Christmas Haul: Part 2

For Christmas, the girls are getting their big outside toy which are bikes. You can see that post here.

The way we do it is we give them one large outside toy and one semi large inside toy. This year because of A's age and the amount we travel, we decided to get her an InnoTab. I really like for my girls to be outside and not rely on insides toys and get addicted to being indoors. I really hesitated with this because part of me feels like she is too young and I am afraid she will get addicted to it, but the other part of me feels like it is something she (and us parents) will appreciate on flights, train rides, and long distance drives. We love to travel and I hate seeing her getting bored and doing nothing during the travels. Not to mention, kids her age have already had them for a year or two so I felt like 1 - she was mature enough anyway and 2 - as I parent, I waited until she was ready and understood its use. This will be used for travels and something to preoccupy her when I have to tend to E and need her to be quiet and still, especially when Mr. Man is gone. So here is her "big" inside toy:

Innotab 3s in Pink

Carrying Case

Toy Story Game

For E, she is obviously too young and really won't understand any of it. But I really wanted to get her another large item to be fair. Even though she may not catch on, A may. So what I did was I picked something that I thought she would really like based on her interests of the toys we already have, something educational, and something that would grow with her. With that, I found this new toy by Vtech.

Vtech Alphabet Activity Cube

The rest of what I got them are basic filler items. Smaller toys - both educational based on their age and a couple of what actually interests them. Again, since E really doesn't have interests, I bought her things that I never had with A that I would have liked or things that I felt A enjoyed but it brought or got abused and didn't make it to her.

Let's start with what interests A. A is very much a tomboy. Her favorite things are dinosaurs, Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, the Hulk, and Iron Man. She has asked for a Jessie, Woody, and Buzz from Toy Story. But Buzz is by far her favorite. Mr. Man was set on getting her a Buzz, so we did.

Buzz 

Then, she recently started showing lots of interest in trains. We don't have space for a train table at this time, but she already had some magnetic trains. I thought I would go ahead and get her a figure eight wooden train track.

Melissa and Dog Figure 8 Train Track

For E, she doesn't have very many interests. She is starting to get more interested in A's puzzles. A does puzzles often right now, so I thought I would get more. We only have 2 right now. Even though I am using them as E's gifts, they will definitely both use them.

Melissa and Doug Wooden Puzzles

She is into putting things inside other things and digging things out. They had this cute hippo that you put shapes in its mouth and it tells you its shape and its color. It also plays music. The belly also lights up. I thought it was adorable and perfect for her.

Playskool Hippo Shape and Color Toy

I will do a separate post on the small toys and stocking stuffers.

Now on Facebook

I originally started a page on Facebook for this blog. I thought it would be a nice way to share the blogs and communicate with others. I don't do Twitter because I just don't understand Twitter... at all. I've tried. I get no where. Anyway, here is my link to Facebook if you would like to stay up to date there, too!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Life-as-a-Cajun-Bombshell

Family Visit

Over the last couple of weeks we had my Mom and Brother come to visit from the states. We did some sightseeing and traveling, so I thought I would share some photos from it. I'll do them by the day as I sort through them. This one is going to be from Congeliano Castle. This was not our first adventure, but it was the second. I chose this one because there is pictures of us and the family.

This is at the Congeliano Castle:

Eva standing in a window.

My Mom goes by Guh-Guh. 

Everyone says she is such a happy baby, and I really think she is. 

This is my brother, Uncle Bull.

Uncle Bull is playing with E. 

When we were going back to the car, we decided to take a walk since it was up on a hill. Mr. Man got a shot of us walking down the road. Rarely are there pictures of me.

Toddlers say the silliest things

I always thought it was incredibly adorable to hear parents talk about the silly things their toddlers say when they begin school or begin to talk more. Here I am with a toddler myself and I find myself replaying conversations and things A says and does that make me giggle. I see many other Mommy Bloggers share their stories, so I thought I would share a few of mine for these past couple of days. Maybe I will share them every so often when new things come about... who knows. But here are some for now.

Mr. Man and I were standing in the living room discussing some things. A was sitting on the couch watching a movie. As Mr. Man and I were about to part ways to do things around the house while we had a second, we kissed. Right as we kissed, A jumped off the couch and ran between us. She said, "That's my kisses!" She grabbed her Daddy's leg and hugged him tight... then started giggling. She is such a Daddy's girl. And of course those are things we say to them.

Today on our way home from school A told me that a friend pushed her on the ground. The kids hug on her and sometimes it knocks her over. I've seen this. I'm sure some kids do push and are more aggressive, but I also don't doubt that many times it is accidents or them being too friendly. I asked her if she asked her friend to please not push her. She said, "No, no, no Mommy. A say 'I don't want to have to give you a wittle spanking." Oh. my. gosh. I about died. So I told her that she doesn't give her friends spankings and she needs to just let them know that she doesn't appreciate them pushing her. When she told me, I was tossed between being in shock and thinking what have I done to laughing because the way she said it was too adorable.

Our adventures with her being school has been very interesting and has had such a great impact. Maybe I should do I post on that.... ?

Definitely. I think I should.

E's Fall / Winter Wardrobe

Here is the start of E's Fall / Winter wardrobe. This was before I made the latest Carter's order.

Let me know if you like videos as well as written posts with pictures. I always have the kids with me, so background noise is almost always avoidable. Sometimes videos are faster and easier for me to do than posts. But if this is a no go (because I sound a tad "slow"), then please let me know and I will go back to how I was doing things before.

Sibling Love

Just a video of the girls being silly after dinner time.

Legwarmers Stash / Collection

Here is our baby legs / my little legs collection as of now.

Both girls are able to wear these, and I use them for a variety of things!