The One with Visiting Santa at the Santa Anita Mall

Chris is pretty much done with school for the semester so I want to make sure to do lots of fun things during the break. Today's event was seeing Santa Claus at what better place than the SANTA Anita Mall! I looked online and found out he'd be there at 10am so we left at 9:30am to be the first ones in line. Santa's workshop is set up outside - luckily it's a balmy 65 degrees today!

Right next to the entrance are water fountains which we discovered are filled with turtles!

I thought for sure Fox was going to fall in the water and he'd be a sopping wet mess in the photo. But miraculously he stayed dry and loved pointing at and watching the turtles and exclaiming, "TURTLES!  TURTLES!" Kinda makes me want to get him a pet turtle....

Waiting for Santa's Workshop to open...

At 10am sharp (way to be punctual!) Santa arrived and we went right in, took three pictures, and chose the best one.

Precious. I'm so happy it turned out and they didn't cry in typical "sitting on Santa's lap" fashion.

Like I like to do, here are all the pics with Santa we've got. 2010 - Fox was in the hospital with RSV and become one of those sad charity cases! 2011 - At the University Mall in Orem, UT. And 2012 at the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia, CA.

We took a few more photos outside because the holiday scenery is so pretty.


Thank you to the nice lady who offered to take our family picture. She said she understands always being the one taking the pictures and never being in them herself! I wonder if she scrapbooks too. We could be besties :)

Then we went into the mall to get our annual Wallace silver sleigh bell ornament (unfortunately no relation to Wallace Idaho, known for it's 125 years of silver production - that would have been ironic!). Fox wanted a car, natch.

We had a fun morning!
But then on a more sad and somber note - when we got home we found out about the school shootings in Connecticut. I've been glued to the TV ever since and am in shock. Numb. This entire thing is unimaginable and I hope the shooter is paying his dues in h-e-double hockey sticks. I can't imagine sending my kids off to school and then never seeing them alive again. I love Fox and Jane so much, I don't want this to ever happen to them. Homeschooling is sounding pretty good right about now. My thoughts and prayers and deepest condolences go out to all those affected by this horrible tragedy. I hope nothing like this ever happens ever again.

On a happier note - I'll always remember this as the saddest but also happiest day - Fox straight up said, "Love you!" to me! Chris was taking Joey and Fox out for a walk so we were all standing at the top of the stairs and Fox said, "Bye Mommy! Love you!"!!!!! That's the first time he's ever said that! And Chris was standing right there so he's my witness. It was the sweetest thing to hear today after such an awful day.