Sgarlata Scrapbook: Christmas Vacation is Over

As we pack up to go home and officially end our Christmas Season vacation, my first thought is, "how did we fit all of this STUFF into our SUV on the way here?" Then I remember that I have kids and start thinking back to all the gifts they received over the Holiday.

My family was very generous this year, showering my kids with toys and electronics. The boys are really into legos and what else to get them, but more legos. My Mom definitely has the gift giving gene because she knows exactly what to buy them that they'll like instantly. With that said, Grandma and Grandpa bought them the coolest legos: zoo, camping, and postman themed collections and the boys absolutely cannot get enough of all the figurines. She also bought them two backpacks which they love to wear around the house. I never would have thought to buy a two year old a backpack, but they are a hit. It helps that one is an elephant and the other is a zebra backpack. They also got cute Columbia jackets and matching hats for this spring, gotta love the useful gifts. They also got Yo Gabba Gabba and Super Why puzzles, which were an instant obsession along with wooden cars and blocks. Lastly, the BIG gift of the year were matching ipads. They love them. It is so cute to see them help each other and show each other how they got to a particular app. Wow, they are amazing learning tools as well and nice distractors when mom needs to get something done! :)

Now, this was the first year that the twins kind of got the Santa thing. We read a lot of books about Santa, his reindeer, St. Nicholas, and the Christmas Season, which they seemed to enjoy. We got them dressed in cute, new Santa PJ's and tucked them into bed telling them that Santa was going to visit over the night. We were suppose to set out reindeer food, but forgot. :) However, when they got up, they were kind of tired and weren't interested in opening up presents. We had entice them with the big gift and once that was open they were not at all interested in opening the other gifts. I think I actually opened the rest of the gifts trying to show them what they got. The twins' big gift was the Cars geotrax set which they absolutely loved!!! I wasn't surprised since they are obsessed with trains. Chase loves to push them and build them and Mason loves to make them move. They also got a remote control dodge ram, another car that moved but wasn't remote control, Melissa and Doug shapes that you put onto string, and a Melissa and Dough block puzzle that had 6 different puzzles you could make with the same blocks. All in all, Santa was good to the boys this year.

Piper on the other hand, had no clue what was going on, but sure looked cute. She smiled every time I'd show her what Santa brought her. They'd make noise and move, so what almost four month old wouldn't like that? Piper received the cutest fisher price, my first ring toy, a musical toy, and pastel eggs that roll around when you try to grab them. I decided to spend significantly more on the boys this year since Piper has so much hand me down toys. Plus she too got showered with gifts from my family. My favorite gift of hers is a my first purse set that the purse talks and sings. It comes with a ring, mirror, bracelet, and crinkly money that fits into the purse. It was an instant hit amongst her and the boys.

Sadly, vacation time is over, back to work.