Night Out

We went to an "Old Hollywood" themed fundraisor for Alzheimer's Disease in Sept with some people from the NAI group. We went to one last year too, and always have a great time!

First Day of School!

I can't believe my little boy is THREE! He is getting so big. He just started preschool and loves it! He was so excited to go to school that he rolled down his window when we pulled into the parking lot on the first day and yelled out "Hello Everyone!!!". It is really going so well! I adore his teacher, school, AND MY NEW FREE TIME (whaaa?)!!

We hit a rough patch the second week of school. He (out of nowhere) decided that he didn't want me to leave him. He would beg me to take him home and try to run out of the room. It was awful!! He has never had a problem with me leaving him anywhere and NEVER acted like that before! I was totally not expecting it! Luckily his teacher is wonderful, she came out and told me that this happens with the kids all the time and the best thing for me to do was to just leave him. It was so hard to do but I just brought him to school crying about 5X in row. Each time I left I would play it cool to Jack, but go sit in my car and cry, it was so sad! But One day he went to class and said "I am going to be happy now" went in and told his teacher the same thing, and it has been a breeze ever since. It actually makes me think this exactly the kind of thing he needed to grow and get even more independent. I am so proud of my him.

Funny things he has been saying:

We were at Cherry Hill in the arcade area and Jack asked to play a game. I told him I didn't have any coins for him. He sees one of those games that is filled with gold coins and asks if we can use them. I told him that we can't use the coins because they are behind the glass. He says in his best tough pirate voice: "I know - I will "Hi-yah" the glass and get all the coins out!"

Nick and I noticed bite marks on Jack's bed.
me: "Jack did you bite your bed? You are a little beaver."
Jack: "Yeah, I totally BEAVED it."

A month after Nick and Erica moved away, I caught Jack in the laundry room all by himself, with the lights off singing to battery powered candles. "Happy Birthday to Erica" He told me he was having a party for her. How sweet is that?

Me: "Jack how come you are so cute?"
Jack: "Because I am..... I'm darling."

Jack is watching me open fortune cookies and read them out loud to him. He grabs a cookie, breaks it open, holds out the paper in front of him and says " You will beat the bad guys and move onto the next level!".

His new thing is pretending. Lately he has been insisting we sit in our dark laundry room with the lights out - his "haunted house". We have to talk in bad Russian accents (well me anyway..) And I call have to call him "Bubba-ga-noosh" I am "Goo-lawsh" and daddy is "Ba-booshka".

After staying at my mom's house while we were at Mexico, Jack comes home and asks me for a cookie. I say no - over and over. Finally he asks "mom will you pretend to be grandma?" I say sure. He says "NOW can I have a cookie?"

Grandma Alaire's Swing

our favorite place...

Swinging away..

I can't believe how grown up my JackJack looks in these photos

No one gives under-dogs like Grandpa!

I love my papa Bob.

When Jack steals daddy's coke....

Until next year....

Summer Days

4th of July!
We had a good time at the parade. Last year all I did was chase Jack everywhere and this year he was actually kind of freaked out by the whole thing. It was loud and crazy for him. When we first got to our spot, he grabbed my leg, looked up at me and said "mommy, never leave me." It is funny how things change year by year!
All my siblings all managed to find each other at the parade this year. My Grandma Hart had her on float at the beginning of the Parade called "Pioneer Women of Today" or something. I had no idea so I missed it and didn't get a photo :(

FIREWORKS!!
We hung out with one of our favorite families, The Flannerys for the 4th. We had a great BBQ and Nick and Blake got fireworks. Our little boys are so cute together! Killian is a year older and Jack loves to follow a "big boy" around.

Darling little Liam

Teanna with silly kids

Boys never out grow fireworks apparently...These guys were having way too much fun.

Swimming!

Jack loves to go off the diving board at Grandpa's house. He just does it over and over and over.

Macie and Ashton swimming!

Erica's Birthday party at Cherry Hill!

Jack loves Cherry Hill!

Funny boys. I don't know where this face comes from? He just pulls stuff like this when I take his picture. He is way too cool for school.

Mommy & Daddy Day

We decided to spend a special little "mommy & daddy day" with Jack for his birthday. He had a party, but I think there is something different about just giving some serious time and attention to our birthday boy, just the three of us.

We took him to the place he is always talking about theeee DINOSAUR PARK!! We tried it about a year ago, and the Dino noises out of the speakers (which are a little scary) and just the large-ness of the dinosaurs was really overwhelming to JackJack. He totally had a freak-out. But about 20 mins into being at the park (as we were about to call it a total loss) he started playing at the playground, digging for dino eggs and really really getting into it. He surprisingly has been talking about it ever since. It was fun to take him back and watch him get to really enjoy it. He walked around the museum looking at all the dino bones and figures and loved to talk about how big they were. We ran around the park and looked for dinosaurs. It was a huge success this time.

Aaaah! A T-Rex!!

Daddy got Jack a special present to drive around! He kept running into my fence over and over, we are still working on the steering part...

This is about the cutest thing I have ever seen. He is starting to look so big to me!

Pirate Birthday

Jack's Pirate Party!

I made this little painting as an invite for the party and they are selling it on Brightsideprints.com it's called "The Octopirate"

I was very proud of my pirate ship cake because my first attempt (with directions) was a complete disaster! I decided to try a second time and just totally wing it, and it turned out great! I was really happy with my giant marshmallow octopus.

The kids were running around acting like pirates while we did a treasure hunt, pinata and pirate stuff. I got a little carried away (surprise) with making pirate hats and swords and all that, but I actually felt like it was totally worth it. The kids seemed to have a blast and Jack loved his 3rd birthday :)

Mothers Day

I couldn't forget this! My sweet boys always make me feel so special on Mothers Day. Here is the darling breakfast that they made for me. Strawberry waffles + flowers + cupcakes = one happy mama.