{The Wednesday Hit List}: Top 5 Children's Books (Age 4)

In the past, I've been pretty indifferent to Wednesdays. But now that I have started this new weekly series, I have become pretty fond of them. Wednesdays were made for lists, I tell ya! 
This weeks Wednesday Hit List is Our Favorite Children's Books at age 4. 

Favorite Books by julia-crystal on Polyvore

1. Mouse Cookies and More: A Treasury
 I got the original "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" book at my baby shower and fell in love the first time I read it. It is such a cute concept and Myles still loves and asks for it four years later. I recently found this compilation at a sale and had to pick it up. I didn't even know that she made more of the books, so I was stoked. This set includes the original, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin",  "If You Give a Pig a Pancake", and "If You Take a Mouse to School", plus tons of extras like songs, games, and recipes. It is a super deal!

2. Giraffe's Can't Dance

My mom bought this for Myles last year and we just brought it out. Because he already has so many books, I try to save the new ones until he is really bored of the currents. That way we keep a steady rotation of books and I don't lose my mind reading Pete the Cat for the 100th time in a week. This book is a little longer and more wordy than some of our others, but it really keeps Myles engaged. It is a fun story, but the message is what I really love. The giraffe is made fun of  because he can't dance at the jungle party, only to discover that he really is a great dancer when he finds his own special music. Be different, find your own unique way, and march to the beat of your own drum, kids!

3. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
 This is our favorite book in the car right now. It is short, simple, catchy, and fun. I think Myles is getting to be too old for it, but it's been a favorite for so long that we just can't let go yet. Usually when that happens, I just add it to our car book stash and let it ride out (no pun intended!) the rest of its life with us in there.

4. Peanut Butter and Cupcake

Myles got on his third birthday from my mom. I was a little skeptical at first. I didn't think it was something that Myles would be interested in, but boy was I wrong! He thinks this book is so funny and gets super involved when we read it. The story line is cute, but the illustrations make this book a top for me. It does get a bit repetitive, but I can 't deny how much Myles loves it.

5. Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You

If you are an emotional person (i.e. a mom), this book will tear you up. My aunt got this for Myles a couple months back. She gave it to him when we were having a get together at the ice-skating rink/playworld. I thought 'oh cute book, let me read it right now'..... cue bawl fest. This book, being about loving someone no matter where they are, really hits a nerve with me. It is so hard living away from all our family and friends; I am so beyond grateful that they continue to show us so much love, even from 2000+ miles away. I know our situation is very common, especially among many of my fellow bloggers (why many start blogging), and it can really be hard for the little ones to understand. This book is a really good way to teach them about love and distance. 

Again, please let me know if you are interested in this becoming a link-up or even better, co-hosting! It would be open for old and new posts alike; the only requirement is that the post contains a list like a ranking or favorites.

Summer Birthday Gift Exchange

If you don't already know, I am crazy about my son's birthdays! Being that he is our only (and probably will always be our only), I like to make his birthday really special. I may or may not be planning two parties (one in California and one in Illinois) right now, and I'm sure we will do something fun on his actual birthday too! So, of course, I couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to celebrate some more with a blogger gift exchange! For the past couple of years now, Liz over at Chasin' Mason has organized a summer birthday gift exchange, and I am so excited to be apart of it this year!

Myles received his present from Sarah and Brantley from Seeing All Sides.

*Please excuse the poor quality of these first few pictures. By the time I realized the lighting was horrible, it was too late to get Myles to move before finishing opening them.

Other than a couple sentences about Myles' likes and dislikes, I never had any conversations with Sarah before we received our gifts. So I am a little inclined to think that some sort of sorcery had to have taken place, because what she picked out could not have been any more perfect! 

In a few weeks we are going back to Illinois to celebrate Myles' 4th birthday, which just so happens to be a superhero party. Of course, Myles (and I) have already been playing dress-up and pretend with his capes and masks, but they will definitely be coming with us as they will be a huge hit at his party! 

He likes Batman the best!

And these On-the-Go Water Wow pads are my secret weapon for airplane rides. The last couple of times we have flown, I brought one with and it kept Myles occupied for like 30 minutes (which is a huge feat when flying)!

I told him he could open and play with one and the other we would save for the plane ride. He said he liked the vehicle one the best, so he would save that one for later (way to exercise self control)!

