Merry Christmas!

Friday morning Miss Zo was all fired up (as usual). This seems to be normal for her...chit chatty and all that. She declared "tomorrow I'm going to go see Santa".  All season she's been reluctant to go see Santa. We've suggested it a few times and she's not been interested. Nope. So we figured it was best not to push it. We aren't going to force it on the child!
  So when she said she wanted to see him I thought 1)This is like wearing the skeleton pajamas the day AFTER Halloween. Not sure what the 'thing' is, but ok 2) It's getting a bit late to go see Santa. So I told her "Santa's going to be busy getting ready for Christmas honey, we can't go see him".

Stop.

Drop.

Cry.

Not a whining cry, but devastated "what am I going to do if I don't go see Santa?" She said she wanted to have her picture taken with Santa....it broke my heart. So....Friday night we made the trek to Maplewood Mall to see Santa. Did we wait in line an hour? Yes. Was the little girl happy? Yes.

I...

...pee in pools.

Ah.

Dora...

...the booger explorer.

Courtesy of Dick's Last Resort at the Mall of America.

We dined out with Grandpa Mike, Aunt Shannon, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jared.

Time to...

Camp out in the kitchen.

I got a kick out of watching you try to shake the blanket straight. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake some more. Does it ever get to a perfect place where you can lay it down in one nice flat blanket? No. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake your booty. 

Then take a rest. This was a good hour of fun, totally without direction by me. 

Pretend play is good. And as your dad said, you two mimic to learn.

This morning Zo declared she wanted a mop. And a fridge. And a vacuum.  Then she mumbled something about what she'd do with all these fantastic items.  Yeah, I took note of the calendar. One WEEK before Christmas. Ahem. She also told me she wanted lipstick and Grandpa Mike came thru on that one when he visited last weekend - Miss Zo got a hair care set. Hairbrush, dryer, flat iron, plastic LIPSTICK. Score. I was thinking the kiddie kind of chapstick, but this was much better. 

We need a little christmas

Kermit, our living room.

As we decorate, bake cookies or just tool around town, I always put on the Christmas radio station. You have your favorites. Last week you heard "We Need a Little Christmas" and informed me that the Muppets sing this song. Apparently Dad's had the Muppet Family Christmas on for you. Last night I finally heard it too. And when I see that special I realize that this is one I watched with your uncle Andy when he was little - probably about you age.  And we can't wait until the new movie comes out on dvd/blu ray! Odd as it is, it's more affordable to wait for it to buy AND it's a lot easier to watch it at home with you. Wander all you like.

Socks

She insisted they be all the way up and OVER her pants.

I did not appreciate this home-made ornament from my youth until I saw this. I love the way the light shines thru. 

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks (or make it appreciate the small things).

What did she say?

Your Dad thought "why not start the decorating with some toys we've got sitting around the house?"  

Not a bad idea.

When Daddy  placed Jesse carefully on the tree, balanced nicely on a branch she said

"Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln!"

No kidding. 

What?

You don't top your tree with "the Christmas bat"?

And your elf on the shelf doesn't visit him when he returns from his nightly visit/ report to Santa?

  I guess you're missing out.

Who seems to find the elf first when I'm home for that new morning ritual?

Zo.

Aunt Shannon gave you both  the Elf on the Shelf book and elf. He's a mover and a shaker, I tell you. He likes to sit all over the living room when he gets back from the North Pole...

in with the movies? Sure.

It's always fun to see where he'll end up ;)

Merry Christmas from our neighbors to the north

Or maybe just to our east, in a trainyard in NE Mpls.

We were going to go last year, but there was a blizzard. 

This year I saw an article in the Strib about a stop in Cottage Grove. I thought I'd check to see if there were other stops. Yeppers. Imagine out luck: just 10 minutes or so away from home.

We got there just in time for the music.  

A stage folded down from one of the train cars and out came a band. Awesome. 

Run, Rudolph, Run!

 (Roman: I like that song!)

We thought we'd check out the lights just past the stage, so we missed most of the show. 

