Black Friday

This year I took the day after Thanksgiving off, and we went down to Crown Center to watch Santa Claus come to town in his "sleigh".  We've been down here with the kids to see him every year, but we hadn't watch him arrive since Noah was two.  

We killed a little time before he arrived, then stood outside with the rest of the crowd waiting for him to arrive.  We were well positioned - right in front of where his carriage would stop.  Finally he came, and it was cute to see Noah nervously waving his hand at him.  We followed him in, then as everyone else went to stand in line to have pictures taken, we walked over to Union Station instead.  There will be plenty of time to go during the week for our annual pictures with Santa, when the lines are shorter and the kids can play longer at Crayola Land.

At Union Station, we let the boys have a train ride that turned out to be pretty lame for $5 each - three turns on a circle track at a speed that Elliot could have crawled a couple years ago.  But they enjoyed it, and afterwards we went to Science City for a while.  After a busy, fun-filled morning, we had lunch at Harvey's in Union Station.  A little more upscale than Fritz's, where your meal is delivered by a train, but not nearly as crazy either. 

Noah was fascinated by the Lego Nutcracker.

Counting down the minutes 'til Christmas.

Looking for Santa Claus

Cute family.  I don't think we have a single picture of all of them staring at the camera at once.

Watching Santa arrive.

The big guy driving could give Santa a run for his money. 

The perfect spot to watch Santa disembark.

It's the real Santa!

I don't think he was as interested in the trains running around this gingerbread village, as he was in the candy on display.

Taking the skywalk to Union Station.

View of downtown KC from the skywalk.

Union Station

They were actually more excited about this train ride than the picture indicates, but it seemed pretty lame to me.

Playing music at Science City

Playing with the water table.  This thing fascinates them. 

Elliot got wet even though we kept pulling up his sleeves

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve was quieter this year, as several of our family were busy with other family obligations, but still a lot of fun.  Steve and Lisa sent us a smoked turkey from Texas, and Mandy made a great dinner.  Noah proudly announced that he had set the rarely-used dining room table, and we sat down to enjoy some pleasant holiday conversation over a nice dinner.  That lasted less than a few seconds, as Noah got sick to his stomach before we even had a bite, and Elliot decided to go on a food strike and threw a fit as he tried to escape his restraints.  They quickly snapped back to good health and good cheer as the time came to open presents.     

Noah with his new shirt from Grandma

Elliot was starting to get into opening presents, but Noah was only too happy to help (take over).

Opening his gift from Grandpa - a remote control car

Looking at Elliot's gift from Aunt Laurie - a hot wheels racetrack.  Looks complicated...

Grandpa to the rescue

"Sharing" the remote control car

Reading stories on the couch.

That night, we set out milk and cookies for Santa Claus to find.  Noah wanted to give him eggnog, but we were out of it so he decided chocolate milk would be the next best thing. 

Making sure Santa's chocolate milk is ok

He wanted to put them right at the foot of the chimney so the big guy wouldn't miss them.

We finally got them dressed for bed in their new Christmas jammies, when Noah remembered he had to put out the "reindeer food" he made at school last week (cheerios, hay, glitter and little m&m's or something). We spread that out in the yard, and finally put the boys to bed.

Mandy and I stayed up until 11:30 assembling and wrapping presents (and drinking chocolate milk and eating cookies). 

To be continued....

Annual Santa visit at Crown Center

We took our annual trip to Crown Center to see Santa and play in Crayola Land this weekend. The boys had fun as usual. Paul saved our spot in line while we looked at the Gingerbread land with trains and houses. Then the boys got to play while we waited in the Santa line once inside. Both kids did great for Santa and we were able to get another ornament for the tree, as we do every year. And, as always, capped it off with some candy from the candy shop. (To compare past years visits click on the Santa tag)

Daddy & Elliot in line - almost our turn!

Killing time while Dad's in line looking at the vintage Santa "Ho Ho Ho"ing.

