Clover Lane

For the little girl who loves babies:
These books are Janey's favorites:
Little Mommy
The New Baby
Baby Listens
This is a good little baby doll for very little girls (I bought this for Janey when she was two) as it is small:
Corolle Calin Baby Doll

Bigger girls:

Accessories:
Set of four flannel receiving blankets (only $8)  Janey uses these all the time for her babies.
A front pack carrier.
A stroller: Patrick and Janey both loved to push a little stroller for our walks.

For the little girl or boy who loves crafts:

Play dough recipe found here (can be packaged up cute in air tight containers.)
A large bucket of cookie cutters.
Real rolling pin.

A child size apron (these oil cloth Etsy ones are so cute!)

ALSO:
Pip-Squeek Markers
Colored Pencils
Drawing Books-  (These are great-Usborne Drawing Books.)
Paper Cutter: This is a favorite item for all kids-obviously be careful as the blade is super sharp but covered-I started letting my kids play with this around 3 when I knew they would be careful.
Construction Paper
Tracing Paper  (So good for learning to draw and hand/eye coordination.)
Clipboard for tracing paper. (Don't forget to show them how to tape down tracing paper so it doesn't slip, or if tracing from a book use clips.)
Watercolors.
Washable paints.
Set of real brushes. (they need decent brushes!)

Activity books:
Usborne sticker books are very nice.
Melissa and Doug sticker books are big hits here, particularly this one and this one.

A homework box is a great idea! Some of the art supplies above, with a notebook and paper in a clear box.  Also these stencils are used here often, (these stencils are super neat for kids!) and envelopes and stickers from the dollar store for notes.
For pretend play around the house:
This grocery cart.
Janey loves this cash register.
This kitchen. (warning: lots of pieces to put together!!! but so cute and sturdy when finished)
We have this food and kitchen set: Hape - Playfully Delicious - Gourmet Kitchen Starter Play Set
We love this cute tea set.
Cutting food and the sandwich maker are a favorite also.
I also found that the reusable kid's gift bags are great pretend grocery bags.

She also might need a purse and a wallet, the more pockets the better!

Janey sets up a "store" all over the family room and I sit at the register, she shops and I ring and put in the bag and repeat, repeat, repeat.


For the boy who loves football and soccer and every other sport:
This basketball hoop is a huge hit and takes your living room decor to the next level (a trade off for burned off boy energy, so worth it!  And ours is still going strong with teenage boys playing on it.)
These gloves.
This football.
Kicking tee.
This play white board.
These football guys (or soccer guys and baseball guys and hockey guys).

Favorite sports magazine and books:
Sports Illustrated for Kids. (my boys love the cards that come with every issue.)
Big Book of Who All-Stars.
Sports Illustrated What Are The Chances?
Childhood of Famous Americans Sports Guys books,

For the mom who loves outside toys:)
All time favorite is a basic scooter. (Ours has gone through so many boys and jumps and crashes and still is as good as new.)  This three wheel scooter is super fun and is used often.
These rip riders are huge hits and still are played with consistently-they have been crashed into, and once I ran one over that was left in the driveway-miraculously they survive.
For littler guys this plasma car is great.

For the reader:
A headlamp for reading at night.
I agonized over getting this Kindle for Andrew when he was in 5th grade but I love it-he uses it a lot (but still reads "real" books also.  It allowed him to keep up the pace of his ferocious book appetite without driving me mad with library visits-we've never paid for a book either-all rented downloads through the library.)
All of our favorite books are in the sidebar.
Have you read Where the Red Fern Grows to your children?  Or they can read it if old enough, it's our favorite.
Also there is a new Diary of a Wimpy Kid out they've been begging me to get.

For the teenage boy who offers up no gift suggestions ever:
A long board.
Jansport back packs have a lifetime guarantee (I know this because I sent one back and they reimbursed me!)
Gym bags.
Quadcopter.
These head phones work as well as the expensive ones, or so I've heard.
These maze puzzles appeal to all ages, and are irresistible for bored kids (and adults)...we have four of them!

For the teenage girl who loves makeup:
This eye shadow.
Or even more eyeshadow.
Brush set.
Remember caboodles?  If you were a teen in the 80's you do.  We couldn't find them but this art organizer works just as well. (Abbey bought this for college.)
This nail polish.

College kids:
Coffee cups (Anthro always has cute ones, but Janey and I found one just as cute at the Dollar Store. :) or travel cup.
A phone sticker that holds cards.
I love this Mary necklace-I have one and Abbey will also.
A super soft blanket (this one comes in tons of colors) for their dorm.
Nice warm socks (boy and girls).
A soft fluffy robe for girls.  (Aerie also has good ones but wait for a sale!)
Slippers for guys.  (Isaac wore these as shoes in college-also Land's End has great sales.)

Let me know if you have questions or if I missed an age group and you need help.

This is pretty easy and fun to make and SUPER delicious.  Top it with a little vanilla ice cream.

