christmas parade

this afternoon we went to the local christmas parade. it wasn't really cold enough for madelyn's hat, but she really wanted to wear it. she even complained about being hot in the car on the short ride over to the parade route. mason was awake when we got there but since it was his prime napping time he conked out for a little bit.

i have been trying to get madelyn to write a letter to santa all week in preparation for the parade because the post office collects them and will send a response from the north pole. while we waited for the parade she finally agreed to write something for santa to bring her. when we would ask her what she wants for christmas she would say presents. what kind of presents? with bows on top. what do you want inside the presents? toys.

one of the coolest things - at least to matt and me - is the remax bus that throws an open flame (a la hot air balloon). it is neat to see and the warmth is incredible! especially on a cool night.

about half way through the parade madelyn crashed. i don't know how she could even think about sleeping with it being as noisy as it was with marching bands and honking horns less than a foot from our seats. she is her father's daughter.

while she was sleeping live reindeer came by and i thought that was really neat. there were three of them and the pictures here show the largest and the smallest. how cute are the itty bitty antlers on the young one?

i am definitely getting into the christmas spirit! it was too bad that madelyn missed most of it but we had a nice time. it was a great day to be outside.

saturday we went to run errands as a family in the morning and then madelyn and i went out by ourselves once mason was down for his afternoon nap. we went shopping for a christmas present for mason from madelyn. she is a very discerning shopper! she took her time to look at every single toy and when i would ask if she wanted to get something for mason she would think a minute and then reply, "um...not quite..." and there was no convincing her otherwise. once we had looked at all the toys she asked to go back and see one that was a maybe in the beginning before making her choice. i hope he likes it!

on saturday night we stayed after church to watch up! it was a very sweet movie, but not really a kids flick. madelyn asked to leave three times but would start watching again until the last time she asked to leave towards the end. it was not her attention span that was the problem either. madelyn has no trouble watching a full length movie. i think the only reason she was actually willing to leave was because she was tired. when i asked her if she liked the movie during the car ride home she said, "yes, it was real funny." not that she had laughed even once during the film. love.