Our Favorite Books

I'm linking up at Kelly's Korner again for "Show Us Your Life". Today's theme is Favorite Kid Books.... we love books in this house, and I always make sure to give the girls a book on Christmas and Easter, and their birthdays. My mom is also good about buying them Halloween, Thanksgiving, or other holiday books! Needless to say, we have an overflowing bookshelf upstairs in the playroom, and both of the girls have books in their own bedroom.

We try to read to the girls every night before bed. DJ and I even read to Gretchen when I was pregnant with her! This is the very first book we bought when I found out I was pregnant with a girl and the book we would read to Gretchen.

I absolutely love this story, as it's all about two parent bears who wanted a baby, and how the baby grew inside, and then the baby came home. It's just such a sweet book.

Now that we are a little more busy with full time jobs, two kids, and our third on the way, reading is not something that happens every night, but it does happen most nights. I've started to get the girls on the couch before bedtime and the three of us read a book together, and then they go to their respective rooms, and we'll say prayers with each of them separately. 

Here are a few of our favorite books:

Ladybug Girl is about a brave little girl who thinks finds heroic things to do while her parents are busy in the house and her big brother is playing with a friend. I recently bought "Ladybug Girl at the Beach" for G~ she received it in her Easter basket~ but we haven't had a chance to read it.

Fancy Nancy is another one of my favorites. I don't think Nancy could be any more fabulous! She loves to be fancy and explore and loves dogs. We have several Fancy Nancy books and G received another one for Easter! 

I was first introduced to Fancy Nancy when I was pregnant with Gretchen. I received two of her books at a baby shower, and they were signed by the people who gave them to me. It was and still is one of my favorite baby shower gifts that we've received!

When I was pregnant with MC, I was given a Fancy Nancy baby shower because we were so in love with the books! 

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The next two books are fun for all ages, and I really like to read them to my therapy kids and to my girls.

We have several of the "If You Give a ________ a _______" books. I think "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" is the original book, and it's fun to let kids draw what they think would happen if they gave a mouse a cookie, and then serve cookies and milk as a snack! It also teaches cause and effect.

And, I can rave and rave about several Dr. Seuss books, but this classic is my favorite! It's great to read to your baby because of the rhyming sing-song pattern in the words and teaches your baby intonation of our speech. It's also easy for kids to memorize to feel like they are reading themselves, and it has several sight words and it's easy to predict what words will come next due to the rhyming and patterns.

And, if you're looking to expand on this book, there are a gazillion pins out there for you! 

I read this book every year to my speech kids as well, and plan an activity to go along with it. This year, I gave them a template of the Cat's hat, and we wrote vocabulary words on the lines and listened for the words in the book.

Thanks so much for stopping by my little nook!

I hope you've enjoyed a peek at some of our favorite books! Have you read any of these?

By: Unknown On 06.49

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Another day, another dollar

The girls must be getting used to waking up earlier, because they were both awake by 6:30 this morning! It kind of through my schedule off, but we were still out the door on time, and I was even on time to work for the 2nd day in a row! (My old principal would be proud of me.)

I was able to go through files and gather my IEPs today, hopefully by Friday I will have a loose schedule in place so I can start seeing kids next week.

After school, I went to see my Sooner Start (early intervention) kid. This family is just amazing, and the little boy is making so much progress! I love when I see kids imitate and say the simplest of words that we've been working weeks for! It's like hearing your child say their very first word, except I get to experience every time I see these kids! Today, the little one said "orange" and we have been working on this color word for months!

I picked up the girls after school and we ran to the bank and came home for dinner. The girls had hot dogs, pasta, and mandarin oranges, and G was begging for a slushy from Sonic, so we made our own at home. I used frozen strawberries, an orange, and apple juice for G. Then, I added a few more strawberries, juice, and two scoops of protein powder for my own dinner.

Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast: Protein drink
Snack: Chobani pineapple yogurt
Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, 2 slices of turkey, 1 slice of cheese
Dinner: Smoothie (above)

I'm hoping to get by the grocery store in the next few days, and a ton of fruit and veggies are going to be on my list!

I'm glad that this day is "over".... the girls are in bed, and DJs at a dinner tonight. Time to veg out and watch Dance Moms!

By: Unknown On 17.52

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Back To School, Day 5, and a Code!

Today was my first day at my new job. I think it will be an exciting year, but I'm also prepared that there may still be some additional changes. We started out the day with a district wide Speech Therapist meeting. I, of course, was running about 10 minutes late which is not a good way to start out a new job, but the babysitter was late, and thankfully, the room full of women completely understood!

The school district is wanting to make changes in their service delivery model, so that is what we discussed, as well as our building assignments. For right now, I'll be placed in one elementary school providing services to a preschool developmental delay class, which I think i'm going to love, and i'll also help out in two schools providing services to kids that do not have an IEP, but are receiving RTI services, (Response to Intervention) which is a fancy way of saying, the child needs help, but he/she may not be severe enough or long term enough to place on an IEP.

After the meeting, several of us went to lunch, and it never ceases to amaze me that SLPs love to talk! Of course, that's what our job is! Then, I went to one of the buildings to take a look around.

I found out that teachers have to arrive at 7:20 am! I think only through the grace of God will the girls and I be dressed and on time to school on Monday. And, my faith is kind of lacking in that area right now. But, hopefully, we will get used to it, or my principal will understand that i'm typically late to arrive.

Thankfully, we can leave by 2:50, which means I can start my Sooner Start kids around 3, and still get the girls by 4.

The girls stayed home with a babysitter today. G enjoyed having someone to play with, and out sitter said that MC has developed such a great personality! Unfortunately, MC woke up early from her nap, and was in a horribly fussy mood for about 45 minutes after waking up, so I just ordered a pizza for dinner!

The girls and I enjoyed playing for a bit in their play room, and I have started working on halloween hair bows.

Here's how I ate today:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, chia seeds, cheese, glass of milk
Snack: lots of water
Lunch: We went to Jason's Deli, and I ordered the Club on a croissant, but I only ate 1 out of 4 pieces of the croissant. I'm sure the SLPS though I was weird eating just the turkey, lettuce, and cheese! I also had a side of fruit.
Dinner: 2 slices of P.J. pizza. (I totally let that craving and lack of motivation to cook get the better of me).

We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow, and I'm seriously figuring out how I can not eat a piece of birthday cake. I love cake. Maybe I can share a piece with MC?

I'm taking the next two weeks off from my Facebook shop, in order to get accustomed to the new schedule and to work on Halloween and Thanksgiving bows! But, i'll still ship any ready-to-ship bows posted. And, just for reading this- take 10% off any of those RTS bows using the code BackToSchool!

Told you it would pay off to follow my blog!

By: Unknown On 17.47

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