Saturday update

So, John''s parents were here this weekend, and we seemed to fill every blasted minute with something FUN.....thus the lack of blog posts from me the past two days.  oops.  Here is our Saturday update:

On Saturday we went up to Bellevue Square to see Santa Claus. We had a little wait, but it was fun to people watch, and it didn't take too long.  Emilio and Gabi know Santa isn't real, and I could tell Emilio didn't even want to engage much with Santa because he knew he was an impostor. The girls told Santa that they wanted garbage cans for their room for Christmas, and Santa only replied with a surprised and unbelieving, "0h!" He wasn't the friendliest Santa we've met.  It was a cute picture though. 

After seeing Santa, we walked around the mall for awhile, visiting the Sanrio shop, the Lego store, and Build a Bear too.  We were just window shopping, and wasting time before lunch.  The mall was very crowded, and we were trying to find out where the restaurant we were going to have lunch at was, and we started walking in the direction we were told.  All of a sudden, I realized Luci was NOT with us.  It was the scariest moment in my life to realize my sweet 2 year old was LOST in the crowded mall.  I started running back the direction we had come, scanning the crowd, looking for my little girl in her red dress, but only seeing a sea of RED, and screaming Luci's name.  I finally said out loud "Please Jesus, help me find her!"  Almost immediately, a woman said, "She's right over there." I looked to see my scared Luci holding an older woman's hand.  Luci and I burst into tears as we embraced, and she held onto me so tight and wouldn't let go.  The woman was so kind that had found her, and she said she had done great.  It was such a horrible 3-5 minutes while she was missing, and I'm still having nightmares about it.  Watch your children closely this holiday season, especially when you are in large groups, where it is natural to let down your guard a little and assume someone else has your child.  Again, it was such an awful moment, but I'm so thankful that God took good care of my Luci and that we found her.

It took some time to stop crying, and being upset over the experience, but we headed to lunch anyway over at Maggianos.  We enjoyed a 4 course Italian  meal altogether for several hours and it was very yummy.  We had a great time. 

That evening, once we were home, Grandma gave the kids a little pre present.  Jingle, the puppy from Hallmark and the coordinating books.  Jingle responds to certain words in the book, and the kids loved it.  They pretended as if Jingle was their pet, finding him a bed, a bowl with food and water, and toys.  it was very cute!!!

We also watched Santa Claus 3 together, and after putting the kids to bed, us adults played Hand and Foot!  It was a great evening.