Giveaway Winner

I can't believe the 

My Favorite Books Giveaway is officially over.

A huge thank you to all the bloggers & shop owners who participated.

A Whimsicle Life | Sunshine Whispers

The Adventures Of Nobel & Pond | Joyful Family Life

One Hoolie Mama | Ready Set Parenthood 

Sweet Sammi Photography | Shine Bright Little Mama

The Curried Nut | Sweet Shoppe Mom | 

Mosswood Connections | The CSI Project

I absolutely loved getting to learn a little more 

about each and every one of you,

and even more so loved reading the story behind 

why the children's book you donated was one of your favorites!

I can't wait to do this again next year!

I also want to thank everyone that entered, 

and only wish I was able to enter myself!

And now, a big congrats to the winner

of the 1st My Favorite Books Giveaway... 

Thanks again to all that entered,

I hope you found some great new books

that you will want to add to your little one's book collection! 

My Favorite Books Giveaway | Feature #05

Here it is! 

The last and final feature for the My Favorite Books Giveaway!

I wanted to save these for last, with the Christmas holiday 

right around the corner

they will be the perfect addition to your little one's collection.

(And lets face it, getting in the Christmas spirit, even this early,

is hard to avoid since the Christmas commercials are in full swing, 

the stores are all decorated, and the red cups are out!)

The first blogger I want to introduce you to is

Nicci from (Live A) Joyful Family Life.

Nicci loves cheesecake, gardening, and zumba. 

And she loves her family of course!

When she's not at home with her kids, she helps people

work towards a more fulfilling and joyful life. 

Not only is she  a counselor, but a wife and mom too!

Nicci chose to donate 

Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood.

This is one of Nicci's favorite children's books because

"it was the first book that our 2 year old learned to "read." 

He loved it so much he had it memorized, our voice inflections and all. 

It was so sweet hearing him "read" to us

and that is wht this will always be one of our favorite books."

An added bonus to this book, 

the super cute and festive illustrations!

The last feature for this great giveaway goes to

Kristen of Ready Set Parenthood.

Kristen is a 30 something wife, mother and educator living and loving life in Cleveland, Ohio! 

"I love to blog about our parenting experiences and tips I have learned along the way, 

as well as the fun things our family gets into. 

We love life in Cleveland, so I post about all the fun things we like to do in the area."

Kristen donated 

That's Not My Snowman by Usborne.

When I asked Kristen why this was one of her favorite books, she shared

"We love the entire "That's Not My" series from Usborne. 

They have been my son's favorites since he was 2 months old. 

We were excited to learn they had some winter and holiday themed books 

in the series too. 

My son (now 18 months) has loved feeling all the textures along with the story, 

and the bright colors catch his eye! 

"That's Not My Snowman" quickly became one of his favorites!"

Kristen was also sweet enough to share some pictures of her little one

enjoying this book! 

Just how cute is he?!

Okay, and I saved this next book for last, because I didn't want to waste time

hightlighting myself on the blog features, 

However I did want to share this book with you all. 

I also wanted to share why this book is so special to me.

Good Night, I Love You by Caroline Jayne Church

was the very first book we started reading to our little man while he was still

and itty bitty little thing growing in my belly. 

We would read it to him every night,

and continued that tradition from the very first day he was born, 

(We even brought it to the hospital with us!)

There has not been a single night where we don't open this book, 

and read this story to our baby who is now 22 months old, 

so it is absolutely one of my favorites,

and it's the book that inspired me to do this giveaway!

I hope you've all had a great time getting to "meet" some new bloggers,

and for reading about some of the great books that are out there for your little ones!

The My Favorite Books giveaway ends today at midnight,

and I don't want you to miss out!

To enter, click HERE. 

Stay tuned... The winner will be announced tomorrow morning!

My Favorite Books Giveaway | Feature #04

Okay, here it is.

The last day of the My Favorite Books Giveaway.

I'm gonna kick it off with part one of today's featured bloggers.

First, I am excited to share Shelah from Mosswood Connections.

"The contributors of Mosswood Connections are parents and therapists 

specializing in autism services. 

They believe in maximizing a child's potential through positive reinforcement,  

play based interventions and skill building activities."

"The creators of Mosswood Connections, Shelah and Sarah, 

have been working with children who have special needs for many years.  

Over the years they have acquired a variety of therapy tools and 

parenting techniques to enhance the educational and developmental programs 

of the children with whom they work. 

