December 2: Wrapping Presents

Today's Christmas activity was to wrap presents.  I purposely put this early in the month, hoping it would motivate me to get a head start on the present wrapping.

We wrapped about eight presents today, and Audrey helped with two of them.  She was very eager to cut the wrapping paper (cutting with scissors is a fairly new skill for her), but she quickly found it frustrating and not fun.  I was happy to let her do her own thing, as the present wrapping went much more quickly without any "help" from her.

This year, I'm stealing an idea I have seen around the internet for buying presents for my kids (and Daniel too).  I love buying presents for people.  I love shopping around and trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list.  I would go crazy and spend all kinds of money on presents for other people if I could, especially my kids.  To help keep the present buying under control, this year I bought four presents for each kid, one in each category:  something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.  It's kind of cheesy, but I like spreading out the presents into different categories so that we don't just buy our kids all toys.  Daniel is getting presents in these categories as well...what a lucky guy.

If you are still shopping for your kids and looking for ideas, here is what our girls are getting this year.

For Audrey:

Want

Audrey is getting the Cinderella DVD that was recently released.  We don't have it, and she is a huge fan of the Cinderella story.  I believe she has seen the movie once at a friend's house, but she knows the story well from a book we have.

I'm breaking the rules and getting Audrey two things that she wants.  She is also getting these Tinkerbell fairy figurines.  Both of my girls are obsessed with "guys" as we call them, little figurines like this.  Audrey has a set of Tinker Bell magnets that she has played with for over a year, and I know that she will love these figurines even more.  (And I'm ready to get rid of those magnets!)

Need
Audrey needs some new underwear.  Kind of a boring present, but she will be excited about it! 

Wear
I got this dress from Tea Collection for $15 when they were having their Black Friday sale.  I love Tea Collection's dresses, and Audrey loves to wear dresses, so this should make everyone happy.

Read

I ordered a few books for Audrey through her Scholastic book order at school.  I'm so excited about being able to order through Scholastic book orders...they offer great prices on paperback picture books that you cannot find anywhere else!  She is getting Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons.  We have the Pete the Cat and his White Shoes, and we all love it.  She is also getting If you Take a Mouse to School.  We check out these books by Laura Numeroff all the time from the library.  Audrey calls them "Give the animal a food" books (even though this one isn't about giving an animal food, but many of the others are).  I figured it was about time we owned one.  And she is getting Silly Sally, which I think she will like because she loves silly things lately.


For Isla:

Want

Isla is getting this Fisher Price Rev n Sounds Race track.  Isla loves cars, and I think she is going to love this.  We have never really had many cars in our house with two girls, so it should be fun.   I got a good deal on this at Kohls online one day....it was already 15% off the sale price, then I had an additional % off.  I ended up getting it for around $18 with free shipping.

Need

Isla is in need of some new shoes.  She is still comfortably wearing her 6-12 month Pedipeds from last spring.  But her feet are very, very slowly growing, and I think she will be ready for a bigger size soon.  I love Pedipeds so much, that I was even willing to pay full price for these shoes for Isla.  That never happens!!

Wear
H&M recently opened in our mall, so I checked it out the other day.  I found a couple of cute things for Isla.  So she is getting a shirt and a dress. I can't find a link to what I bought online, and I just wrapped them today so I can't take a picture.  But they were cute!  I've never bought kids clothes from H&M before, so I am curious to see how they fit her.


Read

Isla is getting Alice in Wonderland:  A Babylit Colors Primer.  This is a selfish purchase on my part.  I hope Isla will like the book, but I am really getting it for her just because I like it.  These Babylit board books are so fun and cute!  We have the Pride and Prejudice one, and selfishly I would like to own the whole set!  Isla is only getting one book, because her one book was the same price as Audrey's three books!  Though I was really tempted to get her this Wheels on the Bus book, but I resisted.