Guest Blog: Preview of Jack's two-year photo shoot...

About a month or so ago, we had a local photographer shoot Jack's two-year photos in Congress Park in Saratoga -- somewhat special to us since we were married there in 2006. We bought the digital versions of all of them, so I guess we will post them incrementally over the next week or so...

Attached is a sample set for your perusal...







P.S. The photographer we used was very nice, professional, and great with Jack -- she specializes solely in newborns and kids. Her name is Ashley Brown, and her website is http://www.ashleybrownphotography.com/.

Guest Blog: After a short hiatus, we're back...

As it has been over a week since Kristin's last post, I thought I'd step in to bring everyone up-to-speed. We kicked it all off last Sunday with trip to Marist, the FDR estate in Hyde Park, and a surprise party for Kristin -- celebrating her 30th birthday (ahem) -- at the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck. I worked on Monday, Kristin's actual birthday, and we had another mini party that night at home. We headed upstate to Saratoga on Tuesday, and had a week full of turkey, Skidmore hockey games, visits to Uncle Greg at the farm, Christmas tree hunting, and lots of time outside (followed by doses of antibiotics). Since we're just getting back now, below are a few pics from the week -- more to follow later...

Jack's face after eating a birthday cupcake on Monday. Of course he chose the orange one -- it continues to be his favorite color... (Interesting Fact: Children do not fully digest orange food coloring - not even close).


The view from the new gazebo above the Marist Boathouse in Poughkeepsie.


Jack climbing the "BreakFree" sculpture outside of the FDR library. It was created by Edwina Sandys, Winston Churchill's granddaughter; the concrete parts were crafted from sections of the Berlin Wall.


Jack scaling the mountainous terrain at Kuzmich's Christmas Tree farm in (very rural) Greenwich, NY. He was keen on chasing Greta, the farm's handsome German short-haired pointer. Alas, she was too fast for all of us...

mmm...chicken teriyaki:)

as requested by jack, that was our dinner tonight! it is one of his favorites, and one of the few things we can all eat, since most of the time he's either eating hummus, peanut butter or raviolis. the best part of our dinner tonight was getting to eat together:) we usually can't because by the time mike gets home, its pretty much bath time, and then bed. so chicken teriyaki nights are special nights these days.

of course what's better than a dinner together followed by a dance party...one of jack's favorite things to do! we cranked up "the boss" on the sound dock and danced our dinner off;) its a lot of fun, but i'm sure if anyone saw us they'd think we were nuts!

its times like these i realize how lucky i am. jack brings so many smiles and laughter. i have 2 of the best boys in the world...

men at work;)

just a little spontaneous dancing on this rainy saturday morning...much more fun than 6 loads of laundry!

e is for elephant

each week we try to accomplish at least one letter. this week was the letter "e." jack seems to really like his "project" as he is always asking to "do a project!" he's getting better at listening to directions and following my lead as we go along. its amazing to watch his dexterity develop as we conquer the alphabet!

my attempt at getting him to smile:)

if there's glue, jack will come...he loves to use glue!

these are a bit out of focus, but he was really concentrating!

so proud:)

busy weekend...

we started off on friday with a visit to central park and met up with aunt melissa & jake who were in town visiting...


when we got home that night, jack told me he would like to go on the potty without his diaper on--he often sits on it with his clothes on, but always says "no" to doing it sans diaper. well, wouldn't ya know jack went poopy on the potty!! i'll admit that i never thought i would even write about this, let alone say the word poopy, but alas times have changed;)

this is the classic "mom are you seriously taking my picture?" we didn't even
have a chance to take his hat off when we got home!

saturday morning...catching up on the news;) actually he's looking at a slide show of himself...
he loves to look at pictures of himself--he gets that from his father!

then baby hudson came to visit us saturday afternoon...look at this cuteness! mike and i now realize just how challenging of an infant jack was--hudson is so easy going and content:)


we decided to just get up and go sunday morning...we headed to stone barns, which is this amazing agricultural center & restaurant. they farm everything and use it on-site--very cool.

we saw cows, chickens, sheep, donkeys, horses, bees...right up jack's alley as he loves "aminals"

comic relief...

monkey see...

monkey do...

there are often times when i am so overwhelmed with love for jack that i get this almost giddy feeling. so many times throughout the day he just makes me smile...whether it is our little conversations or his ability to pick out the correct letter on his fridge phonics when asked, i'm just so lucky that i get to spend my day with him:)

a new use for his "anywhere" chair...he did this today and came running to me exclaiming
"i lined up all my cars!" he was so proud:)