White Christmas in Dallas

We haven't seen any snow in Chicago all winter and what happens when we go to Dallas - WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!

Before the snow hit we did have some awesome warm weather.  Perfect for long walks, trips to the park and riding on the Gator.  Will had a ball playing with his Uncle Jeff and Aunt Ashley.  We hadn't seen them in so long because they had been in Cali so it was a blast spending the week with them.  The real hit was their dog Cali!  Will followed that poor little dog around 24 hours a day.  Screaming "Cali Cali - where are you" - she was a patient little dog.

Will was also SUPER spoiled by his Grandmommy.  So many new gifts, yummy treats and fun toys.  He had a ball!  So glad we could make the trip - 32 weeks pregnant and all :)

Going for a wild ride on the Gators

Studying for the boards with Uncle Jeff

Santa brought MM's!!!

This picture just cracks me up - Will and Daddy

Pope Family - Christmas 2012 (complete with the stomach flu)

Cho Cho!!!

Make shift snow clothes!  But Fun Fun Fun!

White Christmas!

Reading with Grandmommy

Lots of Popes

Guys Weekend - Mommy meets Baby Liam

While Mommy was snuggling this sweet thing...

Little 2 week old snuggle bug

PERFECTION!  Love this little guy so much

The boys were hitting the town...

Hanging out at the fishy museum

Dinner date at Crosbys Kitchen

Party Breakfast

I think those pictures pretty much sum up my little wild man!!

SANTA - thanks for the cho cho's

We kind of did Santa backwards.  Santa brought Will the Cho Cho table and then we went to see him.  We had Will bring a train to show Santa and thank him :)  It all probably went right over his head but the whole Santa experience was magical.  So much excitement and the Santa was so sweet to Will.  Big hugs, high fives and the cutest little doggy at the end.  A great family night!!

Waiting in line for "my turn"

Santa this is my cho cho train.

So sweet

New puppy from Santa

Early Christmas Morning

We had a very busy December.  I went out to Boston to see baby Liam and we headed to Texas for Christmas so we decided to give Will his big Christmas gift a little early.  The night before "Christmas Morning" Jason and I tackled putting together the table and train set.  We actually had so much fun doing it.  We went step by step and by the end were so into it.  Setting up the track was the best part.  Ok wait no - scratch that - waking up the next morning was the best part.  We were just as excited as Will.  We started out the morning saying we had a surprise for him and wrapped one Cho Cho train.  He probably would have been happy with just that :)

Then I went into the other room and Jason brought Will into the room.  He wasn't too sure what to think at first but ever since we gave him the table it has been NON STOP cho cho trains!!

Within seconds he picked up the trains and got to work!

Happy BOY!!!  I think it was about 5:50am here :)

3rd Trimester

Poor baby #2 is really getting such little air time but figure better late then never.  Here is the bump - 29 weeks with big brother being his wacky little self!

Yes I totally gave him an MM for taking a picture :)  Worth it!

Jingle Bells...Twinkle Lights...

As soon as we got home from our Thanksgiving in Connecticut we kicked off the Christmas Season.  It was 24/7 talks of twinkle lights and jingle bells.  Literally - that is all Will has talked about for the whole month of December.  This Christmas Season was probably the best I have ever had - toddlers make everything a million times more fun!  Here is a run down of all the Christmas things we did all over the city!

First up - Zoo lights.  We went one Friday night - Jason was home early from work, early dinner and off we went not really knowing what to expect.  Will had insisted we bring his Radio Flyer car in our car but actually it ended up being a great idea!  Between pushing the car and riding in it we went all over the zoo amazed by the lights and sounds.  It was a blast.

Ready to ride through the zoo in style

There were 5 songs that played in coordination with flashing lights - we looped through the songs at least 3 or 4 times

Feeling to cool to ride in the car - pushing was much more fun!

No trip is complete without spotting a "mama and the baby"

Loving the carousal ride - Will picked the "kitty" to ride on

Next up was decorating our Christmas tree.  We quickly learned a few things:

1.  Will was going to be SUPER into the Christmas Tree

2.  Every glass bulb was not going to be able to hung where he could reach them

3.  He was going to need kid friendly ordainments to hang

Gently adding decorations

Gave up on the breakable ones and adding the kid friendly ones :)

Top of the tree for adults, bottom for kids

Wills runway of lights!  Big hit

Kid friendly creation from Aunt Em's last year decorations

It was a very very Cho Cho Christmas.  We went out to the burbs to check out the Holiday Cho Cho display at the Botanical Gardens.  It took about 45 mins to get there - which is probably one of the longer drives Will has ever been on - but it was a beautiful day and were so glad we went.  The actual exhibit was smaller then we expected but Will managed to stay in there for an hour or so.  His reaction in the pictures really say it all!

Everything was just so exciting

The whole display was pretty amazing!