Dinosaur Lovers Unite!!!

I already have the Craftster Dinosaur Swap to thank for inspiring me to finally get off my butt and create my daughter's dinosaur quilt already, but that's on the giving side of the equation. On the receiving side of the equation (which is a good side of the equation to be on), I have my swap partner to thank for what is likely the most crazy-awesome swap package that I have EVER received.

And the girls? Well, I'll just say that they're beside themselves, and allow you to imagine for yourself the exact strain of hysteria that has swept through our house in the wake of this package.

First, a sweet little note:
"A surprise!" you think. "Why, I LOVE surprises!" And you are so, so correct. Because some of the surprises are this:
And some of the surprises are this:These handmade coloring pages are the coolest thing: The girls have already done several (as you can see). There is one in particular, of brachiosauruses in love, that I'm going to secretly slip to Willow (not Sydney) to color tomorrow, because I dearly want to then frame it and hang it in their room. Not that I don't find Sydney's artwork beautiful, mind you--I'm her mother, I think it's awesome--but...Brachiosauruses in Love seems meant for Willow, I'll just leave it at that.

So that stuff alone is awesome enough, I'm sure you agree, and you can't even count the adorableness of all the other miscellaneous toys and dinosaur paraphernalia also included (excavation kits! volcano eruptions! crayons! sunglasses!), but this blows all that out of the water:

I mean, are you kidding me?!?

This playset is INCREDIBLE!!! It's made up of all these great fabrics, mostly recycled, all with really interesting textures that contrast really well, and there are little dino hiding spots tucked in----and little foam dinos to play with--

--and tons of extra foam so that the girls can make their own little dinos to play with! Sydney is sleeping with this playset right this very minute. She's also, not that you need to know this, insisted on sleeping on the living room hardwood floor, on top of two big pillows, inside her pink flower sleeping bag, with a sock monkey, stuffed whale, and plastic My Little Pony, while listening to on CD. And even then it was after 9:00 pm before she went to sleep, a stark contrast to Willow, who fell asleep in the car at 6:00 pm (on our way to the park, which we then did not get to go to) after shrieking for half an hour about sunscreen that she'd gotten in her eyes while playing with it without permission. Man, kids do NOT like to have their eyes irrigated with water bottles!

But yeah...dinosaurs. The girls are re-inspired, I am re-inspired=another successful swap.