Lava Proof

John took all the pillows from the couches and laid them all over the basement floor. He was jumping from pillow to pillow. Then he tells us "I can only touch the ground when I say 'lava proof.'" Then we watch him stand on one pillow and adjust the one next to it. As he is fixing everything he ends up standing on one of Gillian's babies. Daddy tells him to not stand on the baby. John says "But I can't stand on the carpet! It's lava!" We watched him play this game for awhile but we caught him walking across the carpet. When we called him out on it, he said "it's ok. I can walk on the lava when I want to so something." Well that makes sense.

Petting Zoo and Craft Fair

Today we met Mimi at Freehold Raceway for Open Space Pace.  Bascially it is a festival for horses in Freehold.  They had a parade, races, vendors, music and a petting zoo.  We didn't get to see the parade of horses through downtown, but we arrived at the raceway in time to walk thru the vendors and go to the petting zoo.

John loved the petting zoo.  Gillian was a little unsure.  She wanted either Daddy or myself to hold her while she leaned over to pet the animals.  We walked around first and let the kids pet and see all the animals first and then we let John feed the animals.  He was a little unsure at first, but Daddy held his hand and showed him how to feed them.  John loved it.  He said "It tickles!"  After watching John feed a few animals, Gillian was ready too.  She fed the alpaca and loved it.  But she did tell me "This one is my favorite." while pointing at the donkey. 

 

After the kids had fun at the petting zoo, we watched a couple of races.  John and Gillian loved cheering on the riders (and horses).  We had a quick lunch and then we headed over to the Colts Neck Craft Fair.  Uncle T and Aunt Missy were there with a few cars from the dealership and a giant pumpkin.  They were giving a prize to the person that guessed the weight of the pumpkin closest without going over.  Uncle T had just purchased a funnel cake when we got there.  I felt really bad because Gillian and John just helped themselves.  We walked around the craft fair for a little bit and ended up buying a replacement funnel cake.  The kids had a great time, and even posed for a picture with the giant pumpkin.   

Gillian's Baby

Gillian loves her baby dolls. We have babies everywhere. I have two in my car so she can hold them on the way to school. The other morning she was climbing into my car and holding baby. I told her that I would hold the baby for her. She took baby from me once she was sitting on her carseat. She snatched baby from me so quickly and I said don't worry, no one will take your baby. She said "Swiper! Swiper take baby!" I tried to explain that Swiper from Dora the Explorer would not take her baby. But she didn't listen to me.

When I drop the kids off at school, Gillian kisses and hugs her baby. And she says "See you later!"

Tonight I caught Gillian covering Duncan with one of her baby's blankets. She was rubbing his back and saying "Ahhh baby!"

Back to School Night

Tonight was Back to School night for the kids. Daddy and I were really lucky. John's teacher started at 6 so we were able to go to both Gillian and John's programs.

We walked into John's class and found John's "paper me." A "paper me" is basically a paper version of John. They have been learning about the digestive system and the paper me had his esophagus, stomach and intestines. I loved it. Daddy and I listened to Miss Mary Ellen speak about how the class is doing and what they will do throughout the school year. John is doing great in class. He listens and is interested in learning. Miss Mary Ellen says that he is always willing to help and is excited to learn.

Next we went to Gillian's class. We learned about her day and what they will be working on for the rest of the year. The most surprising thing we heard was that the kids don't sing at school. I was shocked to hear that Gillian doesn't sing. She sings all the time for us, but I guess none of the other kids sing (peer pressure).

When we got home, John said to us "Did we trick you? Did you think that it was me at school doing work?" Love him!

Amazing Athletes

TLC has a couple of programs available for the kids that are interested. They have a dance program for early ballet, a soccer program and amazing athletes. In Amazing Athletes the kids learn about different sports and do activities to practice their new skills. We signed John up for Amazing Athletes and today was his first day. When I got home tonight I asked him about his day. He said "I did Amazing Athletes today! And we did soccer!" Daddy asked him to explain soccer. John said "That's when you kick the ball like this." And he started kicking his foot and walking forward. "And you know what else? We did snake drills. Like this!" And he started running around the kitchen. I'm so glad he loved his first day with Amazing Athletes.

My brother

Early this morning while Daddy & I were getting ready for work, John was snuggling Duncan in our bed. "I'm snuggling my brother!" John told us. Daddy asked him of he knew the names of Daddy's brothers. John said "Uncle T" and then he paused. He has only heard us talk about Uncle Bryan and Uncle Christopher and John was very little the last time he saw his two Uncles. We explained that all of Daddy's brothers are his little brothers. I asked John if he knew the names of my brothers. John hesitated. He said "Uncle Bob!" I told him Uncle Bob is Mommy's little brother. That made him giggle. I said who is Mommy's big brother? We gave him a hint and said he flies helicopters. John said "Uncle Joe!" And then he paused. "But who's my brother?" Daddy and I told him that Duncan is his brother. John liked that answered and he snuggled a little while with Duncan. He then said "Will Duncan be there when I get bigger? Because I will miss him if he is not with me!" I love my smart little man, but I'm not ready to have these serious talks with him yet. I can't remember exactly what Daddy's response was, but he basically told him to enjoy his time with his dog.

