Good Reads: Books & Blogs

I have some fun books to share with you today.  I'm not the kind of girl that reads a book a week, is super current with best sellers or devotes a ton of time to reading.  But I have read a handful of good books recently that I'm excited to share with you.  One of my goals is to start using my library more and buying less books.  I really only read books once so the library option is a good one for most books.  I've currently got The Best of Me, A Man Called Ove and Made to Crave checked out.

Best Books:
The Life Giving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming
By: Sally & Sarah Clarkson
This book was such a motivating book to read!  I loved that the authors were inspiring readers on every page to make their houses a home and to establish family traditions to cherish.  The mother and daughter authors shared unique perspectives on family life.  I loved going back and forth with each chapter to hear their different voiced on homemaking.  You get the perspective of homemaking from different generations and can easily figure out how those things would work right now for your family.  They address everything from holiday celebrations, seasons, raising children, biblical hospitality, welcoming people into your home and enjoying the outdoors.  I felt so encouraged, capable and ready to identify family norms and family traditions.  This book is so inspiring as a mom to be in charge of making our home our happy place.  My husband and I had some really fun conversations about our family and the norms we want to set in place as I was reading this book.  This book would be great for wives and moms who are seeking to establish and encourage their own households.

Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage
By Hugh Brewster
I've mentioned several times that I'm a huge fan of anything related to The Titanic.  I find the whole thing fascinating and just love learning about it.  I always have.  I've read many books, taught Titanic units to my students and been to the Titanic museum in Las Vegas.  A friend recently recommended this book and I loved it!  I learned new facts, learned new stories about passengers and for the first time, really felt like I could put myself in the shoes of the victims and survivors of this terrible tragedy.  There are tons of historical references, tons of famous personalities mentioned and just a lot of great details about the lives of various 1st, 2nd and 3rd class passengers.  There were interesting stories about roosters, fancy jewels, scandals and family drama.  I enjoyed learning more about the ship - church services, the fact that the ship was not full, missing binoculars and the elite lives of the rich and famous.  I loved finding out that the ship photographers last name was Fletcher.  Definitely would recommend this book if you enjoy The Titanic.

Best Kid Books:
We've been checking out library books almost weekly all Summer.  We found lots of new ones to love.  We even loved some enough to buy a copy for our home library.  Here are a few of our very favorites:

A Search-And-Find Alphabet of Alphabets
by Allan Sanders
This book is DARLING.  It's a wonderful way to practice letters, identify so many things on the themed pages and the books offers a great platform for discussion.  There is so much to talk about on every single page.  My kids (3 & 6) both LOVE this book.  They read it independently and we read it together.  The art work is so detailed and really interesting.  Each letter of the alphabet has its own theme and the pages are so much fun.  There's an illustrated alphabet on every page.  It's amazing!

Bear Came Along
By Richard T Morris
We added Bear Came Along to our library this year.  It's such a cute book about finding friends in unlikely places.  The animals all come together to have the best time on their river adventures.  The illustrations are amazing.  It's such a pretty book.  My kids love reading it and looking for the animals on every page. 

Unicorn Day
By Diana Murray
We love unicorns over here so it's no surprise that we'd enjoy a book called Unicorn Day.  The book is filled with everything magical - rainbows, unicorns, glitter and fairies - and teaches a great lesson about including others as you're making new friends.  The unicorns have so much fun together and then they realize that they'd have even more fun when the include all their friends.

We Don't Eat Our Classmates
By Ryan T Higgins
Kevin picked this book up for the kids last year and it's definitely one of our back to school favorites.  Penelope Rex has a lot to learn about making new friends in her classroom.  She shows us plenty of things not to do and how she slowly, but surely earns the trust of her new friends.  She's funny, silly and this book is sure to get lots of laughs as you learn about what it takes to be a good friend.

Best Blogs:

Carolina Charm's Hawaiian Ham Sliders Two Ways sound amazing

Andrea at Momfessionals shared these Reese's Cookies and I can't wait to make them!

Veronika shared some really fun DIY Sensory Kits.  I think my kids would love these.


