Monkey Man

Stephen and I were surprised to hear from Jack's teachers that he quite the agile little climber at school. They say even though Jack is the youngest - he is easily the most adept at the jungle gym on the playground. To prove it, Jack's teacher Justine sent me more pictures.

The Train has Pulled into the Station!

Yesterday when we got home from work (my first day at Fleishman) we saw a huge box sitting in front of our door. I knew instantly what it was - the big huge collection of Thomas the Train engines and track that Uncle Artie had been promising to send. How exciting! He must have spent a small fortune on pieces (and if you bought one of them for Jake or Kyle, please know we appreciate it!). He also spent a lot of money on shipping them to us - the box weighed 50 pounds!



I am pretty sure we have every train ever made... and we're going to be building a train table in Jack's room so that he can play with them all the time. Thanks Artie!!!

More Apple Pickin...

No, we didn't go apple picking again in fact it rained here all day. Our friend Maria just sent me some of the pictures that she took. I particularly like the one of Maria and me carrying the ladder... really nice guys!

Parade Pictures

Everyone loves a parade... especially 2 year olds. Here are some shots from the parade we went to yesterday in Canton with the Wood Family... boy was it chilly. Fall has definitely arrived in New England.


The Canton Fire Department had a booth set up taking donations and handing out "fire truck men" hats. Jack and Ryan got one... it was the best thing we've ever gotten him for 2 bucks!

Here are the boys as they boarded the train ride in the amusement part section of the big block party. We weren't sure if they'd stay seated, but I think the excitement of it all kept them grounded.

Please note that the Diego band-aid on Jack's forehead is not actually covering a boo boo... it was just for "show" and definitely for "tell."

He-ho's!!! (aka horses)

FYI - I ripped the band-aid off this morning... he didn't see it coming... but boy was he mad!

Imitation...

We went to the big parade in Canton yesterday afternoon. We got there just in time to see the firetrucks come through and then enjoy the marching bands (and dancing ladies!). Here is a quick video of Jack getting very excited over one of the marching bands... as you'll see he tries to imitate the lady playing the flute and the man playing the big huge bass drum...

2 Announcements...

And no... I'm not pregnant :) Sorry Mom

First... I start my new job on Monday. Last Thursday was my last day at MS&L. On Monday I start work as a Vice President at Fleishman Hillard - a global PR agency - also with an office in Boston. It was a tough decision for me... loved what I did at MS&L and I really liked the people I worked with... but the offer was too good to pass up... so I took it. Now I have a whole new set of clients to work on (like iRobot, Sun Life Financial, ShoeBuy.com) come this Monday.

And the second big announcement is that I finally bought a car! Yep - we signed all the papers this morning and my brand new 2010 Volvo XC90 will be in my hands and in my driveway in about 10 days! I chose a black car with a tan leather interior... some other nice features... but the one I knew I couldn't live without was the DVD player for Jack. That was a "must have."

So those are my 2 announcements... we're heading up to Canton in a few minutes to watch the town parade... the big draw is of course the firetrucks (FYI - Jack is going to be a fireman for Halloween).

Fun School Pictures

I really think Jack enjoys going to school. He loves the kids. He eats his lunch. He really seems to like his teachers.

Today one of Jack's teachers, Justine, sent me some pictures of what they did today... which clearly included one heck of a lot of shaving cream!

His hair had a lot of texture to it when I picked him up. A long bath was definitely needed.

Then and Now...

Wow... what a difference 2 years will make! The first photo was taken in October 2007 (5 months old) - the one below was taken the other night.

Did he even have a neck???

My lord... the chair only comes up to his po po!

We donated our "office" to Tim and Jill - for their little guy Hunter. Hopefully he'll enjoy it as much as Jack did...

Apple Picking

Last year we were too late... not the case this year. This year WE PICKED APPLES! We ventured up to Stow (about 40 minutes north of Foxboro) to an orchard called Honey Pot Hill. Very cute place. They had goats, chickens, rabbits, pigs, pumpkins, donuts, tractor rides and of course acres and acres of apple trees.

Best looking picking crew in all of Massachusetts today. We went with our friends the McHugos. So it was the 3 of us... and Matt, Maria, Owen (3) and Ethan (1) hitting the orchard.

Before we headed in to do our migrant work we checked out the animals... Owen wanted to climb in and get a closer look at the goats.

Checking out the piggies.

We loaded onto the tractor for our hayride out to the orchard. I think this was Jack's favorite part. He grabbed a seat at the very back and was just thrilled the whole time.


The ride was about 10 minutes long... followed a pretty river up to the orchard. Of course the tractor ride was an extra buck a person. I don't mind paying hard working farmers a little extra to keep them in business. Stephen enjoyed the ride as well.



Here's a quick video taken while on the tractor ride... you'll see that Stephen has to coax Jack to even look at me... so stubborn!

After climbing some big hills up to the perfect tree - Stephen took the ladder (which Maria and I had carried!) and headed up the tree to get his hands on the reddest apples (MacIntosh).

I think they charge you so much extra because they know you eat a dozen apples while picking.

Jack had to climb the ladder since Stephen was up there.

