[momentousangel]

In our living room we keep a big bucket type clothing basket for the baby's toys. It was all black when we got it because it's the only color they had around halloween, so I spiced it up for the baby with photos of her playing with her toys, as well as cutouts of toys from magazines and unused parts of photos leftover from scrapbooking, I used elmers spray adhesive to get everything to adhere to it, then covered it with clear contact paper to make it so she couldn't peel the images and photos off of it. The baby truly loves it because it has "oh me baby" (as she calls herself) all over it, as well as her own toys on it. Works great for toys. It can also be done in lots and lots of different ways to be used for other things as well.

I always loved the photos with babys in boxes wrapped in christmas paper, so never the less, me taking my own photos that way has been so fun. I used a box big enough for the kids to sit in one at a type, wrapped it so no cardboard was showing, and then took tons of photos of the kids.

For photos of them sitting on top the boxes, I used boxes of different sizes, and then did the same thing with wrapping papers, e.g. christmas paper, birthday paper, cartoon characters, etc., and then so when they sat on the boxes and they wouldn't cave in, I slid phone books under one of the smaller ones, a crate under one, and a foot stool, anything that would fit under the box that would stop the box from caving in. The kids all get so excited over their photos being taken this way. They are all in the process of making thier own handprinted boxes to use for our next fun photo shoot.

[lesliefavela]

Oohh, you have some wonderful ideas. Now, can you share some of your energy and patience?

[momentousangel]

The patience I think I get from my mother. She had 10 children, so there was always alot going on when I was growing up. But the energy on the other hand, that comes from vitamins, lol. The children do like to tease me about that. There's some days when I just feel blah, and they simply can't wait to ask, Mom, did you take your vitamins? It's then that I get the biggest laughs out of them, because I then reply with a simple, I may be getting to be what you all call old, but I'm not THAT old, lol.

[lesliefavela]

lol funny

[DeeZee]

Terrific idea! There are so many neat things you can do with the photo software. My kids did an Incredibles logo for their costumes (neighborhood birthday party was a costume party) yesterday, then made up a gift certificate to go with it for a magazine subscription (my usual gift so that they get something all year round AND most kids have WAY too many toys!)

[jlf_loves_mjf]

I love that magazine idea. I think we'll be giving magazines from now on.

[lesliefavela]

I've done magazines quite a few times, too. My little ones get all kinds of happy when they get mail. Loved it so much, they told Grandma to renew their mags when it was gift giving time again. Boy, was she happy, too. No trips to the mall or Kids R Us. hahaha Great for the big kids, too. They just get harder and harder to buy for, don't they?

[DeeZee]

What are your favorite magazines to give? We've done Nick Jr., Ranger Rick, and Your Big Backyard -- I really love the Cobblestone ones but they're a bit too pricy for a birthday present....

[lesliefavela]

S and S have the Big Backyard and Ranger Rick. I had bought Selena Turtle Magazine for preschoolers. She loved it!!! Their web addy is www.turtlemag.org. For my big boys, I bought hunting magazines. Really can save a lot of hassle. For women, how about a specific craft mag? Love those!!!

[DeeZee]

Have to look that one up -- still plenty of preschoolers that I'm buying for! Finding that my computer graphics stuff is really great for presents like this too ... can be really creative with the gift giving!

This past Christmas, with the blessings of all the Grandmas and Grandpas, we pooled their money that they wanted to spend on the kids and went on a week-long vacation to a ski resort area (we're military so get great discounts so this isn't nearly as extravagant as it sounds!) For their actual present, I made a little booklet with pictures of the resort and ski area and put the Grandparents pics on the card. The kids loved the present AND the vacation! Voila, no toy clutter problem, just memories (and lots of pics to scrap!)

[lesliefavela]

Reading that reminds me. Goodness knows, my kids don't need any more toys, either!!! They both get a good little chunk of money from relatives, too. Since they are dying to have cameras, I'm going to do this. I found some basic digital cameras at Wally's for about $30. They will work for them, no film, no wasted money on shots of who knows what. lol The only downside is that you can only upload them right to your PC. Not a problem here. I can do that. It's a win win situation. They get cameras, and I get to keep developing money for food! hahaha

[DeeZee]

That's what I'm aiming for this year for the kids -- they're both really loving digital photo manipulation and scrapping, and are very interested in the camera, so I'm hoping to get them each one for Christmas. I do want to get my older daughter a better one with decent resolution and a zoom so she can do what she want and not get frustrated, but the little one may get an el-cheapo until she's a bit older!

[momentousangel]

We got all our children the el cheapo digital cameras at wallys worls,minus our 20 mo old, and it was the greatest thing I think we ever bought them. What's really bad about it though is when they catch me off guard and take those embarrasing photots, lol. Nah, not really, it just makes me feel good that they would even want to take my photo, lol.

P.S.
Remember to lock the bathroom door because my ten yr old is always trying to catch me weighing myself, lol.

[DeeZee]

ROFL Valerie!!! That would be my kids .. or even my husband, in revenge for the "potty training" series!

[lesliefavela]

I hear ya, girls. We told them a few rules, so we'll see how that goes. lol