It's Christmastime Again!

I love Christmas! Hence the prompt blog makeover. But I still have to conclude documenting the month of November before too much time passes.

I will post pictures from Thanksgiving weekend, which includes but is not limited to Turkey Day, Andrew & Brandon's 3rd birthday, and our annual motorcycle trip to the desert.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow...

HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES

I know, I know! This is almost a month late, but hey, better late than never. That's my new moto since I've been the epitome of procrastination these last few months.

We've never been huge fans of Halloween, so these posts weren't such a priority. The only reason Halloween is even being mentioned is because of sweet little boys who are finally discovering the art of dressing up like superheros.



PUMPKIN PATCH


Amazingly, we set foot on our first pumpkin patch this year. It was fun to see the boys' eyes light up at all the fun rides/toys they had there. They weren't at all interested in picking out a pumpkin. We made them do that before allowing them anywhere near the entertainment.

And the winner is this lovely orange squash

NOW...on to the fun stuff, like riding ponies

This is an Eric Jacklin first. You saw it here! He actually BOUGHT a pumpkin!!!

Time to carve the jack-o-lantern

The finished product

TRUNK-OR-TREAT

We had a party at church the week before Halloween, followed by trunk-or-treating. The boys weren't crazy about putting on their costumes when I wanted them to, so we had to wait until they saw some of their friends all dressed up.

Cheese!!!

Brandon (left) as Obi Won Kenobi & Andrew (right) as Anakin Skywalker

the candy walk

getting ready to beg for candy

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Since the boys got enough candy to last them a few months the week before, we decided to forego walking the neighborhood in search of more sweets. Instead, we wound up at John's Incredible Pizza Co. We almost had the place to ourselves - it was great! Our timing was such that we were eating and playing games while everyone else was out pandering for candy. It didn't start to get crowded until we were on our way out the door at 8:00 p.m. This just might become a tradition...

Very exciting...the boys were FINALLY tall enough to go on their first "ride" - a mini-train roller coaster

I feel so safe...

Brandon got in trouble for giving his brother a goose-egg on his cheek

You can barely see it, but the goose-egg is there

Way back in October...

We were lucky to take two trips to Oak Glen within 2 weeks.


THE JACKLIN OAK GLEN OUTING


Eric's dad and brothers always have Mondays off and my sister-in-law, Jamie had it off for Columbus Day (my poor mother-in-law actually had to work) so we all headed up to where the air is a little tiny bit clearer to pick out some pumpkins. We met up at Riley's Farm and wandered around checking out all the cool stuff.

Grandpa and the boys

The backsides of the Jacklin brothers

(not to be confused with the Jonas brothers)

Slim pickin's at the pumpkin patch

So we resorted to playing with the display pumpkins

And checking out the local "wildlife"

...and playing in trees

What more could two boys want?

Daddy & Grandpa

3rd Annual Oak Glen Playgroup Field Trip

The following week, we went back up to Oak Glen with our playgroup friends to check out the pumpkin patch at Los Rios Rancho.