Fun-filled weekend
We had a very fun and very full weekend. Saturday afternoon four of Sarah cousins came over for a while. They range in age from 3 to 11. Whew! They proceeded to play with every toy in Sarah's room, run willy-nilly through the house and have super fun!

Saturday evening Sarah, Daddy and I went on the North Pole Express down in Calera at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. You board the train (about four cars together) and take about a 15 minute ride to the "North Pole." Snacks are provided (cookies and chocolate milk) and a lady read "Polar Express" over the intercom during the ride. Once you arrive at the "North Pole," Santa, Mrs. Claus and a couple of elves board the train. At this point every kid on the train is going bonkers! "SANTA! SANTA!" The jolly fat man makes his rounds to each car, taking pictures, hugging kids and signing copies of "Polar Express." Meanwhile, the kids are still going bananas! Sarah literally jumped into Mrs. Claus' arms! After Santa leaves, the train heads back to the depot and the lady on the intercom plays a guitar & sings carols. Santa's "elves" passed out jingle bells (that was loud - a million jingle bells ringing in your ears) and presents to all the kids. In all, it was about 2 hours of fun. Sarah had a great time with her friends from school! Maybe we can get Lauren and Eliot to go with us next year.

Sunday evening we invited Lauren and her parents for dinner (since we missed Lauren's birthday party Saturday night). The two girls got to sit at their very own table. They were so excited to be together that they didn't eat much. After taking at least a few bites they both got a piece of cake and took that downstairs to eat and watch "Sleeping Beauty." It wasn't long, however, before they came back upstairs to talk to us or tell on each other. Heheh, silly kids!