tickle monster.

how cute is this?

my first 'review' isn't really a review at all. after perusing bn.com as i normally do, i came acrossthis little book and couldn't help but get excited! a tickle monster book complete with tickle gloves??? what could be better than that?! josie bisset's the author, and the illustrator is kevan j. atteberry ... he designed this guy for 'microsoft office help'—he's the office assistant ... you know, the super annoying one!

anyway, after telling my sister about it, of course, she informs me that it was just on 'the view' the other day, so it's not a new find by any means ... but it was new to me, and maybe to you, too! i will be checking it out (and most likely purchasing) on my next trip to the bookstore, and maybe 'hastings' has it cheaper!

if anyone has it already, let me know how it is!

here we go, people!

we are so VERY much a book-family in our house. the highlight of taylor's summer was getting her very first library card. and since, has spent countless hours browsing and checking out books. when she came home from her first day of kindergarten and i asked her what her favorite part was, she replied, "mom! they have a huge library, and it's JUST KID BOOKS!!!" ah, a girl after my own heart.

i'm always on the lookout for something new to read, and my absolutely, most favoritest thing to do in this whole wide world is find books that my kids (and everyone else's!) not just like, but L-O-V-E, LOVE. for me, there's nothing better. long before my own chitlin's came along, being on the front-end of the children's book publishing world, knowing what's being published before it's out, deciding what's good for what age group, what kids will love and learn from—it's always been my obsession.

with taylor being five, she's just starting to read on her own, and just starting to discover how many different kinds of books there really are. she's the kid that comes up to you while you're in the middle of doing something, with a stack of 20 books and wants you to read them ALL. she'll sit through every one ... don't even TRY skipping a page, she has most of them memorized.

and then there's brennan. my almost-one-year-old monster. he might not sit through every minute of a book, but i'm under the impression that there are lots of ways to enjoy books ... especially at that age! chewing on them (those board books are just so appetizing!), all the fun touch-and-feel books, bright colors, big letters, they soak all that stuff up ... even just a few minutes a day!

so, now to the actual point of my post ... i'm going to be reviewing children's books, at least one a day. pros, cons, how my kids react, how i react when reading them. if you like kids books, or have kids that like kids books, keep on checking back with me! i'll still have my respective random postings, but the blog will start to be salt-and-peppered with children's book reviews, avec moi.

if anyone has any requests or suggestions, feel free to comment! otherwise, i'm going to delve into my personal library and get going! there will lots of photos and fun stuff, too, so don't think it's just going to be me rambling on and on like this post is ... ok, i'm stopping now, i promise ... until later ... really, i'm stopping now.

forgive me, i promise i'm back!

december 28th and it's all over. christmas was amazing this year. carriage rides, giant christmas trees, around-the-clock baking, eloise at christmastime, holiday travel, and of course, santa! but alas, now it's time for the holiday decorations to be packed away. and i can't wait to have my living room back!

it feels like years since i've spent any time on the computer, and i can't say i hated it. it was nice giving my mac a rest ... i like to think it feels the same way.

in a quick effort to catch you up on what i've been doing, here's a re-cap, in color (in reverse order because I don't want to rearrange all the photos) ...

one of two riding, noisy, light-up toys for brennan. apparently, everyone but us got brennan's, "buy me noisy stuff!" memo ...

but not even toys compare to not being afraid of the christmas tree anymore ...

it's tough being a kid at christmas ...

i asked her to show me her new boots, she was too busy to stop what she was doing, so she did this instead ...

one of about 100 shots ...

