A day in the life of Jack

Snow, snow and more snow!

2011-01-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

We had our first blizzard of this winter about a week and a half ago. They were predicting almost two feet of snow, although we didn't get that much. The wind was wicked, with gusts up to 65 m.p.h. and sustained winds of about 40 m.p.h.! There were some spots that had several feet of snow due to drifts created by all of the wind, then other spots there was barely a dusting, you could still see the grass!

After all of the winds had died down and the storm was over, we were finally able to head out and play!!

Jack and Daddy had so much fun flying down the little hill on the side of our house! We even tried to see if Sasha wanted to ride on the sled, but she just wanted to roll around in the snow!

We made a little path down the hill, and Jack loved going down by himself too!

Jack thought it would be pretty funny to throw snowballs at Daddy and I too....and I might add that his throwing ability is getting better and better as I was covered with snow in no time!!

Jack and I (with a bit of help from Daddy!) built a snowman too! We couldn't find a scarf, so we used a red towel, and used Jacks old hat from when he was younger for his hat! The day we built this snowman, it had warmed up quite a bit, and within a couple of hours, poor 'Frosty' was leaning over quite a bit. By morning, he was a big pile of snow on the ground!

Looks like there is more snow in the forecast for this weekend, so we'll have to see what fun we can come up with then!!

Staying warm!

2010-12-28T15:27:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

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!!

2010-10-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2010-09-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

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!!

2010-08-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-07-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

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!!

Vacation!! Woo Hoo!! (Lots of Pictures!!)

2010-06-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our vacation started this past weekend. We started off with Father's Day, which we celebrated Saturday, because we were going to be on the road on Sunday...

Jack sure loves his Daddy!! (me too for that matter!) They are best buddies, going fishing together, hiking, playing games and spending a lot of quality time together. He is a great dad!!!

Jack made Daddy a special box to keep all of his knick-knacks. Jack chose the color to paint it, the wooden 'I love Dad', and the pictures to put on it. He chose all pictures of the two of them doing things together. Daddy loved it!!

Early Sunday morning, we headed up to New Hampshire!! We rented a small cabin on the Pemi River in Lincoln. We were pretty excited, it's the first vacation we've gone away for since before Jack was born.

Here are some of the pictures from the trip!

This was taken at The Lost River Gorge. We got to walk through caves, some of the spots were so narrow, we had to crawl on our belly to get through! It was very cool!

The next day, we went to Clark's Trading Post! There is so much to do there! Train rides, a trained bear show, bumper boats, rock walls, segway rides, and stores and museums to see! Jack had his first train ride!! (and second!) As you can see, he was so excited!!!

We took lots of drives....we saw huge mountains, beautiful streams and rivers, fed ducks on the pond, and even saw some pretty cool animals along the way! We saw beavers, turkeys, and foxes!! This friendly guy came right over to our car before continuing on his journey down the road!

Jack loved skimming rocks in the rivers and streams too!

We got to see the moon rise above the mountains....

...and got a little silly

Jack loved spending time with his sisters!!

On our last day, before we headed home, Jack got to play his first game of mini-golf! He did pretty good, considering he had his own idea of how you should do it! (which included kicking the ball with his foot and just dropping the ball in the hole from above!)

Well, it's only Wednesday...we still have the rest of the week to enjoy our vacation time...stay tuned for more pictures!!

Sunny Days!!

2010-06-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well, despite a few rainy days, we've had our share of nice sunny ones!! We've done all sorts of things this week...

We went strawberry picking!! These strawberries were HUGE!! We also made some yummy strawberry jam too!!

We played on the swings.....

And played with Sasha (who, by the way, is Jacks bestest buddy!)

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We did have a rainy day or two in between, so we pretty much hung out and played in the house. Jack and I built some really nice log cabins with his Lincoln Logs....

Thankfully, the rain didn't last, so we were out and about again.....next adventure?? Mystic Seaport!

We went there with Auntie Scoot and baby Riley for some picture taking. Jack really like the big ships and tug boats!!

And, to top off the week, we went geocaching. We found 4 more caches....Jack especially liked where this one was hidden... on a huge tank!

Well, we have some special stuff coming up, so check back soon for some more adventures!

Momma's got a new toy!!

2010-06-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

There's good news, and there is bad news.....

The bad news is, my camera messed up another memory card and I lost about 100 pictures. The good news (really good news) is Mark was planning on getting me a Canon Digital SLR camera for my birthday in November, and decided that an early birthday present would be a good idea!! I am a very happy lady!! Of course, it's a fancier camera than I am used to, and at this point, I have only figured out how to take pictures on the 'automatic' setting...I have A LOT of learning to do!! By the way....I love you Mark!!

The funny thing is, on Thursday, the day my camera was delivered, it was actually Marks birthday!! So my first pictures are of Mark and Jack with his birthday cupcake! (We are celebrating with a real cake today - Saturday!)

Jack was very excited for Daddys birthday...he even came up with the idea for presents for him. He said, "We NEED to get Daddy a book on hunting and a jiu jitsu book!!" So off to Borders we went and Jack picked out some really nice books. We also found him a "Rocky" t-shirt and got him a Cabellas Gift card to help out with his upcoming project: The man cave. (Marks tough guy room!)

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We've spent some time down at Hopeville Pond State Park too over the last few days. We went with Auntie Scoot and Riley to play in the sand and water.....

....and we also went fishing there with Daddy last night!!

Jack and Daddy caught a few crappies!

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Jack and I also went geocaching....although didn't have too much luck. I did, however, get this really cute shot of Jack walking behind me as we were leaving the woods....

I looked back as we were walking and saw him like this...it looked so cute, but I knew if I stopped and turned around, he would have looked up and I wouldn't have been able to capture this moment. So I took a 'one in a million' chance. I held the camera at my side while I was walking, without even seeing where it was aiming, and I pushed the button. Just once. It came out exactly how I was hoping!!

I also took a few pictures of random flowers just for fun:

Poor Jack is going to have to get used to me always stopping to take a picture....

Well, off to get ready for hubbys birthday party....have a great weekend!!

Always on the go!

2010-06-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a busy last few days (as usual!).

We've been all over and brought the camera with us.....

This is my family...it was sooooo hot out, but all we had was this pool for Jack, so we all got in it and cooled our feet off! We even made a whirlpool!

My sister, Kathy (A.K.A. Auntie Scoot) and I have started to take pictures for a website called Blipfoto. You can submit one picture a day, but it needs to be taken on that day...so we've been kind of obsessive about taking tons of pictures to find a good one...these are some of the shots we've gotten...

Jack, Auntie Scoot, Riley and I went to Devil's Hopyard and got this shot of the covered bridge!

Auntie Scoot took this one of Jack and I on the bridge...I like this one of us!!

We found this old barn and took some pictures of it as we were leaving Devil's Hopyard, I love how the buoys stand out against the red of the barn!

Of course we couldn't resist some pictures of the adorable Miss Riley! She had fun sitting in the grass playing with rocks!

This farm is right down the street from me, and I love the old red tractor out in front. I thought I'd grab this shot...the sun was hitting the tractor perfectly and I loved the clouds over the field!

Jack and spotted this dragonfly while at Pachaug State Forest...check out his face...it looks like he is smiling for the camera!

Jack really enjoyed sitting on this little bridge. He was having so much fun looking for frogs and fish!

Our last picture today is of a little friend that came to see Jack (okay, really his ice cream!) This bird came over, stuck his face in Jacks ice cream and stole some sprinkles!!

Oh! And you need to check this out.....go to http://www.funnydayswithmommyandmaddie.blogspot.com! They are having a great giveaway! You can win one of two Rumba watches! Check these out, they are totally fun for the summer!

A hot weekend!

2010-06-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jacks cousin Riley came over for a swim in the pool! Jack and Riley had so much fun splashing and it really cooled them off! Riley especially liked to splash just like she does in the bathtub!!

