.: Thank you Mr. & Mrs. Ralston

Jo's parents are always incredibly sweet to Dylan and Caitlin. This year they sent them sweet birthday cards with Barnes and Noble gift cards inside. The kids were thrilled with the gift!! They absolutely love books! (That makes Mommy so happy!) They also enjoyed the gift cards. They called the gift cards their "credit cards" and could not wait to go shopping with them. (Too bad Santa didn't have a crystal ball, had he seen how excited they get over gift cards, he might have made some different choices for Christmas!)
Here are some pics of the kids before we went shopping!

So, on January 12th we made a special trip to Barnes and Noble so Dylan and Caitlin could use their gift cards. Once we arrived at the children's department, Caitlin walked around pointing out all of the books we already own. Then, the hard process of picking out a book began. Luckily before we went to the store Caitlin had decided that she wanted another book by Kevin Henkes. Caitlin loves his books as well as his beautiful mice illustrations. (Did you know that Caitlin loves mice? I sure am glad that she never has met a live one!) Caitlin chose a precious book called Lilly's Big Day. Not only is it a darling story that makes me laugh out loud, but it is about a flower girl! Then, Caitlin also decided that she needed a stuffed Angelina Ballerina. (Caitlin has decided that she wants to take dance classes next year like Angelina.)

After a little coaching from Mommy, Dylan chose Maybe a Bear Ate It by Robbie Harris. It is the perfect story for Dylan. The story totally reminds us of him. Have you ever heard Dylan come up with a list of why something is lost or why something is happening? For example, if he hears a baby crying he will start the list... maybe the baby misses her mommy, maybe the baby wants a toy, maybe the baby is sad... Well, in this book the main character loses his book and comes up with a list of things that might have happened to it. Dylan also selected a stuffed red dragon. The red dragon loves to attack his castle that he got from his Aunt and Uncle.