out and about

after being cooped up in the house all day yesterday, we got out for a little bit today.  nothing exciting, just breakfast at the diner and a quick food shopping trip.  the fun started with me telling johnny that we would be going out for breakfast.  he immediately countered with, "i'm having french toast."  i have to say, the kids were really good at the diner no problems today. 

we headed over to the a&p to pick up a few things.  in the parking lot, john went with daddy and i had gillian.  most things turn into a competition with john, and there was a race for the front door.  gilly and i had the handicap of putting gilly in the shopping cart.  so the boys won this time.  i walk in the doors of the store, and there was john with a gallon of apple cider.  "we won.  and i got the cider."  john then hands me the cider and jumps on the back of the cart.

i guess daddy hadn't seen john's new ability of riding on the back of the cart.  since john had an audience, he showed us some tricks.  there was a lot of "look what i can do."







i'm king of the world

after the cart tricks, we had john walk through the rest of the store.  it was a little hard for mommy or daddy to push the cart.  i was worried that he would just fall off.  so he created games with the different colored floor tiles.  we had to only step on the black or jump from one tile to the next. 

snow in october?

i saw the forecast for today.  i really didn't believe that it would snow in october, but planned to spend the day inside.  the morning was rough there was a lot of "no gilly, that's my toy" and "mommy, gilly's touching my stuff." 

gillian took her nap around noon, so i was able to start baking.  i promised john's teacher (plus the guys at work too) that we would bring in halloween cookies.  i got the dough ready and johnny joined me.  the first thing he says is "mommy, do you need more eggs?"  i got him started on the cookie cutters. 

normally he fights me and wants to roll out the dough, but today he was obsessed with the spatula.  it made things a lot easier for mommy to not have him help with the rolling pin.  gillian woke up in the middle of our baking, but she was content to watch from her high chair.  she became our official taste tester.   

during our baking, daddy was prepping the pumpkins for carving.  john decided the first pumpkin needed to be "mad. with one eye and an angry face."  while daddy was carving, johnny kept saying "daddy, he needs an eyebrow.  daddy, he needs more teeth."  daddy and john decided that gillian's pumpkin needed a silly face and the big pumpkin would have a happy face. 

after dinner a made a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies.  i gave the boys a big plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and milk for dessert.  i just caught john drinking some of the milk, and he was swishing it around in his mouth.  silly boy. 

off schedule

i've probably mentioned this before, but i keep my kids on a regular schedule. it is a lifesaver for a working mom. something has been off with gillian this week. on tuesday night she had a hard time falling asleep and then the fire station behind our house turned on the fire whistle. she (of course) woke up. not john - he is like his mommy. he will sleep thru anything. last night, gillian had another rough night. i put her down, while she was awake. she entertained herself for awhile. and then she started screaming. we went running to her and discovered a huge knot on her head. she must have hit her head on the crib and bruised immediately. the worst part was trying to put ice on the bump. she hated it and cried. tonight, she didn't want to go to sleep again. i had to rock her to sleep. something is different this week. the only thing i can think to explain it, is her teacher has been out sick this week. it's funny how one little thing can mess with the schedule or routine.

the question

gillian is fifteen months old today. and tonight in the bathtub, john asked where was gillian's "wee-wee". i went for the simple approach and told him that she was a girl so her "wee-wee" was different than his. he asked a few more times and my response was the same. finally he says "but i wanted a boy little sister." not quite sure about that reaction, but i am thankful that the discussion ended there.

the frosty

kyle had to run an errand tonight. he asked me if i wanted anything. i asked him to pick me up a frosty. john immediately says "I want dessert too." so kyle leaves and john is still walking around the kitchen saying he wants dessert too. i tell him that daddy is getting us chocolate frosties. "but i don't like chocolate i want a white one".

daddy gets back and the kids attack him (like i didn't feed them dinner). i was working on the computer so gillian was looking at john and begging him to give her some of his frosty. so john kept moving away from her. finally john looks to daddy for help. daddy says "it's because mommy is not being a good sharer." johnny says "well i'm not sharing!"

bumps & bruises

when john was first learning to walk, kyle and i decided that we didn't want a child that cried every time he fell down. so every time he fell, we would clap and say "yay!" it worked for us. he really only cries when he is really hurt. no fake crocodile tears for us. he is a tough guy. today he and another boy at school heads collided. john has a big lump on his head and all he says is "i got a boo-boo. fernando did it."

we have attempted the same thing with gillian. it's not working as well. partly because she likes the attention (she is a bit of a drama queen) and partly because john becomes very concerned when she cries. he immediately says "mom, gilly is crying. you need to fix her."

