Confession: I’ve been collecting children’s books since I was in high school. As a child I loved reading – scratch that – I was obsessed with reading. I carried a book everywhere I went. Now that I have children of my own, I want to pass that same passion for reading on to them so I am always on the lookout for new books for our children’s library.

When I was introduced to the interactive children’s book – Pictivities by Meg and Corbin Frost – I knew it would be a hit with my little ones. This board book is the first to completely capture all three children’s  (ages 7,5, and 2) attention simultaneously. Those of you with young children know how difficult that can be!

The Pictivity books are designed to generate interaction between reader and child by linking pictures to words and actions. On each page there is a picture button that shows an object, animal, or person. Each image is also linked to an action. You prompt your child to touch the button and then you both say and do the action together. My children absolutely loved this and were immediately engaged.

The book was pure delight for the whole family. The simplicity of the interactive pages created a fun, family-centered reading time that we all enjoyed. One thing that I have noticed since my oldest began reading is that how much she enjoys a book directly affects how much she reads. This is the perfect book for creating that base memory of reading equaling fun. My children loved the book so much they begged my husband to read it again.

Pictivities is currently one of the top five most popular children’s books on KickStarter. Meg and Corbin are raising funds to produce the first run of books before Christmas. This would be the perfect gift under your little reader’s Christmas tree! By pledging $10, you can get this adorable book by Christmas. Pledge more and they have other delightful prizes in store!

Pictivities is currently halfway to its fundraising goal with only 16 days left! Do yourself a favor and support this great move forward in children’s literature while getting a little Christmas shopping done as well! 

I received a copy of this book to review. 

What is your favorite children’s book?

What do your children ask you to read again and again?

Have you funded a project on Kickstarter before?

The post Pictivities – An Interactive Board Book that My Children Love! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

Curling up with a book I can’t put down is one of my guilty pleasures. This month I am reading Motherhood Realized: An Inspiring Anthology for the Hardest Job You’ll Ever Love. The book is written by ladies from an organization I just can’t get enough of – Power of Moms. I first attended a Power of Moms Retreat back in 2011 and I’ve been hooked ever since. Like-minded, deliberate mothers coming together to share helpful (and often hilarious) experiences – sign me up!

The first chapter is written by Catherine Arveseth of the blog Wild and Precious. I enjoyed hearing this lovely lady speak at the Motherhood Realized book launch event as I’ve been reading her blog for years. She has two sets of twins and her insights are invaluable. Here are a few of my favorite posts from her delightful blog.

1. This blog post convinced me that I need to make a fairy home in our backyard for our daughter! Just do a search for “fairies” on Catherine’s site and you will see so many magical ideas!

2. I adore Catherine’s recap of her children’s favorite books each year. I love gleaning suggestions from fellow literature-loving families.

3. And though I treasure book suggestions and memory-making fairy ideas, what I love most about Catherine’s site is the realness and her gentle reminders to live in the moment. This post captures a glimpse into a positively gleeful rainy day and I love it! There are many more sweet moments like this on Catherine’s blog!

Now back to Motherhood Realized! Catherine’s chapter, “Watching You,” speaks to those moments when we glean inspiration from other mamas. She gives several examples of mothers she has observed and closes with this inspiring quote,

That is an affirmation all mamas should say in the mirror every morning, “I am exactly who my children need.” I need to tape that to my mirror!

One of my favorite parts of the book Motherhood Realized is that each chapter closes with a question and a challenge. Inspiration AND a call to action – that’s what I need!

The question for this chapter is, “What have you learned from other mothers you have watched?”

This past year I’ve been overwhelmed with examples of quiet, but brilliant motherhood.

So many of my sweet friends have struggled with getting their babies earthside this past year. I’ve watched as they’ve placed careers and life as they knew it on hold as they’ve clung to the opportunity of being the vessel of life for their child. I’ve prayed and cheered with them as week by week they have soldiered on through their pregnancies and weeks, even months of bed rest and hospital stays. Mothers are patient. Mothers give their all.

I’ve watched from across the country as a dear friend became a mama of multiples – triplet baby boys + a two year old boy. As those babies have grown into toddlers, I’ve admired her ability to capture the moment and get in the picture with her brood of busy boys. Mothers see the bigger picture beyond diapers and dishes.

I’ve discovered that mothers need mothers and mothers need other mothers, too. I still call my mom and I am delighted at the relationship my daughter has with her “mom mom.” I’ve laughed and cried with friends in the thick of early motherhood years like myself and gleaned from the wisdom of mothers who have been there and gracefully passed through that.

What an insightful exercise it has been this week to think of the mothers that I watch in my life! I am grateful for the many examples I have. This post has been just a peek into one of the chapters in Motherhood Realized: An Inspiring Anthology for the Hardest Job You’ll Ever Love. I am excited to dive into the next chapter and share more of the quotes and insights with you. Treat yourself and the moms in your life to this lovely anthology – you’ll love it as much as I do!

What have you learned from your mom?
Who are the mom examples in your life?

I am a volunteer Power of Moms ambassador. This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links – thank you for supporting my site!

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As a Latter-day Saint, I look forward to hearing from our world-wide church leaders twice a year at General Conference. The event is held in downtown Salt Lake City, but is also broadcast to LDS church buildings worldwide as well as on the Internet and television. I am so excited to listen with my family!

Each year, I find myself asking, how do I prepare myself and my family for General Conference? The church has put together amazing resources (available at the above link) and I have also teamed with some of my favorite LDS  bloggers to share our favorite conference traditions, recipes, and activities. You can check out their fun links at the bottom of this post! 

