Christmas '08

HEEEEE'S BEEN HEEEEEREEE!!! Santacame!Santacame!Santacame!



I cannot believe how well Santa knows me. Trains, trucks, more trains, geligucks, etc... And not to mention this snazzy "puter" (computer) that I do my work on. Yes, that's right - I do very important work.



Uncle Stew helped me examine some of the loot. In fact, he and Poppy seemed to enjoy my goodies nearly as much as I did.

Oh... Santa brought Poppy a remote controlled geliguck and I have deep love for it. However, I have had a rather difficult time understanding that it is neither 1) mine or 2) appropriate for a two year old. It has caused both extreme joy and extreme stress.

Here I am in my "fort," where I can protect myself from it's completely random flight pattern. (This is not a commentary of Poppy's money flying skills.)

After opening presents for what seemed like an eternity (Mom's words - not mine), Peedles asked me to go get the tractor so that we could get the Christmas tree out of the house.

Something about it being an incindiary device?? Rrrrright.




Oops. Apparently my skepticism was mislaid this one time. That sucker went up in about 30 seconds flat.

All in all, Christmas was wonderful. Sure I mixed up Santa and baby Jesus pretty much on a daily basis, but I think I have the gist.

Here are Mom and I dressed up and glowering (?) in a picture for Daddy. We missed him a LOT this holiday, but managed to still celebrate as a family with thousands of miles between us.



Then, after the complete sensory overload that was Christmas, I got even bigger news.

I am going to be a big brother - to a little brother!!

Obviously, I am super psyched for this little brother to materialize. Soon, I will have two things to be the boss of - Georgie and him.

Not surprisingly, Georgie was near suicidal when we told her that another kid was coming to live with us. But then, she is always hovering on the edge anyway...



And here he is for everyone to meet. He is borderline cooey (scary), and also - as I have pointed out multiple times - stuck. Mom agrees with me that yes, he is indeed stuck.

A blessed Happy New Year to you all!!

Greetings! I trust you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did and now I'm gearing up for a sweet Christmas. I hear that both my geliguck (helicopter) collection and truck collection might be growing. But first, a recap of Thanksgiving and what's been shakin' at Casa Stewart-Jackson.

At Thanksgiving, I took the opportunity to share with everyone (truly) what I am thankful for.

First, I love when Mommy is able to help me cook. Sometimes she is slow and maybe gets the measurements wrong, but God bless her - she tries.



I am also thankful for my "geliguck muscles." Yes, that's right. I've named my muscles. No one is sure why, but I call them this always.

Nothing like a tight white t-shirt to show off your guns.



With Daddy gone, I've been pitching in with my share of man-work. Much like cooking with Mom, I'm thankful for the opportunities I have given Poppy. Here I am helping him drive the tractor. The clutch was tricky, but he got it.



Here I am doing more important man-work. I am thankful for fences that need mending. It was difficult given that I was not supplied with the proper tools. A standard hammer would have been better but I keep getting handed this rubber mallet. What gives?



OH! I am loving gloves. I recently learned how to wear them properly and holy cow! They are really useful. I wish I hadn't resisted them for the last 2 1/2 years of my life. Oh well... lessons learned.



I am thankful for tree bark. Here I am studying some up close. It fascinates me and I like to talk about it. I like to talk about how it cracks when you hit it and how it doesn't taste all that great. Overall, a great find this winter.



One thing I am still working on being thankful for is grooming and maintenance. Here I am getting my haircut. It went okay (note sucker stick coming from my mouth), but this is still an area I maybe could show a little more appreciation.



And last but CERTAINLY not least. I am thankful for trips to the mall to meet Santa. I was very excited and practiced my best face for our big picture.

When I woke up, a great idea hit me. Mom vetoed it quickly.



Then I tried this on for size... Also did not get a good response.



How about this? Yeah, that's right... I can turn it on and off like a light switch.

By the time it was my turn to actually meet Santa, I realized that maybe he is kind of cooey (scary). But after watching a couple of kids in front of me get on his lap, I put my fears behind me and jumped on in. From there on out - magic. Plus, I got a free cookie when I was done!

Man Work

With Dad gone for a while, I'm assuming the man-of-the-house roll. I'm starting small, but working up to big projects.