Later in the evening, we got a little fire going outside and toasted marshmallows!! YUM! We had fun watching Sydney try to NOT burn the marshmallows, but everytime she tried to toast one, it caught on fire! Jack thought that was so funny, he just sat there laughing hysterically!!

It was so nice snuggling with Jack by the fire watching the fireflys dance around the yard!

Today, we played outside for a while, but it didn't last long....it was SOOOOO HOT outside! Jack was being a goober making silly faces and I managed to capture this classic look....

We headed over to Friendly's for their free ice cream day to cool off and Jack was pretty excited to see the firetruck they had there for the kids to check out (and of course was VERY excited to get ice cream!)

Memorial Day Weekend!

2010-06-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

The official start to summer, Memorial Day Weekend, has come and gone....it was a beautiful weekend, and we had a chance to do a whole bunch of fun things!!

We started the weekend by setting up Jacks new tent in the yard...I picked it up VERY cheap last year at the end of the season, and Jack has been so excited to try it out! We set it up right near his playscape under the huge tree for some shade! We didn't get a chance to sleep out in it this weekend, but Jack loved going inside to read and play games with Sydney!

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Saturday night we went to a BBQ at 'Namies' and 'Bumpas' house!! We ended up eating inside, because as soon as we lit up the grill it started raining...it didn't last more than 15 minutes, but it was enough to have us move everything inside! After dinner, the kids got a chance to do some sparklers that Daddy brought, and also bubbles that Auntie Amy brought!! It was so much fun!

This picture is of the kids...check out the boys, they thought they'd look pretty cool with their hands in their pocket! :)

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Sunday, Daddy had to work, so Jack and I decided to head down to Ledyard for a parade!! We got there nice and early, and got a great spot...nice and shady, right where the parade was starting! Jack loved the parade this year...especially the marching band!! He told me that he wants to play the drums and the horn in a parade when he gets older!

When we got home, we set our blanket up outside in the yard for a picnic lunch, then Jack fell asleep for a nice nap. It was so nice in the shade! Even Sasha enjoyed laying outside with us...she loves her little buddy Jack!

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On Monday, we headed out to another parade in Jewett City....it was a small one, but Jack and his cousins enjoyed it!

After the parade, we headed down to Auntie Scoots house for another BBQ! Here we are outside on the deck enjoying some BBQ chicken, kielbasa, hotdogs and hamburgers!!

Uncle Rhett and Auntie Kris gave Jack this awesome t-shirt from Uncle Rhetts racing team!! Jack proudly showed it off in front of Uncle Rhetts Barracuda!

Well, the weekend is over, and we are now back to our regular routine. What fun can we come up with this week???? Check back soon!

Geocaching!!

2010-05-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jack and I headed out on a geocaching adventure! It was so nice out, not too hot (like the 99 degree day the day before!!!). We decided to head down to Old Lyme to start our journey.

Jack was a big helper with the GPS! We grabbed a bunch of quick (but tricky) ones at first...

Then we found a really nice nature preserve in Old Lyme...we had the place all to ourselves, except for some squirrels and birds! We walked the trails there, talked about all of the animals, found the cache, checked out the water, then moved along to Old Saybrook for our last cache!

At this cache spot, we met up with Auntie Scoot and Riley by a little pond. We relaxed by the pond, checked out the pollywogs in the water, found our last cache of the day then hit one last spot....

Dairy Queen for ICE CREAM!! Woo hoo!! We LOVE ice cream! Grandma even met us there!!

It was a great day...we found 7 caches!! That brings our total to 144! We're getting there...our goal is to hit 200 by the end of the year!

Hidden Mill

2010-05-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today we met up with Auntie Scoot and Riley to check out a 'hidden mill'! Living on the shoreline of Connecticut all my life, you would think I would have at least heard of this place....but this one must have slipped by me! Honestly, I can't imagine many people know about it!

A friend told me to check it out after she found a geocache there! When I looked it up online, and saw the pictures, I knew it was on our to-do list for this week!!

What a hidden gem!! The mill was built by Governor John Winthrop, and was originally used to grind corn for colonists. The water wheel has been rebuilt and awaits further restoration. It was built in 1650.
It's location is what really amazed me, right underneath the I-95 bridge in New London. One of the caretakers told us that they are going to try to restore the water wheel to make it run again!

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Of course, we also had to find the geocache that was hidden there....

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I loved the old stone arch bridge that was there......

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And Jack really enjoyed the bridges to walk across....

We stopped at the Connecticut College Arboretum on the way back for a quick walk and picnic lunch too!

We're going to go there again in a couple of weeks when the flowers are in full bloom!! It's going to be beautiful!!

Preschool screening day!

2010-05-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Today was Jacks preschool screening....I have to admit, I was soooooo nervous about this. Jack is a very quiet, shy kid when he's around other people, especially people he doesn't know. All I could picture was him clinging to my leg and not talking at all to the teachers. BOY DID HE PROVE ME WRONG!! :)

He sat right next to one of the teachers, and she started asking him some basic questions. He answered them all, without any prodding from me! He did pretty good on the 'stacking the blocks the same way as the teacher' test. It didn't turn out quite like the teachers, but very close. He looked at his when he was done and said, "Mine doesn't look exactly like yours, but it's pretty close!" I thought that was pretty funny!

Next test was finding all of the blue little plastic teddy bears out of about 30 multi-colored bears and putting them in a basket. PERFECT! At one point, he questioned weather a purple one was blue, asking the teacher, "is this one blue? or is it purple....hmmm....I think it's purple, so it doesn't belong in the basket." Nice job Jack! I even questioned it...it was very close to the blue color!

Then the teacher read "The Very Hungry Catapillar" to Jack....he sat there listening to every word, asking questions along the way. She got to the page when the caterpillar turned to a butterfly and Jack said "That sure is a very beautiful butterfly! It was wings just like a ladybug! Those are so they can fly! Butterflies and ladybugs both fly!" I thought that was pretty good!!

The last thing Jack had to do is color a picture of anything he wanted....when the teacher asked what it was, he said, "A monster!". She asked where he lived, and he answered, "Africa!". That's my boy! (He is at least enjoying learning about other countries through our postcrossing project!)

I think he did a great job and definitely showed his personality!! I wish more people could see that part of him...usually he's too shy!

Afterwards, we grabbed some food for lunch and had a picnic at the playground to celebrate!

Jack had a great time on the playscape and even found a little friend there. Jack asked him if he wanted to go down the slide together....another surprise today!! Jack doesn't usually just start talking to other kids, it usually takes him a while, but he had so much fun with this boy.

Our last bit of fun for the day?? Uncle Chris took Jack, Hannah, and Luke out on the ATV for a ride through the woods on a trail and through the blueberry fields! Jack had a blast!

Busy, busy, busy!!

2010-05-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

First off, I would like to say thank you to Amanda, (http://funnydayswithmommyandmaddie.blogspot.com/) for the help in customizing my blog! I am still going to tweak it a little more, but I love the pictures across the top!! Thanks Amanda!!

I haven't posted this past week at all since Mother's Day...we've been busy! Here are a few of the highlights from week....

Jack and Daddy bought me a beautiful weeping cherry tree for Mother's Day! I got one for my first mother's day in 2007 that I had planned on using as the backdrop for pictures with Jack every year to celebrate, but we sold our house and bought a new one last year and couldn't take the tree with us! So...This is my new tree!! It was getting dark out, but Daddy and Jack still went out to plant it for me! Jack was a huge help as you can see!

The guys also had some fun with sparklers afterwards!!

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On Saturday, we all went to Hopeville Pond State Park and had a BBQ!! Alyssa, Sydney and Jack had a great time with Daddy fishing, while I made hamburgers and hotdogs!! We topped off the night with S'mores!!

