Every year for Christmas, Nathan has gotten a book box filled with some of our favorite books. We have so many books right now and love toreadthem all. I thought, since most of the people who read this blog are parents to kids around N's age, I'd share some of our favorite books!

1. Come Along Daisy
N LOVES this book! I think it is probably his favorite book right now. It is about a little duck who does not listen to her mommy and gets lost. It has just the right amount of suspence for a toddler!

2. Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Iza Trapini
This author is wonderful! She takes well known kids' songs and adds verses to them. This one is about a family of bears and their adventures on a river. I love the illustrations in this book!

3. The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
This is the book that actually inspired me to do this post. We read this book after making our gingerbread house and N was enthralled with it. The illustrations arebeautiful, as they are with all Jan Brett books.

4. One Bear, One Dog
N has loved this book since he was a baby. It has fun pictures for the little ones and a great rhyming story.

5. Animalia
This is a great ABC book and N loves to look at--well okay, I love to look at it. The illustrator of this book is a genius and we find new things everytime we open the book.

6. That's Not My...
Books. I like all of them in the series. We have That's Not My Santa, That's Not My Bear, That's Not My Dragon, and a few more. Nathan loves them for their bright colors and the fact that there is a different texture on each page.

7. Whose Nose, Whose Toes
Fun animal book where each page opens up to a big, full length page.

8. Baby Cakes
We read this a lot before we go to bed. Nathan has it pretty much memorized and we act out every page.

9. Colors: A Play With Me Book
Nathan has loved this book since he was old enough to understand the concept of a book. It has different beach creatures that you can take out of the book--which N liked to take out, put back in, take out, put back in, take out, put back in...you get the idea. So, its a fun book, while teaching colors! Somehow,though, our copy is missing!

And what book list is complete without...

10. Goodnight Moon
What can I say about this book, but that it is a classic!

If you have any other books that your kid loves, please share the title!

I haven't gotten to spend as much time with Nathan as we are both used to, so I thought it would be fun to have a little mommy/Nathan time by making a gingerbread house with lots of yummy candy. Of couse it took us about 3 days to actually be able to sit down and finally make it, but that's okay. It was well worth the wait! N had a blast while making it. No surprise that most of the candy didn't make it in the house, but rather in a little mouth. That's part of the fun, though!Towards the end, Emma had had enough of Daddy time and wanted to eat. So, Daddy had to take over the gingerbread house fun.

As it was getting closer to our turn, Garett brought Nathan back to the line and N started to panic! We just knew that we were going to have the classic crying kid with Santa picture--like last year. But, N took a deep breath, let me carry him over there and warmed right up to Santa. Of course it helped that Santa was super friendly. N and Ems sat in his lap and Nathan even told Santa what he wanted --trains. Santa sang them a Christmas song and gave N a candy cane. Emma even got into the Christmas spirit and gave Santa a huge smile.



I am so proud of both my kids! Operation Visit Santa=SUCCESS!!!

What a great day! We had a showing of our house this morning at 8, so I had to load both kids up in the car and be out pretty early. I actually enjoyed it--call me crazy! Ems fell asleep in her carseat and slept for two whole hours after we came home, giving Nathan and I lots of time together. I miss that special mommy/Nathan time we used to have and I know he does too.

Then, after Ems woke up, we took her Santa hat pictures. I have a picture of Nathan in this same hat when hewas just a few months old. It is seriously one of my favorite pictures! Here is Emma, and I will have to see if I can find N's picture on the other computer so we can compare!

I had to bribe him with his favorite thing in the world, chocolate, but I love this picture! My little baby looks so much like a big boy now! Don't you love his Christmas tie shirt? Found it on Esty--my new addiction!

I am loving his new haircut, too. He was such a little trooper at the salon! He didn't cry once, but he was quite disapointed. We went to a new place since our old place cut off his curls and that is unforgivable. Anyway, our old place used to blow bubbles while they cut his hair. So, he kept asking me and the lady where the bubbles are. When we told him that they didn't have bubbles, he says,"sucker?" which of course they had. So, he kept saying, "No bubbles, just suckers." the whole time. She told him that next time he comes back she will have bubbles. I love this kid!