messy eater

i thought that having a girl would be easy. she would be dainty and delicate. she would be neat and not like messes. well as of right now, gilly is not dainty, delicate and enjoys messes. she makes the biggest mess when she eats. she ends up with food in her hair, down her shirt, stuck in her ears and under her nails. i don't remember john being this messy. below is a small sample of my messy eater.

imaginations

during bath time tonight, john said to me "mommy can we play with the boxes tonight?" i love requests like that. sure, you can use your imagination to play with your sister. i know that i have a previous post about them playing in a box, but i just can't help it.  i love that something so simple can be so amusing to them.  i also love how quickly gillian learns how to do something by watching john. 

we didn't get it on video, but daddy covered john with the blanket.  and then gillian stood up and said "me too!"  at least that's what it sounded like to us.

playin hooky

daddy had off today because he worked on saturday. he picked up john early from school. they went over to the lincroft learning center. john and gillian will be going to school there starting on thursday. daddy got to dream builders academy during nap time. john does not nap. apparently he lays by the window and watches outside and talks quietly to himself. they went to the new school. john was a little shy, but he got to see his new classroom and gillian's classroom too. the new school also has cubbies ready for the kids. all john said to me was "the cubby has 4 shelves!" after their little tour of the new school they paid me a visit at work. my co-workers were very excited to meet the little guy i constantly talk about. john was excited because i told him there was a cupcake in the kitchen. after stopping by my office, the boys stopped at a park to play for a little bit. not a bad day for a little guy.

i was putting him to bed tonight and he he said to me "mommy, why can't we go to the new school today?" thats just what i needed to hear. i am very worried about the kids starting this new school and i want him to be excited about it. i hope the excitement lasts until thursday.

football

daddy has introduced john to football. he enjoys watching it with daddy on the weekends. on thanksgiving john was rooting for the dolphins while everyone else in the house wanted the cowboys to win. today john asked daddy if the giants were playing today. john has learned that uncle t loves the giants. I think that's why he keeps asking about the giants. the boys were watching a game today and john says "daddy who do you want to win?". daddy says the chargers. without hesitation john says "i want the broncos!" he simply wants to root for whatever team is against daddy's team. should be interesting on monday night when daddy wants the giants to win.

marshmallow shooter

the kids and i went to manasquan to visit grandma, grandpa, uncle bob, aunt betty and justin today.  automatically the boys started to play.  they decided to go outside and play with justin's new marshmallow shooter.  after a few minutes of being alone outside, justin came in and said "do you want to see john shoot the marshmallows?"  i ran out and watched john.  he had a hard time at first, but after a few seconds struggling with the shooter and justin giving him a few pointers he was able to get a couple rounds out.  he was so excited to be able to play with justin.  i went back inside and played with gillian.  gillian played with her dolls and her stroller.  then we heard the boys come in the house, they go back to justin's room.  about a minute later, we see justin and he says "we needed shields."  justin is carrying a homemade shield made out of cardboard.  john is carrying a storage container lid that had a handle on it.  the boys continued to play outside and as we watched out the window we noticed that john was eating the marshmallows off the ground.  they say that over a lifetime you eat a pound of dirt i guess he is getting a head start.

muppets, projects & hiccups

i am truly thankful to have off the friday after thanksgiving.  i always had that day off while working at fleetsource, so i was very excited to see that we got it this year at mss.  normally we join all the crazy people and go black friday shopping.  the past two years, we went to walmart with my in-law's.  this year, we stayed at home for thanksgiving and really didn't see the need to run out and go shopping.  plus, i really didn't see any fabulous deals that were worth either staying up late or getting up early.  this year, we went to see the muppet movie.  we decided to go at 11, figuring that gillian would fall asleep during the movie and we would be able to enjoy the show without running around after a one year old.  in the beginning, gillian started to drift off to sleep, but that didn't work out.  she stayed awake for three quarters of the movie and then started to get fussy.  i rocked her to sleep and she slept in my arms for the remainder of the movie.  i have to say that i truly loved the movie.  i grew up with the muppets and kermit and the gang will always have a special part in my life.  i am a sap and i did cry during two parts.  but that's to be expected.  kermit was a favorite of one of my very good friends and i always think of jami when i hear "the rainbow connection."  

gillian watching the muppets

since john was a good boy in the movie theater and the quick trip into old navy, i promised that we would do an art project.  we decided to make crowns.  he made one for himself and i made one for gillian.   

