December iPhone Dump

Apparently I take a million pictures in December, so here we go!

December 1st brought airplane the elf back to us and Fox was very excited to see him.

I was highly motivated to make this the best elf season yet, but somehow I dropped the ball by day 4 or so and went the lazy route. Some mornings I even had to distract Fox because I realized that I forgot to move the damn thing and I had to sneak I'm to a different spot.

His favorite snack...pretzels with hummus. In his hair and all...

We went to the trampoline park with some friends. In the past, Finn was easily contained in the toddler area, but he learned how to open the gate and he is all about escaping these days and exploring the big kid areas.

And then there's big brother, who loves to play in the toddler section.

My little cheeseball

It was a tough match between the Elf on the Shelf and the grinch. Based on his smile, I assume the elf won.

He thinks he is hiding and no one can see him.

Fox's first Kindergarten field trip, to the Botanical Garden!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the Hot cocoa walk with friends!

They have a small parade with Santa and the grinch!

Where did Finn go?

He never liked to get his face painted until about a year ago, and now he is so proud whenever he does. It's very hard to convince him that we have to wash it off at the end of the night though.

I'll always be grateful for my friends...it takes a village!

It's just such a cute town square and it always reminds me of the show "Gilmore Girls".

Obviously this was before I dropped the ball...Fox was a big fan!

We celebrated "Nikolaus" (a german tradition) on December 6th.

Finn and I have been going to baby gym twice a week and it's been so fun. It's at our neighborhood gymnastics place and it's free until they are 18 months old. 

Christmas just makes us happy!

One Saturday afternoon we met some friends at an outdoor Christmas event where they had some snow and sledding for the kids, among other things.

Finn was not a fan!

All of the big boys!

Petting zoos are Finn's jam!

We had dinner at Corinne's house and then walked in the rain to a Christmas house in her neighborhood. We could've driven there, the walk was about 15 minutes each way, but the boys loved our walk in the rain.

This might have been the last day I documented the dang elf. Finn was really into him this year too, funny enough one of his first words was "Elf".

Morning snuggles

Every morning that I have to pick up the boys at Katie's house, we arrive way too early at school (but she has to go to work, which is why I have to get them early), so we usually sit in the car for 40 minutes a few times a week before school starts. Most mornings it's a shit show, with fighting, screaming and destroying my car.

And some mornings they get along just fine in the car. But honestly, that's rare.

I took a little solo trip visiting a friend in Michigan in December. I can't even tell you how amazing it is to sit in an airplane without any kids to entertain...it's been many years since I've done that!

We took a little road trip to Chicago where we spent a few nights, and we made sure to stop in Indiana and have lunch, just so I could cross that state off my list...ha!

This was the view from the hotel room, I loved it so much! Chicago is my favorite US city and I was glad I had a chance to go back.

We went to a german Christmas market and it was super authentic and made me really giddy and happy. They even had a supermarket set up and I wanted to buy everything.

All of this is chocolate...isn't that cool?

Of course you'll have to drink some Gluehwein while there!

We shopped, ate german food and I had the best time ever!

The next day we went to Navy Pier and walked around the city for a few hours, but it was FREEZING cold and I started to feel sick, so we went back to the hotel in the afternoon to take a glorious nap!

I felt like my body must have been in shock from the cold. 

While I had a lot of fun on my trip, it's always good to come home to my boys. I get to see them almost every day and the days I don't (even if it's just two days), I miss them terribly.

Fox had a "Jingle Run" at school, so Finn and I went to support him and ran laps with him (well, I ran for a minute or so and then I walked and let him circle me multiple times because I couldn't keep up!).

When you're the first born, your mom will take a picture of every single milestone that you hit. Like your first X-rays. Normal, right?

It was actually the coolest X-ray I have ever seen, because underneath his regular teeth, you could see all of his permanent teeth as well.

I actually didn't think he would do this without throwing a fit, but he did great! Don't ask about the exam or cleaning though...

This is real life right here! I made dinner and neither of them wanted to eat it, so they both threw a giant fit and cried about it. I think Finn probably mostly cried because Fox was crying, but it was funny nonetheless. 

I didn't know it then, but this was his very last nap in the baby carrier. It broke shortly after, so that's the end of baby carrying for me. Someone hand me a tissue please!

It was Pajama Day at Fox's school and the parents were allowed to come for their holiday celebration. Apparently no one else got the memo, but I was the ONLY adult that wore pajamas, not even the teacher did! Lame, right?

When you randomly run into your BFF at your photographer's house and wear the same PJ's, you just have to snap at pic!

The calm before the storm. I always host a cookie and gift exchange for my girls and it was an absolute blast.

One of my friends hosted an ugly Christmas sweater party and I was worried that Fox wouldn't want to wear his, but he loved it. Although he did point out that it shouldn't be called  an "ugly" sweater party, because our sweaters were not ugly and why would anyone want to wear an ugly sweater?

Katie's sister had a baby and you know I love me some baby cuddles!

My favorite Christmas movie is Home alone. I've been trying to convince Fox to watch it with  me, but he always refused. When my friend told me that her daughter (same age) loved it, I decided to just put it on. Of course he immediately said "I don't want to watch this" so I said that he doesn't have to and that I was going to watch it. It only took five minutes until he was fully emerged into the movie and based on this picture I think it's safe to say that he loved it.

Some DIY Christmas plates that we made from the boys for their grandparents and Katie.

Making ornaments with his friend

Uncle Robert came to visit...I think they love each other...ha!

On this day, the boys met their first cousin for the very first time, baby Beckett! 

Look how giant my baby looks compared to him!

This is what my heaven looks like!

Fox was so sweet to him, this photo is not staged at all, he just kept cuddling on him and kissing him.

This was one of the first times that the boys' grandparents came over to my house since the divorce and it felt so good to spend some time with them and on some level feel like part of a family again.

And then there's this amazing family of mine...some of my friends! We met for dinner followed by a visit to see the Christmas lights at the train park.

The kids played train in the restaurant and they had such a great time together.

On the train to see the lights!

Check out Finn's face! He did not want to take a picture! Poor guy!

We ended this amazing month with a visit to the Medieval Tournament. I left Finn with his grandma and it was so great to have some one on one time with my big kid.

Before the Show, they did a Knight's training class for the kids and it was so cute.

The boys really enjoyed the Show and Fox was very excited that I caught him a rose that one of the knights threw into the audience.

The last day of 2019...Open Play at Gymboree with friends!