My Amazon (*affiliate) links:

Good Reads: Several Must Own Books

I haven't done a good reads post since October which means I have a lot to catch you all up on!  Plenty of good books to recommend to you.

Let's start with BOOKS for Adults:

Make Something Good Today
By Erin & Ben Napier
I love the show HomeTown with Erin and Ben Napier.  It's set in a small town in Mississippi.  The show is so charming.  Every episode makes me miss living in the South.  I love their style on a budget and that they have built a creative team of their friends and neighbors in Laurel, MS.  I just knew I'd love their memoir.  I was right.  It is full of pictures, handwritten notes, stories and inspiration that will leave you wanting to make something beautiful.

Erin & Ben's life stories are very interesting, but their love story is the most compelling part of the book.  They are such a sweet couple.  They both take turns writing back and forth throughout the whole book.  They give lots of behind the scenes glimpses of their real life outside of the show and insider tips of what it's really like to film their show.  Their marriage is filled with tender moments, sweet traditions and the way they have built their business is admirable.  They are the kind of down to earth couple that you'd love to be best friends with.  They are new parents and their business is booming.  I'd highly recommend this book for some creative inspiration for anything you're interested in doing or for a sweet love story.

It's Not Supposed to Be This Way:
Finding unexpected strength when disappointments leave you shattered
By Lysa Terkeurst
I've read several of Lysa Terkeurst's books over the years so I am always curious when a new one comes out.  I was especially intrigued by this one because if you follow Lysa's life much you know that she has gone through a ton of hard things recently - healthy, family, marriage and more.  I hated to see her going through all that suffering.  As you read the pages of It's Not Supposed to Be This Way you'll feel all the emotions she felt during this hard season.  She wrote this book as she was navigating her own personal storms.  You can feel that raw, unfiltered vibe throughout the whole book.  You know that she knows what it's like to really struggle and she still finds a way to encourage others in the midst of it.

The book is written in a way that would be perfect for a Bible Study or small group.  There are statements to cling to, scripture to reference, reflection questions and prayers at the end of each chapter.  I would have enjoyed discussing this book with a group of women.  I'd highly recommend this book to anyone that has gone through hard times or is currently in the middle of them.  Lysa would be a good friend to all of them.

Illustrated Faith Bible Book Tabs
from Amazon
I am really excited about this set of Bible book tabs.  I think they're adorable, add some cute color to my Bible and my real excitement comes from the hope that they'll make my Bible more readable.  It took me about 30 minutes to put them on my Bible and they seem really durable.  They're a pretty reminder on my desk every day to open up my Bible.  I have always been a little embarrassed about not knowing exactly where every single book of the Bible is located and now I have no excuse.  Just use these cute tabs and get busy reading!  We're studying the book of Judges at church and I'm hoping to get into a good routine with my daily quiet time.

BOOKS for Kids:
I've been trying to read more adult books, but the truth is, I spend a ton of time reading children's books to my kids.  They love to sit and read.  We try to do official book club every day where the three of us each pick out a couple of books and then we read them together.  Olive has started asking to read a little so that's a fun development.  She's also memorized most of our board books so she will sit down with Fletcher and retell the stories she's heard so many times.  They both love it.

Super Pooper and Whizz Kid Potty Power!
By Eunice Moyle and Sabrina Moyle
I was skeptical about this book being an effective potty training aide, but I was WRONG.  My son (and fully potty trained daughter) LOVE it.  It's funny, clever and the illustrations are wonderful.  It's a really cute book with tons of potty references and explanations.  It is perfect for boys AND girls.  It shows both genders and addresses things for both kids unlike many potty training books.  The book addresses everything from bathroom routines, hand washing, accidents and big kid underwear.  You finish the book feeling like a potty superhero to your family when you've successfully gone to the bathroom.  It's really sweet and one I think we'll add to our home library since we are in the trenches of potty training.

