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A Gift Guide for Pairing Toys with Books // Second Edition

November 15, 2017 Rachel Nevergall
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I had so much fun putting these together last year that I wanted to do round two. To learn more about this check out the original post about Toy and Book gifting.

Here are a few of my favorite books from this year and some darling toys to go along with them.

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Over and Under the Pond and Otter Finger Puppet

I included these little finger puppets in last year's gift guide and I just couldn't resist doing it again. They are so cute! I want one too! Maybe the alpaca! 

Also this book is darling and there are others in the series I am excited about. 

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Thelma the Unicorn or Extra Yarn or Knit Together and Yarn Unicorn Craft

This pairing comes with three different book pics. I originally chose the unicorn book because unicorns are definitely having a moment and we loved this book. But then when I saw this unicorn craft using yarn I immediately remembered these two other books we read this year both about yarn and both might be on my top 10 favorite children's books (I'm going to need to work on that one later this year!) All three books have wonderful messages for children and that yarn craft looks like such a fun together activity. 

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All About Cars and Lego Duplos Cars and Trucks

This has been my most favorite book to gift this year. The book is just filled with all sorts of vehicles, some real, but mostly made up. Like a POOP CAR! A POOP CAR! What kid doesn't like a POOP CAR! It is such a fun book for kids to flip through on their own and find their favorite vehicles. A perfect one to NOT have to always read to them. My favorite kind! Also, I think these Duplo cars would be a fun pairing because kids can then make up vehicles of their own. Mix and match and create the next great car! I love open ended play like this. 

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World Pizza and Pizza Felt Kit

I have not read this book yet but the description just looked too great to pass up, especially since we are a big pizza family. We do have this pizza felt kit and the kids still have lots of fun with it creating their own pizza creations. 

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The Mermaid and Mermaid Peg Doll Craft

Another book I have not read yet as it has just come out. But it is a new Jan Brett book! And it's about Mermaids! So you can't go wrong with that. And I love all the little craft kits that Seedling puts together. This little Mermaid Peg Doll looks like a fun and easy craft for your little one and something they can play with the book. Craft and Book pairings are so natural. 

In Christmas, GIfts, Books
← Advent Book Calendar // Second EditionHow to Make Experience Gifting Fun for All →
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Hi there! I'm Rachel.

I believe each morning is a fresh start and I believe hot coffee is step one. 

It is here that I celebrate each day as an opportunity to seek the creative inside both our children and ourselves so that we can all       raise and shine. 

