Truly, TexasTanya

I’m joining in with Shannon’s Works-for-me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer. For a multitude of solutions to a plethora of problems, stop by her blog.

I have had a love/hate relationship with juice boxes/milk boxes.   I love that it is a perfect serving of juice or milk.   I love that the boxes are convenient to take almost anywhere.   I love that they are sealed so that I don’t have to worry about storing them until they are ready to use.   BUT, I hate that they almost seem to explode in the hands of my children…

Hubby came up with the solution that stopped the boys milk box explosions.   We now use the straw to poke two holes in the top of the container which allows air flow (instead of sticky beverage flow) if the box is squeezed in the hands of a 6 or 4 year old.

For juice boxes, the design of the package prevents two holes, so we use the straw to make the existing straw hole as big as possible to allow a little bit of air flow from the container.  

These little tricks help to keep the juice or milk  from flying through the straw, out of the box, onto the ceiling of the car/breakfast room/restaurant, when it is placed in my children’s hands – and that works for me!

For other WFMW posts like Organizing Kid Dishes, Don’t Ask, Just Tell, Decadent Hot Cocoa, Organizing Spices, Cookie Baking Edition, Gun Safety for Kids, Doing It Every Day, Reading Suggestions, and taming a Stinky Sink ~ click here.

I’m joining in with Shannon’s Works-for-me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer.   For a multitude of solutions to a plethora of problems, stop by her blog.

I have an announcement to make:   I have not had a cold this year!   Yippie! I usually get a cold every few months or so, but not this year!   I’ve found my miracle product: Emergen-C. It’s a 1,000mg dose of Vitamin C along with a few other vitamins and minerals.   Emergen-C comes in a small packet that you mix with water.   It’s slightly effervescent, and there’s a whole slew of flavors to choose from.  

I typically take it when I start to feel a sore throat, the sniffles, or a cough coming on.   Now, I’ll admit – I am not in love with any flavor.   In fact, I don’t think they taste all that good.  BUT, I am willing to suffer for a moment, so that I don’t have to suffer for days with a cold.

Another up-side to this is that I’m not sharing my cold either.   My boys haven’t had as many colds this year either, and that Works-For-Me!  

For my other favorite things (also known as WFMW posts) like Decadent Hot Cocoa, Organizing Spices, Cookie Baking Edition,   Gun Safety for Kids,  Doing It Every Day, Reading Suggestions, and taming a Stinky Sink ~ click here.

PS:   I just checked out the Emergen-C website.   If you click on “Share the Good”, you can send someone (or yourself) a free sample of Emergen-C. Now that REALLY works-for me!

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens.
Bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens.
Brown paper packages tied up with string.
These are a few of my favorite things.

Leapster’s Word Whammer and Fridge Phonics Set,
Whack-A-Mole and the Brick-a Block set,
Costumes and fake food with a cart that goes “ding”.
These are a few of my favorite things.

This week’s edition of Works-for-me Wednesday, hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer, has the theme of “Toys Worth Buying”.  

Sometimes when we go visit with friends, the boys are amazed by the “gadgets and gizmos a-plenty” but – because those toys don’t require much from them, they get bored quickly.   They move on to the next gizmo, and the next, and the next, and before you know it every toy in the room has been played with and they’re bored.   For this reason, I should state that  our family has some guidelines (which are sometimes bent) for purchasing toys.   We judge all toys pretty stringently, but especially those with batteries.   If the batteries are just for superfluous noise or lights, we don’t buy it (or we use it without the batteries).   If the batteries make the toy do everything and the child to just sit back and watch, we don’t buy it.   We try to select toys that require the child to do something or allows them to use their imagination.  

The toys I have listed below are the toys my guys play with on a daily basis.   These are the ones they choose to play with out of the nearly 1 billion toys they own. (Okay, slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean…)

Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set ( 1 to 5 yrs)  This is a great learning toy by Leapfrog.   Both boys have enjoyed playing with it.   I love that the boys  learned  letters and the sounds the letters make while playing with it.

Word Whammer ( 3 to 6 yrs) This is the next step up from the Fridge Phonics.   Instead of one letter, the Word Whammer has spaces for 3 letters.     Tigger got this for Christmas last year, and he has essentially taught himself to read using this toy.   Many days when I am doing school with Woody, I hear Tigger playing with this in his room.   It really is one of his favorites.

Leapster L-Max (4-10)   Another Leapfrog toy –  another toy both boys LOVE.   The L-Max is essentially a gaming system like a GameBoy, only all the games are educational.   Game cartridges are purchased separately.   I like this feature because it allows us to purchase games that work on skills that are appropriate for each age level and skill ability.   The other thing I like about these games is that it doesn’t allow the child to skip ahead.   It   forces” them to do it in order, ensuring they learn basics before going on to more complicated tasks.   NOTE:   We limit “screen time” is limited in our house, and this is considered a screen.   So there is a time limit of 30 minutes maximum per day. (Unless we are on an airplane or a long-distance car trip.)

Whack-A-Mole Game (4+) This game is like the old arcade game, only the moles don’t pop up out of a hole.   In this game each mole makes a different sound and when it makes the assigned sound, the player whacks the head of the mole.   My guys love it, and I love that it works on listening skills.

Brick Block Set (2+)   We purchased ours from places like Tuesday Morning or SteinMart so the prices were pretty inexpensive.   The boys build fortresses to protect stuffed animals, cities for cars to drive through, and castles for dinosaurs to destroy.   There’s nothing like a set of blocks to inspire the imagination…

McDonalds  Fast Food Cart  (2+)   I know this stero-types gender roles, but I couldn’t buy my boys a pink and purple kitchen set.   So, we purchased the next best thing, a guys version of a kitchen – a fast food cart.   I found it super cheap (like $15) at a resale shop.   Ours didn’t come with food, but you can find play food at the dollar store.   But, my guys will cook and serve food for hours – to anyone who will (pretend) to eat it.

Legos  - nuff said.

Costumes – We have a LARGE collection of costumes.   And they are used every. stinkin’. day.   We have a fireman, pirate, chef, doctor, lion, dinosaur, super hero, explorer, cowboy, ninja, dog, Tigger, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear costumes.   Sometimes they are used alone, sometimes a combination of several are used, sometimes I think they try to put every costume on at the same time.   Regardless, they enjoy them and imaginations are used.

 

This year, I’ll most likely be ordering Christmas gifts from my new favorite  catalog,  HearthSong.   They have a whole catalog full of toys and games that are engaging and entertaining.   These Connectagons look really cool. I know my guys will love this Talking Mask.   And these Flingshot Monkeys look like so much fun, I’ll probably get one for everyone I know. So, there you have it. Favorite toys we own, and favorite toys we hope to own soon.

 

For my other favorite things (also known as WFMW posts) like Decadent Hot Cocoa, Organizing Spices, Cookie Baking Edition,  Sanity Saver, Gun Safety for Kids, Getting Generous, Doing It Every Day, Reading Suggestions, and taming a Stinky Sink ~ click here.