Thank you Sarah and Brantley so much for your thoughtful gifts! we have been thoroughly enjoying them!

Myles was super excited to send gifts to Arden (Vanessa from Sunflower State of Mind). I told him what she liked and he picked everything out. He is way more decisive than I, so I let him do the choosing. Head over to Vanessa's blog to see if you think he did a good job!

And when your done there, check out the rest of the participants of this exchange!

Ashley and Waverly // Being Brickner

Elizabeth and Mason // Chasin' Mason

Laureen and Tyson // Chateau Deveau

Brittany, Charlie, and Maddie // Just Another Day in Paradise

Desiree and Julia // Macke Monologues

Natasha and Ethan // Schue Love

Sarah and Brantley // Seeing All Sides

Vanessa and Arden // Sunflower State of Mind

Julia and Myles // The Everyday Momma

Traci and Charli // The Hallway Life

Amanda and Lily // Tickled Pink

Laura and Liam // tiny toes, little nose

Whitney and Brielana // Work It Mommy

How do you celebrate your children's birthdays?

{The Wednesday Hit List}: My Top 5 Most Repinned Pins on Pinterest

As a mother, blogger, and total Type-A personality, I live for lists, particularly those that highlight the best of something! And since I love sharing my favorites here, I thought I would turn them into lists and make a weekly thing of it. So starting today, Wednesdays on The Everyday Momma will be 'The Wednesday Hit List'!

 My first Wednesday Hit List is going to be My Top 5 Most Repinned Pins on Pinterest. If I am being honest, about 90% of the traffic to my blog comes from Pinterest, so I will be sharing the pins that get me most of that traffic. 

1. Under the Sea Birthday Party: Snacks and Food Tent Labels

This is my top repinned pin on Pinterest. These were made for Myles' first birthday party. I put some different snack in sand buckets and made the food tent labels using wedding place cards with stamps and my handwriting. 

2. DIY Plastic Bottle Waterfall

 This DIY was apart of a Summer Fun Series I did with some other blog friends a few summers ago. This particular week we were to come up with a fun activity or craft using old plastic bottles. Myles had too much fun helping us make and then play with this Plastic Bottle Waterfall.

3. Under the Sea Birthday Party: Napkin Wraps

This pin is another DIY from Myles' 1st birthday party. Putting these napkin wraps together was actually pretty fun and you can't go wrong with the convenience of silver wear, napkin, and mint all wrapped into one when it comes to managing a huge party!

4. Mini Turkey Meatloaves

This is one of the first recipes I shared on my blog... and I think it's pretty obvious! Despite the horrendous picture (composition and quality), Mini Turkey Meatloaves still my most popular recipe on Pinterest. It is still a big hit at home too!

5. Under the Sea Birthday Party: Crab Walk Relay Race

My number 5 pin is another one from Myles' 1st birthday party (parties a popular!). This was the sign I made for one of the games we made up to play at the party: Crab Walk Relay. It was a relay race where everyone could only do the crab walk!

I hope you enjoyed the first edition of The Wednesday Hit List and I also hope you'll come back for more!
Also I am thinking about eventually turning this into a link-up if anyone is interested in sharing in the future or even co-hosting with me! Let me know in a comment or email!

#BOYMom Box Swap

Myles and I are quite excited about this post and sharing what we got in our BoyMom Box this year! About a year and a half ago, I shared why I love being a boy mom over on Elizabeth's blog for her Boy Mom Series. Since then she has ended the series, but now co-hosts (with Seeing All Sides and Wife Mommy Me) a yearly exchange for all boy mom bloggers. Myles lives for getting mail, especially when toys are inside, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity! Plus, I love getting to know new moms and their blogs... so win, win!

We were lucky enough to get paired with Meghan and Noah from The Adventure Starts Here! I'm really grateful to have been introduced to her and Noah. She has a great blog with tons of great content, and Noah is so smart, sweet, and cute! We talked a little about Myles' likes/dislikes, but Meghan really hit it out of the park with our box.

We got a great sampling of some of Myles' favorite things! My favorite thing to do with Myles is Play-Doh, so of course I was all over that! It instantly brings me back to my childhood. Meghan was so sweet and found a Froggy book for Myles. I mentioned to her that he really loves them, but I no idea she would actually be able to find one! We have been reading Froggy Bakes a Cake every night since.

