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By Brianna Or "Brianna loves the Love Monster and everything that goes with it!" Read why this series is a favorite, and meet the not-at-all scary monster that will steal your heart, too. This post contains affiliate links. If you use one of these links to buy the products mentioned, we get paid, and that helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks! Love Monster, by Rachel BrightSome books manage to be sweet, adorable, silly, and profound, all at once. It’s a lot to ask of 32 pages, but when you find a book like that, you find that you cherish it and want to share it with the world. 
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By Brianna In which Brianna and Ariel discuss the pros and cons of the parenting book UnSelfie, which touts "9 Essential Habits that Provide the Empathy Advantage." Should you read this book? Could being kind really help your kid get ahead? Or is it so much touchy-feely fluff? Read on to find the answers. If you decide you'd like to purchase this book, the links in this article are affiliate links. Buying this book will result in a payout to us, which helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks! UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, by Michel Borba, Ed. D. By Ariel In which Ariel discusses When Your Lion Needs a Bath and When Your Elephant Has the Sniffles by Susanna Leonard Hill and Daniel Wiseman. This post contains affiliate links. If you use them you are helping to keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks!  I love an excuse to be silly with Bean. Now I don’t know if you’re like me but sometimes silliness comes easily to me. And sometimes? It does not. This usually occurs when my day has not been going according to plan. This is why I gravitate toward goofy children’s books. Reading a good book is the most effective and efficient way to put me in a better mood! So when you want to be silly but you need a push in the right direction reach for the What if… series written by Susanna Leonard Hill and illustrated by Daniel Wisemen.
By Brianna In which Brianna takes absurd delight in the plight of a former Commander in Chief of these United States. Though the story is probably apocryphal, it nevertheless makes for a silly and charming picture book. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase anything using those links, we get paid, which helps keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks! President Taft is Stuck in the Bath, by Mac Barnett and Chris Van DusenOne of my favorite kinds of humor involves taking a very silly or trivial matter, and coloring it with such seriousness and hyperbole, that it becomes absurd. I tell my husband that his cookies will be ready in 10 minutes, and he says he’s appalled that he’ll have to wait 15. I remind him the number was 10, and now he moans about the 20 minute wait. By the time the cookies are done, he is dramatically moping about having waited three hours for them. Then he grins, says “thanks” as he gives me a kiss, and takes a cookie.  By Ariel In which Ariel delights in Boon's whimsical bath toys. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for you support! Boon's Jellies, Cogs and Pipes  Bean is an aquatic baby. She is happiest surrounded by water. Whether she is in the pool, the bath, the shower or even the occasional puddle – it doesn’t matter – she is in her element! So, here in the Bean household, we are serious about bath toys. Some of our favorites are made by Boon. Boon makes innovative and interesting products, but they excel when it comes to bath time fun! In particular, we love Boon’s Jellies, Cogs and Pipes.
By Ariel In which Ariel breaks down the process of how her and her partner set both long and short term goals in order to keep their family on track to accomplishing everything they want out of their time together. How to Set Goals with a Partner, Co-parent or Co-parents  Why you Should Set Goals with your Partner, Co-parent, or Co-parents Getting a group of people with conflicting goals to do anything is like herding cats. That is one of my favorite colloquialisms, because anyone who has ever been around multiple cats can instantly picture what you are talking about. This is especially true of parenting teams, whether you are married, divorced or somewhere in between. If your goals don’t align you may be going full steam ahead in opposite directions. Ultimately? This undermines everyone’s efforts.
