Happy Birthday, Gus!

My sweet Gus turned 3 yesterday.  Although I believe he will still tell you he is 5.

Gus requested an Elephant and Piggie cake for his birthday.  If you don't know about Elephant and Piggie, you can view my previous post here.

This is what Gus thought of his cake...

Add some pretty awesome presents from his grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts and uncles and this kid had a great day.

Elephant and Piggie

Not too long ago I wrote about the Elephant and Piggie books .  They are still an absolute favorite in our house.  While there are other children's books that I like, nothing tops good ol' Elephant and Piggie.  Did you know that there are Elephant and Piggie stuffed toys?  Of course there are.  Why not?  Do the Fiene boys have them?  Of course they do!  While they cost much more than I would normally spend on a stuffed animal, I think they are worth every cent.  This could be because they weren't my cents to begin with

Gerald and Piggie go with John and Gus everywhere.  They eat with them, sleep with them.  Gus even tried to get Gerald in the bath with him.  I think I see another Gerald and Piggie purchase in my future, just to have as a back-up.

Along with Elephant and Piggie, Gus and John have started to carry around Horton and a big stuffed pig they call Piggie's Mom.  I asked if Horton was Gerald's dad and Gus gave me a very weird look and quickly exclaimed that it was Horton, NOT Gerald's dad.  Like that would be absurd.  I didn't ask anymore questions after that.  I try to go with the flow and not look too stupid.

So, if your kids love the Elephant and Piggie books, they might just like a stuffed Gerald and Piggie.  I can't promise it will be worth every cent, but if your kids are like mine, they'll get hours of enjoyment.

Books, Books and more Books!

We love books in our family.  I read all the time before I had kids, and then my choices of material were limited since I really can't read a John Grisham or Mary Higgins Clark novel to my kids.  It's only now that I work in a library that I am able to have enough time alone that I read what I want to again.  But this isn't about me or my book choices for adults.  Since I work in the children's department at the library and have kids at home that love books, I thought I would share some of the books I come across that we really enjoy.  It's great when you find a book that is tolerated by adults since it will be read approximately 5023 times.

My first series to rave about is the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems.  We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these books.  They are so simple yet say so much.  They are funny and light hearted, and the boys love to memorize the words so they can read them over and over again to each other.  I'm pretty sure these books have only spent 5 minutes on the shelf since entering our home.  Willems also has a Pigeon series that John finds hysterical.  But John finds everything hysterical.