Our favorite games

My boys really enjoy games - especially Nate.  I thought I would share some of our favorite games for all of you!

 We first played Pictureka while visited my brother and sister-in-law in South Carolina.  Nate fell in love with this game.  When we were leaving, my sister-in-law gave it to him and he was thrilled.  I will admit that when we have a game night, I always love it when this game comes out!  It's a great version of "I spy" and really, truly, fun! 

 Blokus is a game Josh got for his birthday.  It was recommended on another blog and got great reviews.  I ordered it and hoped for the best.  The boys love it and learned it quickly.  I love this game because they are able to teach other people - they taught our little friends who come over how to play and they took it to their Grandparents and taught their Grandma how to play too!  It goes really quick - and lets admit it folks, no one likes a game that lasts hours with kids! 

 I'll be honest, this is not my favorite game BUT the boys love it.  Josh asked for this for Christmas about 4 years ago I believe.  It is a true Chess game but one side has images on the board to help with moving and you use cards that tell you which piece to move and how to move it.  It's a great way to learn the game.  I just don't enjoy it because 1) I don't like Chess and 2) it does take a while to finish a game! 

 This was another birthday game!  It had been on my list for a few years as a fun game to get and I finally picked it up for Josh.  It's fun, active, and easy to play.  It also goes fast.  The balls are similar to ping pong balls - I thought they would be hard or something and was surprised at how easy they bounce into the squares. 

This is another game from my Sister-in-Law and is fabulous for preschool/Kinders!  It's a simple matching bingo style game.  My boys will still pull this one out just fun. 

Nate pick this game up at our AWANA fair last year.  He loves cup stacking and this game didn't disappoint.  The cups are small which makes the "race" more interesting as you try to stack your cups in the order shown on the cards and be the first to hit the bell.  It is a stressful game HA!  But just so much fun! 

Our Christmas Eve Gifts

I've learned through the years the often the best gift ideas come from other blogs - tried and true gift ideas from other parents and the gifts they have given their kids!  So, I thought I would start sharing some gift ideas and, when Christmas returns next year I will try to remember to post these ideas once again!

Christmas Eve - I have always tended to over think these really creative ideas for Christmas Eve gifts and, honestly, they don't go as well as I hoped they would.  For example, one year, the boys got a book called "The Monstore" and each a set of supplies to make puppets. I thought it was awesome . .. the boys, not so much HA!

 (In all fairness, this did become a favorite bedtime story book!  )

(These puppets are actually super cool - my boys just weren't into them.  I would recommend them to someone with kids that love to be creative with toys like this! ) 

This year, I decided to keep it a little more simple.  Naturally, I picked up some new PJ's for them.  I found them the week of Thanksgiving at our local Meijer when they had them on sale for "buy 1 get 1 half off" which made them super affordable. (Not to mention, they didn't ring up correctly but, when I explained it to the cashier, she was so fed up with the sales not being in the system correctly, she gave me an additional 25% off of the 15% already given so I got them for a steal!) I then got them each a set of Pokemon cards because they both love Pokemon and then I found these awesome logic games.

They can both be found on Amazon and in Meijer -- my boys had fun with them both.  Each game comes with cards.  The cards show what colored cat/dogs to use in the puzzle and the area they need to fit.  Using logic, you solve the puzzle.  Don't worry, there are also answer keys!  The Dog Pile game seemed to be a little harder and Nate and I did have to look at the first clue to figure it out but then Nate was able to complete several others without help.  Both of these puzzle games are great for quiet play and are small enough for easy transport anywhere.

These games were a perfect hit.  Both of the boys played with the game they got after opening it and they enjoyed the game!  Yeah!