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons
By Eric Litwin
Pete the Cat first won our heart with Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.  His lyrics are so catchy that everyone will be singing along.  He teaches colors in the white shoes book and then we're working on simple counting and subtraction in the four groovy buttons book.  It's great to read aloud and will make you love Pete the Cat even more than you already do. 

Fancy Nancy
By Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser
My five year old daughter loves Fancy Nancy.  She loves her french words, the new vocabulary she teaches and how everything Fancy Nancy touches turns fancy.  The illustrations are so detailed and over the top fancy.  Nancy has great ideas and big feelings.  Her stories are really relatable to the 5-7 year old girl audience.  They fun, funny and easy to read.  Good thing there are tons of them!

A Sick Day for Amos McGee
By Philip C Stead
I picked this book up in a Scholastic book order and saved it for a sick day.  It's such a sweet story about friendship and caring for others.  It's a Caldecott award winning book so it is no surprise that the illustrations are really charming.  There's tons to talk about on each page and each character has a personality of its own.  We have read this one again and again.





What are you reading right now??
I'd love to hear about it.

**This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through those links, Polka-Dotty Place will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.  Thanks so much for supporting my blog!

Favorite Halloween Pjs, Clothes, Decor & Books

Hey Friends!  Happy Friday.  Hope you've had a nice week.  Kevin's on Fall break today.  He's doing a big presentation this morning for psychologists in our area and then we're stealing him away to do something fun this afternoon.  Maybe apple picking if the weather cooperates.

The kids helped me decorate for Halloween this week.  I'm so glad that I made myself do it.  The house feels so festive and fun.  The kids were mostly helpful so I'm calling it a win.

// Halloween PAJAMAS //

Carters has the cutest Halloween pjs.  I love their coordinating sets for siblings.  They have them in so many different styles and fabrics.  I opted for night gown and two piece set for Fletcher.  They're running sales all the time so pay attention.  We don't have a Carters store in my city so I always order online.  Their sizes tend to run big.

I surprised the kids with new Halloween pjs last night along with some new Halloween books to kick off the holiday fun in October.  I intended to do it Oct. 1, but I forget and they don't really care if it's a fun surprise on Oct 1 or Oct 4 :)

Carter's Toddler Boys 2-Piece Halloween Pajamas (3T, Black)

// Halloween CLOTHES //
I picked up this dress for Olive last year after Halloween.  It's Cat and Jack from Target and I paid just a couple dollars for it.  Keep an eye out after the holidays so you can stock up on clearance things for your kids the following year.  Just make sure to write down what you buy to avoid buying duplicate items.

This jack-o-lantern shirt is for Fletcher and it's from Meijer.  Their holiday shirts are usually $6.  This was on sale for $4.50 when I picked it up.  It's super cute.  I usually love their holiday shirts and you can't beat their prices.

// Halloween DECOR //
Have you cashed in on the $5 off a $30 purchase in the Halloween section at Target yet??

It's good on costumes, decor, some candy, etc.  Online and in store.

I picked up some REALLY cute new Halloween decorations.  Here's a sneak peek.  Hoping to get a Halloween house tour up on the blog next week.

// Halloween BOOKS //
I try hard to put out a basket of holiday books for the kids each month.  I think that's the teacher in me :)  It's really easy this time of year with all of the holidays approaching.  I picked up several of these on clearance after Halloween last year.  It's so much fun to pull out new books for the kids this year knowing I got a great deal on them.  Here are our favorite, most read Halloween books:

Here's a link to all of the books on Amazon:

Little Blue Truck's Halloween

Boo! (Leslie Patricelli board books)

Five Little Monkeys Trick-or-Treat (A Five Little Monkeys Story)


Peek-a-Boooo!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey's Halloween

Goodnight Goon: a Petrifying Parody

Slide and Find Spooky

10 Trick-or-Treaters

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

// Some affiliate links included.  Thanks for reading & supporting Polka-Dotty Place! //

Linking up with My Glittery Heart

HighFiveforFriday, FiveonFriday, and Momfessionals

The Best Parts

Happy Friday!  Hope you had a nice week. 