my little helper

john is in the helper phase. all I need to do is say, helper and he comes running. he helps me with everything. this morning he helped me wake up gillian. he is sweet and he tiptoed into her room. he was a little disappointed to find her awake. "mommy, she's awake already." in order to make it up to him, tonight he helped me set the table. it is pretty typical for john to help set the table. i normally stack the plates on the table for him (in the hopes that he won't break them). he can grab the utensils "but not the sharp knives."

not only does he help me around the house, but he loves to help daddy outside. this weekend the boys spent a couple of hours picking up sticks and raking leaves. johnny is the best at picking up sticks. although he may be a little messy with the leaves. his favorite part about leaf clean up is when he gets to do "jumpin johnny". which basically means that daddy picks him up and puts him into the bucket and has him jump on the leaves.

halloween party

we are very lucky, kyle's parents' belong to spring lake golf club.  so we get to go to the kids holiday parties.  today was the halloween party.  it has been a couple years since we last went.  john was two the last time we went and he was a little scared of the other kid's costumes.  well, one costume in particular, a dinosaur.  it's been a few years, so when shelly showed us the flier, we were excited to take the kids.

this was the best picture i could get of the two of them together

  this year, the kids' great grams or gigi (as we like to call her) picked out gillian's glitter fish costume and found john's bumblebee transformer costume.  john was very excited to go to the halloween party.  while gillian fell asleep in the car on the way down.  they had a huge buffet, a dj, craft station, a tattoo station and hayrides.  we got the kids fed immediately.  once, john was done eating, he had daddy take him to the tattoo station to pick out a tattoo.

anyone that knows john will not be surprised that he picked out a triceratops and had them make it green.  the whole time, john and daddy were in line and getting a tattoo, gillian ate.  and she ate and she ate some more.  kyle and i kid around that we should start telling people the stuff she doesn't like.  she is very adventurous.  today, she tried lamb, creamed spinach and pumpkin pie for the first time.  and loved it all.  after we had some dessert, we all went outside to go on a hayride. 

we had a great time at the halloween party.  i am really looking forward to halloween this year.  i know that john and gilly will have a great time!





did you know

tonight during snuggle time with john he had lots of random facts for me. it started with, mommy did you know:

- your ear drum is inside your ear
- that foxes live in antarctica. but not anymore now they live in caves.
- that some dinosaurs eat bad dinosaurs and some eat plants
- sometimes when it is bright outside bats can't see
- penguins can swim and they have little jackets. and the jackets are made out of their arms
- fossils are dinosaurs. and long-neck dinosaurs would squish up their necks to trick people. they are tricky.
- giraffes have long necks, kinda like long-neck dinosaurs

how pumpkins grow

i picked up the kids from school today. in the car on the way home, john told me how pumpkins grow. this is what he said:

first you take an orange seed. then you dig a hole. and cover up the seed. then you water it. and then you wait. then the plant grows. and then a vine (pronounced bind) grows. then a little pumpkin grows. no, no, first there is a flower. after the flowers a little pumpkin grows. and it's green! then it grows bigger and bigger and then it turns orange. And then you can pick it and make pumpkin pie. or squish it and make pumpkin ice cream.

sleepy time

john and gillian's bedtime is eight o'clock. the kids are really good about going to bed. gillian only needs her "grandma blanket" (a blanket my mom crocheted) and her dog that plays sleepy time music. john has become a little more demanding. he needs his "johnny blanket" (a blanket that is monogrammed) and as many "friends" (stuffed animals) as he can fit in his bed. he also needs some additional snuggle time. i love to climb into his bed and snuggle and talk to him before he falls asleep. sometimes he tells me about his day, sometimes we make wishes and other times we just snuggle. majority of the time he gets sick of me an kicks me out of his bed. i simply enjoy every second because i know that soon he won't want that special time at all. love my sleepy time.

the photographer

i have an iphone.  john is really good with it.  he knows how to play a few games, open his apps, and take pictures.  one of his favorite things is to take pictures.  he always asks and i love reviewing his pictures when he is done.  his perspective is so different, you never know there may be something good in there.  here are a few of my favorites:

feet are his favorite - summertime piggies

socks

gillian in the car

gillybean & mommy



the photographer



 a couple of weeks ago, he asked if he could take pictures on my phone.  i gave him the phone, and he was running around the kitchen and living room and was completely out of breath.  i said to him, whats the matter?  he replies, "duncan, won't say cheese." 