That was okay.

Although no one was really in top form. A little tired, methinks.

But it was cool.

And it helps it wasn't a huge effort to go. This makes for less expectation. There's got to be an equation there. Distance traveled is proportionate to how much it should "wow" you.

Apparently this wowed your Dad.

zoo time

Score! 2 free zoo passes at the library when I went to drop off books on Tuesday. 

I got the leopard sharks in focus. We did spend some time trying to pet one of these (no, actually you weren't interested in touching the shark...but the bat ray, that's up your alley). It always feels wrong to be able to touch them, but when a volunteer came over and asked if we had touched one yet I figured we better give it a try. The rays had been splashing around the tank. Kind of fun to watch, and especially when the place is vacant. Wednesday morning in early December: good time to go to the zoo.

Fish viewing with a pal, 

or 

all alone...

Makes no difference. That seahorse is still going to look like a leafy plant! How amazing.

The tide pool causes some running (although the starfish that becomes visible as the waves recede is pretty cool to you).

And Nemo's friends too.

Last time we were here the penguin exhibit was new. And there were a gazillion kids.

Not today.

You got to see them swim up close. I even got some video of you chasing them back and forth. They knew you were there.

Even the little guys out of the water were pretty cool.

But the bird show, that was the best! The zoo's got a new indoor theater where they can do the show during the winter.  This was cool. We had a couple go over our heads (and I think one of them touched my head!). There's one bird  that is a regular - Coconut. You guys remembered this and later in the day Zoe would amuse me to no end. She'd stick her arm straight out like she was carrying Coconut around. When she got tired she'd carefully set him in the stroller.  Little girl!

La tortuga.

Zoe: "He looks like a skunk"

Everytime we've been to the zoo this West African dwarf crocodile always looks like a statue. More than once I've thought that it's not real. This time I poked my head way up to the glass. Since he was so close I could see him really well. He didn't move, but his eye did something funky. Then I saw him breath. He's real. 

Zoe wouldn't go near him.

I got her to stand next to the sign, reluctantly. We had an experience earlier this summer with an alligator. I don't recall if I shared the story here, but I will tell it again. I think you might remember this one. Something about fear tends to stick with us.

Your grandma Candy, Roman and I went to the Mall of America a few months back. At one point we stopped in front of the Rainforest Cafe. The place is all decked out like a....rainforest. The entrance to the gift shop has a little pond with a fiberglass alligator in it. You two were interested. As were a bunch of kids who were sitting there watching it. Well, much to Zoe's surprise he opened up his mouth. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Loudest little girl scream you'd ever hear.

Big Tears

Fight or flight?

Flight, 100%

So Zoe doesn't care for crocodiles or alligators. Or snakes. That's another experience I think you'll remember from this year. Short version: we went to the pet store and the moment I said "ew! Look at the snake" little Miss Zoe stepped on a piece of hard plastic. FREAKED HER OUT. We had to leave and when we got to the car she made me take off her shoes. 

Flamingos? They made Zoe stand on one leg. Didn't catch it on film, but it's true. :)

Time to decorate the tree!

And boy oh boy was this exciting. "What's this?" Well actually this time around there wasn't a lot of "what's this" but more "I have a little Santa". You're getting pretty adept with your language skills. 

I was rather impressed at your decorating abilities as well. You got those ornaments up there good.

We had some elves. I think there's now a book out about the elf on a shelf, but I got these 10 years ago or so at a store who's name I can't remember on Grand Ave. I have this memory of these at my house when I was really little. So when I saw them at Restoration Hardware (there it is!), I bought a couple. 

You just have to have some nostalgic pieces.

Like these skates. I probably made them. We used to make ornaments (and maybe you will too!)

And this snowman. 1981. That's 3o years ago (oh my!)

And the new. Princess Zoe.

And Conductor Roman.

Gotta have George. I think I got this before I even met your dad.

And there's just something about two toddlers decorating a tree. 

Those ornaments just tend to bunch themselves at the bottom third or so. 

Awesome.