So did Owen...

The trees were so loaded with apples that the branches were nearly touching the ground. This let Jack pick his own apple... which made him very proud.

Bye bye tractor!

Best way to ride - ever!

I tried getting a nice fall picture of Jack in the pumpkins... he didn't exactly cooperate... as usual.

We got home... played a quick game of hide and seek (again!) and then Jack took a decent 3 hour nap. I ran to the store and got supplies to make apple crisp... which I'm going to go eat right now.

I'm too old for this...

I loved to play hide and seek when I was a kid... that must be where Jack gets his love of the game. Yesterday our neighbor Lauren asked if Jack and I wanted to play with her. We agreed since it was such a nice afternoon - the chosen game? Yes, hide and seek. We played in the front yards for at least 45 minutes until I convinced them to take a snack break (juice boxes and animal crackers). Jack only counts to 5 and he peeks through his fingers... meanwhile Lauren would count to 30 very slowly, so we were hiding for a long time. The tree in our front yard was "safe." Oh - and Jack hides in one of 2 places every time. Not too hard to find him. Here is a quick video of the game (I was "it").

Jack was fine :)

A little white lie

It's been well documented - Jack is not the best eater. One thing he does love is butter... but his palate is not all that sophisticated yet. The other day we were eating crackers and cheese and Jack was interested in trying some - and we lied - we said the goat cheese was butter. He tried it. He LOVED it. He eats it pretty often now. In fact he had a couple crackers with goat cheese tonight before dinner (which consisted of 2 dozen grapes).

Train Lover!

Choo Choo's are #1 in Jack's book (well, at least right up there with fire trucks and tractors!). All of a sudden he's started yelling, "All aboard!" Not really sure where this came from... but it's pretty cute.

Also in this video - how Jack refers to himself. It's a long name for a 2 year old to get... and then of course he ignores me and goes back to eating bacon.

Grow your own...

When I worked in TV news - we always said it was best to "grow your own producers." 2 reasons... number 1 - ahem, it was less expensive and number 2 - you trained them to produce a newscast the way you (the station management) liked it.

I'm taking this to heart... and trying it at home. No - I'm not training Jack to be a producer or a public relations expert. I'm training him to give me pedicures. This would save me a lot of time and money.

He's got the basics down on nail filing... now we have to work on his nail polish application technique.

Really, a gun?

Last year for Christmas I got Stephen a nerf gun - totally forgetting that Jack would eventually want to play with it. I am very anti-gun and I'm not sure how I had such a lapse in judgment. Anyway - it's in the house now and today Jack and Stephen played with it for a while in the family room.

He liked learning how to load the ammunition. Great.


After rifle practice we decided to try and get out of the house. Now, getting out of the house isn't as easy as you think it is. Very often Jack decides that his pajamas are perfectly acceptable clothing for both at home and at the store. The ensuing chase around the house - trying to get Jack to succumb to getting dressed can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes. The latter is what took place today. Jack started with a stand-off under the crib.


Then he thought he could distract me by doing his signature move - "the Jack." We're not quite sure where he picked this up... but it is quite reminiscent of some old-school break dancing.

"Look Mom - no hands!" This just makes me cringe. I feel like he's going to snap his neck.

Eventually I wrestled Jack down to the ground and got him dressed. We headed out to look at houses (just looking... just looking) and ended up stopping by Owen and Ethan's house to visit. We decided to try and go apple picking next weekend. Last year we went too late and all the apples were gone - but not this year - this year - we will pick 'em.

Oh - and here is a picture of the newest member of the family. Yes - this is Nemo. Nemo lives in Jack's room and is consistently harassed by the 2 year old that he shares a room with. Poor little fishy.

Jack is waking up from his nap... gotta run!

No splashing!

Jack loves to take a hybrid bath/shower. It's great for testing the efficiency of our hot water heater... because it can easily go on for 30 minutes.

New Choo Choo

We had to drop Stephen off at the train station on Monday afternoon for a quick trip to NYC - it turned into a trip to Toys R Us. Let me explain.

So we got to the train station and unfortunately Jack was under the impression that HE was going on a train (aka "choo choo") with his father. We waited patiently on the platform for the Amtrak train and when it came - boy was it exciting! Jack was screaming "choo choo" for everyone to hear - and chuckle at. But when Stephen got on - and Jack and I did not - the waterworks started. He was completely adamant that he was supposed to be on the train with his father and felt like he was being left behind. Awww... so hard to tell him no. Anyway to calm him down I said we'd go to the choo choo store (toy store) to get a new train. This worked and he happily went to the car. By the time we got on the highway I thought he had forgotten my offer. He had not. Of course it was Labor Day - which meant a number of stores were not open. I drove to 3 different stores - eventually ending up at Toys R Us.

He played at the train table for a good 20 minutes - and I let him. I figured we didn't have anything better to do - might as well hang out at a toy store all afternoon, right? I eventually got him to pick just one train (and not try to take off with the ones on the table). We chose the one named "Jack" - it's a bulldozer/train (?).

We played with it as soon as I could rip open the packaging ... Happy Jack = Happy Mom :)