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Gift Guides: 30 Gifts My Girls Have & Love





    Hello my loves,

    We are just coming out of 4 days of Zoe being pretty sick, and with no sleep for mama. Which also means everything I had planned for this week went on the back burner. But I am taking the nuggets over to my mom (everyone is fever free and tested negative for Covid) so that I can run a couple errands, and get some things done in the house. Including putting together our bedroom furniture, and order the rugs for guest room and to layer in the living room. I am determined to have as much "completed" in this home before Thanksgiving. Somewhere in there I also have Christmas shopping, birthday planning (for both girls) and shopping to start and complete... Heck now that I type that out it sounds insane. hahaha! How are your November goals going?


    As promised! I am starting to share some gift guides and I thought I'd keep it uber simple this year, and it cannot get easier than sharing gifts my girls have and still consistently play with. Some of these, like a play kitchen they have had since Zoe was 1 and they still enjoy. They especially love open ended toys and toys that can easily be played with across different ages.


    Baby

    Toddler

    1. Painters Set

    2. Play Diner Set

    3. Baby Alive Doll

    4. Magna-Tiles

    5. Lego Set

    6. Tool Set

    7. Cleaning Set & Broom Set

    8. Doll House ( I love this one because it's open concept and allows both girls to play with it at the same time!)

    9. Dress Up Set

    10. Tablets!

    Big Kids

    1. Science Experiment

    2. Marble Run

    3. Our Generation Dolls (less expensive version of American Girls Dolls but still so beautiful and the accessories like the hairdresser chair are so fun!)

    4. Fort Building Set,

    5. Art portfolio set

    6. Beading Set & Organizer, endless hours on these beads!

    7. Insta Camera (we have had these for years and they LOVE documenting with them)

    8. Scooter or Bike are things they love (and obvi can be purchased for younger kids too!)

    9. Sewing Machine (for beginners and we have all loved learning to use it!)

    10. Caboodle

    I promise to share more of these in the next week as I shop for the girls and others on my list.


    xoxo

    Natalie

    I Grant You Permission To Parent Differently Than Those Before You


      I grant you permission to parent differently than those before you.


      Yup I said it. I am granting you the permission, the free ticket, the space and guiltless opportunity to parent differently than those before you. Differently than your parents, than your grandparents. Differently than your aunt who helped raise you your whole life and most of all, differently than that judgey viejita at the food store telling you that a nice ol' spanking will get them right out of the meltdown stage. I am telling you that you HAVE THE RIGHT to do it differently, you can create a bond that honors respect, validation of feelings and raise incredible strong willed, confident, kind human beings.


      I am saying this because as a first generation Latina mother I have found myself not feeling like I deserve the right to parent differently than those before me. And that I need to justify or prove something to those woman. Or actually, that I need their approval. But as I repair myself, and learn more about positive parenting, I realize that this is my journey, this is my right as a mother, and that these small humans chose me because I am everything they need. I may be far from perfect, and many may not agree with how I do things and get this, the gem that I have been working to uncover, THAT IS OK. I don't need to parent for an audience. Wow. That has been weighing heavy on my heart and it feels so good to say it.


      So these words, this post, is my reminder to you, that you mama, have the right to do this in a way that is right for you and yours. Don't let the need for others approval change how you do things. Because our babies deserve better than that, they deserve us and this journey that we get to take together is pretty incredible. Let's be the person we want to be.


      Resources I have found helpful (I will be creating a post with all of my resources soon!)


      xoxo

      Natalie

      Summer Slide: Favorite Workbooks/Books For Summer Learning



        Happy first weekend of summer vacation! I am so thrilled and well I plan on getting all of this summer slide content up for you this weekend so we can all prepare our kiddos, have some quiet time and maybe have a little less "can I watch/play on the ipad".


        When I asked last week you all voted to see was some materials that we can use for summer slide! One of the things I shared that we do is have a morning basket with a couple workbooks, freshly sharpened colored pencils, markers, notebook, coloring book and sometimes an easy craft or puzzle ( I picked up a few at the Dollar Tree!). This year it will have a checklist with three chores, workbook pages, writing and reading that they will have to check off before getting screen time.


        I will probably set it up to do it Monday through Thursday. And before you think that this is too much you have to understand that with zero childcare or camps and 2-3 new clients, and my blog + Beautycounter business I want to make sure that I make time for myself. And to be very honest both girls friggen love work books and fun little set ups, which I will do the night before.


        I am also a very strong believer that it's my job to help them keep all of the things they learned fresh in their mind in order to not loose everything. So here are a bunch of work books that we have either used (both girls used Pre-K and Kindergarten books as toddlers because neither have done a Pre-K or Daycare and stayed home with me) or I have ordered for this summer!




        I hope that these are helpful for you and remember one or two is all you need, you can also search for printouts if you didn't want to buy workbooks. Set it up as fun and they won't feel like work!


        xoxo

        Natalie


        PS. Stay tuned for a post with ways to up your salad game, travel entertainment for kiddos and our morning baskets next week!

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