I {heart} cars...

If I was able to see what Jackson dreamt about at night I would be willing to bet the central theme would be CARS or TRUCKS. He is utterly obsessed with cars, truck, tractors..you get the point. The floor of our house is covered in approximately 2 inches of match box cars. And any parent of a car obsesses tot can tell you how much it hurts to step on one of those suckers with bare feet. Here is a pic of Jackson adoring his true love.

A Boy and his Poppa

Jackson simply adores Mark and watching the two of them together just makes me smile. Jackson is so lucky to have a Poppa that is so very hands on. When the two of them wrestle around the infectious laughter fills the house and no matter where I am I can help but start to laugh too. Here are a few pics of Jackson and Mark in a tickle session. I still have vivid images of my Dad being the "tickle crab" and making me laugh until I cried. It such a treat to see these two doing the same thing now.

2.4 million photos later....

WOW I had NO idea that taking a photo of Jackson for our Christmas card would prove to be more difficult to attain than world peace! I honestly took a million pics and only had a few turn out even remotely usable. And it wasn't like I was trying to get a pic of Jackson standing on his head doing algebra or something...I just wanted a pic of him wearing a Santa hat for pete's sake. So here are a few of the millions I took. :) Hope they put you in the holiday spirit!!!

I'm So GQ

I bought his completely adorable outfit for Jackson last year on super clearance at Kohl's. The little cord blazer just kills me. He was waggin' in finger and saying "no, no Hexi" in the pictures because she was barking out the window. :)

No Love for the Turkey

Jackson says "Yes I eat cheese on Thanksgiving!".

We were lucky enough to spend Turkey Day with Grammy Karen and Al this year. We had a nice quiet day with loads of food to gorge on and a dog show on TV! (what could be better??) Jackson woke up from his nap just before we were set to eat so he really wasn't very hungry. He is also going through a super picky eater phase which makes me want to pull all my hair out. I tried to offer him the delicious turkey, mashed potatoes and a roll. He wouldn't eat a bite of any of it. (rolls eyes). So we had to give him the ol standby...cheese. Ahhh the power of cheese.

Smiling through the plague

Ahhh nothing like a warm welcome to fall with a nice fat head/chest cold. Jackson brought the plague home and now we all have it. It's a good thing that Jackson does adorable new things to make me smile and forget I feel like death.

Cute new things:
1. The other day Jackson was trying to saying something that I couldn't understand and was pointing to the kitchen counter...I walked over and pointed to each thing and he said "no...no...no" until I pointed to the kleenex box and he exclaimed YES. So I pulled out a tissue and handed it to him fully expecting him to either eat it or rip in into tiny microscopic pieces but he totally shocked me by precisely wiping his nose clean and then asking to put the used tissue in the trash. HUH??!! No one taught him to wipe his own nose and he totally did it! Hoping this trend will continue once we get to bum wiping. :)

2. Saying pweease (please) when he really wants something. So dang cute. Also didn' teach him that. I think he just knows I can resist when he looks at me with the big blue eyes and says "pwwwease". I'm suck a sucker.

3. Walking Finnegan. Jackson will take the tag on Finnegan's collar and lead him around the kitchen circle. And of course Finnegan is such a sweetie and totally lets him.

Those are just a few of the flipping adorable new things Jackson has started doing. I simply can't stand how cute he is sometimes.

Coooo-Keeeey

Jackson's latest obsession has the dogs leaving lakes of drool on the kitchen floor that nearly led me to hitting my head on the dishwasher. He saw me give the pups a bisquit and now he wants to give them a "cooo-keeey" oh about every 1.3 seconds. Obviously the dogs are loving this new pastime. I have to lie to Jackson and tell him all the cookies are gone or I fear we'll have a VERY fat, VERY happy Lab, a 200lb Newfie mix and a Rat Terrier shaped like a basketball.

You can see him saying "cooooo-keeeey" in the pics above. :)

I'm NAKED!!!!

The uh-oh heard around the world....as Jackson took of his pj's by himself. As you can tell from the photo he was uber pleased with himself. I'm hoping it was only a fluke since these pj's don't have the little snap tab over the zipper. (fingers crossed)

Giggles at the zoo

Jackson also LOVES to play his version of "red light, green light" but he says bop (stop) and go. He always busts out laughing when you stop after he does. And he'll play this game for what seems like forever!



