What we’re playing with: Schleich figures

Puppy love

You know how some toys are so beloved that they are returned to over and over again throughout the years? Schleich figures definitely fall into that category. These were one of the first toys we bought for my daughter, purchased so she could play with them on the long plane ride to Europe, and they are one of the few early toys that she still plays with today.

She {or maybe it was we} got so addicted to these little figures that we eventually had a drawer full, and then two drawers full, and now we've got a massive amount of these little guys. Schleich Love

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What we’re playing with: Wishbone Flip

Remember my post back in 2012 about the Wishbone Flip, the coolest ride on toy, ever? {I'll wait while you check it out here}

Our Flip has gotten so much love in the past two years that it is simply called "sweet ride". As in, "I love my sweet ride," or, "get your sweet ride out of the kitchen, I'm trying to cook dinner." That kind of love.

Seeing as how the life of most baby toys is typically a few minutes, tops, I fully thought he would be done with his sweet ride by now. But, not only is he not anywhere near done with the Wishbone Flip, it's the one toy we rarely make him share because he's almost always riding on it.

Part of what made the Wishbone Flip last so long is that it's been able to grow with him. Not only does it adjust for height so it physically grows with your child, it also can be used in three different ways. First as a great toddler pushing toy, then as a rocking toy, and now as a super fast ride on toy that can be used in just about every game my little guy plays.

This will always be how I remember his childhood:

Wishbone Flip baby

Circa 2011 – Look at him! He's just a teeny tiny baby!

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Home sweet Lundby {SMÅLAND Swedish doll’s house review}

Sponsored post basic disclosure
Home Sweet Lundby
I vividly remember when I began to think in miniature. It was one of the many summers I spent with my grandparents in their small town up north. One of our projects that summer was to build a dollhouse for my growing collection of miniatures my grandma and I had collected at swap meets and secondhand stores as well as things we had repurposed around their home that were to scale.

In my mind, my grandpa and I would make a house fit for our treasures, one with intricate details and style that was just like my cousin’s dollhouse my aunt had made from a kit. But, I will never forget when my grandpa and I started to sit down and design my dollhouse and I realized we were making a primitive A-frame house with scrap wood from the garage. My dollhouse would be without doors, windows, or details other than walls.

Don’t get me wrong, I adored the dollhouse we built that summer. It was more than a few steps up from the shelf in my room that had previously housed my miniatures, and it would be perfect for moving a play family into that didn’t mind a little bit of a fixer-upper. I played with that dollhouse for years and did my best to make it feel more homey and inviting by making my own wallpaper and adding realistic accessories.

But, my desire for a real store-bought dollhouse never went away. Even into adulthood, I would look wistfully at dollhouses that were done up to the nines and imagine my childhood dollhouse furniture I had collected filling those big, bright rooms. 

In one of those searches, I found Lundby, the Swedish Doll’s House, and it was as if my childhood play family had finally found “home”. I remember bookmarking the site, emailing the link to my husband and asking him how soon was too soon to start buying dollhouses for our baby girl. We both agreed to wait a few years, but I always kept Lundby in the back of my mind.

Last fall, I lost my grandpa after a long battle with illness and I, myself, felt a little lost. My grandpa had been such a strong figure in my life growing up and I wished more than anything that I had held onto that dollhouse we made all those summers ago. I wanted something to help my daughter remember her amazing great grandfather, and wished that they could have bonded over miniatures like we had all those years ago.  

So, when a package landed on my porch a few months later with a welcome letter and a “key” to a Lundby Smaland dollhouse, I was beside myself with joy.  I knew this was the perfect way to introduce my daughter to the world of miniatures and to provide a link to my past at the same time.

Lundby Dollhouse in package

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