Zoo Lights!

Mommy and Daddy took Jack to the zoo to see the Zoo Lights and it was a big hit. Jack doesn't quite get Christmas yet but he sure does like all the lights. When we are in the car and he sees a house all decorated for Christmas, he points out the window and repeatedly says "Wow wow wow" Thats exactly what he did when we got to the zoo too!

The whole zoo was lit up and every tree was covered.

The whole family posed in front of the giant snowman.

To say that it was cold outside would be a vast understatement. Mommy and Daddy were absolutely frozen and couldn't wait to leave but Jack didn't seem fazed at all. He was as happy as could be despite the fact that his face was almost frostbitten!

After the zoo we went to dinner and Jack had his first Jello experience!

Roscoe Village Winterfest

Our new neighborhood hosted its annual Winterfest last weekend and we had a blast. It was especially Christmassy because there was a foot of snow on the ground!!! There were all kinds of fun activities and of course COOKIES! Jack took full advantage of his frosted sugar cookie...
There was a very nice couple making balloon animals and they made Jack a Rudolph hat. Jack liked wearing it but he thought it was even better when Daddy wore it!

There were even horse drawn carriage rides.

Jack loved the horses but we think it was because he thought they were GIANT dogs!

Bubble wrap is soooo fun!

When Mommy and Daddy weren't looking last night, Jack snagged the giant roll of bubble wrap left over from the move and proceeded to wrap up the entire living room. By the time Mommy and Daddy realized what he was doing, he had twice wrapped the couch and end table and was in the middle of wrapping himself.
How could he not be so proud of himself???

Its that time of year...

Well, its official. Winter has come to Chicago! We had our first big snow fall of the season (8 inches!!!) so we decided to take Jack out to experience all the cold white goodness. Let me just say, Jack LOVED it! When he first saw the whole street covered in snow and the snowflakes slowly falling, all he could do was say "Wow wow wow" over and over. It was so cute!
As some of you already know, Milo's favorite thing in the whole world is fresh snow. He runs as fast as his little legs will carry him and dives head first into snow banks. Here he is in mid run!
Daddy snapped this picture of Mommy and Jack playing in the snow. Right after this picture, Jack gave Mommy "eskimo" kisses. Very appropriate!

That Scary Man with the Beard and Red Suit...

When our family was in town for Thanksgiving, we took Jack and Chyann to Macy's on State Street to visit with Santa. The adventure started out great! Jack loved the maze leading up to Santa's house. It had all kinds of cool activities and Santa flew across the sky! Things drastically changed, however, when we actually got to Santa. At first Jack just looked around, kind of skeptically, but the second we sat him on Santa's lap all heck broke loose! He cried harder than he has ever cried before! Poor Chyann just looked around like she was in the twilight zone. Finally Mommy and Aunt Tricia had to sit on Santa's lap with Jack and Chyann just to get a decent picture! For the rest of the day Jack cried whenever he saw a Santa and Daddy was scared we had ruined Christmas for Jack for the rest of his life!!

Fun with Food!

Jack loves pasta, can you tell?

Picking out a Christmas tree

The cold weather has arrived in Chicago, which made it extra exciting to pick out a Christmas tree. At the Christmas tree lot, there were reindeer made out of tree trimmings that were bigger than Jack and Chyann!

"A little ditty, 'bout Jack and Chyann"

Jack's Uncle Dwayne, Aunt Tricia, and cousin Chyann came to visit this past weekend and Jack absolutely loved having Chyann to play with. Even though she is almost 4 years old, the two of them got along like 2 peas in a pod. They shared Jack's leather chair while watching "Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas" and Chyann made sure not to let Jack fall off.

They also had a great time playing peek a boo behind the table.

And their favorite hiding/playing place was under the table in the kitchen.

We Moved!!!

We know! We know! We've been bad bloggers! But, we have a good excuse. We moved!!! The past few weeks have been super crazy but we are finally in our new house, and we even hosted Thanksgiving! Jack thought moving was by far the coolest thing Mommy and Daddy have ever done. Anytime we tried to pack a box, Jack would take everything out and climb inside!

Jack has also discovered a love for climbing (and jumping) so the boxes provided the perfect places to climb.
Also, as the furniture was emptied out, Jack crawled inside.

Very Sad News

I know that Jack's blog is usually a place of happiness and fun, but today I am asking all of you to say a prayer for a friend of mine. Jayne, a very good friend and sorority sister of mine, was murdered on Friday in her home in Charlottesville. It is such a tragic and sad loss and we are all completely devastated. Please, please say a prayer for Jayne and her family during this extremely difficult time.

