Santa Claus Is Coming Came To Town!

Every year our local police department assists Santa in visiting all the children in our city! Starting in the beginning of December they loan Santa some police cars and, since his magic only works on Christmas Eve, they map out the best routes in order for him to be able to visit as many streets as possible before he needs to head back to the North Pole to work on his Naughty Or Nice lists. Grammy sent me Santa's schedule ahead of time (thanks, Grammy!), and on the day that Santa was scheduled to arrive on our street, we invited my parents over to meet Santa, too!

We went for a "walk" around the block to look at all the Christmas lights as we waited for Santa's sleigh to arrive

Note: Two days before this my dad had undergone a long-overdue surgery. Hence, the wheelchair. I guess 30 years of running 5 miles almost every day will do that to you... and that is yet another reason I am not a runner.

Then suddenly we heard Santa's sleigh coming, and Dave threw Jack up onto his shoulders so that Jack wouldn't miss seeing his sleigh come around the corner!


And then, Jack got to sit with Santa! I told him to make sure that he told Santa what he wanted for Christmas, and I'm pretty sure Jack specifically asked him for a Candy Cane for Christmas. How fun that he got just what he wanted!


Jack loves Santa, but he didn't want to linger on his lap. He was anxious to get down because he wanted to see the police cars! That hasn't changed, though, that's the only thing he was interested in last year, too!


And then, with a wink and a smile he drove out of sight...


"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Gingerbread House Choo Choo Train!

I was so excited to help Jack make a gingerbread house this year! Last year Jack was interested in making the house for about a minute before deciding that he'd rather read books and I ended up making pretty much the whole thing all by myself... I didn't even take a picture! I was so hopeful that he'd have more interest this year, so I decided that I'd let him pick out the kit we'd use for the house all by himself. I took him to Target, found the aisle and shelf with the gingerbread houses, and showed them to him.

Me: Okay Jack, which gingerbread house would you like to make?
Jack: Ummm... the Choo Choo Train!!!
Me: What? That's not what I asked! Which gingerbread house do you want to make?
Jack: I want to make the Choo Choo Train!
Me: You can't make a choo choo train! What kind of choo choo train?!
Jack: I want to make a gingerbread choo choo train!
Me (finally noticing that there was a kit for a gingerbread choo choo train one shelf below the houses that I was looking at): Oooooooh that choo choo train!

It was perfect! A gingerbread choo choo train would be much more likely to hold Jack's interest than a gingerbread house! He adores trains! Score!!!

So I called my mom and asked if she'd like to participate in the gingerbread fun, and then we called Grammy and invited her over, too! We decided that my mom's house had much better space for decorating, so we all headed over there! And, it was a Tuesday, so Baby Luke got to participate as well- when he was awake, that is!

First, I helped Jack 'glue' the pieces together while grandma took pictures...

Then my back couldn't take it anymore and grandma helped Jack.



Once the train was assembled, Jack went to town with the candy! First he was more interested in pouring all the candy from one bowl into the other bowl and back again, but then we showed him how fun it was to put the candy on the train, and he got the hang of it quickly!


Luke woke up for some Grammy cuddles...


And then decided to sit in his throne to oversee the train-making


Jack put the finishing touches on the train



Once he decided that the train was perfect, he was ready to play with the real train... the train that runs under grandma and grandpa's Christmas Tree! He had so much fun with that train!



I was so glad that we were able to make the gingerbread train rather than just a gingerbread house, and it was so much fun to make!


Of course, most of the candy ended up in the caboose, but hey, if that's how Jack thought it should be, then that's fine with me!

A Pair Of Pirates

When Baby Luke came over wearing a pirate outfit, Jack starting freaking out. "Momma, I want to be a pirate, too!" So we put him in his costume from Halloween and the two boys had a fun time "playing" pirates together!

This 'face' is because he wanted me to go in the other room so he could play with Baby Luke all by himself


He's not squishing him, I promise!


Still not squishing, despite the look on Luke's face!


These Pirates are just too adorable for words :)

Knott's Berry Merry Farm!

Two years ago for Dave's birthday, we went to Knott's Berry Merry Farm to celebrate because they were having their special Firefighters-And-Their-Spouse-Get-In-Free promotion and all three of us were able to walk right in! This year, they were doing the same promotion, so a few days after Dave's birthday we walked right in again! This time, though, we brought my mom and my sister and baby Luke (part of the promotion is that firefighters can get up to 6 guests in for only $15 each, which was a huge discount!). We spent most of our time in Camp Snoopy, of course, and Jack was such a good boy! We had such an awesome time, and Jack has been talking about Knott's Berry Merry Farm and the rides he went on ever since! Get ready for lots of pictures!

Jack was so little compared to all the other kids on this ride...


But he loved it!


Baby Luke had an awesome time...


As we waited for Jack and Dave to ride the Giant Skateboard (which Jack declared to be his favorite ride there)




Jack's totally looking at this girl like "What is she doing in my airplane?!" But I felt so bad for her... she was so sweet and gave up her seat in a different plane because her little brother was crying that he wanted to ride with their other brother. Then she got in the back of Jack's plane and Jack was so enthralled with the ride that he forgot to 'drive' the plane up and down by pulling the stick, so they just circled around the bottom the whole time! She was a good sport, though.


Next we waited in anticipation for the train! It was Luke's first train ride and I'm sure that he'll come to love them just as much as his big cousin does!




Jack and Grandma rode in the hot air balloons (Jack wanted to ride in the one with the stars on the balloon!)




And then Jack found a ride (with a very, um, interesting name) that he got to work all by himself! He did great pumping the car to make it go... that is, until he crashed into the girl in front of him which caused the boy behind him to crash into Jack. After that Jack just kept his eyes on that little boy!






By then, Luke was about ready for lunch


And after lunch Jack Jack spied another train that he wanted to ride on...


So we took him on it, of course


And then we took Jack to see Santa, who was hanging out at Knott's Berry Merry Farm for the day


I don't know what Jack told him...


But whatever he said earned him a candy cane, which he was very excited about!


Then we headed back over to Camp Snoopy, where Jack Jack and Auntie Mimi played on a barrel bridge...


... Jack Jack and grandma rode on Lucy's Crazy Tugboat ride...




... and Jack rode the 'helicopter' ride! He loved this one. He kept saying "It's like a helicopter and I'm like the propeller!" Of course, he mostly stared at the center the whole time, because it was spinning! Spinning is his favorite!




And then it was time to go home... but not before I took one last picture! Two years ago when we brought Jack Jack to Knott's Berry Merry Farm, I took a picture of him next to this wagon wheel. That wheel had been there as long as I could remember, and I thought that it would be a fun tradition to take a picture of him next to it every time we went (much like the bunny pictures I take of him). I almost had a heart attack when the wagon wasn't in its usual spot this year, but I found it!

Jack Jack and the wheel, 8 months old


Jack Jack and the wheel, 2 years and 8 months old

What a difference!

Yes, I know the wheels look slightly different. I'm pretending not to notice on purpose!