The annual NCL Pajama Breakfast with Santa was a few weeks ago. They had a story teller and Drew was riveted. Harrison laughed whenever Drew laughed. It was hilarious. He would be sure to laugh longer and louder. The boys opted out of sitting on Santas lap this year which was fine with me because we had already done it twice and we were at the end of the line. Harrison found two boys wearing Toy Story pajamas and wouldn't leave them alone. One was "Woody" and the other was "Buzz". He ran after them yelling "WOOWY"...."BUUH".
Drew brought home this yummy project from preschool. The parents were asked to bring in the candy and silly me signed up for mini candy canes and gum drops. Well, the catch is that everything has to be peanut free. School rules (eventhough NO ONE in the class has an allergy). Looked high and low for peanut free gum drops to no avail. So I am sure the first thing you noticed about this gingerbread house was that there are no gum drops. The face Drew is making in this picture is his scheming face, he is trying to figure out how to get me to eat some more of it.
Last weekend we went to Portland Maine to take the kids to the Polar Express. I was looking into going on the North Conway Polar Express, but found that you have to enter a lottery to get tickets. Also the ride is about 5 hours. So I found this one in Portland and everything worked out great. We stayed at a great hotel right on the water, where we happened to be upgraded to a suite with adjoining room for the kids! Sometimes room mishaps work out in your favor, I guess. Downtown Portland was great with a lot of nice shopping (not that I did any) and restaurants. I would love to go back in the summer.
The train ride was at 6:30 which was pushing bedtime for Harrison, but he hung on and really enjoyed the ride. The train traveled down a track along the water. It played songs from the movie and had a narration of the story over the speaker. People came on the train in white coats with trays of hot chocolate and bags of cookies. Once we got to the North Pole, Santa got on the train and walked through the cars saying hello to all of the childeren while and elf handed out bells. It was really a nice time.
The only hiccup was that I may have killed the magic a little. Drew really thought we were going to the same place that the kids in the movie went, so I told him on the ride to Maine that we might not get all of the way to the North Pole because that would be a really long ride. I didn't want him to be dissapointed. Drew doesn't really like surprises and I knew if we didn't wind up where he anticipated he would be upset. He was fine and it didn't bother him, but a little girl sat across from him and said excitedly, "we are going to the North Pole!" Drew said, "nope, that is too far to go". When the train came to the end of the line there was a sign that said North Pole and prop houses. Drew yells out to the whole train car "thats not the real North Pole, those are pretend houses!" He said it a few times before I could get him to pipe down. There were several glares from mothers directed at me.
The next day we drove to Freeport and went to LLBean which is much bigger than I remember. It is now a campus instead of one building. They had ice sculptures and tons of Christmas decorations. I didn't get much Christmas shopping done, but I did finally get them snow boots...just in time.
It was a small trip but we had a ton fun and it was so nice to spend a whole weekend doing family stuff and getting away from the Holiday madness for just a little while.
The Holiday Sing Along at Drews school was last Monday. The kids practiced a song and got up on the stage and performed for the families. Afterwards, the kids had snacks and a few different project stations where they made crafts. Drew sang the song and rang his bell with enthusiasm. We were so proud! 
This weekend was the offical beginning of the holiday celebrations. It started with our friends annual Yankee Swap. We had some much needed adult time! Sunday we decorated our Christmas tree and went to Norfolks Santa Parade and tree lighting. We found out if Harrison likes Santa....the verdict was NOPE!!
