Christmas Book Box--25 Books of Christmas

Are you getting ready for some Holiday Reading?  I'm much more into cheesy Christmas movies than I am interested in reading Christmas themed books.  Mostly because I'd rather take my cheesiness in movies than in books.  However, now that I have a daughter, I love reading Christmas books with her.

So we have the Christmas Book Box with 25 days of Christmas books (27 this year, but I'll get to that soon!).  Last year was the first year we had this box.  My daughter was 1.5 and she had a great time with it, but really wanted to open all the books at the same time.  This year I'm really excited about it because she understands the idea of opening one at a time, plus we have more books than we did last year.

Bought the crate at Michael's and spray painted it red,
then added the writing.  The first line is her name,
which I don't share on this blog, so it has been blurred out.

Now I understand that you're probably thinking I'm crazy and that I'm buying her 25 new Christmas books every year.  No no no.  We didn't even buy 25 last year.  I bought three and inherited 16 others.  We only did 19 days and no one cares.  This year we had those same 19, plus I bought a few after Christmas and also my mom found a bunch at a yard sale or something.  In addition, I bought her some books on other holiday traditions so she can be exposed to more than just Christian based holidays.

So we ended up with quite a lot of books (more than I had anticipated) and I came home on Sunday from spending some time up at school working and my husband had wrapped them all up for me!  Of course he didn't know about the new ones I bought a month or so ago and so added those and realized that we had 27--not 25.  Oh well.  A few extra days is no big deal.  Then I found all those books my mom gave me last year and we just added those into our crate unwrapped.

The great thing about this is that at this point we are pretty set for the next few years with Christmas books and won't have to purchase any until she outgrows them.  Even then we'll keep the ones we love and add in a new one now and then.  They're become traditions that our daughter will look forward to reading and remember from year to year.  It's our own little advent calendar.

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Top Ten Board Books

My daughter will be two in a week and a half.  I can't believe that it's already time to celebrate her birthday.  So today I'll be counting down some of our favorite board books.  I've only included the board books that we own and that she asks to be read to her again and again.  There are others that I really like as well, but my daughter isn't as interested in those.

In no particular order:


1) Hello Ninja by ND Wilson  Illustrated by Forest Dickinson

This is a cute story about a ninja going to bed.  I enjoy reading it to my daughter in different voices and she likes to laugh at those voices.

2 and 3) Belly Button Book and Barnyard Stomp by Sandra Boynton

We love some Sandra Boynton here.  These are two of our favorites.  I'm not quite as much of a fan of the Belly Button Book, but my daughter laughs and points to her "bee-bo" when we read it.  I do like Barnyard Dance because it's great for learning animals and different movements like stomp and turn and slide.

4) Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney   Illustrated by Anita Jeram

This is such a sweet little book.  It's also a classic that I'm sure many people know of.  My daughter likes the bunnies.

5) Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown

Lots of moving here!  The different animals have different movements and sounds from their moves.  I read each animal in a different voice as well, trying to imitate what I think it would sound like with my voice.  My daughter loves it!

 6) Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees

This is the first book I read my daughter where she actually reacted to it.  We were reading to her from day one, but this is the first book where she started to smile at the pictures.  Plus, I loved this story of a giraffe who is tall and awkward and thinks he can't dance until he finds out that he just needs to find his own music.

7) That's Not My Monkey...by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells

My daughter loves interacting with this book.  Although at this point, I think she's a bit board with this book, you can tell by the binding that it was a favorite for quite awhile.

 8) Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry

Not only are there lots of sounds for little ones to emulate and help while reading, there is a great a story about being kind and helping others.

 9) Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

A great story for any time of the year.  A witch and the friends she picks up on her night who help out when she needs it most.

10) Five Little Monkeys Jumpin on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

My daughter likes to tell the monkeys "No jump bed! It's fun and cute.

Happy Easter!

Spring is here!  I hope everyone enjoys some warm, sunny Spring Time fun today!  We've already been out hunting for eggs left by the Easter Bunny.  

My daughter will be 2 soon and she loves to read.  Here are two books that the Easter Bunny left her.  We've read through both of them three times already today.

Although Hippos Go Berserk isn't exactly a "spring" book, we are BIG fans of Sandra Boynton!  I guess the Easter Bunny knew that. Lil' Miss has recently become a fan of Peter Rabbit.

What are some your favorite Spring-time books to read with your kids?