This Week

Almost a week ago was my birthday and we celebrated for several days!  On the day, I got to open cute socks and a bobbin winder (super needed!!) and heard some of my family sing to me.  Aaron made a cake and let the kids lick the bowl.  The totally loved that!

On Sunday Aaron's family came over for dinner, cake and presents for me.  It was nice since a couple family members hadn't been to our house yet AND it was clean. :)  I got a couple kid-friendly table cloths, a new blow dryer (!! :D), a new set of containers, bread and cake pans, and a candle.  I felt very loved with everyone there!

Yesterday, the kids and I braved the nearest mall to accomplish that day's advent activity: visiting Santa.  The line wasn't long, but those photographers don't budge an inch, so I tried to get all three kids together.  Carson was nothing-doing.  The girls, on the other hand, loved visiting with St Nick and evidently want a robot (Evie) and a monkey (Lizzie).  Um...okay.

By far, the most exciting thing at the mall was this neat interactive floor screen near the food court.  It was projected from above, but these few tiles were pressure-sensitive.  It changed pictures every couple of minutes, but you could 'kick' marshmallows into cocoa, chase snowflakes, help holiday characters down a ski slope, and do a puzzle.  Not bad, I thought.  And it kept them occupied and active for a solid 10 minutes.  (It would have kept them longer, but I didn't want them to hog the fun from other kids.)  Because of this one activity, the mall wasn't the nightmare I was dreading, being alone with them.  It was actually pretty fun!

My personal favorite, though, was parking right by the entrance. :)