Chrstimas Gift Ideas {little girls}

I've gotten most of Christmas shopping done for my kiddos and it's getting me really into the Christmas mood! I rounded up some of the favorites gifts for little girls to share with you today. (I'll be back with my boy picks tomorrow)


But first, remember to sign up for Ebates and do all your shopping through there! It's free money people!!

1.Play Doh Town//2. Little Live Pets//3. Lego Duplo//4. Cinderella Doll

5. Crayola Color Wonder//6. Hatchimals//7. Dollhouse

8 Vtech Palace//9. Vtech Puppy//10. Kareoke Machine//11. Vtech Unicorn

12. Lego Jr//13. Roller Skating Minnie

Are any of these on your list?? I have picked up everything here except for the dollhouse and the Vtech palace. Those Hatchimals are insane to get but I'm lucky to have gotten it for Ella. I'm sure I'll grab some puzzles and books for them as well.

I can't wait to see the looks on my girls faces Christmas morning!


*linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls

Christmas Gift List {for little girls}

Today I thought I'd share with you my sweet little Ella's Christmas gift list.  Of course she only has 1 thing on her mind, and that is the Queen Elsa's Frozen Ice Castle.  It is ALL she talks about (well that, and a pink ipad) and I hope her little face is beaming with delight when she sees it on Christmas morning!

That being said, of course we got her plenty of other gifts too - below is a roundup of gift ideas for that perfect little girl!

1. Disney Princess Pop Up Magic Castle Game - My girl loves princesses and she loves game so this was a no brainer

2. Lego Duplos Cafe - She loves duplos so much and they are always a Christmas gift staple around here.

3. Lil Woodzeez Treehouse - I love this treehouse! I can see hours of play going on with this.

4. Aladdin Figurine Set  - We love little figurines around here and play with them everyday! She has almost every Disney character except the Aladdin people, she will love this!

5. Tea Set -  I wanted to get Ella a nicer tea set than the plastic one we have so we can set up tea parties in her room for all her little "friends" - she loves having a tea party!

6. Ballet Star Book - Since my sweet girl started ballet this year I know she will love this book!

7. Elsa's Ice Palace Playset - And of course, this is THE item that I know my girl will flip over!! We already have it but it's sitting in a HUGE box and the hubs really needs to get to work on putting it together :)

8. Anna Doll - Because of course that expensive playset doesn't even come with a doll!

9. My Pretty Mosaic - I love these little mosaic crafts, they are so fun!

10. Elsa Doll - You can't have Elsa's Ice Palace without Elsa!

11. Play Doh Set - Play doh is another Christmas gift staple that you can't go wrong with.

For Ella's stocking she'll get a bunch of girly stuff - she LOVES painting her nails and doing her "makeup" so some of that stuff for sure.  I think she would love this necklace too! And then of course her favorite candy and lotto tickets :)

Are any of these on your gals Christmas list? 

Christmas Gift List {for Brayden}

I thought it would be fun to share what Santa and the hubby & I are getting our little man for Christmas this year. I really hope he's not disappointed when the entire Toys R Us catalog isn't under the tree :)

I don't know about you, but I find it so hard to contain myself around the holidays - I want to buy my kids everything! That being said, that clearly cannot happen, but we do like to get them a variety of things - some toys, some games, puzzles, craft stuff, educational stuff.

Here is what our little guy (5 1/2) will be getting this year (links below) - 

1. Fool the Frog game - We love games and this one looks pretty fun!

2. Batman Unlimited - Brayden LOVES Batman and has his eye on this toy forever. I hope he loves it when he sees it.

3. Pete the Cat's Super Cool Reading Collection -LOVE Pete the Cat series and now that my boy is starting to read, I thought this collection would be perfect.

4. Headbanz - Another game that looks fun!

5. Doodle Pro - He loves to draw so this will be nice to take in the car

6. Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage - This is his #1 request on his list, I hope he is so excited when he sees it! This will be his gift from Santa and we will set it up for him and not wrap it.

