Christmas presents for my kids that I love (for myself)

My children have received gifts galore over the past week.  Some from us and some from family.  Some from friends.  And some of those gifts just rock...um...my world.  Seriously.  There are plenty of new items in my house intended for my children that I simply can't get enough of.  Here are my top 10 guilty pleasures:

1. Puzzles - I love puzzles.  Gabe and I monopolize the dining room table for the entire winter season to work our jigxaws.  Tulip got a gorgeous puzzle - it's a collage of Cinderella, Snow White and the Beauty, illustrated by a genius, not Disney.  The colors are lush.  I love it.  I picked it out for a reason.

2.  Michael Jackson dance game for the Wii - my kids love to dance to their Just Dance for Kids.  I went nuts when I saw that there was a MJ dance game for the Wii.  I mean, the kids would flip, right?  Okay, maybe I flipped more but I intend to follow Jacko's advice: Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. The kids can join me if they want.

3.  Pop together beads - by some company with a motto "B You".  Again, lush colors.  I love these beads.  I've been eyeing these at Target for some time.  Here's a secret about me - I love stringing beads.  I do this as a grown-up with grown-up beads which is an expensive hobby.  Now I get to pop together a necklace or a bangle again and again and again.  I will never tire of pop together beads.

4 - New markers and crayons - is there anything more delicious than a huge box of brand new sharp crayons?  Or markers?  I have four special pictures set aside (okay, hidden from my children) that I get to color by myself.

5 - Solar powered rotating sun catcher - my husband found this somewhere.  It's instant sparkle happy all day long.  I suggest you all get one.

6 - Klutz books - I love Klutz books.  I found one which is a kit to build tiny fairies.  It comes with wooden beads for the heads, yarn for hair, fabric in the shape of flower petals for the dresses, wire to make arms and legs, and various sequins and beads.  I never showed it to my children.  It's still hidden in the bag.  It's the thing I am going to do when the kids are sleeping - build little fairy dolls. 

7.  Boogie Board - have you seen these?  It's from Brookstone; I totally scored it in a secret grab bag but I gave it to Wolfie.  It's a tablet and a stylus and that's all.  The tablet is slate colored and the stylus leaves a greenish gray line.  It's like an electronic chalk tablet.  It doesn't save images or hook up to a computer.  It has one button - erase.  And according to the instructions, it will erase 50,000 images before the battery gives out.  Wolfie loves it.  He can draw and erase, draw and erase.  I taught him a drawing game I call Numbers or Letters.  You draw a single numeral or letter, such as "M", and hand it to your partner.  Your partner has to turn that into a drawing of something, such as a mountain landscape.

8.  Bop It - I rock this game.  I challenge any of you.

9.  Playmobil - I loved Playmobil as a child.  Some toys just bring you back to a happy place from your childhood and Playmobil is doing that for me, for sure.  There is something so satisfying about snapping those pieces together.

10.  Headbanz - this is a guess who I am game.  It comes with headbands, and you pick a card, you may NOT look at it, and place it in the headband for everyone to see except you.  The cards are all Disney characters, so it's a good large group game.  You play by asking questions, Yes or No, to figure out who you are.  It's a blast to play this with Tulip and Wolfie.  Tulip likes to give extra hints.  So if you ask, "Is my character a boy or a girl?" she will say, "It's a boy.  And I'll give you a hint - you're in the movie Cars!"  She's like that Kristen Wiig character on SNL who can't keep a secret.  You know who I mean.  Gabe, Wolfie, Tulip and I were playing and Gabe had Sulley from Monsters Inc. on his headband.  Tulip whispered, "You're Sulley."  Then she slapped her hands over her mouth and whispered even louder, "Oops, pretend I didn't say that."  Oh man, we were laughing so hard I was crying.  You know you are playing a good family table game when there are tears of laughter.