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Gift ideas for 2 year olds

23 Nov

It’s that wonderful, albeit stressful, time of year again. Time to find gifts for our loved ones, ones that they will hopefully use and enjoy. I’ve been gathering gift ideas for our 21 month old daughter, Kate, so I thought I would share them to help anyone who needs ideas for 1.5-2 year olds.

Here are a few things that we plan to get our almost 2-year old daughter this year:

  1. Rody Horse. Kate gravitates to this bouncy horse toy everytime she see it at someone’s house. We’ve bought this as gifts for some other friends and family members and it is always a hit. It comes in a bunch of colors but I like the teal one best.
  2. 51k4mZ2geML._SL1010_Play Tool Set. Kate is always interested in all of the various projects we have going on around the house and wants to help, so I think a tool set like this Black & Decker one would be perfect. Girls can be handy too.
  3. 91LG66BOJyL._SL1500_Learning Tower. Cooking while trying to entertain a toddler can be a challenge so we’d love to get Kate a learning tower so she can be a part of the action. Amazon sells this one, which I heard will be $50 off for Black Friday. Though I think we will probably build our own using Ana White’s plan. There’s also a popular Ikea hack using an Ikea step stool, which looks so simple but it doesn’t fold flat like the Ana White one does.
  4. 716VY5TmfVL._SL1500_Bilibo. This thing is one of the most talked about toys on the internet. Kids can use it to rock in, spin in, hide under, sit on, tote with, and peek through. I think this could entertain Kate for years to come.
  5. 71hT84ez3VL._SL1500_3-in-1 scooter. Kate loves ride-on toys and bikes. At daycare they say she is a bit of a daredevil on the bikes, lol. I think she would love this scooter toy that adjusts as they get older.
  6. 61o97+BFaiL._SX522_Bath toy spout. This bath toy looks like a lot of fun and Kate hasn’t gotten any new bath toys since she was a baby so I think it is time to spice things up.
  7. 4122VpR61hL-2Toy Broom & Dustpan. Kate loves to try and help us clean and will try and push a gigantic shop broom. This inexpensive toy broom set should be a hit.
  8. 61lVMZ58skL._SL1500_Play teepee. Our big project for the winter is to convert our den into a play room for Kate. I think this teepee from Land of Nod would work perfectly in there to give her a little private escape to read and what not.
  9. a-teepee-to-call-your-own-gold-metallicChrismas PJs and a book. I started a tradition last year where she gets Christmas PJs and a Christmas story on Christmas Eve to wear and read the night before Christmas. Then she has cute PJs on the next morning when she opens her presents and I take a million photos. These Christmas PJs from Old Navy are cute and festive, and for a book I’m thinking The Polar Express. Last year it was How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
  10. cn10159213Elf of the Shelf. Not so much a gift, but we just purchased an Elf of the Shelf to do with Kate this year. I’m looking forward to having fun putting the elf in funny places each night after she goes to bed. Pinterest has some hilarious ideas. I also didn’t realize the elf came in different genders and eye colors so of course we got the brown eyed girl one. elf on shelf

Lastly, if you are like me and do 90% of your shopping online, you should definitely sign up for Ebates if you haven’t already. It’s a site that gives you a percentage back on every online purchase you make. Almost every major retailer is on there. And you don’t have to remember to shop through Ebates if you install the plug in so it pops up every time you visit a retailer that offers an Ebates reward. I signed up a couple months ago and already have earned over $50 in cash back. They send you a check every quarter. So simple.

Happy shopping everyone!

A+B Wedding Video

9 May

It took forever but we finally got our wedding videos back. Here is a 5-min. recap of my favorite day ever… complete with some pretty ridiculous dancing!

Helping the Earth

22 Apr

To celebrate Earth Day (and because we were disgusted by all the trash on the side of the roads near our house), we decided to do a big clean up over the weekend.

My Mom and 14-year-old brother joined us and after only a couple hours we picked up 5 big lawn bags full of trash. The streets look so nice now and we had a lot of fun with it so plan to make it an annual affair.
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To make clean up easier, we carried buckets (bags would blow around and drag), and then we would just dump the bucket in the lawn bags each time it was full. The 4-wheeler helped us too!

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We found all kinds of junk, but this wins the creepiest award. haha

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I think this would be a great activity to get the kids involved. It definitely makes you never ever want to litter.

Anyone else doing something to help out for Earth Day? Any fellow trash picker uppers?

Winter Shenanigans

11 Feb

12 Oaks turned into a Winter Wonderland last week. It was the most snow we’ve had all season, about 6″ or 7″. I was in San Antonio where it was upper 70’s and came home to this.

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IMG_2244So pretty, right?

My Mom and little brother Jared came out to visit for the weekend and the boys cooked up the idea to tie an inner tube to the 4-wheeler and ride around the property.

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It was a blast!

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Then we decided to build a snowman. But it couldn’t be just any snowman. Since we had Ben’s friend’s bobcat, we decided to go big or go home. We checked the world record and quickly realized that was way out of our sights at 122 feet. It was actually a “snowwoman” that had skis for eyelashes and 30 foot spruce trees for arms.

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Our goal was 20 feet, and I think we ended up at about 12. We just started building a giant pile of snow. After that we shaped the middle part, then added a head.IMG_0107 2

I think Ben enjoyed building his first snowman.IMG_0110IMG_0117

We had to call it a day and come back to it the next day to finish up. Except then it had started raining, so we worked fast and furious to shape the bottom and put his “outfit” on.

A regular hat was too small so we spray painted a bucket for the hat and cut some spare fabric into a large enough scarf.

We were pretty proud of the outcome!

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Unfortunately, his face has melted off from the rain. But it was still totally worth it.

Next up on the blog: bathroom tile. It’s all laid, just needs to be grouted.