7. Jurassic World for Wii U - My in laws are getting the kids a Wii U as a combo gift (all my hubbys doing) so of course we need Brayden's favorite movie as a game for it

8. Learning Resources Science Lab Set - My boy loves science experiments and I thought this would be fun!

9. Bunchems - He keeps seeing these on TV and has requested them several times, they look fun enough.

10. Play Doh Crazy Cuts  - We always get each kid a play doh set and Brayden has his eyes on this one.

11. Dinosaur Puzzle - Since he's obsessed with dinosaurs and loves puzzles, this is on his list.  Although I'm not sure if I should go for something with more pieces.  I just love that this is a wooden one, the pieces seem to hold up much better.

12. Scooby Doo Legos - Brayden loves Scooby Doo and he loves legos, so this was a no brainer :)

I also got him a Kids Bop cd for his stocking and we always put in candy and scratch off tickets (great parents we are)


Are any of these on anyone elses' list?

Christmas for the kiddos

Is anyone else as oblivious as me that Christmas is 34 days away!? I mean, when did that happen?! Now I totally understand why people are putting their trees up already (even though I could never bring myself to put ours up before Thanksgiving)

Anyhoo, it's time to round up some gift ideas for my sweet kiddos.

First up is for my little man.  He is almost 4 1/2 and wants EVERYTHING he sees.  While I do want to buy him everything, I keep reminding him that Santa will not be bringing 1000 presents. 

1.  Skippyjon Jones Snow What - This is just one book from the series but thought it would be a good place to start since I want to start reading books from a series to Brayden.  I think it will be fun for him to follow one character.

2. Hoot Owl Hoot - Not gonna lie, the colors of this board game are what I'm drawn to most, but I also think it sounds like a fun little game to play!

3. T Rex Takedown - This is one of those items Brayden saw on TV and was begging for, I hope he still loves it once Christmas rolls around

4. Kinetic Sand - My little guy already has blue and green but he could always use more, this stuff is so awesome!

5. Fisher-Price Imaginext Eagle Talon Castle- This is one of Brayden's "bigger" gifts and I asked part of our family to get all of the little things that go along with this. He's into castles and dragons so I'm hoping he likes this!

6. Yahtzee Jr - Who doesn't love this game!? I am SO excited to play this with him

7. Magnatiles - We already have the starter set of this but it's only 32 pcs and it's just not enough.  These are so pricey though so I asked my in laws to get these for both the kiddos

8.  Magic Science - My little guy is really into doing science experiments so this looks fun, I just hope it's not a total waste of money

9. Planes Legos - My kids are really into legos, and although Brayden is older he still loves the duplos. I tried getting him some of the sets for older kids but the pieces are so small, everything just gets lost, plus he doesn't really have the attention span to do those harder ones.


Now on to Miss Ella.  She is a little over 2 and becoming really into playing with toys! Of course I want to buy her everything too but I think she will be good with the below! 

1. Little People Snow White Cottage - Ella loves the little people so I don't see how she won't love this

2. Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs little people - of course she needs all her peeps to go with the cottage

3. Singing Elsa doll - Ella loves Frozen (along with the rest of the world) and I know she will love this doll!

4. Minnie Mouse Birthday Boutique - give Ella anything Minnie and she is one happy girl

5. Disney Princess Figure playset - my kids love these playsets and these princesses will be a great addition

6. B Dr Set - I think this will be so much fun to play with!

7. Thinkfun roll & play board game - Since Ella is not much of a talker, I think this game is right up her alley

8. Legos - this girl loves her some legos!

9. Mickey Mouse Play Doh - again, anything Mickey and she is all for so I know she'll love this


So there, that's what's on my kids' Christmas lists (if they like it or not, ha) Little Avery won't get too much but we still have to get a couple of things, afterall, I don't want the kids to think Santa forgot about her!

