Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas wish lists don't exist in our house as I don't want my kids to think  that Christmas is all about toys and then lose sight of what this holiday is really about. We  gift them no more than 4 gifts each and I'm pretty picky about what kind of gifts these are. Usually, they receive a toy they desire, a book or bible related item, a board game and maybe some clothing. Even though we limit their gifts (they still get some gifts from grandparents and other family members/ friends), they truly enjoy the ones they get. These gifts are usually not ones that are one the "top-toy" lists but rather ones that will lasts several years and foster creativity and imagination.  So here is my list of gift ideas for an entire family:

1. Lego Duplo: Since I was a kid, we played with Lego Duplo blocks and now my kids love playing with them. Especially the Lego Duplo Train Set is a big hit in our house. And it is easy to purchase add-on gifts throughout the years to expand this collection.
2. Adult coloring books and good coloring pencils: To relax after a long day, I like to take my coloring book and color away, usually while lounging on the couch and watching some tv. I truly enjoy it and it is a very calming, no thinking activity. Good coloring pencils make a huge difference though, so it is worth investing in these. 
3. Books and Puzzles: We all love to read books and even though I stopped buying a lot of books as we go weekly to our public library, I enjoy giving each child a book for Christmas. Something special just for them that they like to read (For example, my daughter loves her bible story books). They also love to do puzzles and we have several big floor puzzles they play with.
4. Baking pans from USA Pans: if you have a woman/ man in your life who likes to cook or bake, then she/he will love this gift. There is no need to oil the pans before using them (even for brownies) because the baked goodies slide right out of them and you just wipe the pan clean.
5. This one is funky, but if you have one or more little men in your house, this will be an awesome gift: A kiddie urinal . It is perfect for toilet training little boys. No more hit and miss with the toilets and bleaching bathroom floors.
6.  Amazon Prime Membership: We were given this membership as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago and I must say it was one of the best gifts ever. We are using it almost daily since Amazon offers some of the best prices on all kind of things (like books, household items, clothing and novelty products) and with this membership you get 2-day free shipping as well as access to a music, video  and Kindle book library. The $99 annual fee is so worth the money as an entire family can enjoy it.
7. Family Board Games: My daughter has reached an age, where she enjoys playing board games with us. And so it is no wonder that we already accumulated a collection of board games and every Christmas I like to add a new game to the collection. As a child, I remember spending lots of afternoons playing board games with my friends and family; memories I truly cherish.   
8. Anything cars or trains for the little man in your life is always a hit. My son spends hours zooming around the house with these and I love that they are wooden and will lasts for a while. You know, boys are quite rough with their toys.
9. Dress-up clothes: I like to buy these after the holidays (think Halloween or Christmas) are over for a steep discount and then gift them the next year. Especially my little girl likes to play dress-up and comes up with new designs or characters every day. I like that the costumes inspire their imagination and both kids can play with them for years to come. 
10. Outdoor Gear/ Tools: My husband enjoys working in the yard and so a new tool might come in handy as a Christmas gift. He also likes to hike and wants to introduce camping (in the backyard for now) to the kids, so he would be happy about a Pop-Up Tent for Christmas. 
11. Peg Dolls: For a while now, I have been making these wooden peg dolls for my kids to play with and they really like them as they use their imagination and creativity to come up with stories. These dolls are for all ages and include fairies, princesses, super heroes and villains as well as animals; they can pretty much be anything, you want them to be. For example, I will be making some elves and a Christmas family soon to add to our collection. These are personal gifts and great as stocking stuffers. (If you are interested in purchasing some peg dolls, I'm happy to custom make them for you. Lots of possible characters are available to suit any need. Contact me if you are interested)

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Fall Pictures

Amelia had picture day at school in October and the photographer was so nice and did siblings shots as well as some of my little boy. I love these pictures of my two babies :)

November Thoughts

Thanks to daylight savings time (which must have been invented by a single man who doesn't care about other people), the first week of November was a little doozy. The kids woke up at 5am, ate lunch at 10:30am and by 5pm they were tired and cranky. Luckily, it only took them a few days to adjust to the 1-hour time difference and then we were back on track. 

I made this picture frame at a friends house one afternoon. Perfect decoration for fall.

