Thursday, February 25, 2010

I Don't Know What to Title This Post.

when i was a kid i had toys and clothes. that's all i had that just belonged to me. the games and books and movies were for everyone to share. the toys were pretty simple. i didn't have anything that really did anything. i don't think anything needed batteries. i did have one toy that had its cheeks light up if i squeezed it. i had to use my imagination for everything.

nowadays, my kids have a ridiculous amount of toys. we really need to get rid of more than half of them. most of emmy's toys are the kind you need your imagination for. andrew mostly uses his imagination because i usually refuse to put batteries in his trains. if they are new, then i will. today he brought me an older train. i refused him the battery for it. i told him he didn't need a battery because he has his own hands to make it go.

i think the kids have so many toys because as a kid i didn't. i feel like i can give them more than i got as a kid. for one thing, i just have the two kids to get toys for. i was one of seven. my mom couldn't give us a bunch of things all the time. at halloween i can use a couple of bucks to get the pumpkin shaped candy buckets. if i had to buy for seven kids i probably wouldn't do that.

for easter we've always gotten them a new basket. maybe this year i will make their baskets and they can use those every year. i think i like that idea. i think it will be fun. afterall, i made their xmas stockings and they use those every year. yeah, the more i think about it the more i want to make easter baskets. we have very few easter traditions in our family. i think it's about high time we started some.

wow, this post ended way off where it started.

7 comments:

Aaron and crystal said...

I am making Easter baskets for my family this year too :)

Puphigirl said...

I still have my basket that Aunt Kae made for me. For the family I made Easter pails using baby formula cans.

EmmaP said...

PuphiGirl -- Aunt Kae made us Easter Baskets??? When? Wait - those milk jug thingys? I thought some lady in the ward did... she was really heavy with a blonde beehive updo thingy... hmmm.

Ok - sorry - i saw something shiny.

Ruth... make the baskets! I think they will be cute!

I "made" baskets right before kienna was born. Basically, I found some deep baskets at the dollar store once that I really liked. Then, closer to Easter I got 3 stuffed animals from the dollar store... A Bunny, a Duck and a Lamb. Then I used HOT GLUE to attach the stuffed animal to the basket. It was waaaay simple, and they still use these baskets every year. I like them because they hold a lot too!

Oh - and one tradition I continued from when we were kids is hiding the easter baskets. Before my kids could read, I drew the clues on little clue cards/index cards They had to work together to figure out the clues. So, clue card #1 was a drawing of the closet. They ran to the closet to find clue #2. Clue #2 was a picture of the bathtub. They ran to the bathtub and found clue #3. Clue 3 was a picture of the refrigerator. They ran to the refrigerator to find clue #4. Clue 4 was a picture of the bunk beds. They ran to the bunk beds to find clue #5. Clue #5 was a picture of the washer and dryer. They ran to the laundry room to find their baskets sitting on top of the dryer. They loved it.

This year, I think I will do a hard riddle for each of them, since they are older.

Good luck and share whatever it is you decide to do!

greenolive said...

Your kids are lucky to have a creative mom such as yourself.

Unknown said...

Hiya, I've been thinking the same about the amount of toys my kids have, its mad. I read 2 books, the idle parent and spoonful of sugar, both have some really good things in including advice about them not having lots of toys, creates the whole consumerism issue and makes them want more (the more you have the more you want the more you want the more dissatisified you are) be brave ignor the pressures and make them baskets to use every year and get them to make toys every now and then. x

modern furniture said...

a lot of the deal with the toys is that everything got so cheap so there's more of it. you can get a ting at chuckie cheese for around 20 cents, which taint nothin. we have piles and piles lying around now.

mrs. fisher's findings said...

We like to take some of their toys and hide them in the garage and them switch them out every once in awhile. That keeps them entertained for awhile. Maybe you could do that for their Easter baskets!