john & his crown

it may be hard to tell, but the crown has his name on it along with dinosaur stickers and fish stickers.  i made a pink crown for gillian.  she cried when i put it on her.  and john said "she's a drama queen."  then she took it off and ripped it into little tiny pieces.

right before dinner tonight i got the hiccups.  i occasionally get the hiccups and they are pretty violent.  it takes a long time for me to get rid of them.  i kept hiccuping, and john kept saying "mommy, why do you have the hiccups?  mommy, why do you have the hiccups?"  he must have said it ten times.  it finally got to the point where i couldn't stop anymore.  then kyle turns to me and says, "seriously, why do you have the hiccups?"  and that's what i started laughing.  that doesn't help to get rid of the hiccups. 

cookies

i have a great mom that always made homemade cookies for christmas or birthdays. since john has been in daycare (or school as we call it) i have been making cut out cookies for the class parties. i am no expert, but i know i can please four year olds. john is my best helper. he does help with the rolling or the cookie cutters. and he is an expert at adding sprinkles.

my assistant and i made three batches of cookies last weekend for thanksgiving. we knew we wanted to bring some to school, some to mommy's work and some for thanksgiving. the cookies were a big hit at work. john said that they had a little party at school on wednesday. i asked what did you have at the party. he replied "my cookies." after much discussion, i discovered that we were the only ones to bring in a treat.

john is not the only one in the house that loves the cookies. gillian loves them too. she prefers the chocolate turkeys. i turned my back and found gillian on a kitchen chair trying to get to the container of cookies.

thankful

it's amazing how quickly john has grown over the last year.  every year at school, they have the kids make a picture of what they are thankful for.  his teacher's captioned his picture last year with "john is thankful for submarines."

thankful 2010

this year, he has made two pictures. 



thanksgiving 2011

 the picture above was described to me as follows:  this is our house on thanksgiving.  everyone is sitting around the table.  that is duncan with dog food (the figure in the right lower corner).  the table has all the food we will eat for thanksgiving.  this is turkey (the bottom circle).  that is pumpkin pie (the circle to the right).  and that is pizza (the circle to the left). 

thankful 2011

the picture above was described to be me as follows:  i am thankful for my friend bodie, my sister gillian, my mom, and dad.  and i am thankful for my mom and dad's cars

 

taco night

taco night is a big hit at our house.  john LOVES tacos.  he has a little routine on how to make them.  check out john's taco video.

tonight for dinner we had tacos for the first time in awhile.  as i put dinner on the table, i turned to daddy and said, i'm not sure what gillian will eat.  daddy says, she'll eat tacos.  she is your child.  and he was right. and she loved them.

leaves

unfortunately, we have quite a few trees on our street and we always have tons of leaves to rake in the fall.  this year, kyle and john have been very good about raking the leaves frequently.  today kyle started raking and set up a big pile of leaves for john to play in. 

even gillian got in the leaves.  she was a little leery at first, but after a few minutes she jumped right in.

john tried to teach gillian how to throw leaves in the air.  gillian thought it was funny for a second, but once the leaves got in her hair she was not happy. 

getting ready to throw leaves

glly is a little shocked



where's john?

so much fun in the leaves

energy

tonight john had a snack of holiday oreos and milk. first, he kept calling the oreos, churros. i guess he gets the churro from costco too often. he was eating them and being quiet and i was a little distracted with gillian and her snack. i finally looked over and his face was covered in chocolate. he was dunking the oreos and somehow ended up with a chocolate mustache. he was a generous big brother and gave one cookie to gillian. after he was done, he drank some of the milk and then ran around the room. he stopped and said "i need some energy." then walked over and drank his milk. he then said "now i've got energy and i can do this." as he proceeded to do johnny style parkour.

the field trip

john's class had a field trip today. they went to atlantic farms in manasquan to feed the animals. when we picked him up from school today, we asked him what happened on the trip. he said "we fed the animals." we asked him what he fed the animals and he said "carrots." daddy and i had to stir the pot. so we started naming all kinds of animals that would not be on a farm. we said, you must have fed the elephants. "no! elephants don't live on a farm!" i said, he fed the monkeys, they like carrots. "no mommy, monkeys eat bananas!" daddy said, maybe he fed the horses, cows and the orangutan. "daddy, what's an orangutan?" daddy says, a big monkey. john replies, "no daddy they eat big bananas." got to love his logic. we did finally get some information out of him. they fed a horse, goats, sheep and a pig. he told me, "i didn't feed the pig. he was in the mud. so i just throwed him the carrots."

