All we want for Christmas…

Okay so here goes, I’m going to try to give a very wide range of ideas that you’ll hopefully find useful if you’re wondering what types of things we’d like this year.

As I’ve said before we have really scaled down on the kids toys and ask that you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE not get them any more toys.  Don’t worry, I still have lots of ideas for them.  We are well-stocked on Legos and Matchbox cars (they have more than they can ever hope to play with, and that’s after giving many of them away) and we have a pretty good collection of wooden puzzles too.  So now you’re wondering what that leaves as gift possibilities, right?  Aside from the kid-specific things I’ll list under each of their names, here are a few universal ideas for them:

• Dress-up clothes. They’re all really into dressing up right now and we love this!  So far they have quite a bit of character costumes (gotta love those after Halloween sales) but we’d love for them to have a greater variety, like dress shirts and ties (think Thrift store finds), different types of hats (like cowboy hats, constructions hard-hats, magician top-hats, chef’s hats and such) and other costume-like things (maybe aprons or second-hand karate uniforms).  We could also use a few “girly” things for Francesca, like tutus and skirts.  Use your imagination, they love this type of stuff!
• Aqua Doodle items.  We have one mat that we bought for Evan a couple of years ago, but they ALL like these and we love them since it’s only water, no real mess!  I’ve seen lots of different Aqua Doodle stuff advertised recently so I think there is some variety out there, but even just having more of the regular mats would be awesome.
• Crayola ColorWonder items.  We like these even better than regular crayons, they only write on ColorWonder papers!  All three kids do well with these markers, so once again duplicates are good since it means less refereeing for Vince and I.
• Books.  We’d love to add some of Shel Silverstein’s hard-covered editions to the kids reading collection as well as books from the Chronicles of Narnia.  Our kids love being read to and we think that they’ll do well even with these “bigger” books (we just ask for hardcovers since they’re more likely to survive longer in our home).

So does that give a pretty good idea of the types of things we want to continue building for our kids?  We really want them to start focusing on creative play rather than just toys they’ll quickly grow out of.  Now onto person-specific wishlists…  Hopefully this is a wide range of items and prices (there are some big ticket items, but we figured we’d include them just in case there are some of you that would like to go in together for something) let me know if you’d like more ideas.

Evan–

• clothes size 4-5 shirts/4T pants (he’s got lots of slacks and jeans but he loves fleece pants and track-style pants)
• Vsmile games (he has the system and 2 games, Alphabet Park and Toy Story 2) there are lots of other games available and he’d probably do well with games labeled for 3-5 (maybe 4-6).

Andrew–

• clothes size 3 shirts/size 2T pants (he’s actually doing pretty well with all his clothes so there isn’t anything particular that he needs, but he does like just about anything)
• trains, we have a wooden train and track set from IKEA and while they all like it Andrew loves it!  Every time he sees a Thomas the Tank engine commercial he’s mesmerized!  I don’t know for sure which brands are the same sizes but even if they don’t work together he’ll have a blast.
• Lincoln Logs, he got a small set last year and did really well with it so adding more pieces would be great.

Francesca–

• clothes size 12-18 months (we’ve gotten a lot of really nice clothes from a friend but she could still use more long-sleeved shirts, with NO crotch snaps)
• dolls, any kind pretty much, she loves them all but only has one big soft baby doll.
• kitchen or tea play-sets, she received a small tea set from Aunt Laura and she loves it (she serves us tea all the time) and we think she’d like more things like this.
• purses, hair things, mirror and fake makeup (plastic if they still make those, not anything that she could actually apply) and mirrors.  Like I mentioned before she has become a little girl and already loves to pamper herself!

Vince–

• the repair manual for his motorcycle Item #6228604
• an MP3 player
• jeans (Old Navy Mechanics style 29×30)
• gift certificate(s) to Sears, Home Depot, Lowes
• universal ring piers, like this
• telescoping inspection mirror (not for the birth, LOL)
• rolling mechanics seat, like this
• rolling tool chest, like this
• hook and pick set
• gift cards for Wendy’s or Starbucks

Me–

• Knitting needle set from Knit Picks
• Addi Turbo needles (size 1, 2 and 5, 16″ circulars)
• Double pointed needles in sizes 1, 2, 4 and 5 (bamboo or metal, Knit Picks carries them for a reasonable price)
• One Skein (soft cover knitting and crochet book)
• Mason Dixon Knitting (hardcover knitting book)
• Gift certificate(s) to Little Turtle Knits for yarns and patterns
• Tripod (I have a Nikon D50 camera)
• back-pack style camera case, something like this.
• 3/4 or long sleeve tees from Old Navy Maternity size Medium (or gift card for Old Navy).
• gift cards for Starbucks or Panera

Alrighty then, looks like that just about covers us.  Hopefully I’ve been helpful.  Don’t forget to send us some ideas for you!