When we travel north, our car is packed pretty full.  We obviously get rid of a few things during gift giving but it never seems to free up a lot of room.  Because everyone is so generous to our family, my inlaws normally end up shipping the majority of our loot home for us.  The 2 ginormous boxes arrived yesterday so it was like Christmas all over again for the girls.

I was taken aback by the size – I couldn’t lift one so I scooted it inside.  I didn’t remember it being so much – granted there was a lot of bubble wrap but still – wow.  We have 1 large rubbermaid container that is only for supervised play: games, puzzles, skill building items…basically anything with lots of pieces that will get strewn about the house if I don’t make sure we get them out 1 at a time and then put them away intact.  We weeded through our extensive book collection to get rid of those we adults hate to read – they are headed to Goodwill.  I am also going to do some toy editing during naps this week so that we have a more reasonable number of toys.

It is amazing how the girls instinctively know what toys are theirs – and immediately play with something that isn’t.  I snapped this photo first thing this morning – Tessa is wearing Sabrina’s crown and Sabrina is playing with Tessa’s Jack (sock monkey) in a box.  As I was unpacking the box, they immediately gravitated toward the loudest toys received: the keyboard and the lawn mower.  I think we have Aunt Iveta to thank for both of those…I’ll keep that in mind when shopping for the twins next time.  (I kid. Maybe.)

But we also have Aunt Iveta to thank for another of the most favorite gifts.  She turned the twins’ drawings (with the help of Snapfish) into placemats for the girls and coffee mugs for the grown ups.  Sabrina loves her placemat and talks about what is on it while she waits for her meal and during her meal and after her meal.  It was a very clever gift and everyone loved it.  (They used the kids drawings for their Christmas cards too – very cool.)  So you are almost forgiven for the loud toys.  Almost.