Christmas excitement

Ok, so here's the thing. I'm not one of the very organized people of the world who shop for Christmas gifts all year long and don't have to rush around all of December to finish their shopping. Today I took Kate and JR to the mall to visit Santa and do a little shopping. We bought 1 gift. I realized in the process that I kind of enjoy the chaos of shopping in December. I think I'd like to have the majority of my shopping done or at least have an idea of what we want to get everyone on our list by Dec., but I do enjoy the bustle of the malls and the decorations and carols playing, so therefore, regardless of the chaos, I think I'm joyful that my shopping is NOT done! :)

SO, we visited Santa, and this year was MUCH better than the screaming of last year! :) The photographer was busy helping the mom in front of us, so Kate got to sit on Santa's lap for a really long time (like 10 minutes at least) and he talked to her and asked her what she wanted for Christmas (she said toys) and then suggested that she needed some Dora things for Christmas, which is now all she will say...it was great! She was thrilled. And JR tuned up for a second when we put him in Santa's lap, but then gave decently happy look for the picture. I need to scan the pic in, but it's a pain to do, so maybe tomorrow. :) After visiting Santa, Kate got to ride his train, which was LOTS of fun! I DID get pictures of that! :)

This has nothing to do with Christmas, but was so funny! I came in the kitchen last night and Jeff had turned Kate's socks into puppets to try to get her to finish her dinner. Apparently his puppet voice includes covering his mouth with his hand! HA! Anyway, Kate loved it and it was a great moment.

The kids before we went into the mall.
Kate waiting very patiently for her turn with Santa.
Kate is on the left...she pushed the other little girl out of her way so she could get in first...arg...I made her apologize.
JR thought watching Kate in the train was great!

The OTHER part of the Santa story is that Kate complained all the way through the mall after that. First her neck hurt (WHAT?) and then her bottom hurt (I realized later that she was holding her pee so that she wouldn't wet her pull-up). By the time we got to the car she was crying. She cried almost the whole way home till she fell asleep (VERY abnormal). Somewhere in the ride home I noticed the car smelling like sour milk and thought we must have left a bottle in there or something. When we got home, I realized that Kate had thrown up. Oh the joy. SO, I cleaned her up and when we got inside SHE told me to take her "tentatures" (temperature). I did and sure enough the girl has a fever. Hopefully she'll be better soon. :) I don't know if the fever is connected to the barfing or if she was just so upset or excited about Santa that she puked. I'm hoping for the last one so that it's not a stomach bug we all get!!!