Santa Claus Success!!!

I turned 26 on Wednesday... I told my mom all I wanted for my birthday was a successful Santa trip for Ryder. Of course she spoiled me beyond that, but the Santa part is what i'll remember for a long time :)I was convinced that after Ryder's failed attempt at seeing Santa a couple weeks before that their was no chance at success this time. The first time we hadn't even talked about Santa so it was kind of weird that we were asking him to sit on his lap. Since then we have had all kinds of Santa talk. We watch movies, sing songs, explain the present thing, how he needs to be good. LOTS of Santa talk around here. I have told him that he needed to tell Santa what he wanted if he thought he would get toys on Christmas.

Anyhow.. When we went to see Santa he was on break. I explained to Ryder that Santa would be back soon for us to see him, and Ryder started screaming to go bye-bye! I figured it was a lost cause. Somehow about half way though the mall Ally convinced him he wanted to see Santa. We jetted back to Santa (who was now off break). We only had to wait for two people in line, but my heart was literally racing at the thought of him changing his mind while these people took their pictures. I wanted to ask the people in front of us to let us go in front of them. They had a teeny tiny baby who wasn't going to change her mind in the next two minutes... however we did! We distracted Ryder with the "baby sister" in line in front of us. He was really interested in the baby. Once it was his turn he noticed Santa's hat. Ryder has loved wearing Santa hats lately and luckily my mom had suggested to bring it. I thought it was a really dumb idea since I thought i'd be lucky to even get the picture... let alone one with the hat on! Since he was so excited about the hat Santa had on we put his hat on him, and he was so excited to see Santa. I was staying in the background not really talking much to Ryder and letting Auntie Ally work her magic. I did whisper to Ally to make sure she pulled his jeans down when she put him on his lap (she has a tendency to somehow pull them up into short when she carries him). You'll notice in the picture that she did NOT do that... oh well. Ryder cheesed for his picture, told Santa he wanted a BIG monster truck, and even made a little more small talk. He really seemed to like the big guy! We have it all on video, but it's too long to load. Just trust me that it was adorable :)

And... the best $26 I spend on one photo every year....

Ryder and Santa

Christmas 2010

SUCCESSS

And when we got home that night Landon's stocking had arrived :)