Tell me what's on your kids' Christmas list? I would love hearing new ideas!

5 on Friday - My Christmas List

I haven't participated in a 5 on Friday in a looooong time, I'm back today linking up with Darci over at The Good Life

I thought it would be fun to do my Christmas List, since I don't want much this year.  Here's hoping the Hubby is reading :)

*1* New VS PJ's + Matching Slippers

I am leaning towards these ones because I like that they are festive

*2* I-phone Wallet Case

I never realized how badly I need one of these! It will be so perfect for when I am using the diaper bag and not my regular purse to just throw this in

*3* Erin Condren Life Planner

     I am pretty unorganized and would like to start the new year off at least attempting to be better at that!

*4* Book - Spelling it Like it is by Tori Spelling

I love all of Tori Spelling's books so I know I will enjoy this one! She is very relate-able to me as a Mother/Wife (don't judge!)

*5* Book - Melissia Explains it All - by Melissa Joan Hart

I am just interested in the juicy details she spills about other people to be honest, I love a good reality read!

Kid Christmas Ideas

Some may think I'm crazy to already start Christmas shopping and making my gift lists, but really people, did you know Christmas is only 91 days away! That is only 13 more Saturdays and that means this Mama needs to get on it.

The past few years I have really started getting better about starting my shopping early, but then I have come across the problem of being completely done too early and seeing all of the sales going on closer towards Christmas and I want to keep shopping, which leads me to blow my budget, every year.  This year, I am vowing to stay on budget! 

I buy my kids so much stuff throughout the year that I am really going to try to not go overboard this year. We already have SO many toys that barely even get used, so I'm going to try more for quality rather than quantity.  Plus, they get so spoiled by their grandparents that I really don't ever have to worry they'll come up empty handed.

I already know the kids' "big" present from Santa this year is going to be a wooden play kitchen, that being said, on top of the kitchen, my goal is to spend $100 on each child, which won't be easy since $100 does not go a long way. Thankfully I informed our family members to buy the kitchen play food so Santa can get them some other stuff.

I am loving this kitchen the best!

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Here are some ideas I'm having for the little man:

1. Lego Duplo - My First Circus - he loves his legos!

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2.  Curious George 5 min stories - Brayden has become re-obsessed with Curious George lately and since I always like to buy a couple books for Christmas I think this one is great!

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3. Berenstain Bears Go to School - Brayden has most of my original Berenstain Bears books from when I was a kid (my mom is so good and kept everything!) and now that he started school I think this is a good one to add to his collection

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4. Ready, Set, Cut! - My little guy LOVES arts & crafts and I think it's time he starts using scissors

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5. My First Sticky Mosaics - Vehicles.  This just looks fun!

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6. Hi Ho Cherry-O - Brayden really loves sitting down and playing board games and we don't have too many, this one looks fun!

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7. Wreck It Ralph - this was the first movie little man saw in the theater, I think it's about time we own it :)

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8.  Toy Story Figurine Set - I seriously love these figurine sets from the Disney Store - they are such great quality and always on sale for $10/each when  you buy 2.  

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9. Monsters, Inc Figurine Playset - You can never have too many :)

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Now for little Ella Bella, here's what I'm thinking

1. Minnies Pet Shop Play Set (I may have to take some small pieces away for a while)

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2. Minnie Mouse Figure Playset

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3. Disney's Animator Snow White Doll

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4. Lego Duplo Cinderella's Carriage

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5.  5 Minute Princess Stories

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6.  Mega Blocks

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Now I'm  hoping I can snag some of this stuff on sale, I know the Disney store offers 30% your entire purchase around Thanksgiving time so I'll definitely be on the look out for that.  With that, I can probably squeeze in a couple of more things for each.

If anyone has any recommendations on toys for either gender, I am all ears!! Especially for girls, since I am very new to girl stuff ::)