Here I am doing important work. Digging. Digging what exactly? Unimportant. Just digging.

Now, with all the digging and obvious display of macho activity, does it cancel this out?

Can I just say that some things do get better with age? Seriously - the older I get, the holidays just get better. Take for instance... Halloween. Here's a quick flashback.

Here I am as a baby - about 4 months old or so. Not doing much... just hanging out, spitting up, etc...

The next year was a bit better, but as you can see - I'm still looking a bit lost and unsure of myself and also quite oblivious to the goodies that were going into my bucket.

This year? Do not be fooled by my forlorn expression. I know what's up.

I had an entire day of halloween festivities. Here's the rundown.

First up, I prepared for my first ever school performance. I think you'll see evidence below that proves I was the shining star of the class.






This is my class. I'm not really a big fan of group photos. But get me by myself and...





I. Come. To. LIFE. (Sans my "lid"/zebra head of course. The bane of my mother's existence.)







After the in-class preparations, we headed to the gym for our performance. Here I am, forcing myself to talk to the cooey-est (scariest) kid in the entire world. I, in-fact, referred to him exclusively as "Cooey Kid."



Ahhh... and then the performance. Click on link below (it wouldn't embed for some reason). Believe me - I am not at all hard to identify... And my mom would like for me to note that I was candy-free during the spectacle.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu6O3XjU4YM




So moving on... Despite the fact we had a morning full of activity, the day was in diapers. I still had trick-or-treat coming up!!!



I prepared for my rounds that evening by letting my fellow trick-or-treater, Christopher, push me around on a little car. Note the crazy face... We were pretty much wiped by the time we were supposed to head outside. Oops.



We rallied though and headed out! Initially, Mom felt it was necessary to take me around by hand.



She quickly learned that I needed no such help.

Here I am letting the good people know that their decorations are very cooey. VERY.




Christopher, his mommy and Peedles brought up the rear in case I "tried to make a run for it." Yeah... like that would ever happen.




So as you can see, Halloween was a total blast and I can't wait until next year.

In other news, Daddy is away for a while so we have headed back to Peedle and Poppy's house. Nothing too new - same old story...

Mom wishes I was more like this.



But I can't help it! This is just the real me.

Knoxtopia

Hello all!

So, life is good. Sure, Dad is getting ready to head out for a while to single-handedly fight terrorists (his words, not mine), but man, we have been cramming in some super fun activities in the meantime. I don't know if my parents are suffering from guilt or just trying to make fun memories, but I am only too happy to be the recipient of their love/guilt.

So here is a snapshot of the last ten days with Team Jackson.

Yeah... I pretty much drove it. In case it isn't clear, it is a wee-oooh-wee-oooh. Totally rad.

Then I got to co-pilot a big digger. Just to make sure my buddy was comfortable, I made sure I kept my little hand on his leg to let him know I was there to take over whenever necessary.

Here I am showing Mom my newly acquired skills. She was a nervous rider to say the least.

WOOWOOO!!! And then I got a BLUE SUCKER!!!

After that overwhelmingly exciting outing, my folks packed me up and took me to the beach.

Here I am in the car clutching my beach bucket. Did I allow it to be pried out of my hand until we arrived at the beach? No. I did not.

Upon arrival, I really dug in...

And then I took in all the Lady Seas had to offer.

First up - a little game of cat and mouse.

I was doing so well...

AHHHH!!!! NO!!!! STOPPPP!!!

That water is VERY fast!

Not to worry. Next time, I took back-up.

We then proceded to conquer the ocean together.



I will be back, you massive and slightly-scary body of water. Until then... keep it real.

Up next - a zoo!

Here I am working to befriend a peacock named Henry. Sadly, I was unsuccessful. But whatever - he turned out to be completely lame. He didn't even show us his plume.

OOOH! Here is a friend! A little turrrdle. I love turrrdles.

Keeping it moving... next up was Sea World!!

Now what would you think would be my favorite thing to see/experience at this magical place?

The shark tunnel with the moving sidewalk?

Nope.

The beluga whales and polar bears?

Uh-uh.

SHAMU??

Still a big negative.



Give up? It was the MIST MASHEEEN!!!!!!!!

HOURS. I could have spent HOURS in this thing.

I think it may have bummed Mom and Dad out a bit, but what can you do? Those things are so awesome!