Top 5 Toys Played with By All Ages

Hey everyone! It's summer time, so I obviously have been spending a TON of time with my 3 kids.  It has been glorious.  It has also made me realize how much s#*t we have.  I sat down after several visits with family from out of town and I realized there are a few staple items that ALWAYS get played with despite the ages of the children/adults playing with them.  This thought has seriously made me consider getting rid of everything else.  After all, my kids can have fun in a cardboard box, no lie!

So here are the top 5 toys in no particular order...

#1
Play Kitchen and accessories

My kids got their kitchen for Christmas (VERY similar to the one above).  We invested in a wooden kitchen because we liked the look and hoped that it would be more durable.  We had a plastic one in the past that we picked up from a rummage sale.  It did the job for awhile, but the knobs broke off and stickers began to peel.

Along with the kitchen we also decided the wisest investment would be in wooden play food.  Melissa and Doug has many awesome play sets.  Learning Resources also has some very sturdy plastic sets that we purchased too.

#2
Doodle Pad

I love this item because my 1 year old loves scribbling those preliminary marks, my 4 year loves practicing her name, and my 7 year old can write words and sentences.  I even enjoy challenging myself to draw a picture without having to erase.  We have a simple one that has one pen.  I know others come with stamps, but I know we would lose those quickly.

#3
Drums & other musical instruments

We are a very musical family.  My husband was actually a professional touring musician for awhile.  I love to sing, but really can't carry a tune.  Hopefully my kids take after him. Haha!  We don't mind the noise, in fact, we encourage it.  EVERY.SINGLE.KID that comes to our house has to try their hand at the drums.  I love it!  Last week, one of my son's friends who also has CP was playing up a storm and even attempted to use the drumstick with his weaker hand!  I think our drum set has been instrumental at building my son's core strength.  The set above is the one my son currently has.

We are also big fans of other percussion instruments.  We love to turn the music up loud and sing and play along.  This was one of our first percussion sets.

#4
Barbie

I remember playing with my Barbie's for a LONG time.  My 4 year old has been playing with them for about a year.  Above is her latest addition to her collection.  Sometimes my son even joins in.  I love hearing them role play and create stories.

#5
This one is probably the favorite.....
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Inflatable Bouncy Animals

My sister-in-law came home from the Covered Bridge Festival in Southern Indiana one year and I was so upset that she came home with not one, but TWO of these LARGE inflatable bouncy animals.  I thought where am I going to put these in my teeny tiny house?!  Needless to say, I don't feel that way anymore.  They sit proudly in my living room (they are one of the only visible toys when you walk in-on a good day).  All of the kids that come play for hours on these silly looking things.  They LOVE them.  We have never once had to re-inflate them.  My husband and I have even been caught racing on them in our living room.  Haha!

So there you have it... my top 5 toy items that are sure to be a crowd please for those young and old.  Please comment below with any toys you feel have the same longevity.  I would love to replace my million dusty toys with some really awesome ones!

Thanks for letting me step outside the teacher box for a few minutes. :)

This post does contain links to my Amazon affiliate account, but these are products that I own, have had for years, and LOVE!

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Art Themed Birthday Party

I have been dying to have an Art themed birthday party for one of my little ones for a few years now.  I was finally able to convince my soon to be 3 year old daughter that this was a perfect party for her.  I can give her a set of watercolor paints and she will paint for about 30-60 minutes.  It is a magical time for mommy!  

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Norah's 1st birthday party

Yesterday we celebrated my daughter, Norah Gray's 1st birthday.  The day could not have been more perfect!  I kept checking weather.com and they were calling for isolated thunderstorms.  Magically when I woke up on party day the forecast changed!  I couldn't have been happier.  

So thanks to Pinterest I had grand plans on what to do for her party.  Curse you Pinterest!  No I am kidding I love it!  Needless to say, there was ALOT of preparation.  I would like to share the things I actually had time to do with 2 little ones always needing my attention.

The first thing I would like to share is the picture you see above.  I found this idea at cheryljunegirl.blogspot.com.  I bought the letters for $3.99 each at Michael's.  Honestly, I took them back when I was all done!  Seriously, what was I going to do with those letters???  I feel horrible, but hey it is what it is!  

The photo shoot did not quite go as planned.  She took a late nap.  We were going to lose daylight, so I woke her up!  Mistake one!  Mistake two was going to the pond by myself.  I know that she will always smile for daddy no matter how tired she is.  So I ended up texting him and he came right away.  He is the best!  So he at least got her to hold the letters.  When I was doing it she kept pushing them over.   She is a pistol!  All in all I am VERY please with how the collage turned out.

I am just so in love with this picture of Daddy and Norah. 

My son decided to get in on the action too!  He chose to put his head in the center of the"O" all by himself.  We were rolling on the ground with laughter!

The next thing that I was so thrilled with was her birthday ensemble!

I bought the owl patch from www.etsy.com from bigblackdogdesigns.            

I then had a friend from work embroider the #1 and the saying, "Whoo's lookin' at my butt?" 

 My sister-in-law and I made the tutu.  We found the tutorial at www.free-homemade-gift-ideas.com.  They suggest wrapping the elastic around a chair so you can easily tie on the tulle.  That did not work for us because of the size of Norah's tutu.  So my sister-in-law held the sewn elastic circle while I tied on the tulle.  We probably made the tutu more difficult because we bought yardage of tulle instead of spools.  So I had to cut each strip.  And someone had the bright idea to do pink, purple, turquoise, orange, and green strips.  Yeah, that was me!  Smart right!

