12/8/11

My Kid's Favorite Books


Favorite Toys here.
Favorite Games here.
Teen Gift Ideas here.

It would be impossible to name every one of them, but if you are in for some Christmas gift ideas, these are a few of our tried and true, much loved books.  Quite a few of them are activity or drawing books...sometimes I think those are best for the stages kids go through when they don't really want to pick up a big old book at the end of a school day.

Andrew (12) really likes this book-it comes with all the equipment needed to make optical illusions. I have found these strung across my kitchen quite a few times.

We have owned many Klutz activity books over the years and they are my favorites!

Image result for crazy action contraptions



Image result for klutz cat's cradle
Cat's Cradle  (I loved that the kids really got into this one year because it brought back childhood, long bus-ride memories!

Image result for klutz paper fashions
Abbey LOVED this-we still have a book she made out of these in her scrapbook box.

My science/nature guy likes a subscription to National Geographic. (I do also!)  The Kids and Little Kids versions are excellent and they get SO excited when they find them in the mail box.

I don't think anyone is into Pokemon anymore, are they?  But my older kids loved them, and we had all the figures and cards so my two younger ones (12 & 7) are into them too.  Patrick found this at a school book fair and thought he had died and gone to heaven. It's big and thick and lists them all.

Another one of Patrick's favorites-he is my crazy sports guy.

Great photos-I bought this as much for my husband as for the kids.

Andrew (12) loves this.

There are quite a few of these "Who Would Win" books, and they are filled with neat facts about the animals. It's fun to hedge a bet till the end!  
I love the author's story here.

Andrew (12) LOVES these books, the whole series, and couldn't wait to buy the next one, then the next one, and then the next one.  I great way to teach history.

THE NEW ONE!!!
We pre-ordered this and when it came I had to settle an argument over who got to read it first.

Again, bought for the boys AND the husband.

Another subscription that the boys love, it always makes them happy to see it after school in the mail pile-it comes with little sports card to collect also.

I find these all over the house-this is a great activity for 10 and over.


ALL the kids loved this seek and find book (as you can tell from the tape.)  Janey has me read it to her every day (she has already memorized where everything is but still loves it.)  

 Someone always gets the new year's edition under the tree.
They are filled with amazing (and gross) things.

My mom got this for Andrew for his birthday and he loves it.  It's a super thick book that has pages with half drawn sketches that you can finish off.
  
 All my boys love this.  I found it on Andrew's floor one morning with about 10 airplanes laying around everywhere.  Apparently, when I thought he was snug in the bed for the night, he was up working away at aircraft.

 Matt and Andrew both love this book.  
A big book and very good with step by step easy to follow instructions for the 6-12 crowd.

 When you just can't eek a book out at bedtime, these are easy and fun.



 I love, love, love these books-there are three of them.  Manners Can Be Fun, How To Speak Politely and How To Behave and Why.  
These are all really well written.  My boys really like the sports guys. 

 Do you know about BOB books?  They are great for teaching reading, and building confidence.  I learned about them with my first (got them from the library) and then eventually bought them all.   They really helped each of my kids learn to read.  They start out really really slowly, with very simple pictures and lots of repetition and progress up per set.

 Matt had read and reread this series.  Abbey and Isaac have read them all also.

Matthew who is fourteen loved this series this year:
Beyonders The Complete Set: A World Without Heroes; Seeds of Rebellion; Chasing the Prophecy

Abbey LOVED the Beacon Street Girls.  Good wholesome tweenie reading.

The same with this collection-Catwings.

The Daring Book for Girls-filled with fun activities and facts.

Matthew, my science guy, loves this collection.
(Maybe I should read them and relearn what I never learned in any of these classes because I was too busy passing notes.)

I love the National Geographic series for kids.  ALL the books are great but these are our favorite so far.
Here are some more of our favorite National Geographic books:


National Geographic Kids Quiz Whiz: 1,000 Super Fun, Mind-bending, Totally Awesome Trivia Questions

This Star Wars book is SO worn out-it's been taped up quite a few times.  Patrick and Andrew love it.


They also love this one:

This year I started buying one hardcover picture book a month to freshen up my collection.   (My favorite ever is old Harry the Dirty Dog.)  On my blog's sidebar is a link to more of our favorites.

I think Santa might bring a few of these this year for Janey:

12/7/11

Ordinary Days

St. Nick came.  

This is what my TINY downstairs 1/2 bath looks like right now.  But I am so excited about it.  I picked out my tile and wallpaper in one day-I got so lucky because I adore them both-and spent hundreds less than I thought I'd have to. I will do a before and after post when it's completed.  By the way, we are not doing this work ourselves-just so you know-that would be scary.  And it would look just like that picture above for the next 20 years if that was the case.  Why did I start this project weeks before Christmas?  I ask myself that several times a day.

First snow flakes.

I let them.  


12/6/11

Easy Holiday Food and Busy Day Recipes

Food, food, food-my life seems to revolve around it, it seems, especially at this time of year.  Here are some simple recipes that make my life easier this holiday season.

If I need to bring an appetizer to a party, my feta dip is super easy and I know it will be gone in seconds.  (It is my most viewed post, no kidding.)  No oven, no bowls, no mixer, no stove top.  Here is the easy step by step recipe.

If I need to bring a dessert, I know Kitty's Brownies will be a huge hit.  I am telling you, these things are divine-and it's just brownie mix and 3 candy bars.  They are ooey and gooey and chocolately and taste like you slaved over them for hours.

Caramel corn or shortbread cookies are usually my old standbys if I want to bake a gift.


These pretzels are fun to make with kids and make a great snack.  My blog friend Sarah made them with her kids and they turned out prettier than mine ever do.  You can check them out here.

My favorite cut out cookies are from an old-fashioned recipe my mom used every Christmas when we were kids.  The recipe uses granulated brown sugar-they are sweet, but not too sweet, look like gingerbread, but not too gingery.  My kids love them. Here is the recipe for Butterscotch Rolled Cookies.
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I have talked about meal planning and how it really saves me time and money and my sanity also-more than ever this season.  Sometimes I just about hate doing it, but if I don't we will end up eating take out pizza every night.  Here is an example of my menu for the week-I just want to prove that it does NOT have to be fancy-I always think "meal planning" just sounds overwhelming. I use notebook paper and tape it up where I can see it every morning. Grilled cheese and soup one night-or pizza night on Saturday-no gourmet dinners or five course meals here.  (Lots of my recipes are here and I've been adding new ones every week.)