Happy Birthday, Jack!

Yesterday was Jack's 2nd birthday. I can't believe he is already TWO! In the morning, he came downstairs to open his big present from Mom and Dad.... His reaction...

Jack's very own basketball hoop!!! Jack loves basketball, so we knew it would be the perfect gift for him. He really likes it. Last weekend when we went shopping for it (yes, we brought Jack with us), Jim carried Jack out of the store and into the parking lot and was trying to find our car. Jack was "talking" and pointing at all the cars. He was saying "ee, ee, ee," and then he saw our car one aisle over, pointed to it, and said, "oooh!" Jack found the car before Jim did! Amazing!

Our neighbor brought her grandsons over to give Jack some birthday presents. Jack loves playing with her grandsons when she watches them. Jack had just had a haircut and was hanging out in a onesie when they came over. Here is Jack with his buddy, Jonah.

Cool presents

Later that morning, we took Jack to his 2-year check-up. I realize that going to the doctor and getting a shot is probably not high on any kids list of things to do on your birthday, but I wanted to schedule the appointment on a day that Jim could come. Jack did fine. We went out to Steak-n-Shake for lunch afterwards. The server gave Jack this toy car and some stickers he could put on it. Fun!

He was not a fan of the hat the server gave him.

Daddy shared his delicious chocolate milkshake!

Yummy!

Non-birthday related: If medicine doesn't work out, Jim could always go into plumbing...

Here are a couple pictures from Monday when Jack was playing with the neighbor's basketball hoop.

St. Patrick's Day

We had a lot of fun this year for St. Patrick's Day. On Saturday, Jack and I went to the downtown parade with the Ungers. Garrett, Nick, and Jack bundled up and ate their sandwiches while we waited for the parade to start. The moms and the boys

Jack seemed to like the parade. He did a good job of sitting on the curb and not running out into the street. He wasn't too excited about having green beads around his neck.

Saturday night we had some friends over to play games and celebrate Pi Day. I made a caramel apple crumb pie and people brought cherry pie, peach pie, and chocolate pie. Yum! Garrett, Juliet, and Jack played well together. We tried to get all three of them to sit on the steps for a picture, but I don't have a good one of all three of them. No surprise there.

Jim was off on Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day) and we rode our bikes, with Jack in the trailer, to the Dogtown parade. It was great. Unfortunately, the camera was acting up, so all our pictures are blurry. Here are a couple pics anyway:

Jim, Jack, and I

Me with some of my cousins and their kids:

I really wish the pictures turned out better. Oh well - there's always next year. St. Patrick's Day was beautiful in St. Louis. The temperature reached 79 degrees! Jack enjoyed this parade and even liked the beads around his neck this time. Unfortunately the green from the beads rubbed off onto all of our necks and shirt collars because of the sunscreen we had on our necks. I don't remember a nicer St. Pat's Day. The best part was having Jim there to share it with us!

Sidewalk Chalk and the Magic House

Monday was our last warm day for a while. Jack's friends Garrett and Nick came over to play. The three boys colored everything outside with sidewalk chalk. They colored the back steps, the front steps, the sidewalk, the house, the windows, the fire pit, the patio table, the toy tractor, and just about anything else they could find.

Jack thought the outlet needed some color.

"Cheese!"

"I've got this chalk and I'm not afraid to use it."

"Mom, my friends are here. Can you please put the camera away?"

Jack and I went to the Magic House this morning. It is the perfect place to be when it is too cold to play outside. My cousin's wife, Anna, came with us. The first thing Jack played with was the sand table.

I didn't let him play at the water table this time. The last time we were there, he ran and slipped and bumped his head on the metal table. Ouch! Instead, he went down just about every slide he could find. Here are some pictures from the Jack and the Beanstalk slide.

I gave Jack part of his PB&J to eat on the ride home. He hadn't been too interested in it while we were at the Magic House. Who can blame him with all the fun stuff to do? We had so much fun that he fell asleep on the way home, part of the sandwich in his hand. Luckily, he transferred just fine to his crib and is still napping now!

Enjoying the Weather...

Jack and I have taken full advantage of the nice weather we've had lately. A couple weeks ago, we headed to the zoo. Jack really enjoyed the train ride. Here he is sitting patientlly waiting for Mommy to get on and the train to go. His pants got a little muddy crawling through this log.

The hippos weren't in the water (they were sunning themselves on the shore), but we did get to see a lot of fish in the hippo's aquarium.

"Which way is the elephant?"

Did I mention it was Ash Wednesday? I would forget I had ashes on my forehead until I looked in the mirror or someone mentioned them. One of the train engineers wished me a Happy Ash Wednesday. Hmm...seems contradictory.

Last Tuesday, we went with Grandma to the Butterfly House. Nancy and Margo met us there. The Butterfly House had just released a large number of Blue Morpho butterflies and they were flying all around us. It was very cool. My camera fogged up in the 82 (or 84?) degree house.

This woman had 4 butterflies in her hair! One landed on my jeans later, but that was not nearly as impressive.

Jack and Margo hanging out on the butterfly bench.

Jack knew he wasn't supposed to touch the butterflies, but he liked getting close and pretending that he was going to touch them.

He also liked to read all the signs.

"I think I see one over there!"

Hot and tired after running through the butterfly house...

On Friday morning we met Colleen, Caeleigh, Sean, and their neighborhood playgroup for a fun day at the playground. Jack started on the smaller playground...

Then he moved on to the big kid playground...

The tunnel slide was his favorite!

Jack and Caeleigh both like the swings!

In an attempt to get a picture of them together, I told Jack to hold Caeleigh's hand. This way neither of them walked off (which is what usually happens). It was pretty cute.