A week with Aunt Denise

My sister is a freshman at the best University in the world (aka, Iowa State) and she was done early with her finals this year. She spent the rest of the week with us and it was a lot of fun. I hope she realizes how much I appreciated having her here; she was big help and it was nice just to have some extra noise in the house.



Michael has graduated from calling her : Aun-niece (Aunt + Denise) to a very pronounced Dah-NieCE. It was so cute and he called her name the whole time she was here. I think she is right at the top of his list of favorite people which is very prestigious to be on. :o)



I had a busy week and it was so nice to have an extra helper around. We visited Santa at the mall and it was a great experience. I had gotten my hair cut the day earlier while Michael was at daycare so we scoped out the situation and knew exactly what time Santa was getting there so we could avoid the lines and crowds.

I was so happy to have Denise with me so she could man my child while I could take photos of the whole thing. I couldn't really imagine how it would work taking him by myself and I'm glad it worked out this way. We prepped Michael in the car on the way there and he did fantastic.



Do you want to guess what he asked Santa for?

More choo-choos.

We ask him about a hundred times a day what Santa is going to bring him and he never falters in his answer, it is always more choo-choos. The kid is sticking to his guns. Hopefully Santa doesn't let him down....I have a feeling he won't.

:o)

Denise also really hit it off with the main Elf working and she said next year she is going to be the Elf at the mall. I am totally holding her to this!

Denise was also a big help watching Michael while I hosted my small group bible study at my house, went to a doctor's appointment, while I did chores around the house, and even watched Michael while Scott and I went on a very special (overnight!) date downtown.

We also did a small cookie making adventure in which Michael was only mildly interested in (thankfully).

His main goal was to get as many sprinkles on the cookies as possible. I only let him decorate one pan of cookies so the rest were edible and no one suffered from sprinkle overload.

It was a great week and I'm so glad I got to spend some time with sister. She is a pretty awesome aunt and I'm glad she is in my life. Thanks, Denise!