Our Ten Favorite Children's Books

If you know me or have been around here for a while, then you know that I love  to read. Being able to escape into a book is an amazing thing (a gift, even), and reading is one of those things that I truly believe everyone should learn to enjoy.

I have tried really, really hard over the past few years to make sure that my kids love books as much as I do. I got lucky, because my kids love books. Callum's favorite thing is to run into their room, grab a book off the bookshelf, bring it to me, and cuddle up with me while I read to him. Every night before bed, he and Elsie have to have at least two bedtime stories before they are satisfied.

Basically, we do a lot of reading in this house, so I thought I'd share some of our favorite children's books with you. 

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. This is Callum's all-time favorite book. I think, on an average day, we read it 5-6 times.

2. Harold's Purple Crayon Treasury by Crockett Johnson When Elsie was younger, we would read this book every day. She absolutely LOVES Harold and the purple crayon. This book is great because it is a compilation of five adventures.

3. I love you, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore I actually found this book at a garage sale when Elsie was a few months old. It quickly became one of our favorite stories, since I call my kids silly names like "Stinky Face" on a regular basis.

4. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss This is on the list because it's my favorite story to read to the kids. I get really into it - voices, actions, the whole shebang. It's like Cat in the Hat dinner theatre at our house when this book gets read.

5. A Treasury of Classic Stories I love that this book is full of classics like Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, and Black Beauty. These were stories that I loved when I was younger, and ones that every child should know.

6. Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein This is a silly, fun book that I picked up at Target a while back. Callum loves to read it with me.

7. Mr. Brown can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss Callum and Elsie both love this book! It's so fun to go through and make all of the sounds with Mr. Brown.

8. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein This is a classic story, and one that I think every child should have in their collection.

9. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault Elsie loves to read this book with me. Plus, it's great for helping kids learn their letters.

10. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney This was my absolute favorite book when I was little. I try to read it to my kids a couple times a week. 

What are your favorite children's books?

Family Activities in San Francisco - San Francisco Zoo

So. If you haven't figured it out yet, we moved this summer, and, as luck would have it, were dropped in the second most expensive city in the United States. The cost of living here near San Francisco is astronomical. Because of the cost of living, most families are either a) in a home where both parents work or b) on an extremely tight budget.

Now, I have also noticed that there are not a lot of families in the area (at least not compared to Utah and Nebraska), so family friendly activities in San Francisco are extremely hard to come by and generally pretty expensive (because everything in this city has to cost an arm and a leg). I have taken it upon myself to save some other poor unfortunate soul the time and effort involved in finding family (& budget!) friendly activities in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.

First on the list: The San Francisco Zoo. Let me start off by saying that I am a zoo snob. Seriously. I grew up with the Sedgwick County Zoo (ranked the 8th best zoo in the US by ranker.com) and then when I went to college, I lived near the Henry Doorley Zoo (ranked the 2nd best zoo in the US by ranker.com).

Photo by Elsie

Quite frankly, when compared with those two zoos, the SF Zoo sucks. Hardcore. But... my kids don't have very high standards when it comes to zoos, and, honestly, when you've got two toddlers, your main goal is to kill a good portion of your day, get kids out into fresh air, and enjoy the sound silence of two passed out kids on the drive home.

The animals are fine, although the zoo is missing a couple of my favorites (what kind of zoo doesn't have elephants?!). Hands down, the best part of this zoo is the children's play area. I would pay the membership fees just to get year-round access to this playground.

To get the best bang for your buck: Park on Sloat Blvd. - NOT in the zoo parking. It is a short walk and it saves you $10-$12 (depending on when you go). If you live close enough to the zoo that you will go more than 3 times, get a membership. A basic family membership is $130, and single admission for adults is $19. Kids 3 and under are free, but if you've got a 4-year-old, you're going to spend $13 on admission for them. The basic family membership gives 2 adults and 3 children complete access for a year. If your kids are young enough to be free, this membership pays for itself by the fourth visit. If you have three kids over the age of four, the membership pays for itself by the second visit.

Helpful hints:

-You can make your membership for you and a "guest." This way you can save your sanity and bring a mom friend and her kid(s) for free.