Delicious Apple Tart

1 pie crust-I use one roll of crust from the Pillsbury pie crust in the refrigerated section
5 Granny Smith (or any) apples, peeled and sliced (a job for a kid)

Mix:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

For The Crumb Topping_
1/4 cup cold butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour


Preheat oven to 400.
Spray the inside of a tart pan (or you could use a shallow pie pan) with non-stick spray.
Press the crust into the pan.
Put the sliced apples in the crust evenly.
Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture on top.

Mix the crumb topping ingredients together (use a fork)-it will be a coarse mixture.  Sprinkle on top of the cinnamon/apple mixture.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until top is slightly browned.

More of our favorite recipes here.

Thinking:
Remember my all-before-Advent idea for shopping?  It's not going to happen.  I decided to just take a not-going-to-be-stressed super simple gift giving that I can get all finished on line or locally sometime in December approach.

Playing:
Snow!  Not enough to play in but I love snow and cold and winter.  :) . I'm actually doing terrific with my new attitude, and my sun lamp, and major doses of Vitamin D and my hygge lessons (Isaac is dating a girl from Denmark who we love and so I have first hand lessons in hygge.  Good thing because the sun has shone about twice here in November.  But it's ok!!!)

I told the kids I am declaring a TV crack down.  I am making a list of things to do (only basketball and Survivor and Poldark :) are allowed.)

Build a giant Lego village in the basement over the entire winter using our bajillion dollars worth of Legos. (Most of our Legos are from the Lego City collection.)

A puzzle will always be in the works on the dining room table.

Games!  (All of our favorite games here.)

Books!
Basketball goals per day for Patrick.  (Best indoor basketball hoop ever.)


Andrew is teaching Patrick and Janey to do the rainbow loom-something he was obsessed with years ago that has been waiting to be loved again.

We joined the Y and the zoo so we can get out on weekends and be active.  (We went to the zoo last Friday with snow and were the only ones there in the morning and all the animals were out and loved seeing us-it was a blast!)

Reading:

I chose this book for my Advent reflection book-I checked out about 5 from the library and new this was just what I wanted this year.  For each day there is a Scripture, a prayer and an Advent action.

I've been thinking with all the holidays coming up I'd share a few thoughts about how to really enjoy them as a mom.  Remember I can do this, because I've learned through trial and error and messing up, and wanting do-over!  And I still am learning because families change and grow and adapt and that means we have to also.  But looking back at the younger years what would I change?  What have I learned?

1. I wouldn't overbook so that when the actual holiday comes around I and my children and husband are all tapped out. Our culture does a crazy job of encouraging this burnout.   Choose very very carefully what is worth participating in, and remember that for sure less is more.  Sometimes this means saying no to every "extra" but the actual day, depending on the ages of our children.  Sometimes this means being really really strong and very purposeful about what experience we want our children to have and what memories we want to give them surrounding a holiday.  Some years it's OK to just go trick-or-treating, or just make Christmas cookies and light an Advent wreath and decorate a tree and wake up on Christmas morning really deeply able to enjoy the day.  (Read Little House in the Big Woods or Anne of Green Gables or talk to grandparents for reminders of how our culture has changed!)

2. I would have had a plan with the future in mind when it comes to gifts.  What looked easy, affordable and non-consequential with a little one or two, will usually not last through more additions to the family and as children age.  It's easier to start really really small and simple and with a system in mind. (Something to wear, read, play with etc...one of those systems.)  Err on the side of less is more.

Also remember, if my happiness that day depends on everyone getting what they want and gasping in delight at every gift, even the socks and underwear, well, I will never be happy.  There will be years (thinking early teen) when kids are going through maybe a little friend envy and have to work through it, or are annoyed they have to get up at open gifts at 7 a.m. with everyone else (thinking late teen, early college), or just someone will have a bee in their bonnet, or say something thoughtless and we don't know what's up.  Just know kids grow and change, and talk about it later and eat some hot-cross Christmas buns and be grateful for all the growing pains and good times and bad.

3.  I would get that vision of perfection out of my head that we all see everywhere.  There is nothing at all wrong-it's so fun!-making our homes and our tables and our gifts look pretty-I love that part.  But many years, the top half of the tree is decorated because of toddlers and my nice plan for matching gift wrap goes all astray.  This goes for those perfect cards also-there are a few cards I look at that make me sad because I remember getting really mad at someone not cooperating, or the tears involved from the stress and or frustration and it just ruins the memory then-don't do that!  (Just a note-sometimes those memories make me laugh too.)

4. From the start, I would pick a few good traditions and stick with them.  The kids don't care how fancy or complicated or special it is-they want what is familiar to them, even if it is so simple and doesn't require a lot of hoopla. 

5. I would always remember that some holidays are just going to disasters or really really not as planned-everyone will have the flu, or you will be due with your fifth baby on Christmas Eve, or getting chemo the day before Thanksgiving and home sick.  Just expect that life will throw a wrench into plans (I say this about vacation also-I believe it's about every 1 in 5 will just be a little bit of a bomb).