We took this picture of Daddy with the 3 kids for a Father's Day Gift!! :)

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On Sunday, Jack and I headed to Cows and Cones for their Community Cookout! We checked out the cows, chickens, sheep...then they had free food and ice cream!! We also got to see a great show by the K9 dog and Jack got to sit in a real police car!

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On Monday, our playgroup had a scavenger hunt at Fort Shantock!! The kids were given a picture list of things to find while we hike the trail around the pond!! Jack was very excited to do this...the only thing we didn't put in our bucket was a 'bug'...too hard to keep in there!

This picture of Jack and his friend Alyssa is my absolute favorite!! They were holding hands on the scavenger hunt!!!!

We finished off this day doing a little geocaching, hiking, and letterboxing!!

Dinosaurs Everywhere!!

2010-05-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Mother's Day, Mark and I took Jack to the Dinosaur Trails! I've always wanted to take Jack because he loves dinosaurs, and the fact that it was free admission day for Moms made it an even better day!

We started out walking over to the volcano in the water...every hour it starts steaming and lava (water) starts shooting out the top! It was such a windy day, the water went sideways and ended up getting a lot of people wet! Fortunately, we were on the other side!! LOL! The trail is about a mile and a half long, through the woods and around a few small ponds.

As you walk along the trail, there are signs giving information about the dinosaurs and there are about 25 life-sized dinosaurs! The walk was beautiful, between Mountain Laurel trees and streams. There are benches along the path too, although Jack was so excited to see the next dinosaur, there was definitely no time for stopping!!

Something we found interesting was every once in a while, you would catch a glimpse of a pretty stone mixed in with the gravel pathways...they were polished amethyst, jade, quartz and other gemstones like you would find in the gift shop! We ended up collecting a handful of beautiful stones to add to Jacks collection at home!

There were also some "can you guess what I am?" boxes along the way that Jack really enjoyed....he loved sticking his hands in to feel what was inside!!

They also had a maze near the end of the trail...you could take a set of stairs to the top to look down on the maze then go down a big tube slide, or within the maze there was a big dinosaur mouth wide-open. There was a tube slide in the mouth too!! We went down the tube slide a bunch of times!

Of course, Daddy had to hide within the maze to hop out and scare Jack as he rounded the corner....

I managed to catch this picture just as he jumped out!! Thankfully, Jack just started laughing!!

We had an awesome time!!

At the end of the trail, there is a nice playground that we played at for a while...all of the playscapes were geared towards dinosaurs too...one of the walkways from the ladder to the slide was a giant dinosaur bone! They even had a big dinosaur skull that you could play in!!

It was a nice Mother's Day for me, spending time with Mark and Jack...just having fun!!

(And, Jack got me a special Mom Book that made me cry after just a couple of pages, and I am also having a weeping cherry tree delivered on Thursday for my special present. Mark gave me one my first mother's day so I could have pictures of Jack taken next to it every year, but we moved last year! Now I will have one at our new home!)

Mothers Day Craft!

2010-05-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

As a special Mother's Day Craft, Jack and I decided to make 'home-made' paper with wildflower seeds in it! The paper can be planted later and after some 'showers of love', beautiful wildflowers should start to grow! We made one for Grandma, Auntie Scoot, Namie and Auntie Mel!!

After blending some scrap paper and water in a blender, we poured the 'soup' into a baking dish....

Jack then added the wildflower seeds to the dish and used his hands to mix it all up! It was really squishy!!

We then used a section of screen from an old screen door to gather up the pulp to form a little sheet of paper! After pressing a lot of the water out, we left the screens with the pulp on a towel to absorb as much of the water as possible! It took about 24 hours to totally dry.

After letting them dry, we added a picture of a flower, "Happy Mother's Day" and Jack signed his name!

Here's a picture of Jack giving one to Grandma!

You can tell she really loved it!

Happy Mother's Day!!

a busy day!

2010-05-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today we had a very busy day!! We had our friends Leah, Tyler and Ryan over for a playdate in the morning. And although Jack had his moments, (he's been having a rough week!) I know he had a fun time playing! The kids played in the playroom for a while, then headed outside to play on the bouncer and on the playscape! Then they sat down for a picnic lunch out on the deck!

After the playdate, Auntie Scoot came over and we took a ride to the Butterfly Pavillion. It's a 4 day exhibit where you can walk around a greenhouse filled with 1,000 butterflies and many flowering plants. The butterflies even land on you!

Jack loved having the butterflies land on him! They had bowls of sugar water that you could dip your fingers into, the butterflies loved that! Jack said they really tickled his fingers!

Riley loved the butterflies, although she would rather hold on to them tightly, which didn't work so well! LOL!

After the butterflies, we made one more stop at the old historical cemetery so Auntie Scoot could take some pictures...

I, of course, took some pictures too....

.....and even got a great Mothers Day Picture of Jack and I!!

Our trip to the zoo!

2010-05-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

Today Jack and I went to the Southwick Zoo with Auntie Scoot and a few of her friends! We've been there before, but it was Auntie Scoots and Rileys first time! Here are some of the pictures from our trip:

Jack went into the petting zoo and found a few baby goats to hang around with!

Jacks cousin Riley wanted to hold Jacks hand, but Jack wasn't too sure about that idea!

Relaxing on the wooden carved camel!

My favorite animals, the alpacas, posing with Jack for a picture!!

Jack and I had some fun with the props in the party area!

The deer forest is the best part of the zoo in my opinion...you walk through a wooded area of the park where the deer walk around in the woods. You can buy corn to feed them! They are VERY friendly and will eat right out of your hands!

Riley really liked the deer!! She wanted to hold them!! :)

I even got a chance to feed them too!

Some of the animals we saw along the way!

....And a happy little guy!

Arbor Day tree planting!!

2010-05-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Friday was Arbor Day and thanks to Jacks Grandma (my mom!), Jack was able to plant a tree! Well, actually it's a shrub, but it was picked out especially for Jack because it will have colorful berries in the fall that will attract the birds to Jacks bird garden!!

It's called a Viburnum, and it's part of the honeysuckle family! It will bloom in the spring with very fragrant sweet smelling flowers, then in the fall it will have the berries for the birds!! Perfect!!

Jack helped dig the hole with his beach shovel, which I'm sure wasn't very easy, but he insisted!!

He worked very hard digging out all of the dirt...and it was HOT today!

Jack ran and got the watering can so we could water it...(it's also supposed to rain tonight, so that should help!)

Jack was very proud of all of his hard work and of his new special tree!! We'll have to add a few bird houses and feeders over here too!!

Thank you Grandma for a very thoughtful present!!!

Daddy's on vacation!!!

2010-04-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

This week, Daddy has been home on vacation so Jack has been having a blast doing things with him! The weather hasn't been the greatest, the week started out with rainy, cold days.....and today is the first sunny day, but there are 45 m.p.h. winds blowing outside.

I snapped a few shots with my phone camera during the week, so they aren't the best quality!

We tried to go out fishing, something that Jack and Daddy do often during the evenings while I'm working. I ususally don't get to be there, so I was excited to get some pictures of Jack reeling in a BIG one! But, I only managed to snap this one before a huge storm cloud rolled in and it started raining! So much for fishing!

Jack had some fun playing with Daddy before he headed out to go turkey hunting...

We ended up going to Cabella's to look around later that day and Jack enjoyed checking out the huge fish in the underwater caves. He also loved riding up and down the escalator and elevator over and over again!! :)

Jack and Daddy had some fun playing some new Wii games too....I think they were wrestling each other in this game...

Jack and I did some letterboxing while Daddy went to his Ju jitsu practice....We found two in a very old cemetery in Norwichtown. The dates on most of the stones were from the 1700's. There were some very interesting graves in this cemetery....Samuel Huntington, who was elected President of the Continental Congress as well as being the 18th Governor of the State of Connecticut is buried here. He also signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The first letterbox we found was placed near his tomb. Another person that is buried here is Hannah Arnold...the mother of Benedict Arnold. In this picture, Jack had just spotted one of the letterboxes in the stone wall.

