Happy Birthday to Our Sweet Jack

Happy Birthday to our Sweetest Boy!

December 15, 2012

4 years old

 December 2012

Almost 4 years old

November 2012

3 years, 11 months old

 October 2012

3 years, 10 months old

 September 2012

3 years, 9 months old

 August 2012

3 years, 8 months old

 July 2012

3 years, 7 months old

 June 2012

3 years, 6 months old

 May 2012

3 years, 5 months old

April 2012

3 years, 4 months old

 March 2012

3 years, 3 months old

February 2012

3 years, 2 months old 

 January 2012

3 years, 1 month old

December 15, 2011

3 years old

December 15, 2010 

2 years old 

December 15, 2009

1 year old 

 June 2009

6 months old

December 15, 2008

10 pounds, 2 ounces (!)

19.5 inches long

12:54 p.m.

Four!

Happy Birthday to Jack!

We are ready for a big day of fun with our birthday boy!

Look for pictures of Jack through the years tonight.

Painting our Salt Dough Ornaments

Eve

 Jack

Grace

 

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

We made salt dough Christmas ornaments earlier this week by combining 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt with 1 cup of warm water.  Jack and Eve enjoyed kneading the dough and then rolling it flat with rolling pins.  They used a variety of cookie cutter shapes to make their ornaments!

 Eve rolling out the salt dough!

Jack & Eve

 After we were finished making the salt dough ornaments Eve stood at our sink to wash all of the cookie cutters.  Eve has always loved helping me clean up -- she is my littlest helper!

When Grace returned home from school that afternoon she was so excited to make some salt dough ornaments too!  Grace made gingerbread ornaments for all of her classmates and teachers at school.

Jack's "Paved Road"

Jack.  This boy of mine is one of the hardest workers that I know.  I am so delighted to be able to present this series of pictures of Jack.  All spring, summer and autumn long Jack has been working in his sand box for hours upon end to create what he was calls his "paved road."  The moment the snow melted in early spring Jack began working on his road.  With a variety of shovels, trucks and other equipment in hand Jack worked for weeks to carve out the area where his road would be.  Jack spent all summer long at his "construction site" making base coats for his road.  Upon last count I think he was up to his 563rd base coat!   In early autumn Jack told us that his road was ready for the finishing coat.  Jack continued to work for weeks upon end to perfect his road.  Finally, in early December Jack announced (after eight months of hard physical work) that his road was finished.  Yes, indeed!

These pictures of Jack were taken on a warm day in early December as Jack was finishing up the final touches on his "paved road."  I wanted to take pictures of Jack working on it before the snow came and covered up all of his work.  I asked Jack if I could take pictures of him working and I was so happy to hear that I could.  Jack had previously mentioned to me that signs were up in his construction site asking that pictures not be taken due to certain building laws.  On this day in early December Jack told me that he was taking the 'no picture taking' sign down that day from 10 a.m. until lunchtime and informed me to quickly get my camera for this one time picture taking opportunity...and so I did!  Here are some pictures of our road builder hard at work.  I just love this boy!

Homemade Peppermint Scented Play Dough

One day last week we spent a quiet day at home in our pajamas.  We decided it would be fun to make play dough.  We all agreed that it should be green for Christmas and to make it even more festive we added peppermint oil and silver glitter too!  We set up a bakery and a construction site for our play dough and had lots of fun together.

A Quiet Day at Home

 Grace was home from school one day last week with an ear infection.  I love how she cuddled up on our couch with a pillow and warm blanket and then surrounded herself with Christmas books to read.  She is such an amazing reader.

Colander + Pipe Cleaners = A Fun Fine Motor Activity!

I gave Eve some colanders and pipe cleaners, which is a great combination for a fun fine motor activity and developing spatial understanding.  Eve really loved pushing the pipe cleaners through the holes in the colander to create different designs and sculptures!

 ...and a colander makes a really fun hat too!!!

Decorating for Christmas

Gracie putting an ornament on our Christmas tree

Jack & Grace sorting through some ornaments

Eve looking at one of our Christmas books

 Jack choosing the first ornament to put on our tree

 Eve and Santa!

Grace reading one of the books from our holiday book collection

 Jack with a musical snow globe

The first ornament on our tree

The Nutcracker

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Grace, Jack and I attended the Maine State Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker.  This is a tradition that we started when Grace was two years old and it is something that we look forward to all year long.  The Nutcracker has become such a huge part of our daily lives, not only during the Christmas season but all throughout the year.  Not a day goes by in our home without hearing Tchaikovsky and without seeing a variety of dance attire on three little dancers!  You can come to our house to see a Nutcracker performance every day of the year.  We are all extra, extra excited to attend the Maine State Ballet's Nutcracker next year because our sweet Eve will join in on this special tradition and Jack will be a reindeer in the show!