-Your membership gives you discounts at all the stores and cafes in the zoo

-Your membership gives you discounted admission to over 100 zoos and aquariums nationwide.

The verdict: The San Francisco Zoo is a fabulous family activity and worth your time if you live in the Bay Area. If you're just visiting, I'd skip it.

Anyway, now that I've talked about all the logistics, I'll share some pictures from my mommy-daughter date with Elsie. She asked to go to the zoo, and it was great to spend some one-on-one time with her.

Time Flies

And just like that - Christmas is over.

It seems like it was just a couple weeks ago that I was sitting in my living room, looking at the mess around me, wondering how another Christmas had gone by, and it was almost 2016. This year has totally flown by, and I am feeling totally blind sided by the fact that it's going to be 2017 in less than a week.

I could talk about all the ways 2016 kicked my butt, but instead let's focus on happy things like Christmas! My in-laws came out to California to celebrate with us, and it was so wonderful to spend a few days with them. I've also decided that the best thing about Christmas these days is having kids and watching them get SO EXCITED about every present!! And shout out to Esther, who made our matching family jammies!! We were in such a rush to get to church that we didn't get a picture of everyone together, but I'll work on that.

Wedgies = Weapons of Mass Destruction

UGH. Today. Let me start with where it all went wrong. Side note: Nikki, if you're reading this, HI! I can't reply to your comments and I feel bad about that! :)

The moment my alarm went off at 7:45 am (yes, my kids sleep in past 8:00... sleep training works, people).

I got up, got myself ready, and then went in to wake up my sleeping monster devil child daughter. At first, it was great - she got out of bed, happy to be starting her day. She was pumped and excited for school. But then I did a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad thing.

I made her put on pants. 
It started with a whine, "But mom, there's wedgies in my pants!!"

Fine. I did what any loving mother would do - I picked my kid's underwear out of her butt.

"THERE'S STILL WEDGIES!!! I HATE THESE PANTS!!! STUPID PANTS!!!" as she rips them off and throws them against the wall. 

Okay, okay - so I got her another pair of pants, and it was like the freakin' twilight zone as she started screaming AGAIN.

"THERE'S STILL WEDGIES!!! I HATE THESE PANTS!!! STUPID PANTS!!!"

I sighed, trying to keep my patience, and through gritted teeth in a not very nice voice, "It's not the pants, let's try a different pair of underwear, okay, sweetie?" In my mind I was thinking, Ohmyfreakinggosh I am going to kill someone. I wish I drank wine. Why are three-year-olds so damn crazy?!

We got her some new underwear and put her pants back on. Nope. Not happening. This time the screaming reached levels of epic proportions. Poor Callum was just sitting there watching everything go down, no doubt thinking, Women are psycho. Girls are psycho. I'm moving out as soon as I can wipe my own butt.

By this point, Elsie was lying on the floor of the bathroom, butt-naked, screaming something along the lines of "I JUST HATE WEDGIES, THEY ARE LITTLE MONSTERS IN MY UNDERWEAR MAKING MY BUTT ALL ITCHY. WEDGIES ARE SO DUMB, MY PANTS HAVE SO MANY WEDGIES! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!!"

I did what any mom would do at that point and stormed downstairs, got one of her Christmas presents, and threw it away (AKA the trunk of the car, not to be seen again until her birthday), all the while noting my every move in a very loud, "I just escaped from the psych ward" voice.

Let's just say that that certainly didn't help matters and, to put it nicely, s*** hit the fan and my kid went crazy. She proceeded to teepee the bathroom, throw all her clothes, and shriek like a banshee the whole time. That takes talent and dedication, you know.

Eventually everything got straightened out, my kid settled on a swimsuit for her day's wardrobe, and I decided two kids is more than enough.

Moral of the story: Wedgies ruin EVERYTHING.

A Day in the Life

I know, I know - it's been a long time since I've written anything, and then here I am with two posts in as many days.

We moved to California from Utah in July, and our stuff took over two weeks to get to us. While we were waiting on basically all our earthly belongings, I decided to do a photo series of a day in the life. If you enjoy taking photos at all, I highly recommend doing "a day in the life" once every few months. I look back on these pictures from July and feel like my kids have already grown and changed so much, and I feel the need to do this again soon.