see-saw

john and gillian were being very silly tonight.  they were playing on john's chair.  gillian was sitting still, and john was jumping on it.  and the chair would rock back, and gilly would laugh. 

john kept saying, "its a see-saw."  i know i should discourage behavior like this, but i love it when they play and get along.

sleepwalker

john is a pretty heavy sleeper. he comes by that honestly. i also can sleep through a lot. i also can hold conversations in my sleep and have no memory of it. monday night around midnight, john came in our room and said "mommy, you didn't snuggle me. you also didn't give me medicine." he made me walk him to his room and climb into his bed and snuggle him. within 2 minutes he was asleep. i'm not even sure he was awake when he came into our room. this morning around 5 am, he come to my side of the bed and says "mommy, my hand hurts." he likes to sleep with his hands above his head. so he is constantly waking up with his hands having pins and needles. anyway, I pulled him into our bed figuring I would need to get soon so there was no point getting up and putting him back in his bed. big mistake. i thought he was being good but apparently he thought daddy's head made a good pillow. and john also kept kicking daddy plus daddy had duncan on the other side. daddy was surrounded by two squirmy boys. after about 15 minutes, we kicked him out of our bed. please keep your fingers crossed that he stays in his bed tonight (or at least go to daddy's side).

duncan

duncan is my first born, fury baby.  kyle and i bought him for our first anniversary while we were living in hawaii.  he is now seven and a very important part of our family. 

he was there to welcome john and gilly to our little family.  he wasn't so sure of those little bundles of joy at first, but after a few nights he was sleeping in their rooms and was the first responder if one of them cried. 

meeting john for the first time

meeting gilly for the first time

kisses for john (1 year old)

he is a good big brother and lets the kids climb on him and snuggle with him.  he has also learned that gillian is the best person to sit by during dinner. 

just hanging out in duncan's bed

snuggle time with duncan

waiting patiently

i am glad that the kids have a dog that enjoys being with them and is good with them.  i hope that john continues to have his bestest friend.

chinese food

the other night we ordered chinese food for the first time in years. knowing that john would be a little skeptical, i made sure that i ordered a variety of food. i got sweet and sour chicken, chicken & broccoli, shrimp chow mein, chicken lo mein and egg rolls. right away john didn't want to try anything. kyle got john to try the sweet and sour chicken. and of course he love it. he also had some plain rice. gilly, on the other hand, loved the chicken and broccoli. as a matter of fact, she liked the broccoli best. i couldn't cut it fast enough. after dinner kyle taught john about fortune cookies. he told john that there was a secret message inside the cookie. of course that was enough to intrigue him. i think his fortune describes him perfectly.

laser tag

today was my nephew justin's 9th birthday.  he had a party at the local ice skating rink, that also has laser tag.  johnny loves justin.  he is like a big brother to john.  needless to say, john was very excited about justin's party. 

kyle and i decided to run some errands before the party, so we left the house 3 hours before the party started.  big mistake.  every time we stopped at a store we heard, "is this where justin's party is?"  and all john wanted to do was to hold his gift.  we would get to a store and he would say, "but i don't want to leave his gift."  we were finally done with our errands and on our way to the ice rink when john says "mommy, why is justin a different color than me?"  on a side note, justin's mom is from peru and justin's skin tone is a little bit darker than johnny's.  i asked daddy if he heard what johnny said.  and we had him repeat his question.  he repeated it and said, "his skin is darker than mine."  we explained to him that justin's mommy has darker skin than his mommy and that's why justin's skin is darker.  john replied "but i want to be the same as justin."  we explained to him that the color of your skin doesn't make anyone different.  i hope it registered.  i just can't believe we had this conversation with him today.  he is only 4. 

john & justin at the turtle back zoo

after our heavy conversation, we headed to the ice rink for justin's party.  john was a little shy at first, because all the other kids were much bigger than him.  after we ate some pizza, we headed downstairs for laser tag.  we got all the big kids set up with their laser tag gear (and some of the parents too).  we finally convince john to try it out.  he was super excited.

ready to kick some butt!

he went out with daddy at first.  he was a little leery and went a little slow.  but after awhile, he was running around and shooting people.  next he went with aunt betty, but they both had to have green vests.  i joined them shortly after that.  as i was walking around trying to find my little man i heard behind me "i think that was my mommy."  and then i got shot!  he giggled.  he had so much fun and so did all the other kids (of all sizes).  



