Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...Back to work

Whew...we all made it!  It was nice having some time off to spend with each other and the kids.  We had the extended family celebration on Christmas Eve at Uncle Chris's house.  Had lots of treats (kudos to the girls for the mini pies) and lots of room for the kids to run around and play in.  The teens and adults played two rounds of Wits and Wagers and like Thanksgiving at Aunt Kelly's house, it was another rousing success of a party game.  They intend to buy it and I think Kelly was too.  Too much fun not to play it again.  Christmas morning was extremely impactful to the kids.  After Holiday had checked to see if Santa ate his cookies and milk (of course, he did) we started in on the stockings.  She was a little disappointed that he didn't take his picture of a Christmas tree that she made for him.  We were unaware that the picture was for Santa and assured her that we would mail it to him for her and that was deemed as an acceptable solution.  We got the kids up at 7 am and by 9 am we had finished opening the presents and the first sweeping of gift wrapping was disposed of.  The clean up was an ongoing process of course since we didn't open every toy out of its packaging all at once.  But at one point our entire living room was a sea of toys and torn open gift wrapping, bows and boxes.  You could barely walk.  The kids really made out on toys this year with all the stuff from aunts and uncles, grandparents, honorary grandparents let alone us.  They should be set for quite some time.  Holiday really liked her new dolls, Minnie Mouse, and additional sets to her "bunny house".  Johnny really liked the fisher price zoo play set we got him.  He actually got in Holiday's face and told her "NO!" when she tried playing with it.  That's the first time he's stood up for himself to her.  He was so happy playing with it that he would stop to clap his hands.  They will probably change what their favorite toys are in a couple weeks, they do it all the time.  Yesterday Johnny got out his tractor/farm animal toy he got for his birthday so you never know what will click them and when.  A lot of times it's a delayed reaction.  I was really happy with my new purse and cookie press and David is enjoying his helicopter, games and skateboard.  Besides Christmas we made it to the new Rainier Beach Community Center pool twice.  It was a lot of fun for the whole family.  Johnny and Holiday have been practicing their kicking as well as splashing.  There's a cool 'river', kids area and all that there and a water slide that David and I take turns using.  You have to physically hold your nose closed before you hit bottom otherwise water will force its way up there.  It's just so fast that you hit the bottom fairly forcefully.  My booty always touches the bottom of the pool when I land.  Doesn't hurt but that surprised me the first time, I wasn't expecting to be completely submerged.  David's exit off the slide is an impressive wave since he tends to slide the surface of the water.  I think I drop straight down so there's not so much splash.  They also have family restrooms there so that helps with getting little ones dressed and undressed.  And bonus...it really tires the kids out so they sleep great at night.  Holiday went back to Kids Co on Monday and Tuesday and David went back to work.  Johnny's daycare was closed those days so I stayed home with him.  I got the Christmas decorations and tree down on Monday and finished cleaning all the floors on Tuesday.  It was easier to clean after all that stuff was put away.  We went for a walk around Green Lake yesterday which was nice.  And today everyone is back to work/school/daycare...woohoo!  David intends to take down the exterior Christmas decorations by this weekend.