hee haw

i picked up the kids from school today.  in the car, john and i talked a little about school.  then he turns to me and says, "mommy, what says, 'hee haw', has one tail and four legs."  i say, i know, a donkey.  he giggles.  then he says, "mommy, what has two tails, eight legs and says 'hee haw'?"  i think to myself, really is it that obvious? or is it a trick?  i say, i don't know john what?  he laughs and says, "two donkeys." 

i say to him, when you were little and learning the noises animals make, we would ask you what a donkey says.  and you would put your hands on your head like donkey ears and say "hee haw." 

pumpkin pickin

today we met up with aunt missy and uncle t at atlantic farms in manasquan to going pumpkin picking. on our way to the farm, john kept saying that we needed to find a huge pumpkin for uncle t and aunt missy. we brought the wagon so we could haul our pumpkins. john pulled gilly in the wagon to the pumpkin patch saying the whole time "mommy, the wagon is for pumpkins not gilly. she needs to get out". john was very specific in hunt for the perfect pumpkin. "it has to have a stem, not dirty and i can lift it.". poor aunt missy walked through the entire pumpkin patch in the search for the perfect pumpkin. after much debate we found a small pumpkin for gilly, a medium one for john and a big pumpkin for daddy. uncle t and aunt missy found two pumpkins too.

fall fest

today, we headed out to arcadia university for fall fest.  it isn't hard to get john excited about going to visit my alma mater.  all we need to say is that we are going to visit the castle.  i had other intentions.  i was going to meet up beth.  it's been a long time since we have seen each other and today was the opportunity for our kids to meet too.

all the clubs had tables with crafts or treats for the kids.  john had a good time trying cotton candy, pretzels, and dirt pudding.  he also got to make a bracelet and pin the tail on the donkey.  he was a little afraid to get his face painted and do some other crafts.  but i really think he had a good time walking through the tables.

there was also a bounce house and an inflatable obstacle course.  both john and meg (beth's little girl) loved the bounce house.  well, meg liked climbing in and out and john simply liked jumping.  

we were lucky, we got there early enough that the kids were able to run back and forth through the inflatable obstacle course.  

it was a windy day in glenside.  we sat down for lunch and while i was up getting some more food, the wind blew and an entire glass of iced tea spilled all over john.  his shirt was a little wet, but his pants were soaking wet.  we haven't had an accident in a long time, so i don't carry additional clothes for him in the diaper bag.  kyle ran down to the book store in the hopes that there would be something we could find something that would fit him.  unfortunately, there were no options for little boys.  so we ended up leaving early and hitting up the local target so he didn't have to spend the entire car ride home in wet pants. 

we had such a good time.  i am sure that if we didn't have the accident meg and john would have had more fun together.  on the car ride home, john said to me, "mommy, can we go to the beach with megan?"  he is already looking forward to our next visit (me too john).     

from left to right, gillian, me, beth, timmy and john & megan

 

pumpkin ice cream

kyle loves this time of year, mainly because he can get pumpkin flavored anything.  our local ice cream shop makes pumpkin ice cream during the fall.  as you can imagine, we do go there quite often so that kyle can get his pumpkin fix.  john normally likes mint chocolate chip ice cream.  about two weeks ago, we stopped at ryan's where john declared that he was having pumpkin ice cream. 

tonight, kyle and i picked up the kids together.  as we were pulling out of the parking lot, john says, "everyone is here.  we can go to mcdonalds tonight.  and i can play."  after a little more discussion, he changed his mind.  "we can go to mcdonalds and i can play.  and then we can go to the ice cream store."  when asked what kind of ice cream he wanted tonight, he replied, "pumpkin.  they smash the pumpkins into ice cream."

i still don't get the excitement over pumpkin.  but it makes my boys happy. 
 

a la king and school pictures

i work close to home now and i am now able to go home for lunch. today i went home and put chicken a la king in the crock pot. i picked up the kids and got home to dinner ready. as soon as we told john about dinner, he immediately started complaining saying that he didn't like it. chicken a la king is kyle's favorite so he told john that it was his favorite. john said "but i don't have a crown." so we made him a crown so he could eat chicken a la king.

i got hit with the school picture scam again today.  the kids school normally does pictures twice a year.  but this year it seemed like we did them this summer and then again in september.  kyle and i swore that we wouldn't buy the pictures again because we just bought the summer pictures.  well i went to pick the kids up and the pictures were available.  i kept telling myself, just look at the pictures and say no thank you.  i get to the table and the photographer lays out all the pictures.  i say, i'm screwed.  why couldn't they be crying or looking the wrong way.  why are they so photogenic?  so yet again, i spent too much money on pictures.  i just can't say no.  i think i need a twelve step program. 