On Sunday Jackson and I headed to our local zoo to take advantage of our beautiful weather. We got there soon after it opened and it was nearly deserted! We had a great time checking out all the animals, had a close encounter with a free ranging emu and were lucky enough to hear a monkey symphony. So in other words a perfect day for two animal nuts. :)

Our little zoo has a wonderful petting zoo and Jackson completely LOVES the goats. He squeals with delight when the goats nibble on his fingers and will go from goat to goat to get nibbles. LOL Here are a few pics I snapped of him after getting said nibbles.

And we have had heard many new words recently!

-cractor (tractor-new obsession)
-apple
-I wub you (will repeat it when you say it to him)
-pider (spider)
-ghoss (ghost) and will say ooooooo when you ask him what ghost says
-pupkin (pumpkin)
-pissa (pizza)
-settle (as told to the dogs)
-poopy
-hole cow (holy cow)
-okayyy
-hot
-toofbush/toofpase
-get nice (said to the dogs before they take a treat)

He has also started saying Hi and bub-bye to strangers...which he NEVER did before. It's really cute. :)

BOO!!!

Scared ya didn't I???? :)

Happy Halloween!!!!

I cannot believe it's Halloween already! Here in Iowa they do trick or treating the night before Halloween (I know weird) so we took Jackson to a few houses last night and he LOVE it. He carried his little pumpkin bucket to each door and said "too- tea". LOL

And even though I was completely devastated that he destroyed the Mickey Mouse costume I made him everyone seemed to love the penguin costume I found at Jo-Ann's.

Here is a pic of our little penguin from this weekend.

Foo-Foo Face!

I'm such a BAD dog Mom. I've been really bad about taking pics of my furbabies. I am vowing to make a change! More furry pics!!! This is my new favorite picture of Finnegan.

More pics from the patch!

Got my pics from the pumpkin patch developed and amazingly enough there were a couple of cute pics of action Jackson. He was much more impressed with the animals than the pumpkins. Hmmm I wonder who he takes after??? ;)

Driving truck is hard work!

A few MORE pics of Jackson with his beloved trucks. He looks so grown up! Where is my baby?? I love it when he lays down on the floor and plays like this. It's too cute.

Farmer Jackson

We took Jackson to the pumpkin patch this past weekend and he had a blast! It was unseasonably warm so the place was packed like a dance club but Jackson didn't seem to mind. I took loads of pics with my other camera too so I'll post more when I get them developed. It is getting harder and harder to get ANY pics of Jackson that aren't a blur or showcase only the back of his head. This pic is one of the only good ones with Jackson trying out a tractor. :)

I Heart Bugs

BUBS, BUBS!! (translation bugs, bugs)
Jackson is in awe of bugs. He will literally chase a fly around the house for what seems like hours. And if he can get close enough to get a good look (like in this pic) he is just pleased as punch. He actually laid on the ground to get a closer look of this bug. It's all fun and games til the bug gets squished....and he brings it to me bug guts and all. Eww

Ohhhh the cuddles!

Jackson has been getting very cuddly lately and I am SO loving it. He will wrap his arms around your neck or head and squeeze soooo tight. It just completely melts me. He will also just randomly walk up and kiss you on your leg, and one of his favorite spots...your bum. LOL Just today when I got him up from his nap he gave me this giant hug and said "ohhhh Momma" with a slight giggle. He will also sometimes put his hands on your cheeks when he kisses you. I can barely stand the cuteness!

He has also added to his vocab a ton this past week. New words and phrases:
-Frog
-Pumpkin
-All gone
-Einsteins - hehe from the Little Einsteins show
-Socks
-Sweet -which sounds like sh@t LOL
-Cereal
-Silly
-Cow- he used to just say "Moooo" whenever seeing a cow

Do you think he's pleased with his new truck?? (Which I got on a super clearance at Target.)

Jackson had a great time with Grammy Cola (or Mimi and he calls her) in Utah. He LOVED her beautiful yard complete with a hammock, a rock water fountain, and ceramic animal statues! Great place for toddler discovery. I tried so hard to get some good pics but Jackson is always in constant motion!

Hogge For President 2036!

Ok not really but I could not resist taking a pic of Jackson in this oval office setup that they had at the Children's Treehouse Museum in Utah. I really wanted him to pose and smile but that is a little too much to ask of a wiggly 18 month old. ;) Come to think of it Jackson would probably do better as Prez now that our current Prez. :P

Cooool Car!

"Coooool Car"...."Coooool Cruck"....Jackson says these variations of the same theme about a billion times a day. He is hopelessly addicted to cars and trucks. When we went to Utah to visit family his Grammy (Mimi) was so sweet and bought him some really cool cars to play with at her house. As you can see from the photos they were a big hit!

