Slices of Life

My boys have some very favorite toys and after yesterday's post I wanted to share them... I always feel the need to counterbalance my negativity with something positive.  1.  Lego sets (or mega blocks , k'nex, TRIO blocks , etc).  My kids have more "brick" sets than I know what to do with.  They love to build them, they love the details and they love playing with them when they're all done assembling them.  They are Lego maniacs.  When they get sick of an old set they dismantle it and then use their imaginations to build new things with the bricks.  If you can handle the clutter, don't mind shelling out money for a toy that comes in pieces, and don't mind the pain of occasionally stepping on a misplaced piece then Lego sets are fantastic.  I overlook all the downsides since they love them so much and learn so much by using them.  My boys even love reading book about Lego's.  2.  Imaginext play sets -- we ha...

My boys and I have been talking a lot lately about how some toys are just a disappointment from the moment you open the box.  They don't live up to the commercial or the hype and ultimately end up being a waste of money. Sometimes we're unfortunate enough that we get a defect (like the MP3 player we bought-- Alec's works great while Evan has to reset his every hour or so with a straight pin!).  We have had toys that have literally broken as we took them out of the box!  Toys that we have played with and enjoyed at other people's houses, somehow aren't made equally well when it comes to our house. There definitely seems to be a trend of "throw away" toys that I find upsetting. A few of the boys' Christmas presents were such let downs that they were encouraging me to take pictures and put them on Facebook telling everyone not to buy them.   I figured I'd do them one better and blog about it. So in OUR OPINION these are toys we would n...