Gymboree & Macy's Santaland

We got a Groupon for a month at the Gymboree that someone gave to us, so for the next few weeks, we get to take Baker.  He loves it but it makes me sad when I think how small he used to be when he first took this class at 11 mths old.  He's grown up so much but still loves this place!

His face in the distance is awesome.

Video of Baker dancing in his class.

Baker playing with the parachute.  As you can see, he loves it...a far cry from his reaction to it when he was in his first year.

We took him to Macy's to see the Santa there.  This makes about a 100 hundred times seeing Santa.  He's everywhere in Chicago and when you love him as much as Baker does, you have to see all of them!

"Writing" a letter to Santa...he wrote several.  Good thing though because for every letter written, a dollar is donated to the Make-a-Wish foundation.

So proud of his letter

Off it goes.

 

It was snowing when we left Macy's and Baker plopped right down and tried to make a snow angel right in front of Macy's!  Ha!  I don't have a pic of it though...it happened too fast.

Our First Snow in Chicago!

We got our first snow the first week in Dec and that was good timing since we bought a sled the weekend before.  We were fully prepared for the snow this year and Baker had all of the appropriate gear...snow pants, snow gloves, and snow boots!  If only Brad and I had the proper snow gear, we'd be set!  So we walked up 2 or 3 blocks to a hill over by our playground and went sledding in the middle of the city.  Baker really had the best time in the snow this year, esp the sledding!

Brad gives the hill a test run to make sure we were safe among the trees.

Then Baker and I took our turn.  He wanted to go back for more.

And back up the hill again.  

He even went sledding on his own!  I was a nervous wreck but he did SO good and loved every single second of it.

His smile was so big.  If you click on the picture you can see it bigger and just how happy it made him.  He was such a big boy.  Where did my little baby go?  Here's a little video of Baker's first run 

down the hill all by himself!

Then it was time to build a snowman.

Baker's 1st snow angel was so cute.  He didn't understand that he had to move his legs too...

So I tried to show him, only I look like a dead angel.  :)  Bad timing I guess to snap the picture!  Ha!

Going for a little sled ride.  

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Dec 1st is here and that means Christmas movies, 25 days of presents for Baker from Nina & Papa, and the advent calendar!

Watching Rudolph

Baker gets his day 1 gift from Nina & Papa!

What is it?  A manger scene magnet set!

He had to get a little play time in before we went off to school.  Not to mention it was snowing so beautifully out this morning.  It was the perfect start to Dec!

Opening the first box on our advent calendar.  I filled it with mini ornaments and a few chocolates here and there.  Each morning, he opens one up and if there is an ornament, he hangs it on his little tree.

Deck the Halls!

Our little place all decked out for Christmas!

Our elf on the shelf, Ike, was hiding in the tree!

Baker loves to go around and peek at all of the presents!

Ice Skating and Christkindle Market

I know I'm so behind on the blog.  I feel like I can't catch up with this thing anymore.  I sure hope people still read it!  Haha!  But I'll keep doing the best I can!  

We took Baker ice skating a few weeks ago.  He had been begging to go ever since it opened and seeing that we see it out of our window on a daily basis, it's a little hard to avoid.  Brad and I are sure aren't any good on the ice so imagine the two of us trying to keep Baker up...we looked like ridiculous but we had so much fun and Baker really enjoyed it!  We'll definitely do it again once the temps warm up but it doesn't get above freezing anymore so we won't be doing it anytime soon!

Getting on our skates

The smile says it all.

I'm just trying to stay afloat.  Notice my death grip on the rail!  Baker looks more stable than me.  :)

He screamed "I want break!" every few yards...lol.  Aren't these skates the cutest on his feet?

Nothing beats skating with this view. 

After skating, we walked over to the German Christkindle Market in Daley Plaza.  The aromas coming from this place is just too much to handle.  I could eat everything in sight!

After a look at the nativity, we had lunch at Roti.  How cute is he?

Holding up his gingerbread from the market.  I can't believe how much he likes it.