November is a month of saying thanks and so we started telling each other at the dinner table for whom or what we are thankful for that day. It is also the month to drop-off our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. We chose to pack 3 boxes this year with toys, hygiene articles and school supplies for needy children in the world.  We also included a note, prayer and a picture. It is a simple box filled with a simple message: God loves all the children of the world. Our church will track these boxes so we will know what country they were delivered too. After explaining to the kids the message behind the boxes and showing them pictures online of past recipients, the kids were eager to help me pack the shoe boxes. 

I always love a good opportunity to teach our children how good we live and how we can help others. It is important to instill in them early the need to help and what better way is there to do it right before Christmas season. Next up is the Angel Tree Project, where we will choose a child's name from a tree at our church and then purchase a Christmas gift for this needy child in our community. 

Wednesday was Veteran's Day and Amelia learned in school about the 5 branches of the military and what a soldier/ veteran is. We are thankful to all of our veterans, but especially Daddy and Grandpa, for serving our country. 

My husband when he was stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1990

The first week of November, we had a lot of rain (finally) and some cooler temperatures. When we didn't play outside in the leaves, the kids enjoyed painting or playing with play-dough while I curled up on my chair to read. 

Indy, our cat loves to curl up next to us and Amelia enjoys reading to her:

Last Saturday, the girls went to the mall for a brief shopping trip (I needed some cold-weather clothes) and after a quick lunch, we went to see the Jungle Book at the Davidson Community Theater. Amelia and I enjoyed this performance as it was done by children for children and involved lots of audience participation. In the beginning, my little girl was a bit afraid of the character but then she warmed up to them. 

The next day, Amelia performed with the Cherub Choir at both of the services at our church. For the past 8 weeks, the kids (ages 4-7 yrs) practiced every Wednesday evening for 30 minutes their song. Unfortunately, Amelia as well as a couple of other kids got stage fright during their first performance but relaxed and did well for the second service 2 hours later. Here is my little girl singing her heart out for Jesus: 

Luckily, this week we enjoyed once more some beautiful fall weather with cold nights and sunny days. The kids just love playing outside in the leaves (and they even rake them in order to jump in to them), hanging out in the backyard or swinging away at the playground.

So far, November has treated us well and I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, the annual Christmas parade and the begin of the holiday season. 

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Last Saturday, Amelia's girlfriend Eva invited her to build-a-bear workshop to celebrate her 5th birthday with her best friend. These two girls are like two peas in a pot and get along very well and love to hang out with each other. Unfortunately, Eva and her family will be moving this month and so this was a bittersweet celebration. Nonetheless, the girls were really excited and ready to stuff a bear. 

First, one has to choose the right bear: 

Next, the girls chose a heart for their bears and then they got stuffed. Of course, a professional did that for them: 

Once the bears are stuffed, their hearts are put in. They say a special blessing while doing it: 

And then the bears got stitched up and the girls were ready to wash them and look at accessories:

Amelia, mommy and her new bear:

Of course the bear needed a name for his birth certificate so they named the bears after each other (so sweet!) as a reminder of their friendship: Eva Bear and Amelia.

The happy girls Eva and Amelia with their new bears:

What a fun morning we all had. Thank you Eva for inviting us and creating this priceless memory with us.  We will miss you dearly. Mommies and the girls and their bears:

Trick-or-Treat

On Friday there was no school but there was the annual trick-or-treating event in Downtown Mooresville. All the kids came dressed up in costumes and then went from store to store where most businesses handed out candy during a 2-hour window in the afternoon. When we arrived a little after 3:30pm, I was shocked to see a huge line on both sides of the street and tons of children. My kids were patiently waiting in line (eating some candy probably helped too).

Many of the business owners dressed up to hand out candy and so we saw Elsa, Anna and Olaf (from the movie Frozen) as well as other fun costumes. 

But by far, the highlight was seeing Mickey and Minnie Mouse:

 

My cute little trick-or-treaters:

 

Right after the downtown event, there were multiple fall festivals going on at churches nearby, so we went and checked one out. They had 3 different bounce houses, face painting, music, more trick-or-treating, free food and goodies as well as a pumpkin patch where each child could chose their own pumpkin and decorate it. 

It was a wonderful community event and I'm glad, I took the kids out to experience it. The next day was Halloween, but we kept it low key as Amelia and I had a girls' morning out with friends and the kids were pretty exhausted from all the Halloween festivities during the past few days. So around 6:30pm we dressed the kids in their costumes one last time and took them to a few neighbors for trick-or-treating. We saw a lot of kids going from door to door and handed out quite a bit of candies ourselves. 

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!