Serenity and Donovan's Christmas Book List

Grandma gave us some Christmas money, so we took it to Barnes and Noble to get some new books to add to our library!  We love going to the library every week for new books, but I just love adding new ones to our collection as well. =) 

Serenity told me she wanted a Fancy Nancy book, a new Backyardigans book, and an Elephant and Piggie book.  She pretty much stuck to that list, with a few additions.  We got Bonjour Butterfly, and since then we've been practicing our butterfly communication =)  She chose I Broke My Trunk from the Elephant and Piggie books, which was fun as we'd never read it, and it is hilarious as are all Mo Willems books.  I would buy all of his if I could afford it, they are so much fun to read!  We read the Elephant and Piggie books together, each taking different characters.  So funny!  We also got Knuffle Bunny Free, which was a little poignant to me, but just still a funny story for Serenity.  We had a Dora book, but when I told her she'd reached her limit and would have to switch out books if she wanted something else, she came across Dinosaurs Love Underpants and gave up Dora for that, which was a big surprise.  Another hilarious book!  We got Donovan a bath book.  I feel a little bad sometimes that we don't buy him much of anything, but we really have every baby toy I consider important and tons of board books.  Plus, he's still at the age where his favorite toy is the water bottle we filled with paper strips. 

It was an awesome shopping trip and an even better afternoon snuggling and reading together!  Or chewing, as Donovan wouldn't let us read the bath book to him without grabbing it to eat. =)  Turns out it squeaks!

Book Fair Recommendations

Serenity’s School had a book fair!  It’s the first one that I’ve been to since she’s been in school (although I sneaked in last year too).  I loved it!  I volunteered for a few hours and got to see all the kids wandering through and finding wonderful treasures.  The teachers had made wishlists, and it was nice to see what books or new series they recommended!  I came home with several great things, and a long list of books I want to check out from the library for Serenity, and myself!

Here are the books I couldn’t live without:

Pout Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark: This is the book Serenity specifically went to and chose.  It was at her eye level, which helps.  I think they must have read it in class because she greeted it like an old friend.  

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Ten on the Sled: This one is for Donovan for Christmas, possibly during our Advent Calendar Activities.  I must have read Ten in the Bed to Serenity a hundred times when she was his age.

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Gingerbread Girl goes Animal Crackers: This one is for Serenity during Advent.  I imagine we’ll make Gingerbread cookies or a house this day as well!

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

If You Give a Dog a Donut: Grandma got Serenity this one, and it was a huge hit.  She chose it for her bed book that night and I could hear her reading it over the monitor.  So cute!  And you know Grandma loves dog books. =)

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Ponyella: This was a cute story, Cinderella in horse form.  Serenity loves all the jumping the pony does!

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Duck and Cover: This was a recommendation from her teacher (I got one for the classroom too)  It was hilarious, and I want to check the whole series out from the library!

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Kid’s National Geographic Beginning Atlas: My Mom got me this one.  It really is for our whole family, Eric and I are nuts for atlases, and Serenity has started having an interest in maps thanks to Stack the States and possibly Dora.  We read the first entry on how to read maps, and she was so focused!  She read the map key and figured out what all the colors indicated in the sample map, like blue was for library, green for parks, and located them all on the map.  Eric and I were all geeked out =)

Source: amazon.com via Chrissie on Pinterest

Here are the books I didn’t buy because I don’t have unlimited space or money, but would love to read anyway!

For Serenity

Bailey

Dewey

Silverlicious

Hibernation Station

Yes Day

Olivia the Princess

Every Cowgirl needs a horse

5 Monkeys in the bed

Skippyjon Jones

Amelia Bedelia

Camilla the Cupcake Fairy

Sloppy Joe

Interrupting Chicken

Miss Smith Under the Ocean

Duck Soup series

For me:

Wonderstruck

Breadcrumbs

The books of elsewhere

Beautiful darkness

Witch/wizard James Patterson

*The pins go to my Amazon Associates link, so if you buy them from Amazon through that link I think I get something.  It's never happened so I'm not sure it works =)

Book Recommendations: Sandra Boynton!

