When I read this book to the boys, they were sitting on the edge of their seats, especially my nine-year-old. They were all so eager to hear about what Heaven is like. This book is full of hope and colorful pictures. When I finished reading it, the boys argued over who got to hold it and look at it.
I put together this list of Christmas gifts that were the biggest hit when our boys were ages 2-9. These toys kept the boys happy and engaged, and no batteries were required!
****When you order through Amazon links on this page, I do collect advertising fees.****
Alan and I were talking yesterday about what an amazing Christmas the boys had this year. How did this come up? Here it is the 15th of January already..
OH, I remember, I was doing some cleaning up in my room and came across the Toys R Us ad the boys had gone through, before Christmas, circling and initialing who was requesting what!
Alan was looking over the sales ad and said, “Who circled the princess stuff??”
I said, “Oh, one of them did that to make the other one mad. I don’t remember which one was which.”
(A lot of my stories go like that these days.)
Alan laughed. Then he said, “Wow, they actually got a lot of this stuff, so they must be happy!”
Actually, I’m pretty sure they have no idea how great they have it, but they have been seriously busy playing with all their presents, and you know who benefits the most from that??
Yep! ME!!! Busy kids = happy mom.
I can honestly say that ever since Christmas there has been no: “I’m bored.”And no, “There’s nothing to do here.”
Even Daniel detached himself from my leg the first week we were back home. That’s over now, though.
Dan is two, and he is more like a part of my body than his own separate person these days. He has this ability to wrap his little body around my leg in a way that I actually do not know how to remove him!!
In order to show my gratitude to the wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and Santa Clause that have kept my children so busy, I’m including a few photos of the stuff that frees my leg and my ears.
THANK YOU!!!
If you need ideas for toys to keep your kiddos busy, look no further!
This keeps Caleb (age 6) busy, especially since every time he works on it, Daniel runs by, steals a spleen or a liver and takes off running…..just to tick Caleb off. Then we have to chase Daniel down, make him give Caleb his pancreas back, and apologize. Every time.
And Nonna, you’ll be happy to know that I did read the “My Body” book to them, and both Joshua and Caleb really enjoyed it.
Craft gifts are ALWAYS a hit. Joshua will not touch a coloring book or even a puzzle book, but blank paper and pencils or pens is huge with Joshua.
Caleb is loving the new markers and paper, and he still likes coloring too.
Daniel is LOVING the paint book. This paint book is different than the norm. Each page has a fresh set of watercolor paints across the top of the page. Daniel doesn’t really get it, but he insists on trying. Caleb does a good job with it, though.
And, Jennings, those ‘Thing 1″, “Thing 2”, etc. cups are a life saver. No need to guess whose germ-y cup is whose!!! Love it!
And oh yes, as seen in the above photo, Caleb lives in Skylanders pajamas now.
color-by-number
another huge hit with Caleb
perhaps the most popular toy of Christmas 2013, with both Caleb and Daniel:
the
paint with water book. You fill the brush with water, “paint” the pictures, then it dries and you do it all over again. It has been painted so many times it’s all warped and heavy feeling, but they still love it.
All the
Duplo blocks see a lot of use as well: Caleb builds and Daniel plays with what Caleb has built him. Dan can build a really tall tower too!
This one was actually for Alan: all out battery recharger. Yes, we can definitely use this!!!
Hot Wheels Garage: This has made playing with cars popular again at our house! All three boys.
This sewing kit was given to Dan, who tried but couldn’t really get it. Caleb and Alan have done some impressive things with it though.
Joshua LOVES this book.
Then there are the obvious delights. The boys’ grandparents gave them each their own tablets. I know. They sound pretty spoiled. I gotta say, though, I can’t knock the Nabi. With this tablet, we have set a timer that tells exactly what time each day they are allowed to use it, how long, and what time it has to be turned off. ALSO, we can program it so that they can have unlimited Nook reading hours but only 30 minutes for games. PLUS, it keeps them off our tablets. PLUS, it’s more secure for them and for us. It would always make me nervous to hand a little boy my expensive computer with all of my accounts on it for them to accidentally delete, move, or ‘share’, so I think this is actually a really great idea.
We have been amazed at their advanced abilities in getting around the parental controls. One night Alan received seven emails notifying him that Joshua was trying to change his password on his Nabi. We walked into Joshua’s room, and sure enough, there was Joshua trying to log onto his Nabi after hours.
Joshua felt like he should be allowed to play it in bed, so he was trying to change the password and then change the parental controls. …..I never knew this sort of thing would start so early! The boy is EIGHT!
Joshua said, “I don’t understand. I wrote it right!” HAHA, little person. You may know the username, but you will never learn the password!!!
This doesn’t stop at Joshua. Daniel has managed to switch his from “Daddy Mode” to “Mommy mode”…no idea how he did that……plus HALF of his apps are now locked by Nabi. You can see the app, but there’s a master lock picture over it, and it reads, “Ask Mommy.” I bet he’s tried to buy stuff.
On a much sweeter note, I was looking for something in Joshua’s drawers the other day, and lo and behold, I found that Joshua has amassed this impressive collection of “Gospel Project” cards. I had no idea he had even been getting these at church, much less was saving every single one in a neat little stack, in his top drawer. We were really impressed with this!
There were so many wonderful things they received for Christmas this year. Thank you all so much. I actually still have one suitcase left to unpack!! Yes, I know, you can judge me now.
*****
Good news/bad news:
The bad news is that I took JD to the doc, and he has a double ear infection.
The good news is that he is now on amoxicillin, I think his fever is gone, and he should be all better soon!
Oh, and Joshua now also has a fever. Does sickness ever end when you have four children!!!???
Quote of the Day:
Me: Joshua, you need to eat something.
Joshua: My throat hurts. I don’t want to.
Me: How about ice cream?
Joshua: Nah…
Dan: Me! Me!! Ice cream!
Me: No, Dan, you didn’t eat your breakfast.
Dan: Me sick. *cough cough cough*
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Glad they like the gifts. Joshua can't be bothered with coloring in the lines...a creative genius he is. They did get lots of good stuff! Wow...trying to change the password. Watch out J-man, keeping that up could get you NO computer for a while! Amy
I have seen the heaven is for real book. I really want to get it get it for my boys!
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I forgot mention the amazing word book with family photos and the lock board that Amy and Greg made. Those were also AWESOME, and all four boys love both. Joshua INSISTS on keeping the word book in his room.