the first (and maybe only) Laundry for Six holiday gift guide!

As you might imagine, we've been through a lot of toys in this house. Some of them went to the trash in less than a week. Others, I'll be saving for my grandchildren. And most of them fall somewhere in between. I thought I'd share some of my favorites. But first, let me tell you my rules for a good toy.

Rule 1
No batteries is best, no EXPENSIVE batteries is a must. I will not be loading size D batteries in a kid's toy.

Rule 2
Nothing with a bazillion pieces. And if there are more than 20 pieces, you need to be able to lose a piece or two and still be able to play with the toy. If every piece is essential, it won't last 2 hours in our house. (Puzzles are an exception.)

Rule 3
I hate toys that you put together in one particular way and that's the only way you can use it. That usually means that I'm the one who has to put it together, which defeats the whole purpose. I'll get to Legos in a bit, but I like Legos much better after the thing you are supposed to make (house, Star Wars ship, whatever) has fallen apart and they use the blocks to build something of their own creation.

Rule 4
Wood is almost always better than plastic.

Rule 5
I'm not usually a consumer of high-end anything, but some toys are worth the extra money. Most of these are on the pricier end, but I only included the ones that were totally worth it.

And before I get started, this post is not sponsored by anyone. These are actual toys that we own and love. None of the manufacturers have contacted me nor have I contacted them. No money has been exchanged and no one was injured in the writing of this post. Several of the toys I've listed are from Hearth Song because I love their stuff and the toys are well-made.



Barbarossa Pirate Ship and Papo Pirates




This wooden ship is sturdy and well-made. The pirates are resin and incredibly detailed and realistic. (Something to consider if you have a kid who scares easily.) My kids have spent hours playing with various pirate sets (including Playmobil ones which I also like, but have lots and lots of tiny pieces) and these are my favorites. I'll be hanging on to these for the grandkids.

Kelly dolls



Kelly is Barbie's younger sister. These dolls are so much nicer than Barbies. They are the perfect size to tuck in a kid-sized purse, their clothes are much easier to put on and there are no freakish anatomical measurements. They usually come in sets of several dolls with a few accessories.

Foam Tile Activity Mat



They don't make the exact one we have anymore, but this mat is similar. (Some other brands make noise. Beware. I don't know about your kids, but mine already make plenty of noise.) The tiles are foam and can be put together several different ways. (See Rule 3.) My kids spend hours with this mat, adding Hot Wheels to the road, airplanes to the airport, Fisher Price Little People, pirates and Kellys for the people. It has a school, playground, farm and lake. It's soft, portable (comes in a zipper case) and encourages lots of imaginative play.

Wooden train set



We started with the Thomas set and mostly kept to that brand. But Brio trains and tracks are similar quality and are compatible with the Thomas wooden tracks. We have thousands of dollars invested in tracks and trains, but they are worth every single penny. My kids have spent hours playing with these.

These days, the older kids design the track layouts and the younger kids play with it. We don't have a train table, so we have to set it up on the floor (and while I'd love the space for a table, it definitely limits how big of a track you can make). I hate tripping over things, but I'd trip over this 100 times a day because I love it so much. My girls and boys alike have enjoyed this toy. (I will caution you about getting cheaper track pieces - we got some at Costco a few years back and they were not worth it. The pieces didn't line up quite right, the trains were not as sturdy and the connector parts on the tracks were a plastic peg which was easy to pull out - totally chokeable at worst, totally annoying at best. I know IKEA has a wooden train set and I haven't tried it, so I can't comment on those. Melissa & Doug too, I think. Anyone tried them?)

Blocks

We probably have a dozen different sets of blocks. You can't go wrong with blocks and you can't have too many. (At least in my house.) I have a few sets that I really love.

Castle blocks




These blocks are pricey, but worth every penny. They are handmade in the USA from scrap lumber and have intricate details. And if you sign up for the email newsletter, there are often sales and specials. My kids have been inspired to make some amazing things with them.

Dominos



I think we have 4 sets of Dominos (and use them all), but I keep these colored ones with the blocks and they get used for building.

