Staying warm!

A very cold night and morning for us here....it was bad enough it's been 20 degrees outside with a blizzard, but we also ran out of oil.  Add to that, when the oil was delivered and we went to start up the furnace, it didn't work.  We had to have a repairman come out to fix it before we had heat and hot water! 

So Jack and I put on about 10 extra layers of clothes, and curled up together on the couch under a big comforter to keep warm.

At least this sweet little face still warmed my heart which was all that mattered!!!

We had so much fun snuggling up together, reading some of Jacks new books he got for Christmas from his Auntie Kris and Uncle Rhett.  After a couple of hours, the repairman came and the house warmed up!!     

Now we are off to Chili's for dinner...Daddy and I got some gift cards from my nephew Kevin and his girlfriend Rhionn, and we are going to enjoy a night out.  Jack is pretty excited about that too!!

We're Back!

Well, it's been about 5 months since we've posted here.  I thought I should get back into it again, so I thought I would start with Christmas!! 

It's been an interesting holiday this year, I've been suffering from a herniated disc, causing me quite a bit of pain, so it's been pretty tough to get into the spirit as much as I would like to!

But Jack is at such a great age this year, being 4.  He is full of the fun of Christmas...asking all sorts of questions about Santa Claus, and very much into decorating the house!!

Jack left a note for Santa this year next to his bed, along with some cookies, candy canes and a few pictures he colored for him.  He wanted Santa to come into his bedroom.

I took this photo of him sound asleep....dreaming, I'm sure, of Santa coming down the chimney!!

It took him a while to fall asleep...too excited!  He finally did though, and actually slept pretty late, which was a surprise to me!!







Christmas morning, Jack came downstairs to find a tree with so many presents underneath!  He took his time though, looking at everything for a while before moving on to the next one.  Here are a few of the photos from Christmas morning...

Jack got some great gifts this year from Santa.....a R/C Jeep, a TAG reading system, a LeapFrog Explorer, some puzzles, books, and racetracks!

Jack really likes Jeeps, and one of the things he really wanted was a Jeep.  He probably wanted a real one, but this one will have to do until he is a bit older.....(and has his own money!)  We opened presents, got dressed, had some breakfast then headed over to Namies house.  (Jacks grandmother) 

While we were there, we spent some time with Daddys family, had a yummy lunch and then opened some more presents.  Then we were on our way.....one more stop to go!

We headed down to Grandmas house, where we had some time with my family.  We got to see Jacks cousin Kevin, who we don't see too often because he lives in Boston!  We had dinner there, then had our traditional grab-bag.  We wrap lots of presents in aluminum foil, and have everyone take turns picking a present!  Lots of good stuff this year, and Jack made out quite well with the kids grab-bag.

He also got a special present from Auntie Arlene and Uncle Ed, who couldn't make it.  It was a Hess truck with a jet plane on the back of it!  Each year, they get Jack a Hess truck...he loves them!

Jack also got a camera from Grandma and Grandpa...a real one, so I'm sure we'll be seeing some of his pictures on here soon too!  :)

One of the presents Jack received at Grandmas house was a Paper Jamz guitar from Auntie Scoot and Riley!  He loves playing it....he's a real rock star!

That's about it for today...now that I've gotten this page done, hopefully I will be better about keeping up with this blog.  Keep checking back for more fun!

Halloween!!

This Halloween, Jack decided that he wanted to be a firefighter!  I guess it's in the family....my father was a firefighter, my step-father is also.  My Uncle, cousins, and many other family members are as well!  I found a cute costume at the Halloween store in town and I really liked how 'real' it seemed!

Our first Halloween activity was Trick - or - trunk that Jacks school does for the kids in town.  They have people with their trunks of the car open, filled with candy all lined up in the parking lot at Lisbon Meadows Park and the kids go from car to car filling up their bag with candy!  Some of the people handing out candy were even dressed up! 

Then after the getting lots of candy, we all took a bus over to the school where Jack played games, had a drink and some snacks and saw lots of his friends!!

This is Jack and his friend Simon!

And this is his friend Autumn...doesn't she look like such a pretty princess??

And another princess, Jacks friend Avery from his class!!

And we also ran into Danny, who was the cutest cowboy there!!


















We all had a great time, and we were definitely ready for bed after all of this fun!!

First Day of School!!!!

Today was Jacks first day of preschool!!  He is so excited!!  He was up nice and early, showered and ready to go with his Diego backpack!!  It was such a hot day that Jack ended up wearing shorts!

I was so surprised that Jack wasn't nervous at all about going off on his own to school.  Usually during playgroup, he sticks with me and won't go off to play with the other kids.  I didn't know what to expect today.  But as you can see, he looked pretty excited!

Daddy came home from work just before the bus was supposed to come so that he could see Jack off too!  Grandma, Namie, Auntie Scoot and Riley also came!  It was such an exciting day!!

I wish I can say it went without a hitch, but it seemed that anything that could go wrong, did go wrong!  First off, they gave us a bus pickup time and we were prepared for that, but the bus came 1/2 hour early and we missed it!  I called the bus company explaining they told us it would be later, so they came back so that Jack would be able to take the bus into school. 

Then, while we were waiting for it, I fell down the stairs, twisting my ankle pretty badly.  Then while getting ice for my ankle, Jack got stung by a bee on his lip!  It just barely stung him, and the stinger wasn't in there, but it was enough to scare Jack and it hurt a bit! 

But, finally, the bus came, and Jack hopped right up on it, saying goodbye to us as he quickly found a seat. 

He looked out the window and waved as the bus drove off.  Such a brave little guy!!

As the bus drove off, I hopped in my car and raced to the school to see Jack get off the bus, and to make sure he was okay.  Daddy had to go back to work.  When I got to the school, the bus was just pulling up and Miss Brown went right over to help him off the bus!! 

