Cookie Exchange & Gingerbread

On Saturday, Phil went with our friend Ben to pick up gifts that needed to be delivered for Santa Claus Girls. While they were waiting in a long line of volunteers, the boys helped me set up for my annual cookie exchange. Phil, Ben, and Baby Charlie came and picked up Will and Alex right around 9:30am. They went around on the route to deliver the gifts while I did some finishing touches on the brunch. My girlfriends arrived around 10 and we spent a lovely few hours. Some of the hits from the exchange: candy cane snowballs, brown butter chai spice snickerdoodles, and orange cranberry drops. Yum!

On Saturday afternoon, Will and I decorated a small gingerbread house. It was so much fun. We started off with me applying the frosting and Will would place all the candy. By the end, he took over frosting duty as well. Then we went up to PF Changs to celebrate my mom's birthday.

On Sunday, Alex and I ran some errands while Phil and Will went bowling. Will actually got 2 strikes (bumper bowling) and numerous spares. He was pretty excited!

Santa

On Tuesday night, we took the boys to the botanical gardens to see Santa. We took their lists along and waited in a relatively fast moving line. Will climbed right up and hopped onto Santa's lap. Alex was less excited. We snapped a couple photos of the two of them and then let Will sit alone with Santa and go through his list. Then we went inside to look at the "Trees from Around the World" and the trains.

Alex is quite the walker now. He still likes to finger walk (I think he can go faster that way) but he regularly takes off walking and and cover pretty large distances without falling.

Alex was not super happy

Serious Conversation

Watching the trains

Checking out all the trees

Happy Hanukkah!

Grann came over this weekend to celebrate Hanukkah. On Friday night, we went up to Big Bob's for pizza. Despite a bit of a wait (it was packed!) we had a very nice dinner. Alex even had a little pizza. On Saturday morning, we played at home for a bit and then took the kids to the mall. We got a few errands taken care of and the boys were able to play on the breakfast food and the escalators.

After their afternoon naps, we started the Hanukkah festivities. The boys had a lot of fun opening their gifts. They received a lot of really nice things! Will loved his jumping stick (video below) and he also got tickets to go see Disney on Ice in March. He also got a drill set, a really cool personalized miner's helmet, books, and a lot of Hanukkah things. Alex got a backpack filled with Duplo kits, a block puzzle, his own Taggie, books, a parachute, and lots of Hanukkah things. After gifts, we had a delicious dinner thanks to Grann!

Another exciting event from today - Alex started walking! He had taken a few steps (4-5) a few times already but today he did a solid 10 steps on a few occasions. He is very proud of himself and we are proud of him!

So many gifts!

Alex tried to open them before it was time...



We're going to Disney on Ice!
(Doesn't he look like Fievel?)

So curious!

Personalized Miner's Helmet from Aunt Maran and Uncle Josh

Some Alex Videos

Impromptu Meeting with Santa

We had an impromptu meeting with Santa yesterday. We stopped at Breton Village to see the train display and Santa happened to be there having "office hours." We are planning to take the boys to see Santa at the Gardens next week but Will wanted to say hi. He sat on his lap and told him he wanted a skateboard and a yo-yo (he has been very consistent with these two items). Alex also sat on his lap without complaint. I told Will we were going to go see him again next week and would bring along his actual list. Hopefully he doesn't notice a change in appearance!

Checking out the big guy

My Kind of Town

This weekend, we took Will to Chicago for a special holiday trip. We left early Friday morning and got to the city around 10am Chicago time. We parked at North/Clybourn and took the El to our hotel. Will really enjoyed his first Chicago train ride! We were able to check into the hotel right away and then made our way to Water Tower for lunch.  Then we let Will ride all the elevators as we wandered around Water Tower.  We did a little shopping on Michigan Ave but then Will wanted to go back to the hotel to rest for a bit. 

After a short nap, we went back out and walked down to Millennium park to see the Bean and the skating rink.  Then we went to Macy's and put our name in for an early dinner at the Walnut Room so we could eat by the big Christmas tree.  Will had fun riding all the escalators in Macy's.  Dinner by the tree was a lot of fun and 3 fairy princesses came by to talk to Will.  On the way home we looked at the window decorations and then did a 30 minute horse and carriage ride. 

On Saturday morning, we took the Metro to the Museum of Science and Industry.  Will loved it - he said it was his favorite part of the trip.  They had a holiday display as well as a Peanuts exhibit.  Will loves all the Charlie Brown movies so he really enjoyed it.  He also liked all the trains, airplanes, and weather exhibits.  The kids' area was also a big hit since it involved lots of water play!  We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the museum and Will probably would have stayed longer but it was time for lunch.  We took the train back to Millennium Park and grabbed lunch and frozen yogurt.  Then we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit.  After a quick nap, we took the train to Lincoln Park and walked down to the zoo for "Zoo Lights."  Will liked the "dancing" lights.  It was really fun to see!

On Sunday, we walked down to the lake for just a little bit before taking the train back to our car.  Will was asleep before we passed the Skyway. 

He seemed to have a really good time.  It was nice to have some one on one time with him.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching Alex! 

Outside the Lego Store

Under the El

Outside Macy's

Walnut Room

Skating Rink at Millennium Park

Museum of Science and Industry

Will and Charlie

Outside Snoopy's Doghouse

Will and the Gang

Farmer Will

Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree

Much bigger tree

Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights

11 Months Old!

Alex is 11 months old today. I can't believe we will be celebrating his first birthday in a month! Here are some milestones from the past month:

- Alex continues to cruise around using furniture, toys, and walls to hold him up
- He can stand unassisted for up to 10 seconds at a time
- He loves to climb and has found ways to get up onto our couches
- He went to his first Gymboree class
- He has 4 teeth but it looks like a 5th is about to break through
- He ate his first grilled cheese sandwich (cut into tiny bites of course)

As you can see, he doesn't want to sit still for long!