Favorite Toddler and Preschooler Books

We've been doing a lot of reading and snuggling this week, and I started to think about what our all time favorite books are.  Ben, almost three, has a deep love affair with all things pirate, baseball, and animal.  Josie, almost one, loves anything she can touch or that has a nice cadence when read aloud.  Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say that four of the books that landed in the favorite collection were all chosen and gifted to us by a very dear former teaching colleague of mine.  Much love to the awesome book taste of Ms. T :-)

So what are the most beloved books in your house?

Snowed In - All Edges Brownie Pan Rave :)

 

I don't know how your family works, but every time we make brownies, we fight to see who gets to eat the corners.  Now I understand from my sister that some people actually prefer the gooey center, but I'm not sure I believe it.  

So to eliminate some of that discord in the Heath household, I gave Mark the All Edges Brownie Pan for Christmas.  I thought it was kind of a goofy gift, but I knew he would appreciate it.  And it has been appreciated many times over during this past week as we have experienced two massive blizzards in less than five days.  All snowed in and eating lots of chocolate.  Yummmm.

Snowed In Oatmeal Breakfast

Mark needed something warm and filling to give him the energy to get out there and shovel 30 inches of snow. (thanks baby!)  I love oatmeal, but we hardly ever have a chance to eat it.  So, today we made a "decorate your own" oatmeal buffet for breakfast.  Ben ate seconds (!) so it must have been good.

Snowed In Chocolate Snowballs

 

Maybe it's because I'm still at teacher at heart, but I adore snow.  It means my husband, also a teacher, is home.  It means we are all forced to snuggle in tight and hang out at the house and eat lots of comfort food without feeling guilty.  And the way things are looking in the mid-atlantic region right now, we'll be snuggling for quite a while.  We have about 30" of snow outside, so I thought I'd post some things to do with all of that lovely, cold, whiteness.

One of my all time favorite treats is a chocolate snowball.  We have them here in the summer time; they're like icees, only far superior ;-)  They're made with shaved (as opposed to crushed) ice.  And real snow does make the best snowball.  Get the how to by clicking "read more."

Spiced Hot Chocolate

This hot chocolate is so easy to make and is so rich to drink. It always makes us slow down and enjoy it and relax. Ben and I make it together before his nap. He stacks up some hatboxes, calls them train cars, and pretends he is on the Polar Express. Nothing helps you go to sleep like a full belly of warm chocolate milk :)  Get the very easy how to after the jump.