One of the letterboxes was placed in this cemetery to show the different headstone carvings, known as lunettes, which are the carvings in the moon shape at the top of the stone. This is a picture of one that I took as we were leaving the cemetery.

Jack was stamping my book for me at the letterbox near the Huntington Tomb...

This afternoon, because it was so windy outside, Jack and Daddy decided to take on an inside project. We had french doors put in last July, but never ended up putting up the finishing trim on the inside. Jack always loves helping Daddy do projects. He quickly grabbed his tools and got down on the floor to help!

The weekend is supposed to be much better weather, so hopefully we'll get to have a few more outdoor adventures before Daddy goes back to work!

Aquarium fun and geocaching!

2010-04-24T11:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed down to Mystic to go to the aquarium for the day! It was a beautiful day, and I think just about every single other family decided that this was the thing to do today because IT WAS PACKED!!!

Jack picked up a crab all by himself! He liked it until the crab pinched him, then he threw it back into the water and said "I don't like crabs!" LOL!

Those are some BIG shark teeth!!

Jack got a chance to touch a sting ray!! They were hard to touch, they swam really fast and didn't always come up to the surface!

Jack liked the penguins the most! He couldn't wait to go see them! (They're my favorites too!)

This is a picture of Jack and his cousin Luke watching the penguins swim! They kept coming right up to the glass where the boys were!!

Checking out the Beluga whales!!

Jack liked watching this turtle...he had some LONG nails!! I wouldn't want to come across one of those in the water!

After lunch, we all went to the duck pond! This is a picture of Jack and his cousins Hannah and Luke!

Checking out the ducks and the water wheel!

The kids posing with the Sea Lion!

Jack and his cousin Riley!!

My little guy checking out a pair of ducks that were hiding behind a bush in this store-front garden!

After all of our fun at the Aquarium, Jack and I headed down the street to a beautiful cemetery where we ended up finding 3 geocaches!! Jack picked up some cool toys in the caches, and I got to add to my total of caches found, making it 126!! Woo hoo!!

Jack at one of the cache sites!!

Earth Day!

2010-04-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Earth Day!! Jack got a little bumble bee magnifying glass at the store the day before and he couldn't wait to go exploring! He loves everything about nature....planting flowers and trees, animals, insects, you name it!

The second he got out of the bathtub, he grabbed his magnifying glass and was ready to go outside and explore everything up-close and personal.

He wanted to see all of the plants, flowers, and bugs in the yard, and these are the pictures from his exploration!

Jack really liked this bumble bee...we watched it go from flower to flower! I got a chance to explain how the bee takes the nectar from the flowers and returns to the nest to store it.

Jack found this turkey feather in the yard...he was pretty excited about that! He carried it around for the rest of the day!

We have turkeys that walk through our yard all of the time!

He liked the pink flowers on the dogwood tree!

I love this picture of him....it shows his inquisitive side. He really enjoys taking the time to examine things and learn about them. (Plus I love how it shows off his long eyelashes!)

We really enjoyed exploring today. We learned about how the trees help clean the air for us to breathe, how the flowers help the insects, and got to enjoy the flowers that we planted last week. I hope Jack continues to appreciate nature and 'Mother Earth'. It's a pretty good quality in my eyes!

Playdate with friends!

2010-04-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my friend Terri and my friend Sue and her kids, Jack and Brooke, came by for a much needed visit! I don't get together with the girls anywhere near often enough due to our busy work schedules, but it was nice finally getting to see everyone today!

Jack was still asleep when Terri got to the house, but luckily, woke up pretty happy and very talkative! He couldn't wait to show Terri his playroom and train table! When Sue and the kids got here, all the kids played in the playroom for a while then we decided it was too nice outside to be in the house!

We set up the bouncer & ball pit, pulled out the t-ball set and tricycles and watched the kids have a blast! Here are some of the pictures from our playdate!!

This handsome guys name is Jack too! My Jack likes to call him "the other Jack". They are only 6 weeks apart in age! Jack had so much fun in the ball pit!!

This is Brooke, and she had a great time too with the ball pit and bouncer! Isn't she the cutest thing with her little curls??

The kids seemed like they had so much fun playing together!!

My Jack and Brooke were tossing the balls back and forth through the ball pit doors!

Jack and Brooke really liked petting Sasha, and Sasha was LOVING all of the attention! She's really good with kids!!

Jack was showing Brooke the bluebird decoration he put in our bird garden and also showed her the rose bushes he planted all by himself!

Jack loved doing some 'slam dunks' in the basketball hoop!! He's quite a basketball player!

All three of the kids were looking to see if there were any bees on the dandelions in the yard!

Saying goodbye is never fun!! But we'll see the kids again soon hopefully!!

After everyone left, Jack and I went out and played a little more outside and snapped a few more pictures. I loved how the grass was so green, and how the balls from the ball pit and Jacks red shirt really looked bright and cheery in the pictures!!

It's a cold, dreary Sunday...but the yardwork is calling!

2010-04-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Jack started his morning off by grabbing his Diego garden gloves that Grandma got for him....still in his jammies, he was ready to go work outside! Today is very cold, I don't know if it even hit 50 degrees. The wind is blowing and it's been cloudy for the majority of the day...

Our grass is so long because of all the rain we've had lately, so it's a boring day of doing some yardwork.

After Jack ate breakfast and got dressed, we had some play-doh time...Jack made all sorts of fun things!! He loves using the 'spaghetti' maker and scissors!

Jack and Daddy mowed the lawn and I did some picking up around the house! I also managed to snap some pictures of the birds in our bird garden...I think they've been telling their friends about it because it seems every day we have more and more birds coming to check out the feeders!

Here are the guys mowing out by the back garage...Sasha looks HUGE in this picture! LOL!

Bird Paradise!

2010-04-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

Today, Jack and I worked more on our little bird garden. We had already added mulch to an area up against our stone wall and planted roses & perennials the other day, and today we wanted to put up all of our bird houses and bird feeders. We have a huge tree with big hydrangeas surrounding it up against the wall and used this area as the focal point. The hydrangeas bloom all summer and they are HUGE! I also have a little wooden bench right next to it because it's a perfect shady spot on hot summer days.

Jack and I love to watch the birds eating, building nests and just hanging out in the tree singing! He's getting pretty good about identifying them too!

Jack helped me fill all of our feeders with sunflower seeds and thistle, and then we added our suet blocks to the suet feeders. The woodpeckers really like those!! We get a lot of cardinals, goldfinches, chicadees, nuthatches, robins, finches, catbirds, titmouses, bluejays, and an occasional blue bird. Those are my favorites!

Jack really likes the cardinals, especially the males with their bright red color!

The pollen got the best of me today, my allergies were in full force, so I snapped a couple more pictures before heading inside to take some medicine!

This is our dog Sasha, she came out to 'help' us. She loves watching the birds too!

The hydrangeas have leaves starting to come out, so it won't be too long before they have big, beautiful flowers!

The daffodils are starting to bloom, and the butterfly bush is just starting to look alive again!

Jack and Sasha taking a break from filling all of the bird feeders.

I hope the birds love our new little bird sanctuary we set up for them! I can't wait to grab a few pictures of our fine feathered friends soon!

Out and about!

2010-04-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of Jacks library toddler program...we're pretty bummed out, Jack really enjoyed going every week. Today he got to participate in one of the stories by putting a flower up on the story board! Then we made a bookmark, so Jack and I can keep reading all summer long! The good news is, there is a summer reading program that we can take part in and it sounds like their are going to be really nice events that we can go to such as the Mystic Aquarium touch tank there! A great big thank you to Miss Anne and Miss Kathy who put on such a great program that Jack got to take part in for the last couple of years!

