T Minus 48 days

No pressure or anything, but Christmas is quickly approaching.

48 days to be exact.

Me?  I'm -----1  1------ this close to being done.

I'm joining in my dear sweet, totally pythony friend, Mama M's new Christmas Meme.

I thought it was a great way to get new ideas,

and help some of my bloggy friends out in finding good ideas of their own.

The first week is Children's Books.

This is an awesome idea.

I love giving books over toys to kids.

I love getting books over toys for my kids!

Of course, my boys....love the toys.

I'm going to highlight three of our favorites.

#1.  Not a Box by Antionette Portis

This was a gift from the boys' Aunt Erin last year.

She's an elementary school teacher.

She gives the BEST kids gifts.

The bunny has a box.

And uses his (her?) imagination to turn the box into other things.

There's also some great positioning* words in there.

*(in, behind, on top of)

And some great language usage with questions and answers.

It's also easy enough for A. to read to C.

They love this book.

#2.  Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett

First off, Jan Brett books are a favorite of mine.

Illustrations galore.

Fun words.

The boys pick this book almost every night.

I could recite it by heart.

It's about a Tomten who always takes Henny's egg for his breakfast.

Henny wants babies, so Hedgie (the hedgehog) comes up with a plan to trick the Tomten.

When reading this book, you must make funny voices for the characters. 

The kids will laugh and laugh.

I promise.

***SPOILER ALERT: Conclusion below****

So, in the end, Henny lays her eggs, and Hedgie hides them so she has a chirping brood at the end of the book.

And the piece de resistance (said with french accent):

#3.  Dear Polar Bear by Barry Albett

I cannot tell you enough about how much we love this book.

Love it.

It's got geography, social studies, animal awareness, and tons of fun flaps.

It's about Polar Bear who is sad about his boring cold igloo.

He decides to write letters to his other bear friends around the world to be delivered by postman penguin.

Each bear receives a letter from Polar Bear that you get to pull up and read.

Then you get to read the return correspondence, and see what they sent Polar Bear to cheer him up.

It's fun to watch the igloo become a fun little abode.

****SPOILER ALERT: Conclusion Below*******

In the end, Polar Bear was sad that he hadn't heard anything from his Thank you notes, and then postman penguin delivers one last package.  Full of friends.

There you have it.  Our favorite books.

A few ideas with books:

1.  Book buddies.  My mom is a kindergarten teacher.  She does book buddies with the kids.  The idea is to sit down with a book and a stuffed animal that corresponds with the book.  For example, my nephew, Jaden, LOVES penguins at the zoo.  So, I got him a penguin book and a stuffed penguin for his birthday last year.  Going to the zoo is one of my favorite things to do with my nieces and nephews.  It was a great way to remember something neat about him.

2.  A. is getting to the age where he's looking for something more in his books.  He's looking at chapter books, and asking me to read them to him.  So, we're going to venture into the world of Flat Stanley this Christmas.  For those of you who don't know, Flat Stanley is a flat paper thin guy who travels all around the world via the postal service.  The idea is to mail Flat Stanley out and ask your friends and family to write a little thingy about his adventures and take a few pictures of him during his visit.  I'm going to make A. a bulletin board out of acoustic ceiling tile and wood with a map over top.  We'll mark where Stanley has been and keep a little scrapbook of all his adventures.  It will be a fun ongoing lesson in letter writing, geography and (most of all) patience.  I can't wait!