Last day of February....come on Spring!

Yesterday Jack and I made birdfood treats to hang in the trees, but by the time they were done, it was too dark out to hang them.

So Jack and I bundled ourselves up to head outside to hang them all over the yard!  Jack placed a few in the pine trees next to the house, then I placed one in our HUGE tree in the backyard and the last one on the shepards hook next to our deck!  Hopefully we'll see some nice birds soon!



I think Jack was trying to get into the spring spirit...he brought out his lawn mower...

Soon, buddy, spring will be here!

Pet Store and Bird Treats!

Today Jack and I headed for a quick trip to the pet store...Petco always has something that can make Jack happy!  The animals of the day??  Mice and a snake!  Jack even got to pet the snake......ewwww!

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The second half of our day involved making birdseed treats for our feathered friends outside!  We love feeding all of the birds, and this project seemed perfect!

Jack and I mixed up some birdseed, water and gelatin and filled up cupcake tins.  We used a straw in each one to make a hole for the string  to go through after!  Popped them in the refrigerator for about an hour, strung some string through the hole and they were ready to go!  Jack was pretty excited that we were going to hang them up in the pine trees outside to watch the birds from the playroom!

A quiet day at home...

Today we stayed home...it's the 3rd day of rainy miserable weather...

After playing trucks all morning, Jack came up with the idea of making cupcakes!  That sounded good to me, I had bought some pirate cupcake liners and flags and had them tucked away and today was the perfect day to bring them out!  Jack was very happy, he thought the skull and crossbones flag was very cool!

As you can see, by the time he was ready to add the flags, he had already inhaled a cupcake (or should I say he licked the frosting off and took a couple of bites...leaving the rest)  He's got a 'chocolate goatee'. 

Jack also got another postcard in the mail today from Holland...it's from a theme park there!  Jack really liked the polar bear slide and the tree house on it.  He said we should go there, and honestly, I'm all for it!  But I don't see us traveling there any time soon!

Today is Library Day!

Every Wednesday morning, we head over to the library for the toddler story time!  Jack really enjoys this...

The kids got to listen to 2 stories, one about a snowman, and the other story about different animals when the snow comes...Jack liked the second one especially because it had a moose in it!  We missed Miss Anne today, she wasn't there to read the stories, but Miss Kathy was there!

Jack, of course, loved the last part of the class where the kids get to do a craft!  They put cotton balls and pom-poms on a mitten and colored it...it looked like the one from the first story!

After library, we met Auntie Mel and Luke at McDonalds for some lunch and play on the big tree house!  Jack really loves playing there, although usually if other kids are on it, he gets too overwhelmed to play on it, but today he was right up there with all the kids and had a blast!  He loves playing with his cousin Lukie...they are best buddies!

A quick stop to Target afterwards landed us some great deals...they always have tons of stuff on clearance...today we got a couple of pairs of Osh Kosh adjustable waist jeans for Jack....half price! 

Jack also spotted something in the 'dollar bins' at the front door...a ceramic egg that you plant seeds in to grow daisies!  He is looking forward to a garden this year...last years didn't work out so well! 

Jack mushed up the 'pellet' with some water...pretty cool  because it turned to dirt!!  We then put the dirt in the egg, and Jack planted the seeds....now we wait......

Mystic Village and another craft!

Yesterday, Jack and I met Auntie Scoot and Riley at Mystic Village!!  It was such a beautiful day, and we knew the next 5 days would be cold and snowy, so we wanted to take advantage of it!!

We went to some very nice stores, and of course, looked for POSTCARDS!  We purchased some duck food and fed the ducks at the pond too!!

Jack was a little nervous at first, he thought he would get hurt if he let them eat out of his hand, but I showed him that it tickled my hand.  Soon he had a lot of new duck friends!!

These ducks obviously are pretty used to people being around!!  As you can see...Jack had a great time!

Nothing better to top off our afternoon than ICE CREAM!  Jack enjoyed chocolate with sprinkles, and Auntie Scoot and I had some grasshopper sundaes!  Poor Riley, always missing out on the ice cream!!  Soon, pretty girl, you'll be getting your own big sundae!

