100 Days

 Jack recently celebrated his 100th day at school.  Over February vacation he had his first homework assignment which was to create a poster with 100 things on it in preparation for the big day.  Jack had seen this project in a craft book and wanted to make it so we went ahead and adapted it for this particular purpose.  Jack painted the tree and glued all of the tissue paper "flowers" on.  (He had help rolling up 100 pieces of tissue paper.)

Jack seemed most excited about getting to make his own trail mix at school on the 100th day consisting of 100 pieces of various cereals, pretzels, chocolate chips, etc.

We definitely all know how to count to 100 at this point.

- S.

5.5

Friday was Jack's half birthday.  The usual ridiculous homemade hat prevailed as did a Lego gift.  This year we also got Jack a small globe as there have been more questions lately about where things are and not quite understanding that, for instance, Hawaii is very far away in the middle of the ocean.  So now he knows important things like where the Queen lives.

Oh, Jack's other request was a "whole donut to myself, no sharing."  So, Jack and Dad went off to Kanes this morning and Jack got a cookies and cream donut.  

- S.

Owl Prowl

Last weekend Jack and I went to the "owl prowl" at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.  This was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but was postponed due to too cold temps.  Dad had plans to go snowboarding on the rescheduled date, so Jack and I learned all about different types of owls, did a variety of owl-related crafts, practiced different owl calls, and then went for a hike to practice outside and listen for return calls from actual owls which we did get to hear.  We also got to dissect and owl pellet, which I had to wait until 8th grade to do, so Jack is way ahead of the game.  

Dissection of the owl pellet.

Bone discovery.  This seems to be a pelvis/hip bone.

 We got this handy-dandy chart to help figure out 

what animal skeleton we were finding in the pellet.

Our best guess was that we had a vole skeleton.  

 Jack's owl mask.

- S.

The Year So Far

This year has been pretty stinky so far.  It has been rife with things such as stopped up sewer pipes, various illnesses, a broken furnace, snowstorms and extreme cold, and the piece de resistance was having to make the decision to put Pewter to sleep.  So, it has been a pretty tough month.  Jack is managing okay and already has plans for a new kitty (see below), but I think we'll be taking a break from pets for a while.

Jack and Pewter in the playroom the morning of the day we took her to the hospital.

Jack brought this picture home from school last week.  Apparently that is me and this is what our new cat will look like.  Please note the new cat is wearing a jet pack, so if anyone knows where to get cat-sized jet packs, let me know.  Or a purple and orange cat with green ears, for that matter.

So, we are trying to regroup and decided to take on a project we've been talking about for a long time, removing the last of the paneling in the house.  Jack was a big help and was pretty good at removing trim with a crowbar.  Maybe next we will see how good he is at scraping the wallpaper which is under the paneling.

Here's hoping things improve going forward and there will be a lot of good things to post!

- S.

Stormy Week

Thursday was a snow day for all of us.  Friday as well.  Derrick and I did most of the clean up Thursday night while Jack sat in warm comfort watching TV.  Friday morning we finished up snow duty and Jack helped despite frigid temperatures.

Ready to "work."

 Working on creating a snow sculpture.

Dad and Jack got in some runs on the hill two houses down from us.

Jack really wanted to make a snowman, but the snow was too fluffy and wouldn't stick for long.

A few hours in the afternoon were spent starting the Millennium Falcon which I picked up for short money on eBay before Christmas.  Jack did a lot of the work himself and his main issue was being so excited he would skip ahead and miss something here or there.

Jack woke up this morning and his first words were, "Can I go work on the Millennium Falcon?"  We convinced him to eat some breakfast first with moderate success and then Jack and Dad went to work and finished the project to both of their delight.

- S.

Christmas Stuff

The annual star placement.

Derrick and Jack did the cookie house this year.  Very elaborate and colorful.

We also went to a lantern walk to celebrate the solstice at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.

First, we each made a lantern.

 Then we listened to a story about the solstice and went on a short hike.

We got to have some hot chocolate after the hike.

Jack likes the music for the Nutcracker.  Not wanting to spend $200 for us to go to the ballet and take the chance of Jack not liking it, we instead went to the Urban Nutcracker in Boston which uses a lot of Duke Ellington's version of the Nutcracker music and has different types of dancing other than ballet.  Jack remained interested until almost the end, but I think all of us were ready to go after two hours.

Jack had most of the week off from school and Derrick had time off work, so they got around to baking.

Jack decorated these ricotta cookies and was pretty proud of himself.

- S.

Lego Discovery Center

A few weeks ago we finally broke down and took Jack to the Lego Discovery Center in Somerville.  It was Star Wars weekend, so that was further motivation to go.  (Jack is into Star Wars now which is actually my fault because I got Derrick a Star Wars graphic novel which Jack took to immediately and things snowballed from there.)

Anyway, we spent the afternoon at the LDC and it was fun, but basically an expensive indoor playground with Lego.

The Lego displays of Boston are pretty cool.

They are also somewhat interactive which Jack enjoyed.

There was a section to make vehicles...

and then you could race your creation against other peoples.

There was a little movie theater which showed Lego movies that were 15-20 minutes in length which was perfect for Jack.  This was his first movie theater experience and I think he was a little weirded out by the 3D aspect, but seemed to enjoy it overall.

Making a giant tower on the earthquake table.

 I don't know that we will be rushing back here, but it was a good experience this time.

- S.