We were busy and are ready for the weekend.  We got snow, wrapped up Olive's Spring Break, watched the ND women win a National Title in basketball and did all of our usual activities.

The best parts of our week were...

SNOW
We got at least 3 inches of snow this week and it was BEAUTIFUL.  It was easily the prettiest snow we had all year.  I know it's April and most people are over the snow, but not us.  The kids ran out in their pjs to see the snow and couldn't wait to get out and play.  Fletcher had to be reminded that he really did love bundling up to go outside and play.  Olive would have stayed out in it for hours if I would have let her.  We got to build our first snowman of the year, went sledding, played and all our winter (now Spring) wishes came true!!  Did you get any snow this week??

PARTY SUPPLIES
I LOVE throwing parties and I also LOVE getting a good deal on party supplies.  I thought I'd share my favorite get the most for your money tip - Pick 3 colors for your party decor and then buy party supplies to go with the colors instead of the theme.

For example, I just threw a fireman 2nd birthday party for my son and instead of buying everything firetrucks I bought red, black and gold party supplies.  That way I can use the leftover supplies for other holiday - reds for 4th of July or Valentine's Day, black for Halloween and the gold could come in handy for anyone's birthday.  I also found all of these things at The Dollar Tree, Kroger, Walmart or Meijer. I decorated with his toy firetrucks so it all tied together nicely.

THANK YOUS
I went a different route with birthday thank you notes for Fletcher.  I couldn't find cute boy notes so I printed a favorite picture of him to go with the firetruck theme.  I wrote the thank you note on the back of each picture and mailed those out.  I've never gotten such nice texts and calls about thank you notes before.  I think I'll try and do this more often.

EGGS
What do you do with all of the hard boiled eggs post Easter??  We've had deviled eggs and big salads with eggs, but I still have a lot of eggs leftover.  I was thinking of trying a fancy deviled egg recipe.

JELLIES
Wal-Mart has the cutest jellies for little girls.  They come in tons of colors and are just $4.96.  Olive has the pink and clear from last year and we picked up a white pair a couple of weeks ago.  They're comfy and cute.

Kids:
SWIMMING LESSONS
Olive's wrapping up swimming lessons and made some great progress!  We're excited for pool days.

WELL CHECK
We finally found a pediatrician that we really like so going to the doctor is great!  Fletcher

These two have the best time together about 90% of the time.  The love popcorn and movies.  They come up with the funniest games and become better friends every day.  Fletcher got a blue cowboy hat for his bday so they spent the day lassoing things.  We spent the morning at a local bounce house.

EMBRACED
I have really been enjoying reading Lysa TerKeurst's latest devotional.  It's called Embraced: 100 Devotions to Know God is Holding You Close.  I'm a fan of hers and have enjoyed several of her books.  I think The Best Yes is my favorite.  I was excited to dive into this devotional.  The book is beautiful, hardcover and it feels good in your hands.  I found myself reading several days in a row.  I didn't want to stop reading.  Each day starts with a Bible verse, a devotion and ends with a prayerI loved her stories, her honesty and the fact that I could relate to so many of the things she addresses in this devotional.  It feels like you're reading a book a good friend wrote just for you.  I'd highly recommend it and look forward to reading it each day.  This would be an excellent gift to give to encourage someone you love or to do with a friend.  Another great book by TerKeurst!!
*This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review of it from BookLook.

Embraced: 100 Devotions to Know God Is Holding You Close

In case you missed it on PDP:

Monday: Easter Weekending
Tuesday: 4 Ways to Save in April
Wednesday: DIY Dollhouse


Hope you have the best weekend!!


PS Some affiliate links included.  Thanks for reading & supporting Polka-Dotty Place!

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My Glittery Heart

HighFiveforFriday, FiveonFriday, and Momfessionals

February JOY

February is flying by!!  We've had a fun month with more highs than lows.  We've enjoyed seeing family and friends, watching the olympics, celebrated holidays and events and are looking forward to a joy filled March. 