A Trip to the Field Museum

The Field Museum has this great new kids exhibit called the Crown Family Play Lab. This place is really amazing! It has a forest to discover creatures and dress up as animals. Jack really liked the turtle costume. Jack and his friend Ben thought this place was so cool!

The exhibit also has a corn field where the little ones can pick corn right off the stalk and put it in their baskets!

After picking his corn, Jack took it into the pueblo and had so much fun putting in and taking it out of the baskets and pottery.

Although we didn't get pictures of it, Jack, Maggie and Ben also played instruments like African drums in the sound proof music room and created beautiful pieces of art in the art lab. We are definitely going back to the play lab this winter!!!

Dog Park

Jack's love of dogs has grown immensely. He can spot a dog a mile away and immediately starts saying "doggy, doggy, hi". He has also started to bark but it comes out more like "ugh ugh". Because Jack is so obsessed with dogs, we walk him to the dog park by our house. Its called "Wiggley Field" (get it? Wiggley...Wrigley!) and he just watches so intently. In fact, sometimes he cries when we leave. The other day Mommy had to get Jack out of the house because the cleaning guy was cleaning the apartment and Jack wanted to play with his brooms and mops, thus making the cleaning process VERY slow! Jack watched the big dogs run all over the park chasing balls and playing with each other. A few of them even came over to say hi!
The trip to the dog park proved to be exhausting because Jack fell asleep on the way home. Notice his hand still stuck in his snack trap!!!

Hey, Look What I Can Do!!!

This morning Jack discovered something else he didn't know he could do before. While Mommy and Daddy were making breakfast, Jack was playing with his toys. All of sudden we heard him say "Hi" and we turned around to find him inside his fire engine! Jack's fire engine is NOT very big. It is meant to hold his blocks but he somehow maneuvered himself inside of it and his little legs just barely fit. He was so proud of himself that he tried to jump up and down while inside the fire engine but it was such a snug fit that he just sat down!

Halloween Costume Party and Playgroup

Yesterday was Jack's Halloween Costume Party and Playgroup. The little ones were so cute in their costumes and it looked like a zoo with all the different animals (dragon, giraffe, floppy bunny, butterfly, and of course Yoda).

Watching DoodleBops

Jack rarely sits down long enough to read a book or watch television but every once in a while he climbs inside his inner tube to watch DoodleBops or Backyardigans (mostly because both of them have signing and dancing in them). In order to get super comfy, he decided to pull his socks off !

Halloween Party at the Zoo

On Saturday we went to Lincoln Park Zoo's Halloween Spooktacular and Jack wore his Halloween costume. He is a dragon :)


At first Jack really liked his costume and wanted us to take his picture (he actually loves to get his picture taken and tries to say "cheese")
After a few minutes, though, he didn't like the hat any more and wanted to run around without it!

A Visit from the Grandparents

Jack's Grandpa Ed and Grandma Pam came to visit this weekend and Jack had so much fun! Of course they spoiled him rotten and when they left Jack cried :( They must have used some magic on Jack because they somehow managed to get him to sit still on the couch for longer than 10 seconds!

Learned a New Trick!

Jack discovered last week that he could remove his clothing whenever he wants. For some reason, this gave him great pleasure and made him VERY excited!

Pumpkin Patch

Here is our little "Jack"-o-lantern!Yesterday was our big adventure to Indiana to go to County Line Orchard. Mommy and Daddy have gone to this pumpkin patch for the past 5 years and were so excited to take Jack back this year. Look at how different Jack looks from one year ago!

This year Jack was big enough to ride the "Moo Choo" with Mommy and he LOVED it! We rode around the farm and through the apple orchards.

County Line Orchard also has an awesome kids farm and Jack was so amazed by all of the animals. He thought the goats were pretty interesting until one of them tried to eat oats out his hand. For some reason that made him cry :(

Jack thought the rooster was fascinating and kept wanting to stick his fingers inside the chicken coop.

Daddy and Jack "drove" the big tractor, which Jack thought was so cool!

The kids farm also had "Peter the Pumpkin-Eating Dinosaur".

Mommy and Daddy were so excited for Jack to pick out his pumpkin. First he got a picture with his face inside a pumpkin. Then Mommy and Daddy let him loose to pick out a pumpkin. He was soooo excited and immediately picked up the perfect pumpkin! He was not interested in any other ones and just carried his new "toy" around the pumpkin patch.

When we got home, Jack was still so excited about his pumpkin. He put it inside a box and then crawled inside with it!

After dinner, Jack got a special treat...an apple cider donut!!