Architectural Blocks




This isn't the exact set we have, but these unusual shapes and building parts make for some very intricate structures and hours of playing time.

Legos



More building!

You either love Legos or hate them. We love them. Yes, there are tiny pieces and yes, they REALLY hurt when you step on them, but they can keep my kids busy for HOURS doing creative things. Most Legos come in a set where you follow a complicated set of instructions to build a specific thing. Younger kids can't possibly put it together by themselves. And once you have invested hours in building it, you don't want ANYONE TO TOUCH IT. And eventually, it gets knocked over and breaks apart and there are TEARS! and DRAMA! But never fear - for THEN, the fun is just beginning.

Throw away the instruction book and toss all the Legos in a giant bin and let them have at it.

Or skip all the drama and buy a set that isn't meant to go together in any specific way. (Again with Rule 3.) Search for "Lego Building Set" on Amazon and you will get some of these. They usually come in plastic bins, not boxes, like the picture above.

I will say that my boys play with these much more than my girls, but I think even an all-girl house should have at least one set of Legos. (They have ones that come in more girly colors if that's an issue.)

If your kids aren't old enough for Legos or you have a baby that puts everything in his mouth, we also love Duplos and still play with them frequently.

Marble Race



Another building toy, but this one requires some strategy. We've had plastic and wood. Wood is definitely better.

Corolle dolls



We have a LOT of baby dolls. My favorites are Corolle dolls. They have beanbag bodies, which makes them feel more solid. Their faces have beautiful detail. The clothes are adorable. They come with attached pacifiers. And some of them are even scented.

Stunt Psycho Remote Control Car



Don't be scared by the name - this remote control car is AMAZING. It can drive over any terrain - rocks, ivy, tall grass and even goes up and down curbs. When it hits something it can't get past, it flips over and goes in the opposite direction.

We have had lots of remote control vehicles over the years... this one is the BOMB.

Play Kitchen



Of all the toys we've bought, we've probably gotten the most use out of our play kitchen. When I first bought it, I was a completely unsophisticated toy consumer. I bought the biggest, plasticist (I made that up) one I could find. It's fine, but if I was shopping today, I'd buy something with a little more style. And smaller. Something like the one above. We've added play grills over the years, plates and utensils and even a McDonalds cash register.

My kids have set up countless restaurants - McDonalds, The Krusty Krab, IHOP and a fancy French bistro.

Keep lots of props on hand. Aprons, a kid-size table and chairs. A chalkboard for a menu. Tiny placemats and napkins. Anything to keep that spark of imagination going.

As far as food, in most cases, I'd say plastic wins over wood in this case. Plastic food is more realistic looking. I like food that is similar in size to real food. (Some is teeny tiny.) I also HATE the food that you can cut in half and sticks together with velcro. I am the only one who EVER put the food back together. The only velcro food I can recommend is this pizza, which is awesome.



My Fairy Princess Palace Pop-Up Book





This book is a work of art. It opens up and ties to stay open and becomes a multi-level palace with it's own paper doll fairies. It's completely portable as it folds right back down into a book. It IS fragile. This is not for young toddlers. My 5-year old has been playing with it for over a year and is enchanted with it. (If you look at the bottom of the Amazon page I linked, there are other titles also. We also have Fairy Winter Wonderland and Santa is bringing My Fairy Funfair this year.)

Puzzle Blocks



We have several sets of puzzle blocks, including one that was Laundry Dad's when he was a kid. One of our sets is in a plastic suitcase-type carrier and it is a great toy to take to church or a restaurant. It's 6 puzzles in one, and once you are done with the puzzles, you can build a block tower too.

Modern Pattern Coloring Books



These coloring books are a wonderful gift for older kids. My kids sit for hours creating amazing works of art. The pages are made of vellum, so they are perfect for hanging in windows for your own personal stained glass effect. (I'll be honest, I love coloring in them too.) You can also buy them as a set with a box of fine-tip markers. I give the sets as birthday party gifts.

