Credle Family: The REST of Our Christmas Break...

When we woke up at our house on the morning of the 27th, it felt like Christmas all over again. The Christmas angels did not come in and clean up as I secretly hoped. It was just as we left it Christmas morning when we walked out the door at 10 am. There were bags full of torn wrapping paper, empty boxes and even a few toys that had remained in their packaging. In the living room, there were still unopened gifts as Cliff and I had yet to open gifts from one another.

I promised myself that I would not stress over trying to get everything done on that first day we got home. Instead, we revelled in the clutter and made a day of lounging around playing with all of our new fun toys!

Anabella is trying her new bracelets on Pooh.

She's a good mommy covering her new baby with the quilt from the couch.
Notice Daniel (in the background) watching the scene unfold.

Daniel got tired of watching and decided to launch himself, with
Kermee in tow, into Anabella's make believe play.

I'm not sure what role he was casting himself as
....a tornado, maybe?

Okay, fine, I'll play with my cars.

Daddy helped set up our new building blocks.

Daniel loves his fruit/veggie cutting set.

After spending the 27th at home all day playing with our new toys, we were ready to get out on the 28th. Since the weather was not cooperating for outdoor play, we did something that I've been wanting to do for a while now but avoided due to not wanting to try it alone. We headed out to the public library!

Daniel and Anabella love to read. Christmas morning is a perfect example- in the middle of opening gifts, Daniel took a book to his Daddy, sat on his lap and said "read." (We are working on "read, please" as this is one of Daniel and Anabella's favorite requests.) But what's not to like about that request?!

We have plenty of books at home for them to read, but now that they are getting older, I've been wanting to take them to the library. The problem is I know they will be interested in exploring, which ordinarily wouldn't be a problem, but Daniel and Anabella tend to want to explore in different directions. Since there's only one of me and two of them and lots of different directions, you can see my dilemma.

But, since Daddy was with us, let the exploring begin....

Sure enough, they were interested in different things. While Daniel wanted to walk the aisles and pull books off the shelves, Anabella preferred to be in the center play area where she could sit and do puzzles and play toys. And, of course, watch other kids.

Daniel eventually made his way to the puzzles too. He really liked this one that had buckles. In fact, he was so enthralled, he finally dropped his sunglasses, which we had been trying to get him to give up since we arrived at the library.

When we finally got both of them back to the common area, I had to go to the service desk and get a library card. Since we'd moved to Prince William County last October, this was my first time in the library too. I go to the Centreville library every week to tutor, and since I still have my Fairfax Co. library card, I just check out books from there. But, as I was making my way to check out, I found The Help on the "Fabulous Finds" shelf (which I only briefly scanned as I was waiting in line). So, I not only got a libary card, but a great book as well! And, I picked up the calendar of events so that I could get the hours for toddler story time. Turns out they have "Wonderful Ones," which a story time for toddlers aged 12-24 months, every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Hope to make it there soon!

A few days after the library visit, Cliff's friend, Chris, came to visit. This was his first time meeting Daniel and Anabella, and though they were a little cautious at first (as they usually are with strangers), they warmed up quickly and had fun playing!

The REST of Our Christmas Break.....I ended up with a nasty sinus infection, followed by a brutal stomach virus, which started bad enough with Daniel, moved on and wrecked even more havoc on Anabella and then ended after it bulldozed over me as we entered the new year. Thank goodness we were still on Christmas Break! It wasn't such a great way to end it, but at least Daddy was still home to help take care of us all.