Ridiculous.

Okay, I completely love my kids.  But today was one of those days that they made me want to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of the mall.  What could possibly cause all the stress and drama in my sweet, little ones you ask???  Three words:

Visit to Santa

My mom and I decided to take the three kiddos to Willow Bend Mall first thing this morning to avoid crazy lines on the weekends, since we had a feeling we may have our hands full.  I should've known we were in for a bumpy ride when I couldn't even get out of the house without a major breakdown from Tate.  I actually had the two little ones ready to go and he was moping around and dragging his feet because he couldn't find his juice cup to bring in the car with us (by the way, this is the story of his life... "Where's my juice cup!?"). 

Anyway, we finally make it to the mall and there were like three families in front of us in line for Santa.  Not too bad, I thought.  However, I was mistaken.  There was this whole "Polar" display with ice and snow and all these things to look at on your way to see Santa.  The people that worked there herded us from one section to the next, which seemed like it took forever.  Knox was RUNNING around the area like a crazy person, getting in the way of other people's photo opps and trying to crawl under the blue velvet ropes they had us behind.  It was at this point that Miss Brady decided to join the party by screaming in her stroller.  I took her out and held a binkie in her mouth (she's not too keen on binkies) to try to get her to calm down.

We finally ended up in the "on deck" circle to see the Man in Red.  Thank goodness!  But again, I was mistaken.  We were trapped in this dome full of pretty pictures of ice and snow.  A movie was playing about penguins and polar bears.  And in the very center, hanging from the ceiling was falling snow.  Not the real stuff, but the white flaky stuff that sticks to your clothes and in your hair.  The kids in front of us stood nicely, gently touching the "snow" as it fell.  My boys?  NO WAY!!!  They decided to run, dive, and wrestle in it the entire time we were stuck in that room.  They were literally COVERED in it by the time the velvet ropes were lifted.  And might I add, the workers were having trouble with their printer, so we got "extra time" in the snow!  Yay.  

Finally.  The moment we'd been waiting for... Tate crawled right up and sat next to Santa.  I handed Brady off and set her on Santa's right knee.  Then I grabbed a very unsure Knox and set him on his left knee.  Knox took one look at Santa and screamed his very high-pitched scream, while pointing at me (to help him).  I jumped out of the way so we could get a quick pic and of course the photographers were discussing the broken printers and were not quite ready.  Santa held on tight and after a couple quick clicks of the camera, we were done!!!  Thank goodness!

If that's not a prize-winning photograph, I don't know what is!!!

I thought the craziness was about over, but here's a quick run-down of the next hour:

Knox pushing and pulling on babies in the Play Area so he could get on the different structures easier.  Brady crying and me trying the get her a bottle ready with one hand (we've all done that before - UGH).  Buying pizza for lunch and Knox refusing to sit at our table.  Knox lying face down in the middle of the Food Court, screaming... not sure why.  Knox throwing a fork across the table.  Gathering up our uneaten lunches and leaving the mall.  Brady then deciding to scream all the way to the car.  Tate yelling about not being able to get his jacket zipped before we walked out the doors. Me on the verge of a breakdown.  

And that pretty much sums it up.  Wow.  What a morning!  Merry Christmas to me!!!

Love to y'all,
Tracy