Downtown Extravaganza!

Well it happened. On a whim yesterday, around 2pm, Ryan and I decided to try to make our downtown Christmas adventure happen. We knew that it might be the last chance we would get to do it since it's just supposed to get colder and snow again! Everyone was up for it, and by 4pm we were on our way! I'll sum up the experience with one word: BRRRRR! It was REALLY cold, but it was definitely worth it! We had to wait for 2 hours to see Santa, but people took turns leaving the line and shopping around to make it a little more bearable. Once it was our turn we realized why people wait so long to come here (Downtown Nordstrom) for there Santa photos. They're really fun and really take their time with you to be sure that you get the photo you waited for. They took a bunch of shots of Maizey until they got one with her smiling! She was pretty captivated with Santa! When we sat her on his lap she just stared at him and then started playing with his beard. We lucked out and got "diversity" Santa (that's what they called him), I knew they had a black Santa downtown, but I didn't know they had an Asian Santa too! Hooray!The photographer was so great and offered to take a photo of all of us with our camera! It was really great and it felt so good to have the whole family there (minus Aaron who had other things going on). I couldn't help but feel so happy for Maizey, what a lucky girl to be surrounded with such a strong community of people. We were the only group of people to have one child and 9 adults!
I can't believe how cold it is outside. I woke up this morning and we had NO COLD WATER! The pipes froze overnight! I never really realized how much you need cold water. Luckily they only froze on one side of the house, and by this afternoon they were all working again, but it's just a testament to how cold it is. It's cold outside, but inside is as warm and happy as ever. Maizey is starting to laugh a lot more now. I LOVE playing with her, when she gets laughing and silly it's seriously the most fun I've had in my life. I love that baby.
We went shopping tonight for Maizey. We took her with us, but she was asleep so she won't know that we bought her toys and not Santa. It was SO fun to pick them out! She's at the age where she can totally get into toys now, and it makes shopping for toys more fun than shopping for clothes--I never thought that would be possible! We got some good stuff and I can't stand having to wait to give it to her!
It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow and now that we've been to see Santa, I really hope we get a lot and I hope it sticks!
Here are A LOT of photos, the good ones are courtesy of Auntie Ricky! It's a hobby that we all benefit from...

Just heading to see Santa. Maizey was ALL bundled up to stay warm in the 20degree temps!Daddy and Maizey watching the snow at Pacific Place while Mommy froze her buns off in line!Cuddling in line. She came to join me after I got inside.Pure joy.She was such a trooper.Hamming it up in line for her new fans.Ditto.Getting ready for Santa!Behind the scenes.How sweet is this face???So cute!The whole gang, including Diversity Santa.Heading to get dinner. Here she is wearing her new shirt that Auntie bought her last night. All these pics are so cute, I couldn't just pick one. Ugh, I just want to eat her up!