Wrapping presents and Visiting Santa

I finally got some presents wrapped last night.  Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with wrapping presents?  I love picking out wrapping paper, ribbon, and making or buying cute tags. I love the way our presents look under the tree.  But, I don’t really like the mess it makes and the time it takes to actually wrap.  Anyone with me on this? 

But, we had one excited boy this morning when he noticed presents under the tree!

 

This morning we got up and got ready to go pay Santa a visit.  I thought Hayden looked super cute and I couldn’t resist the urge for a picture by the tree before we go.  Except, Hayden didn’t really care to get his picture taken by the tree because he looked so stinkin’ cute.  I don’t know what I stress so much about getting a cute picture, but I can’t help it. 

Now wouldn’t this be so cute if he was looking at me and maybe smiling too?  Stinker!

 Made it to Bass Pro.  Had to do a little walking around and calming of nerves before visiting Santa.  I didn’t get a picture, but Hayden was obsessed with the train set they had going there.  I wish I had a $1 for every time he said “Look at the trains” while we were there!  :-)

After our experience the first year, we have decided that visiting Santa at Bass Pro is easy with no lines and it is free! 

Hayden didn’t cry.  But, I don’t think he was in love with Santa.  He just wanted to get down! 

Last Year

First year

I know, it is still painful for me to see his pants all hiked up and no socks on.  I know.  Bad Mom!  Ha!  I think after waiting for 4 hours to see Santa the first year, I didn’t really care at that point.  Just wanted it done! 

We had to do a little target shooting while we were there today.  Hayden gave it a “shot”, but I think Jeff and I had more fun.  Not sure how they ended up with the pink gun.   Ha!

Overall, I would say no tears = successful trip to see Santa!

We did it!

I am happy to report that we were successful in making Pioneer Woman’s famous homemade cinnamon rolls.  Do you know who the Pioneer Woman is?  If not, you must check out her site!  Especially her cooking site.  I am hoping Santa brings her cookbook to me for Christmas!   

So, back to the cinnamon rolls.  All I can say is they are TO.DIE.FOR!  I have wanted to make them for quite some time.  But, finding time or making time for them was the trick. 

We made the dough last night and stuck it in the fridge.  It takes about 2 hours to make the dough so we decided to finish them this morning.

 

Roll out the dough…

LOTS of butter, sugar, and cinnamon!  The second batch was a little more messy than the first.  Marla suggested melting the butter and adding the sugar to the butter before pouring it onto the dough.  It worked great and even though this picture looks messy, I can’t imagine what it would be like if we didn’t do that.  Thanks Marla!

Let them rise a bit before sticking them in the oven…(It made 8 pans!)

The final product…

   

PURE yummyness!  I think I could have eaten the whole pan.  But, I have only eaten 3 today.  But who is counting?

After making our cinnamon rolls, we headed to Bass Pro so Hayden could talk with Santa!  Time was running out and we wanted to make sure that Santa knew everything he was wishing for this year. 

Waiting our turn…

We waited less than 10 minutes.  (MUCH less than last year!) I have to admit I was quite nervous.  I had no idea how Hayden would react to Santa.  It didn’t help that pretty much every kid in line in front of us cried when they saw Santa.  Poor Santa…I hope he doesn’t take it personally! 

Here goes…

Having a little chat…

Success!

I think the Santa scenery at Bass Pro is beautiful.  The wait (or lack there of) was wonderful!  You get a free 4x6 picture.  And, the boys in our family love them some Bass Pro!  I do wish the picture was a little more close up, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons in our book!

After our picture, we had to explore a bit.  We actually walked out of there not spending a dime. 

Checking things out…

Loving on his Daddy…

After our visit to BPS, we went to Primos next door for a yummy lunch.  We had not eaten there before and we loved it!  We will definitely be going back!

And for fun…Check out last year’s picture.  Our baby boy isn’t a “baby” any more! 

Ho, Ho, Ho!

We did it! We braved the craziness at North Park and took the kids to see Santa! When Jennifer's mom got there at 10:00 this morning, we were #122 for the day! And Santa didn't even start taking pictures until 11:30AM. And...this was a Monday morning! So they told us that we would get in between 2:30 and 5:30 PM. Well, we finally got to take our picture around 3:30. But, we made the most of our time there and had lots of fun!

Here are some pictures from our day!

When Jennifer and I got there with the boys, we met up with Jennifer's mom and Landree at story time with Santa.



The boys loved story time...can't you tell?


Mommy and Hayden




While we waited, we did a little shopping. What else are you going to do for 5 hours at North Park? Well, this is what Hayden did while I tried on some clothes...tried to turn around and stand up in the stroller!



Then, another favorite thing...to eat! We decided on P.F. Changs. YUMMY!!



We were so excited that my friend Stacey and her 5 week old, Cooper, were able to join us for lunch!



Then, what we were all waiting for...SANTA!






Hayden was exhausted after our long day waiting to visit Santa! He fell asleep in the truck before we got out of the parking lot.



We had a great day!