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It’s been a few frames since we had a Leo smile so I thought I’d throw this one in. I promise the other two are still very much present in my day to day. But this guy here is the only one who will stay put when I plop him down. Literally, he doesn’t move. The therapist in me has anxiety/shame about this on the regular. But when I look deep into my heart I feel like I needed this one to take his time. I needed him to be at my side just a little bit longer than most. And I needed to remember to trust that he and I will get to where we need to be when it’s time. And also you know the second I saw these laundry carts we were going to have a Friends moment. 🧺 I give you this horribly grainy and very goofy photo to share a really important person. This is my sister, @emilyestelle3. Emily graduated yesterday with her dental degree. Which seems like it would be a hard thing. But she also completed this while raising two little ones. She went to her dental interviews as a new mom of a three week old, pumping in between intellectual conversations with smart people. She moved her family to start her education, ultimately single parenting for part of the week so her husband could keep his job across state. She studied after putting her babies to bed. She powered through pregnancy and postpartum to show up every day for her education. She did the thing where you balance your personal needs with your children’s needs and she did it like it was no thing. Being the older concerned sister that I am, I thought she was nuts. I really did. I find parenting to be hard enough, but parenting and pursuing an education sounded like a terrible idea. I would not so subtly ask her questions like “so how are you going to do that with a baby?” And she would just shrug her shoulders and tell me “Whatever. We’ll figure it out.” Her tone was defensive but I’m sure there was some anxiety there. But what is stronger than anxiety is grit. What is more powerful than fear is determination. What is just about the best example to set for your children on pursuing a goal is to actually pursue one yourself, all while loving and caring for them along the way. She might tell you I’m her mom mentor. This may be true. I started the journey 2 years before she did so I knew a couple of things. But let me put it on record to say, Em, you are my dream go-getter mentor, if that is a thing. You teach me every day that if you want something for yourself, there is never going to be the perfect time to get it. The stars are not going to magically align for you. It also might sort of suck for parts of it. But whatever, you’ll figure it out. Em, you figured it out. I’m so proud of you. ❤️ Last year he stood with two feet on the ground, eyes gazing up, equal parts envy and wonder, at the bigger kids climbing high into this tree like giant squirrels. I want to do that, he whined. Next year maybe you'll be big enough for that, I told him. Next year to a 3 year old is further than the moon. It’s further than Christmas or their next birthday. It might as well just be a no. And yet here we are, a trip around the sun later and I hear a shout “hey mom” from behind my shoulder as we play at the same familiar playground. Well look who is up in that tree. This is where I should say “Darn these kids they grow up so fast.” But that’s not what I was thinking as I looked up in that tree. I was thinking how little he looked. // I’ve been thinking a lot lately how I push my kids to be big, to grow, to move on to the next thing. Perhaps I need to see them as little instead. // New post on the blog today on letting them be little. Even when they do big things.🌲 My office has moved. Please forward my mail. And maybe bring me an ice tea with lemon, unsweetened thanks. ☀️ “Mum.” I would love it if that little word of his was for me. It’s not. It’s for his other deep love, “food.” Or “eat.” Or “give me whatever it is you are eating right now before I start my pterodactyl scream.” He is at that super fun stage when he is making sense of the random sounds he makes and turning them into words. Making it all the more important for me to watch what words we give to him. I am a writer. I know words matter. But that doesn’t stop me from using words with my kids that would probably be better sent through an editor first. Wouldn’t it be great, though, if only the good words from mom were the ones that stuck? // Today on the blog I’m sharing another round of #RaiseYourMomGame with Words from Mom. Three different phrases I have heard the moms in my life use with their children that I find worth repeating. Oh 💩 not included. Let’s keep the conversation going! What are your best Words from Mom? I dug my toes into the sand and heard the water whisper... ✨”Welcome back.”✨ On Mother’s Day, I long to bring comfort to those grieving for a mom, wishing to be a mom, frustrated and confused by motherhood. I’m a peacemaker, I want to make it right. But I can’t do that for you. What I can do, though, is find the gratitude in my being. I am grateful to be their mother. I am grateful to have a mother to call upon when I need help. I am grateful to be surrounded by partners who support those who mother. I am grateful to walk along side other mothers. I can’t bring healing to those who long to be in my position. But I can promise to be grateful for the privilege I have been given. And I can also promise to offer a less than pretty picture of my pile of kids in bed with messy breakfast faces in case you are disappointed by that posed photo you tried to get without success. “Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.” ☀️ Edith Wharton And drink it we have. Sunshine has been spotty these last few weeks. But when it was here, I believe we made it count. If you hadn’t guessed by my name, sunshine and light are important to me. I gather it in a vessel, one drop at a time, so when the days are less than bright I still have nourishment. Sometimes the collecting of sunshine happens in my heart. But more often then not, I do it through word and image. I went looking for a picture today and discovered so many memories have been captured behind this lens while we were drinking in our days, but I never stopped to share. Likely I was waiting for just the right words to say when sometimes you just need the pictures to tell your stories. Speaking of stories, I’m throwing open my window today and sharing a life-lately update on the Insta stories. May there be many an open window and sunshine ahead in your weekend! Also, PS, note the return of the summer beach blanket. I think perhaps it needs a hashtag if its own. #raiseandshineblanket What is our morning routine, you ask? Well we start out great with a well rounded breakfast and light conversation around the table. Then I realize we’ve wasted too much time and everyone needs to get dressed. Then someone can’t find the other sock to their favorite set. Then someone else comes up in the same outfit they wore to school yesterday and has a meltdown when they are told to change. Then I forget I haven’t made lunches yet and can you make a lunch from the heels of the bread and these over squishy strawberries? Before long the alarm goes off, the one set to gently remind us to put shoes on and walk peacefully out the door. But I’m still in my pajamas, so is the baby, where are my keys, get your shoes on, they are right there where you left them, please don’t stand in the middle of the hallway where I need to get by to go put on some clothes, not those shoes these shoes, no I don’t know where your library book is, seriously, where are my keys, WHY AREN’T YOUR SHOES ON YET, crash-bang, I found my keys but I broke a bowl. So it’s fine. But I think we are ready for a break. Thus begins the countdown to summer. 26 days of school left and it can’t come sooner. I’m trying out a new thing this year and doing an ABC countdown to summer. Read all about it on the blog today. Have you already begun your countdown? ☀️ Do you date yourself? I took myself on a date for my birthday recently. I treated it like I do any other date with someone important. I made sure it was on the calendar in advance. I planned something special to look forward to. And I spent lots of time listening to myself. Sounds pretty woo-woo. But it’s so restorative. I get too caught up in the influence of other voices that I forget to listen to my own quiet whispers. Seeing my time alone as a date and being intentional about it allows space for this reflection and reset. But a date with yourself doesn’t have to look like my birthday tradition. Any intentional time set aside just for you can work too. Today on the blog I shared my birthday date with myself as well as other ideas that can work with varying needs. Day drinking at a bar with a cozy mystery and messy BLT was a pretty great solo date, if I do say so myself. What do you do on your solo dates??
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away”
— Pablo Picasso
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