john & aunt betty ready for round 2



aunt trish & sammie were ready too





and the birthday boy



the sandwich

most days john gets a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. monday, daddy picked him up from school. his teacher told daddy that he didn't finish his sandwich. she said that john told her that his tummy hurt and that's why he didn't finish. for lunch on tuesday, I packed him some mac and cheese. he ate most of it and again his teacher was concerned and pointed it out when we picked up john that night. on wednesday, once again we found out that john didn't finish his sandwich. his teacher was concerned and afraid that he wasn't feeling well. daddy asked john why he didn't finish his sandwich and john replied "i don't like the bread." i was using whole wheat bread instead of the potato bread i normally use. he walked into the house saying "mommy, do you have the good bread?" this morning when i was finished making his sandwich, i had him inspect it to make sure that he was happy with it. he looks at it and says "looks good." when we picked him up from school, he announces that he finished his whole sandwich. when I asked him why, he replied "it's cause you used the good bread!"

mom, mommy, mama, ma

i love being a mom.  it is the most challenging and most rewarding job i have ever have.  but one of the most annoying things is that you lose any sense of personal time.  as a parent of a small child, you can sympathize with going to the bathroom and having either company in the bathroom or someone waiting outside the door for you. 

don't get me wrong, i love my time with my kids, but sometimes it can get a little overwhelming.  tonight was one of those nights.  john wanted to snuggle with me.  we are snuggling in the armchair downstairs and lo and behold gilly starts climbing on top of the toy box to get onto the chair.  now i have two squirmy, wormy children on my lap, fighting for mommy's attention.  it finally got to the point where i told them to get off and go play with their toys.  after crying for 30 seconds, gilly moves on.  john however, starts mumbling under his breath saying "i just wanted to snuggle you.  i like you.  don't you like me?"  really?  do i really deserve that?       

its one of those nights

slow mover

i'm not sure if daylight savings time is affecting john or if he is just in a phase.  but lately, you can ask him to do something and he just stands there. 

tonight, daddy picked the kids up from school.  daddy got gillian from her room, and then went into john's room.  daddy tells john to put his coat on.  john just stands there.  meanwhile, daddy gets gillian's coat on.  again, daddy tells john put his coat on.  john then sits down and takes his shoe off.  john fixes his sock and daddy ends up getting john's coat and putting it on him.  daddy takes the kids to the car, and opens john's door and tells john to get in the car.  daddy walks around the car to the other side and proceeds to put gillian in her seat.  he looks over and john is still standing on the running board with his backpack still on his back.  daddy says, "john get in the car!" 

daddy drives home and pulls in the driveway.  he opens john's car door and goes around to get gillian out of her seat.  once again, daddy gets gillian out of her seat and walks around the car to find john still sitting in his seat with the seat belt on.  just sitting there.  and you've guessed it, daddy says "john, get out of the car!"  john gets out of the car and walks to the front porch.  daddy turns around and realizes that john's car door is still open.  daddy says, "hey, did you forget something?"  john just stares at daddy.  john goes back to the car and closes the door.  he then proceeds to fall up the steps on the front porch. 

by this point, daddy is furious.  he can't understand why john is so oblivious of his surroundings.  i think its karma.  my mother-in-law loves to tell stories about kyle when he was little.  how he was content to sit in his umbrella stroller for hours.  how he would fall asleep under the coffee table while everyone else was enjoying a party.  how his 2nd grade teacher told her that kyle would never have a ulcer, because he just didn't give a shit about anything.  it's destiny.       

the little mommy

gilly's favorite thing to play with (besides anything that john is playing with) is her babydolls.  she gives them hugs and kisses.  she feeds them. 

feeding her baby

she takes them for walks in her little stroller. 

taking baby for a walk

she also likes to take blankets and wrap them up and put them to sleep. 



tonight, she took one of her baby blankets and was wrapping up her dolls and talking to them.  she also had to take a woody doll to bed with her last night.  my little mommy

dinner negotiations

tonight's dinner was nothing fancy.  we ordered pizza for the kids and sandwiches for the adults.  after running errands and taking duncan to the vet today, i just didn't feel like cooking.  johnny isn't feeling that well today.  he has a slight fever and has been super whiny and cranky. 

normally on pizza night, he and gilly eat until their tummies hurt.  tonight, he barely finished one slice of pizza.  he turns to us and says, "i'm full."  daddy said,  "if you are full then there is no room for ice cream."  he says, "yes, i saved room for ice cream."  daddy said, "then there's room for two more bites."  to which johnny responded, "no that room's for ice cream.  i can't fill it with pizza."

