Favorite Halloween Books

Happy Monday Friends! The weekend went by way too quickly as weekends often do but we are loving the 65 degree sunshine that welcomed us today! Even though the weather doesn't feel so much like fall, that hasn't stopped me from pulling out our Halloween books and filling Liam's shelves! I thought I'd pop on here today and share a few of our favorite Halloween books ...

L I T T L E   O W L ' S   N I G H T | about a darling little owl who stays up all night because he is just too excited to witness all the amazing things around him (Liam loves trying to find the little owl on every page too!)

W H E R E   I S   B A B Y ' S   P U M P K I N ? | a flap book to search for baby's pumpkin and find other fun Halloween things along the way like bats, ghosts, and even caramel apples

L I T T L E   B L U E   T R U C K ' S   H A L L O W E E N | little blue truck picks up his animal friends who are all dressed up in different costumes on his way to a Halloween party (This has been a favorite we added to our collection this year and Liam loves lifting all the flaps to discover what animal is under the costume. No matter what animal he finds, he says "MOOO" for every single one with his head thrown back and everything! haha)

H A P P Y   H A L L O W E E N   D A N I E L   T I G E R | Daniel Tiger and his friends dress up as their favorite characters for Halloween (Another new book we added this year based on Liam's obsession with Daniel Tiger. It is fun to see him recognize all the characters already in the story.)

H O O D W I N K E D | about a little witch who tries to find the perfect "creepiest" pet and ends up with one of the cutest after all, it's adorable

(These next two have been a little too long to keep Liam's interest so far this year but I still love them and hope he will in the future too ... )

R O O M   O N   T H E   B R O O M | a witch and her cat begin to lose things off their broomstick as the wind picks up and other animals come to their rescue to save the items that have fallen off but want a ride on the broomstick in return

H U G G L Y ' S   H A L L O W E E N | a hilarious little story about Huggly and his friends out trickor-treating on Halloween night (This was a favorite I would read to my elementary school kids when I taught third grade!)

 I T ' S   P U M P K I N   D A Y   M O U S E | Mouse decorates each of his 7 pumpkins with faces that have a different emotions (Liam's favorite part ... when a dog jumps out from behind the pumpkins and says "boo"! haha) 

W H E R E   T H E   W I L D   T H I N G S   A R E | not necessary a traditional Halloween book but Max does dress up like a wild thing so it felt fitting, not to mention it is a true childhood classic after all (I even planned Liam's first birthday party around it last year!)

I hope you find a few new ones from this list to add to your Halloween collection this year! We are always looking to add to ours so please share your Halloween favorites in the comments below! XO

5 tips for encouraging your toddler to love reading

I have always loved reading and from the time I found out I was pregnant with Liam, I couldn't wait to share that love with him. Up until now, Liam hasn't had any interest in sitting down and reading with me (He is 15 months). In fact, his only interest with books has been to knock them off the shelf and watch them crash to the floor. haha I know he is a busy little guy and it is hard to get any baby/toddler to sit still for more than 30 seconds at a time but that hasn't stopped me from encouraging him. After trying a few things over the last several weeks, I have some strategies that have been so helpful and have watched his love for books grow to the point that now he sits down and looks at them even when I am not right beside him! So I wanted to share a few tips I have found that have really helped instill a love of reading in my toddler.

| M A K E    I T    P A R T    O F    T H E I R    D A I L Y    R O U T I N E |

Try reading with your toddler every day at a similar time of day. Kids thrive off of routines and schedules and do well when they know what to expect. At first, I would plop him in my lap and grab a book to read together and within seconds he was already squirming out of my lap. Not right away but over time it became a part of his daily routine. Now whenever he wants to read a book with me he'll go grab one and almost pull me to the ground and plop himself in my lap. He does it with Nic too and it is our favorite!!

| P A I R    I T    W I T H    S N A C K S |

The way to my son's heart is through food, particularly of the fruit snack variety right now. haha I've started pairing reading time with snack time and he loves it! It seems like his snack keeps him busy and content enough that he is way more willing to sit down with me and read a book. I am loving the Annie's organic brand of fruit snacks by the way ... they are healthier than other brands and even better, they come in a big box at Costco! Who doesn't love a snack while they're reading?! ;)

| C H O O S E    B O O K S    T H E Y    L O V E |

There are about 5 books that are Liam's favorite right now and we read them over and over and OVER again. Do I sometimes get sick of them and want to read something new, yes. But, every time I try to pull something else off the shelf, he immediately notices and pushes it aside to reach for one of his favorites. I know there will come a day when he understands the plot of stories better and will then become interested in more books but until then, I will happily read him the ones he loves most.

