happy Monday! here we are in Christmas week, and I cannot believe it! were in the single digit countdown to Christmas and I am probably more excited than my kids.

we had a really fun whirlwind of a weekend and I documented with about 4700 pictures and I’m happy to say we checked off about half of our December bucket list in the last 48 hours 🙂 I’ll spare you with a marathon post and I’ve broken it down into a couple posts this Christmas week :: starting with SANTA!

for the last several years we have taken the kids to the Gaylord Texan to see Santa and walk through the ICE! exhibit.  if you are familiar with this hotel/resort you might know that it is an incredible place and even more so during the holidays. there is a lot to see and do, its almost overwhelming. it seems like they add more every year!  normally we just go to the Gaylord for the evening , see Santa and grab dinner before coming home, but this year we mixed it up a bit with a stay overnight.

Brady didn’t complain! we checked in early afternoon on Friday and once we got settled we headed down to decorate gingerbread before standing in line to meet the jolly old man in red. this hotel is so intricately decorated and they seem to never miss a detail.  there are trains running on a tracks throughout the entire place and this giant gingerbread house was my favorite part of it all.we hyped Baker up all week for our visit to see Santa.  the twins did OK last year so I knew this year they would do well, too, but Baker would have NOTHING to do with Santa last year. wouldn’t even let up the crib she had on my arms for me to attempt to sit her down.  to be honest, I thought for sure I wasn’t going to get her on his lap. over the course of the last week or so we’ve been talking non-stop about him and what she will ask for when she sees him and I didn’t even think about Brady not being impressed.. but he was the only one that cried, ha!

we snapped a few with a whining Brady and then let the girls tell them what they wished for. Baker was such a big girl.  I was holding back the tears (WHAT is wrong with me?!) as she held her little hands together and told him that she wanted a “dress up Minnie Mouse” doll.. which is what her sisters had been saying they were going to ask for and not the lalaloopsy doll she actually told me she wanted (and I already bought!)  and Parker.. pulling her hair behind her ears as she told him what she would like (dead). precious Jolie waited her turn as the other two put in their requests. when it was her turn Santa complimented how pretty her hair is to which she answered “I know“.  I love her. Santa was a huge success and I they totally got me when it came to selecting a few or ALL of the photos they took.after our visit with Santa the girls were on a magical high of excitement.. they saw the ‘real deal’ and would not stop talking about it! before heading out to dinner we had plans to visit the ICE! exhibit.  one thing to mention.. its freaking COLD.

9 degrees + about a million pounds of ice. it was fine for the first few minutes, but once the cold settled and our hands were numb the big girls started crying/complaining about the cold. Brady was fast asleep + toasty, bundled under my parka but the girls didn’t have a good time.  I’m bummed because two years ago they did well with it (we didn’t do it last year because I was pregnant) but we carried them through the entire thing.. this time they walked by themselves.even with two jackets, layered sweaters + pants under their dresses plus gloves + the parka they provide they still were not having fun. maybe we’ll wait a couple ore years before we bring them along again. we headed from there to eat Mexican food and warm up before heading back to our room for the night!

stay tuned for day II!