More Jack Art

A fancy Jack train.

And a note for Mommy- to remind me just how old I am.

Look Mom, No Training Wheels!!!

The training wheels are off- Annabelle can officially ride a two wheel bike! It took a while, but eventually, she managed to do it. Yeah Annabelle!!

The Play!

Jack has joined Annabelle's theatre group! Now that he is four, we were able to sign him up for the last 3 classes of the session. His first day was very cute; Annabelle held his hand and led him to the room, then introduced him to the rest of kids. She did a great job looking after her little brother. After that, he fit right in!

At the end of each session there is a little performance... This one was a twist on Rapunzel.

Annabelle, of course, had to be Rapunzel. That child is not shy in the least. She loves being the center of attention!

The boys all seemed a bit nervous at first- they were all chewing on their hands! After a while they all relaxed a bit...

I thought Jack might get stage fright, as he has done in his past school performances, but he did OK- He was a little shy and mostly hid behind the other two boys, but he did manage to come to the front several times to do his lines!!! I'm curious to see how he does next time...

*Disclaimer: The photos came out terrible. I was at a weird angle and it was hard to get any decent shots. These are pretty much the best of the worst!

The Enforcer

Our front "lawn" if you can even call it that was a complete mess; basically a pile of dirt and roots. As I was getting it ready to plant grass seed, Jack was playing with chalk in the driveway. I really wasn't paying too much attention to what he was drawing, being busy pulling roots and all, so when he called me over to see what he had done (he had a surprise for me), I was slightly taken aback...

He had written the word "Stop" and drawn a sign showing a person with a line slashed through. He explained to me that no one is allowed to step on the new grass so he made a sign to keep away people, and dogs- In this picture, he is drawing the "no dogs allowed to poop on the new grass" sign!

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning we had our 3rd annual street Easter egg hunt. As I was sorting through pictures, I came across the ones from the 1st Easter egg hunt, back in 2007. I can't believe how big they are getting!

My how they've changed! ... Or have they?

What a motley crew!

Lucky Boy

Jack had his first ride in Daddy's toy car! ...Nick had to cheer Jack up while Annabelle and I went to a birthday party so he took him out for a spin with the top down- Jack sure did forget all about that birthday party after that!

Mr. Smarty Pants

Jack was quietly drawing this morning. I went to check on him and this is what I found:

It says,

DADDY

MOMY

ANNABELLE

2009 JACK

The other day he was typing into the "Word" program on the computer. He was typing numbers when I called him for lunch. While he was eating, I went to close the program- this is what I found:

He usually closes the program himself: first he clicks on the "red X" in the window corner and then he will click on the "YES" to save his file. He had been asking what the other buttons were for so we have been briefly discussing the "yes" "no" or "cancel" options...

The Birthday Boy!

Jack's birthday was a week ago- he's been FOUR for a whole week. What a big difference. Jack loves being four. I think he decided that he was all of a sudden a "big kid" now that he is four.

He's become very responsible all of a sudden! He picks up his toys when asked, puts trash in the bin (unprompted), brings his plate over to the sink when he's finished eating, and has overall been a better listener. I'm sure it didn't really happen overnight, I think I am just noticing it more now that he's FOUR.

On his birthday we had a small party at our house with a few of his neighbor friends and some family. When he woke that morning, he decided that it was his job to clean all of the toys out of the living room so that we could make room for playing games. He brought all of the toys out to the back porch, without me even having to ask him to, and he even dragged the little kitchen over to the back door. He was such a good helper!

For his party we made him a 3D pirate ship cake. It didn't turn out exactly how I had planned but I think he was happy with the results. Nick helped with the decorating; he did the masts/rigging and even rolled an anchor out of a tootsie roll! ...Who knew he was so talented.

At four years old Jack is still the sweetest boy ever; of course, like every child, he has his moments of terror, but for the most part, he is very sweet. He is very much a "mamma's boy" and he will still climb up on my lap and cuddle... sometimes.

Other times, he is too much of a "big kid" for me and I cramp his style.... Especially when he is around his friends.

But he still sleeps with his Teddy, and Other Teddy, and about 10 of his other favorite stuffed friends... Never too big for those.

Jack is still very much into cars, and trains, but is starting to branch out more in his play interests. It's not all cars, all the time, any more... Now he plays with everything. He also likes to ride his bike, scooter, and drive super car, which he wasn't really interested in doing much last year. Maybe he feels he has better coordination now that he's four? Who knows.

Jack really is a bright little boy; he can spell and write his name, his sister's name, Mommy, and many other words. He can write all his numbers and count on forever... He loves numbers; numbers are "his thing." I have actually seen him count to over 500!

Jack has been using the computer a lot lately; he practices typing things in the "word" program. He knows how to open his file, close it down and save it. Often I have to fight him for use of the computer, which is one of the reasons this blog is not updated very much any more!

Happy Birthday Jack!!!!!

Car Cakes!

In honor of Jack's birthday, the car cakes have made a special appearance! We baked a batch to take into school today so Jack could celebrate with his class. Right now we are in the middle of baking lots and lots of cakes in an attempt to make a 3D pirate ship for his party tomorrow!! Hopefully we will have some pictures to post!!

School Pictures!

So, we got the kids school pictures back today- These are Jack's first ever school pics!! Not sure what I think about them yet, I guess there are a couple of cute ones... Much to my own surprise, my favorites seem to be the crayon ones!

*all photos by Life Touch photo

Jack Art

Jack's race car and driver- Done all by himself!!

My SONshine

My son is THE MOST adorable creature in the world: As I was putting him to bed tonight he started singing, "you are my sunshine." When he finished singing he pointed to me and said, "you are MY sunshine, Mommy." "I love you."

Bikers

Happy Valentine's Day!

Annabelle's Play

Annabelle has been taking a class on Tuesdays at a local theatre. She calls it her "acting class" but it's more like a creative play group; they do crafts and stories as well as song and dance. She loves it. After each six week session they put on a little show. This play was called "Sam and the Mysterious Secrets"- I have absolutely no idea what was going on, but it was very cute!!

Birthday Party #2

We have had the week never ending birthday! Party #2 was a family party at our house.

Waiting for a piece of cake.

Cupcakes that Annabelle decorated- all. by. herself.

The super Funshine Care Bear cake that I was forced to make.