Santa's Village in Santa Fe

On the second Saturday in December, we went on a grand adventure to Sante Fe via the train! We went with our friends Lauren, Belle, Channing and Savannah. Pierscen had never been on a train before, so we was beyond excited when we pulled up and he found out that's where we were doing. Our destination was Santa's Village, located right at the train depot. They had all sorts of games, crafts, and things to do for FREE. We love free. All we had to pay for was the train tickets.

The train ride was a resounding success. The kids found a spot to sit on the upper deck - if that's the right word. So we had a great view. 

And did I mention Ryan got to come along on this adventure?! Crazy, right? It was sad, but kind of funny, because leading up to this I had just recently sent Jen a bunch of pictures for the family calendar. I had the thought as I was trying to select the best ones, "Holy cow, I'm a single mother!" Ryan is in so few pictures with us - mostly because he is working on his Masters and has very little free time. It won't last forever though! I guess when Jen got the pictures she even sent Ryan a text saying that he needed to be in more pictures. Ha! Noted. We snapped this photo and sent it off to Jen. :)

The train ride lasted about an hour. The kids all did great. 

The first thing we did when we got there was head to the theater where they were showing some of the old classic Christmas movies. We watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the claymation one.) I don't think I've ever actually seen it. Boy, those reindeer - especially his dad - were NOT nice. 

Following the movie we hit up the other activities, or rather, Ryan, Pierscen and friends did. I stood in line for the face painting with Devry, who fell asleep in the stroller. I despise lines and normally there's no way I would have done it - but the face painting was pretty incredible and it was FREE. And this is the first time P has really expressed any interest in getting his face painted, so I figured I might as well. 

P did the book walk - like a cake walk, only the library system up there was getting rid of books they no longer wanted/used. 

P actually won twice. It was awesome! This atlas would be absolutely perfect for this little dude, but it is in Spanish... lol. Sure, we can figure out the gist of things, but it would have been really great if it was in English. Oh well!

As always, Pierscen was super excited to see the cast from Frozen. These are actually the same girls that we ran into at the Balloon Museum early in the spring. 

This one below the kids got to control a train. You can imagine how excited Pierscen was!

After over an hour in line, we finally made it to the face painting station. Pierscen chose a string of Christmas lights. Quite unique, and very cool. Devry, who I thought wouldn't care at all, suddenly felt she needed to get her face painting. We sat down, but the moment they tried she panicked. Ha. That's about how I thought it would go. That's okay. 

There were only two trains heading back south, and we opted to catch the earlier one... along with hundreds of other people. It was not quite as easy a ride back as it was on the way up because it was standing room only. 

The kids had a fabulous time. I'm not sure if I would do it again... I mean, I say that, but we do all sorts of crazy things for our kids. P definitely loved the train ride and it was great to get to do some free activities. It was a good experience and I'm glad we did it. I am exceptionally glad Ryan was there. I definitely wouldn't go without him!

I Just Have to Try

Here's one for the books: Another crazy Pierscen adventure. 

I still hadn't put the Christmas tree box away from upstairs. One morning, Pierscen decided he wanted to try and ride it down the stairs. I did NOT want him to do it for many reasons. First, I didn't want him hurt. Second, I didn't want any dents in the walls. Third, I didn't want the box destroyed. I gave him all these reasons and explained that most likely it wasn't going to go the way he thought it would. I said the likelihood of it gliding down the stairs was slim and he was far more likely to flip and tumble. His response?

"I just have to try!"

Of course you do, buddy. So we padded the base of the stairs with blankets and pillows, protecting him, the floor, and the wall. I stood there watching for a long time, attempting to record it. He would inch forward a tiny bit at a time, but he was pretty nervous too. My anxiety finally won and I told myself I just needed to walk away. 

I stood in the kitchen and tried to keep myself busy. Shortly thereafter...

Thud! Thud - thud- thud! "Woah!" Thud - thud - thud. A moment of silence followed by nervous laughter.

"I'm okay! I caught myself! That was MAGICAL! Jesus saved me!!!!"

I couldn't stop laughing!!! He had only made it down a few stairs before the box bucked him out. I thought this might have satisfied him, but what a silly thought that was!

Back up to the top he went. Once again, I wasn't able to get the real action on film. Only the last second worth of the tumble. I kept the video mostly because of the way Devry was laughing at him at the end. Totally my daughter. Hahaha!

One attempt got him bucked out. A second attempt had him tumbling. Third time was the charm. :)

After a true successful ride I was able to convince him to be done. No injury. No dents. And box mostly intact. I told Ryan all about it, though I had a difficult time getting through the story without laughing my head off. I am so grateful that he was not actually hurt. I am grateful for guardian angels, though I know we don't make their job very easy. I have a feeling we are in for a life time of "I just have try" moments. Love this crazy character. 

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Our tiny princess turned TWO on the last day Ryan was away.  He got home later that night, but since he was gone, we decided to go to IHOP for her birthday breakfast. Ryan doesn't love IHOP, so it was a perfect excuse to go!

Enjoy a crazy amount of pictures from our fun breakfast!

So much fun! And delicious. I had a free rooty tooty breakfast for signing up for the club. That's what Devry ate. Pierscen and I got chocolate peppermint pancakes. They were so good!

When we got home Devry opened her birthday gift from Grandma Ray-Ray. It was a fun Disney Princess interactive book collection. Both the kids were rather excited about it. ;) Thank you Rayola!

The rest of the day was pretty low key. Ryan got home later that evening. We did the rest of the celebrating the next morning. 

Donut breakfast. Yum!

Dev got some fun things for her birthday: Necklaces, which she uses just calls "Cute," her very own backpack, and a baby doll with feeding supplies and a bassinet. She was a happy little lady!

I loved watching her with her baby doll. She is such a natural sweet little mother. 

 Overall I would say Devry had a really great birthday. We love this little two year old with all our hearts. She is smart, funny, girly, sweet, sassy, nurturing, caring, and a joy to be around. She loves Pierscen SO much. One of my favorite things is that she called Pierscen "Brother" far more than she actually uses his name. "Good job, Brother!" Right now she tends to make everything plural - mommys, daddys, etc. It's cute. Her vocabulary is growing more and more every day. She recently taught herself to ride a scooter. She loves shoes and dressing up to look pretty. She loves to read, sing, and color. So thankful for this tiny little lady.