Ahhh this is the life!

Jackson LOVES to swing. In fact, I think he loves to swing above all else. He will swing forever and says "No, no, no" when you ask him if he's done swinging yet. Well Grammy Cola (Mimi) just happens to have her own "swing" in her yard...a hammock! Of course Jackson LOVED it and didn't even want to share with Momma or Poppa. We are totally getting one next summer!

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy....

We all had a great time at the Aquarium! It even featured a H-U-G-E octupus and an one hundred year old lobster. Jackson adores fishies so he was in total heaven. Us big kids even got to pet some sting rays...SO cool!

Jackson and Breppin

Brekyn (or Breppin as Jackson says) was beyond wonderful with Jackson. He fell in love with her nearly right away and just had such a fun time with her. She played with him and doted on him the entire visit. It was so heartwarming to see them together. Breky could always make Jackson smile and would get him giggling when she chased him around the house. Here are Breky and Jackson on the computer together.

Traveling with a toddler is not for the faint of heart!

We just got back from visiting our adorable family in Utah. We were all so excited about the trip but I'll admit that I was also dreading having Jackson in an enclosed space up in the sky. I would not recommend flying with an 18 month old VERY active little boy. Jackson did not understand why he couldn't simply be free and run around in the plane and all the exciting toys and dvd's we brought would only entertain him for mere minutes. I honestly felt as if we were flying for days. Jackson did very well considering that he was trapped in his seat. He only did the ear piercing squeal/scream a few times on the way out there, as I died of embarrassment.

After Jackson took a little time to get to know everyone again (he hadn't seen his Utah peeps since he was 9 months old) he completely fell in love with Brekyn (Breppin), Auntie Jen, Auntie Emmy and Grammy (Mimi). He wasn't so sure about his little cousin Cooper who has to be one of the cutest and sweetest babies ever, and if you were holding Cooper Jackson wasn't too sure about you either. :)

We had a GREAT time! Family is very important to us and it's very special when we can spend time with our fab family. We went to a fantastic aquarium that Jackson totally loved. We also went to a fun children's museum that had amazing exhibits for kids. Utah is just breathtaking and the scenery itself is so very enjoyable.

We already miss everyone so very much and want to thank our family for everything! They completely spoiled us rotten. :)

"One of these things doesn't belong here..."

Ahhh life with a toddler. I had to get a picture of this because it made me laugh out loud. I went to the fridge to grab a snack and saw this looking back at me. Jackson loves to hang out in the fridge trying to decide what he wants to eat so he must have left his little friend there once he decided. :)

Where did my baby go??

I swear that Jackson is literally growing right before my eyes. With each day that passes he seems more and more like a little boy now. I love watching him learn new things each day. I try to see the world anew through his eyes.

I snapped a few pics today that are totally Jackson.

First pic....Yes a train can travel up the wall.

Second pic....Ohhh its a plane!!!!

Third pic...sharing some cheese with his big furry brother. I think the dogs think Jackson is a walking food dispenser.

Jackson is such a BIG boy now.

Tank ew Momma

Oh goodness my heart just melted the other day when I handed Jackson his sippy cup and he said "tank ew Momma" (thank you Momma). It was SO cute...I so wished I would have had the video camera running. He is very much into giving you things, giving anyone things like his cars, toys, dirt, weeds, rocks, wood chips etc etc and we say "thank you" when he shares so nicely. He also says "Ohhhh Momma, Ohhhh Poppa, Ohhhhh Hexi" and it just totally cracks us up. He says it in this tiny little voice just as happy as can be. As difficult as this age can be I am completely loving this part!

New Words/Phrases:
-cool car
-cool truck
-thank you
-bless you
-crayons
-Finnegan (Finnegineginegin LOL)
-Hexi
-phone
-pants
-Mickey Mouse (me-mouse)
-circle
-cute (usually said along with puppy)

Bwewbewwywhweey....

This boy LOOOOVES blueberries and will devour mass quantities in a very short time. Whenever he's eating them he says "bluebewwywherywhery..." in an almost sing song voice. It totally cracks me up. I think it is his own blueberry song. :)

I loooove my Poppa.

I snapped this picture of Jackson and Marky yesterday morning before Marky left for work. As soon as Jackson realized he was leaving he wanted Poppa to pick him up. He gave Marky such a HUGE hug. It was completely adorable. :) After Marky leaves for work Jackson will walk around saying "Poppa, Poppa??" all over the house. He sure does love his Poppa.