"oooooh! shiny!" ...

my little monsters ...

nothing like being almost-one at christmas. the ribbons, and bows, and boxes are the best part!

lovin' her new jammies ...

yeah, i guess the toilet paper rack needed some work? i came in about five minutes later to him shredding it into teeny pieces ...

lounging around, watching eloise at christmastime ...

and being goofy in-between the funny parts ...

humongazoid christmas tree ...

carriage ride downtown. the white horse was her favorite, but the guy wouldn't let her stand next to him ...

on the ride. brennan's keeping an eye on the horse ... just incase.

waiting in the FREEZING cold in line, for two HOURS to go on a carriage ride on christmas eve ...

jumping around, trying to warm up ...

awww, sibling love ...

goofball ...

first time seeing bubbles. next time, i'll having someone else blowing bubbles while i'm trying to take pictures. too much to do for one person to get a decent shot!

neige.

in continuation of my festive perspective, i came across this lovely children & baby clothing company, neige (french for snow)! grosgrain is having a giveaway, so i went to check out what they had instock ... much to my enjoyment, they have adorable clothes! check it out!

such a cute little coat!

the full-length view of this dress is darling, with the matching cardigan? ... love it.
these girls just look too cute all dressed up together to pass up ...

snow white.

it's that time of year where my favorite color is everywhere! everywhere i go, i'm finding goody after decadent goody in that lovely winter white that i can only wish i had hanging in my closet. looking outside this morning to see snow on the ground didn't help my obsession any! here's a conglomeration of what i would love to be wearing today ...

winter white by JenDownard featuring Missoni accessories

Items in this set:
Jessica - Cami - Claire Pettibone - Boutique, $73
J.Crew - City-fit Super 150s glen plaid trouser, $275
Christian Louboutin Titi 120 Panama straw pumps, $725
Missoni Crochet-knit Lurex shawl, $665
Eugenia Kim Cate crochet beret, $175

serena's cookie exchange!

there's something wonderful about the holidays, and it involves ... butter. lots of it! oh, and sugar, too! these lovely little things are my dad's favorite. my grandma used to let me help cut them out and frost them before she packed em' up to take to my uncle's for christmas eve. make sure to double the batch, or you'll just end up making more later on. these flaky little morsels are impossible to refuse!

always start with a little something before you bake (grandma always did, i'm just following suit). this time, I chose a shot of Butterscotch Liquor ... a wonderful choice I might add.

swedish cremes.

ingredients:

cookies—

see steps below.

• 1 C butter

• 2 C flour

• 1/3 C cream

frosting—

mix together below ingredients with a hand mixer and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

• 1/4 C butter

• 3/4 C powdered sugar

• 1 egg yolk

step one—preheat oven to 350 degrees.

step two—cut butter and flour together, add cream and mix together until well blended.

step three—chill dough, roll out thin (1/8"-ish), and cut out with a biscuit cutter (or whatever cutout you'd like).

step four—prick holes in the top of each cookie with a fork to prevent bubbling and sprinkle with sanding sugar. bake 5-8 minutes.

step five—cool entirely on a wire rack, and put two cookies together with frosting in the center.

voila! swedish cremes á la Gooney.

puppies.

I have two children. And apparently, while I was under the impression that I only have one husband, this might not be entirely true ... according to my dog, at least.

We have two puppies at home, Kuma & Jessi. And both are crazy. I woke up this morning at about 2:30 a.m. and heard the baby crying. Luke got up to feed him, so naturally, I fell back asleep. I woke back up about an hour later thinking that my husband was lying next to me. Nope ... it was Kuma, the little guy pictured below. He's fairly new to sleeping in our room and unlike Jessi, he hasn't quite figured out the fact that the bed isn't actually his. And it seems that since Luke tends to fall asleep on Brennan's floor after feeding him in the middle of the night, Kuma thinks that means I'm lonely.

All the while, Jessi (see picture below), glares at him with her, "How dare you think you're more important than I am" stare, until I shove him off the bed with all my might—obviously, at 2:30 a.m., I don't have much brute strength. But the second I get him off the bed ... Jessi attempts to take his place. It's a vicious (and exhausting!) cycle.
Oh puppies, aren't they such fun? :) They're a lot like kids—it's a good thing they're cute or no one would have them!

taylor corinne.

you have your whole life to grow up. don't spend it hurrying up and waiting. that big world will be waiting as long as it takes you to get there, so make every minute count. laugh until your tummy hurts. cry until your eyes are dry. yell until your voice is gone. run as fast as you can. play as long as you can. dance like a crazy-person. sing at the top of your lungs. love even when you don't think you can. forgive for things you never thought you could. be nice ... especially when you don't want to. always say thank you. write every moment down. love yourself no matter what anyone else thinks.

anything you set your mind to, you can do. just make sure you enjoy the road to get there.

brrrrrr ...

