Summer 2017 Favorites

Our summer months this year look a bit different than in year's past.  Reason being, we decided to hire a nanny!  Normally, both kids spend their summers with their daycare providers.  However, to give Rowen a fun summer before kindergarten, and to lessen the burden of having two kids at two separate daycare facilities, it was the best choice! So far it’s gone very well, and the kids are having a blast!

When we were packing to move last summer I ended up donating a lot of toys we weren’t using.  Included in the donation box was a lot of their summer toys, pool noodles, water guns, etc.  By that point we’d had them for a number of years and they were starting to get gross so I just decided to do away with them to help lessen the load for the move.  Well, fast forward another summer and I realized I needed new stuff to keep the kids entertained!  So today I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite summer items (links for everything in descriptions below)...

1. Intex Wishing Well Pool -  I initially bought this pool because I liked the idea of having two pools in one.  I liked the fact that Wyatt could easily play in the middle portion and Rowen could swim in circles around the outer ring. So far both kids love the outer area the most!  Wyatt loves to put his cars and trucks in the pool and drive them along the edge!  It's the perfect pool for toddlers because they can easily step in and out without assistance.

2. Aruba Mesh Beach Tote Bag -  We use this as our pool toy bag.  It's a cooler/bag combo!  The top 3/4 features a mesh bag (perfect for wet toys) and the bottom 1/4 is an insulated cooler. Whenever the kids visit the pool or splash pad they want to take along toys and it's usually pushing lunch time or dinner time when we are there so this is the perfect solution!

3. WooHoo Toys Big Children Playhouse Pop-Up Play Tent -  My oldest loves to play pretend so I thought this would be fun. Some of the other fold-able tents I found weren't very big, but this one is huge - you can easily fit multiple kids inside!  Unlike other play tents, it doesn't require poles, it simply pops up and folds back down for easy storage.  Bonus is that it comes with stakes so that we can take it outside as well!

4. Splash Balls -  An obvious necessity when it comes to summertime and the occasional water fight with dad! :)

5. Sportspower My 1st Waterslide - We've only put this up a handful of times this summer, but it's a lot of fun, my neighbor kids love it, too!  Much like a bounce house it uses a blower and inflates within minutes.  So far the quality seems to be great!

6. Dew Drop Ocean Beads Ocean Animals Adventure Kit - These water beads are a total hit with my kids!  They're cheap and great for sensory play.  I keep them in a plastic tote out on our deck, under the umbrella and send the kids out to play daily.  This particular pack of beads comes with small ocean animals to play with.  I love to play with these too, there's something very relaxing about them! I bought these Squeezy Tweezers, which are great for little hands, too!

7. Wiggle Car by Lil' Rider - This is by far my daughter's favorite thing to play with outside when we are not in the pool.  The speed she has when she's on this thing is crazy - they are low to the ground, very easy to ride, and come in a bunch of different colors. I highly recommend it for younger kids!

Toy Storage

A little over a year ago I posted my playroom reveal {click here to see it}.  For the most part, the playroom still looks the same except it's 10x more cluttered!

Now that we have Wyatt and he is six months out from crawling, I am really going to have to start going through everything to ensure that all of the small stuff is out of his reach.  

I’ve been scouring Pinterest like crazy trying to find ways to do this, and I think I’ve found some really great ideas I hope to use.  Check it out...

Small puzzles pieces, game pieces, and princess pieces are currently scattered everywhere in the playroom.  I LOVE the idea of using a combination of simple mesh bags and pencil cases to hold small items that can either be hung on the wall or stored in cubes! 

{images: Two Twenty One}

They are perfect - easy enough for a three year old to open and close, yet complicated enough for baby!

Along with puzzles and games, Rowen also enjoys art!  She loves her crayons, markers, Playdoh, etc, and I love the idea of keeping them in containers, up high and out of reach from both kids!  I like knowing that Rowen will have to ask to use these supplies (toddlers and markers can be a scary thought), and at the same time I won’t have to worry about Wyatt getting into something he shouldn’t! 

I love this entire set-up and plan to re-create it in our playroom! (IKEA trip!).

{images from Modern Parents Messy Kids}

Easy and for the most part inexpensive!  I hope to have some updated playroom pictures in the coming months, so stay tuned!

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Toy Talk

I figured today would be a good day to chat about toys. This past Christmas I definitely underestimated just how spoiled rotten our little girl is.  She has so many amazing people in her life and even though she's the smallest in the family, she hands down, is the one with the most "stuff".  The past two months I {with my OCD tendencies} have spent a lot of my spare time furiously trying to organize as many of her toys as possible.  However, last week I finally gave in and decided that unless I want another full-time job on top of the one I already have, trying to keep the house looking like a home rather than a daycare just isn't worth the time.  So, until we finish her playroom, this is the mess I will just have to learn to cope with. Although the mess does drive me nuts, I have to remind myself to take a step back and appreciate how lucky she is, and that this "mess" is her "happy", which ultimately makes me happy, too.

Even though Rowen has more toys than she needs, my husband and I have started to notice that she still tends to get bored and maybe even a bit overwhelmed with everything she has.  I decided to remove some of the older toys in her toy box and temporarily give them a new home in our basement in hopes that she no longer feels so lost when searching for what she wants to play with.  My plan every couple of months is to rotate the toys in the basement with what she's currently playing with.  Hopefully that solves our problem!

Here is a list of some of her current favorites:

1. Tee-pee

2. Little People Farm

3. Mr. Potato Head

4. BUSA Play Tunnel

5. Little People Let's Go to the Zoo

I love blog posts that talk about gift ideas and toys that work for their little ones, so if anyone else has any ideas, or organizational tips, please share!