My three children are ages 6, 4, and 2. Each year since our oldest was born, we have tweaked our traditions, but the basis is the same. A family gathered together listening to the prophet and apostles! A typical conference weekend for us includes delicious recipes, quiet activities for the little ones, and this mama saying a little prayer that our preparation pays off! Here’s a little sneak peek into a few of our favorite recipes and quiet activity ideas!

Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice … General Conference Preparation

My two oldest love watching this youtube video every year to help them learn the names of the apostles. Sometimes we have it on repeat over breakfast (at their request!).

As mentioned above, our kitchen table is prime real estate when it comes to places to learn! Kids have to eat so I take advantage of it. I first saw this at my neighbor’s home and I love the possibilities! I bought this clear, durable table cover  and rotate the content that goes underneath as my children learn or memorize it.  Right now we are working on learning the Family Proclamation with these printables from Chocolate on my Cranium. You could easily print off pictures of the first presidency and twelve apostles as well to help your children learn and recognize them. Easy pop quizzes at the dinner table!

General Conference Breakfast Ideas

Before the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions, we like to have a big family breakfast to start our day. These yummy blueberry crepes are on the menu for Saturday morning and I am debating between Cupcake Diary’s cinnamon and sugar pull-apart rolls and Love to be in the Kitchen’s homemade cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning! Can you tell I am a fan of cinnamon baked goods? We are going to be snacking on Live to be Inspired’s banana bread some time during the weekend as well!

General Conference Traditions and Quiet Activities

With three young children at home, I like to start General Conference weekend with a plethora of printables (see the blogger links below!) and quiet activity ideas. We’ve watched conference from our version of King Benjamin’s tents, illustrated the stories we are hearing on giant pieces of butcher paper, and played conference bingo many a time! I also like having a big basket of books available for my children to look at and read. I’ve listed some of our favorites below.

Books are a big part of our General Conference preparation! Earlier this year I helped make flip books with text and pictures for The Family: A Proclamation to the World from the Chocolate on my Cranium printables. My daughter loves reading her book because it matches the songs she is learning in Primary. She’s learned so many big words from reading it so often!

My children also have books with pictures of the Savior put together by their grandmother. She took card-sized pictures of the Savior by Greg Olson and put them in the sleeves of photo books to make darling books for each of her grandchildren. She wrote her testimony in the cover which is sweet for the children to have! My kids love looking through those as well.

Story of the Walnut Tree is one of our favorites to read while getting read for conference. It is the story of the walnut tree from President Hinckley’s home that was used to build the podium for the conference center. Knowing the story gives my children something familiar to look for during the sessions.

I am going to add The Giver of Holy Gifts to our collection this year in the children’s Easter baskets. The beautifully simple children’s board book shows some of the images from the Sacred Gifts art exhibition taking place at the Museum of Art at BYU right now and talks about Jesus’ holy gifts to us.

If Jesus Came to Visit Me and others by Jill Roman Lord are sweet board books as well. Perfect for the 2-6 year old crowd to look through during conference. We also have The Story of Easter and others by Patricia Pingrey in our book basket for conference.

Session Breaks 

In between sessions, we like to let our children get all their energy out! Whether it is a picnic in the back yard or a quick family walk to the local park. It definitely helps to let them play to their hearts content and get the wiggles out! After an hour or so of outside play, afternoon nap time is much more likely to happen!

In between the Sunday session, we like to update our 72 hour kits. So many stores have case lot deals and emergency essential sales. General conference weekend is a great time to see what you have and add what you need! I stay tuned to sites like Freebies2Deals to get the heads up on the best local and online preparedness deals. My children love rotating out the older clothes and munching on the 72 hour kit snacks!

Find more ideas on my General Conference and Primary Pinterest boards! Be sure to check out these fabulous ideas by my blogger friends as well!

We would love if you added your General Conference traditions to our link up! Just two requests, please link back to this post and it must be General Conference related! To find out more about the LDS Church and what we believe, click on this link! 

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I am so excited to be part of Crafty Night Owl’s 30 Days of Christmas series!

Isn’t there something magical about reading under the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree? It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Now that I have three children of my own, I love recreating that love of learning during the holidays. As you can see from my pumpkin math for Halloween and pop it sight word games for the Fourth of July,  every holiday is an excuse to learning something fun in a new way!

One of my favorite literary traditions for the holiday season is to individually wrap 24 days worth of Christmas books. My children love unwrapping presents and they love reading stories so it is something they look forward to every night. Each year we add a new book to our collection and then I supplement the days that are left from the library. My library only allows two children’s holiday books out at a time, so I put myself on the hold list for some of our favorites. By the time we have read our first two, the next two are typically ready. Get yourself on the hold lists now!

On some of the days, we pair a craft with the book. Love these pics from two years ago of my then four-year-old silly Lily making snowflakes to go along with her Christmas book. Dying that I don’t know the name of the book to share it with you all! Anyone recognize the snowflake instruction page, pretty please?

Here are some of our favorite books that we will be reading this year:

The Polar Express is one of our absolute favorites. On the day we read this book, we like to watch the movie and have a hot chocolate night as well. Sometimes we put together a sensory bin with bells and other Christmas items to go along as well.

My children adore the book Snowmen at Night. The perfect activity for this book is – you guessed it – going outside and making snowmen! This year we are going to play a roll a snowman activity, too. It is simple, fast, and easy! You assign a snow man body part to a number on the dice and make a key – this would be great for an older child to do for you. Once the key is made, you give each child a dice and with each roll they add a new snow man part until they’ve made an entire snowman. Simple way to add a little math and art into reading time.

I love the illustrations in There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve. The poetic rhymes in this book match the beauty of the water color illustrations. I may let my children create their own water color Christmas masterpieces on the day we read this lovely book.

What Christmas books do you read in your family?

What are your favorite holiday traditions?

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