Post-Christmas Fun with the new Toys

 

The badminton set is a hit. 

 Kind of.

 

Liz, Joe, and Jack (and Scottie) came up for the day and attempted to play with it....

 

 ....for about 15 minutes.  Then the boredom set in and the kids moved onto the fish pond....

 

 

 

 

 ...and then the razor scooters.

  

 

 Some even in full Princess dress...

 

'Tis the Season, Part 6 (The Aftermath)

Well...they (now) love their Perplexus balls.  And I mean loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee them.   They also (now) love their watches, too!  Every 15 minutes, one calls out to the other:  What time is it?  And the other always answers...correctly!

(Note:  They JUST learned how to tell time two days ago...)
 

Taken immediately after Quincy mastered her Perplexus. 

Taken just because.

Tim loves his helicopter.  Tink doesn't.  Whenever the helicopter takes flight, Tink (our big 125-pounds-of-love dog) takes flight, too.   
Upstairs. 

'Tis the Season, Part 5 (Christmas!)

 

Evidence that Santa arrived (just in case the presents under the tree didn't give it away).

It sure is getting difficult making it down the stairs (with ready camera) before the girls do!  This just might be the last Christmas I get this photo...

 

Opening up their first gift from Santa---a Perplexus Ball.  Neither one of them were thrilled.  At all.

Gift number two:  Watches!  Again, a total let-down from Santa.

Gift numbers three and four finally scored!  A Dorothy doll for Quincy (and Toto for Ellie) and....the big one they REALLY (reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyy) wanted.....

 

Rainbow Loom twist-bands bracelet making kit!!! (They are all the rage in the schools right now...according to the girls). 

Tink and Otis just sat there staring.

For the family:  A badminton set.  Tim's idea...we'll see!

For Tim:  A remote-control helicopter.  He lovesssssssssssssssss it! 

For me:  A new set of wine glasses (yay!) and The Cake Maker's Bible (yummmmmm). 

By the next morning, the girls had each made 4 feet of "bracelet" and Ellie had mastered the Perplexus. 

'Tis the season, Part 4 (The Night Before Christmas)

'Twas the night before Christmas....so we made Gingerbread cookies for Santa!

...and, of course, left some food and water on the roof for his reindeer ....

..and then we all settled down for a long winter's nap (well, at least right after a much-deserved cocktail for mommy and daddy!).

'Tis the Season, Part 3 (Santa's in the house...)

 (I love the photo above of Matt in the background)

I'm not really sure how it happened, but somehow we agreed to host a get-together with some of our friends where Santa showed up.  Santa's visit, while greatly LOVED by the kids, opened up a lot of (totally good and justified) questions that neither Tim nor myself knew how, nor really wanted, to explain.  But at least the girls had a great (!) time and I got some great photos out of it (that they will sooo appreciate when they are grown).

The girls had a private reading with Santa of The Night Before Christmas. 

The photo above is of my friend's, Julie, youngest daughter, Remi.  Now that is a photo that will make her laugh when she grows up!

I tried to get the dogs in a photo---at least one out of two made it in!

She believes---with all her heart.