Jack and I came home to SIX postcards in the mailbox!!  Three from Greece, and one each from New Zealand, Belgium, and Portugal!!  Our map will be filled up in no time!

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Today, Jack and I stayed home, really nasty weather outside, snow one minute, rain the next and mud everywhere!!

Jack wanted to add to his craft wall, so he decided on a sea star to put next to his submarine and jellyfish! Check out this great job he did, and he even wrote his name at the top (and made a sun!)  I am so proud of him, he'll be ready for school in no time!!

Jack also got 2 postcards in the mail today, one from Canada and one from Switzerland!  I thought that one was very cute!!  It has a bunny named Felix riding a bike and handing out mail and postcards all over the world!  How fitting!! 

Fun with the animals!

Yesterday we went to the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic! 

It's been a few years since we've been there, but this time Jack was older and could actually enjoy all of the exhibits!  He wasn't even one the last time we went!  I don't know why we don't go more often...it's not too far from us and the kids really enjoy it!

Here are some of the pictures we took while we were there....

Mining for Gold!

Today Jack and I went to a place in Old Saybrook called The Lucky 33 Gemstone Flume Mine!  A friend told us about it after taking her daughter there and thought Jack would like it too!  Boy, did he!
We had originally met up with Auntie Scoot and baby Riley for lunch, stopped at a couple stores, then it was on to the mine!!

You purchase a bucket filled with sand and gems and a scoop!  You are then brought over to the flume, with rushing water...scoop some of the dirt into the screen, dip it in the water, give it a little shake and you have a pile of gems!! 

The owner comes over with a flashlight and shows you how cool the rocks look with the light shining through it and helps you identify them!  Jack found some really nice colors in his gems. 

Next stop for today was a visit at Grandmas!  We haven't seen her this week and she had some really cute Valentines gifts and a card for Jack!

Our last special treat of the day was coming home and finding a postcard in the mailbox!  It's from Dublin, Ireland!!  Time to add it to our map!

Submarine, postcards and bulldozers!

Today we thought we'd stay home to give Jacks cold one more day to make it's way outta here!

Jack wanted to make a submarine today...not too sure where that idea came from, but I remembered one of my craft books had a simple stencil for making one out of cardstock!

I love Jacks face when he is really concentrating...the tongue is ALWAYS out!  My mom said I always did the same thing when I was younger!

I think Jacks submarine came out pretty nice, and we hung it up in the living room for everyone to see!  Another masterpiece!

Next up for today...postcards!!  Jack and I mailed out 6 today...Lithuania, China, Kenya, India, Taiwan, and Switzerland! 

These are a couple of the cards we've received so far...they are from Canada and Netherlands!  How cool is that!

Naptime, or should I say 'no nap time'.  Jack went up to bed for his nap, but I could tell he was too busy playing in his room to be sleeping!  After about 1/2 hour, he yelled down that he found a surprise in his closet...okay, that makes me kind of nervous.

Thankfully, it ended up being a cardboard standup that he had at his birthday party 6 months ago...he must have forgotten that he had it, because he was SOOOOOO excited!! 

Now, it's time for work for me, so we'll talk soon!

More snow!

Well, I haven't posted in the last couple of days because both Jack and I have been sick...I'm feeling a lot better but Jack is still pretty sick. But, I wanted to get back on here and let everyone know what we've been doing the last few days!

We woke up this morning to more snow....I wish I can say I am happy about this. The last time I was happy about snow was MANY years ago when I was still in school and was looking forward to a snow day! :)

Jack was pretty excited to see it...he ran into the bathroom, got on his stool and used his binoculars to check out the backyard yelling, "Momma! There is snow everywhere! It's even on my playscape!"

Yes, I think his binoculars are backwards! LOL!

We also made a sock puppet. Jack saw a kids show where they made one, and that's all he's talked about for days! So, we whipped one up...we decided it should be a dinosaur! I think it came out pretty cute!