bellies and empty boxes

gillian is learning her body parts. she can point out her ear and tap her head if you ask her. tonight, we asked her where her belly was and she pointed right to her chubby belly. john thought that was the greatest thing, so he kept asking her to point out random thing. "gilly, where's your back? gilly, where's your tushy?"

i am like a lot of parents. i am constantly amazed how john and gillian can amuse themselves with an empty box. we seem to always have an empty diaper box. this week we actually have two in gillian's room. two boxes make it a lot easier on mom, or so i would think. nope, they both want to play with the bigger box. john told me that the box could be "an airplane or a bird. or a car."

dirty face

tuesday nights, kyle works late.  so i pick up the kids and get dinner and do baths.  while we were eating dinner tonight, i look over at john and his face is almost gray.  i can't remember him ever getting this dirty at school.  they do have a fenced in playground that has recycled tire mulch, but normally his feet get a little dirty not his face.

i say to john, how did you get so dirty?  he replies, "i climbed the play structure and fell down." 

turtle back zoo

today, we met up with grandpa, grandma, aunt betty and justin at the turtle back zoo.  john and gillian have never been to the zoo.  it was a gorgeous day to walk around the zoo.  john and justin were the map readers and led the way for us through the zoo.  our first stop was the penguins.

our next stop was the prairie dogs.  john and justin loved peeking out through the prairie dog holes.  i personally loved all the giant sunflowers that lined the walk.

daddy splurged and bought john a zoo key, so at every exhibit we got to listen to a fun song about the animals displayed in that exhibit.  the zoo had interactive exhibits as well.  we got to walk through an aviary and they also had animals available to pet and feed as well.  watch out...she bites:

there were plenty of places to stop and play.

john also got to ride the ponies, unfortunately justin couldn't ride the ponies (he was too tall).  aunt betty, justin, john, gillian and i all got to ride the carousel.  it was a huge success.  justin road a leopard, while john road a zebra.  i actually got gillian to sit on an eagle.  she was a little nervous at first, and about mid-way through she started waving to everyone around her. 

at the end of our trip, everyone got to enjoy a train ride.  it was a great time at the zoo.  i'm so glad that we were able to join grandma & grandpa!

outside play

today was a beautiful day and i was able to get the kids outside for a few hours. we pulled all of john's bikes, the wagon and sidewalk chalk. at first john took gillian for a few rides in the wagon. then i had to draw a hopscotch. the whole time i was making it i heard john saying, "first one, then two, three. mommy, did you put four?" the most exciting part of the day was that gilly learned how to "drive" john's old power wheels quad. at first she was afraid of it, but by the end of the day she was cruising all over the yard.

a day at the boardwalk

this is the last weekend for the rides at jenkinsons in point pleasant.  we had planned on going there on sunday, because john had a birthday party this morning.  well, after having kyle drive to the party and sit in the parking lot did we realize that the party was on sunday, not saturday.  oops.  so we quickly changed plans, and headed down to point pleasant. 

we got there and met up with mimi.  we had a little lunch and waited for aunt missy to arrive.  i got this picture of john while we were waiting for lunch (probably the calmest he was all day). 



the first ride he went on was the dragons with daddy.  he loved it.  he giggled the entire time and immediately when it was done he ran to the next ride. 

next he went on the balloon ride with mimi and the dumbo ride with aunt missy. 

after dumbo, johnny requested the merry-go-round.  he wanted gillian to go on a ride too.  gillian did not like the pony and we had to sit on a bench while john got to ride his pony.  after going on a bunch of rides with someone, he was brave enough to attempt the next series of rides all by himself.  

so we walked a little further down the boardwalk, and came up to the rollar coaster. the rollar coaster isn't big, but for a 4 year old, it is huge!  johnny wanted to go on it, and while he waited with kyle in line he watched the coaster go around and around.  as soon as the ride stopped he said, "ok, lets go"  mimi, aunt missy, gillian and i watched from the sideline as the coaster went around and around.  it was hard to get a picture, but i will never forget the smile on his face.  he loved it.  he came running down the steps so excited and happy.  he ended up riding the coaster two more times.  and if you ask him what his favorite ride is, he will say "the rollar coaster!"

no trip to point is complete without a game and winning a prize.  john went head to head with aunt missy on a water race and john won!  

we had a great day on the boardwalk and ended up with an exhausted little boy.  and his prize, his pig "oink piggy."