There's nothing exquisite or extraordinary about our lives - most of the time we stay at home, play with toys and the dog, watch TV, nap, eat dinner, do baths, and go to bed. But those mundane, ordinary, everyday activities are what make up our lives right now, and I think they are important things to document. Because while all the fun vacations, day trips, and play dates are wonderful things to have memories of, it's also important to document the time and events scattered among them.

And if you don't feel comfortable documenting your own day, you can hire me to do so. I love lifestyle photography!

Bridal Veil Falls | An Easy "Hike" for the Kids

I was going to jump right in and say, "Happy Hump Day," but then I realized that it is, in fact, Thursday, and not Wednesday, and I didn't know if I should feel happy that the week is closer to being over, or sad that I didn't get to use my planned greeting.

Anyway. Let's just move on. Like I mentioned last week, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to get out and enjoy the great outdoors here in Utah. I've made it a goal to find as many easy hikes as possible so that I can wear the kids out early in the day so that they are ready for naps by about 2:00. I blogged about the Grotto Falls Trail last week, and thought I'd blog about another super easy hike this week. In fact, it's so easy I don't think you could even call it a hike - more like a stroll.

Bridal Veil Falls is located in Provo Canyon. The trail that I'll be discussing is the lower falls trail, and it is super easy for anyone and everyone - it is great for strollers, wheelchairs, crutches, runners, walkers, longboarders, skateboarders, roller bladers... you get the idea. It is a paved path that is about a half mile to the falls and back. We went up there Friday morning with a group of friends, and all the kids had so much fun throwing rocks, chasing each other, and looking at the ducks and fish.

If you're looking for a a beautiful view or just an easy way to kill an hour or so with your kids,  I highly recommend this walk!

Road Trippin' It

If you watched my vlog yesterday, you know that my photography business was doing pretty well right before we moved. Well, I'd booked quite a few weddings in Nebraska before we got the news that we were going to have to move. I had no intentions of leaving my brides high and dry without a photographer, so I've been making lots of trips back and forth to Nebraska from Utah, and I've loved it!

I've got a wedding tomorrow, so I decided to road trip 14 hours to Kansas with the kids and the dog to visit my parents for the few days surrounding the wedding (oh my gosh... reading that out loud just makes me sound like a crazy person) .

Anyway, here are some things that are a necessity when traveling with a newly potty trained 2-year-old, a 4-month-old who has recently developed separation anxiety, and a neurotic dog.

1. Snacks. Snacks of all shapes, sizes, and varieties are a must-have. Grapes? Check. Fruit Snacks? Check. Goldfish crackers? Check. Cheese sticks? Check. Have them within arm's reach at all times, because your toddler does not know what patience is or understand that you have to keep your eyes on the road.

2. A Potty Chair. When your kid is not 100% potty trained, it's so tempting to just toss it all out the window and strap on a diaper for the road trip. It's tempting, but it's probably not the best idea in the whole world. And you KNOW that kids will inevitably wait until you've passed the last rest stop for 40 miles when they suddenly decide that "OH MY GOSH, MOMMY I NEED TO PEEEEEE!!!!!!" Bring a potty chair with you, plop that thing on the side of the highway, and save yourself the time and effort involved in cleaning pee out of a car seat. Besides, dumping pee out on the side of the road is WAY better than smelling it for 14 hours.

3. An iPad. I try not to break out the iPad till things get bad, but holy cow, it is a lifesaver. I know, I know - screen time is soooo bad for your kids (<-- sarcasm. total sarcasm). But you know what's even worse for your kids? A mom having a break down. That's right. My sanity is more important than the fact that I'm going to have a zombified, tv addict for a child.

4. Headphones. When your kid is in the backseat screaming, singing "Let it Go" for the 50th time, or whining about who-knows-what, you will realize why headphones are a god-send.

5. Caffeine. Whether it's in the form of Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Green Tea, or a million cups of coffee, you need caffeine. Don't question it.

Have you ever been crazy enough to road trip with kids? What about when you road trip alone? What are your must-haves?