TRAINS!

Remember when I said we ordered a train set for Eliana because it was a really good deal?? Well, it arrived yesterday. I opened the outer box so I could wrap up the box with the train set in it and I discovered two boxes inside. Confused, I asked Leif about it. It turns out, that in addition to the 100 piece train set we ordered for $30 with free shipping, we also received this train station set:
for FREE! So that will tack onto this:

and we will have made out like bandits! I'm still reeling from the shock of it and SO GLAD I didn't pick up the simple 8 track design for $30 that I was about to buy the day before we saw this deal.

Trains....

Ha ha! This is going to be funny post coming right after the last one, but I promise I'm not crazy. =D This morning we ordered this train set:

for Eliana to play with on her train table. It's the third part of her Little People / Cars / Trains rotation. Want to know the best part about this particular train set?? It was $29.99 with free shipping!! I have been looking at other train sets and for $30 all you get is a little 8 track with 2 train cars. So this set is a great deal! I'm pretty excited about it, especially since Eliana LOVES playing with the train sets at the Children's Museum, Barnes and Noble, and Giggles toy store. The set can connect into other brands of wooden train sets, too, which is nice. The reviews are pretty good on this particular train set from this particular website (there were 66 reviews) so I'm excited to see the set when it actually arrives. I assume we'll give it to Eliana for Christmas and then put it away until the middle of January or sometime in February when it's time to switch out the toys in the basement again. I know she is getting a Little People house from Mommom and Poppy, so I want her to play with that on the table first. Plus, her Christmas toys get to be new and fresh then when she doesn't get to play with them all at once.

Great ambitions....

I had great ambitions of doing sidewalk chalk with Ellie today since it's been so nice outside the last few days. And wouldn't you know we woke up to a full-blown blizzard and a few inches of snow this morning. So Ellie is sitting at the table coloring with her Color Wonder markers instead.

I think I'm going to make cards with some of these pieces of artwork she colors. She's all about coloring right now and covers the entire paper with little colorful scribbles. We only give her a half sheet of paper each time, so I could get two cards out of each one. I love her artwork, and I will scan some of it for posterity, but I don't think the Color Wonder markers and paper will last forever (the color changes over time and in response to the sunlight, so whatever the chemical reaction is that makes the Color Wonder markers and paper work together fades with time), so I'd like to use her drawings for something instead of just throwing them away. I will keep some of the crayon drawings for sure, and scan in some of the Color Wonder drawings so I can see how her coloring has changed with time, but you just can't keep everything. If I think of how much artwork she creates now, how will I handle it when she goes to school?? We'd have to get a storage unit just for her creations! So I'll start the process now... keep some of the best drawings (I will probably scrapbook them), scan some of the others, and then use them to make birthday and thank you cards for her friends and family. This could be a good thing.