We are finally in!

And finally they got to meet the big guy, the REAL Santa!

Noah was letting him know that he wanted Criss Cross Crash Cars

Yummy!

Preparing for Santa

This is the first year Noah gets the whole Santa concept. We had Noah write a note and bake some cookies for him. Noah dictated what I was to write on the letter: "Merry Christmas". Then he colored it. We left out 2 cookies, milk, and his note before going to bed.

Christmas was always fun as a kid, but I think being Santa when you have your own kids is even more fun!

Noah writing his letter to Santa:

The letter Santa left for the boys:

This was a seperate letter that was in Noah's room, along with his huge collection of trains. Him & Hudson have been recently finding great fun in throwing things down the laundry chute. Including trains. The 3rd time they were doing it, I let him know if they do it they would be gone for good. Well they did it. And I stuck to it. It's been nearly 2 weeks. Noah keeps saying how he and Hudson threw them down the laundry chute and now they are gone "FOREVER!". So he found this note, along with his trains on his train table:

Santa washing down his cookies with milk (we put it in a sippy cup so Noah wouldn't spill it carrying it from the kitchen to the fireplace - haha)I had to take a picture of Elliot in bed on his first Christmas Eve.

I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the milk, cookies & note. Or the stockings and presents Santa left out. I think it might be because we were so sleepy ourselves! I enjoyed watching It's a Wonderful Life while playing Mrs. Claus. What a fun Christmas Eve night.

Santa!

We had our annual visit to Santa at Crown Center's Crayola Land on Sunday. This is the first year Noah kind of gets who the big guy really is. He's been talking about him and has been planning on asking for Diesel 10 and Toby the tram engine (because he doesn't have enough Thomas trains!). He still says he wants raspberries, too. Forget the traditional oranges, candy canes or chocolate!

Noah's first Christmas, I didn't do the picture thing. He was a very fussy baby and I didn't feel the need to take him out into a germy crowd and get a screaming baby picture. His second Christmas, he was a happy toddler, and well, we still ended up with the classic terrified baby shot. But, we do treasure it and he did have fun playing in Crayola Land that year!

His third Christmas was better. Still didn't really "get" the whole Santa thing. I took him on a weekday with intentions of just playing at the Crayola Land. It was dead and I let him play a long time. He warmed up slowly to Santa. Mr. C. was great taking time to talk to Noah and make him comfortable.

This year, his fourth Christmas, he really anticipated it and talked about it. He knew what he was going to ask for. Although he wasn't scared of him, he got very shy and wouldn't talk. I let Santa know the two trains he wanted, and Noah would nod to answer questions. Santa asked if he'd give him knuckles or high five and Noah did indeed pound it.

He was so not going to crack a smile for the camera though.

Little Elliot had a blast playing in Crayola Land, too. And no surpise for our easygoing E, he had no problem going right on the big guy's lap and even gave us a big smile for our picture.

Checking out the creepy vintage Santa that moves and says "ho ho ho" while Daddy waited in line.

While waiting I also took Noah to the candy shop. It's right there (naturally). He dropped a piece on the ground and picked it up. I quickly took it away and told him it was dirty. And he knows better. But, much like Buddy the Elf and cotton balls, he just couldn't resist it. He grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth SO FAST like Buddy does the cotton ball when he gets his finger pricked. Gross? Yes. Hilarious? An even a bigger yes.

I'm posting this because it could very well be the last pic of me wearing him in the bjorn. He is so over it and wants to be on the go. I only use it in the grocery store and Target. Once he is walking, we'll probably be done with it for good. *sniffle*

Sweet Freedom to roam!Happy Boy in the Crayon Tunnel

The only one of them playing togetherThis is from our camera. The one we ordered from them, the boys are looking at the camera. E is cheesing and Noah pretty much looks like this.

*For a comparison of the past two years, just click on the Santa tag below to see last year's post*