cleaning..

Catherine is enrolled in Seton Home School for first grade this year. I'll be using duplicate workbooks and some Kindergarten materials to teach Teresa. We'll be using CHC Preschool and some Montessori-inspired activities to keep Anthony and Stephen busy. I'm getting the school room ready while the girls are visiting Grandma Q this week. Adam is going to fix her dryer and pick them up on Saturday. He's taking the boys, which will give me some uninterrupted time to get a lot more done than I was able to get with the boys here over the last 3 days.

I had to turn on the computer to send Adam a file and got distracted (of course). I ended up replying to a 4Real forum question about your favorite childhood toy (as part of my cleaning has been dealing with toys all over the house). Can I take a moment to tell you about my favorite baby-doll? She was my "broken neck" doll (she didn't have a broken neck, originally, but my brother grabbed her hair and tried to pull her away from me once, making her more like a "real" baby, who needs her head supported). My grandma sewed her clothes and my dad made her cradle. She's a 1977 Fisher Price "My Baby Beth"). She is Teresa's dolly, now.



Catherine has one of my old dolls that is just marked "Hong Kong" on the neck...but she loves it. There are also a few stuffed animals and soft dolls that survived along with Rainbow Brite and Baby Brite. (My mom never let me have a Cabbage Patch Kid. She thought they were ugly.) We also have a set of wooden blocks and a few other miscellaneous toys from my childhood that the kids play with.

Other favorites I kept were 1) my old Lite Brite. Right now I have visions of colored pegs ALL OVER the floor so that is staying in the attic with 2) my Barbie Dream Kitchen, which also has WAY too many little pieces for the kids right now. Adam has his Western Playmobil set for when the boys get older.

Do you have any favorite toys in storage or around the house that your kids (will) play with?