It's Like Christmas...in June!

My dear friend and coworker, Sandy, has been forcing her adorable children to clean their rooms and purge toys they have outgrown. As a loyal follower of my blog, Sandy got the wonderful idea to donate said purged toys to the Littles. Would we be interested?
What do you think?? I'm not sure "interested" would adequately describe it.

I was truly thankful for anything Allan and Rachel (Hi, kids!) were willing to give us, but was ASTOUNDED by how much stuff there was!

Since I tend to stop by Sandy's office to vent...well, pretty much every chance I get, she is acutely aware of how stressed and overburdened my life is currently. So she got the FABULOUS idea to organize the toys into themes...one theme for every week until we leave for vacation. Every week's toys were wrapped so there is the surprise element for every theme. So stinkin' creative!

After dinner tonight, Daddy brought the box in from the van. OK, kids, close your eyes...
...now...open 'em! Before we even got to the box...
...Molly saw the Hello Kitty stuffed animals Rachel sent and went berserk! Carson was much calmer...
...when he saw the awesome football Allan sent for him. (It's lightweight and has grippers on it...which is perfect for Carson's hands.) Look at that technique!

Ummm, kids...there's still a box to be discovered!
Sandy (way more creative than I ever realized) decorated the box and had Rachel and Allan write letters to Molly and Carson. I tried to photograph 'em, but the pictures are too light to be legible.

On the "girl" side of the box, Rachel's note read:

Dear Molly,

I hope you like my toys, jewelry, and stuffed toys. They were really great to play with, but I'm too old for them. Enjoy the toys (especially the Hello Kitty stuffed toys).

Sincerely, Rachel

On the "boy" side of the box, Allan wrote:

Dear Carson,

I truly hope you enjoy my old toys. I don't play with them any more so I'm giving them to you. I hope you will love them as much as I did.

Sincerely, Allan

After reading the letters to them, it was time to open that big ole box...

...which really didn't show 'em much since Sandy bagged up the toys. Gotta admit, they were confused. So I explained the system (doling these toys out slowly until vacation next month) and, because they were about to jump out of their skin, let them pick a bag to open RIGHT NOW! (Per Sandy's rules, they will be required to earn the rest of the toys by being extra good and helping Mommy with chores.)
Princess & Action Figure Week was their unanimous choice. First Molly dug in...
...followed closely by my Little Man...
...and I wish I had made a video of the unveiling. They were SO stoked, squealing and jumping up and down! They absolutely could not believe that another child would give up such awesome treasures!
The both immediately dropped to their knees...
...to get a better look at the goods. Hey, you two, before we play, don't you think you forgot something??