I went with him to his classroom where he had a chance to meet the assistant teacher, Mrs. Long!

Jack came home 3 1/2 hours later, excited about his first day.  They read stories, colored, and sang songs!!  Lots of fun!!

Preschool orientation!!

Today is Jacks preschool orientation!!  He found out that his teacher will be Miss Brown and that he will be going to the afternoon session. 

Orientation day, they pick the kids and their parents up on the school bus and let the kids see what it's like to take a bus. 

Daddy had a meeting at work, so he wasn't able to go, but Jack and I hopped on the school bus when it stopped by our house!  Jack was excited, but a bit nervous.  He isn't used to how the bus bounces all around when it goes over the bumpy roads, and when we hit a big bump, Jack bumped his head on the window....ouch!

We got to school, and found his classroom and Miss Brown!  She is very nice and there are so many fun things in the classroom...toys, books, and a train table!! 

Miss Brown talked to the parents, handed out folders with school information and talked to the kids.  She even read them a story!  I have a feeling that Jack is going to LOVE school!!  And I know he is going to love Miss Brown!!

Jacks going to school!!!

I can't believe Jack is old enough for school already!!  It seems like just yesterday he was a little baby, just taking those first steps, but here it is, time for preschool!!

All the paperwork has been filled out, Jack had his physical, and now we are going to preschool screening!

Jack and I went to the school where they 'tested' him on various things to see where he stands both with language, perception, what he knows so far.  He met with one of the school readiness teachers.  I was quite sure he would be nervous, cling to my leg and not speak to anyone, but he really proved me wrong!!

The first test was seeing if he could stack blocks in the same way the teacher built hers...he did pretty good, you could tell he was really thinking about it, and when he couldn't quite do it exactly like hers, he looked at her and said, "it's not really the same, but it's pretty close!".   :)

Then he had to sort little plastic bears by color and size, which he had no problem with at all.

Next, the teacher read him 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.  He talked about the story with her as she read it, asking questions and explaining to her that butterflies have wings so that they can fly, and that ladybugs also have wings to fly.  (That's my boy!!)

The last thing he did was draw a picture of anything he wanted.  It looked like a big scribble to me, but when she asked him what it was, he said it was a monster.  When she asked where it lived, he said "Africa"!  See that, he already knows geography!!  :):)

Afterwards, we stopped at McDonalds for a Happy Meal then went to a playground nearby for a picnic lunch, some playtime and geocaching!! 

It's been a long few weeks!

Well, we had our vacation a few weeks ago in New Hampshire, came home, then it all went downhill from there!

Mark (Daddy) ended up getting pretty sick, (more sick than I've ever seen him!) and it lasted almost 2 weeks!  Then midway through him being sick, I ended up sick with the same thing!  It's been a very long month.  I'm still not 100% yet, but I'm on my way!  Thankfully, Jack managed to come out of this with nothing...hopefully it stays this way.  But, now that I am thinking about it, he was actually sick FIRST!   He had a stomach bug and fever, where Mark and I had an incredibly horrible sore throat, coughing and a fever. 

Anyway, I've been trying to sneak in a few little day trips with Jack to keep him busy.  These are some of our highlights...

We've managed to find a couple of  'cool enough' days to play outside on the playscape!!  And on the really hot days, we've done a couple of crafts!

We've celebrate 4th of July with some sparklers and a fireworks show!

We went to the Connecticut River to watch the boats go by...although we were hoping to try out the ferry!  (It was closed!)  And of course, we spent some time with Jacks cousin Riley!!

We've played some baseball in the yard.....

.....and did some exploring!!

We went down to Hopeville Pond State Park and played in the water...

....and took some time to splash each other after Daddy tried to teach Jack to swim!

And yesterday, we went to the Westbrook Carnival!  Jack got to ride in the front of a real fire truck around town, he rode a ferris wheel and carousel for the first time, and rode on all of the other kids rides too!

Well, I hope that you enjoyed our little photo album of our fun these last few weeks!!  Check back soon for more fun adventures!!

Last few days of vacation...

Well, our vacation is coming to an end, but we've had such a great time!  (Check out our last post for our New Hampshire visit pictures!)

We've done a couple of fun things the last couple of days...

We went bowling (Jacks first time!!)....In this shot, Jack just picked up a spare!!!  He was so excited!!!

Daddy helped Jack push the ball down the lane, and I have to say, Jack did pretty good.  So good, as a matter of fact, that he beat Daddys score!! 

Yesterday, we went to Gillette's Castle.  I haven't been there since I was much younger.  My parents used to take us here! 

It was a nice afternoon, and from the castle grounds, you can see the Connecticut River down below.  Jack enjoyed watching the ferry bring cars back and forth across the river and liked the jet skis and boats travel up and down the river!  Next time we go, we'll have to take the ferry so Jack can go on it.  I always loved doing that as a child!

Jack loved being up on the balconies outside of the castle.  Jack and Daddy played hide and seek up there, hiding behind the old columns!  I caught Jack peeking down to the ground below and snapped this shot.  I love his playful look!!

I love the look of the stones and rocks that were used to make the castle....I think it makes a nice backdrop!!

After we checked out the castle, we went down to the pond by this really neat bridge.  There were picnic tables, fire pits, and LOTS of frogs!

Daddy caught this HUGE bullfrog!!  He had a hard time holding him, he just wanted to jump back into the pond, but when Jack held him, he just sat there, nice and calm.  Jack just had him on top of his hands, not even 'holding' on to him and he didn't move! 

We had a great time, and we will definitely be back probably this week!  I know Auntie Scoot and Riley will want to check it out and get some pictures too!  Besides, we weren't here very long, so we need some more time to check out the trails and maybe find a geocache or two!!