Merry Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care ...

In hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there.  

Oliver and Jackson checking out the goods

Stockings!!  

A cool new dump truck from Santa

Tic-Toc-Crock flashlight

More presents!

After opening presents, Jackson enjoyed playing with his new toys while mommy and daddy cooked breakfast.  

Hungry Hippos can get pretty dangerous, so Jackson decided to wear his helmet to play.   

Playing with his toys.  

Eating some chocolate before breakfast.  Why not- it's Christmas!

 Christmas breakfast on the griddle.  YUM.

Christmas night we went over to our neighbors house for a wonderful dinner and gift exchange.  

Mommy is a Genius

This morning I needed just a little bit of quiet time so I could bake some banana bread for the neighbors.  Jackson got a few new construction trucks last week (early Christmas present from mommy and daddy) so I decided to experiment with an old balloon and a new truck.

What if I attached a balloon to the crane, cranked it up and turned it into an instant punching bag.

GENIUS.

Jackson had fun.  I baked some bread.  And daddy took a nap.  Pretty great morning if you ask me.

**Pants are always optional at the Teach household.

Little Boy Heaven

What can I say- the kid loves cars.  If it has wheels or is a mode of transportation, the kid will love it.  I've seen him get excited at a mail truck before.  And don't even get me started on how crazy he gets when he sees a helicopter (which is quite often since we live by the coast).  

One of Jackson's favorite things to do is ride in the cars at the outlet mall.  After his visit with Santa, we decided he deserved a few rides on some cars.  He was in heaven.

Santa

Jared and I have been talking to Jackson about Santa for the past several weeks.  Every time he sees Santa he yells "Santa, Santa Ho, Ho, Ho".  Clearly, the child is enamored with Santa.

We asked Jackson if he wanted to go see Santa and sit on his lap.  He replies ... "YES".

So we go.

And this is how it turned out ...

 Entering Santa's Village.  Excited to see the jolly old man.  

Both feet are in Santa's village.  Points at Santa and says "Oh Wow".  Still excited to see the jolly old man.  

Sits on Santa's lap.  NOT excited to see the jolly old man.  

Hair Cut

We FINALLY got our hair cut after boycotting the barber for about six months.  If you have ever heard me talk about our experiences at the barbers, then I'm sure you can imagine why I wasn't too antsy to get Jack's hair cut.

We went to a new place that specializes in kids that hate getting their hair cut.  They had balloons, tv, bubbles, car chairs, etc., to help distract the kids.  However, all this was no match for our son.  As soon as he saw the squirt bottle and scissors it was GAME OVER.  I told the woman to ignore the crying and screaming and pleading (from Jackson AND myself) and just cut it quickly.  Twenty minutes later we had a very cute haircut and a little boy with a new toy and sucker for being a champ.  

And now we have one very handsome and cool dude on our hands.  Watch out ladies!!!

Line Up

Jackson loves to line up his toy trucks and cars in his playroom.  Sometimes mommy and daddy join in the fun and we have them lined up out the door.  And then sometimes mom like to put one out of order and it really annoys Jackson (insert evil laugh!).

However, the same does not go for mom's shoes.  Jackson enjoys just leaving them in a pile on the floor.  No need to line them up.

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year.  Jackson actually understood the idea of dressing up and he thought he looked pretty cool in his costume.  And like every year, Oliver isn't immune to dressing up, so he "got to" wear a costume as well.  He was thrilled.

Tuesday night we went to our neighbor's church for a Trunk-or-Treat party.  Jackson had a blast with his neighbors and went trunk to trunk saying "Trick-or-Treat".  By the fifth trunk or so his trick-or-treat turned into "da-da-da".  He was getting lazy about it- but he still got candy :)

I told Jackson to smile and I guess that meant putting his bucket in his mouth.  I couldn't get a good shot of his costume that night.

Wednesday night, Halloween night, we went over to our neighbors house for a chili dinner and then headed out to trick-or-treat.  Jackson was pretty tired and cranky so we decided to just go up and down our cul-de-sac to trick-or-treat.  After that we all set around a bon fire in the middle of the cul-de-sac and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters.  Every time a new group came up to us, Jackson got in line with them to get some candy.  It was pretty cute.

Trying to get a good shot of their costumes.  

Still trying ...

Still trying ...

Best I could get.  

Trick-or-Treating around the bon fire 

Trick-or-Treat daddy

Del Mar Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we took Jackson to the Del Mar Pumpkin Patch.  I don't think I have ever laughed at my son so much.  He was running around with his head cut off wanting to ride every ride.  He's usually really reserved about rides, but someone must have let him eat a few too many pieces of Halloween candy that day.

Riding the space ship 

Weeeeeeeeee

Driving the firetruck.  Notice he has a group of girls in the back. That's my boy!

Not really for sure what's taking place here.  

There we go- that's a little better

Going for the final throw ...  

And he wins!!!!!

His prize for winning?  This huge blow up hammer.  Awesome.  Oliver was thrilled when we brought the hammer home.  As you can imagine the hammer has been hidden from Jackson. 

Trying to get a good pic.  Not gonna happen. 

Cheese

A Big Thanks ...

... to my parents for sending us a package filled with packing peanuts.  I hope you can sense the sarcasm in my voice.

Grandma Teach Visit

Grandma Teach came out to visit a few weeks ago.  She was still recovering from her knee replacement surgery, so we took it easy while she was out here ... which was just fine with this mom!

Although we took it easy, we still managed to have a lot of fun and visit some of Jackson's favorite places.

Legoland SeaLife Aquarium

Bates Nut Farm

Hayrack ride

Petting the goats

Goats!

Petting the pig

The Beach

Zoomars Petting Zoo

Chasing the rabbits 

Riding the train

Grandma Teach feeding the goats

A house for the sheep? 

 Peek-a-boo I'm coming in.  

Grandma Teach feeding the Zonkeys