Garden Books for Kids {@ Or So She Says}

Happy Tuesday to you all!  We are finally experiencing some sunshine here in Utah.  It seems like the past few weeks have been nothing but cold, wind, clouds, and rain.  But that kind of weather just makes you appreciate the sunshine and warmth that much more!

Today I'm over at Or So She Says with a list of our favorite children's books for the garden.  Does summertime mean garden time at your house?  It sure does for us.  I look forward to it every year, and so do my boys.  I can't count the benefits of gardening together as a family.  They're countless!!  And I always love to build upon the activities we're doing with great books.  So, stop by and visit (click here to do so) to check out our list.

And just because I can't get enough of them, here's a few pictures of life in the garden.  Some of my most cherished memories comes from here!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Favorite Children's Authors Series {Mo Willems}

My husband and I had a rare quite evening at Target a few weekends ago, and while he was being very thorough on choosing a new shaver, I started roaming the book isles. 

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Since I haven't been a teacher for well over seven years, I feel a bit out of the children's book loop.  I used to know all of the new books that were out, and collected more than I probably needed.  I still try to keep my eye out for new books my boys would enjoy, but I'm not quite as current as I used to be.

Well, as always, thanks goodness for Target!  They had Mo Willems latest book (I didn't even know he had a new one out), The Pigeon Needs A Bath!  I had to pick it up and read the whole book right then and there.  The thing I love about Mo's books is that they make me laugh just as hard as my boys, and often times harder.  The pigeon is a crack up!  

My boys (and all of my first graders when I taught) first fell in love with Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus because it's so interactive.  The pigeon is trying to convince you, as the reader, to let him drive a bus that the bus driver specifically said the pigeon many not touch!  I can still hear my first graders yelling, "NO!" to the pigeon.

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From there Mo's followed up with several other Pigeon books such as:

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I love them all!  These books are definitely worth adding to your home library, or keep your eye out for them when you're at your local library.  They're also really easy to read, and because they'll want you to read the pigeon books to them over and over again, young readers will be able to read these books independently before you know it.  I still remember my twins "reading" (even if it's memorized it counts as the early developmental stages of reading) this book to their baby brother when they were only three.  Priceless!

Mo Willems has other books, but the pigeon is by far my favorite!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Favorite Children's Easter Books

I think I've shared my favorite children's books for every holiday except Easter.  I don't have a huge Easter book collection, but enough to read during the weeks leading up to the holiday.  Some are new, and some are old, but all definitely worth checking out and adding to your Easter traditions.

The Night Before Easter

The Easter Egg

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter, Little Critter

The Golden Egg Book

Ollie's Easter Eggs

The Best Easter Eggs Ever!

Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure

Easter Bunny's On His Way

You can click on the links to find a summary of each book, pricing, and reviews.  I do love them all, but if I had to choose favorites, I'd have to go with The Golden Egg Book (I love old school books!) and The East Egg (Jan Brett's illustrations make any book a treasure!).

And because I like round numbers, and the collage only had 9 squares, I have one more to share.

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These are some of our favorites to read at our house.  I hope you'll give them a try if you haven't already.  And please pass along any of your favorite Easter titles that way may be missing.  Reading is such a fun way to add to the holiday atmosphere in your home, and get a bit of educational time in as well!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Valentines for Goldilocks and the Three Bears

I'm over at Or So She Says today with one of my very, very favorite valentine traditions!  It's a simple story based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  I do it with my boys every year, and they don't ever seem to tire of it.

You read the story and cut out some hearts along the way.  At the end you have a great big valentine for Papa Bear, a medium-sized valentine for Mama Bear, and a small valentine for Baby Bear.   Click here to see my entire post.  I have a printable version of the story, and pictures of each step you'll need to do to cut out the hearts while reading the story. 

This would be the perfect little activity to do at a class valentine party, or just at home with your own kids. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Favorite Valentine Books For Kids

I'm a bit busy getting three guest posts put together (I never time them very well, somehow they always seem to come at once), so a short post here today, but a good one.  These are some of our favorite Valentine's Day books.  It's so fun to pull these out year after year, and still have my boys be excited to read them.  I'm always excited as well!

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We love all these books, but I have to say my four-year-old is obsessed with Fluffy's Valentine's Day (it's always a big hit with kids), and if you've never read a Pete the Cat book, you need to.  I love Pete!

What are your family's favorite Valentine's Day books?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.

Favorite Thanksgiving Books & Songs For Kids

I posted these books and songs last year, but I thought they were worth sharing again.  I love nothing more than curling up with my boys at the end of a day with a good holiday book! 

I found all of these books at Barnes and Noble.  You can click on each book to find more information and pricing.  You can also find the majority of these books from  Scholastic Book Clubs.  They always have great prices and fun holiday books.  Check your child's book orders if they bring them home from school.

(I'm not quite sure what happened to the poor "Plump and Perky Turkey" book.  It's a bit tiny- sorry.  Tiny, but with a huge price!  The listing price at Barnes and Noble is only $349.89!  What a deal!)

And here are three of our favorite songs for Thanksgiving.

  My twins are seven now, and at times I wonder if they've out grown the songs or find them a bit silly, but just last night I was singing "Five Fat Turkeys" (without even realizing it- my husband just loves it when I do things like that).  I guess I stopped before the song was over because one of my twins said, "Mom!  Aren't you going to finish the song?"  Yep, he still loves them!

Five Fat Turkeys

Five fat turkeys are we

We slept all night in a tree

When the cook came around

We couldn't be found 

And that's why we're here you see!

(Click here to listen to the tune.  The video is a bit crazy, but at least you can hear how the song goes.)

Turkey Dinner

(Sung to the tune of Frère Jacques)

Turkey dinner, turkey dinner

Gather round, gather round

Who will get the drumstick

Yummy, yummy yum-stick

All sit down, all sit down.

Cornbread muffins, chestnut stuffin'

Pumpkin pie, one foot high

All of us were thinner 

'Till we came to dinner

Me oh my, me oh my!

The Pilgrims and the Indians

The Pilgrims and the Indians
Had a pow-wow a long time ago.
The Pilgrims and the Indians
Felt like having a party and so,
The Pilgrims and the Indians
Cooked a turkey and Indian corn.
Sat down and ate together,
And that is how Thanksgiving was born!
(Amy at Sunlitpages has a link where you can listen to a bit of this song or purchase it on CD.  It is extremely catchy!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you found a little something worth your time.

Linking up to these parties & Savvy Southern Style.