Turning 2 at the Car wash

We celebrated Jack's 2nd birthday on Saturday. It went fantastic-- just as I had imagined. Usually reality wins over my imagination, so I was thrilled that everything went as planned! The weather was perfect, the kids had lots of wet fun, and Jack was a happy Birthday Boy. I coudn't have asked for more.

The theme was a "Car Wash". All of the tots brought their favorite rididng toy and wore their swimsuits. We had an inflatable car wash in the front yard and roped off the driveway with flags. Goodies for the guests were buckets, sponges and towels. Now you can see why I needed good weather--no rain and sun. Believe it or not the parents actually started getting hot out there. That was a surprise considering how April has been around here.

After lunch we headed to the backyard for a little play on Jack's new playset. A friendly turtle even greeted us back there. By this point the kiddos were filthy and wet...perfect! Jack topped off his birthday celebration with a 3 1/2 hour nap. It was definitely a great day! As Jack would say, Happy "Number 2"!

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Aren't We Blessed

I feel so blessed to have my Grandma. She is such an amazing, spiritual, and warm woman. She has been such an influential part of my life for as far back as I can remember. If you've met her, you know what I mean. Anyone would love to have my Grandma.

But, I feel even more blessed that Jack has had the opportunity to get to know her. Even in her 70's, she is outside playing ball with my vivacious two year old, putting pj's on his wiggly self at bedtime, bathing my silly splasher, and chasing him around the house without even a wince. Jack LOVES her and chants "GG" (great grandma) constantly during her visits.

We were graced with one of her wonderful visits this past weekend through the early part of the week. She left us with a smile, good memories, and a stocked fridge and freezer of home cooked meals. Yes, she thinks she is blessed to have us, but Jack and I know the real truth...we are the blessed ones! We love you Grandma/GG!

A hug for GG...



and a kiss!

Jack loved playing ball with GG. She taught him a little game of "up, down,sideways, sideways" and he has been chanting it ever since.

Ring Around the Rosies...

...and we all fall down!

Hmm...now what can I get GG to play with me?

We Took The Plunge

Some of you may have already heard of the ISR swim program before. The first time I heard about it was when Jack was about 6 months old and someone forwarded me the link to this video (I pasted the link below). I truly was amazed, but didn't really see my need for it...we didn't have a pool.

Fast forward 7 months and Jack was about 13 months old. At this point he was walking and we were at the neighborhood pool all summer long. On two separate occasions last summer Jack fell into the pool. One time in the baby pool and one time into the big pool. Of course, I was right there and actually chasing him around one time and the other I was even holding his hand. But, it just goes to show you how quickly and easily it can happen.

I still wasn't completely sold on "our" need for this program, again we don't have a pool in our backyard. That was until we went to Jack's best friend Sophia's house to swim last summer. Sophia was nearing the end of her ISR lessons and she was only about 14 months old. And I do not lie, when I say the toddler was swimming, not just plain swimming, but jumping of the pool step and swimming under water to her Mom. Meanwhile, Jack was just hanging out on the pool steps while I had my eagle eyes on him. At that moment, I declared "that's it...we are doing it next spring".

Well here we are next spring and we are about 4 weeks into the program. I'm not going to lie, it is very intense, a serious commitment, and not cheap. But, how could I ever put a price of money or time on Jack's life? The more I thought about it, ALL of our family lives on or near the water and we belong to our neighborhood swim club. It just started to make sense to Clay and I. We are seeing a lot of progress with Jack, but I know we still have a ways to go. The average is 6 weeks, but I see us possibly staying in the program a bit longer. Whatever it takes. I am just so thrilled that Clay and I decided to do this.

Check out the video link to the program...it's only about 2 minutes and it's pretty amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwvv5IyPkXM

It's Here...Finally

After 4 full days of waiting, Jack's new play set is finally up and running! I don't know who was more excited Mommy and Daddy or Jack! But, I do know we all were getting tired of seeing our swings and slide laying on the ground waiting for power. Jack pointed to it daily chanting " men fix it". The wait was well worth it when we saw Jack's excitement as he sprinted across the lawn. Is it just me or are kids awfully lucky these days?...I never had anything like this in my backyard until I was 31! Happy Belated Birthday Buddy! (and by the way I'm banking on his birthday behavior being due to the storm...since then he has been a terrific 2 year old...knock on wood)

The initial sprint across the yard. Cosby couldn't resist the excitement either.

First stop-the swings...I could have guessed that one!

I would have never thought to get one of these gliders until we tested it out in the store. Jack and I are both able to ride it at the same time and he loves it! After that we put it on our must have list.

I'm X's and your O's. If Jack turns it ever so slightly the "O" hides behind one of the wooden slates and looks like a "C". Believe it or not this thrills him!

Down the slide with Daddy. Jack has a bit of a slide-phobia, so a parental spotter is needed for each trip down. Don't ask?? (hoping it's just another phase)

Jack peered through the telescope and repeated "I see ____" (just fill in the blank with anything that could be in a yard). However, the majority of the time the missing word was Cosby.

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Look Who's 2!