betty's clues

i am very lucky that my sister, bethany, can babysit the kids.  mommy and daddy had a date last night and bethany came over to watch the kids.  when john was little he couldn't say bethany.  he started calling her aunt b and somehow it changed into betty.  unfortunately, now she is called aunt betty.

john LOVES blue's clues.  he doesn't watch a lot of tv, but when he does, then he always requests blue's clues.  he was watching blue's clues with aunt betty last night and when aunt betty put him to sleep last night he asked her if they could play blue's clues in the morning.  when we got home last night, bethany had set up 3 clues for john to find in the morning. for anyone that doesn't have small kids, blue's clues is about a dog, blue, that leaves 3 clues for her friend, steve, to figure out what blue would like to do that day.  also the clue is a blue paw print. 

when john woke up this morning, he knew that aunt betty had left clues for him.  he asked daddy for a notebook and when it was time for breakfast he found his first clue.

the clue on a container of cookies

looking at the cookies

        



he was so excited.  "mommy, a clue! a clue!"  he then sat and drew a picture of the cookies in the container.  and then wanted to find the next clue right away.  he jumped up and ran into the living room.  "a clue! my blanket has a clue on it!" 

the 2nd clue

drawing his clue

he started to draw the second clue of the blanket, and insisted that mommy and daddy lay the blanket on the floor so that he could see the entire thing.  as he was jumping around the living room, he shouted "i found another clue!  the basket.  it has a clue on it!"

the 3rd clue

drawing the basket

he drew the blanket and the basket in his notebook.  he then turned to us and said "cookies, a blanket and a basket.  hmmm what do they have to do with each other."  he also said, "i need to sit in my thinking chair."  we went downstairs and he sat in his chair.

in his thinking chair

he sat in his chair and reviewed his pictures.  first he looked at the picture of the cookies, "chocolate chip cookies, check."  next he looked at the picture of the blanket, "what is this? that's right a blanket. check."  next he looked at he basket, "a basket, check.  i know!  she wants to have a picnic!"

"we just figured out betty's clues!

we just figured out betty's clues!
we just figured out betty's clues!
we just figured out betty's clues...
because we're really smart!"

the parrot

john is four and by now we should have learned that he is a little sponge and will repeat anything we say.  one of his first words was stop.  he heard mommy and daddy use stop when talking to our dog, duncan.  a few years later, his favorite phrase was "damn it."  once again, he innocently learned this from daddy. 

last night, mommy went out with friends from work and daddy took care of the kids.  daddy was driving and there was a lady in another vehicle entering a do not enter.  daddy had the window open and screamed "it's a do not enter you dumb bitch."  and from the backseat, he heard "dumb bitch."   

trick or treat

a couple of years ago, we started a little tradition with my family.  we all meet at my mom's house with the kids and go trick or treating in manasquan.  i love this little tradition, because my mom gets to see 5 of her grand kids together.  plus trick or treating in manasquan is a trip down memory lane for me.  we get to see all the old neighbors and they oh and ah over the kids.  another bonus is mom makes soup, and we all know nothing beats mom's food. 

anyways, this year we all met up at mom's.  justin was a ninja, sammie was an 80's rocker, little kyle was mario, john was bumblebee and gillian was the glitter fish. 

first time we got all of them looking at the camera!



the biggest kid dressed up too!



we piled gilly into the wagon and we were off.  little kyle and john led the group.  they were very excited about running door to door.  the funniest part is that john was the voice of reason.  a lot of people left bowls on their porches, and john kept saying "only take one."  they were very good and did listen to the adults.

after a few blocks gilly, got a little bored with the wagon and decided it was time to jump ship.  i took her to a couple of houses, and the common consensus was that she was a dragon.  i don't think that gigi would be too happy that people thought the little glitter fish looked like a dragon.

after the kids had enough, we decided to call it quits and head home.  mom had potato, onion and chicken noodle soup and warm bread waiting for us.  the soup hit the spot because it was a little chilly this year.  i am looking forward to next year.  john had so much fun when he was two, i am sure that gilly will be the same way!

here are some pictures of our pumpkins this year.  john designed the first one.  it is a mean face with one eye.  the second one is mommy & daddy's pumpkin and he is the happy one.  the third pumpkin is gilly's pumpkin, and it is silly.