Later in the day, we had to run to Norwich to sign our tax papers, so we decided to grab a quick letterbox while we were there! I'm glad we did...it was located near the town green, and you had to walk up a steep set of rock steps to the top of a huge cliff. I knew the stairs were there, but I never realized what was up on top! What a view! There is a huge cross and many benches and you can see all of Norwichtown!

Jack liked being able to see the hospital where he was born, and we got a very up close view of the LifeStar helicopter going by!

Jack found the letterbox pretty quick and really liked the stamp for this one...a lizard!

Now, some garden work at home, dinner over Marks moms house then off to work for me!

letterboxing and animals!

2010-04-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jack and I decided to try out our new letterboxing stamps that I carved! Our first letterbox was in Lisbon, on a trail behind the Congregational Church on Rt. 169. I never even realized their was a trail there, so I was glad we did this one!
It's the Newent Woods Heritage Trail and Old Lee Road...a road that goes through the woods that is no longer used. Jack and I had such a nice time walking this trail, talking about everything from preschool (that he'll be going to in September) to what animals are in the woods and where they could be hiding! I wish I could hold on to that moment forever...

The trail led us down to Bicentennial Park, where we found the remains of the Asa Griswold homestead...and found our first letterbox of the day!

Jack stamped his gecko stamp into the book and signed his name!!

Right near the letterbox was railroad tracks...Jack thought that was pretty cool, he's never seen REAL tracks before, just the ones on his train table!

Jack checked out the different shape leaves just starting to pop from the trees and the ground after a long winter! He liked this fern...he said it looked like a big feather!

We really enjoyed our time on this trail...lots to see and explore!!

On to our next letterbox.....we headed over to a very familiar spot. It was where Josie's General Store used to be in Canterbury...unfortunately, they closed down last month. With the road being closed right down the street, they just couldn't stay open. We know the owners Rob and Julie. They have a beautiful spot there, with a little pond and a bunch of cute animals. There are still goats, chickens, a llama, an alpaca, a peacock to see there, and they are pretty friendly. They came running over to greet us at the gate as soon as we pulled in! This black goat is Einstein! Jack loved feeding him some hay! Their are some really friendly chickens too!

This is a place that Jack and I like to visit often...it's so pretty and peaceful!! There is now a new store there, a chocolate store...but it was closed when we were there. Their is a letterbox hidden here as well as a geocache (that Jack and I hid ourselves!). We found the letterbox quickly....

Jack and I stamped our books then said goodbye to our animal friends.......on to our last letterbox of the day!

Our last letterbox was in Hopeville State Park in Griswold. We found a couple there last week, but there are still a bunch to find! We walked across the big field at the park and Jack found two golf balls in the grass! People always practice their golf swings there, so you can usually find a golf ball if you look hard enough! Jack spotted the letterbox in a stone wall underneath some loose rocks!

Well, I think we did pretty good...3 in one day (and some quality bonding time too!)

Thanks for another great day my little buddy!

Easter...take two! And letterboxing!!!!!!!

2010-04-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today we had an Easter Egg Hunt! I know it's a week late, and we've already done a few of them, but Jacks grandmother (My husbands mom) has one every year at her house. This year, it was scheduled for the day before Easter, but my niece and nephew were both very sick Easter weekend. We postponed it until today so that all five kids could participate!

Namie (That's what the kids call Jacks grandmother) hides so many eggs and puts quarters inside instead of candy!! She even hides a few 'special' ones with a dollar inside!! This year we had it over my sister-in-laws house. She lives next door to us, so it was nice just walking over. The kids had a great time, and Jack ended up collecting 28 eggs (and a total of $7.75!). He quickly added it to his piggy bank...he's been saving his money to buy a car when he's older. (Yes, he came up with that on his own!). He's been collecting water bottles as we finish them to collect the 5 cents per bottle.

Here are a couple of pictures from the egg hunt....

When we got home, I got started on making rubber stamps for our new hobby, letterboxing! It's pretty similar to geocaching, but you hand carve your own personalized stamp that you use to stamp the notebook in each letterbox. It's your own personal 'trademark!'. Inside each letterbox that you find, is a handcarved stamp that is made especially for that box. You use that stamp to stamp your notebook that you carry with you. You end up collecting stamps from all of the letterboxes that you find! Pretty cool! We've seen some really nice stamps, their are a lot of talented people out there!

Here are the stamps I hand carved myself today....not too bad for a rookie!

This one is mine....it's my favorite bird (bluebird) sitting on top of a branch. I love bird watching!! It's a pretty simple design, but it was my first time making stamps myself. My 'trail name' is Jacksmom726 on http://letterboxing.org/ and on http://atlasquest.com/.

This stamp is the one I made for Jack....he really wanted a gecko, and I think it is kind of cute! Again, it's pretty simple, but he really likes it, and I am pretty proud of myself for making them! His 'trail name' is JackZag.

Fun in the sun!

2010-04-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

You've got to love New England....one day it will be sleet and rain and in the 40's, the next day it's hot and sunny and in the 80's!

Today was one of those out of the ordinary days....it hit 91 degrees, that HAS to be a record breaker!!

The last couple of days, actually, have been pretty nice! Jack has been really enjoying this weather, after being stuck in the house for most of the winter months!

This picture was taken at Jacks grandmothers house on Easter Sunday, it was warm and we decided to play soccer with Jack. He loves running after the ball and kicking it....I totally picture that being the sport for him! Check out his expression...I love it!

Yesterday we went to a playdate then decided to find some geocaches....I use an iPhone with a geocaching application to find them so Jack decided that he would bring his (plastic toy) phone with him to help him 'find' the cache. He must have spotted it pretty quickly, because he picked up his phone, said "My phone is telling me that the box is hidden under this rock...." and then proceded to grab it! LOL! He was pretty excited, it was a new cache just hidden a week ago, so the things inside were pretty cool. He ended up taking a cool motorcycle keychain toy!

This is the sunset that we all enjoyed last night from our deck...I made some mandarin sesame chicken on the grill, and we ate outside for the first time this year! Hooray for great weather!!

Today we had the toddler program at the library and got a nice surprise! The Easter party that was supposed to be last week was cancelled due to the flooding, and many of the moms decided that they would bring in stuff to have the party today! We listened to a couple of stories, made a cute Easter egg craft, then enjoyed some yummy treats!

We had to run a few errands, but decided we couldn't pass up being outside on this gorgeous day, so we headed to Hopeville Pond State Park to try some letterboxing! We've been meaning to do this for a while, but for whatever reason never reallly got the chance to do it. One of the moms at the library and her family do letterboxing, and have a few hidden at that park. We headed out and had a great time! (although it was very hot, I got much needed excercise pushing Jack around in the stroller!!) We took a long walk around the beach area, the campground and on some trails. Jack thought it was pretty cool using stamps to fill up his little notebook, and stamped his dragonfly stamp in the notebook in the boxes! Pretty cool! We'll definitely have to keep up this hobby!

After walking around the park for a while, we decided it was time to soak our feet in the pond...another great day with my favorite little guy!!

Easter Weekend!

2010-04-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with you many of the pictures that we took over Easter weekend.

It started with the kids checking out their Easter baskets, followed by a egg hunt....Easter bunny left about 60 eggs out in the side yard for the kids to find!! The girls had to go back to their moms house, then Mark, Jack and I had Easter dinner at my in-laws house and went down to the stream behind where they live. Jack had a great time throwing rocks and sticks into the water and having fun crossing the stream with Daddy!

We're going to head to my Moms in a couple weeks to have a 'late' Easter dinner! :)

I hope you enjoy our pictures!

I guess we didn't make out as well as I thought with the flood....