As parents they bring the same energy and approach to parenting their own kids. 

Their success in working with children is based on their using a creative, 

collaborative approach to connect with children 

in order to enhance their development 

by tapping into each child’s interests and strengths."

Shelah chose to donate 

Don't Turn The Page by Rachelle Park.

When I asked Shelah why this was one of her favorite

children's books, she shared

"I have too many "favorite" picture books to list but my latest favorite is
Don't Turn the Page by Rachelle Burk, illustrated by Julie Downing. 

This clever story has a book within a book and centers around a scene that all
parents know well: the child who doesn't want to do go sleep quite yet.
The prose and the pictures are captivating and engaging. I can see this
book becoming a favorite bedtime book in many homes."

One of the great things about Mosswood Connections 

is that their website has coordinating activities.

You can click on the following link to take you to the

coordinating activity for Don't Turn The Page.

Next, I am sharing Megan who blogs over at

The Adventures Of Nobel & Pond. 

The Adventures of Noble & Pond was started as a means 

to marketing Megan's Etsy business, Nobel & Pond. 

As she shares, her love of writing soon took over, 

and her blog became a place for her to share her various passions. 

She is an avid animal lover, and tea enthusiast. does not sow, but does sew. 

On her blog you will find a little bit of everything, 

but she likes to keep her readers informed on her exploits as a pet mom 

and novice sewist.

Megan chose to donate a set of books by the Smithsonian Institute the

Smithsonian's Backyard Series.

Megan chose these books because when she was little 

she was obsessed with wildlife. 

"I loved camping and I always enjoyed going to the demonstrations 

that were hosted by the park rangers. After one of these demonstrations,  

we went to the park gift shop and my parent's bought me a book about chipmunks. 

I read that book to death.  I wish I still had it, 

but it was extremely well loved and one day it made it's way to the recycling bin. 

When I found The Smithsonian Series at my local book store, 

I was filled with nostaglia for my long lost chipmunk book.

 I know that any little one who loves animals will love to learn from this 

brilliantly illustrated series."

Here is a quick look at the four books you will receive!

Seriously...

How beautiful are those illustrations?!

Later today I will be posting part #02

to finish up this great giveaway,

and the winner will be announced tomorrow!

If you haven't entered yet, click HERE

to view the original post...

I'm in love with each and every one of these books, 

and don't want you to miss out! 

My Favorite Books Giveaway!

Happy Monday!

I am beyond excited to bring you the very first

"My Favorite Books" Giveaway!

I was inspired to do this giveaway by my little man
who at 22 months already absolutely loves reading.
(Okay, more like being read to, but either way he loves books!)

I am very passionate about promoting an early love of reading,
and through this giveaway, I hope to pass that on, as these books
find their way into your home to help grow your little one's book collection.

Starting today you can enter to win 25 children's books 

from 14 amazing bloggers.

Throughout the next week and a half I will be highlighting each
blogger and the book they chose to giveaway,
so keep checking back!

To enter, you have to like each participating shop on 

Instagram, as well as Facebook. 

Share the giveaway picture on Instagram for an additional entry!

Have fun, and good luck to all who enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baby Book Review #002

Okay, so I couldn't wait for this time of the week!

Last week, I launched a brand new series on the blog

titled "baby book review" and if you missed it, no worries, just click here!

This week I wanted to share

Ten Tiny Toes

by Caroline Jayne Church

We are a HUGE fan of Caroline Jayne Church in our home.
Her books send some of the sweetest messages to little ones,
they are super fun and easy to read
NOT TO MENTION the art work is seriously the most adorable!

Ten Tiny Toes is one of our favorite books to read, 

and we use it in an educational way too. (Bonus!) 

My son has a short attention span with anything other than playing with his cars and trains, 

but that is the great thing about this book.

It's a short and sweet read. 

The book starts off with just pointing out body parts

"mouth, ears, eyes, nose"

and then continues to add some movement as well as short commands

such as "touch your ears, make them wiggle" and

"touch your toes, bend down low | touch your legs, up you go."

We really have so much fun with this book.

Jackson is now 21 months old, so can follow along, and point out all the body parts

as they mention them in this book, 

but even when he was much smaller

I would read this book to him, and show him where MY "mouth, ears, eyes, and nose" were.

I promise I'm not some "my son needs to learn every second of the day" mom's 

however when you can incorporate both a love for reading AND learning into one book-

you've won me over! 

