We made sure our DS (10 and 13) have some of the same toys that DH and I fondly remember from childhood.

Legos ( They DO mulitply at night so you trip on them in the morning! They are so much cooler than the simple blocks and green trees that I had as a child.)

board games (Lots of family memories of playing on rainy days or while camping. we have tons of them! Monopoly, Scrabble, Trouble, LIFE)

stuffed animals (I loved my stuffed friends, they went everywhere with me. The boys have ones from their babyhood that still hang out on the bed.)

balsam wood gliders (simple toy, tons of fun)

rockets (my older brothers made them all the time, DH never used one before. We had a blast shooting one off in a football field and the boys had to run and find where it landed)

Video games (the old classic Nintendo, Atari and Genesis.. the boys like to play them, they think of them as new and exciting. We think of them as "wow, technology has changed over the years" and marvel that the boys like the old pixel chunky graphics as much as PS2 and XBox)

If I had a girl...
Barbies, Easy Bake Oven (but use Jiffy cake mixes instead because the others cost too much according to my mom), dolly buggy (I had a pink plastic buggy with white wheels, metal handle. I loved that thing!), lots of dolls (must have eyes that blink and has eyelashes, pretty hair that you can comb and make into pigtails), ballerina music box (to hold all the secret treasures. Still have mine with a lock of my hair, one of my baby booties, friendship bracelets that DH and I made when we first met, and a cross that my grandmother gave me)

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Bernice

California here we come!!