Klutz books



Klutz is another brand I love. They have a large selection of kit books for making a craft or learning a skill, like Friendship Bracelets or Fashion Design. My favorite Klutz books though are the ones we take on car rides and are full of puzzles, mazes, jokes and dot to dots.

Happy shopping! Feel free to post your favorite toys down in the comments below.

metamorphosis

Children grow in fits and starts.

My chunky toddler thinned out and seemed to grow four inches overnight. My kindergartner who wore the same pants for two years suddenly had high waters.

Developmentally too. My frustrated, screamy baby developed a few words at once and could finally communicate what he wanted. The high-strung, tightly-wound preschooler became a focused, earnest school boy. The flighty, hyper youngster turned into an artistic, creative soul.

Getting through each of these stages can be exceedingly painful as a parent.

They are moments trapped inside a chrysalis with a bewildered, confused, angry child. Your caterpillar. And neither of you knows at the time that that is where you are. It feels like a dark, confined, slimy place that you've never been to before. And both of you think that you are doomed to spend the rest of your life there.

Until suddenly it starts to break open. And the light appears. You can poke your head out and look around. And you look at your caterpillar and notice something.

Wings.

While you were wound up together in the dank and scary place, your child grew into a whole new being. With a delicate, elegant new body with parts he has never seen before and doesn't know how to use. Slowly but ever so surely, a new life emerges - one you didn't even know to dream about.

We're in a chrysalis right now. It's ugly and dark. And sometimes it's all I can think about. That I will be here, trapped with this angry and confused child forever. But I've been in here enough times now to know that I must hang on. While the wings grow and develop. And a metamorphosis occurs.

in which I both give and get the hairy eyeball

I've gotten at least 3 phone calls from school in the past 2 weeks that Cheer has a stomach ache. (I can't remember if I've talked about this before and I'm too lazy to go search, but it's been going on for YEARS.) Ok wait. Here it is.

On Monday, I had to pick up Tide at school so he could come home to shower and change because he was collateral damage to someone else's stomach issues. (I know. Ick. I feel bad for both of them.) Wednesday and Thursday, I kept Shout home because she has a cough that sounds like tuberculosis and there's a kid in her class with fragile health who really shouldn't be exposed to her tuberculosis-like self.

Then I had to pick up Cheer on Wednesday AN HOUR BEFORE DISMISSAL ON A HALF DAY because of a stomach ache. So I basically spent more time driving him to and from school and talking on the phone with the school than he was actually THERE. (Of course, they did have him try to eat his snack to see if he was hungry before calling me. And what did his Mother of the Year pack for his healthy snack? These babies.




See the flames on the package? I am awesome, no?) (Don't judge me, internet. The pantry was empty.)

So when he complained again this morning, I finally called the pediatrician's office just so someone could tell me to give him a Tums and send him to school. But they decided he needed to come in.

I went over his symptoms with the doctor, she felt around his belly and asked where it hurt. (He says "EVERYWHERE" and I saw her write down "diffuse abdominal pain.")

(I wanted to mention that when you tell him, "How about your eyelashes? Because sometimes when your stomach hurts, your eyelashes hurt too. Do YOUR eyelashes hurt?" He will touch his eyelashes and MOAN "YEEEESSSSS." But I didn't want to sound unsupportive, so I phrased it as "He's very open to the power of SUGGESTION," and waggled my eyebrows at her. Then she wrote down, "Mother is a lesbian.")

Finally she said, "How long would you say this has been going on?"

Without even thinking, I said "Oh, three years."

And that's when she opened up the Child Protective Services tab on her computer.

To summarize, instead of getting a coupon for Children's Tums, I ended up with a slips for an abdominal x-ray, a bunch of bloodwork and a referral to a pediatric GI doctor.

This was SO not turning out to be the day I had planned on.

We headed to the radiology place, where a women in the waiting room with OMG! SO! MUCH! PERFUME! wafting around her person kept giving us the hairy eyeball because we all kept sneezing and coughing. Hello? We were sneezing and coughing from ALL THE PERFUME. ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM.