I was VERY excited today...we received three postcards today from our Postcrossing.com project!!! Today we got one from Canada, one from the Netherlands, and one from Finland!! We'll add that one to our world map in the playroom with our Germany postcard! This really is addicting to me!! I get Jack pretty excited about it too...he thinks it's cool that they had to fly in an airplane to get to us!!

Have a great day everyone!!

More Valentines Day Fun!

Last night, Jack wanted to paint a wooden fish that we bought for Daddy as one of his Valentines Day presents...He was so excited about it and before the paint even dried he gave it to him! Daddy said that it must be a rainbow trout because of all of the really cool colors!

Today, Jack worked on his other gifts for Daddy...a pet rock and a centipede! Jack loves painting, and he had a lot of fun with making these for him! For whatever reason, there was this really smooth rock in the upstairs closet...it's been there since we bought the house. Jack saw a kids program where they made a pet rock and he HAD to make one. This rock worked out perfectly! Look how cute it is!!

We also hung up our world map in the playroom for our Postcrossing project! So far, we have received one postcard from a person in Germany, and I pinpointed where on the map it came from and put how far it traveled to get to us! 3,621 miles to be exact...all the way from Moenchengladbach, Germany! We are really looking forward to getting many more postcards from all over the world!!

Speaking of mail....Jack got his first Sticker Swap mail today and was a very excited little guy!! His 'friend' Megan from Washington state sent him a nice Valentine and some great stickers!! Thanks to Megan and to Amanda from 'Funny Days with Mommy & Maddie' for organizing this fun sticker swap!

Valentines fun with Riley and Auntie Scoot!

Today we met Jacks cousin Riley and Auntie Scoot at Coldstone Ice Cream for some ice cream and to exchange Valentines treats!
Jack checked out all of the yummy flavors of ice cream and all of the toppings and decided on Cotton Candy with M&M's! Not quite the combination I would choose, but I think he liked the bright blue color of the ice cream!

Jack also got an awesome gift bag filled with some great stuff! Auntie Scoot and Riley gave Jack a DVD with his favorite shows, a card, a candy heart and a Thomas the Tank Engine Pez dispenser!! VERY COOL! Jack was a happy little guy!!

Jack gave Riley a stuffed bear and a new sippy cup (and a hand made card that she should get in the mail today!) Check out this little sweetie!! =============>

We also picked up a world map poster for the playroom...Jack and I both have accounts now with Postcrossing.com. We are going to pinpoint where all of our postcards come from and where we send them to on the map! This should be a great lesson in geography and culture! (even if Jack is a little young to understand!)

Another snow day!!

Well, as expected, Jacks Valentines Day party was cancelled at the library due to the snow....total bummer! (but LOTS of cupcakes for us to now eat!!)

We have a lot of snow coming down, and as soon as it starts snowing, we end up with a bunch of little birds that show up on our deck looking for some food...so we put out a little tray of food to keep them happy!! (and it also entertains Jack as well as our cats and dog!)

We also thought it would be fun to make some hand-made Valentines Day cards to mail out to family, so out come the craft supplies!!

We decided to make 'stained glass' hearts on a card!! We used tissue paper, clear contact paper, and some cardstock for this project...

Jack liked sticking all of the tissue paper to the contact paper, and I got to work cutting out a heart in the cardstock!

Jack also got some practice writing his name, and signed 5 of these cards!! He did such a great job...check out these letters!!! I wrote them down on a different paper, and he copied them!!

Valentines 'Buttcakes'!

Today Jack and I made some cupcakes ('buttcakes' according to Jack) for his Toddler Programs Valentines Day Party! Of course, we are supposed to get about a foot of snow tomorrow, so their is a good chance it's going to get cancelled but I didn't want to take the chance. (Darn, we may have to eat all of these cupcakes ourselves!)

This was Jacks first time doing it pretty much on his own...and he was very proud!

He even used the mixer....he told me to 'be careful, it could be dangerous'!!! LOL!!

GREAT JOB JACK!! I LOVE YOU!!