copy of this book from my 

childhood that we often pull out. 

I had never heard of this book or the author, until

we received a small stack of her books when Logi

was born.  This quickly became our favorite and we

still read our copy of this tattered little board book often. 

Honorable mention by this same author is Barnyard Dance. 

It is still a favorite to read allowed to the kids

(I dig deep and put a little twang in my voice when I read this one!)

This is such a fun and clever read!  This was

introduced into our reading rotation just last

year and it is absolutely a favorite! 

This is MY absolute favorite!  I learned to recite it

when Logi was just a few weeks old and it is still

one that I tell them when rocking them back to sleep in the night.

Our taped up board book shows just how much we love this one.

I am so thankful for the joy of books as the four of us pile into our 

bed every night to read.  It has been such fun, this last year to have 

Logi take on some of the reading aloud. Although, she still much prefers 

us to read to her at bedtime, so she can snuggle in with Benny.

Oh, and I can't sign off without a big, huge shout out to the Berenstain Bear books.

They are a forever favorite.  I remember sitting in my childhood bedroom, on the

phone with Zac (who was back in his childhood bedroom), before we got married,

going through our stacks or Berenstain Bears books, creating one pile of books without

doubles, for our future kids.  A week has not passed, since we had our kiddos, that 

hasn't included the adventures of this fun loving bear family!

xo.

The Tooth Fairy Paid a Visit!

 I said to Logi, 'smile big, so we can see your missing teeth'.

Benny wanted in on the action!

Rite of Passage up in here tonight.  The Tooth Fairy graced us with her presence.  We have been prepping for her arrival for nearly a month, during which time I have fielded some funny questions: Will she mind if I sleep with the light on? Do you think she will leave me a little money for the arcade?  Does she know I like the arcade?  Can we go to the arcade in that tiny town again?  Will she visit Benny when he is bigger?  Do you think she would want a snack? Is she real? (ugh, last question hit me in the gut, as she is 5 and I want her to believe in all things magical. Of course, some turd in Kindergarten mentioned the fallacy of said fairy...but I continue to just remind her that we have to believe in the magic).

We knew this visit was upon us, as she had a seperate procedure scheduled with the dentist today, and he had given her a solid month to get her two front, very wiggly, teeth out or he would pull them while he had her mouth good and numbed up for the other procedure.  Subsequently, I told her I would pay her half of what the dentist was going to charge, if she could get them out before she saw him again.  No takers.

So we walked out of the dentist's office, with my little Logi looking so very much like a big kid (a big kid playing the part of a jack-o-latern, even better)!

 She has been dreaming of this for months! Goodness, remember

when life was so simple?  Reminds me to be mindful of looking

forward to simple things in life with such exuberance! 

Oh and yes, she totally ate pizza after her bath so went to bed with

wet hair and a face covered in sauce.

She will be excited to wake to find that in the place of her two 

teeth there is a book, a 'hour glass' teeth brushing timer, and a 

small bag of coins (for the arcade, of course).

Please Time, I beg of you...SLOW DOWN!

xo

Papa's Forest

 Like a postcard, this is the drive into Papa's Forest!

We headed back to Minnesota last month to spend some precious
time with my in-laws. My most favorite day of the entire trip was spent
carefree up in the woods. Here are a few pictures I snapped of the
kiddos and Zac from that glorious day.

 Given the chance, Benny would spend all day on the

big tractor.  It truly is his happy place, even though

it is sitting idle in the barn.

Zac and I went for a long ride through the woods on the 4 wheelers.

It was so amazing.  It is always fun to go off and feel lost in the woods.

Then Zac took Logi for a ride.  She loved it until they saw a huge

animal (a bear-squirrel, as described by our 5 year old love) and 

was scared on any subsequent ride.  Zac still has zero clue what

animal they encountered, so it is safe to assume it was Harry.  

Yes, yes that Harry!

Off they went.  Seriously, this was the best day.  Our trip 

home to Minnesota was overshadowed with the sadness

of my father-in-laws battle with pancreatic cancer, but on this

day nothing seemed to matter but the wind in the trees and

the cold on our cheeks and of course, Harry!

Crispy 'Nests' with Grape 'Eggs'

I didn't even think of putting this on the blog, but when I told one of my besties about them she said, YOU HAVE TO BLOG THAT!  This tasty treat turned out cuter and tastier than I could have imagined, and were the perfect treat for little kindergarteners learning about birds! 

Here's what I did:

Simple, simple...follow any ol' recipe for rice crispy treats EXCEPT sub 1 cup of golden graham cereal and 1 cup pretzel sticks for 2 of the cups of rice cereal.  If you aren't making these into nests, transfer the mix to a buttered 9x13 pan and watch the bars quickly disappear.  If nests are on the agenda, use a large scoop to portion out the sticky mix onto parchment paper.  I then put a bit of coconut oil on a standard tablespoon and formed the nests.  Nests are organic matter, so remind yourself of that if a few look like they belong in the HOT MESS column.

 Little nests.  I transferred them to a lidded container for transport to kindergarten.
Sending the washed and dried grapes in a separatecontainer to be added at snack time. 

Of course these will be a perfect spring treat, to switch up for the old

chow mein bird nests we all devour around Easter time!  

Kid and Parent approved in taste and appearance, FYI!

xo.

The Okee Dokee Brothers in concert

Call me crazy, but we do not own the Frozen soundtrack.  We have seen the movie and can casually hum along, but we do not know the words (which has been a bit awkward at the birthday parties as of late!!).  This is because since the day I became a mom I have incorporated my music into my children's lives.  Yes, I did have the foresight to pull the plug on the Beastie Boys, once Logi turned 1...but they have grown up on the music genres I love most:  folk, bluegrass and reggae. 

A couple of years ago, I was very excited to receive some tunes from my friend from growing up.  Kid music.  But, the best kind of kid music I have ever heard!!! Oh-to the-Em to the-Gee!! That my friends would be The Okee Dokee Brothers!  A couple of dudes who grew up together out here in Colorado, but now reside in Minnesota (which of course would be reason enough for me to looove them!)  So, disc one has been our favorite for the last couple of years, it rarely leaves the car and it rarely turns off, even when the kids aren't with me (which of course means it is kid tested, mother approved, duh!).

Lucky us, The Okee Dokee Brothers played in Colorado last week, in support of their second album's release!  Here are a few snaps from my phone, of a lucky little afternoon for some of my favorite little kids:

 Jake, Logi and Benny!  These kids are

second generation friends, as I grew

up in Minnesota with Jake's daddy. 

 Logi is very timid in crowds, but quickly

warmed up to the celebration!

 They are seriously the sweetest little friends

Moving here and reconnecting with Jake's dad

has been one of the greatest blessings to our life

in Colorado, especially getting to watch these two 

sugars grow up together.

 Logi and Jake scooted up front (where

it appears Lo worked on finding her

sits bones).  The 'brother' to the right (Joe)

went to college at St. John's in Collegeville, which

of course I love because all of Logi and Benny's

uncles were Johnnies. The 'brother' on the left (Justin)

had a ridiculously infectious smile, and I would 

imagine he brings a whole lot of happiness to his

people.  I want him to move next door.

 Barefoot Boogie!

 This was our favorite song (an auctioneer bit), 

the kids were raising there hands to 'bid'. 

 

So thankful we got to enjoy this afternoon

with the kids and some ridiculously good 

tunes.  Check out their website and catch

a show, when they are in your area.

xo.