What We're Reading

Hey Friends!  I'm excited to share all the good things we've been reading this month.  I didn't get as many books finished as I'd hoped, but I think that's because we've been playing outside, with friends and enjoying SUMMER.  So no complaints from me.

Hope you find something new to read :)

BLOGS:
Momfessionals had the best post about What's On Your Phone this month.  She shared all kinds of apps for herself and her kids that sounded amazing.  I downloaded a few right away!

I just recently started following Sumer's blog Grace, Giggles & Naptime.  I LOVED her recent post on making a Countdown to Preschool to get your kids excited about heading back to school.  I think I'll make one for us when we get a couple weeks away from school starting.

I've had these Individual Berry Cobblers on my mind all month!  We love cobbler and I can't wait to make them.

Super Healthy Kids shared a delicious recipe for Veggie Packed Chicken Tetrazini and it sounded so good!  My kids love pasta so I think they'd enjoy this if I chopped the veggies small.

I love peaches and lemonade so I know I'd really enjoy this Peach Lemonade

This will be my first year to start packing lunches for Olive for preK.  We picked up a Yumbox and I'm excited to pack all of her favorites for lunch.  I loved scrolling through this post on 125 Healthy Lunchboxes post for ideas of things to pack.

The college football season can't get here soon enough!  I'm ready to spend our weekends watching football, cheering for Notre Dame and making some delicious game day food.  I think I'll whip up some of my favorite Game Day Chili at the first hint of Fall.

I'm loving these clogs for late summer/Fall.  I think they'd be so cute with dresses or skinny jeans.  The wedge is a tad high on these BOC Helena's for my day to day so I'll be on the look out for something similar.  Do you have any great brown clogs to recommend to me?

BOOKS:

I just finished reading When Parenting Isn't Perfect by Jim Daly and it was so good! 

I don't read a ton of parenting books, but this one caught my eye.  My husband and I are both first borns and have perfectionist tendencies.  It's a struggle for both of us to go with the flow and not focus on everything being perfect.  Daly's words really spoke to my heart.  He reminds us that perfection is the enemy of parenting and laughing, talking and connecting with your kids is so important.  Parenting is messy and that's okay.  Embrace it.  He tells parents that kids just want us to be present and not perfect.  I loved how the book was sectioned off and appreciated the wisdom he shared about building relationships with your kids.  I appreciated his Biblical ties into his parenting theories.  He reminds us that we are God's children and we should take notes on how to treat our own children.  His focus on boundaries, showing grace to those you love and being there to support your kids no matter what really stood out to me.  Daly's kids are older than my young kids so it was great to hear him share wisdom he's learned through years of parenting.  I loved his real life stories to help drive home his points.  He addresses relevant parenting topics for kids of all ages and gives you lots to think about.  All parents should read this book!
*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review of it.

KID BOOKS:
We went to the library a couple of times this month, but not quite as often as usual.  Guess we were too busy playing.  We ended up enjoying our books a ton and weren't quite ready to return them after a week.  So here are our favorite kid books:

Mustache Baby - hilarious & can't wait to read the sequel
The Velveteen Rabbit & Little Red Hen - classics
Dinosaur Farm - funny twist on a farm story
Magic Opposites - fun, interactive book
Dear Bunny - sweet story of friendship between a girl and her bunny
Take Away the A - really creative alphabet book

I've also been itching to start reading a chapter book with Olive.  Parents, when did you start reading chapter books with your kids?  I am thinking we might do Charlotte's Web after seeing how much Olive loved the county fair this summer.

We read A Very Thankful Prayer by Bonnie Rickner Jensen this week and loved it!  It has such a sweet message for children to look around them for things to be thankful for.  The animal characters are adorable and the illustrations give you so much to talk about on each page.  I love the variety of animals and the variety of things to be thankful for.  It really gave my kids tons to think about when we talk about everything we are thankful for.  It's a great book for young kids and the rhyming text was fun to read aloud.  It's the perfect size and really helps kids notice everything around them.  We will be reading this book regularly and it'll come in handy when Thanksgiving comes for ideas of things to be thankful for.  I'd highly recommend this book to help teach children about being thankful for the big and little things in their lives.
*We were gifted this book in exchange for an honest review of it.

It's time to link up with my What I'm Reading Wednesday ladies!
Hop over to their blogs to see what they have been enjoying in the month of July.

Stephanie: http://www.wifemommyme.com/

Johannah: https://johannahsirois.blogspot.com/

Crystal: http://www.masonsmama.com/

Justine: http://www.littledoveblog.com/

Whitney: https://polka-dottyplace.blogspot.com/

Heather: http://www.myglitteryheart.com/

Keri: https://www.kerilynnsnyder.com/

An InLinkz Link-up