Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour

This freakin' fantastic (sarcasm) train was in Fargo for a day and I made the poor decision to take Sami to see it because it was advertised as "A fantastic-and totally free-family event for guests of all ages." Two freakin' fantastic hours later we finally made it to the entrance of the train. Maybe the two hours in line would have been less miserable if we weren't behind two women with at least six kids, most of whom were naughty - one especially, but I won't say who just in case you might know them. But seriously, put your kid on a leash. I'll go buy one for you. Actually, two. I think two leashes would be better. The Effen Train

The Carolers

...two hours later (1 hr 45 min in line; 15 minutes on the train). Ready to step off the train, but getting our picture taken by The-Little-Girl-On-The-Left's (TLGOTL) mommy. TLGOTL just popped into the picture with us, but she was really sweet, so we didn't mind.

You can't really tell, but there are four layers of line zig-zagging there.

hehe

Clever

This is a bowl of Lucky Charms, minus the marshmallows. My Sweet Pea knew that she had to finish her entire bowl of Lucky Charms before she could get a refill. While I was getting ready for the day, the little mastermind found an empty dish and used that to stash the leftovers (after she ate all the marshmallows) so that she could come and show me her empty bowl and therefore get more Lucky Charms. She got THREE refills before she brought me the bowl pictured above asking me to eat it so that she could have her empty dish back!

Big Girl!

We finally let go of Samantha's crib and got her a toddler bed. She LOVES it and goes to bed SO GOOD in it. She even got started on some tattoo sleeves. My baby is growing up too fast!

Bikes are out again!

Samantha finally got a trike!

Sami is admiring her daddy's new pipes and her daddy is admiring her sissy bar.

Hypocrite

So I'm changing into my 'play' clothes after work and Samantha is impatiently waiting for me pacing back and forth carrying her jacket. Finally, she comes into the room I'm in and, in a nutshell, tells me to hurry up, then drops her jacket on the floor right in front of me and continues pacing.

Me: Sami, are we supposed to just drop our clothes on the floor and walk away?
Sami: ??? confused look on her face before she decided the best answer was Yep!
Me: Nooo, we don't drop our clothes on the floor and walk away. Please pick it up...Thank you.

As I shut off the light and began walking out of the room, I noticed my 'work' clothes on the floor and realized that Samantha was probably doing the exact thing that I was when she tossed her jacket to the floor. No wonder her answer was "Yep!"

Kings Firecrackers!

I'm exhausted just from watching!

I didn't think it could happen to me...

I didn't think it would ever happen to my child. I thought that I could protect her from this; that I could keep her from ever seeing it so that she would never long for it. I thought I could keep her clean from this horrible addiction. I did everything that I could. She must have been exposed at daycare. As a matter of fact, she's singing "You love you, you love you, great big hug" right now - her lyrics. I think that I was contaminated as well, because when we were in Kansas, I bought a B*%#&@ video; I thought 'it's only $5, what's the harm?'. Obviously I was not in my right mind. Of the 53 (9 really) videos that I brought with us on the trip, Barney (there, I said it) was the one that she insisted on watching over and over and over. And over. And how convenient that the video has a 'Continuous Play' feature so that the torture just goes on and on without anyone having to do a thing. It also automatically starts if you don't push the 'Play' button. Please pray for us.

Sami's Reaction...

...after I told her we are starting our journey back to freezing Fargo today.