my rock star

so jack has had a rough fall in regards to ear infections and viruses. it seems he gets better and then a week later he has picked up something new. we're hoping that a booster of the pneumococcal vaccine will help him fend this pesky viruses off better, but we're also researching some other possible causes. in the meantime, after just finishing up yet another antibiotic, jack has picked up a new virus. back to the dr. we went this morning. jack was just hoping that he wouldn't miss his 2nd pajama day at school, and i was just hoping it wasn't another ear infection!? turns out his ears look great, but he has picked up a new virus. with no signs of a fever today, the dr. gave him the "ok" to go to pajama day! now comes the rock star part...i prepped jack as best i could that he would have to have more blood taken today, and despite being very apprehensive, he did awesome. there were no tears and cooperated completely. i hate seeing him have to go through all this, but he is such a trooper and with any luck we'll get all of this figured out and it will be a long, long time before he has to give blood again:)

festival of lights...

jack has been learning a lot about hannukah this week at school. so far he has asked me the following; can we become jewish, can i make potato pancakes, can he learn hebrew and if i knew how to count from 1-10 in hebrew! i like his enthusiasm and eagerness to learn, but i was definitely not prepared for the next conversation to follow. it went a little something like this;

j: mom, how do jewish people look?
me: um, you can't really tell someone's religion by looking at them. sometimes you can tell where someone's family originates based on their last name.
j: oh no, i know how you can tell...it's in the kid's faces. they like have these old faces, ya know. i think (insert name of school mate) is jewish, because he has a really old face!
me: um, again, you can't really tell by looking at someone buddy. #imsonotpreparedfortheseconversations

oy vey?!

5 year well check!

it is really hard to believe that i just took jack to his five year well check, but low and behold here we are!? he is doing great, and growing like a weed. he is 45 inches and 45 pounds. he grew five inches since last year alone!

*sidenote: mike is chuckling behind me because he realized if his height/weight ratio were identical, he would be over eighteen feet tall-lol!?

we did test his iron again, because he seemed to be lethargic and run down lately-we're on his 3rd ear infection in two months! we also tested to see his levels in regards to the ppsv23 vaccine. his iron levels came back fine, on the lower end, but still within range. however, he is deficient where the ppsv23 is concerned. his doctor thinks this may be why he has had a bout of ear infections, as well as other colds recently. so we will be getting a booster of the ppsv23. fingers crossed this does the trick, and his little body is better equipped at warding off all these viruses.

photos, olives & a crush

so i finally got around to downloading the pictures off of jack;s camera for him. it's only been about a year!? turns out he got some really cute ones, some fuzzy ones, a couple crooked ones & and perhaps a few uncomplimentary ones (read: random shots of mom when she doesn't know her picture is being taken?!) he loves to take pictures and he takes it around with him a lot.

now onto olives...out of nowhere jack has become obsessed with olives. he tried a greek olive, and that was that every night he now asks if his salad has as many olives in it as ours do! he is definitely my child because i love olives!

we'll end on the crush, which he has yet to admit is actually a crush, but i am almost certain it is. a bout two weeks ago jack told me he had a dream about a girl from the kindergarten class at school. or as he put it- "mom, she's older, she's six!" when i asked him what kind of dream, he told me it was silly dream because it was a dream about love! in his dream, he said he was over playing at her house, and when i came to pick him up she wouldn't let him leave. there was some more to it, but it was the way he told it that was just too much. he apparently told the girl about his dream, and now at lunch her and her friend always "look" at him as he puts it, but he looks the other way. it cracks me up! of course mike told him no kissing, and jack said emphatically "DAD, never have and never gonna!?"

life certainly isn't dull around here these days!

in honor of jack's photo skills...

happiest birthday, race car style!

we had jack's "friend" birthday party and it went really well! it was the first "drop-off" party i've done, so making sure everyone is happy and taken care of is a lot of work!

he chose race cars as his theme this year, and i took it and ran with it as far as activities, food & decor. we played red light/green light, box car races(thank you to mike for making them!) & had a dueling car track set up.  i made stop light shortbread cookies, "car" shaped cake balls, little apple cars & we celebrated with cupcakes!

here are some of the pictures from the day!

on the eve before your 5th birthday...

jack,

this birthday has managed to sneak up on me. i think life has gotten more busy that i ever anticipated it to, but i also think that i purposely try not to think about how quickly you are growing--and you are growing so fast; always trying to be a big kid, but at the same time you are still just this little boy who can both exasperate and melt my heart in the same breath.

i know you are trying so hard to be big, but there is a part of me that wants you to realize that you are still little and have all the time in the world to be big. however, i also know that i have to let you grow and learn, and maybe even let you go just a little bit. in turn, there are moments when i wish i could just freeze you, me, us, whatever it is we are doing just so i don't forget them, because like i said, life has gotten really busy, we get lost in our daily routine, and then the moment has come and gone. it's true, just like that you went from this beautiful little newborn into this person, and i'll admit it is sometimes hard to wrap my head around.

i love you more than i can ever put into words. i am so proud of the boy you've become. you are such an inquisitive, intelligent, happy and motivated child. and even though you are growing quicker than i ever imagined, in my mind you will always be that beautiful little newborn that came into my life on october 5th at 5:09am.

i love you to the moon and back....

love always, mama

apple picking fun!

