Visit with Santa - 2013

We had a family day and took the girls over to The Somerset Collection mall in Troy to see Santa. We've done this every year since Chloe was born in 2010 and so far (knock on wood) both girls have always done really well sitting on Santa's lap. 

This morning we got there around 10:45 and were able to see Santa right away. They now give you a jump drive with your photos on it so we had to wait about 2 minutes after the family before us finished before we could go see Santa because they had to transfer the photos. Oh my word, you would not believe the reaction. It was like a toddler version of The Beetles Come to America.  I could hardly keep Megan back from him. Of course this Santa is super friendly so he was waving to the girls and Megan was blowing him kisses. Mind you, this is all from the side stage in the waiting area. 

Even Chloe who is really shy these days was excited to see him. Yesterday we mentioned that we were going to see Santa today and practicing with Chloe what she was going to say to him. The two main questions were "Have you been good this year?" and "What do you want for Christmas?" Well, Chloe assured us that she had been very good "today" (we told her that didn't count - Christmas was only once a year and Santa wants to be sure she's been good all year). When we asked about the Christmas list she said, "Well, I don't really need any toys. I'm good. I'll just play with the toys in my toybox." LOL. I swear, we did not coach her on that!  She finally decided that she wanted a kitchen and to go to FL to see Grandpa and Grandma. (This is very good news because the second wish is already in the works.) 

Here are the photos. They turned out pretty well but they don't quite capture the love and excitement the girls had for him. I think having the lady taking pictures kind of threw them off (I have no idea why, I take their pictures all the time, but they calmed down a lot when the picture taking started.)

Just for fun, here are some Santa photos from previous years:

2012
(Chloe 27 months, Megan 9 months)

 

2011 
(Chloe 15 months wearing the same dress as Megan's today)

2010

(Chloe 3 months old)

November Randoms

(My father-in-law took this photo. Chloe was at their house and she wanted to go outside and walk around the pond. They layered her up in one of Nathan's old coats. LOL Oh, and that's "Mr. Butler" - a little table they have by a chair. Chloe talks about him a lot.)

Michigan Science Center

Our Adventurer field trip for November was the science center. When we first arrived, a man had a snake named Stella. I tried to get Chloe close enough to touch it (it was a constrictor so the man assured me she would not bite). However, Chloe wanted NOTHING to do with this snake.

Inside she had a great time going to all the exhibits. Two of them she loved the most were the little diner kitchen and the Lego room.  I really, really thought I. Was. Never. Going. To. Leave.

These photos were all taken on my iPhone. They turned out pretty well! Now I'm going to be lazy and not take my camera anywhere.

I forgot to mention that the day before this field trip the Adventurers sang for the adult Sabbath School class at church. Chloe was all gung-ho in her dress uniform but totally chickened out when they had to march up front. A few times she went up with the kids, but most of the time she sat in the pew with me. That girl got a double dose of shy genes. We'll have to work on her!

October Randoms