2010-04-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the week, we had heavy rains for days. Our area got over 8 inches of rain! So many homes and businesses ended up flooded and some people are still not able to go back to their houses due to unsafe conditions or lack of electricity. We bought our house only a little over a year ago, and didn't really know how the basement would make out with all of that rain, but thankfully it stayed dry. We were fortunate enough to walk away with no problems...... OR SO WE THOUGHT!

I got home from work late last night to find a note in the kitchen from my husband saying we had no water....no brushing my teeth, using the bathroom and no shower. Great. All it said was "No water, call the well company in the morning". That can't be good!! I knew our well pump and tank were very old and we'd have to replace it sooner or later, but we were hoping for 'later'! Come to find out, the little underground cement thing out in the backyard that holds the well tank and pump was under 10 feet of water! It shorted out the well pump. My 70 degree day where I was planning on going out geocaching and possibly visiting my sister and niece ended up being a day where I called all over looking for someone with a pump. I called the Lisbon Fire Department and thankfully they were able to pump us out! Hooray!! Jack liked that the fire departments truck came to our house! THANK YOU LISBON FIRE DEPARTMENT!!

Next, we needed to have the well people come out...I was really afraid that because it was the holiday weekend, we may not get anyone out to help us until Monday, but thankfully (again!!) they came out, replaced the holding tank and fixed the pump! Thank you Riley's Heating and Plumbing!!

While they were here working on it, Jack and I enjoyed a little lunch out on the deck. Jack had fish sticks and applesauce....Mmmmm!!

We played on the swings, the slide, on the bouncer, played T-ball, built sand castles and colored on the driveway with sidewalk chalk! What a great time we had!! It was so beautiful outside!

Check out this cool castle and road that we made! Of course, Jack thought it would be fun to 'bull-doze' it over right after I took the picture!

I made this little flower on the driveway, then Jack added his own flower and even a sun shining over in the corner!

You're becoming quite an artist my little buddy! Just like Daddy!

A lazy sunny day....

2010-04-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today, the sun finally came out and it made it to 60 degrees! We're getting there! The weekend is supposed to be up in the high 60's maybe even 70 degrees!! Woo hoo!!

We had a pretty uneventful day today...lounged around in the morning, then headed outside for lunch and for some fresh air time!!

Jack spotted the first flower of spring....some daffodils! Then it was off to climb the apple tree!!

I love this one of Jack and Sasha! They were just playing fetch and sat in the shade to relax!

The flood, the pet store and my little cowboy!

2010-03-31T14:40:00.000-07:00

Because of the terrible rain we've had the last few days, many of the local rivers have flooded and caused some major flooding of homes and businesses. The rain finally stopped today, so Jack and I took a drive around Jewett City to see how high the rivers there were. These couple of pictures are from the waterfall at Ashland pond...Jack, Daddy and I go fishing here often, and it's normally just a quiet waterfall and small river that runs under a foot bridge. Today, it was the roaring rapids...the water across the street flooded many homes and they were just about ready to close the road when we left. I feel so sorry for all of the people who suffered damage to their homes due to this flood. Thankfully, we managed to make out okay.

We couldn't do any playing outside today, so we decided to take a quick trip to the pet store so that Jack can see his animal friends....

This rat was cleaning it's belly...Jack thought that was pretty cool, because he said "I can't lick my tummy like that!"

Another animal that Jack really liked there today was a pair of ferrets...they were playing together in their cage, rolling around and chasing each other!! This little guy was being chased out of it's toy ball by the other one when I took this one! Jack thought they were pretty funny! :)

One quick stop to Walmart to check out the summer toys led us to this reallly cute cowboy hat! Jack loved wearing it....I think he looked so cool in it....he was singing "'cause I'm a cowboy, baby!" throughout the store!

The worst rain I've seen!

2010-03-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today was another day of heavy, flooding rain. Parts of the state were declared a 'state of emergency' because of all of the flooding and roads shut down. We had a scheduled playdate about 15 miles from our house at a school, but they hadn't cancelled it, so Jack and I headed down there! The roads were terrible, especially the one near the school. At one point, I didn't think we'd make it, there was so much water over the road and police were starting to put up blockades. When we got there, we could see all of the other moms cars, so we went in to play. It was a 'color Easter eggs' playdate and Jack was very excited to do that!
After about 15 minutes, one of the other moms was getting messages on her phone saying that the kids at the local schools were being sent home and more and more roads were closing. We decided at that point, we should probably head home...but Sarah was nice enough to send Jack home with hard boiled eggs and a coloring kit so that he could do it at home!! Thanks Sarah!! :)
It was a crazy ride home...more flooding than before! I had to get off the highway for gas, and when I went to leave the gas station, the police were there putting up more signs closing that direction of the road!!! I had to go back down the opposite way on the highway, then turn around to come back up again! Thankfully, we made it home safe and sound.

Jack couldn't wait to make his Easter eggs, so we did those as soon as we got home!

They came out really great! Jack even got fancy with some of them, making them multicolored and decorated them with stickers!

Nice job little buddy!! :)

Bunnies and more bunnies!

2010-03-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Jack and I decided to have a special Easter-week breakfast today!! Check out this Easter Bunny toast with an egg in the middle! It may be hard to see, but it came out pretty good! Mmmmm!!

Today was yet another rainy cold day....so we just hung out around the house. We watched some cartoons, then did another Easter craft before Jack headed upstairs for his nap! (By the way...today is the first time Jack isn't wearing Pull-ups to bed! He said "I'm a big boy now, so I should wear underwear!"

Let's see how he does! Keep your fingers crossed....not having to buy Pull-ups would be a nice little chunk of money saved every month! :)

Anyway, back to our craft....I figured we'd do a fairly easy paper plate craft today....I think it came out pretty cute! We borrowed some plastic Easter eggs from the ones he found at the egg hunt on Saturday! Looks like the Easter Bunny is hiding in the grass with all of the eggs!

Easter egg hunt, Easter Bunny and a baby hawk!

2010-03-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

This morning was Jacks Easter egg hunt at Lisbon Meadows Park! It was only 25 degrees out, so we had to bundle up!! Jack was pretty excited, especially when they had all the kids walk over to the field where all the eggs were....there were thousands!!! Ready.......set.......go!!!!!!

Jack got lots of eggs and the big chocolate bunny! His cousins Luke and Hannah made out pretty good too!

Next stop....the Easter Bunny!!!

Jack jumped right up on his lap for a quick picture, then the Easter bunny gave him a lollipop!!

Jack and I spotted something very cool outside of the hotel....on the street sign, just outside of the window was a baby hawk! It was just sitting there and didn't even mind that I went out to take a couple of pictures of it! Of course, the mommy hawk was probably sitting in a nearby tree waiting to attack me, but thankfully she didn't! I just wish I had the good camera with the big zoom lens!!

He was so cute and Jack loved him!!

Bunny time!

2010-03-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

With Easter next weekend, Jack and I wanted to do another Easter craft! We got this great idea from http://funnydayswithmommyandmaddie.blogspot.com/ !

I just happened to have a toilet paper roll in Jacks craft bins, figuring I would need it someday for a craft! I'm glad I did!! We painted it white and put it aside to dry.

While we were waiting, we cut bunny ears out of white craft foam, then Jack added purple glitter to it's ears!! After everything was dry, we stuck the ears on the top, added pipe cleaner whiskers, a button nose, and used a marker for the mouth and teeth! What a cute idea!! Thanks Amanda and Maddie for sharing it with us!

And speaking of cute little bunnies.....

Check out Jack in his Easter bunny ears he got at the mall today...they were kind of like the consolation prize for the kids whose parents refused to pay $22.00 for a picture with the Easter Bunny. Sorry Jack, I just couldn't see spending that much money on a picture...but at least he waved 'hello' to you!! Besides, maybe we'll get to see him at the Easter egg hunt tomorrow.....