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love Boynton books!  They are fun for kids and funny for adults too, and I can read them over and over without getting tired of them!!!  Our all time favorites are, of course, Barnyard Dance (see Serenity's Barnyard Dance Birthday Party) and Pajama Time.  She's got some new and great ones out though!  My amazon associates links seem to be broken, but here's a list of some from our last library outing and the newest one we bought:

Happy Hippo, Angry Duck:  I dare you to try and say Happy Hippo and Angry Duck without giggling, I haven't managed it yet.  I love that this book talks about moods and emotions, as I have a three year old now that has all of them =)  It's a great opportunity to talk about them, and as always, the book itself is adorable.

Little Pookie: She's got a whole series on Little Pookie, and the new one is so cute!  Serenity had me read it at least twenty times, and we only had it for two weeks from the library.  She can read them herself too, so she had it for a bed book too, and I could listen to her read it over the monitor.  Such fun! 

Where on earth did I go? =) And some great library books =)

I've fallen horribly behind on posting!!!  I've actually been working on several different craft projects, but I didn't stop in between to write about any of them yet.  Bad blogger.  I promise to get pictures up in the next few days or even hours if my baby continues to sleep =) 

We have several new book recommendations I can start with though!  We are still going to the library, although lately I've mostly been requesting books and just picking them up since our schedules have gotten much busier.  But here are our recent favorites (My daughter just turned three in case you're wondering what age these are good for.)

We just discovered that Mo Willems has a whole series of I Can Read level books, his Elephant and Piggie books.  They are hilarious!  We particularly like, "There is a Bird on Your Head!"  Serenity and her friend Henry took turns reading the Elephant, Piggie, and bird parts like they were in a play =)

Big,  Bigger, Biggest:  This book is completely awesome, spectacular, amazing =)  It's full of great vocabulary words to describe all sorts of animals.  So we've been walking around using words like enormous and lackadaisical and finding it hilarious =)

Pigs to The Rescue:  Another funny one!

Cha Cha Chimps: Dancing chimps, what more do I need to say?  It's a nice counting book with a fun happy rhythm and great pictures.

Press Here:  Not sure it can be described, must be experienced.  Just do whatever the book says and amazing things happen =)

What we're reading:

Well, this week Serenity is still loving her "I Love You" collection.  It has five stories, I Love You Because You're You, "I Love You, Too," "I Love You Stinky Face," I Love You Through and Through," and "Mama Loves You."  She wants to hear each and every story, and after nearly every page she says, "I love you Mama"  It's so snuggly and sweet to cuddle up in the reading chair with her and this book.  It's really long, and I've read it as many as five times through in one sitting!  I'm wondering if she's realized that picking long books extends story time...







We've also got a great new batch from the library, including "Knuffle Bunny," another by Mo Willems that is just hilarious.  Serenity thinks even the name is funny and often asks, "Mama say Knuffle Bunny!" and giggles.











We're also doing a LOT of reading at starfall.com.  It's just amazing, we hadn't been on there in a few months and Serenity has gone from reading random words in the Learn to Read section to reading whole stories in the I'm Reading area!  It's a blast, although getting her off the computer the last two days has been a serious challenge!

Our reading list

Serenity is two and a half :). In case you are wondering what age range our book selection is.

Books we read

Mouse Paint
She loved this book!  she loves colors, and it was good practice for color mixing, which we usually do with tub paints.  And when the cat can't find the mice on the white paper, she is always happy to help the cat find them. ;)

Go Train Go

Crack in the Track
These are both Thomas books, and we must have read them fifty times easily.  She has a bizarre love of Thomas, even though she has never seen the show.  She has picked the books frequently.  We have a generic train, but I may have to break down and get her a Thomas.  These books were good, a little long for two, but she obviously loved them. Nice rhythm.

1 Zany Zoo
Hilarious, and colorful.  Counting.

Llama Llama Misses Mama
We have checked out this series several times, and this is our favorite.  Especially useful now as we are considering school two days a week this fall.  Although I bet that will be more, Mama Mama Misses Llama than the reverse. :)

Biscuit Finds a Friend
We check out a BIscuit book nearly every week, usually the I Can Read versions.  She loves the "Woof Woofs!" It is fun to see her try to figure out the words on her own!

Well, those are a few of our recent favorites!  If you have any recommendations to add I would love to hear them!