what ethan is reading (age two)

A friend recently asked for a list of book recommendations for her little one to get started early on shopping for the holidays. Ethan is a huge bookworm and, at two, definitely has a clear opinion on which books are his favorite versus which ones are fine to collect dust on the shelves. He goes through these phases of being completely and utterly obsessed with different stories. Here are what books Ethan is currently into for anyone looking for recommendations for their little bookworms!

Chamelia by Ethan Long

The illustrations in this story are beyond beautiful and totally captivating for readers of all ages! I love the bold colors and patterns that make up each page. This one has a great storyline, too, that teaches little ones it's okay to be an individual and who you really are. Check it out on Amazon!

The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

Sandra Boynton's stories are always fun and sweet, and Ethan has really taken a liking to this one -- especially when the animals exercise. Check it out on Amazon!

See You Later, Alligator by Annie Kubler

This is a cute story about why it's always important to help others -- learned through the silly alligator who is taught a lesson. Ethan absolutely loves the fact that the alligator is a finger puppet and it adds to the cute charm of this story! Check it out on Amazon!

Tumble Bumble by Felicia Bond

Ethan pretty much has this entire one memorized. He'll have read his stories, been tucked into bed and mutter one last plea of "Tumble Bumble?" before we leave the room at bedtime. I can never say no. He loves this fun, rhyming story about a bunch of cute animals who make some new friends. Check it out on Amazon!

Anatole by Eve Titus

Fun fact: Ethan's copy of his book belonged to me when I was little. My mom had taken me when I was about four years old to a book signing by the author, who passed away in 2002. Having this autographed copy makes it all the more special reading it to Ethan all these years later. This is my husband's favorite book to read with Ethan. Ethan's favorite part is when "the mouse takes big shark bite of cheese!" Check it out on Amazon!

Pete The Cat Saves Christmas by James Dean

It's not Christmas but Ethan doesn't mind. He loves this story about Pete The Cat who helps Santa save the day with the help of his groovy minibus (the fact that "groovy" and "minibus" are now in Ethan's vocabulary are just an added adorable bonus). The story is told in a fun sing-song way complete with a signature song that we probably sing around our house all of the time. Check it out on Amazon!

Clifford's Day With Dad by Norman Bridwell

Ethan loves all of the Clifford books, but this one is his favorite. Clifford gets to visit with his dad and do all sorts of fun things like dig holes and chase frisbees. Check it out on Amazon!

On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

Chances are if you have a kid, you're familiar with this beautiful story. Ethan has really taken a liking to reading it and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me get all weepy each time! Check it out on Amazon!

Piggies by Audrey & Don Wood

This one belonged to my sister when she was a baby and Ethan absolutely loves it. It's a sweet fantasy story about piggies who come out and play on your fingers and toes at bedtime. The illustrations are beyond whimsical! Check it out on Amazon!

Curious George & The Firefighters

Ethan has a serious Curious George obsession, but this one story in particular has become a recent favorite. You can suggest any book you want, but it's not bedtime if it doesn't include this one. Ethan loves reading about the firefighters and the fire engines -- and his favorite curious little monkey who always manages to bring fun to any situation. Check it out on Amazon!

easy lunchboxes review and giveaway

I have been so! super! excited! to talk about Easy Lunchboxes with you guys! Ever since I tried them out, I have been a little obsessed with packing Ethan's lunches. I'm not sure how, but somehow these lunchboxes made the tedious chore that I always forgot about until the last minute something way more fun, exciting and creatively stimulating. I may or may not be guilty of texting my friend photos of every lunch I make, just because. They're just so fun! And, you know, they're functional, which is also a huge plus.

Ethan and I are usually on the go. I love to have lunches or snacks packed for him in the event we run late somewhere or he gets hungry when we're somewhere that doesn't exactly offer a nutritious meal option (or food at all, like a park). I typically use sandwich bags and then wrap everything up in a leftover plastic grocery bag to carry around with us. I hate using all that plastic and being responsible for all that waste being tossed into park trash cans. Using a bunch of different tupperware containers isn't much easier because I typically lose half, or misplace the lids, or leave them sitting in my car where they've rolled and been forgotten about. Enter Easy Lunchboxes which are the perfect solution for packing an entire lunch into one simple (and cute and effective) container!

Our Easy Lunchboxes lunch containers have made lunchtime a whole lot less stressful around our house and I love that it's just one container to remember to bring home and wash. A picnic at the park with a toddler just became a million and a half times easier. These lunch containers are made with the highest grade polypropylene plastic (#5) meaning they are perfectly fine to be microwaved, frozen or washed in the dishwasher without having to worry about toxic chemicals leaking out. When not in use, these lunch containers nest nicely so they don't take up a lot of room when stored. And when you are using them, they still stack neatly in the 'fridge so you can pack your lunches or snacks ahead of time. I've been doing a whole lot of packing ahead of time since we started using our Easy Lunchboxes! My husband typically prefers to buy his lunch at the salad bar at work, but I've since been insisting he takes his work just so I can pack them. Each lunch container is the perfect size for kids or adults, for snacks or for lunches. I get to use the same container for my husband's lunch and Ethan's lunch!