these are long overdue as we went apple picking over 2 weeks ago, but i finally had the chance to edit a couple snaps. despite getting maybe 10 apples, the kids had a lot of fun. the orchard has a great little play area complete with burlap maze, hay rides, face painting, bounce house, jungle gym, petting zoo-i'm probably forgetting something, but you get the idea!

after looking through the pictures, my kids apparently had trouble making eye contact with the camera. forget trying to get one with them at the same time!? anywho, here are some cute pics nonetheless...

shot to the heart...

there are those few precious moments when you realize just how deeply you love your child, and tonight was one of them. jack just poked his head out to let me know he was going to go to the bathroom, and when he was finished he poked his head back out and let me know he was going to bed, but not before telling me "good night and i love you." now maybe it is the pregnancy hormones, but it brought tears to my eyes...all at once he was this little baby that i brought home almost five years ago and this grown-up boy, who till manages to make my heart swell. and now i have tears streaming down my face because i am overcome with immense love....what an awesome feeling.

shhhh...

we have a big secret!!!!!

*hint: look for a new link on the right!

1st day of pre-k!!!!

it is hard to believe that we are embarking on jack's 5th year, but alas we are. my little baby, who stole my heart from the moment i held him, is growing up way too fast. there is no more baby in his face, all the little chub is gone, and as you will see from his picture this morning, he is certainly growing like a weed!

he was so excited to go this year, there was only the tiniest bit of apprehension when i mentioned to him that he might not be able to wave to me from the window because he was in a different classroom. when we arrived and he saw that there was in fact a window, all the apprehension diminished and he barely even hugged me good-bye-lol!?

after pick-up, which is the most chaotic experience one can imagine, jack told me that he had the best day and was so happy to be back. he talked about seeing his friends from last year, and who he played with. of course he mentioned maddie, whom i'm not sure i have mentioned before, but they have a bit of a thing for each other! actually, how he put it was like this:

me: did you see maddie today?
j: yup.
me: did you play with her?
j: well, she didn't see me until circle time and then she sat right next to me.
me: was it good to see her?
j: yeah. she came over while i was reading, and sat right next to me. she really wore me out!

i kid you not, i about fell over when he told me how she wore him out. if only i had it recorded, because he told the story in the deepest, most grown-up voice!? jack, you have no idea, this is only the beginning, girls will wear you out for the rest of your life!

the annual first day picture, was taken indoors this morning no thanks to mother nature and her torrential downpour!

hilton head!

as promised, albeit a bit late. here are some of my favorites from vacation this year. the weather was definitely not the best we've ever had, but it was probably the most fun. we were 3rd row this year, so heading to the beach was a breeze and the kids loved it!

sparkles?!

well, it was a close call tonight, but i almost didn't think we were getting out of the store tonight without these bad boys...

yup, that's right you are seeing sparkly light blue toms. jack was absolutely insistent that they were for boys because they were blue, and according to him girls don't wear blue-lol!? not to worry, we ended up with navy toms and jack was just as happy-phew!

we then headed to a little show and the kids had a blast trying out the hula hoops. here's a funny video of jack trying with all his might to get the hoop going-so funny!

is it a fish,

perhaps a submarine, nope that's just jack! you can find him swimming from end to end in the pool these days, barely coming up for air i might add. his newest feat, the dive. that's right, he can actually dive, and while there a few belly flops smattered here and there, for the most part, he's got it down! a close second would have to be diving down eight feet for the dive toys!! who would've known that he would have progressed so much in a matter of a month. he can actually do the backstroke! i am hoping to get this on video over vacation. stay tuned...

swimming, great escape and blueberry picking!

these are just a few of the things we have been up to on our visit to mimi and apa's! of course, we've started hockey and have played a little golf, and by "we" i mean jack;)

not to mention jack is officially a swimming fool! he no longer wear any flotation device, swims from one end of the pool to the other (no small feat in mimi's pool as it is 40 ft long!) and jumps off the diving board in the deep end! go jack! hard to believe we have surpassed yet another milestone!

jack's big day!

jack's end of year concert was last week, and there are no words to express the cuteness. jack had talked it up and insisted on not getting his hair cut to ensure that it would slick back perfectly! although his teachers had kept saying that jack was so into it during rehearsals, when he actually got up on the stage (high school auditorium) and the lights were shining down on him, i think he got a little nervous. he is also going through this stage where he gets embarrassed very easily, so whenever he would look over at us, he made this sad face-it was both cute and hilarious!

the theme, which once you spy the pictures you will easily figure it out, was 50's sock hop. his group song was "lollipop" and the finale was to none other than dirty dancing's "time of my life" (ahem, i might have been dancing in my seat a little bit...i was half expecting jennifer grey to get up on stage-lol).

on another note, jack visited the dentist last week. we are happy to report that he has no cavities, and his teeth look big! wonder where he got his "big" teeth from;) if you ask him, he will tell you he has teeth in his nose and that's because he had x-rays and the dentist showed him the films and then explained that his new teeth were up near his nose. of course, jack took that to mean quite literally that the teeth were in his nose!?

finally, t-ball winds down this weekend just in time for summer hockey to begin, which we will simultaneously be finishing up our swim lessons as well. who said summer was more relaxed!? regardless, i know one little guy that is totally psyched to be playing hockey:)

below are pictures from his concert and then father's day at the cohasset arts festival!