After that, we drove to the lab. I knew the gods were smiling on me when I spied a parking space RIGHT IN FRONT. I started pulling in and a psycho woman in a white Audi SUV parked next to the empty space started aggressively honking her horn and pointing to me like I was about to HIT HER PRECIOUS CAR. Except I was 10 FEET AWAY. And I was pulling into a parking space. Not exactly a complicated maneuver.

She had a tiny white dog on her lap with BARRETTES who was barking furiously. (As furiously as something that only weighs 4 pounds can bark.) (I'm totally making up the part about the barrettes. I was TEN FEET AWAY. I couldn't have seen barrettes. But I'm sure it had some. And I bet they were rhinestone.)

I gave her a little hairy eyeball of my own and parked as far away from her as possible.

When they finally called our name in the lab, Shout started giving Cheer tips on a successful blood draw and the phlebotomist was a little confused about why a 5-year old knows so much about needle gauges and collection tubes. Sigh.

So the question remains, for now. Does his stomach really hurt? I actually think maybe it does. But he feels MUCH BETTER when he's not in school. He's not having a bad time at school, he'd just rather not be there. And when forced to do something he doesn't want to do, he gets a stomach ache. Makes perfect sense to me. (Maybe because I have that same stomach.) Some people just live life through their stomachs.

Here's the irony. Going to school gives HIM a stomach ache. NOT going to school, gives ME one.

and the lame blog award goes to...

I'm sitting here wracking my brain for something to write about.

My poor, overtired, underutilized, uninspired brain. It's like a fussy old car that doesn't like to start in cold weather. If I do get it going, and then I have to stop, it stalls.

In the last 10 minutes, while writing the above, I had to put it in neutral to wipe dirt off of Shout's stuffed animal, listen to Tide's explanation of how Criss Angel walks on water, and teach Cheer how to tuck his pant leg into his sock so it doesn't get stuck in his bike chain (again). And once I was done with all that, I looked at the clock and realized it was time to stick dinner in the oven because it's a hockey night and we are on a tight schedule.

Ok, so where was I?

Trying to compose a decent blog post..

I just got interrupted again... kissing a boo-boo, taking a phone call and helping Tide with an algebra problem.

Is it any wonder I can't form a coherent thought?

Two more interruptions, an emergency restock of the toilet paper supply and a discussion with Cheer of the merits of paper football vs. eraser football.

What was I saying?

Hold on...

Had to help Tide find his hockey uniform and discuss how tall T-Rex's are with Cheer.

I had...

Ok, now a fight has broken out over a glass of chocolate milk...

Fighters punished, now Shout needs a drink.

I think I'll be pouring one for myself while I'm up.

you asked... the ultimate hausfrau post

You want to know my laundry secret?

Don't report me to the authorities, ok?

I've stopped sorting by color.

(Pick yourself up off the floor. It's ok.)

We have two hampers. One in the kids' bathroom, with all the kid clothes. And one in my room with the grown up clothes.

I dump one of those in the washer every morning. (I alternate.) The only downside is my whites might not be quite as bright (I can't tell and I wouldn't care even if I could). I do pull out any new darker clothes that might bleed. But 75% of the kid clothes are school uniforms which have been washed a GAZILLION times.

For some reason, my kids have a FAVORITE pair of uniform maroon sweatpants. Or a FAVORITE pair of khaki pants. Even though they are all EXACTLY. THE. SAME.

This way, if they want that favorite pair? It's all good because they're almost always clean. (Or every other day, anyway.)

20% of the remaining 25% is stinky hockey laundry. That will curl your nose hairs. I have to wash this almost every day. So that gets thrown into whatever load is getting washed that day. (We keep that stuff in the basement... far from our smell receptors... because I am not kidding you when I say it smells like the rotted intestinal contents of long-dead road kill.)

On the adult days, there's not nearly as much laundry. I wear the same thing over and over and over again, because... well, why not? I don't get dirty, I don't go anywhere, and it's mostly yoga pants and t-shirts anyway. If it was just me, I could wash socks and underwear (I do change those, ya'll) every 2 weeks and be done with it.

Anyway, I usually have space in the grown up load for towels, sheets and other random stuff. So I can mostly get away with one load a day.

