The girls got an insane number of toys but thus far have played most with their Leapsters. I debated and debated and debated over whether or not the Leapster 2 would be too easy for Ella. But in the end, the next step up (called the Didj) seemed *too* hard (it required a lot of reading to understand the various games) and didn't offer many gaming choices. So far the games I (ahem, Santa) chose for Ella seem to be a good challenge for her. Santa got her the Sponge Bob game, and my mom got her My Amusement Park. She's having fun with both of them, and they got all of us through a long-ish weekend drive to my dad's house, which is a definite bonus. Dean tried out My Amusement Park and was having trouble with it, so I'm hopeful that as long as I am choosy about the games we get Ella, her Leapster will grow with her until we decide to get a Nintendo DS. Sadie got a Princess game and the Princess and the Frog game, and I can definitely see where Ella would outgrow the Princess game sooner rather than later.
Other hits have been Ants in the Pants, Sponge Bob legos, the Melissa & Doug magic set (once again, a nice job by Melissa & Doug with very sturdy pieces that I think will last well into the next century), Connect 4, and the atrocious Polly Pocket, which has pieces so teeny tiny that it's a wonder someone somewhere in their product development department didn't raise it as an issue. Seriously, how do you play with something that's too small to see? The girls also got a Strawberry Shortcake cafe that they've managed to share pretty peacefully, and Sadie has cleaned my house several times using her Snow White cleaning set. Now *that's* a genius idea for a child's toy. I really need to get her the little Snow White vacuum too.
As usual, I found the holidays more draining and stressful that I'd anticipated or hoped. Which is pretty much par for the course for Christmas celebrated three times with more than 40 people total. I'm hoping this holiday week (with no New Year's Eve plans for these young parents) will be more relaxing.
Still, I'm grateful for our beautiful new home (which I am finally starting to appreciate after many months of hard work), the wherewithal to make sure our kids had a nice Christmas, and two children who are relatively well-behaved most of the time.
One moment from Christmas morning that both warmed my heart and broke it at the same time: Sadie, after opening her many Santa gifts, asked whether I thought Santa had also made sure the needy children had gotten gifts. They helped my MIL choose gifts for a needy child, plus we always donate to Toys for Tots. It's tricky trying to explain to children we believe in Santa why needy children might not get Christmas gifts. After all, Santa is an equal opportunity giver! I was pleased the Sadie had gotten the message that we are all very blessed, but also a little heartbroken to think about kiddos out there who might not get anything from Santa. Let's all be grateful for all that we have!
Here are some miscellaneous photos from Christmas weekend.
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