Hi everybody,

How was Christmas for those of you who do Christmas? What gifts were best received, what did not go over so big?

We got the boys pocket knives. What were we thinking? Seven is WAY too young for a pocketkife! No cuts, but Dad is keeping the knives for them -- for the next four years or so.

DD now has beaucoup de Barbies, and is enjoying them. She got a LIV doll too with exchangeable hair, who can wear Barbie clothes, but her feet are too big for the shoes. She also got a Les Cheries ballerina doll (Chloe). She probably plays the most with the Barbies, but the Chloe ballerina goes everywhere with her so she LOVES that one.

Good games are HISSS and FrogJuice.

They got a new Lego StarWars video game which they are enjoying. They also got an air hockey table which is still in the box.

How is it going at your house this week?

Nancy

mom to beautiful BBG triplets, born February 2002 at 33 wks, 4 days

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I was wondering the same thing. We have their b-day coming up so I'd love to hear the good, bad, and ugly.
DD LOVES her sewing machine, of course I need to learn how to sew now too. She has made lots of little pillows for her american girl dolls.
DS #1 screamed like a little girl (lol) when he opened his Beatle's Rock Band for the Wii. We are all loving that and fight over who gets to play the drums next (even mom!)
DS #2 has been obsessed lately with hunting - I have NO idea why. DH hunts maybe once every 2 years. Anyway, he got a new BB gun & a multi-tool pocket knife. I am hoping stiches are not what we will be getting him for his b-day. All I could think about every time he asked for a BB gun was the movie " A christmas story." "You'll shoot your eye out with that thing!"
The other hits have been Wii Fit plus, Gestures & Blokus.

The bad and ugly: the darn crow call DH bought for DS #2!!!!! That kid heads out as soon as there is a hint of sunlight and starts calling in crows!!! Oh well, I keep telling myself his obsessive tendencies, high energy, and determination will serve him well one day.

Shell~
B/B/G 1/7/2000

Wow, your kids' birthday is coming right up!

Books we got that might be good for them are the Lemony Snicket series and the Diaries of a Wimpy Kid. Both big hits but probably a bit for older kids than mine - so perfect for yours!

Nancy

mom to beautiful BBG triplets, born February 2002 at 33 wks, 4 days

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In our house, we all love a good book. All three really liked the Lemony Snicket series and Diaries of a Wimpy Kid. Have your kids read The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley? We listen to a lot of books in the car and I came across that one at the library. I even enjoyed listening to them. It was a really fun series and the narrator is great too.
Yes, there b-day is coming up quick. It doesn't seem like they should be 10 yet, they were just babies yesterday!!!! I am not ready for it I think I'll spend the day in denial and pretend they are still babies *sniff**sniff*

Shell~
B/B/G 1/7/2000

The boys got new bikes, which they desparately needed, but it's killing them that we have so much ice and snow on the roads still. They all also got new inline skates, but have the same problem that the bikes do.

Puzzles this year have surprisingly been a hit. I got them more as filler but they had a blast putting them together. So was the new Connect 4x4 game

Tons of Barbies and Princess dolls for DD.

One son wanted and got a microscope and they've all enjoyed playing with that too.

Kim
Nate, Nick & Noel(36w4d)and Nia.

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The standout hits here were the two huge boxes from the recliners DH and I got each other.

Other than that, they like their legos, Mary likes her Password Journal (and the boys like to try to get into it), they are fighting over the new PS3, and we are shouting at them to get off that thing and play something else.

They got way too much stuff and haven't really even looked at the rest. I may put some away for later -- if the parts aren't all already lost.

Oh - the Nerf guns have been the biggest hit of actual toys. They got several duplicates and were disappointed at first, but they have 3 older brothers and their teenage friends and we've had 10 kids around here having Nerf wars the past few days. It's been a blast - and they are even picking up the bullets without being told!

Cub Scouts have excellent knife training. They do not do knives till Bear level, which is 3rd grade. I think that's a really good age, and we do not allow knives till then. Here is a link to the requirements: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/whittling_chip-434.asp

**I noticed this link says it's for Webelos scouts -- not true -- it's in the Bear book!**

If your boys are not Cub Scouts, I would still suggest teaching them knife safety (these are very good guidelines IMO), require they ALWAYS be supervised, probably not allow them to carry the knives when not in use (too tempting or easy to forget to not put them in the book bag, among other things!). In Cub Scouts if they are caught breaking a rule they get a corner cut off their card, and if they get all 4 corners cut they have to go through the training again. I like the accountablilty of something like that and the boys are very proud of their cards and do not want to get them cut even once!

Another thing the link doesn't mention is the "safety circle" - before opening a knife, the boy puts his arm out and turns around in a complete circle. He can only open the knife if there is no person (or thing he can damage) inside that circle. He is responsible to tell people "don't come in my safety circle!"

Hope this helps. Knives can be a lot of fun!

Kari S.

Mom to BBB 21, 18, 14
BBG 9/25/01

I've never heard of HISSS or FrogJuice -- gonna have to check them out for their birthday in April!

All our boys wanted was a model train set -- a Lionel one. Well, as you know those are really expensive! Luckily I found a cheaper model that was much less called Life Like Trains. They were so excited!!

DD got the American Girl doll from Grandma -- Kit. She is thrilled.

Family gift this year was the WII gaming system. We also got some games. So far the horse riding one is a hit with DD, but the boys mostly like the WII sports package that came with it. I think we need to rent some to see what is good. We also got the Legos Star Wars but were not happy. All they want to do is lightsaber dual. Local gaming guy said there is a new Star Wars game out that allows just that, so might also go get that one!

New bikes were also a hit -- although a tad big for them. They also love their adjustable roller skates. We went to the skating rink last night to try them out.

Tara

Mom to BBG born at 33wks on 4/3/03

Hits in our house were the police motorcyle and princess motorcycle (like powerwheels) and the rip rider (bike with 3 wheels that does 360s--John loves it (6) but neighbor (13) loves it even more!) Large wooden blocks, legos, Junie B Jones boxed sets (huge hit) all fun.

Had a great Christmas.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Jane
Anna/Emma/John/^James^ (9/24/03-9/29/03) 26 wkers
In memory of my beloved Emma 9/24/03 - 1/19/07
www.snanimals.com
www.jlperillo.etsy.com (my etsy shop)
http://snanimals.blogspot.com (my blog)

Big hits here were the DSi's they each got. Those things are so cool. I snag one when I can and play with it. They can text each other, take pictures, record their voice and do a bunch of other things. Very cool.

Lego's were a hit. Littlest Pet Shops for DD. They got a bunch of books. Guinness Book was a huge hit. Connect 4x4 big hit.

We have had company for the past week. So they haven't really had time to sit and play with everything. But that is good...they can savor it all.


Terri~
12/21/01 at 33 weeks