get ready...

for ridge hill's very own singing sensation!! they are practicing for the end-of-year concert, and word on the street is that jack is having an absolute blast with this! i should know, since he goes around singing the songs all day long. when you ask him about it, he immediately gets so animated and holds his arms out as if doing "so big" and tells you how he is going to be on a BIG stage! i love it, he is such a ham and i'm so proud of him as he has really come into his own lately. there is definitely nothing introverted about him, he will talk to just about anybody and loves to tell a story!

Guest Blog: Sunday Morning Hike

It was a "Guys Sunday" this morning in Hingham. Jack and I had decided that we wanted to explore the Hewitt Cove hiking trails and do some shell collecting for Mimi (which Kris later tossed in the garbage due to their 'smelliness'). We packed a bag with snacks, put on the rain boots and set off for about two hours. Like a National Geographic explorer, Jack was pretending to be a 'scientist' and had fun picking up rocks, shells, tasting the sea water (sorry Kris), and choosing what trails to follow. No puddle was too deep, trail too muddy, or bush too prickery. His imagination was insane, and I think he spoke non-stop for the entire time. Great morning, with phenomenal weather.

It's great to have this basically in our back yard, and he had a blast. Here are some picks:

a funny:)

jack: books, don't be sad. i promise i will read you tomorrow, but tonight i have to play an air hockey game. don't worry i won't forget about you.

this was his response when i asked him if was sure he'd rather play a game than read before bed. he cracks me up! he is sports obsessed. he is now trying to convince us that he's ready to play little people hockey. when i explained that he needed to get a little bit more steady on his skates, he was not having it. he insists he is ready to play. don't we all wish we had his confidence!!

happy birthday dr. suess!

thank you for all your wonderful, magical books that give us all lots of tongue-twisting laughs:)

we had such a fun day this past friday celebrating his birthday! we made "cat in the hat" hats, read lots of books, had some interesting meals and ended the day with a birthday cupcake-filled celebration!

these pictures are just quick snapshots and even a little out of focus, but i wanted to document our fun more than anything!

green eggs sans ham with "pink yink drink" (strawberry banana smoothie)
this was a really big hit-they were not nearly as turned off by the green eggs as i was-lol!


3 "cheese trees" and red fish



finally, the birthday celebration! jack obviously chose a chocolate cupcake:)

learn to skate!

so i've waited to post about learn to skate because we got off to a bit of a rough start. i had taken jack to his first lesson a couple weeks ago. he was so excited he could barely sleep the night before. the prerequisite for this class was that he needed to be able to maintain balance and stand alone on his skates. according to mike, he was good to go. fast forward to the class, and come to find out jack cannot actually stand all that well by himself, let alone get himself back up when he has fallen. less than five minutes into the class, and the instructor pulls me aside to let me know that he isn't ready. the look on his little face when i had to tell him he couldn't stay, cue his tears and it was all i could do to hold it in and not cry along with him. from that point on i made a vow to jack that we would help him learn to skate so he could return to the class, implementing a skating bootcamp of sorts. jack went to open skate six times during vacation. i am happy to report he can now skate (albeit cautiously) on his own, get up on his own, and according to jack he is the best hockey player ever!! he was allowed back into the class (i'll save my sarcastic tone and eyerolls on this one), and asks to go skating nearly everyday. talk about resilience. i'm so proud of him. he is so motivated, it kind of amazes me that he has the drive to do this at such a young age. go jack:)

of course, we are towing the line with over-scheduling him, but he is also starting swim lessons and t-ball. i cannot believe we're at the point that he's participating in organized sports. to say that time is flying by would be a huge understatement!

here is one of my favorite pictures of jack...in my opinion one of his best features are his long eye lashes. everyone always seems to comment on them.