| M A K E    T H E M    A C C E S S A B L E |

I know this one seems like common sense but for a while I only really kept books in Liam's room and I realized that we spend way more time together throughout the day in our living room than we do in his room so naturally there weren't any books around him. He would play with the toys in the toy basket that we keep in the living room instead. Realizing this, I designated the bottom shelf of our console shelves solely to some of his books. Now he goes over and pulls them off the shelf multiple times a day whereas the books in his room still don't get touched a lot. You can even go as far as putting a couple books in each room of your house so that your toddler always has book accessible to them. For right now, the living room is working well for us. Since Liam is a toddler, I only put board books on that particular shelf so that I don't have to worry about them getting ripped/eaten/destroyed if he looks at them on his own. haha I made the mistake of putting one paperback book on that shelf that he carted out of his room one day and that book is goner now! haha oops.

| C H O O S E    I N T E R A C T I V E    B O O K S |

Books have come a long way since I was a child. They have become so much more interactive now and I love it. For toddlers, choose books with touchy feely fabrics and patterns, things that slide, or flaps that open. Vtech also has some great interactive books that light up and make sounds! All 5 of Liam's favorite books right now fit into these categories. He loves a couple animal books where you can feel their hair/skin like October the Octopus. It even has a big flap to pull open at the end of the book when the Octopus sneezes into a tissue. haha It's cute! 

If you have a toddler at home who isn't showing much interest in reading, try a couple of these tips! I hope they are helpful. The biggest thing is simply just to keep trying. Like the first tip, make it a part of their daily routine. I'd love to hear how it is going so feel free to share in the comments below or share any other tips you have with me too! It's just as much a work in progress over here too! XO  

Liam's Library Faves {Boy Edition}

I'm back with a few favorites from our trips to the library over the last month and a half or so! A funny side note ... being the girl that I am, I am typically drawn to cute animal, fairy, princessy, just generally all around girly books and while Liam doesn't even really understand anything I am reading to him right now, I wanted to find some boy favorites. Monsters, trains, dinosaurs, sharks, silly humor, and the like totally scream BOY to me! These are some favorites for the boy or tomgirl in your life. ;)  

Where the Wild Things Are by: Maurice Sendak | A classic! My favorite and very popular quote from this book that I say to Liam all the time, "I'll eat you up, I love you so!"

Shark vs. Train by: Chris Barton | This book starts out with two little boys running to their toy box to pull out their favorite toy to battle it out with. One boy chooses a train and the other chooses a shark. The book then switches to the actual perspective of the shark and the train thinking they can out-do one another. A total boy edition!  

My Monster Mama Loves Me So by: Laura Leuck | A monster bedtime story where the little monster recognizes all the ways his momma shows him she loves him. I loved this one!

Interrupting Chicken by: David Ezra Stein | This one is a clever way of sharing a lot of favorite fairy tale stories through a dad chicken reading to his son. Little chicken interrupts during the problem in every story with an ending where he always saves the day! It drives the dad totally crazy until he finally suggests little chicken be the one to read the story to him instead. He does what dads do best during story time ... zzzzz ;) 

Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC by: Laura Leuck | Learning the ABC's with monster rhymes, what's not to love!

Never Take a Shark to the Dentist & Other Things Not to Do by: Judi Barrett | This one has hilarious pictures and is full of silly ideas!

Hope you found some new favorites to share with the little boy in your life! Happy Reading!  

Liam's Library Faves

As I mentioned HERE, we've been going on trips to the library at least once a week, if not twice, and it has been fun to find new books to read to Liam on a quiet afternoon or before he goes to bed in the evenings. We've already come across several of our new favorites that we love and I thought it would be fun to start sharing them here periodically. Here are just a few of our new favorites over the last few weeks ...

Oliver by: Birgitta Sir | This is such a sweet story about a boy who feels and acts different than everybody else until he meets someone (a girl) who is different too just like him.This would be the perfect book for a child who is having a hard time making friends or feeling out of place.

The Napping House by: Audrey Wood | This book is really similar to a book like Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess where it repeats a lot of the same phrases that continue to pile up throughout the story. It is about a bunch of tired people/animals who live in the same house and decide to take a nap piling on top of one another until someone wakes them up and chaos breaks loose. ;) Sound like your house after kids wake up? haha It sure sounds like mine and I only have one napper at the moment.

The Hiccupotamus by: Aaron Zenz | This book is so silly and fun! Definitely a challenging tongue twister type read with a play on made-up words with similar endings. It is about a hippo who is stuck with the hiccups and tries just about every way imaginable to get rid of them... don't we all! Those darn hiccups!

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by: Mo Willems | This comes from a series of books about this quirky pigeon who tries to convince the reader of something, in this case, that he REALLY wants a puppy. That is, until he actually sees one in person! It is a crack up for sure!

