Sayonara 2009!

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone had a great holiday season.

Christmas was big stuff in the Jackson household! First up - we had two additional people celebrating with us than we did last year. Daddy managed to not be in the Middle East during this year's festivities... AND Sully was with us! It was pretty sweet...

We did lots of things to prepare to celebrate Baby Jesus' birthday as well as the arrival of Santa.

First up, decorating the gingerbread house. Sully was apparently a bit nervous about this activity (something about me going bananas and being reckless with the candy?), so he donned his goggles as a preemptive measure to protect himself.

Dramatic much?



Well, two can play that game, Sullivan Stewart.



Anyway, while I didn't go too crazy, we do take gingerbread-house-decorating VERY seriously in our house. I am pretty sure that no one was breathing at this point.



Mom and I also tried our hand at baking. I am not going to go into detail, but this picture was taken at the beginning of our endeavor - long before those glutenous, gelatinous messes came out of the oven. God bless her - she tries, but she just isn't a baker.



Peedles, Poppy and Uncle Stew came to celebrate with us too! It was so much fun although Mom and Dad were complaining that they had to put Sully and I through "bootcamp" when they all left because we had gotten spoiled. I certainly do not think this is accurate of my situation, but I can vouch that Sully was held constantly unless he 1) had a dirty diaper, 2) was sleeping, or 3) was spitting up.

Proof.



More proof.

Hmmm... oh wait... despite how this looks, I really wasn't held that much. I just did this for the picture. Focus on Sully... Focus on Sully...

After much talking about it, Christmas morning finally arrived! I, of course, knew what to expect. Sully, however, was floored. FLOORED!

I was pretty psyched too though...

Here I am showing Dad, in great detail, every single thing that I opened in my stocking. What fun! I am noticing that Dad looks a bit less enthused and I don't get that. I mean, doesn't everyone think cans of silly string and new fighter planes are super cool?

Here is Mom trying to get things to calm down a little bit for a picture. Clearly not happening. I mean, can you see Sully trying to eat her face? Too bad he couldn't just settle down and smile like a sweet little boy, eh?



Now I am not picking favorites, but this particular gift was rather nice. After all, it's my first set of wheels that do not require self-propelling.

Sully, quite surprisingly, was an excellent co-pilot!

While I am very blessed and received several wonderful presents, I would like to point out that I haven't gone completely elitist. Here I am in a perfectly good box that I turned into a fierce, fighting A-10 Workhog (typo intended).

And speaking of Workhogs... Not long after Christmas, Mom and Dad took me to see the real deal A-10's practice their shooting and bombing on a live ammunition range. For those of you who are not around me a lot, this was H.E.A.V.E.N. for me. To say I'm obsessed with fighter planes would be an understatement.

Here are Mom and me on the range before the real fun began.

So that is that... I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot, but I'll try to post again soon. I'm just so busy - what with my new truck and cardboard plane around these days.

Until then, keep it real in 2010.

We have recently managed to celebrate two holidays since my last post!

First, we celebrated that magical day where it is totally permissible to run up to someone's door, look extra cute, AND GET FREE CANDY!! It was amazing...

Plus, it gave me an excuse (like I need one...) to wear my "urrrman" [airman] outfit.

It also gave mom the opportunity to dress her second baby boy in that oh-so-flattering chubby duck costume. Yes, that's right Sully. You are not the only one... Click here to see me in this ridiculous get-up.

Peedles was able to come for the festivities and hang out with us while Daddy was out of town.

We had quite the time.

Special trip to the ice cream shop? Check. (This picture does not do my blue teeth justice. They were spectacular.)

She also took me car racing. You can tell by my aggressive form that I am quite the driver. Always be on the offensive so that you're never on the defensive. Valuable driving tip from Poppy.

So moving on... Here, I am building towers around Sully. It is all good and fun until he rolls over and crashes them all. It is both exhilarating and frustrating to watch them fall.

In Sully news... he is getting chubbier by the day. This is probably contributed to the fact he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. Here he is trying to get Peedle's finger up to his mouth so that he can devour it.

Mmmm... tasty.

After Peedles left, Thanksgiving arrived!

In order to get into the spirit of things, here I am dressed as an authentic pilgrim. Dig that sweet hat. I love to wear it alone. And I also love to wear it with goggles. (pics to come)




My class even had a big feast.

So while we're on this subject, one of the mom's made a big turkey. Another mom made turkey cupcakes and turkey cookies. I think we all know who went home with an empty plate and who has enough meat left to feed her family for the next month. Bless that sweet lady. She tried...




Then we hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner at our house with a bunch of friends! Here, Sully and I are helping Mommy get things ready. And by ready, I mean that I am clutching my football for dear life and Sully is trying to get to Mommy's earring to eat it. We are such helpful boys.




After we ate, the kids all went outside to play hide-and-go-seek. Some really good photographer found me in my money hiding spot. I am as surprised as you that I was found, much less caught on film.



We had much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Namely - Sully's BFF, Charli, was able to be with us! She is in the middle of a six month chemotherapy treatment for brain cancer. She is pretty amazing and Sully is lucky to be her pal.

In other news... Now that soccer is over, I am starting a new hobby!

A regular renaissance man.

Surprisingly, Sully seemed to go into shock as he listened to the the mainly melodious, although occassionally screaching, notes I played for him.

