A Big Thanks

A big, huge thanks to my parents for coming out to San Diego and helping us move into our new home.

There was a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time and we got almost everything crossed off the to-do list.

And a special, special, special thanks to my mom for spending countless hours taking down wallpaper in our new house.  I gave up and tried to convince her we should just paint over the wallpaper about two hours into the job, but she kept plugging along.   The walls look great and we couldn't have done it without her.  And I am going to try to keep my promise to her that our next house won't have any wallpaper-although I told her that two houses ago as well :)

We spend most of their time out in San Diego working on the house, but we did manage to have a little fun in between all the working.

We took Jackson to the Botanical Gardens and let him play with the boats and watch the toy trains.

We played in the backyard with Oliver and Jackson.  We used the sprinkler, chased each other around and even pulled oliver in the wagon.

We went to "Pump it Up" and all managed to climb into one of the contraptions to rescue a scarred and screaming Jackson.

We went to a Padres Baseball game and enjoyed air conditioned seats with a buffet.  YUM!

He Works Hard for his Money

Now that Jackson is two, I told him it was time he started helping around the house.  No more lazy mornings watching cartoons and eating Cheerios.

First Jackson tried his skills at sweeping the floor ...

... but he couldn't keep his pants up and sweep the floor at the same time.

So then he tried his hand at cooking ...

... but soon remembered the fatal "pan in mouth"incident of 2011 and decided against that idea.

And finally he found his niche- watering the garden.  He's got a great tilt on the watering can and aims like a pro.  One less chore for mommy to do!

*Please note that I do not actually make my child do chores at the young age of two.  But once he turns three ... game on.

Birthday Boy

Our little man turned TWO on June 14.  Wow- how time flies when you are having fun ... and changing diapers ... and giving time outs ... and saying "no" a gazillion times a day ... and saying "don't pull Oliver's tail" non-stop.

We had some good friends over to help celebrate Jack's birthday.  His best friend, Logan, helped Jack open his presents and play with them too :),

Unfortunately, the birthday boy was not in a good mood, so there aren't many pictures with smiles in them.

Daddy and the birthday boy 

 Cheese

Mommy helping Jackson blow out the candles.   

 Presents!

 Logan helping Jackson

Firetruck!!!!  

Vegas Baby!

A few weeks back the Teach Family decided to take on Vegas.  We weren't for sure what we were getting ourselves into, but I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

This was a work trip for Jared, but he spent his down time with Jackson and I.

We stayed at the Red Rock Resort and Casino, which was about 20 minutes west of the Strip.  This place was amazing.  A gigantic pool, arcade, movie theater, bowling alley, food court, casino, 20 restaurants, two Starbucks, spa, workout facility and a hotel ... all in one!  And did I mention they had on-site babysitting? Up to five hours a day at only $8.00 an hour.  SCORE.

Jackson and I spent the mornings either in the pool or wondering around Vegas looking for some fun things to do.  One morning daddy met us in between meetings at the Shark Reef Aquarium.  Jackson was in heaven.  He LOVES fish.

On other morning we went to the on-site arcade at the hotel.  This was Jackson's first time at an arcade.  He had a blast.  I had to play most of the games for him, but he loved watching me and then getting the tickets after I was done.  He did learn how to "feed the machines" though in the arcade .... he fit right in in Vegas :)

 Feeding the machines. 

Yay!  Tickets!!! 

Trying to figure out what to do.   

He thought skee ball was fun.   

 Skeeeeee-balllllll

 All Jackson had to do was jump and he got tickets.  

Playing with his winnings.  All he wanted to buy was suckers with the tickets.   

Jared had the evenings off, so we were able to get away for two date nights.  One night we went to a fabulous restaurant and enjoyed some killer wine.  The other night we went to Cirque Du Soleil Love, which was amazing.  I highly recommend taking in a Cirque show if you ever have the chance.  

We rounded out our trip by going to Hoover Dam, which was cool for about five minutes and then the heat set in and we were all miserable.  We took some damn dam pictures (ahaha ... get it?) and then got the heck out of there and back into the air conditioned car.

Jackson slept for most of the ride back to San Diego; however, he started to get a little restless about 30 minutes from home so I bribed him with some M&Ms.  The carseat and Jackson got a bath as soon as we got home.

Fun With Wine

We took a trip to our favorite winery last weekend.  We hadn't been there in quite some time, as Jackson is not the best at sitting still.  But it was time to pick up our latest installment of wine, so we made the trek.

Jackson had so much fun.  They installed a fountain since the last time we had been there.  He enjoyed throwing pennies in the fountain and kept asking me for more pennies until I ran out.

Everyone at the winery thought he was the cutest little guy and he enjoyed all the attention ... and the breadsticks!

A Stuffed Oliver

Grandma Teach got Jackson a stuffed Bichon Frise that looked exactly like Oliver for Easter.  I showed Jackson the dog and he immediately took it out of my hands and started hugging and kissing it and then ran over to show it to Oliver.

I heard him laughing in the playroom today so I went in to see what he was doing and this is what I caught on camera ...

Rollin around with his new toy.  

Introducing his stuffed dogs to one another.   

The Bichon going in for a kiss from the Beagle.  

Yard Work

Jackson really likes to play outside in the yard, so when I am doing yard work I let him run around and "help" me.  He loves to pretend to rake just like mommy and has even figured out how to use the broom/dust pan to put leaves in the trash can.  Give him a few more years and I'll have him mowing the lawn as well!

Putting leaves in the trash can.   

 Making sure all the leaves went in.  

Sweeping dirt ONTO the sidewalk.   

Helping mommy by walking through her leaf pile.  

Checking on his stash of leaves he hid in his car.   

Trying to fit the broom under the hood of his car as well.

This is How I Roll

Jackson LOVES when we go to Sprouts grocery store because he gets to push around his own tiny cart.  I can't say it's as fun for me as it is for him, but the smile on his face is worth the extra hassle (and the extra headache).

On this particular trip I only needed a few items, so Jackson got to carry all the items in his cart, minus the cantaloupe because I thought it would be too heavy.  When we got to the check-out line he started taking the items out of the cart and handing them to me to put up on the belt.  When we were done checking out he pushed the cart out the door and into the cart area.  I can't believe that he knew exactly what to do, but he's been to the grocery store with me so much that he had picked up the process.

Owiwer

Jackson has been saying 'Oliver' for several months now, but I can never get him on video saying it ... until last night!  We were watching the KU/Ohio basketball game and he was saying Oliver's name over and over and I was able to catch it on video.  He also says basketball (:18 second mark) and up (:24 second mark).

He has quite a few words in his vocabulary now:

Mommy

Daddy 

Dog/Doggy

Oliver

Basketball

Ball

Up

Down

Upstairs

Hi

Bye/Bye

NO

Outside

Yes

And a few others that I can't think of off the top of my head.  Luckily no curse words have made his list yet. Fingers crossed it stays that way! :)  

Mouskersize

We LOVE Mickey Mouse at our house.  Here is Jackson "mousekersizing" with Goofy and the gang.