That's Not My Dinosaur by: Usborne | This one is PERFECT for Liam right now. We are reading a lot of board books with him since ya know, he tries to put every last page in his mouth. It also has different textures to touch on each page which is also perfect for him at the current stage he is in because he always wants to scratch everything Mr. tactile sensory overload. It also comes from a series of books that begin with "That's Not My...". There is a mermaid one that is adorable for little girls!! They all end with finding the dinosaur/mermaid/etc. that belongs to them.

Not Me! by: Nicola Killen | This book has the most adorable, creative pictures! It is a rhyming book with different children's names who make a big mess but always say that it was't them who did it. Again, does this sound like anyone's kids?! I would say mine, but he can't talk yet. However, it sounds exactly like all the students in my class whenever they did something naughty. "Oh it wasn't me Mrs. Williamson!" haha

The next time you head to your public library, you should definitely give some of these a try. You won't be sorry you did! :) We highly recommend them! I'm thinking next time it would be fun to share some "mommy favorites" along with ones I read to Liam because I love to check out books for myself and read too. Have you been reading any good books lately? I'm always looking for great ones to try so let me know in the comments below! 

Matched Trilogy {a book review}

One of my favorite things that summer brings is the time and opportunity to read. Any books that I get during the school year end up finding themselves a place on my shelf to collect dust until the first week of May is over. That was exactly what happened with this series. I got the first book on Christmas Eve and the other two for Valentine's Day.

A little bit about the book...

Just like every other sixteen year old in this society, Cassia and Xander attend a ceremony at the age of 16 that tells them who they have been matched with and eventually will marry. Growing up together as best friends, it comes as a pleasant and comfortable surprise when Cassia is matched with the boy next door, Xander. She leaves the ceremony feeling confident in her future until she gets home to view the micro card the society has given her about Xander. Believing she will learn nothing that she doesn't already know about him, the micro card opens with... "Cassia Reyes, you have been matched with... Ky Markham."
A different name.
A different boy.
Someone she doesn't know.
Someone who was never meant to be matched by the society.
And just like the things we can't have in life, he becomes someone she is completely drawn to. A love triangle that is full of secrets and adventure.

It never fails that when I read a book I love, I find myself lost in the story and entangled in the lives of the characters. This book was no exception and I found myself drawn to Cassia as a character for her love for people and discovering their life stories. If you have read and really liked The Hunger Games or The Uglies Series then you will have this series read in oh, 2 days like me. :) I missed being able to read for entertainment and not for falling asleep purposes for school. HA 

Oh sweet sweet summer time.

Are there any books that you have been loving lately? I am always open to new suggestions! Leave them in the comments below. :)

looking for a good read??

One of my favorite things about summer is finally being able to read for fun because it's something that I definitely don't have time for during the school year. {textbooks it is from September to May for me} Some of the best books I've ever read have been recommendations from other people so I thought I'd do the same and share with you my favs from this summer.

Moloka'i *****

This is a historical fiction story beginning in 1890 where new diseases, particularly leprosy were being carried to the Hawaiian islands from foreign travelers. Those who acquired this disease were exiled from their families to the island of Molokai where they lived together in isolation. The story focuses specifically on the life of a seven year old girl who shows signs of leprosy and is forced to leave her family to a whole new world where she learns a lot about love, life, and what it means to find happiness in your trials. Make sure to grab a tissue with this one. Hands down this book was my favorite this summer!

Heaven is for Real *** 

This is a true story about a pastor's son who is rushed into emergency surgery from appendicitis at three years old. Several months after he has recovered from the surgery he begins sharing with his parents bits and pieces about his journey to heaven during the surgery. Many of the stories that he shares are things he could have never known without his parents telling him. This book was very interesting and definitely a page turner for me. It left me thinking even after I finished it. 

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ****

As a future elementary teacher, I really wanted to read this book as it is one that many children are introduced to in school between fourth through sixth grade. It portrays the holocaust through the eyes of a young boy whose father is a German leader over a concentration camp. The boy discovers a fence only a few feet away from his home and makes a friend with another young boy on the other side, a Jewish boy in "striped pajamas". This was also another tear jerker for me but a very interesting perspective coming from the naive minds of children. 

Hidden Children Series ****

At first I didn't realize this was a series. I had heard of the title of one of the books in the series and began reading it while realizing that it left out information that must have happened before and ended with a cliff hanger. Clearly I should have checked the back of the book first, oops. haha Loved these books though. They are about a society where families are only allowed to have two children. If they have a third, they are forced to keep their child in hiding so that he/she isn't killed. These are short quick reads but definitely page turners. 

Like I said, I always love book suggestions so if you have any please share. They will just have to go right to the top of my "reading list" for next summer. :)