I can only assume he will adjust.

Hope everyone is gearing up for a fun Christmas season! We certainly are. Much love to everyone!

Care for a blast from the past? Click here and then compare to the pics below. Mom keeps telling me that imitation is the highest form of flattery...

But honestly... it's just kind of getting weird. At least I am bigger. For now anyway... I have to admit that Sully really seems to be beefing it up lately.

Just thought I'd share.

So as always, we have been busy in recent weeks... welcoming fall, visiting with Peedles and Poppy, getting over dreaded fall colds (ugh), and of course, playing sports.

My soccer team had their first game last week and it RULED. Daddy was in fine form as he got the fierce Anklebiters ready to fight by doing pushups. You can't tell in the picture, but I was out there doing one-armed pushups. Don't look hard... just trust me.

I have to admit that I did pretty well considering that there were psychotic mothers (mine not included of course) standing on the sidelines, shrieking at all of us players to kick the ball into the goal. C'mon crazy ladies. Even I know that you're lucky if one 3-year-old is going in the right direction, much less kicking a ball into a semi-small area.

Despite this insanity, Sawyer and I were not phased to say the least. I can't honestly say we were even running in the right direction here... In fact, we are suspiciously alone.

Now, while the game was fun, the Anklebiters are a big eating and drinking group. So the highlight of the night? Drink and snack breaks.

More chatter about the awesomeness of snacks and drink breaks. I think at this point Dad was starting to get a little, um, concerned about our lack of concern for the game.

Now... back with the whole flattery thing, it should be noted that I am not the only athlete in our family.

Guess who wants to get in on the action. Big shocker, Sul! Big shocker.

Here he is getting ready for his sport of choice.

And here he is trying to eat the ball. It is nearly as big as him, but this does not seem to deter him. He was deterred however when I threw the ball at him and it just landed on his head. He didn't even reach up with his hands to try and catch it. That is SO not on me.

When we aren't playing sports, I have taken to making instruments out pretty much anything I can get his hands on. Here are my drums. It was slightly piercing to the ears (including mine), but Mom never did say anything.

OH! And yes, that is Sully laying in the background. Guess that is what happens when you can't walk. Sucka!

Peedles and Poppy came to visit us last weekend which rocked. Here we are having storytime. It is so precious how they love to be read to.

We also took them to the pumpkin patch here in town.

It was glorious. Truly. Can't you tell by Sully's face that he is having the best time ever?

And in other news... Sully is really starting to love the exersaucer.



Well, guess who is copying who now! HAHA!

So that is the latest and greatest! We are psyched for a fun weekend of candy, friends and more candy. Yippeeeee!!!

Slowly but surely...

Brotherly love is slowly, but surely becoming a regular occurrence in our house. Mom has inexplicably been stressing over this issue, so here I am trying to throw her a bone by showing a little love to Sully.

Yep... just holding Sully and being sweet like all good brothers do.

And here we are being big stuff together (read, I declared that I no longer wanted to hold him and that he could and would sit like a big kid).

And here I am squeezing the daylights out of him. Can one love one's brother too much? I think not. (Mom and Dad keep saying that I am Lenny from "Of Mice and Men" but this reference goes right over my head. Whatevs.)

Oh - and get this. Somewhat shockingly, Sully has a social life and other babies appear to want to be friends with him! Here he is hanging with his buddy Charli.


And speaking of Charli... She is pretty remarkable... When this picture was taken, she had had brain surgery less than a week before because she had a brain tumor. Please pray for her as she is beginning chemotherapy this week. We love her.





Here is Sully showing his support.





Sully has also started eating cereal. This STRESSES me out. Everytime Mom says "Hey Sully! Want some cereal?!" I come barrelling in to wherever she is and demand that she not give him my square cereal (frosted mini-wheats) because that is my cereal. Sharing is coming, but I"ll admit... I'm not there yet.

Now that he is getting a little bigger, we have been taking baths together. This is great fun.

Note his pursed lips. One cup into the mouth and he learned his lesson. I keep reassuring Dad that I am helping wash him, not drown him...

See!? He is no worse for the wear!

In other news, we recently had "What I want to be day" at school. One guess what I was.

Yep - I was an "urrrrman." (airman) Specifically, I was an urrrman that flies planes, drops bombs and generally obliterates bad guys. Puppies was and is always my copilot.

And when I am not busy saving the free world, I have taken up a new sport - soccer!

Say wha-!? That's right... there is an organized team of 3-year-olds that play together. Our team name is the "Anklebiters" and Dad is doing an awesome job coaching us. Mom keeps likening our team to taking a can of marbles and dumping them out onto a tile floor and watching them scatter. I think there is an insult in there somewhere, but I can't find it...

At home, things have just been kind of status quo...

Here is a typical morning of my buddy and I tearing apart the playroom in order to find that one treasured, yet elusive toy. This confounds and makes Mom a little crazy. Her response when she finds me digging away is always "PLEASE KNOX. Just ASK me where it is and I will HELP you find it! This is completely unnecessary."

Noted, Mom. Noted.

At any rate, treasures were found. GOGGLES AND PIPECLEANER GLASSES!! We. Are. Awesome.

Well, I am pretty busy reading now, so I must go. And Sully is busy being..well...Sully.

Oh my heavens, he is not a complex child.