Happy Halloween!

With the Halloween today, and thanksgiving soon to come and as Christmas is just around the corner, I get a lot of questions about gifts for the boys. Everyone thinks buying for a small child is easy but I find there are so many toys in the world now that my living room, porch, and their rooms are overrun with toys.

I have been seeing recently where parents are requesting instead of toys this year to purchase them experiences instead. While I love this idea because it makes a great memory part of me wants them to have to toys, they ask for.

This year my boys LOVE farm equipment so they asked for square balers and tractors and combines and everything in between. So, that is what I sent to family to get them. In the next few years, I am going to be transitioning to the experiences pathway because I think the memories the make will be worth so much more than any materialistic items.

In case anyone else is looking for great, long lasting farm equipment I highly recommend the 1/16 scale ertl or dicast toys. They are metal and sometimes plastic but my boys absolutely love them! I purchase most of mine off eBay, amazon, or a great site is outback toys.

Something else I am doing this year is my kids loves animals almost as much as I do so they are going to be receiving Russian tortoise. A tortoise is a somewhat easy, low maintenance animal and a good started pet to learn responsibility. If you are thinking about getting a pet for your kids, I encourage you to do a lot of research on the animal you are thinking about!

Also, remember to explain the meaning of Christmas whatever you religion or lack thereof is, explain why you celebrate Christmas and encourage your kiddos to be involved in the festivities. Since I had Garrett, I started up the elf on a shelf tradition and he loved it and so did Lincoln last year. I think they will definitely be more into it this year as well so I am excited for Louie (our elf) to make his first appearance in December. Stay tuned to my Facebook and Instagram accounts for updates on his daily activities!

I love this Christmas season and I cannot wait for the traditions to continue I have started with my family!

Hopefully, this will give you some inspiration for your kids this year!