My little sick guy....

2010-03-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

For the last few days, Jack has been pretty sick. He seems to have his moments during the day where he acts fine and is happy, then others when he's sick and miserable.

I needed to watch my nephew this morning for an hour, and thankfully, Jack seemed very happy to play with Luke for a while....the boys played with the train set that Jack got for Christmas and had a blast!

After a little while, I could tell Jack was losing his steam...Luke was too for that matter, he's sick too! The boys climbed up on the couch and watched Diego for a while until Luke went home.

Jack also went to the doctor today, his cough was pretty bad, and he had a bit of a fever. I figured I would nip it in the bud...get Jack on medicine and he'd be fine for Easter! No such luck...apparently, it's just a virus and it has to run it's course. How long? Well, the doctor said it could be weeks.....LOVELY!

The one plus-side to today was that Jack fell asleep on me for the first time in well over a year! It reminded me of the days when I would just rock him in my arms until he fell asleep when he was little. He crawled up to my lap while I was on the couch and within minutes, I could tell he was asleep. My camera was right there on the table next to me, so I took a few shots....I miss those days!!!! Look at his sweet little face....

By the way, that is a chicken nugget in his hand....I snagged it before it fell! :)

My sweet baby...hope you get better soon....I love you!

More sick days.....

2010-03-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

Jack has been sick the last couple of days, but we still tried to do some fun things to keep a smile on his face!

Yesterday, we made a GIANT cupcake!! It was chocolate, with chocolate pudding in the middle and whipped cream frosting!! YUMMMMMMMMY!! (of course, Jack only eats the frosting & pudding!)

Jack made me a nice picture too....he's getting so good with his drawing and with writing his name!! It's a picture of a flower with the sun shining above! He wrote his name all by himself too! I'm so proud of him!

We had some fun last night with Daddy too....we played with puzzles, and Daddy was intentionally putting the pieces in the wrong place to see what Jack would do!! Jack was laughing so hard, it was funny! Then our BIG dog Sasha decided she needed to be part of the family fun time too, and plopped herself down right next to her best buddy Jack!!

The big bag behind Jack?? Those were all of the clothes that Jack outgrew since last summer...my little guy is getting big!! We're going to share them with a friend who has triplets!!

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Today, Jack missed out on going to the library toddler program. He was too sick to go, but Miss Anne and Miss Kathy were nice enough to send home the craft for Jack to do!! He was pretty excited...especially when he saw the plastic Easter Egg in it! He loves those!

After having a pretty relaxing day today on the couch, we decided we better start making some Easter decorations for the house...Easter is in a week and a half!!!!

We did a nice simple one, seeing as Jack wasn't feeling the greatest. I think it came out pretty good! I cut Easter eggs out of construction paper, and Jack colored them!! We then got out the gluestick and stuck them on a paper plate with the center cut out....voila!! An Easter wreath!!

We put it up on the french doors in the dining room so everyone can enjoy a little touch of spring!!

I think Jack did a great job!!

Lastly, Jack got a whole bunch of postcards this week from Postcrossing.com!! He even got a mini calendar from a woman in Wales, showing all sorts of scenes from Wales. Jack was so excited!! Here are a couple of his favorite postcards from this week....

Fun weekend!

2010-03-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

We had another beautiful couple of days this weekend!

Saturday, Daddy and I decided to make an attempt at building the turbo twist slide for the playscape we built in the fall! It wasn't meant for our particular set, so we knew it was going to be a challenge...and it was!

Jack was very patient though, playing outside in the sand box with his trucks and pails...for 5 hours! He did get a little antsy at the end, and he hadn't had a nap, so he was a bit tired too...
He pretty much started to take a nap on the tree house stairs...at this point, I don't think he could wait much more.

Thankfully, we were just about done at this point and then Jack got to take his first ride on the new slide!

I think it was definitely worth the wait for Jack....he LOVED it!!

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Today we took Jack and the girls to Jacks first hockey game! We saw The Hartford Wolfpack play agains the Providence Bruins! Daddy and I used to go to the Bruins games in Providence a lot before Jack was born, but this was the first time seeing a game since!

I think that Jack was more interested in the Wolf mascot, which only showed up between periods. He did like the nachos and ice cream though. He did watch part of the game, but I think that at 3 years old, it just didn't make any sense to him.

Here's a couple of shots we took at the game!

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

This week has been beautiful!! The weather has been in the 60's and it's been sunny for days!!

On Wednesday, which was also St. Patricks day, we had our library program in the morning where the kids got to make a pot of gold with gold coins in it!! Jack loved making that!!

Afterwards, we headed down to Fort Shantok to meet up with Auntie Scoot and Riley!! We played on the playground, had a picnic lunch and walked the trail around the pond!

Here are a few pictures from our park visit!

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Yesterday, Jack and I headed out to find a new geocache that was hidden only 4 miles from our house!! The best part? The park where is was located had a playscape!!

When we got there, I was eager to be the 'first to find', since no one had yet discovered it, so I convinced Jack that we would play on the playscape 'soon'!! We headed into the woods, but my iPhone's GPS isn't as accurate as our Garmin GPS and we ended up walking in circles...until I tried to carry Jack over a little muddy area and ended up about a foot deep in MUD!

Well, that sounded like a good time to go play on the playscape and have the picnic lunch I brought.

Jack really liked this 'cave', which was really the back side of the rock wall...it had a really cool dinosaur fossil! We decided to give the geocache another shot, and headed towards the woods again...then another geocacher pulled up, hopped out of his car and walked directly to it! We ended up talking for a few minutes, and walked away as the 'second to find'.

On the way back to the car, Jack spotted a snake! I'm not really a big fan of snakes, but Jack didn't seem to be bothered by him. I always try to look 'cool' and say things like "Wow, isn't that an awesome snake, he's really cute" and "we should really have a closer look!" Thankfully, he was a little one! I had to convince Jack that we shouldn't touch snakes unless Daddy helps...so Jack studied him for a few minutes and we headed out on our next adventure.

We headed to another geocache that was at a monument in Norwich for Miantonomo. He was was a chief of the Narragansett tribe of New England Indians. Jack made the find on this one! He found it quickly, we signed the log and headed out to our last treat of the day......

Our last stop was Hanks Dairy Bar in Plainfield! It was opening day and we could really go for some ice cream!! Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! This is someplace where I have a feeling we will end up often!

St. Patricks Day Party then rainbow cupcakes

2010-03-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a St. Patricks Day playdate! The kids had some play time first, then Miss Rebecca read a story about St. Patricks Day! We then made a really cute shamrock craft before having rainbow cake and green juice!!

This is Jack and his friend having fun together in the playhouse!!

The craft was coloring a shamrock then putting on pieces of green paper with a glue stick! It was a perfect craft, you know Jack and the gluestick!!

The cake was a bundt cake with rainbow colors!! We thought that was pretty funny because we had planned on going home and making rainbow cupcakes!!

Jack did most of the work making the cupcakes...the hardest part was dividing up the batter between six bowls and coloring them all different colors!! I then poured the colors into the cupcake liners and stuck them in the oven!! I think they came out pretty cool, and Jack was VERY impressed! He frosted them 'fluffy cloud white' and our snack was done!!

Check these out!!

It's our rainbow leading to the pot of gold...now where is the leprechaun??

Rainy day craft, and postcards!

2010-03-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today is the fourth straight day of rain and wind....Jack is getting a little tired of being stuck inside, especially after all of that beautiful weather we had last week! We decided to do a little spring craft today...a little baby lamb! I thought it would remind us of warmer days to come!

I think it came out pretty cute, Jack thought it was fun using the cotton balls to make him all fluffy!

We've also been having so much fun with our postcrossing project! Jack loves getting the postcards in the mail, and now he always yells, "the mailman is here!!" (well, it's really a mail-lady, but all I think he notices is the big white mail truck!)