And most of all-remember the years really do fly and appreciate the awesomeness of seeing it all again through a child's point of view.

Thinking:
About how sad it is when older kids leave for college.  I never really realized the deep sense of loss and even mourning that follows that departure, and maybe with the first two it was just busy for me to notice (or I probably ate chocolate to stuff it all?).  It really is a grief process.  When I talk to my friends who are experiencing the same, it is also a time of deep reflection and a little too much of that reflection probably.  Did we do enough?  Do they know how much we love them?  What should/could/would we have done differently?  Were we too tough or not tough enough during the high school years?  And mostly...
WHERE THE HECK DID ALL THOSE YEARS GO and WHY DOES TIME FLY?  I look at their baby pictures as I walk down my stairway every day and my heart aches for those days when we were all together in this house and worries were small.
I think maybe it is even weirder for me because I still have little ones here and the truth is-you just do it every day and you don't really think about the time.  And you never ever will get it all right and never ever do it perfectly and never ever appreciate every minute because that's all so impossible.  You just do what is best and what your life can allow to happen at the time.

Playing:
We always have a puzzle going in winter, and the kids latch onto a game that the whole family gets into.  Here are some of our favorites.  This year it has been Monopoly-just the old-fashioned one.  It has really helped the younger kids understand money and finances too-yuck! :)
The rest of our favorite games are here.



Reading:

Please know that if you are home full-time with your children, you will never regret not missing the days.  I know some days are overwhelming and difficult and you never seem to be able to catch up.  I know there our days when you might be wondering if it is worth the self-sacrifice and all other kinds of sacrifices too. 

From someone who has been there, I can tell you it IS worth it.  If you made the choice (sometimes having to trust that the monetary sacrifice will work out in the end) feel good about not missing these days-not giving them to someone else, who could never appreciate them as much as you will.

Bask in it all-the sweet, and the not-so-sweet and yes, even the the dirty diapers.  Know that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do, and it will pay off, if only in knowing you gave your most precious treasure the bulk of your days.  It is NOT easy, but it is so so fulfilling, and I wouldn't trade those days of little ones home for the world. 

Your children want YOU.  They want your time and they want their home and they want attention and love and consistency and cuddles and they need to be taught discipline from someone who wants the best for them and cares deeply about their future.  We have come so far sometimes in the opposite direction, in knowing our worth as mothers.   It's not always about us, and what we want, and our goals, and our happiness.  We can find happiness in the deep gratitude of knowing we are caring daily for treasures we would trade our lives for-happiness is not found out there, it's found inside, if we are attentive in counting our blessings.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21

Thinking:
November is the month to put the practice of gratitude to work.

I have learned so much about the difference that pure, true gratitude can make in my life these past couple of years.  It is easy to say "I am so thankful for this or that" when everything seems to be going ok.  But what if life sucks?  Really-there are times in everyone's life where it seems like everyone else seems has it easy but us and our nice plan of how life is supposed to look (and wouldn't we ALL choose rainbows and butterflies?) blows up in our faces and the "why me's?" set in. 

I listened to a podcast where someone gave the example of two very different experiences-on one side was a person who seemed to have it easy-a great childhood, so much learning and opportunity and a chance to experience this and that, and another side-someone with hard things that happened and tough circumstances with family members and painful experiences, and then asked the audience, "Which life would you choose?"  The kicker was both of those stories came from the same person-it was the way they chose to look at their life that made all the difference-it was the way they chose EVERYDAY to think about life.  I visualize it as the choice between taking two paths-one is bitterness and discontent and always a yearning for something easier and more and better than what we have, and the other path is Jesus holding our hand, walking along with us and helping us see the good in every circumstance and all our blessings.

Remember there is always a person who would jump into our spot in life in a heartbeat, even with its tough crosses.  There is always someone who has it worse off right now and would change places with us if they could. 


Playing:
This is one of those years when I really feel the need to soak up Advent as much as I can.  (If anyone has a great Advent devotional to suggest, I am looking for one!)

I have been doing some online shopping with the plan of being all finished with the errands and hustle and bustle before Advent sets in.

Here are some lovely gift ideas I've purchased along the "something to wear, play with and read" line of gift-giving:

I just couldn't resist this outfit-loving this line of clothing for little girls!


Girls's Dress
Girl's Leggings


A cute princess dress up dress with an the all-the-rage unicorn applique.


40% off this ATV City Lego set!



A pretty and inexpensive Iphone case.



A "keep it simple" make up organizer.


Cutest little kitty coffee cup. (They have a bunch of other animal choices.)

Reading:




Just finished this EXCELLENT book for our book club.  It's a fast, easy read with a little mystery involved.  Just a really good coming-of-age story about a girl who raises herself as an outcast in the marshland of North Carolina.