So, the tree's finally up ... I'll post final result pictures of it in all its glory here in the next few days. But just getting the tree home turned out to be quite the event. Usually, we head out to Sandpoint, ID to chop down a tree out in the middle of the woods, but neither of us really wanted to haul the kids in the car this weekend .... soooo, we headed to good ol' Greenbluff to find a tree farm.

We ended up at Huckaba's Tree Farm, which looked like it would be the perfect place to find our tree. It was clear & sunny, Brennan was asleep, Taylor was ready to find her tree ... and then I opened the truck door to get this show on the road. I think my hair froze! And not only was it only 19 degrees outside, it was windy as all get out! We're talking hurricane-style winds. Like, on that movie, The Day After Tomorrow, where Jake Gyllenhall's stuck in the library watching everything freeze instantly around him ... it was JUST like that (or just how I imagined it would happen in real life).

, who says, "I'll go. You guys just stay here." Now, i'm not normally such a wuss (although Luke might disagree), but there was no way the kids (they're a good excuse) were going to make it 5 minutes outside in that weather. So, while the baby slept, and T and I took pictures of ourselves, Luke slaved away finding that perfect tree. He was such a good sport and didn't even comment when Taylor yelled at him that she was cold when he opened the truck door to get in. Poor guy.

All in all, we have a lovely tree, and Luke's fingers didn't even get frostbite—not that you can see anyway. :)

Look at that happy-camper.

Taylor kisses are the BEST.

Amazing what the truck heater can do for the morale after being out in 19 degree weather for 2.5 seconds.

Warning: Do not read if you're hungry!

Tomato Street is one of my family's favorite places to eat. They're amazingly kid-friendly (complete with butcher papered tables to color on, play-dough, and pasta necklaces for each kid!) and the food is A-MAZING. Not to mention, you don't get seated way in the back of the restaurant just because you walk in with anyone under the age of 12, (like another highly famous Italian restaurant chain located in CDA and up Downtown—with me, people?). But, the nearest Tomato Street to us is either Coeur d'Alene or way up North ... and I'm pretty lazy—especially when it involves packing up the family to go eat. So, instead, we've taken our favorite appetizer, La Carne Bolla's, and made our own! Here's the jiist of what they are: Homemade meatballs, mozzarella, and provolone cheese all rolled up in honey-sweetened pizza dough and baked. Served with Alfredo for dipping. Yeah, you're drooling now, aren't you? I am. It might be because I'm absolutely starving already, but really, these are SO good! And really easy! Step One—Make (or buy) meatballs with Italian Seasoning, garlic, onion, pepper, and any other spices you might want to add. Step Two—Buy (or make) pizza dough. The kind in the tubes by Pillsbury™ work perfectly. Just knead in a teeny bit of honey (optional, but it makes them taste oh so yummy), and roll out into a big rectangle about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut into as many 3" X 3" squares as you need. Please note: You may need 2 tubes of pizza dough depending on how many meatballs you have! Step Three—Grate a bunch of mozzarella or provolone cheese (or both and mix together) and sprinkle as much (or as little) as you'd like onto each square. Then, place a meatball on each one. Step Four—Roll up each square, and pinch any of the ends together so none of the meatballs are showing through. These can be as pretty, or as messy as you'd like ... but the more cheese you can keep inside the dough, the better! Step Five—Place onto one or two greased baking sheets, and brush with garlic olive oil—garlic optional, unless you're in my house! Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until each ball of dough is a lovely brownish-gold color. Step Six—When there's only about 10 minutes left on the oven timer, heat up a jar of Alfredo sauce (I guess if you were super-neato, you could make your own Alfredo ... but I'm not that neato) on the stove to dip the Bollas into! Enjoy! Please let me know if you love these as much as I do! You WILL be stuffed after eating these!