As the mother of two young children it did not take me long to realize how quickly your house can compete with Toys "R" Us for having the most toys.  I decided very early that I would not be buying my children any more toys.  As a result, I have had to come up with creative ideas for birthdays and Christmas.

I obviously, would not win mother of the year award, by buying my children nothing but clothes.  One of the best gifts that I ever gave my daughter for her birthday was a really nice child size set of gardening tools.  She loves to be outside and loves to follow me around the garden, mimicking my every move.

I gave her her own small section of the garden to grow her own vegetables and her own flowers.  She is very proud of the things she produced and she was very careful to keep her plots watered and weeded.  Every day she could be found putting on her little gardening gloves and taking her little hoe out to dig up some weeds.