Parenting, Picture Books, Reading

Jesse Bear – Our Favorite Books for Preschoolers

Things are pretty busy around here, and I have some great new releases to review for you soon, but I wanted to do a quick post about our current favorite books for the preschool picture book crowd. Check these out if you have little people in your life!

If Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is the show parents want their preschoolers watching, the Jesse Bear books are the books all parents should want their preschoolers reading. I didn’t know about these books when my oldest two were ages 2-4, but my three-year-old and I have recently fallen in love with them. Each book in the series follows a lovable little bear who is experiencing life and the world around him with a cheerful expression and an enthusiastic eagerness to learn. There’s an enjoyment in every day, normal life that’s contagious in these books.

Our favorite is Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? Jesse gets up and dressed and ready for his day, with rhyming words and pleasant illustrations that take readers through a day with Jesse until it’s time to get back into his pajamas. A close second favorite is Better Not Get Wet, Jesse Bear, which shows Jesse Bear bursting with longing to get wet as he goes through a summer day helping his mom and dad around the house until he finally gets to splash in his very own pool. In Guess Who’s Coming, Jesse Bear, the little bear learns to deal with an older cousin who he isn’t excited to spend time with at first, but soon learns big cousin Sarah isn’t so bad after all.

Every Jesse Bear book is perfectly illustrated by Bruce Degan (Jamberry) and will make you want to go hug a teddy bear and a toddler at the same time. There’s a Jesse Bear book about waiting for Christmas and one about counting, and several more we haven’t read it in this ten-book series.  I hope you and your little people enjoy the Jesse Bear books as much as we do! We’ll be grabbing a few more of these (and the new Fancy Nancy book!) the next time we go to the library.

Happy reading!

Everyday Life, Parenting

Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Kids (That They’ll Use All Year Long!)

In two days, Valentine’s Day will be here! Did it sneak up on you like it did me? I mean, wasn’t it just Christmas? I love this holiday, but it sort of presents a conundrum. It feels like we don’t need one solitary extra item around here, but the front shelves at every store are stuffed with giant pink unicorns and candy hearts as big as your kid’s head. Those sorts of gifts can absolutely say, “I love you!” loud and clear, but they can also give you a big headache…”Where are we going to put this thing?” or “how can I sneak away half of this candy without them knowing?” So! If you need some last minute ideas for what to give the kids in your life this Valentine’s Day, grab something both thrilling to kids and useful to them, too! (Yes, it is possible, trust me). Here are some ideas to replace all the stuffed minions and candy:

  1. Baking kits – Put together a little cookie dough and some fun cookie cutters and Voila, everyone is excited. Throw in an apron and it’s a gift that can be kept for years. Bonus: aprons are an easy way to use up bigger scraps of fabric if you happen to be a crafty person with remnants hanging around your crafting closet. (Props to Aunt Destiny for this classic at our house!)
  2. Card games – Old Maid,  Go Fish, or for older kids, a fun travel sized game could be a great gift. My oldest daughter (8) really loves the game Authors.
  3. A special mug that’s kid-sized and a packet of hot chocolate – Can anything say I love you every time you use it more than a mug picked especially for you? 
  4. Sticker books – For kids 3 or 4 and up, a sticker book can be hours of entertainment that’s screen free and no mess!
  5. Temporary tatoos – This is what my kids will be getting this Valentine’s Day from me! The metallic ones are especially fun, but be prepared to scrub them off with some coconut oil because they will stick around for weeks (ask me how I know…).
  6. Cups with lids and straws – We call these our smoothie cups. I grabbed them on whim for Valentine’s Day last year and the kids use them several times a week still!
  7. Play-doh or modelling clay
  8. Bubble bath
  9. Books – Obviously. Try your very best to pick something the child you love will actually enjoy reading…maybe not a gushy Valentine’s book? Not saying they’re bad! Just…you know…get something kids like to read, k? ; ) [Check out our favorites in this category here and here].
  10. Pajamas – Okay, okay, this has a reputation as being the classic underwhelming gift, but actually, my kids love receiving new pajamas.
  11. Rainy day gear – rain boots, umbrellas, a poncho – all great fun for rainy days of late winter and early spring!
  12. An invitation – Kids love time spent together more than anything else. Make an invitation for your kids to go get ice cream, go to a movie, or whatever fun thing would be special for you and them. Easy and maybe the best gift in this whole list.

Okay, now hurry, Valentine’s Day is in two days! I hope it’s full of warmth and joy for you and your children (and throw in a little candy, too…).

