Kick!

Last weekend, we took Chloe to see Santa.  Last year's experience was such a fiasco at the mall (the dude didn't look like Santa, and it was a rip-off with being forced to buy their photo package... not to mention the screaming baby).  So, this year, we asked around and heard about a place here in Wichita called Prairie Pines.  It's a Christmas tree farm, and they have a cool set-up with Santa for photos.  The best part is that it's absolutely free, and you can take your own photos!

So, we picked up our friend Patti and went out for the big visit.  Leading up to the day, Chloe had been saying "ho ho!" every time she'd see santa on TV.  Still, I didn't have my hopes up that she'd actually sit on his lap.  Santa is a scary dude!  It's a good thing I had very low expectations.  When we got there, we quickly discovered that any dreams we might have had of an angelic photo on Santa's lap just weren't gonna happen.  She was mesmerized watching him from a distance, but as we took her nearer to him, she quickly decided she wanted no part of this Santa business.

These were the 2 photos we managed to get.  This was as close as she'd get to him.  LOL

The best part of the trip was the little shop where they had beautiful Christmas trees decorated with tons of ornaments for sale!  Being as we haven't really purchased many ornaments since we've been married, Jeff insisted that we pick up a few snowmen ornaments (my favorite!).  Chloe was totally into it, helping us choose just the right ones.  We ended up bringing 7 home, and it's been HARD to keep her from taking them off the tree.  We finally quit fighting it because she was just so mesmerized.  She wanted to hold them and look at them.  

This one is probably her favorite... she calls him "Kick."

She loves to hold him and move his little dangling feet and say "Kick!  Kick!"  (Her daddy taught HER to kick when she was just a couple of months old).  Sadly, Kick has a broken foot as of this writing.  She brought him to me a couple of days ago saying "uh oh!  uh oh!  shoe!"  His little foot snapped right off.  Jeff will be picking up some special glue asap so that we can have Kick back to his old self!

And finally, on the way home from the Santa visit, we stopped at Sam's club for some groceries.  Chloe was completely into the music as we waited in line at the checkout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT81_EOvKK4