Christmas countdowns

I am a huge fan of Christmas with a toddler. It has been so fun to watch Everett get excited about every new thing he is experiencing. The night we hung our stockings, he couldn't stop looking at them. Then, when we were getting him ready for bed, he ran back out to the front room. Dallin followed and as soon as he got there, Everett just pointed to the stockings and said, "Wooooow." He did a similar thing with the lights and asks for us to turn on the lights every day.

My favorite part of Christmas is our countdowns. Growing up, we always had two. The first one in the picture is a copy of one of the ones we used, made by my mom! Thanks, Mom! Mary and Joseph make their way to the Bethlehem, which is at the top. When they get there on Christmas day, you get to add baby Jesus. It's a cute way to remember the Christmas story every day.

Next to that countdown is my makeshift one. There are 24 squares, each of which has an activity for that day. It has included hanging up stockings, putting up lights, putting up our tree, drinking hot chocolate, eating cookies, and having a dance party to Christmas carols. I love doing a small Christmas activity every day. It makes the whole month that much more exciting! I'm glad Everett is so young, because some days we make up the countdown on the spot, often for things we have already done today. "Today is a pizza party! Because we ate pizza for dinner already!" I'm not super prepared, but hopefully as we continue this tradition it'll get easier. But, Christmas Eve is the exact same thing it always was for us growing up! Let's just hope I have his pajamas sewn in time.

Some favorites from November

Here is Everett splashing through the reflecting pool at the law school. Yes, he was fully clothed. It wasn't planned, but we went to meet Dallin at the end of the school day and Everett was so enthralled. So I took off his shoes so he could feel the water, and then he just went for it. Luckily it was a nice day, but his jeans ended up completely soaked. So we stripped him down and wrapped him in my sweater for the walk home. Dallin said that a bunch of people were watching him from the library. I hope it made some stressed-out law students smile.

The weather stayed nice for awhile, so we played at lots of parks. Everett figured out how to go down slides and loved it, even if his face looks a little concerned.

We went downtown with Dallin. I love weekends when we get Daddy all day, especially when we get to go explore. These are at Maggie Daley park, a favorite place. But we also went to the Lego store and ate at a delicious restaurant called Xoco with Rhett and Tanece. We were fans, especially of the hot chocolate and churros!

Stacking blocks...

...and groceries.

Our first Chicago snow! Everett in last year's winter clothes, which were too big then (and not necessary thanks to Utah's extremely mild winter) and too small now. We'll be more prepared for the next snow.

At first I was just going to take Everett outside briefly, but then we decided to bundle up and go explore. I love snow a lot more with a kid. It is much more exciting!

We need to work on our family selfies. They all end up like this.

The snow was perfect for snowmen, so Dallin took full advantage. Here is his snowman family and Everett wondering what is going on. I love how they perfectly show our abrupt transition from fall to winter.

Dallin is determined to get Everett to love Legos, so he is starting him off young. Everett loves this Star Wars ship, especially because it shoots "lasers" that knock over little Lego people.

These sum up my days. He is such a happy, fun kid.

This was right before bed. He wanted me to open the fridge and then pointed to these leftovers. I guess it was the perfect bedtime snack, because he ate a ton!

Not pictured: We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with lots of friends. There were 18 adults and six little ones! Our amazing friends hosted in their very spacious apartment that easily fit all of us. I made my first turkey and Dallin did an excellent job carving it. With everyone contributing, we had everything you could want for Thanksgiving. It was such a blast that I completely forgot to take pictures of anything!

October went by way too fast!

I wrote this in November and was too lazy to add pictures at the time. So here it is in December!

October was a fantastic month. Time is flying and I can barely keep up. Plus I've had cold after cold after cold, which makes it hard to get things done. But other than that, it's been great!

We started off with Dallin's birthday, which was a blast. I made him two cakes, a quick and easy coconut icebox cake for his actual birthday and a chocolate, peanut butter, Oreo cake for a party we had the next night. The frosting was not my favorite but it was still delicious! It was great spending time with friends and watching the kids run around and play together.

Everett and I went to Lincoln Park Zoo with lots of moms and kids from the ward. I love that there is a huge, free zoo here! Everett was a little scared of the monkeys. He just seemed unsure about the whole thing. I think he likes animals from afar, but looking through glass is just too up close and personal. Poor kid. We also went on his first carousel. He kept a very serious face the whole time. He's super observant with new things and takes a while to warm up. But he didn't get upset either so that counts as a win!

We've had beautiful weather and so we've been trying to take as much advantage of it before winter hits. That means lots of parks for Everett and me, while Dallin studies away in the library, all day, every day. Everett still loves going outside. He is so independent and likes to walk on his own or push the stroller instead of sitting in it. It's slow, but I love watching him explore out there.

The month ended with Halloween and a visit from Nathan and Adrienne and their kiddos! The kids were so cute in their Star Wars costumes and loved trick or treating. Everett kept signing "more" after someone gave him a piece of candy. Such a goof, it's not like he got to eat most of it. Everett adores his cousins. He even learned how to play lightsabers with Elliott and still makes the noise for them while he plays. I'm so glad he is finally old enough to play with them. We loved having family visit!