In addition to the lunch containers, Easy Lunchboxes also makes Mini Dippers which are perfect for sauces, dressings and dips. These Mini Dippers can also be used in the freezer or dishwasher as well (they're also BPA free!). The Mini Dippers also nest perfectly inside the lunch containers! Easy Lunchboxes also makes a great lunchbag that comes in a wide variety of colors (we have blue!). The lunch bag is vinyl-free, lead free, PVC-free and is machine washable. What I like about the lunch bag is how perfectly it fits the lunch containers. You can stack up to three lunch containers in each cooler bag and the perfect fit ensures that lunches are always kept upright. You don't have to worry about things being spilled or dumped by lunchtime.

I also wanted to note that Ethan and I brought our lunch containers on an impromptu picnic at the park. Without a picnic table to sit at, Ethan kept his lunch container on his lap and it was the perfect size to do so and for his little toddler self to handle comfortably!

Each Easy Lunchboxes lunch container set contains four lids (in assorted colors!) and four bottoms. Each set only costs $13.95 and what's really cool is that Easy Lunchboxes are available through Amazon with free Prime shipping as an option! I am loving how simple (and how fun) it is to pack Ethan's lunch ahead of time and then just grab our one lunch container and go without worrying about bags of tupperware or separate bags. It has made lunchtime a whole lot easier, that's for sure. We are completely hooked on our Easy Lunchboxes!

Can I just tell you that what's coming next also makes my day?!

Easy Lunchboxes is giving one of my readers the opportunity to win their very own set of lunch containers along with a lunch bag in their choice of color! This giveaway is open to US residents. Good luck!

TO BUY: Easy Lunchboxes lunch containers and accessories are available for purchase through Amazon!

TO WIN:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received these Easy Lunchboxes products to facilitate a product review. No compensation was provided and all opinions expressed are completely my own.

the yellow room

It's funny how much your life can completely change in just a few hours. That sounds dramatic. Maybe it is a little dramatic. All I know is last night we were all asleep in our warm, cozy beds enjoying my husband's vacation week from work and making plans to spend a day up on the beach in Jupiter. You know, swimming in the Intracoastal, the warm, cool blue water, wading among the mangroves with Ethan on his first trip to our favorite swimming spot. We woke up this morning and the pieces started to unravel bit by bit. Tonight, we officially moved into my old bedroom at my parents house.

When I lived in this room in high school, the walls were a deep magenta hue. My friends and I stuck our hands in purple paint and stamped purple handprints across the walls, scribbling phrases like "the time to hesitate is through" over the doorway. It drove my mother crazy and she wasted no time repainting and pulling up the deep purple carpet when I moved out. It seems this poor room has some kind of curse where it receives little to no natural light and is always painted an unfortunately dark and offensive color on top of it all. And now, a decade later, I'm back sleeping in it along with my husband and our two year old.

We noticed water leaking in our laundry room. Then we noticed water leaking in our garage. My husband noticed the baseboards on one of our walls was turning yellow from water damage and called a plumber. It turns out that a pipe had burst inside our walls. As a result, there was mold and mildew growing inside of the walls. You see, when we bought our house, the previous owners had built this little handy sink in the laundry room. We always thought it was a random little sink and never found a use for it but never thought much about it, let alone that they installed it poorly and the pipes inside the wall were destroyed because of it. Over the course of today, our house started to look a little bit like this:

Yeah.

It takes a few days to dry the walls. From there, we actually have to replace our walls in the hallway (you know, the hallway that runs the bulk of my house), the kitchen and the garage. Right now our house is unlivable. In a few days, it will have no walls. It's all pretty sudden, and pretty upsetting, especially considering our house is pretty new. In fact, I'm fairly certain it's one of the newest communities in our entire city. It hadn't even existed for a decade before we moved in. I'm upset because, well, tot school is there and Ethan has been asking for activities and he doesn't understand suddenly being uprooted. Plus, it's not like it was possible to prepare for this. Aside from bringing over a couple of grocery bags of clothing and toothbrushes, we didn't exactly have time to pack. I miss our home already and our routine. I already miss morning smoothies and spending time making art and listening to music in tot school.

It's a little frustrating, a little depressing and a whole lot stressful to think about at this point, but we're trying to make the best of it. At least we have homeowner's insurance and at least my parents live a less than ten minute drive away from us. I can only hope that this all moves quickly, smoothly and we're back in our home sweet home in no time. I promise to never complain again about how messy or tiny our house is. I miss it.

and i hear your name, no nothing has changed

My husband and I began dating when we were teenagers. I was fifteen and he was sixteen. I've told the story so much that it doesn't even require thought to type out anymore. I sentimentally hoard the t-shirts, the notes, the diary entries that tell the stories of wild, crazy teenage emotions on hormonal overdrive, the quick shift from best ever to worst ever and back again that only teenagers are capable of.

For the most part, people find this story endearing. Who doesn't love a love story with a happy ending? There's always the disbelief and then the whole "I could never imagine being with the same person now as I was at fifteen" thing. Sometimes things are just right and sometimes they happen sooner than you ever could have possibly planned, or hoped. I think a big misconception is that by having been with someone so long, you have it all figured out. You have them all figured out. There's suddenly nothing more to learn and no more room to grow or blossom. I don't believe that love is ever stunting, roots all tangled and dying without a place to spread out and grow.

