Santa Filled Weekend!

We had a Santa packed-full Saturday! We started our day with a Christmas Train Ride! We did this last year and it was so much fun! The train ride last year was 3 hours long - but they reenacted the first Christmas, sang carols, and did lots of Christmas activities. This year I couldn't find that train ride on the schedule so we had to drive a little further for a shorter trip, but it was still lots of fun. We were on the train about an hour this time. Santa came by and talked to the kids, they handed out candy canes and we sand Christmas carols. We went from Springdale to Johnson - it was not too long or too short for the kids this year. While we waited to get on the train the kids got to see Olaf, build miniature sleighs from Home Depot, and made Reindeer Food :)

From there we went to lunch - which was not good. The food was bad and the service was not good enough to make up for the food. But, we didn't let that get us down - we were off to sit on Santas lap! We went to the Pinnacle Hills Promenade this year. We went here when Noah was 6 months old and had a great experience so we wanted to try again. We only had to wait around 30 minutes in line - which is totally doable with my kids. Ryan has always cried when she saw Santa but she kept saying she wasn't going to, but we did not believe her at all. She marched right up there and sat on his lap and told him her name and what she wanted and even smiled for the camera! We couldn't believe it! Of course Noah told Santa a few things that he didn't have on his original list - he does this to me every year - the little toot! Luckily, Santa left a little room in the budget for that just in case :)

The kids then played on the playground outside the mall where we saw Santa - the weather was so nice. Nathan did a little Christmas shopping while I watched the kids play.

Then it was time to head back so we could watch our local Christmas Parade! The parade was about an hour long and SO good! Noah had a great time playing with some boys who always sit in the same spot as we do for the parades. Ryan was into the parade for a while and then she decided she just wanted to eat suckers and sit in the grass instead.

We got to mark 3 things off our Christmas Bucket List in one day! Also, our elves came back to town and the kids love seeing where they are each day. Noah has had his elf Huckleberry for 3 years now, but he brought his girlfriend for Ryan this year. She is obsessed with the movie Brave right now so she named her elf Merida. Huckleberry and Merida have been hiding all over the house and doing funny things to the kids for a week now :) The kids love to get up and run around and see what they are up to each night. I don't stress on them too much that they are watching them - that is a bonus we throw out there sometimes, but mainly it is just something fun we enjoy doing. I have an alarm set on my phone each night to make sure the elf remembers to move ;) (On a side note: There are several people who complain on social media about the elf thing and how it takes away from the true meaning of Christmas or it is creepy. I say each family can do their own thing - if you don't want to then don't - but don't call out families that do. My kids know that we celebrate Christmas because it is Jesus' birthday. We have fun doing it and we are making the best memories doing it!)

Noah also was asked to talk about the Christmas story at Church Sunday to possibly be used in the Christmas service this year. He loved being on camera and having a microphone on. I was nervous for him and he was not nervous at all. He said he was excited and liked doing stuff like that. We may have a future actor on our hands ;)

We ended our weekend with finishing our Christmas decorations outside. All we had left was to put our blow-up decorations on the roof. So, we all got up there and put them up together :) We are definitely in the Christmas spirit at our house!