 

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Everyday Life

What’s Saving My Life, 2018 Edition

We’re halfway there! Halfway through winter, that is. How’s this season been for you? Where I live, it’s been the coldest winter in years and the flu has hit record numbers.  Joy. When I say, “Yay, we’re halfway through!” what I’m really thinking is “I cannot believe we’re only halfway through.” It’s been winter for forever. But! Whether or not the Groundhog sees his shadow today, we have a ways to go.

To get us through this often doldrum-ish time of year, we’re asking the question, “What’s Saving Your Life Right Now?” I’m once again linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy and other bloggers on this mid-winter day to share some of the little things that are making life easier or more enjoyable this winter. Join us in focusing on the good stuff!

  1. Grocery Pick-Up + Plan to Eat – Life. Saved. Weekly. I never thought I would be a mother who couldn’t stand taking her children grocery shopping with her. Oh, but I am that mother x 20. Now, I can simply make a meal plan on Plan To Eat and then put everything from my Plan to Eat list into a cart online at a grocery store (several stores do this but the closest one to us is Walmart), and someone else will get all the stuff for me! And check it out and put it in bags! All I have to do is show up and put it in my car. Yes, thank you. Sure, some mistakes are made, but heck, some mistakes are made when I do my own shopping. It’s a no-brainer for me right now. And my adoration for Plan To Eat could take up a whole post on its own. I have been using it for three years and I hope to never, ever stop. All my recipes are there, and all I have to do is drag them onto the calendar on the day I want to serve them. Then, Plan to Eat generates a shopping list. I loathed meal planning before I started using Plan to Eat. Now it’s not so bad!
  2. Homemade trail mix – Did anyone ever tell you before you had kids that they would be hungry ALL the time? Maybe people told me and I just didn’t understand, but now I do. Therefore, I’m always on the hunt for semi-healthy snacks. My two middle kids snack on their self-made trail mix almost daily. Maybe it’s such a hit because they get to put chocolate chips in it, and they aren’t allowed to have the chocolate chips without other additions. I guess it goes back to this:

Image result for everything is better with chocolate chips meme

But if you can’t have the chocolate chips without the raisins, well then, where I live, you eat the raisins, too.

Image result for illy coffee3. Illy Coffee – New favorite splurge! It’s so rich and delicious. And also pricey, compared to our usual Seattle’s Best/Elixer of Life, but sometimes I find it marked down at T.J. Maxx and then I try not to shriek with glee in the middle of the store.

4. Electric Mattress Pad – I love warmth so much, and hate cold equally. I told myself this is the year I would finally buy some flannel sheets and save myself from freezing cold cotton sheets, but my husband beat me to the punch and purchased this thing when it was on sale before Christmas. It’s heavenly. The only downside is getting out of bed fifteen times a night with little ones is extra difficult.

5. Google Keep– When I’m overwhelmed with tasks and things to remember, I go back to the Facebook Live video by Aimee Kolmansberger that made me realize my brain is meant for focusing and creating and not keeping all the things organized and at the forefront of my mind. A lot of times, the overwhelm will happen when I’m driving or in the middle of something else. Enter technology! I like Google Keep because I can open a note in the app, click the mic button and start telling the app everything I have to do. Then I can go back to it later on my computer or phone and make a plan of attack when I have time to do that. I also keep notes of funny things my kids say, stuff I need to put in Baby books (one day), or books to check out at the library. Another perk of Google Keep is my husband and I can share grocery lists and to-do lists and whatever other notes. It’s like a shared bulletin board that goes with us everywhere. I’m a fan!

6. Seashell wreath – When I look at this wreath above my desk, I remember that there is such a thing as summer, sand, waves and warmth. I’m transported to Oak Island, NC, our family’s vacation spot since I was a little girl. My mom made this wreath for me for Christmas from seashells she has gathered over the years, and it’s by far my favorite home decor in my house right now.

7. The Psalms – I decided to read a Psalm a day in 2018. Best decision of the year so far.

8. The Great British Baking Show – I don’t like to cook a whole lot, but I’m actually inspired by this show. It makes cooking/baking into something more than drudgery. Maybe it’s the English country side and the soft music, but all of a sudden, I kind of feel like an artist when I craft something for my family. I get new ideas and I also relax and watch a TV show, which is a novelty in and of itself! Last week I up and decided to make a homemade chicken pot pie because of this show, and it actually turned out beautifully.

9. Thriftbooks. Even better than The Book Depository! For all your old book needs (which are mammoth in my life).

So those are the small things saving my life this winter! And all of the things on my last winter’s list are definitely still in my daily mix of favorites as well. What’s on your list? I hope the rest of your winter is short and wonderful!