Childhood Toys...

So today, we went to see Toy Story 3. I loved the first 2, had heard nothing but great things about this one, and I was not disappointed. It had the same clever humor and sentimental sweetness the first 2 movies had and then some (yes, I cried...did you really need to ask?). But more importantly...it inspired my post today.

I know we all had favorite toys when we were kids, and I can't wait to hear about yours, but I'll get the sentimental ball rolling with some of mine.

Barbies
My favorite doll was a redhead from the Barbie and the Sensations set, but my favorite clothes (store-bought) were from the Barbie Jeans set...totally 80's chic! But I LOVED all of the homemade clothes that my mom and aunts made (being no stranger to sewing and sewing machines, I can't imagine how time consuming and intricate those little clothes must have been to make...but I really appreciated the variety and the amount of clothes it allowed me to have!) Does anyone remember the disappointment when you put the scissors down, let her hair out of the ponytail hold, and saw "the layers" that Barbie had? I just couldn't understand why it didn't work out to be the cute "bob" that I wanted it to be. I also remember that since we didn't have her Dream House, we had to take their heads off and make them stay seated in order to play with them in our doll houses. Sure, maybe it was a little morbid, but it worked for us!


She-Ra Dolls
Ah, She-Ra...the female counterpart to He-Man. I'm pretty sure I wasn't that into the cartoon or anything like that. I actually don't think that any of the dolls were mine, but Jaime (my sister) and I would use them in our doll houses. They were small enough that we didn't even have to take their heads off! We would be happily playing when all of a sudden, their would be an "earthquake" or a military invasion of GI Joes, courtesy of Brad and/or Josh (my brothers). Good times...

Pound Puppies
These were the cutest little puppies! We never had the big ones, but we had several of the little ones. They made great pets for the Cabbage Patch Kids. And even though the scale was way off, Barbie loved them, too. My favorite was the little dalmation-like one. "Dalmation-like", because it still had the same droopy face as all the others, but it was white with black spots. I think it was Jaime's, but it was still my fave.

Cabbage Patch Kids
Between my sister and me, I think we had 4 or 5 of these (including 2 preemies) I can't quite remember. I know we had a blond-haired one and one with brown hair...I could be making up memories of a red-headed one (my memory's not what it used to be). Though I loved the store-bought and home-made clothes, my favorites were our old baby clothes (some of which were home-made, too)! My very favorite was my Cabbage Patch Preemie. Her name is Stacy. Notice, I said "is". She is the one toy that I held onto and passed on to my kids. Periodically through High School and home visits during college, I would pull her out of the box she was stored in and make sure that she was still OK and give her a wardrobe change. She was one of the first dolls that Hannah had, and she is still taken good care of. I just couldn't let her go.


As I got older I started loving board games. At first it was games like: Life, Parcheesi (both of which I only really played at my BFF, Jenn's, house), and Girl Talk. But then it grew to games like Outburst, Scattergories, and Taboo (which are still some of my favorites). Well, I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. Now, it's your turn...what were some of your favorite childhood toys?