Top Five Friday #6 - Sickness stinks but...

Initially I wanted to write the top five reasons that I hate the dumb swine flu (see the gross picture of swine flu above), but that is just too negative for my blog. So, instead, I am writing the top five things that make me feel better when I am sick.

1. My husband got up with the kids (who are also sick)and started the day.

2. He also brought me hot tea in bed.
3. Family members brought us food - it is so nice to not worry about what we are going to eat.


4. Watching our dog snuggle up with one of the sick kids. She is such a good dog, and it is so obvious that she understands that they are not feeling well.
5. Vita Coco pineapple coconut water. I don't know why, but drinking this makes me feel better. It also has 180% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C.

So, that is my top five for this week. Do you have a top five you would like to share? If you do, please link up here!

Top Five Friday #5 - Trick or Treat Candy

Do your children "share" their Halloween candy with you? I rarely buy myself any candy, but I do look forward to enjoying a few (ahem, sure, just a few) pieces of candy from the Trick or Treat stash. No one is giving out Godiva (too bad, that would be fantastic) so this week I am listing my top five common trick or treat candies to "steal" (I wanted to write borrow or share, but we all know that is just silly) from my children! Before anyone gets angry, my children get way too much candy on Halloween and if they ate all of it, their teeth would rot and then I would have outrageous dental bills and I would have to go back to work and then I wouldn't be able to blog anymore and you would miss me! (You would miss me, wouldn't you?)

Enough of that, here is my list:

1. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - "two great tastes that taste great together", what more can I say?
2. Twix - the cookie, the caramel, the chocolate - all good!
   
3. Almond Joy - they have coconut and almonds, two of my favorite foods! I just wish that I could have an Almond Joy with dark chocolate, combine the greatness of Mounds with the greatness of Almond Joy - perfect!
4. Peppermint Patty - cool, refreshing, dark chocolate, yum!
5. Kit Kat - crispy and chocolatey at the same time, so good.

I'm a chocolate person. I have no interest in the fruity candies. Just share the chocolate! So, what are you hoping to find in your child's trick or treat stash? If you want to link up here, but have a different top five in mind, that is great too! Please share!

Top Five Friday #4 - Mom's wish list

This week I am going to tell you what is on my top five wish list. A wish list for Mom? Who ever heard of such a thing? Anyway, we are in the process of buying a new house (which also means new furniture) so my husband and I are not spending money on each other for Christmas. We really don't NEED anything so why spend more money on material items, right? So, this is just a list of things that I would LOVE to have someday. A mom can dream, right? You are probably going to laugh at my list because I really don't care about fancy cars (love my minivan) or jewelry. I just LOVE to be pampered.

1. A day at the spa: I love facials and pedicures. They are so rejuvenating. I would also love to try one of those hot stone massages someday.

2. Really nice bedding to go on my new organic mattress. I want my bed to look pretty, and MOST IMPORTANTLY feel really good. I can't ever bring myself to spend money on expensive bedding but I really want it! Bring on the luxurious sheets, comforter, and pillows please!

3. iRobot Scooba: this little robot will wash my floors for me! I can set it to wash my floors while I am at the spa! Is there anything better than that?

4. A night out with my husband. I love going out to my favorite restaurant for dinner with my husband.

5. Theater tickets: I don't care what the show is (although Wicked and Rent are both shows I have wanted to see for a while), and I don't care who I go with (my husband is not a fan of theater so I don't see the need to make him suffer), but I LOVE to sit in a theater and watch a musical or play. This is one of my favorite things to do. AND, while I am at the theater, the Scooba can wash my floors!

What do you think of my list? Would any of these things be on your wish list?

If you would like to share a top five list, please link up here. Your list does not have to be a wish list like mine, it can include any five things that you happen to love right now!

Top Five Friday #3 - Toys

Last week I received a comment on one of my posts asking me for toy recommendations. After reading it, I thought the best way to respond would be with a top five toys post. We have a lot of beloved toys in our house so it is hard to narrow it down to our top five but I think the following toys are played with most often in our house.

1. Imaginext toys - C has the Imaginext castle, jungle, pirate ship, and Bat Cave as well as some of the accessories. They come mostly (if not completely) assembled and they are extremely durable. He plays with these all the time and I highly recommend them.
2. Building toys - We love legos, wooden blocks (especially Haba), Magneatos, and straws and connectors. Building toys are open ended and encourage creativity. They can become anything you want. C and R both love building cities and castles and including other toys in their play.
   
