bribery gets me everywhere

i was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find a package waiting for me at our mailbox. the return address told me that it was my buddy venn, and after racking my brain on the way home, i realized it must be a present for the bean. she'd mentioned in passing that she had something for her, and it's sadly been ages and ages since i've seen her.

but when i got home, the bean (who'd been asleep for about 20 minutes in our room) came scampering through the door, hello kitty blanket in tow, with a big grin on her face and ready to play. oy. she typically takes a 2-hour afternoon nap, and if it gets cut short, the rest of the day is a little wonky.

it took a while, but when i finally thought to bribe her with a "surprise" when she woke up from taking that nap, she settled down in my arms and dropped off to dreamland. yes, i'm totally fine with using bribery to get what i need. heh.

and when she did wake up, the teen joined us on the couch and ripped open the box. it's really fun to watch them open presents, and i grabbed the camera to see if i could catch some fun shots.

inside the box, underneath the bubble wrap, we found a card and several prettily wrapped packages:

the bean was still really groggy, but excited to see what her surprise was. hmm, i guess this shot doesn't exactly capture any excitement, but whatever.

btw, don't ask me what was up with her hair. MIL had done it up in a couple of braids and clips, but she'd obviously slept on it and did a little rolling around and stuff. anyway, inside the first package we found an adorable handmade headband in brown with a pink flower. you'll see it modeled by the teen in a bit.

as the bean got to work on the next present,

the teen was super duper excited to rip open a different one to find a fun pack of jonas brothers stickers for her. i thought it was really sweet of venn to send a little something for her, too, so she wouldn't feel left out. luckily, the teen is pretty mature and is always happy to help the bean open presents, but it's always nice to know that she's thought of, too. oh - and isn't the headband adorable?

together, they tackled the last package:

the bean sat back and let her sister do all the work while she clutched the box of toddler-sized crayons she'd opened previously.

but she did help tear off a little corner of the blue wrapping paper.

i'm not sure if the sun was in her eyes or if she was just being coy here, but she lit up like a christmas tree when the paper finally fell away to reveal three awesome new coloring and activity books, adorned with a big wan household favorite character:

it was cute to watch them both pick up a book and start flipping through the pages.

well, and you knew yours truly would have to get in on the action, too. i loves me some hello kitty.

i see a lot of fun coloring and new fridge wallpaper in our near future, thanks to venn.