The Toy Box Years: Tot School

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

(Nudgie is 30 months old) (To see what others are doing at Tot School, click on the "Tot School" above!) **************************************

This past week was a bit of a lighter week. I was in a bit of a reorganization mode this past week, so we did activities that were quick and easy to do -- but yet, still fun!

Nudgie's trays this week included:

Her Fisher-Price write & stamp tray. This was actually Nani's and Nudgie recently inherited it. I wanted to start her on the concept of "writing", so we pulled this out a few times. I'd write some letters and she'd try to trace them with either the attached pen or by using one of the stamps. We traced her hand and she even tried to trace mine too.

She played with her dolls again this week too. (I got the Disney Princess dolls at the Dollar Tree!)

We played "vet doctor" with her doctor kit and her stuffed dog "Belly"

All better!

We played dress-up....

We read some books........

We did marble painting with Nani......

We did homework just like big sister! (The worksheets were provided by Musings of Me.)

Nani also wanted to help "teach" her baby sister her numbers, so we pulled out this awesome number puzzle that I found at our local ARC store for $1.50!