Breakfast With Santa

We recently spent a morning hanging with the big guy himself, Santa. Peyton, Adah, and Sam's preschool offers a great program where the kids get to go and have breakfast, Christmas crafts, and some one on one time with Santa. I was especially psyched about this event because it meant we didn't have to lug four dressed-up kids to the mall to wait in line for hours to see Santa for all of ten seconds. Any activity that requires minimal waiting and/or no standing still is golden in my book.

We got to see Santa almost immediately upon our arrival. Here is the only picture I got with all four kiddos and St. Nick (without any adults having to be in the picture to strap Luke down hold Luke). I even used the 19-month-wiggly-toddler shutter speed on my camera and this was the only one I managed to snap.

After that Luke was off picking the poinsettia leaves off of all the plants while P, A, and S  visited with Santa. They told him what they wanted (how I wish their wish lists would stay this short as they get older!) and got some special instructions on what to do on Christmas Eve. Santa told Peyton to leave him some cookies ...

Side note: I love how Sam looks totally beyond bored in this picture while Adah is all, "What you talkin' about Santa?! I'M the one who leaves the cookies in THIS house!"

Sam was asked to leave Santa some milk and Adah is supposed to leave a carrot for Rudolph. I'm not a carrot lover so we need to make sure we pick some up before the 24th.

Santa also gave all of them one of his sleigh bells. They have been ringing them nonstop since then. Thank you Santa.

After visiting Santa, we made some reindeer food. For those of you without children under the age of 8, reindeer food consists of equal parts dry oatmeal, sugar, and sprinkles (or "jimmies" for you northerners out there). You then spread the food on your lawn on Christmas Eve so Santa's reindeer can see it sparkle in the moonlight. They get to eat while Santa leaves the gifts and eats your cookies. It's a win-win situation all around.

The girls measuring out their oatmeal ...

Sam carefully putting his food into a bag ...

Luke waiting patiently. He was actually really into this and stopped moving for about six seconds ...

We ended with listening to a reading of the Polar Express. The girls sat patiently through the whole story. Luke was off running the halls - two second attention spans and stories do not mix. Sam did well at the beginning, but then the wiggles started to take hold of him as well. The evidence is in the pictures.

Two minutes in ...

Four minutes in ...

Five minutes in ...

And yes, he is sticking his tongue out at me.

After all was said and done, we had a great morning. The kids are anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival, along with the triplets' birthday (in 6 days!), over the next couple of weeks. I'm surprised they can even sleep at night with so much excitement! Until then, I'm hoping I can get some sleep before the 24th because I have a feeling that four children plus toys equals one loooooong night for Mr. and Mrs. Clifford-Claus ...