I don't care though because she looked so stinkin' cute.  My husband says if I say stinkin' you know that it is extra great.  Love him!

The last thing I was SO excited about was the cake.  My son has a peanut allergy, so we are not able to buy store bought or bakery cakes.  You can read about his peanut allergy at my other blog http://www.nutfreefam.blogspot.com.  We visited Disney World in October and we were able to have an incident free trip.  Check it out!

So I found the CUTEST polka-dot cake on Pinterest.  The blog is www.easybaked.net.  She has a great tutorial on how to achieve this adorable cake!  I can give you what I did, but I highly suggest you check her blog out!

I used Betty Crocker Butter Recipe cake mix.  6 to be exact.  My first batch I forgot to add the eggs, and I had already added the coloring gel, so I had to throw it away.  I was NOT happy.  I sounded like a truck driver. Finally my husband told me I needed to cut it out. :) After I calmed down I started over.  I mixed up the cake mix the correct way, and then I separated half of the batter into 3 smaller bowls so I could make the polka dot cake balls.

 

I used Wilton coloring gels to dye the batter for the cake pop balls.  This gel was AWESOME!  I added it to the batter a toothpick full at a time and the color was amazing.  So much better than food coloring! I also used the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker.  I bought it from a friend for $10, but I know Target has them for about $20.

I got better with the cake balls as time went on.  Here are some things I learned.  DON'T TURN ON THE CAKE POP MAKER until you READY to pour the batter in!  It gets way to hot and they cook too fast.  My first try it had been on for awhile and they did not turn out good at all.  They oozed all over the place.  

1) Wait to plug it in.

2) Spray with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray.

3) Spoon directly from the little bowls.

4) Fill the holes just a little below the top. 

5) Start filling from the middle.

6) Only cook them for 2 minutes opposed to the 4-5 minutes suggested.

7) Unplug the machine immediately.

8) Loosen the cake balls with a butter knife before pulling them out.

You put a small amount of the batter on the bottom of the pan.  Then you put the cake balls on top.  I would probably make more and put them closer together next time.  Then you put the remaining amount of batter over the cake balls.  My cake balls were not covered completely.  I would suggest having an extra cake mix on hand.

 So when it came out of the oven I decided that her smash cake was going to be entirely too big.  So I used a small kids bowl and cut it into a circle.  It was still too big, but I couldn't imagine if I would have left it as a square!

After I let it cool it was time to decorate!  I used a friend's buttercream recipe.  It was delicious.  I used the Wilton coloring gels to make the frosting pink.  It surprisingly didn't take much at all to achieve the color I was looking for.

We needed a family cake too.  So I made two 13 x 9 cakes and stacked them on top of each other.  They have the cake balls inside too!

I was so proud.  Thought I was all done.  I took a step back and it says Birtday!  Are you kidding me!  Oh, Welcome back truck driver!

Here is the finished product.  I did not make the fondant owl.  A friend gave it to me from her daughter's birthday cake. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle ;)

 She kept taking bites and saying, "Yum"

I kept taking pictures and saying, "oh, that's a cute piece!"  The cake was a huge hit inside and out!

I almost forgot the decorations!  I made the banner using the Cricut and the poms are store bought.

   

Here are a couple of pictures of my little cuties cleaning for the party!  They love each other and helping mommy and daddy!

The party was VERY successful.  Norah was such a little princess.  I hope you enjoy reading about my daughter's birthday party.  I had a great time preparing for it and I just needed to share.  I created a board on Pinterest called Norah's 1st birthday ideas.  Come check it out!

~Stacey

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**WARNING** Random Non-School Related Post

Gavin's 1st Birthday
Monkey Theme

So since my son's first birthday I have been making custom made birthday banners.  I don't know what it is about them.  They don't save me money or time, but I feel great pride when I hang it up and can say, "I did that".  

    

Gavin's 2nd Birthday
"How to Train a Dragon" Theme

Gavin's 3rd Birthday
"Cars" Theme

This year my baby girl is turning 1.  Where did time go??? It doesn't seem like my little 6 lb. 6oz. bundle should be that old.It actually brings a tear to my eye and a lump in my throat.

Norah only 1 day old!  Now she is going to be 365 days old!?

Norah's 1st Birthday Invites

  We are doing an owl theme.  I am not done with her banner yet, but I have to say it is ADORABLE!   I also made her birthday invitations and a tutu.  I think invitations are going to be a 1st birthday only thing.  Store bought from now on!  30 invitations are just too many.  I even considered making just one, taking a picture of it, and inviting every one via Facebook, but then thought better of it.   

Sneak peek of Norah's 1st birthday banner

Now that I am typing about all of the things I am making for her birthday I think I am going to have to do a whole separate birthday post.  I hope you guys are ok with that.  I love my babies and I love showing them off in all of their cuteness.  So stayed tuned for that post in the middle of June!

Gavin loves being a big brother!
We thought it would be quite the opposite, but as always he surprised us!

I was also asked by two of my co-workers to make banners for their children's 1st birthday's too.  I was very pleased with them, so that is actually what precipitated this post.  I would love to start doing this on the side in my free time.  If only I had some of that!  Maybe this summer...

Pacman Theme

Cupcake theme

Well, I hope you enjoyed this random non-school related post!
~Stacey

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