I think that who I am at fifteen isn't who I am now, and the same can very much be said for my husband. He spent our first conversations talking about music and the local punk rock scene and somehow these aren't the only criteria when it comes to forming adult relationships. You don't stay together and wind up married because you both like the same Saves The Day album. To me, this means many years to learn to grow with this person instead of away from them. To grow alongside them, to learn to understand them and support them as their life develops in a way maybe different than you initially planned at sixteen when you were going to be rockstars and live wherever the Warped Tour takes you. There's always learning involved, always changing happening. Learning to grow and adapt with this change isn't always easy. Sometimes it's challenging. It's easier to look at someone and ask "where is the you I met fifteen years ago?" than it is to adapt, to accept, to continue growing.

When I was a junior in high school, I came to English class crying about some silly fight that my husband and I had in between classes. This was a common occurrence because when you're sixteen and your boyfriend says he doesn't like Ben Folds Five, your world ends a little bit. My teacher called me to her desk and told me that love wasn't supposed to hurt and I should remember that. Even at sixteen, that never made sense to me. Love can hurt, and it will hurt. It will sting and burn and tear you to pieces that feel impossible to put back together. Like most things worth fighting for, you'll have to fight for love. And this fight, it's going to be worth it.

As the years went on, my husband became an accountant. I only seventy-five percent understand what he does at work and sometimes when I ask him what he's working on, I'm unsure if we're even remotely speaking the same language. My husband will never understand why I silently cry listening to Bright Eyes in the car (and, no, he still doesn't like Ben Folds Five). I'm admittedly intimidated by the thought of attending his work events because of how out of place I will be in a corporate setting surrounded by people who didn't drop out of college in pursuit of something more artistic and creatively fulfilling. I think in my head how everyone will be staring at me and I'll likely walk in with fingerpaint on my dress and everyone will be asking what in the world my husband sees in me because I won't fit in. And then when we're walking into the creative arts mommy and me class that Ethan and I have recently enrolled in with my husband on his day off, I find myself thinking "please, please don't be so uptight today -- it's just mud" three minutes before Ethan sploshes the gooey mud onto his new shoes. I could almost feel my husband's brain exploding from where he stood in horror, a totally plastic smile painted onto his face.

But who we are as people, the core of us, we are the same as we were that August day in front of building 7 when we first made eye contact on the first day of my sophomore year. We are simply evolved versions, more intricate versions of our former teenage selves and how wonderful it is to have someone to encourage our growth along, even when it's tricky. Even when it's hard. Even when you're almost thirty and still having to defend your choice to live together at eighteen to certain relatives. Even when you feel like you're a hundred and things felt a lot easier when you only had to worry about getting $8 Alkaline Trio concert tickets outside some smoky hole-in-the-wall club. Because love is always evolving. We as people are always evolving. And how boring it would be to think that we had everything figured out with nothing new to learn.

oatmeal peanut butter almond no bake cookies -- or whatever you want to call them

The plague has hit our house. Poor Ethan is on his first nebulizer corticosteroids in I don't know how long and even my husband woke up with his first symptoms this morning. When I was a kid, my mom would lose her mind anytime we got sick and in between spraying entire cans of Lysol in our bedrooms declare, "if I get sick, it's all over!" For years, this did nothing but drive my sister and I completely insane. And then, you know, I became a mother and suddenly I understand it completely. Moms don't get sick days. We get days spent breaking our "no television" rule with pieces of toilet paper rammed up our nostrils. (No? Just me?) I hate to even jinx it, but it appears that Ethan and I are on the mend. Aside from his whole breathing thing -- which I anticipate taking weeks to right itself, unfortunately -- we seem to have moved onto once again possessing the capability to function as normal members of society. I even went to the store today to pick up more honey. I had almost forgotten what the sun looked and felt like.

Because looking around my house at the turmoil that occurs when everyone is sick does nothing but stress me out and make me want to hide under my bed (and wish I had a dollar for each half-eaten bowl of cold soup left piled up on the counter), I decided to try a different technique. So we made cookies instead.

Ethan likes these because they're no bake, which means he can start inhaling them immediately. I like these because they offer a perfect distraction technique from the chaos and disorder of this house (did I mention our laundry room decided this was an opportune time to spring a leak?).

1 cup rolled oats
1/4c flaxseed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4c chunky peanut butter
2 tablespoons almond butter
1/4c honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons chocolate chips
2 tablespoons raisins
ground almonds to roll cookies in

1. Combine oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, nutmeg in a bowl.

2. Melt peanut butter and almond butter (I microwaved for 40 seconds) and stir. Allow a few seconds to cool. Mix in honey and vanilla.

3. Pour peanut butter mixture into dry ingredients and stir until combined (or use your hands). Add in the raisins and chocolate chips.

4. Form small balls with the dough and roll into crushed or ground almonds. Cookies can be ready to eat immediately, or you can refrigerate until cooled!