Jack is so on-the-ball!

It may only be January 30th... but Jack is all finished with his Valentine cards! (home-made Valentine cards!)

He just needs to add a few special treats and they'll be all set to start handing out so his family and friends can enjoy them for more than just one day :)

Happy early Valentine's Day from Jackson!

Monkey Joes - take 2 !

This morning we took Jack to Monkey Joes again. Something different to do that got us all out of the house and wasn't too expensive.

Jack had a blast! It took a while to get there... long drive out to Waukesha, and it was snowing some which made the roads a little slower. Jack actually fell asleep in the car. But that was OK, then he just had MORE energy for jumping!

Jack loved the slides and climbing. He even did a few bigger slides with daddy this time. And he found a new jumping/bouncing area which he just loved. He would jump for a while and then when he got tired he'd just sit down in the middle and let the other kids in there bounce him around. He had a grin on his face the entire time (until it was time to leave)! We played for a little over an hour, then went to get custard at Kopps. YUM! What a fun Saturday morning.

Bouncing around!
Look at those faces and that hair - it was a fast slide!

Climbing!

Jumping!

Jack loves working the kitchen!

One of Jack's favorite things to do is play in the kitchen and/or with his play food (a real winner of a christmas gift, santa!!!) And some of his favorite "toys" are my kitchen tools, pots, pans, mixers, etc....


Here he is helping bake some chocolate chip cookies. He'll be a pro soon!

And playing in his make-shift kitchen (aka the living room floor) with everything he can manage to get out of the kitchen to use with his play food. He's so cute with his grill pan, flipper, and hand mixer :) We'll see him on The Food Network some day....

A New Puppy to Love!

Last week I had off school on Monday so I thought it would be a good day to go to Mayfair to use Jack's Build-A-Bear gift card he got for Christmas from Uncle Hayden. Hayden had off school too, so he came along with us!


Of course Jack got a puppy! The part where they blast the stuffing into the empty animal shell was a little frightening... but the rest of the experience was great! Jack even put a "heart" into his puppy.

Jack picked out a "brown sugar pup" and we name him "Hershey" (the second). He even had a little money left over to get a red flannel shirt for his puppy :) Now Jack has his own Hershey puppy at home to love!


Jack digging in the box.


Here he is - Hershey!
Jack, Hershey, and the birth certificate

Fun with Uncle Hayden!

This weekend is Jeff's annual ski trip to Upper Michigan with the ski club from school, Uncle Hayden was going along and since my parents were out of town Hayden spent the Friday night before the trip over at our house.

Uncle Hayden did a little babysitting for us so we could grab some dinner alone. Jack was wonderful! He had so much fun with his Uncle Hay-Hay! He especially liked Uncle to give him horsey-back rides. Thanks Hayden for being a great babysitter - we'll call you again sometime :)

Hope the boys have fun on the trip! Jack and Mommy will be home alone all weekend... we'll find some baking to do to keep ourselves busy....

Fun in the Snow!

Yesterday we went down to Grandma & Grandpa S's for some fun in the snow. We all took our first snowmobile rides... Jack and Daddy enjoyed it... me, it was ok once, but I'm not sure I'll do it again.


Jack and Daddy also took the sled down some big hills and slid around on the ice. Jack sure had a busy afternoon of fun! I tried hard to keep him awake on the car ride home - but he just couldn't do it and slept half the way back :)

Misc. January Stuff...

We spent New Year Eve at Grandma & Grandpa B's house. We went over for some dinner and snacks. Jack played with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Hayden, we watched some Twilight Zone (is it New Years Eve without the Twilight Zone marathon... not one that I can remember...)

New Year's Day it was right back to work on the kitchen floor. It's all done now. But here is a picture of when it was almost done. The countertop looks great and the floors are beautiful! We love our new kitchen :) Jack especially likes to slide across the slippery floor.

Jack has had a wonderful few weeks playing with all of his new toys (and some old ones) while cleaning in the basement he pulled out this bumbo chair from when he was a baby (and never used much) and has been carting it around and sitting in it ever since. He also loves to play with his pretend food, tractor set, various drawing things, animal barn, etc. The Christmas toys were quite a hit!


This past weekend Jack has had a bit of a head cold - but one positive... he loves to use the buggar sucker on himself, so that's nice, I guess! I think he just likes the disgusting sounds and sucking feel it makes.