Children's Museum

Last week Jack and I went to the Children's Museum with our good friend Laurie and her two boys.  I wasn't quite for sure how Jack would handle the museum with all the other kids there, but he did so good.  His favorite part of the museum was the drum set ... uh oh ...

Riding the horses 

 Playing with clay

Running through the maze 

 Launching felt balls

DRUMS!! 

Arrrrrrrrr you Having a Good Day?

Jackson is really into Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel.  He got a few toys for Christmas from the series and Grandma Wine bought him a Jake t-shirt this summer.  He loves to wear his shirt and point out all the characters and shoot water from his pirate ship.

At our Mom's Day Out program they were learning all about the letter P last week and they made a pirate hat, a pirate spy glass and searched for hidden treasure.  Needless to say it was a big hit with Jackson and he's been wearing his hat and using his spy glass every day.

Visiting the Hargers

Our family took a trip to see our good friends, the Hargers, in Tucson last week.  The kids played so well together.  Jackson loved to follow Coleman around and copy what he was doing.  And he even warmed up to Campbell enough to let her hug him and love on him.

Watching cartoons

Playing the Ipad

Watching a late night movie

Having their own date at a Mexican restaurant

We took the kids to Build-A-Bear one day to let them build a stuffed animal.  Jackson loved picking out a heart and watching the bears get stuffed.  Mommy had to assist in picking out the bear and the outfit.  We built a Lightning McQueen bear with a shirt and slippers!  

 Putting the heart in his bear

Stuffing his bear

The bear is stuffed

Giving his bear a bath

The adults also had some fun.  We spent NYE at home with a huge feast and snuck out one evening to catch dinner and a movie.  

Our NYE feast. YUM!

Happy New Years!!

Thanks for hosting us Harger Family!!!

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