Our visit with Santa

Today was a fun day for everyone - maybe except Matt who did not partake in the Santa fun. I know the kids were a little revved up by the way they were picking on each other, fighting and just down right getting under my skin. We left for the mall early so to let Tommy get some sort of a morning nap in. Unfortunately he did not fall asleep until we almost got to the mall. My hope was to get him in the stroller or into the mall with him still asleep but that did not work out. We had lots of time to kill so I decided to join the mall walkers and enjoy some window shopping which I never get to do! The kids tolerated the walk pretty well even though we passed the play area and another cool rides area. We went back down by Sears because I decided to return the jacket I bought on Monday deciding that I probably could use the money for something else. My intention was to return the jacket and not see anything else but I did find a blouse/shirt that was about $10 cheaper and left the store with that! Then it was time to go see Santa. The picture takers greeted us and was telling me about their picture plans - skip the talk lady I just want a CD and 5x7 photo. "We are under a new company and don't offer that" was her reply. Ok - I'll just take the CD. We were allowed access to Santa now and as I was unloading the little ones I had John introduce Santa to them. At this point Patrick wasn't jumping out of the stroller so I knew he would need a little help. I first put Tommy on Santa's lap and then Patrick. I had James and John get on each side of Santa. The ladies had me get by them so I could have the boys looking at the camera and hopefully getting a smile. I tried to do a quick "going to getcha" on Patrick but that was making matters worse. So the lady snapped two pictures and I said ok - he isn't going to smile - the second one is cute. I then held Tommy and Patrick as we spoke with Santa. John and James were pleased that Santa said he would come to our house on Christmas Eve. This Santa is so good he was sure to tell them to clean up their toys and listen to your parents. The kids all got Candy Canes. After we paid for the CD we went by the Holiday Train and it was a Santa Miracle that someone was working the train. It was $2 per ticket or 4 tickets for $7. I said - oh can I hold the baby on the ride then? The girl working the train said they normally charge for an adult but since no one was around she would let me slide. So John James and Patrick got in the first train - John took the lead on working the bell. Tom and I got in the 2nd train and waved at them. It was a pretty fun ride although I'm a bit tall for the train. We headed home with the kids eating lunch a bit early so we were sure to have plenty of time for John to get ready for school. Tommy decided when I got him out of the car he still needed to nap so I put him down in his crib. Then John was like can I see the picture? I said sure let me go downstairs and print one out. That is when I discovered the CD was blank! I was starting to freak out - the Santa folks have no phone - how can I tell them not to delete the picture?? I called my neighbor who's son catches the bus at our house and asked if she could watch John and Tom. She said she could so I got Patrick and James and back to the mall we went. Luckily we were their only business for the day and they keep the pictures they take for the whole season - so I would have been ok to go back another time - in case this didn't work again today. James and Patrick just looked at the ground as we waited for the CD to burn. They were too shy to talk with Santa again!