Winter Break: Part 1: Chapter 5

The last few days of our visit in Evanston have been much lower-key. We visited Mimi at work (Barnes and Noble) on Wednesday and Thursday. I was hoping to get some super good naps in, but Jackson had other plans. He actually has developed quite a nice cold, so I think that coupled with at least two new teeth coming through has made him a restless and cranky guy :( Wednesday night we went to dinner with Nan at Hackney's and the carolers were there! I LOVE listening to them sing at holiday time! Jackson agreed wholeheartedly and was entranced the whole time. He was right in front of them and he craned his neck all the way around to watch them. I scooted his highchair around so he could see better and he just loved listening to the songs and watching the carolers sing :) I think he was a little distracting, but in a good way...

Thursday night we drove out to Auntie Dale's house and had a yummy fondue and salad dinner with her, Auntie Abbey, and Auntie Kelly! Auntie Kelly is due with a little girl in February so it was exciting to see her and talk about how things are going :)

This is a picture of Jackson testing out his new truck from Auntie Kelly and Uncle Robb. It is a truck that carries cars! How perfect!!! He also got a cool heavy duty truck from Auntie Dale, Uncle Eddie, and Auntie Abbey! It looks like it could get some serious work done!

Jackson tried out Auntie Dale's highchair to make sure it was safe for Baby Girl Tadelman :) It was great once Auntie Abbey figured out how to get the tray on! Jackson was also nice enough to sample the blueberries for our salad ;)



On Friday Jackson and I drove downtown to pick up Josh at The Drake hotel. We spent the rest of the day lounging around since our trip back home got postponed! The East coast was bombarded with huge snow falls and we decided it was MUCH safer to stay put. It was a great bonus to have a few extra days here! I don't think we can push it quite far enough to still be here when Uncle Larry arrives on Tuesday... We went out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Bluestone, and Jackson had his first kid menu ordering experience! I got him macaroni and cheese (which he has not eaten on his own yet) and not only did he like when I fed it to him, he fed himself a good half of the bowl! I was SOOO excited! One of Jackson's favorite things at Mimi and Grandpa's is to climb behind the couch and visit Paxton while he's looking out the window. Pax is usually happy for the company, but sometimes he leaves and goes in search of peace and quiet elsewhere...

Nan got Jackson this neat snowman puzzle when we were in town last time. It is a wooden pole and there are different pieces that stack on it. He is actually pretty good at getting the pieces on! He works quite hard :) Jackson is going up and down all of the stairs here like crazy! He has a TON of toys, but the stairs are much better! LOL

We are hoping to leave a little after lunchtime today to drive home. We will be home for about a day and then head to Josh's family for the rest of our holiday visiting! We are crossing our fingers that this plan work out. Otherwise it will be on to Plan C, whatever that may be!