Here are the highlights of our month:

1. Floral Paper Plates - Sams is selling these gorgeous plates - 80 plates for $7.96!!  I could not pass them up.  If you come to my house for dinner anytime this Spring you'll be eating off these.  They also had a floral oval plate.  I love their plates because they're sturdy and a great deal.  I have purchased Christmas plates, regular plate and now these floral ones.  I'd highly recommend them.

2. Disney Brunch - My kids are still talking about brunch with Mickey & his crew.  Such a fun morning!!

3. Visitors - My parents came in town for a quick visit.  We got to go out to eat, work on some projects around the house and hang out.  It was a fun day!

4. Little Blue Truck party - my friend Whitney threw the cutest Little Blue Truck birthday party for her son this month.  She thought of everything!!  She's my friend who threw the amazing 4th of July party, too.  The kids had the best time with all of the party stations and we came home with two sheep.  She also painted this Little Blue Truck photo prop.  My kids are huge fans of the Little Blue Truck series so they were in heaven.
Little Blue Truck Lap Board Book

5. Fresh air - it is amazing how some fresh air will really boost your mood!  The weather was unseasonabley nice for February in the Midwest.  We got outside as much as possible.  Gorgeous backyard sunsets, long walks and playing were good for all of us.  

This Contours Options Elite Tandem Stroller in Sand has been one of the best baby purchases ever!!  We use it nearly every day when the weather is nice.  It's comfy for big and little kids, has a great basket underneath, amazing sunshades with vents and I recommend it to anyone who asks about a double stroller.  It's easy to push and holds up so well.
Contours Options Elite Tandem Double Stroller, Carbon

Funny story: When we play outside, Fletcher always pulls out two chairs, plops down, demands that sissy join in and yells LEMONADE!!! until I bring them some.  It's hilarious.

6. Cars - My kids are OBSESSED with the Cars movies.  They love them all so I surprised them with "cars" of their own to watch Cars this week.  They thought it was the greatest thing ever.

7. GROW - Remember my word of the year: GROW??  I checked on my landscaping this week with all of the nice weather and things are GROWING!!  We planned mostly perennials last year and crossed our fingers that they'd come back this year.  They are and I couldn't be more proud.

8. Dance Class - Olive started dance class this week and she told me it's the best thing she ever did.

9. Best buds - these two are so funny together.  They love to play together and he wants to do everything she is doing.  This week it was sunglasses.  Where do you buy cute kid sunglasses??  I'm on the hunt for some!

10. Book Club of One
I've been making more time to read each week.  My goal is to come up with non technology related things to do for me time.  More doing, less scrolling through my phone.  Topher approves.

Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis was a good read.  I was not familiar with her before this book.  She is a fun writer and her book is a quick read.  Her message of self care will stick with you and really make you think about your own life.  I loved her focus on lies we tell ourselves because they were so easy to relate to.  She puts words to the lies many of us are guilty of believing and you find yourself nodding throughout.  Hollis addresses nearly everything women deal with at different points in their lives - childhood, trauma, dating woes, career drama, having kids, marriage, parenting, weight issues, eating habits, foster care, self care and so much more.  There are a ton of topics in this book.  Her stories are compelling.  You'll find your heart racing, eyes welling with tears and a smile come to your face as you read.  She doesn't shy away from hard topics and really puts herself out there in the hopes of encouraging other women.  She does this well.  There is a section at the end of each chapter called "things that helped me..." where Hollis gives bullet points to help you apply the concept to your own life.  The bullet points would make great discussion points with a book club or small group.  I'd only change one thing about this book - the title.  I worry that people will skip over the book not knowing all of the self care goodness that's inside.  I'd recommend this book to anyone that is struggling to take the time to take care of themselves or needs a good pep talk to be the person God created you to be.
*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review of it from BookLook.
Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be

In case you missed it on Polka-Dotty Place:



Monday: Winter Wardrobe Inspiration
Tuesday: Dreams Do Come True
Wednesday: Protein Balls & Packed Lunches

 Linking up with

ThoughtsforThursday, Month JOY link up with Our Pretty Little Girls

HighFiveforFriday, FiveonFriday, and Momfessionals