For those of us who are married or in a long-term committed relationship, we like to think “my partner and I are so in sync and so in love that we are the exception to this rule!” I hate to burst your bubble, but you are wrong. Without purposeful, honest and consistent communication, we quickly lose sight of where we are going as a couple and as a family. And – for some of us – as individuals. I say this, because even though I am an obsessive goal setter, my husband is my sounding board, if I didn’t update him periodically on my personal goals, I would lose sight of my greater purpose. By Brianna In which Brianna breaks down winter outerwear for snow newbies. Monkey’s daddy is a Marine, and his job moves us around quite a bit. We’re both from New York (state) and used to playing outdoors all year. However, the vast majority of Marines will spend most of their careers stationed in very warm climates, as most of their bases are in the American South, Southern California, or the South Pacific. Today, we live in Michigan. To us the winters we have spent here are hardly different from what we experienced growing up. Wind chill, lake effect, black ice, snow plows are all terms and realities we grew up with. So when it came time to play with our little Monkey in the winter, we knew what she needed, because our parents had swathed us in similar attire.  This article is not for people like us. In the military community, we have made friends with people who have never left the South before finding themselves and their children suddenly thrust into the cold arms of a Northern winter (and of course, civilian families might relocate for better jobs, too). It’s hardly Game of Thrones up here, but many states south of Virginia shut down in the face of more than an inch of snow or a day of ice. People from these areas, you know who you are, and I, a native Northerner, am here to help you and your kids through this. I know from experience that a drastically different climate can be a BIG adjustment! My first summer in North Carolina was awful. The air conditioner in our house stopped working, and the humidity gave me a headache that lasted over a week. I thought I’d have to be scraped off the parking lot on my way into the grocery store. Well fear not, my Southern friends, I will not let your children turn into popsicles!
By Brianna
In past reviews, I’ve mentioned that I do most of my non-picture book reading with audiobooks. I’ve been a fan of audiobooks for a long time, but they’re especially important to me now that I’m a parent. First, let me explain what an audiobook is, in case you’re just joining this awesome party, and then we’ll get into why you should give them a shot. At the end, catch a promo for one of our favorite audiobook services. If you use it, we get paid, and that helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks!
What's an audiobook?
Audiobooks are actual print books that are read in a studio and recorded for others’ listening pleasure. Many people call them by the format in which they first encountered listening to books, such as:
Books on tape. Books on CD. MP3 books.
These are all formats for the recording, but they all fall under the broader heading of audiobooks. I choose to use this broader term, because for our purposes it is the most precise. I encourage you to use this term, as well, if you ask for a recorded book at the library or as a gift. If you use “book on tape,” the person doing the fulfilling might think you’re married to that format, and tell you it isn’t available, when it might be available on a disc, or as a digital download instead. Or your friend might gift you a box of tapes, when you don't even own a cassette player.
By Ariel In which Ariel expounds upon the Bilibo by Moluk - a strange looking toy with unlimited potential! This post contains affiliate links by using them you are helping to keep Busy Nest News up and running. Bilibo by Moluk  In an ideal world every toy that enters my house would be sleek, minimalist, wooden and, preferably, not make noise – unless it is a musical instrument! But that isn’t realistic. Other people love my child and want what they think is best for her too. And while I would love to unleash my controlling tendencies- “Bring out the toy police! No Barbie for you!”- that isn’t healthy for me or Bean.
I can only reasonably control what toys I purchase. This Christmas I chose Moluk – the Bilibo to be exact. Sleek and minimalist? Check. Wooden? Nah. But I am willing to overlook that for a toy this incredible. By Brianna In which Brianna endeavors to acquaint those new to snowy regions with the essential tools for winter wonder enjoyment. This post will contain some affiliate and non-affiliate links, but it's all great. If you make a purchase using an affiliate link, we get money from that sale, which helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks!  Greetings, snow newbie! If this is your first winter playing in the snow with kiddos, you are in for some fun!
Good news! If you’ve ever brought toys to the beach, you are in luck. Snow isn’t all that different. That is, if it’s the sticky kind of snow. Some snow is very soft, and powdery. That snow is beautiful, but it is difficult to really play with. You need dense, wet snow. How do you know if the snow is good for packing? Try making a simple snowball in your (gloved) hands. If it sticks together and forms a decent ball, it’s ready. |
AuthorsAriel and Brianna are friends who met while working in a library. Now they collaborate to develop life-enhancing book club experiences. Archives
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