Our sweet precious baby boy is 2 years old today! I'm having a very hard time believing it. It seems just like yesterday when we were bringing him home from the hospital. And yet at the same time, I can't remember life before him. Now he is a vivacious, busy, opinionated, smart, lovable little 2 year old. So here's to the Terrific Twos!...looking forward to another fabulous year of growing and learning! We love you to the moon and back J! XOXO

We aren't officially celebrating Jack's birthday until the 25th of April with a party, but we wanted to make the real day special too! That was until we lost power for 2 full days! Here is how it went...

We greeted Jack in his room in the a.m. with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" and two cameras in his face. He wasn't exactly sure what to think. (We lost power about 20 minutes after this.)

Jack and I went to the neighborhood bakery to choose a very special Birthday cupcake for dinner. We came home with a bunny cookie and 6 bunny cupcakes. The only problem was that Jack didn't understand the phrases "after lunch and after dinner". Don't let this lunch picture fool you--the previous 35 minutes included a full out tantrum and refusal to eat lunch. "Don't want to...bunny cookie" meaning "I don't want to eat lunch, I want my cookie". (note the tear stained eyes) After a very long lunch, I finally won....kind of. Jack ate/picked at his lunch and then was given his bunny cookie. After that, all was well. I'm not sure if this behavior was due to 'just being 2' or the power outage. I'm hoping for the latter.

A couple books by the light of the window before nap time... once the storm passed it was a very dreary day.

So the plan was that Jack get his BIG birthday present on the 13th, his real birthday. The present was a new play set right in his backyard. Clay and I spent days researching this, choosing the play set, choosing the colors and then choosing the day of installation. We settled on Jack's special day since his party is 2 weeks later. Unfortunately, you can't use tools to assemble a play set if you don't have power. The guys from PlayNation spent a couple of hours in our backyard waiting for the power to come back on. Jack spent a lot of time looking out the window hoping and wishing the men would "fix it". Little did any of us know that it was going to be 2 full days later. So much for the special birthday treat!

I had these glorious intentions of a yummy home cooked birthday dinner for Jack. But, with no power, we headed out for pizza instead (per Jack's request). I'm sure that didn't bother him a bit:) We did make it home in time for a tiny bit of daylight to sing Jack Happy Birthday and eat cupcakes by candle light. I think this is one Birthday we will never forget!

Easter Greetings

From our Family to Yours...

Hunting Season

Eggs, that is! We had an "egg-cellent" weekend of Egg hunts and pre-Easter fun. We started off Friday with an Egg Hunt at Jack's school. The eggs were hidden around the playground and the kids took the eggs to one central basket...great idea! Then the teachers divied them up into the tot's bunny bags. Jack could not contain himself when we got home as he looked into his bag to check out his loot. Unfortunately for him I had already emptied all the eggs of the sweet treats. Don't judge--trust me he would have tried to eat the whole bag and not given up. It was a battle I was not in the mood to fight 30 minutes before nap time. He still had fun opening empty eggs and a few of them even surprised him with toys inside.

On Sunday, we attended Sophia's 2nd Birthday Party which was another Easter Egg Hunt complete with a visit from the Easter Bunny. We had perfect weather for the hunt and Jack surprised me with actually showing interest in the giant bunny. Quite a change from last years bunny visit and this years Santa trip. Well Jack learned from Friday's hunt that he better get the candy while he can. Instead of dropping his eggs in the pail, he opened each one as he found it. Empty eggs went into the bucket and candy went into his mouth. Leave it to my sly guy to figure that one out. Needless to say after Easter candy and birthday cupcakes we took our little bunny home with a bit of a sugar high. If you can believe it we also had the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt at 4pm that afternoon too. However Jack was snoozing, so we decided to let him sleep the sugar off. Maybe next year.

So much Easter fun and Easter is still a week away. How will we ever top this weekend on the actual day?

Pre-school Easter Egg Hunt. Jack was so surprised when he walked outside and saw Mommy standing on his playground to join in the hunt. Ahhh..so sweet!

Jack took his eggs to the basket just like he was instructed to do.

Hmmm...I don't really have to leave them in there...do I?

Post Egg Hunt play!

Sophia's 2nd Birthday Party and Egg Hunt. (Excuse the Crocs--he insisted)

His first found egg and Jack is already on the ground trying to open it.

And what does he find inside....a "lollitop"!

Hey, this is easier if Daddy holds the basket and I just walk around and open eggs.

Jack's Easter Bunny encounter started with a hand shake...

evolved into a sideways hug...

and ended with a kiss!

Sophia, the Birthday Girl and Jack's very bestest friend! Happy Birthday sweet girl! We had an "egg-cellent" time!

Little Swinger

Ever since Daddy came home with a Tee Ball set for Jack, it has become an after dinner ritual. After a few swings it's off to bath and bed. Clay has pronounced that Jack might be "a natural" and we need to get some video footage. Ha! I think he is just a proud Daddy and I think Jack just likes anything that expels energy. Regardless, it has been keeping both of my boys entertained around here. We finally got some video footage a couple days ago as our neighbors were coming over to visit. Jack will do anything to put on a show for an audience. So I present our "Little Swinger" in honor of the start of spring and baseball season...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com