OY! KRISTEN

How Will It Work?

This will be an online book club where we read one book each month, then come together to discuss the book in a Facebook Live-esque forum, that way we can chat and interact. Make sure you like my Facebook page so that you can get the updates! At the end of each month, I will announce 2 new options for the following month and you all can vote on which one you would like to read! Over the weekend, many of you voted between The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, and The Miracle Morning won!

What Is The First Book?

I'm super excited about The Miracle Morning because a dear friend of mine recommended it when I shared with her how I've been struggling to get all my work done AND feel like a present and engaged mom during the day. It seems like this book will give some really helpful strategies and tools for creating a peaceful and productive early morning. I know a few people mentioned in the comments that their kids wake up super early, so they don't know how to possibly cram more into their morning - I get it! I'm very interested to see how this book can lend some insights on that. Make sure to snag your copy here or find it at your local library!

I shared more in my FB Live (you can watch it below) about why I want to start this book club. I've been toying around with the idea for a few months and I was going to wait until the Fall when people were getting back into a normal routine, but I just decided to go for it in July!

Why A Book Club?

To be totally honest, I've been feeling like I've been kind of living on the surface for a while now. Being a stay at home mom, I do a lot of cooking, cleaning, wiping, washing - all "doing" activities that keep me busy and on my feet. Like, I wear tennis shoes everyday to keep up. But I've been feeling like the person underneath all the doing is feeling neglected - the person with a mind and a heart and opinions and feelings. I realized I haven't been doing a great job exercising my mind and taking time to really think. I want to be able to get bored and let my mind wander, but I'm just not in a boring season of life. Since I've always loved reading I've MISSED it, and probably like many of you, I haven't made time for this thing that I love. I thought that maybe a few of you might feel the same way so why don't we embark on a group project together? Book club! Plus, every time someone says, "We talked about this in my book club", I've always been jealous. Ha. Time to start one.

Final Thoughts.

There's no commitment! Join in and read the book one month and take a month off if you like! I think I will do some giveaways for those who participate, because why not? I love giving presents. Also, I'm re-posting the video in case you missed it and you want to catch up on the announcement! This is the format where our book discussions will take place, so this should give you a feel for it!

Today I'm sharing a few children's books we've had on rotation lately! I absolutely love reading. You wouldn't know it in my current stage of life, because I feel like I don't have enough time for reading, even though I know it's on me to make more time for it. I've been doing a little better lately - I just finished reading Pride & Prejudice again and man, there's almost nothing better than that story. But I digress.

My mom told me when I was a little girl that she loved reading Nancy Drew books growing up. That really inspired me and I started reading the series, too, and that's what truly made me fall in love with reading. Such classic stories! I know my boys aren't old enough yet for those kinds of books but I truly believe that a love for stories and reading starts at this stage with focus from the parents - taking time to read to them every single night is one of our favorite family routines. I hope that my kids love reading as much as I do - it's helped me form my words and ability to communicate and understand so much of the world. It's helped me fall in love with writing! I hope that they find that same love for literature, as well. Everett is almost 4 years old and Daxton is almost 17 months old, and these are the books we've been reading lately with both of them.

1. Polar Bear Polar Bear, What do You Hear? - sound book
Daxton loves this book! He cracks me up the way he tries to make the sounds of the animals (he basically makes the same sound over and over and it's so funny). He's at the perfect age for all the Eric Carl books and this one is nice because it's a little larger than this one and this one (which are also so great!), and it also has the fun sound buttons for each animal! Also, this is a great price point for a gift!

2. Little Blue Truck's Springtime
Gosh, we are such fans of this Little Blue Truck Series (the original and Christmas version are so great!), and I was amped when I saw this one in stores. It's actually much less expensive to purchase here. I put this in Daxton's Easter basket this year and I have to say, the illustrations are ah-mazing. Like, so so beautiful. This book makes me happy to read, and Dax loves all the lift-flap options on each page. Less words, more colors, which is really perfect for his stage. Although Everett has been swiping this out of Dax's room and asking me to read it to him the past few nights... so it really makes all of us happy over here!

3. Winne the Pooh: Original Edition
We started reading Everett this series of "chapter books" a few months ago as part of his bedtime routine and he absolutely loves it! He feels so grown up, getting to read a big book, and he helps me fold over the pages when we stop for the night (I know - some of you might think that's a terrible habit, but I've been doing it basically my entire life and old habits die hard. And also, it's kind of fun teaching my son how to read books the way I did when I was young...) These sweet stories about the whole Hundred Acre wood gang are so classic and darling and funny, they are seriously still relevant to today! Except for the one part when Christopher Robin carries around a gun and shoots a balloon out of the sky. That probably wouldn't fly in this day and age of children's literature... but still! Such sweet stories. We are actually re-reading the first book again because Everett loves it so much. We still need to rent the movie, now that we've read the books. This is another set that makes such a beautiful gift - even a baby shower gift! These books are really pretty in person and you almost want to display them.

4. Little Excavator
Oh, boy books! We have exhausted our copies of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and Mighty, Mighty Construction Site, so this book came along with a fresh take on the construction process and Everett loves it! I don't know what it is about boys and big trucks, but it is such a thing.

5. In New York
I've passed on my love for NYC to my sons, and Everett absolutely loves everything about that city! We have a few books about New York, and this one is his absolute favorite. It's not too detailed, but the illustrations are beautiful and we end up stopping a lot because he has so many questions. I should probably do a better job of having books about our own home town city (someone leave me a comment if you have any Atlanta-specific favorite kids books!), but this one is such a crowd pleaser and most nights he asks to read at least a page or two of this beloved read. And of course, this leads to him asking all the time when we are "going back to New York to stay in a hotel".

6. Dragons Love Tacos
Gosh, is there anyone who doesn't love this book? We usually tell this one in a Boston accent (I have no idea why??) and even though we got it years ago, it's seemed to resurface in popularity over the past few weeks in our house and we've been reading it a lot again. It's seriously so funny and the expressions on the characters faces are just priceless. Great for boys or girls! And taco lovers.