week thirty five.

 

"A picture of my kids once a week, every week in 2014."

Mabel: One morning when we had extra time before we had to leave for school and she wanted her nails painted. I love her little freckles.

Gus: A birds eye view of my favorite boy. 

sweetest reads.

 

Thanks for checking out my first post in my new series, sweetest reads.  Here's how this will go. Every so often I will introduce 3 books recommended by Mabel and Gus and of course myself and Sam. As I have said a  thousand times, we love to read and have done a lot of it. Reading can be boring and become easy to avoid for you and your kids when you read the same book over and over. If you make it a priority and mix it up I think you'll find that reading can be really enjoyable for the whole family.

Check it out below!
*I will always attach links where to buy or you can ask your local children's librarian if they carry the book. If they don't I know that librarians always love a good recommendation.


Olivia and the Fairy Princesses by Ian Falconer
This book comes recommended by Mabel. I actually love it as well. She is in full on princess obsessed mode and to be honest it can get a little annoying. I have to constantly remind her that you don't always have to be a princess or that pink and purple and sparkly are not the only colors you can like. I tried my hardest to shield her from our pretty princess culture and the idea that girls should only aspire to be cute or pretty but it's hard once the outside influences start seeping in. All the Olivia books are great for inspiring little girls to be intelligent, assertive, unique and a little sassy.

What can a Crane Pick Up? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Gus loves all things construction right now and this book is just that with a little bit of creative humor.

No Fits, Nilson! by Zachariah OHora
OK so lets be honest for a second. My kids throw fits. All the time. Full on crazy. Sometimes over absolutely nothing. I'm constantly found doing the threatening whisper yell or bribing them in the grocery store to keep them from losing it. This book has really great illustrations and is about a clever little girl and her imaginary friend helping one another to get through the day as smoothly as possible and keeping your eye on the prize.

Feel free to come back and let me know what you thought of this weeks books in the comments. Also if you have your own recommendations I'd love to hear!

Thanks again!

week thirty four.

 

 

Mabel: She loves horses so much. They have such a calming effect on her. 

Gus: This is right before he stuck his fingers in the chicken coop. "Mama that chicken bit me!"

week thirty three.

Mabel: She opted out of taking a nap and I found her in my bathroom wearing my clothes and applying makeup.

Gus: He was helping Sam clean the car and was having a lot of fun climbing over all the seats and checking himself out in the mirror. 

And a couple of the outtakes just because.

 

week thirty two. a new series.

 

I didn't get any pictures of the kids solo for this weeks portraits but I did manage to snap this one of them together during everyone's favorite part of our night time routine.

Our kids really love to read and its something that is really important to us as a family. Our days usually start with Gus runnning into our room quite early and throwing a book at us asking us to read. Mabel is quick to follow. I keep books in my diaper bag, the car, and all over our house.

Each night after dinner, bath, and pajamas we snuggle up in Mabel's bed and read three books. Mabel and Gus each choose one and then Sam or I choose the third. Needless to say we've read a lot of books over the last almost four years.

When picking children's books out I like to put extra effort into it especially since we read so often. There are several authors that we really love and can always count on. I love design and illustration so that's usually what pulls me in. And of course we choose books based on things that we as a family are interested in at the time like potty training and back to school or ballet and trucks. I love to buy children's books and we visit the library a couple of times a week to keep things fresh. We are also members of the Imagination Library which I highly recommend checking into for the children in your lives.

On that note I'd like to introduce a new series to my blog called sweetest reads coming soon! Each week I will introduce 3 books recommended by Mabel and Gus and of course myself and Sam. Hope you enjoy!

week thirty one. first day of preschool.

 

 

Mabel: Excited for her first day of school! Actually she doesn't look too happy here but I love this picture because I get these looks a lot from her. My 3 year old going on 16! I love her Sass.

Gus: Nothing better than painting outside in your underwear if you ask this guy. We've been spending a lot of time without pants as of late, if you know what I mean. He's doing so well using the potty and loves to pee off the deck or on the rocks outside of our house.  

Here are a couple more pictures from the first day of school. She actually was very excited. The night before she set her school shoes in front of the door so she could find them, requested that I make banana bread with chia seeds and without sugar for breakfast so she has energy for school, she picked her own special outfit,  and insisted on wearing her flower crown. She had a great first day and couldn't wait to go back. We love her little school! Poor Gus kept hoping we were joking about him not being able to go. He cried for awhile after drop off.

 

 

week thirty.

 

 

Mabel: A little pause during Wet and Wild Wednesday at the park to wave to her Mama. 

Gus: A quick break from a soccer game during a evening picnic at the teepee.