Visit with Santa

Yesterday we met up with some friends to go visit Santa. I was so excited to take Cole this year because he's really starting to understand all this Christmas stuff. Even though he is a very quiet (for the most part), reserved kid, he definitely is not shy with things like this. Last year he could hardly handle his excitement to sit on the Easter bunny's lap. He was about to bounce off the walls when we got to the mall.
Here's Cole and Finley while waiting in line...it's so hard to get a picture with both of them looking at the camera because she is constantly staring at her brother :)

Emma and Cole waiting patiently

My friend Ann makes the most adorable clothes for little kids. She does such cute embroidery and comes up with the cutest ideas. This isn't the greatest picture but she made Emma's outfit. Her pants were so fun!! She has an Etsy site called Babyegg Boutique if you want to check out any of her stuff.

Finley looks thrilled doesn't she??

And here is how the Santa picture turned out....

For as excited as Cole was to sit on Santa's lap, he acted pretty stoic once he actually got up there. Again, it was SO hard to get Finley to actually look at the camera because she is very fascinated with men, and his beard was VERY fascinating!!! :) But, at least neither of them are crying, woohoo! :)

Of course, as much fun as all the Christmas traditions are and everything that goes into the holidays, we feel it's extremely important for Cole to understand the meaning behind Christmas and the reason we celebrate this holiday. I'm so thankful that he goes to a Christian preschool because they really talk a lot about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. I absolutely love that he comes home from school so excited to show me his "baby Jesus".....or the other day he came up to me and said, "Mama, wook....it's baby James". Ha!!! I have to laugh!!

We have a very fun week coming up. We have a birthday party tonight, park playdate, baby Jesus birthday parties at school, mom's night out with some fun girls, Christmas pj's party, and Life group party....whew, I love this time of year!!!
We are also so excited because after Friday, Nick has 2 weeks off!! He so needs a break because he's been working 10-11 hour days, then coming home and working several hours after we all go to bed. Ugh...poor guy, didn't come to bed till 2am last night and got up at 6:00am. Not sure how he does it, but I can't do anything but admire him for all his hard work!!
Hope everyone has a great week!!!