The Santa Update

So...Easton had a nice long nap, woke up in a great mood and I got him in his Santa-visiting clothes. We even looked online at a few pictures of kids sitting on Santa laps to prepare. He tried putting on his fancy shoes himself:

I don't know what this face is about:

And just before we left:


Then we were off to the mall! We got there a little early to do some shopping and to take a peek at Santa and the kids. Easton didn't get to see Santa too much just yet as some lady kept talking to him about his cute socks and his amazing eyelashes. So, we continued to shop until we felt it was time to go get in line. Well, wouldn't you know it? Santa was on break for another half hour. Sooooo, Easton and I grabbed a caramel apple and plopped down at the head of the line to wait for Santa and Daddy whilst we enjoyed our apple.

"Ho hum...How long does it take Santa to feed the reindeer?"

Daddy showed up before long and then SANTA!!! Easton seemed happy to see the jolly ol' fella walking by and he was smiling as we peeked at him through the trees of the backdrop. However, once it came time to plop him on Santa's lap he got very nervous. He didn't cry exactly (you've seen kids do a whole lot worse before) but he did kind of reach for us and kept saying, "Mama mama" while the photographer snapped off a few shots. I took one too:

That's not the "official" photograph though. I still need to "scan" (take a picture of it with our camera) the one they took and I'll share it later. When I've shown it to Easton he makes the funniest face--almost like he's embarassed but a little proud. Mostly embarassed. Oh well. I think it went about how Jason predicted it would go. He's so wise.

After Santa we walked over to California Pizza Kitchen for some dinner. We hadn't been there before and I love trying new places. A local (yet unknown) "celebrity" sat next to us. It was this guy (he looks pretty good for being 106, no?)...not quite like the time Easton got to see Marie Osmond but E checked him out nonetheless, probably because he was so darn tall (being the minor league basketball player he is):

The only reason we knew he played for the 14ers is because Jason saw him whip out some fancy ID to get a discount. One time I saw one of the guys from the Broncos using a coupon at breakfast. Now that's just sad but I guess many of us like to save where we can, even if we do have the income of a professional football player.

We got Easton in bed late because I "needed" to have dessert and we were at the mall kind of late. We put him in those same warm fleecie jammies (if he doesn't get breakfast on his p.j.'s or spend the whole livelong day in them we often recycle the jams from night to night). Anyway, thinking he'd be hot again I left off the blanket when I put him down. Once I left his room we heard him call, "Buh kah?" (blanket) so I put it on him. He doesn't stay under the blanket all night, he usually does for his naps though. I just thought it was cute that he asked for it. It wasn't long ago that he was terrified of a blanket in his crib...remember?

Because he went to bed late he got up quite early this morning. Before J left. Oh well...he's been in a fine mood. Easton and I puttered around the house for a short while before heading up to Boulder for my gestational diabetes test and they also checked for anemia while I was there. My blood sugar came back quite low (NOT diabetic) so that's good and the hemoglobin and hematocrit both came back a tiny bit low, actually, but I doubt the doctor will suggest anything for that. My numbers are pretty normal for our altitude and this stage in pregnancy so I'm not worried.

When we got back, guess what I did: I called the cops on our darned neighbor dogs. Last night Jason found this on our city's website: "Barking Dogs. It shall be unlawful for any person to own, keep, or have in his possession or harbor any dog which, without provocation, by frequent or habitual howling, barking, or otherwise, shall cause annoyance or disturbance to any persons." I left a message with a "code enforcement officer" and we'll see if she calls back. Right as Easton was in bed last night Blackie started up. 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted barking. Seriously. It continued on and off for an entire hour and a half! There was not one light on in the neighbor's house so I don't think they were home to know, but my goodness! That's insane. Plus they woke me up around 6 ish almost every weekday morning last week. Ugh! It was briefly better (SO much better) after Jason went over there that one morning at 5:30 but it's been crazy lately sometimes. And, they leave those poor dogs out in the very very cold snowy weather all day. They're just very bad pet owners. I understand it can be hard to care for dogs, that's why we don't have or want one.

Okay, well...that's all from my end. Gotta go work on the next batch of Christmas cards while Easton naps. See ya!