Day 340: Breakfast with Santa and Caleb's Sleepover

This morning Maddie woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Caleb was well behaved and in a great mood, but Maddie was not.  She was crying over multiple things, including eating.  She was picking fights over everything and crying at the drop of a hat.

The embassy arranged "Pancakes with Santa" so we stopped by to enjoy that for a little while.  Maddie had multiple fits over dresses, but we finally made her stick to one she has picked out.  She was not happy, even though it's one she decided to wear after we had already let her change.

When we arrived to the breakfast we went to the ornament station and made a reindeer ornament.  This ended up being Madison's favorite.  We then moved to the room where the kids could write a letter to Santa.  Caleb partook in this, and Maddie did not.  I asked Maddie if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap and she replied with a no.  She had no interest in being anywhere near Santa.  She doesn't see Santa very often in this country, so to be fair, it was all relatively new to her.  So, we opted for a family photo instead, and even though she wasn't a huge fan of that, she managed and we all survived.

We moved on to the dining area and enjoyed some pancakes.  Caleb covered his in chocolate and cool whip and Maddie wouldn't take a bite of hers with maple syrup.  Kids!  Instead, she ate a few oranges and talked to her friend from school once she saw her there.  These two little girls are precious and I cannot get enough of them together.  Anything one does, the other does.  It's too sweet.

Once we left, we were off to find a Christmas tree.  We settled on one and then headed home with it.  We immediately put it in water, and hopefully once it falls a little we can decorate it.  We got the house put together enough to welcome company later on. 

Caleb opted to host a few friends for a sleepover instead of having a birthday party for his 10th birthday.  He chose to have a few friends go to a play place and then sleepover for the night.  He is so excited to have people over and they seemed to have a good night overall.  

The boys started out by playing the Wii in the basement until all of the boys arrived.  Daniel then took them to a play area to burn some energy!  Once they returned, we enjoyed some pizza and they chugged tons of water.  Caleb opened gifts afterwards, and got some amazing new games and toys.  He was so excited with each item.  Then came the nerf gun fight.  Daniel had set up a few boxes and barriers in the garage and they all went out to have a good time.  Daniel joined them and they played for almost 2 hours.

They played hard, showered, and then cleaned their shoes for St. Nicholas.  In Poland (as well as other European countries) St. Nicholas comes the night of the 5th of December and leaves the kids small toys/fruit/books in the polished shoes.  If the kids are not well behaved, it's rumored that Krampus comes instead and beats the children until they behave again (I didn't share that story with the kids, just Daniel).  Interesting stories, nonetheless!  The boys have had such a great time and have been really good overall.

They received gifts from the play place. 

Be jealous folks - he's all mine. 

They're enjoying a movie at the moment and will hopefully go to bed soon.  Afterall, St. Nicholas must come only when the children are sleeping! 

Update: it's 12:25am and I've turned the tv off (all but Caleb wanted it off) so hopefully they'll pass out soon so this mama can do her "duties" and then go to bed. 

Goodnight all!