Jack has received some really cute cards, many people send them with animals on it that he would enjoy. We really appreciate that people pick out special things for him being only 3 years old!

He got this card in the mail the other day...it had a boar on it, knee-deep in mud with it's nose covered in mud! Jack thought that was pretty funny! As you can see, he really like that one!

saving money, and dancing like crazy!

2010-03-12T11:02:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday, Jack had his toddler program at the library. They had a guest speaker, a woman who worked for Jewett City Savings Bank, who read a story to the kids about money, then gave all of the kids little ceramic piggy banks! Even the craft was a little piggy!!

This picture was Jack getting his piggy bank from Miss Anne, one of the librarians...he knew he was getting a bank, so he brought along some change and immediately put it in his bank! What a good little saver! (He must definitely get that from Daddy!)

Jack and Luke got to share a little table, because the big tables had too many people! Here they are making their piggy craft complete with a cute little pipe cleaner tail!!

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Thursday we had a playdate at McDonalds with Jacks playgroup in the morning, did a little shopping afterwards then relaxed for the rest of the day! (Well, mostly relaxed....Jack decided he needed to listen to Christmas music and dance around the house!)

(It looks like just a black screen but when you click on it, it will load up...give it a few minutes!)

Check out the little video I shot with my phone of Jack dancing!

After dancing around all afternoon, Jack decided he would kick back and read a Clifford Easter Book!! He likes to make up the story by looking at the pictures...(he also makes some really funny faces while reading!!)

(another black screen, but click it and it will load up...just give it a couple of minutes)

Another beautiful day!

2010-03-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

Today Jack woke up complaining of a stomachache and coughing. He never mentioned the stomach part again for the rest of the day, but he was coughing on and off. We didn't make it to our playdate this morning, I just wanted to make sure that Jack wasn't going to be sick. After a little while of relaxing at home, we decided to head out for some fresh air.

We met up with Kathy and Riley again at Hammonasset Beach for a walk and a little geocaching! We found one, then for some reason, my phone was getting no network coverage, so I wasn't able to find any more there!

Jack and I both spotted this one at the same time pretty quickly! Jack found a couple of 'finger skateboards' that he took, and we put in a deck of game cards for the next person to find!

We walked around a little bit more, then headed to Cold Stone for some ice cream! We then headed to a candy store over at the outlet mall across the street. Auntie Scoot told Jack that he could choose anything in the store and she'd buy it for him....of all things, he chose a tube of mini M&M's! Then he spotted the gummy candy bins and decided that 'Daddy' needed to have some of those!! (Something tells me he was thinking more for himself!) He chose some octopus gummies, army guys, frogs, worms, and eggs....hmmm, just what Daddy likes! :)
As we were walking around the outlet mall, we kept running into those 50 cent 'rides' outside of the stores...Auntie Scoot really spoiled Jack today, she decided that he needed to ride just about every one we came across!! (Almost like going to an amusement park she said!)
He loved every minute of it...of course, I am going to have to convince him that we can't do that EVERY time we go someplace!

Jack and I headed back home, but made a quick stop at another geocache in Old Saybrook! This one was rated as an easy one, so I figured we could grab it and get home to see Daddy!

It was at a very beautiful park that was built on a landfill....unfortunately, it smelled pretty bad....I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer heat!

It really was a nice spot with benches that overlook the marsh and water....maybe we just caught it on a bad day, who knows!

It was a great time of day to be there, the sun was just setting!

This was the first cache that Jack actually found 100% on his own! We sometimes will lead Jack into the right area if we spot it first, but let him think he is finding it....but this time, I was reading a plaque at the park and all of a sudden Jack yells "Momma!!!! I found the hidden box!!!!!!'

He was so excited!! We popped it open and he found a Thomas the Train luggage tag! He took that and we left a travel game for the next people to find!

It was a great day!!

(and thanks again to Auntie Scoot and Riley for the spoiling today!)

Finally....beautiful weather!!

2010-03-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

We have had some gorgeous weather these past few days!

Yesterday, Daddy and I took Jack geocaching! We hit a couple of spots on our way down to Clinton for a pizza birthday party for Uncle Rhett!

This picture was taken in Preston. The cache was hidden under a rock in a wooded area besides the cemetery in town. This was the first of three that we found for the day!

Jack loves finding caches...in this one, he chose to take the mini flashlight...he already has one at home, but he said it was okay because the one he has at home is blue, and this one was green! LOL!

We had a great time at the pizza party, ate lots of pizza, then had chocolate raspberry cake and rootbeer floats at Grandmas house!

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Today, we had a field trip with Jacks playdate group! We went to the Gales Ferry Fire Department to see the fire trucks! This was our second time there, but Jack loves the fire trucks!!!
Here are a few pictures from our field trip!

Jack got to sit in a couple of fire trucks, and even got to use the fire extinguisher to squirt water all over the parking lot!

As you can see by the huge smile on his face, this was a lot of fun!!

When we got home, we ate lunch outside and Auntie Mel and Luke came over to play on the playscape! The boys have lots of fun together, I'm so happy they live right next door so the kids can all grow up together!!

They really are 'bestest buddies!'

Hammonasset Beach and postcards!!

2010-03-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today Jack and I met my sister Kathy and my niece at Hammonasset Beach in Madison! I haven't been there in so long! My husband and I used to go there when we lived down on the shoreline. We took a whole bunch of pictures, found a geocache, then went to Friendly's for ice cream!

Jack loves the beach!!

Another great thing that happened today? We got tons of postcards!!

Check out our other blog for some great pictures of all of our postcards:

http://www.jacksmom726-postcrossing.blogspot.com/

An airplane, shamrocks and a 'grass head guy'!

2010-03-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Last night when I got home from work, I found a nice little surprise on the table...Jack and Daddy must have done a little craft project while I was working! I quickly hung this airplane up in the doorway for everyone to see!

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This morning, Jack and I decided to start our St. Patricks Day projects....first up? Potato stamp shamrocks!

I remember doing this as a kid, you make stamps out of a half of a potato! We made one shamrock and a pot for all of our 'gold'! After Jack stamped some pictures on the paper, he glued on some 'gold coins' and colored a rainbow!! I think it came out cute, and he thought it was pretty funny we used a potato for this craft! :)

(Jack also got some more practice writing his name!)

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One last project before naptime.....I picked up a cute little 'guy' that grows grass for hair, so Jack and I let it soak in water for a few minutes before placing him into his plastic 'greenhouse'. Jack is pretty excited at the thought of giving him a 'haircut' in a week or two!!

A Craft with Daddy, Hide and Seek and Library!

2010-03-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Last night, Jack and Daddy did a craft together! Jack pulled out our favorite craft book and picked a monster truck to make! Daddy and Jack had a great time making this one!

Jack really liked painting the paper plates to make the big tires! I cut out the truck, and Daddy helped with the mixing of the paint, painting, and with the star stickers!! Another masterpiece!!

After making this really cool craft, Jack wanted to play hide and seek....it's his favorite game lately, we end up playing probably 3 or 4 times a day! I thought some of the hiding spots Jack chose were kind of funny, so I thought I would share them with you!

The first spot, was smack-dab right in the middle of the couch, he pulled the blanket over his head and yelled out that he was 'ready' to be found! LOL! Of course, I was just 5 feet away on the other couch counting, so needless to say, this spot was pretty easy to figure out! The next spot he chose to hide in at least took him into another room, although not necessarily a hard one to figure out! Jack went into the playroom and hid under his train table, probably would be a good spot, however, something didn't seem quite right when I walked into the room! I think Jack figures, if he can't see you, that you must not be able to see him! :)

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Today, we went to Library, heard a Dr. Seuss story and a story about farm animals! For our craft, Jack made a placemat with green eggs and ham! Yummmmmmy!