Top Ten Toys

I am obsessed with Christmas toys already! I have been surfing the net, looking through toy books, and browsing stores already, so I decided to make a top ten best toy list from Christmas Past. The criteria of a great toy at our house is: Endurance, Playability (I know not a word, but much like my dad's wearability or price per wear test for clothing, which I FULLY understand now), and skills used or developed (like imagination, gross and fine motor skills, etc.)

1:Babies. Any kind of babies, strollers, etc. This is all Jane cares about! Take her to any toy store and show her anything and she will choose a baby every time. When Sydney turned 3 and Jane was not quite 1, Syd got a baby for her birthday and Jane went nuts! She was squealing and kissing and slobbering all over it and it has been a love affair ever since!

2: Loving Family Dollhouse and accessories. This is a great toy and one you can add to. Sydney and Jane still play with this. Jane carries around the mom and dad and has them kiss all the time. I promise Josh and I don't make out in front of the kids!

3: Magnets...Yes I know they are a choking hazard, but Sam LOVES these. Lately him and Ethan have been creating an earring store and making earrings for the girls out of magnets.

4: The kitchen. I don't particularly love the one we have, just kitchens in general and the fake food and pots and pans.

5: Barbie laptop is a hit. It was given to Sydney and Jane really loves it too, especially when I am working and she can sit next to me and work too.

6: Dress Up! We love dress up. We have a girl tub and a boy tub and everything has gotten tons of hours of play. The favorite game right now is witch and the vampire

7: Barbie CD Player, Christmas 2008. Sydney loves this! We use it every day for sure. I bought the more expensive one with microphones, not necessary--Two weeks in someone cut the cords with scissors and now they use pretend mics.

8: The bug maker/oven. This has been a great toy. I found an awesome website that sells large bottles of the bug goop in glow in the dark and tons of colors-

9: Large tub of Legos. We like this better than the more expensive Indiana Jones set or helicopter or whatever, because at our house they get built once or twice and then all the little pieces are in ziplock bags and they kind of stay there. Sam plays with this big bucket all the time.

10: Train table...Sam got this like 3 years ago, it is still in great shape and he plays with it often. I love the drawers on both sides for easy clean up.

Sam and I were talking about Christmas traditions yesterday because Sam's class is having parents visit in December and tell their favorite tradition. Sam's favorite things we do are: cutting down a tree from the forest behind our house and dragging it home, getting out the ornaments and decorating the tree (no I am not one of those moms with the perfect matching tree, it is one of my kids favorite things to get out the ornaments from years past and add our new ones as it was also mine as a kid), setting up the Christmas village, Christmas parties, and Christmas socks at Grandma Gays.

One Christmas that we spent in Island Park when my brother Mark and I were both in high school, we woke up and went downstairs to find that Santa hadn't came. We woke my parents up and demanded that we were going back to bed while Santa came. So, they reluctantly set out our presents with our socks and then we came back downstairs. I love that! I have neighbors who don't do Santa because they don't want to lie to their kids? What kind of crap is that? Santa rocks and any SAIN kid knows he isn't real long before they confess it to their parents!!! So, here is to toy shopping and Santa Claus coming to town. What are your favorite toys?