I just spent the last hour being schooled in the way of Beyblades. I learned how to use their ripcords, how to know which Beyblade goes with which launcher, and how to “win.”
They are basically tops that spin really fast. Decorated with stickers and some light up and have different “effects,” I can’t begin to tell you how much it made my son’s day to play his new toys with him, and show me “his moves” while we bonded over his “battle station.” We opened up every last one he received from us for Christmas, and there, smack in the middle of his bedroom, we ripped it up, Beyblade-style, and laughed. A freakin’ lot.
Earlier today, I played tea party with my daughter’s new Princess Tea Set that she served on her new Svan table and chair set. It meant a great deal to me to give her a quality table and chair set this year (thank you, Scandinavian Child*), she’s now at “that age” where dress-up tea parties, coloring, and play food are all on her daily menu. Now she can do it kid-size instead of at our dining room table.
I also watched the kids on their new bikes we bought for them, riding on the street, as the littler ones rode their new scooters, watching the wheels light up in the dark. We bought the older ones “trickster” bikes this year, with a ramp, along with skate boards and a “grinding” rail (whatever grinding means).
We also spent a fortune (cough, seventy-dollars-OMG, cough) to replace the dead battery in the Power Wheels mustang we own, giving it new life. Baby Dude was livin’ it up, learning how to drive it and control it.
I love this time of year, this exhausting day-after where everything is cool, you’ll NEVER hear the words “I’m bored” because suddenly there’s so much to do. And play. And build. And create.
And where Buzz Light Year pajamas demand a bouncing happy reception:
..and new Power Ranger swords required an immediate opening and test drive:
.. and preteens suddenly realize that mom knows what they like, style-wise, and got them exactly what they wanted. Three new fedoras for dude, and two new newsie hats for dudette:
… and a cool, new leather coat for the teenager. (Hoping this will now give her a reason to actually wear a coat, since before they weren’t “cool.”)
My back may hurt like hell, my hands with blisters and paper cuts from opening cardboard boxes a-plenty, and I may feel like I’ve been side-swiped in a car accident with the post-Christmas hangover, but my heart soars spending this time with my kids, having my husband home, and just being a family.
Does it have to end next week? Can’t it last forever?
Never miss a thing! Subscribe today for all kinds of crazy parenting fun!