Since we moved to Atlanta I have heard about the Santa at Phipps. Phipps is the most upscale shopping "mall" in Buckhead, which I will only frequent once I have won the lottery. It's purely for window shopping except a shop or two. They have a great Santa and the best part is that you make an appointment so there are no ridiculously long lines. Sign up is online and it starts in October. This year I was actually on the ball and signed up for our appointment.
Here's Maren having a serious conversation with Grammy about what she's going to say to Santa. If she said "I sit on Santa's lap!" one more time we were going to scream!
We got there about 2o minutes before our appointment time. That gave us a few minutes to write our wish list for Santa. As you can see below Will is sitting in the stroller writing his list. When we got to Phipps he quickly realized he was the only kid in his PJ's. While I thought it was a charming idea he thought it was ridiculous. So he was hiding out in the stroller (pouting) until it was time to see the Big Fellow.
Translation:
1. Lego Space Police
2. The Wii Game
3.Bakugan (however you spell those things)
4. Spy Glasses
5. Games
6. My other toys
Once we got in line we waited for about 15 minutes and then it was our turn. As I walked closer and closer to Santa I could feel Maren's grip get tighter and tighter. I knew what was coming...
So I look over at the photographer with this "what do you want me to do" face. He asks if I mind if she's crying the picture. I say to him,"I don't care if she's crying" and then I start to detach her from me. Can you see in this picture above that her legs are wrapped around my back?! Look at Will so patiently waiting for the drama to end. (That might be a theme for the rest of his life!)
Once I put her on Santa's lap I hurried off and her hands immediately went to her face as she started to cry. The photographer's assistant came over and moved her hands so Santa could hold them down.
Her eyes were squeezed so tightly closed she didn't even realize the photo was done and I was trying to pick her up!
As soon as I picked her up she calmed down.
Will finally had his moment to talk to Santa and read his list to him.
This is me trying to convince Maren to look at the video camera that was capturing this lovely moment!
Phipps offers to video the Santa experience (for a small price). Since Michael wasn't able to see this first hand I thought it would be nice to get the video. If you bring the DVD back each year they will add each Santa visit. It is really cute to hear the kids voices. Maren actually did calm down and tell Santa what she wanted.
The mall had really nice Christmas decorations so we took advantage of them and snapped some more pics of the kids. William had (kind of) forgotten about his embarrasment of being in his PJs too!
Will loves fountains and making wishes!
Maren & Grammy
A little brotherly love....you know this didn't end well....it never does!
I had brought a change of clothes for the kids suspecting Will would catch on that he was the only one in his jammies. I changed them and then found a cafe with sweets! It was a well deserved treat for two good sports!
Oh man, he's getting so silly!
When we got home that night we had another school project to work on. Here is our Mohawk indian all dressed and decorated...not bad!
So about a week later we got our Santa photo in the mail and here it is in all it's glory!
I LOVE IT!!!!
Merry Christmas
2009
Her teacher Miss Erin tells them to make their "butterflies" and then she comes around to ask what color their butterflies wings are today. Most of the time Maren has pink wings and every now and then she mixes in a little purple.
Nose to your toes!
As you can see I get a bit of a workout too. I actually enjoy a little Monday morning stretching.
This is an exercise she can't quite get down. She's only supposed to lift her chest off the group but her hiney always seems to be right up in the air!
This is her favorite exercise-- tip toes!
