Merry Christmas 2014!!

The Gilliam Family had an amazing Holiday season this year. Zander is older now and was starting to understand Santa and Christmas. He got really excited about Santa bringing presents. He loved decorating the house and got into the holiday spirit by wearing a necklace he made at daycare everyday (he asked for his necklace as soon as we entered his room in the morning!). We were lucky the December weather had been pretty mild and we got to enjoy some activities around the city including a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo Lights and riding the Santa "L" train. We started a family tradition by celebrating as a family on the Sunday before Christmas by having a pajama morning with a holiday breakfast and exchanging presents. Zander was very excited to get a train set that he played with for hours that morning. We then went to Wisconsin to spend Christmas eve and Christmas with the Ranum family and some friends followed by a trip to Iowa over the weekend to see Zeb's family and our many friends. It was an eventful and wonderful holiday. We're looking forward to our 2015!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Zoo Lights

Decorating the Christmas tree and showing off his cool necklace

His favorite gift this year was the train set (he LOVES trains!)

 

Leaving Santa his cookies and beer (Wisconsin Santa drinks beer instead of milk....of course!)

Great Grandpa Kruser was giving Zander some carpentry tips

The Santa Train

Lucky Number 8

Zander has been learning to count and we have found he loves the number 8! It comes out at least 3 times when he is counting to 10 (even after several weeks of practice).  He also likes to find the 8 and stand on it on the hopscotch board at the school playground!

Haircut

It was finally time to get Zander's first hair cut. His curls were very cute and we held onto them for as long as we could. With the change in the weather and the introduction of hats again, his hair had been getting out of control....it was time. He was very nervous when we walked into the local kid cuts salon. By the time it was his turn to get in the chair, he had a meltdown. The cut was completed with Zander sitting in mom's lap. He screamed and fought it the best he could, but in the end the hair cut was completed (a little crooked in spots) and he looks like a very handsome, grown up little boy!

He survived and got a sucker as a reward (maybe to bribe him for the next  time!)

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween! We celebrated the holiday with a festival in Roscoe Village (our old neighborhood) with friends as well as Zander's first time to go Trick or Treat (we only went for a little while due to coldy/windy/snowy weather, ) followed by handing out candy at our house (I think this is what Zander had the most fun doing). He dressed up as a monkey this year. We had a hard time deciding on a costume as most costumes require a hat and he has been rejecting hats for the most part, although on Halloween night he had no problem wearing the hat once he realized how cold it was and how much attention he got while wearing it!  He was a pretty cute little Monkey!

Zander with his buddy, Kai at the Halloween festival

He was not happy about the monkey hat the first time!! (but loved the balloon)

Parker thought he would get away with not dressing up......haha!

Z with his pumpkins!

Daycare has been doing "pre-school" activities with the kids....he was very excited to show me this one!

Trick or Treat at aunt Nellie's

Fall Fun

We have all adjusted back to a normal routine now that school has started and Jazzie is back at work full time. Even with a busy schedule, we have managed to enjoy many beautiful fall days. Zander is at a very fun age where he likes to be busy and learn new things. He picks up on a lot of new things and knows a lot of animals and the sounds they make. He is starting to count and know some numbers. He also is starting to learn his letters (although most letters he calls "e" or "d"). He also continues to be in love with anything that goes and loves to watch the trains go by every day and can spot a car, truck, bus, airplane or garbage  truck just about everywhere we go! Here are a few pictures from some of our fun fall activities.

We took Zander on the "L" that he loves to watch everyday and he had fun riding on the train and waving to the conductor as the train pulled into the station

Zander had fun painting pumpkins in our backyard. He is very proud of the crafts he makes

Zander had a day off day care and we spent a morning in a park watching the trains go by


Visiting the Farm: We spent a weekend in Wisconsin hanging out with family (Zander had a very fun day with his 2nd cousins while we went to a Badger game) and we ended the weekend with a trip to great grandpa Kruser's farm and Zander loved everything about it!

He is such as cute little guy!!

We spent this past weekend with Aunt Maggie at a pumpkin farm and petting zoo including  a train ride and some time in a bounce house (which he then refused to leave and mom had to climb in after him!)

 We ended the weekend with a visit to All Aboard Diner near Maggie's house where the food was delivered by trains and there were lots of trains to watch and ride......perfect for the little boy who said "choo choo" as his first word!

Wedding Weekend

We spent this past weekend celebrating in Galena, IL for Jazzie's sister, Nellie's wedding. We made the trip to Galena on Friday to help get things set-up and have a pre-wedding celebration with family and friends. Saturday we celebrated the big day as Nellie and Chris got married. It was a beautiful wedding at a beautiful location and we are so happy for them both. Zander was a trooper throughout the whole weekend and thought he was pretty cool wearing his little tuxedo (thanks to the Bunch family for letting us borrow it!!). It was a very busy weekend and Zander is a very busy guy these days, so I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked, but here are a few: