Toddy Poo's Birthday

Last Saturday Derek, Baby J & I went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my brother Todd's Birthday. It was so fun!! We spent a good while feasting on the delicious cuisine of...

 TUCANO's! Ohhhh yummy. I'm so grateful that my mom had my brother 23 years ago! Then after dinner, I was sneaky and talked Kiki into wanting to see Santa. You see, Lindsay & Steve were trying to leave to go home & down at the RiverWoods mall they have a big outdoor stage area that Kiki was playing in. So I told her to come talk to me. When she did, I pointed out Santa to her & asked if she wanted to go see him. Of course she said YES! Poor Lindsay looked at me like she was going to kill me. Oh well! So we start traipsing through the outdoor part of the mall to see Santa. When we got there (a whole 100 feet away), there was one family in front of us. Not bad at all! Kiki didn't know the rules that you have to wait your turn. She went straight up to Santa and said, "HI Santa!" That mom was a little annoyed. I wanted to say, "Get over it lady, she's 3." But I held my tongue since my sister was there & she's her mom.. haha. After a couple minutes of waiting it was our turn. Kiki and Chase jumped up on Santa's lap and talked to him. Baby J got to sit by Santa in his car seat (which worked perfect for this mom). I think Kiki was a little confused that Santa was at Tucano's because last year she thought Santa lived at Carmax (Lindsay's work).

I think it's going to be a tradition that each year we will go see Santa. And take pictures. I can't wait until Baby J is old enough to get into the Christmas spirit!!! It will be so much fun! I have decided I want to focus mostly on Christ & teaching my kids about charity & giving to others, not to be focused on how much "junk" they get each year. It's an admirable goal, right?
Later that night after we got home, we all snuggled up on the couch. This is what I had snuggling with me on my lap...

 Aren't they just so cute? Me & mini me (since Baby J looks just like his dad). LOVE IT!