3. Melissa and Doug puzzles - the quality of the M & D puzzles is fantastic and they have great puzzles for every age group. We started with the chunky puzzles and have progressed to the 48 piece puzzles in a tray (C loves this pirate puzzle) and 100 piece floor puzzles.
4. Play food - We have a variety of play food but I have noticed that the cheap plastic food is played with a lot less than the felt or wooden food. The Melissa and Doug wooden food sets are played with often, and the food that can be "cut" is a lot of fun.
   
5. Dress up clothes - C and R both love playing dress up. We have a lot of princess clothes, as well as police officer, Native American, cowboy, superheroes, and pirate costumes. They are used almost every day.

I tried to keep the list gender neutral but our favorite boy toys are action figures and our favorite girl toys are dolls and My Little Ponies. I could not put this item in our top five list, but C and R will both agree that our favorite computer related toy is the Fisher Price Digital Arts & Crafts Studio. They both LOVE the Digital Arts and Crafts Studio and will make creations on the computer for hours. I definitely recommend it.

Here is our top five wish list for this Christmas:

1. art supplies - we use a ridiculous amount of construction paper, paint, glue, and markers
2. R is in love with the American Girl catalog, specifically the Bitty Twins; she wants the girl/boy twins so that one can be her and one can be C. Isn't that cute?
3. C saw the Playmobil pyramid in the store and he has his heart set on this toy. It was ranked #2 in the Family Fun magazine list of top ten toys. The set has hidden passages, trick staircases, scorpions, and a skeleton that fits in a sarcophagus. C has always loved playsets and plays with them often so I am not troubled by the hefty price tag ($105) on this item.
4. Board games - We love to play games. Our favorites are Hi Ho Cherry O, Candy Land, Don't Wake the Hulk, Hullabaloo, and Zimbbos. If you have a game recommendation, please let me know!
   
5. Books - Yes, I know that books are not toys (actually, art supplies aren't toys either so this list is lean on toys, sorry), but if you read my blog then you know that books rank high among our favorite things. All three of my children love to read and I think a book is one of the best presents you can give or receive.

You may notice that our list does not really include any of the hot new toys. Over the years, I have found that the hot new toys are often the toys that are played with least. I know there are exceptions to that rule, but it seems that the most basic, simple toys are the best in our house.

Adriana at My Bilingual Boys is hosting a MckLinky titled Toys My Children Actually Play With every Thursday through Christmas. Check it out for more ideas!

So, if you are interested in sharing your top five of the week or your top five toys, please link up here! I would love to know what you love!

Top Five Friday

Recently, I was asked for toy recommendations. It may seem far away, but Christmas will be here before you know it. So, this Friday I will be listing my top five toys that my children have loved as well as my top five toys on this year's wish list.

I will have a linky for anyone who is interested in playing along. You don't have to link up toys or presents; it can be anything that you think is great!

Top Five Friday #2

I am back with our top five for this week. If you have a few things you are loving this week, please feel free to join in the fun and link to this post.

Here are a few of my favorite things this week:

1. A Grand Old Tree - this book is fantastic. I loved every page. Come back tomorrow to read my post about it.
   
2. coconut milk ice cream - I love all things coconut and right now I am loving this ice cream. It is almost as good as dairy ice cream. The brand we have been eating is Purely Decadent and it definitely lives up to the name. We have tried coconut and mint chip and they are both delicious. I have found it at Whole Foods and Stop & Shop.
   
3. watching R in dance class - she just started dance in September and she loves every minute. They do 30 minutes of ballet and 30 minutes of tap and it is absolutely adorable.
   
4. the smile on C's face when he gets off the bus every day - I am so happy that he is enjoying Kindergarten and even happier to see him smiling when he gets home.
   
5. the incredibly delicious pumpkin squares we made this week. I will be posting the recipe on Sunday. Oh my, they are really good!

So, what are your favorite things this week?

Top Five Friday

I am going to try to post our five favorite things of the week every Friday. Our favorites may be anything from food to books to toys or whatever it is that we loved this week.

So, here goes...

1. Larabars - I just discovered these fruit and nut bars this week. Oh my are they good! They are unprocessed, raw, non-gmo, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan, kosher, and have no added sugar. So simple and so delicious. I have only tried a few varieties so far but my favorite is coconut cream pie. Yum!
2. Clek Oobr - R's new booster seat. She is riding in style now, and super safe at the same time.
3. Leaf walks - We are really enjoying walking around the neighborhood looking for leaves and sometimes crunching the piles of leaves as we walk.
4. Dinosaur Train - C and R like this new PBS show. Have you seen it yet?
5. A clean garage - Last weekend, we cleaned out our garage and it looks great. Walking into the house is no longer a challenge or an obstacle course. We live in a raised ranch and we often end up storing things in our garage. It is nice to see it clean and organized. My husband is to thank for this one!

What are you loving this week? If you are interested in playing along, feel free to link to me.