(I also wash larger smellier hockey equipment once a week, but that takes a special load. And a clothespin on my nose.)

Then, once the load is done, I SIT MY BUTT DOWN in front of HGTV and watch TV and fold. It's the only time I watch TV during the day so I consider it a personal treat for having to fold, which I hate. (If I wait until the kids are in bed, I NEVER DO IT. So I force myself to do it before dinner.)

Then I immediately pick up the laundry and PUT IT AWAY. It's a much less daunting task when all the laundry is going to the same general location (the kids have bedrooms upstairs and ours is on the main floor) and it's only one load.

Previously, we did laundry on the weekends and we would do 8 or so loads at once. It would be piled up in baskets, constantly rooted through in search of the lucky baseball socks, favorite Navy sweatshirt, or whatever.

It's easy to get off track with this system, I admit. But if I get started early in the morning and double up on the folding and putting away, I've been able to get back on track in a couple days.

(Also? If I can keep this up, we need WAY less clothes. Like seriously, everyone only needs 2 of everything, right? We're a long way from getting THAT minimal, but I'm eyeing those overstuffed dressers very critically.)

home, hearth and (mental) health

I've come to realize that my mental health is directly tied to order (or DISORDER, in my case).

A stupid, whiny, First-World problem.

Me and my healthy family have so much stuff and clean clothes and dishes on which we ate delicious food that when it all surrounds me, I have a hard time resisting the urge to lie in bed underneath the covers.

Makes me want to smack myself upside the head, but there it is.

Order in my head is directly tied to order in my home.

And being the sole Director of Order for six people is more than a full-time job. When I can't keep up (which is most of the time), I tend to GIVE UP.

I've been working hard on this. I've been trying to keep on top of things. Laundry. Toys. Clutter.

In the past few weeks, I've bagged up garbage bags full of toys and clothes to be donated, things to be put in the attic, plain ole trash. I implemented a new laundry system to keep myself from being surrounded by baskets and baskets of clean, wrinkled, unfolded laundry.

And I feel so much better.

But nature abhors a vacuum. And my kids abhor a coffee table that is neatly stacked with a pile of magazines.

Despite hauling at least 10 garbage bags out of our main living areas, we still have overstuffed dressers, toys on every surface, and piles of crap that need a home.

I'm thinking a trip to IKEA is in order. Where I can get myself a coffee and go sit in one of their styled rooms on the showroom floor and pretend I live there. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this.)


from Hooked on Houses, which, if you don't read, you REALLY should!


I wish I had taken a picture of my favorite one ever before it got dismantled. It was my Happy Place.

I've always been addicted to shelter magazines and now home design blogs. I'm finding myself drawn for the first time ever to more modern designs with clean lines and minimalist decor. It feels soothing to me.


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I'm also feeling pulled to more urban living. My neighborhood is a good mix of urban and suburban. We have a yard big enough for the kids to run around, but small enough to mow in about 15 minutes. We can walk to the subway, but you get there through a woodsy bike path.

For some reason, an exposed brick wall has become my latest obsession. My life would have the modern urban minimalist aesthetic I crave if I JUST had an exposed brick wall. Don't you agree?


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These last two are from an MLS listing for a new urban infill rowhouse development JUST DOWN THE ROAD from me! It's bigger than my house but alas, no backyards. Not right for us currently, but wow. Look at the windows, the brick, the cozy yet modern interior.

I haven't tackled a big house project in awhile. My schedule this year doesn't leave me with much free time. But feathering my nest most definitely feeds my soul.

So we do have an interior brick wall that is covered up with drywall...

I'm finding it VERRRRRY HARD to resist the temptation to just start picking away at it... (it's safe for now only by the fact that Laundry Dad would have a FIT because I can EXPOSE the brick wall, but making it look good would be HIS job...)

But first, I'm going to accomplish (somehow) a few projects I've already been dreaming about.

First up, I'm painting a chalkboard wall in my kitchen, inspired by this one.


from My Sweet Savannah

I bought all the supplies last week. I just need to get started.

What about you? Can you live among chaos? How do you keep it under control?