Here are a few of the other books by Carolyn Jayne Church.

(And yes, we have and love them all!)

Do you have Ten Tiny Toes in your baby book collection? What are your thoughts?

Baby Book Review- Series Launch #001

I'm obsessed with books for my little man. 

Yup. I said it. Obsessed.

We take reading very serious in our house. 
Serious as in, we've been reading to him since before he was born,
he has an amazing book collection
at the young age of 20 months,
and he already absolutely loves when we read to him.
(Which we do for a least an hour a day, many times MUCH more.)

Want more proof?
Last time I took him to the store, he even chose a new book
over a Lightening McQueen Race Car.

So yeah. Especially if you have a little boy of your own, 
you know that's pretty serious. :)

So here I am, I decided I wanted to do a  "Baby Book Review" series on my blog.

There are so many great books out there for every age.
So many that are not only fun to read,
 but that deliver important messages to your little ones as well.
Here I am going to review and share some of 
my little man's favorite books.

And, of course the reviews will be short,
remember they are children's books for goodness sake! :)

So, here we go,
The first two books, for my very first Baby Book Review! 

Now I Am Big & I Can Do It Myself

By: Stephen Krensky
Illustrations: Sara Gillingham 

These two little books were love at first sight. 
From the moment I saw them on the shelf at Target,
I knew I had to have them for my little man.

At the time, he was not even one, 
but the vintage feel of this beautiful artwork sucked me in, 
and it was reason enough for me to want to buy them. 

Both books are part of an "empowerment series" by Stephen Krensky
showcasing your no longer baby, now toddlers new independence.

Jackson already loves reading these books, 
and they deliver such a positive message
that I love reading them to him as well.

Also, we can't just read one. We have to read them both. Each time. 

Now I Am Big
focuses on your baby growing up little by little
discovering and embracing his new found independence. 
It's all about celebrating their "small victories" even at such a young age.
And, although it is a short children's book,
I feel as though it relays such a positive message, 
that it teaches us mama's to embrace their growing up as well. 

I Can Do It Myself 

is another book about your little one becoming more independent. 

However with this book,

"Krensky and Gillingham address the 'small victories' that come 

with growing just a little bit older."

We are really enjoying this book right now.

It is so much fun, because we can relate to almost everything the 

little girl in this book is now learning that she can do.

At 20 months, 

my son is discovering so many of the same things that he is now able to do

from picking out his clothes to reaching a high shelf. 

 

As if these two books weren't great enough, 

there are now two new additions to the "empowerment searies"

that I am dying to get for my little man.

(They are already on his Christmas list, I hope Santa sees this!) 

Check them out below, and if you have any of these books in your little one's 

library collection, I'd love to hear from you-

leave me a comment and let me know what you think! 

I Know A Lot & I Am So Brave

(Photos courtesy of amazon.com)

 

*Baby Book Review Series*

I'd love to feature your blog and your favorite book! 

If you have a favorite children's book that you'd like to send for me to review-

please email me at: simplysweetprints@gmail.com

Fun On A Budget : Reading & The Library

We are currently a one income family. I will be forever grateful that my husband busts his butt Monday-Friday so that I can stay at home and raise our little man. 

Since my job only pays in high fives, gummy smiles, snuggles, and drool-y kisses, I am always on the search for cheap and / or free activities to do with my little man. 

Sadly, I always forget about the library in today's "digital world". So I am here today, to remind you all that the library is AMAZING. 

After a family trip a couple months ago, I started taking my reading buddy to the library during the week. He absolutely loves books, so I can't think of a better place to be! Not to mention, unless you are like me and always find a way to occur late fees, the library is free! 

The last time I was there I picked up a schedule for story time. I was surprise to see a variety of choices. The second I saw "Lap Sit" story time for babies ages 0-2, I knew we needed 

a mommy / son date. 

We went for the first time today, and had the best time. Most story time's that I've encountered are all ages, and Jackson always wants to play with the big kids instead of sitting and listening to a story. So, this was perfect. Especially with babies his age, it was so much fun to sit back and watch his little personality come out as he interacted with them. There were songs, stories, and even some play time after. Not only did Jackson make a new friend, but we even got a couple little bugs to take home with us. :)

I highly recommend looking into your local library, it's never too early to start reading with your little ones, and let's face it, it's always great to get out of the house 

without having to spend any money!