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I’m often asked about our favorite resources and suggestions for gifts, so I thought I’d share a few of our favorites over the years ~ for both the kids {and me too!}. Please know that this is NOT our list from this year, but rather a ones that have been birthday or Christmas gifts from us or grandparents over the years. :)
Mom’s {or Dad’s} Stocking Stuffers
Here are a few of the cd’s that get constant play at our house Michael Buble’s Christmas, Mercy Me’s Generous Mr. Lovewell, Lincoln Brewster’s Real Life, and Jesus Culture ‘Come Away’.
Books for Mom
A few of my favorite books that I’ve read lately…
~ A Stray Drop of Blood and Jewel of Persia by Roseanna White
~ Here Burns my Candle and Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs
~ 24 Family Ways, Ministry of Motherhood, Heartfelt Discipline, Mission of Motherhood, and Seasons of a Mother’s Heart by Sally and Clay Clarkson
Movies for Mom
I’m a HUGE fan of period dramas, so the bulk of my dvds all hinge around Jane Austen novels and similar eras of history. Here are a few of my favorites: BBC’s Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion, the Elizabeth Gaskell collection {includes Cranford and North and South}, and then the Lark Rise to Candleford series. I {sadly} have all of the Austen-related movies…and {ahem} multiple versions of some.
School Gadgets
The one thing that gets the biggest use? The Scotch laminator…’nuff said!
Around the House
One of my favorite things is fresh homemade bread…and reading…and taking pictures. Below are a few of the tools I love to use.
~ Bosch mixer and Nutrimill wheat grinder
~ iPod Touch and iHome docking station
~ Kindle with a lighted cover
~ Canon Rebel Ti1 and 50mm lens {my ‘go-to’ lens}
Kid’s Stocking Stuffers
We love Seeds Family Worship CDs, the Pick and Draw card game {for the whole family!} and the What’s in the Bible? dvds.
Bibles and Books for Kids
~ Little Hands-on Bible, Hands-on Bible for Kids, and the NIrV Discoverer’s Bible for Young Readers
~ Audiobooks ~ We LOVE Adventures in Odyssey and a few of these other great compilations: Chronicles of Narnia, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women, the Bible Eyewitness Collector’s set of 36 CDs
~ For the Girls ~ American Girl series, Sisters in Time series, Nancy Drew series, and the Imagination Station series
~ For the Boys ~ the Imagination Station series and Kaleb LOVES the Usborne books that we have by Anna Milbourne
Games for All
Younger Kids ~ Hi Ho Cherry O!, Chutes & Ladders, Uno, & Candyland
Older Kids ~ States Sequence, Parcheesi, regular Sequence, and Yahtzee
Everyone ~ The Wii is a favorite along with a few of these games: Outdoor Challenge, Wii Sports Resort and the Wii Fit.
Favorite Toys
The Girls
- Only Hearts Club dolls, horses, stable….we love these bendable and poseable soft dolls! {Can also be found at Target}
- To go along with the 18” Our Generation Dolls ~ the girls have a Guidecraft Doll Table and Bunk Beds that we love {super solid!!}.
The Boys
- Trio blocks ~ King’s Castle and the Batcave are the two favorites and we have various other small sets
- Schleich Castle {we don’t have any of the action figures}
- Legos ~ need I say more?
That’s a quick sum-up of the things that are used daily/weekly around our house by our family…well, minus Rick. His toys tend to be more electrically focused…namely his guitar and accessories and a fun game or two for the PS3…or the same music that seems to be on my iTouch. :)
Most all of the links that I’ve included are to Amazon, which is where I typically do a lot of our shopping. Some of the items are linked to other sites if I know of a better deal. Most links are affiliate links, but they are all from products that we use AND love. Please know that if you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a small percentage to our family…thanks!
The printables shared on this site are FREE of charge unless otherwise noted, and you are welcome to download them for your personal and/or classroom use only. However, free or purchased printables are NOT to be reproduced, hosted, sold, shared, or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system (such as Scribd or Google docs). My printables are copyright protected and I appreciate your help in keeping them that way.
If you download and use some of my printables and then blog about them, please provide a link back to my blog and let me know - I'd love to see how you are using them! Please be sure to link to the blog post or web page and not directly to the file itself. Thank you!
I made my own list, too. I desperately want to read White’s books and love Higgs.
I just ordered the physical copies of White’s books {including her newest one}. I previously bought them on my Kindle and they’ve been sitting in my Amazon cart forever!!! I absolutely loved her two Biblical fiction books…and Higgs…ahhhh. I hope she does another series!!! :)
The BBC Pride and Prejudice…… AWWWWEEESOME! Love it!
Thanks for this! I had never heard of the Sisters in Time Series. Definitely getting “American Dream” that includes the first four books for my girls. Not sure how to make sure you get “credit” for referring these.
We bought a bunch of the Sisters in Time series last year for Christmas…they often have a 4-for-3 special with those books and we took advantage of that!! The girls love the books!
We have and love a bunch of these things! (well the boy things)! So whats on the wish list for this year?
BB gun..a guitar for the whole gang..and matchbox cars. :)
Totally afraid of the bb gun! The guitar sounds fun and who doesn’t love match box cars!
I’m so looking into several of these ideas. Thanks
veronica @ http://watchmeplaynlearn.blogspot.com
Loved all the book ideas for the kids! Thank you!
I find Tracfones $10 & $15 candy bar or flip phones are great gifts for the kids and using Tracfone’s family value plan you only end up paying $5.99 for each child for 40 minutes a month and you get the 50 minutes for $9.99/month. You don’t worry about your kids dropping their phones in the water as the phones are cheap enough to replace.
I would like to ask for your advise. My son who is 4.5 yrs old enjoys building. However when he uses legos (small pieces), his “master piece” doesn’t necessary come out the same way as the box indicates what it is supposed to look like. Trio seems to be easier to build with… and actually he could even build something that what it is supposed to be. Perhaps, I don’t need to focus on the end result…What is your thought? I was debating whether I should invest in Batcave or Castle Trio that you recommended….
You will need to help out with the Trio building ~ but truthfully, it was really fun for us. Our boys are starting to use the tiny Legos more {our 7 year old} but our 5 year old prefers the Trio since they ‘lock’ together better. The duplos we had were great, but neither of our boys were super crazy about them and preferred the Trios over the Duplos. They are constantly building with the Trios….swords, guns, etc…. it goes way beyond the Batcave and the Castle! So typical…. :) The boys have loved both the Batcave and the Castle set ~ both come with some other fun pieces {the car and figures} so I would go with what your son enjoys the most!
Thank you so much for taking your time to reply my question. I just ordered the Castle set. I am excited to play with my boys. I hope I won’t go too crazy trying to find missing pieces… well, Legos would be worse, huh? I often feel bad when I donate our toys that are missing pieces =(