Pajama Party with Santa!!

The kids were very excited to see Santa this year! I wasn't sure they'd be too interested, especially Annabel...and I'm not sure why I wasn't sure because I was clearly wrong! Silly Mommy- of course they jumped at the chance to tell him in person what they wanted for Christmas!

So we signed up kinda spontaneously for our park district's Pajama Party with Santa, which the kids were very excited about, counting the days and all! Annabel was convinced we were going to the North Pole to see him- she would not hear it any other way for a while there, but we managed to get her to understand he was visiting us at the park district building we go to for gymnastics...and by then she was just excited to see him, it didn't matter where! The kids also thought it was pretty fun that they were going to this party in their pajamas- Annabel loved the Santa pajamas I picked out for her ("match Santa!") and Daniel was excited about wearing his new McQueen/Mater winter pajamas. They looked quite festive and super cute in their jammies!

We arrived early and were among the first ones there- which was a very good thing, because the line to see Santa was very slow; anybody who got there later was pretty much in that line the whole time and didn't get to do much else. So this way, we saw Santa and then got to take our time playing games and have cookies. And I'm excited and very proud to say BOTH kids actually talked to Santa!!! Annabel kept saying she would and she'd tell me what she was going to tell him- she wanted "DORA!!" Santa asked her first and she practically spat out as quickly as she could "Dora" and then didn't speak another word- but hey, she did it! She was SO proud of herself! Daniel, my chatterbox, made sure to list everything he wanted for Santa- I loved him for it! I was so proud of him, too- this was a big deal! The kids loved the teddy bears they each got as gifts, too- and he is actually pretty cute! Annabel was funny later- all of a sudden, once we were on the way home, she exclaimed, "oh NO! I got (forgot) tell Santa hot wheel hootcase (suitcase)!!!" (Daniel has one and for some reason she keeps bringing up that she wants one.) I reminded her that Santa was pretty smart and knew what she wanted and what she would enjoy anyway!

The games were cute- bowling, ring toss, bozo buckets, feed Santa bean bag toss, and so on. The kids got prizes for trying each game out- they loved this! They each also got tattoos which they had fun with. And of course the cookies and milk was a hit with Annabel. We brought Daniel his Oreo sticks and a juice box so he could have a snack like Annabel. And then we pretty much headed out, having done everything there was to do. It was a cute little event and just perfect for a little night out for our family!  

(I proceeded to hop around the rest of the night- from that party, home to get ready for our ballroom dance class, off to dance class- an awesome semi-private lesson for us since hardly anybody else came and we were actually learning some challenging steps!!!, during which it started to really snow, then home to drop Ben off, back out again to a party my friend Connie hosted at which I stayed until 3:30 AM!! I'm a night owl, but even that was laaaaate for me- oh but it was soooo much fun to chat the night away with two of my really good friends! Still catching up on my sleep though...)

 Anyway, we had a great time seeing Santa! Enjoy our pictures and a cute little video!

The kids were just amazed watching the big kids doing gymnastics while we waited for our party to start!

Sweet little hug!

 Annabel waiting to see Santa with a big smile on her face! She really wasn't nervous at all. She was quite brave and quite ready!

 Our turn! Annabel took Daddy's hand for one last reassurance but then she let Santa pick her right up into his lap!

 Daniel was cozy as could be in Santa's lap, while Annabel was all "I wanna be here, but not reeeeally" and pulling her body off to the side yet remaining planted firmly- too funny!

This is the picture the park district took for us and put into a cute little photo holder...not too bad! I liked the ones I got above a little better though...

Game time!

 Tattoos!!

Cookie time!!!

Daniel and Annabel show off their cute bears and their prize bags!

Here's a video of Daniel talking to Santa, listing everything he wants! If you can read lips like I can, you're set for this video, but it was too noisy in the gym so you won't really hear much! And Annabel- oh I wish I could have caught her on video, too, since she did actually talk to Santa, but she was too fast for me, and then like I said, she didn't say another word- she did what she came to do and then she was done. I was just glad she stayed there the whole time Daniel talked (and talk he did!)- it's still cute to watch her sitting there with them!