Visit with Santa!

We've been delaying this ordeal for a couple weeks now after remembering what it was like the past few years. Since Christmas is on Sunday, we figured we better get it done already! We gathered the babies up after getting them dressed in their new Christmas-y outfits and got in the car. Everyone was happy and laughing - phew! Step 1 complete! We got to the mall and did a test drive of our -new to us- stroller. The kids thought it was tons of fun. Step 2 complete! We headed over to Santa and of course he was "out feeding his reindeer". No! The same thing happened last year. So we decided to go grab a bite to eat. This was traveling in dangerous territory...food and new shiny clothes...ahem. Michael only spilled a little bit of soda on his outfit, but nothing that was noticeable. Step 3 complete! We headed back to Santa and there was already a line forming and he wasn't even back yet. So we stood in line for about 20 minutes. Michael just sat in the stroller patiently but Rory was getting impatient and trying to run off into the stores. I chased her around a bit. She was about done with the whole idea. Finally, it was our turn. We decided to ask Santa to stand behind the chair like he did last year and try and have the kids sit on the chair alone. FAIL! Rory was scared out of her mind and would not sit down. She was hopping around, screaming and turning her butt toward the camera. Michael was being so sweet, trying to calm Rory down. After a few seconds of this crazy, we decided to have Santa try and sit on the chair and hold Rory down. Michael did AWESOME and let Santa come sit next to him without any protest. After a few screaming shots, we took Rory off of his lap. Michael then sat on Santa's lap! Santa started asking him if he liked Thomas the Train and of course this perked Michael up and he actually SPOKE to Santa! Then they both got peppermint suckers and were happy as clams after that. :) Michael did SO amazing and I was not expecting that at all. I'm so proud of him!