Best Toys

We found some cool toys this year, so I figured I'd blog about them. All three that I'm commenting on are inexpensive and fun and appropriate for a wide age range. First up, the treasure chest. This is made by Wild Planet. There are two parts of the treasure chest -- one is the treasure and one is the map. One person hides the treasure, making sure to turn it on. Then the second player turns on the map and carries it around. The X on the map flashes different colors as you get closer to the treasure. It also beeps more frequently and at a higher pitch as you get closer, a la parking radar. What we like: it's a two-kid toy and promotes taking turns. The kids love it. What we don't like: it requires 6 AAA batteries and the noise gets annoying.

This toy is called Hyper Dash, also by Wild Planet. It's an electronic game -- the player holds the controller and uses it to strike whatever target it calls out. It calls out either numbers or colors and on higher levels has commands like Double Strike and Reverse. It uses RFID, so the targets can be as far apart as you want. It has multiple settings for playing with different numbers of people, etc. What we like: it makes the kids run around, it's fun even for adults. What we don't like: our older kid almost always wins. Luckily V doesn't care.

And last, MY winner for coolest toy this year (the kids would probably choose one of the others) ... the AquaDoodle! Just put water in the special pens and write on the mat. The pictures fade quickly and then you draw again. What we love: writing with water! Doesn't ruin anything. It's perfect for our 2-year-old who can't stay clean using markers. M even likes the suggestions for how to draw things. What we don't like: the mat only comes with one pen, so you have to buy extras.

Auntie's Visit

I just wanted to post a couple of pics we got of Naomi and the kids while she was here. I've never had the opportunity of having a family member (other than Nathan, of course!) help out with a new baby. So I never really got the whole "I need my mom to come over" mentality. But, now that I had Naomi visit, I have to say it's really great!! No wonder so many expats are stressed about being away from the fam when a new baby comes. I still don't think it's worth it going back to the states to have the baby, though. Too much time away from Nathan. And too many horror stories about the baby coming before dad gets there (not apocryphal stories). Anyway, enjoy the pictures. Can you see any family resemblance? I think I can see something, at least with M and Aunt Naomi. Hard to say ...

Christmas Day

Insert helicopter noises here. Building toys were the tops for
m this year. Shown are K'nex, which integrate with his legos. Even as I write he's playing with his legos. Hooray! We've hit the easy gift years.

A little Texas greeting!

V actually wasn't sure how to unwrap her first present, but she quickly figured it out.

There's real sunshine in this shot! V's putting her baby doll down for a nap. She took multiple 30 second naps under her very special V blanket.

Christmas Eve

Here are a couple of fun pictures from Christmas Eve. We had a few friends over and a semi-traditional dinner (the pies were traditional, at least!) It was so lovely to have some real Christmas spirit in our home, especially when we sang carols for a while. Remarkably, the kids played happily downstairs while we sang upstairs, so we got to run through quite a few favorites before our voices wore out. (Thanks, Mark, for hanging out with the kids!) I miss my favorite carols, so it was a treat to sing so many.

We've never done this before, but since the kids needed new jammies anyway, we wrapped up a new set for each of them and let them open them before bedtime. I know lots of families love to do this; we'll have to decide whether to add it as a tradition or not. They were definitely excited to open one gift the night before! And it's really cute to have the kids in matching PJs. We told them to put their heads together and look cute. This was the result.

We also acted out the Christmas story -- it was a bit random, but lots of fun. We had one friend film it for us; I'll have to check out the footage soon. When I was in about the second verse of the story, the wise man (M) yelled out, "I have to go potty!" But this hilarious feat was probably beat by the V and V show -- our V and our friend, who is the same age, but smaller, acted as Joseph and the donkey. (Another mom played Mary.) Our V was sad that we let another girl wear the purple angel wings, but finally cheered up and announced that she would play the donkey. Her buddy wanted to ride on her, which she was fine with (?!?) He kind of straddled his legs around her back and walked along with her, so in our version Joseph got a ride and poor Mary walked the whole way. On her knees. Christmas morning pics to come soon.

Darkwing Duck

Do you remember Darkwing Duck? My kids love watching it (on youtube, our favorite place). It's fun for the big people too, because the writing is pretty darn clever. If you don't recall, Darkwing shows up on the scene and delivers this line "I am the terror that flaps in the night ..." followed by something different every time. My favorite?

DW Duck: I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the batteries that are not included.

I've just been checking online to make sure we have the correct batteries for one of M's presents. Naomi and I were wrapping presents the other night when someone realized we didn't know what batteries the toys needed. Oops! Luckily, we've got it covered.

Nomie's hopefully made it home by now. We had a great time!! Everything was good, except that Aunt Naomi was the first to fall on our slippery stairs. This experience brought us the best quote from the trip:

V: My bum's poopy. Your bum's sore.

Merry Christmas

comparison pictures

Baby M

Baby V

Baby E. The ages don't match exactly, but I think you can tell that little E will look just like that V picture in a couple of weeks! No wonder Nathan keeps calling the baby by the wrong name!! I was also surprised to see how much hair M had. I had forgotten. Some funny facts -- E's hairline is just like V's (and Nathan's), so she'll have a cowlick on the same side, etc. All three kids have one funny curving toe, just like me.