One thing that I enjoy, outside of photography, is cooking! I didn’t always enjoy it. I used to eat the same two or three things every night. Now, I love everything about it. I love meal planning each week and going shopping every Monday and, I’m not gonna lie, cooking is sometimes a nice little break after a long day at home with Florence. ;-)

Last night, we had our first dinner outside! It was a beautiful day so we decided to grill. By the time dinner was ready, it was starting to get a little chilly, but at that point I was determined to make it happen. A little brisk weather never hurt anyone, right? We had a tuna and avacado salad from Ina Garten AND a sesame noodle salad that I’ve been making forever, from Rachel Ray.

Before we go on, I must confess:

1. Florence didn’t like it. She DID however enjoy picking the sesame seeds off of the noodles, throwing her food to the dogs and screaming at the top of her lungs.

2. Our dogs are ill-behaved and beg at every meal. I can’t say that I blame them though because I would stand in wait if a 14 month old threw half of her meal at me 3 times a day too.

3. Oh dear … our grass. Let’s just pretend you didn’t see that, okay?

Someone could not wait for dinner, so she stole a few slices of bread while she waited and kindly shared with the dogs.

She was busy screaming about dinner not being up to her standards and I pointed the camera at her and told her that I was going to blog about her being a bad eater and I swear, she turned and smiled at me just like this!

At least she found the pups entertaining. :-)

Every night before we put Florence in her crib, like many families, we have story time! Unlike story time back in the day, Florence now has lots of opinions on what stories she wants to have read to her. So, I thought I’d share a few of our favorites and hopefully you all can give me some new ideas too! Reading the same stories over and over can get a bit old, no matter how many funny voices you do. ;-)

These are my number one picks…

–The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen [Apparently someone has made a song to go with this book! haha! So you can get a little preview if you’d like. ] – We’ve loved this one from the start and it’s perfect for bedtime, because (spoiler alert) the pout-pout fish becomes a kiss-kiss fish. :-)

–I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen – This is another one that Florence has loved as long as she’s been interested in what we were reading to her. I don’t know if it’s the voices that we do or the illustrations, but Florence would most definitely put this on her favorites list and so would Jason and I.

– Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty – This book is a new addition to our library and it’s totally my favorite, but to be honest, Florence still isn’t completely sold on it. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is so cute and everything rhymes (I think rhymes are so much more fun to read, don’t you?). I’m going to keep pushing it and I’m sure that eventually she’ll be as into it as I am.

–Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems – This book is by the author of the Elephant and Piggie and the Pigeon series of books. I highly recommend it.

So, what toddler/kid books would you recommend?

I hope everyone had a wonderful, beautiful Easter day. :-)