I have mentioned several times here on this blog that I struggle with finding good bath toys. Meghan was so thoughtful to include two of Noah's favorites: Crayola Bath Crayons and Crayola Bath Squirters. Meghan also added a little something for momma! She got me a beautiful coral nail polish and some cute note cards. 

And within 5 minutes (no joke), we were in the bath playing:

Am I the only one that finds unused Play-Doh fresh out the can so satisfying!?!? 

Thanks again Chasin' Mason, Seeing All Sides, and Wife Mommy Me for putting this all together and Meghan and Noah for the perfect box!

The Kids Behind the Blog: June

Very recently I stumbled upon Stephanie and her blog Wife, Mommy, Me. She has a lot of fun and unique link-ups over there and when I saw The Kids Behind the Blog I knew I just had to participate!

Since this month we celebrate Father's Day, the questions are all about daddy!

1. What do you like doing with Daddy?
Playing doctor.... wrestling. He just got done playing doctor with his dad right before I asked him this, so I asked him what his favorite thing to do with dad is and then he answered wrestling.

2. What was Daddy like as a little boy?
Optimus Prime. I had to ask him 3 or 4 times to get an answer out of him. He kept saying 'I don't know'. Then out of no where he says, 'Optimus!'

3. What's Daddy's favorite food?
 Wendy's. This one was easy!

4. What does Daddy do at work?
 The president, that's where he works. Again a bunch of 'I don't know' and then after like the third time I asked he said president. He said that because Mark volunteers as president of the city garden club.

5. What is your favorite memory of Daddy?

Games, baseball games. I asked him what kind of games and he said baseball. Mark has gone with him to two professional baseball games. He must have really liked it.

What are your kids' favorite memories with their dad?

{It's the Little Things} Best Friend's Birthday Party

When I started working on Myles Monthly update for 21 months, I found tons of pictures; like 100s that I hadn't shared. I didn't want to cram them all onto one post, so I figured no better time than now to share. In May, Myles' bestie turned 2. He had a super hero themed party complete with bounce house, caps, and yummy cupcakes! Of course the big hit was the bounce house and so 90% of my pictures are from that. The color is weird in these pictures because of the lighting in the bounce house and the fact that I still don't really know how to use my camera!

Singing to the birthday boy!

Getting into the cupcakes:

 He wouldn't eat any of the actual cupcake, only the frosting. And when he was done with that one, he wanted the frosting off of all the rest of them. And when we went to their house later that week he still wanted the frosting on the leftover ones. 

And Myles in his cape that Leesa made. She did an awesome job on these and the back has an 'M' on it for Myles :)

Blurry running toddler pic!

Back to linking up with Ashley over at Words About Waverly for It's the Little Things link-up!

What do your little ones do with their friends?

{Fall Bucket List} Nature Walk

First official day of FALL Y'ALL and I couldn't be happier to bring to you our first activity from the Fall Family Bucket List hosted by two of my best blogging buddies: Elizabeth from Chasin' Mason and Desiree from Macke Monologues. 

Although Northern California doesn't produce the same Fall as Northern Illinois, we are still going to go all out for Fall, including a surprise trip back to Illinois very soon! My mom doesn't know when we are coming, but I told her to be prepared for Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch trips, and maybe I can even convince her to bake us some cookies :) We will probably hold off on pumpkin carving and Halloween decorating until October, but if it were up to Myles our whole house would be filled with 'punkin' right now! He is officially obsessed and I love it. Every time we go to the store we have to stop by the Halloween decorations and we have even already been to the Spirit Halloween store to pick out out costumes. But before I get too ahead of myself, here is our first Fall activity. 

If you follow me on Instagram (@theeveryday_momma), then you may remember one of these shots. We actually took this walk a couple weeks ago, when the temperatures were a little more Fall like (back to the 80s last and this week!) There is a big city park blocks from our house that we frequent. This particular day we decided to do some exploring and happened upon a secret trail.

Then we found some blackberries that Myles really wanted. I didn't know if they were okay, but my dad assured me they were just fine. I was still a little skeptical, but I went ahead and let him. He was happy and we are all still alive :)

What is on your Fall family bucket list to do over the next couple months?