Spices

Occasionally I add a little salt and pepper to my dinner. Anytime Gillian sees me add something to my plate, she points at hers as if to say "me too." I always trick her and cover the holes on the shaker or I don't don't open the shaker. The first time I did this John got so worried. "She can't have the spice!" I explained to him that I tricked her. The next couple times this happened John again would express his concern. Finally I got him to realize that I wasn't hurting his sister. Tonight I put some crushed red pepper on my pasta and Gillian said "I have!" I shook the container over her plate and she happily started to eat again. I look over at John and he is smiling ear to ear and he winks at me. He knows the secret.

Secret Agent Spy (take two)

Around two o'clock today, I told John that I needed my secret agent spy to go check on Gillian. He said "Her is sleeping." I told him, if she is sleeping leave her alone, but if she is awake then walk her downstairs. He runs upstairs and then comes back. "Her is awake, but she won't come with me." We told him to go back upstairs and get her. He replied "But she won't come!" I told him to tell Gillian that we had cookies. And Daddy told him to stay with her and help her go down the stairs slowly. Telling her about cookies made Gillian move. They came down the steps side by side on their tushies. And Gillian came running towards me saying "Cookie!" We certainly know how to get our little girl out of bed.

Beach bike ride

We took the kids and our bikes down to Manasquan Beach today. John did awesome. He pedaled down to Seawatch Beach and then down to Main Street and back. We did stop at Gee-Gee's so John could play a few games. He needed the break then because we were pedaling into the wind. After we got done in with the games we told John that our next stop was the playground. He immediately said "Do I have to ride? Can I walk?" He was so tired. But he got back in the bike and rode to the playground. When we stopped at Gee-Gee's we also moved Gillian's seat from my bike to Daddy's. While we were switching the seat, Gillian kept saying "Shoes off!" We took her shoes off and she went running to the sand. My little beach baby wanted to put her toes in the sand. We finally got to the playground and the kids had so much fun. It was a beautiful, fun day.

Good Morning

I gave John some clothes to get himself dressed this morning. While he was getting dressed I went into Gillian's room to wake her up. She saw me as soon as I walked in. She jumped out of bed and came running over to me. She gave me a big hug and said "Johnny?" I told her that I didn't know where he was and that she needs to call him. She walked over to her doorway, calling "Johnny! Johnny!" He met her in the doorway and she gave him a hug. He then started saying "Maybe Daddy will let you play Jake on the iPad. Daddy, can Gilly play Jake on the iPad?" Daddy said yes. I started getting changing Gillian's diaper and John came running back. He started the Jake and the Neverland Pirate app. Gillian was laying down while I was changing her and John held the iPad next to her head so she could see. He showed her how to play and patiently held the iPad for her. Such a sweet way to start our day.

New letter

I picked up the kids from school today and in John's cubby was his letter C book. They get a new workbook for each letter in the alphabet. I said to John I guess you are all done with C now. He said "Yup! My book is in my cubby! Guess what letter we are doing next? O!" Now he starts making circles in the air with his arms. Then he says "But I already know how to write an O. But I gotta help my friends cause they don't know."

Mommy kisses

Everyone knows that a kiss from Mommy makes everything better. Today in the car on our way home from school, Gillian had a boo-boo on her finger. She was holding out her finger and said "Owww! Mommy kiss." I explained to her that I couldn't kiss her finger while driving the car. So I kissed my fingers and put it on her "hurt" finger. As soon as I did that she said "Owww!" So I blew her a kiss. That didn't work either. I even had John try to help me. I blew John a kiss and he said "I got it. See Gilly?" That didn't satisfy Gillian. She cried the rest of the way home, but she completely forgot about her injured finger once we started talking about dinner. My silly Gilly.

Piglet

The two year old room at The Lincroft Center for Children is called the Piglet class. Her previous class was called the Tigger class. When Gillian first started in the two year old class, we would ask her what class she was in. She would smile and say "I a Tigger!" After a little bit of coaching, now when you ask her which class she in she says "I a Pig-it!"

When I drop the kids of at school I have to sign them in. There is a stuffed Piglet by the sign-in sheet in Gillian's classroom. Every morning she asks for Piglet. She kisses him and hugs him and gives him back. Love my sweet girl.

Lazy Sunday

Today we didn't do anything exciting. We stayed home and cleaned the basement and watched cartoons. John went upstairs to build a big Lego airplane. I used that opportunity to watch Cinderella with Gillian. She has a Cinderella doll (that she calls Rella) and a Cinderella Barbie. But she has never seen the movie. She loved the movie. She did get a little scared when the cat was chasing after the mice but besides that she loved it.

Since we were home all day, the kids started to get cabin fever by the end of the day. Before dinner I found John and Gillian giggling and snuggling in Duncan's bed. Silly kids.

Aunt Missy's House

Daddy and I had plans for Friday night, so we asked Aunt Missy to watch the kids overnight. Uncle T was away and I told John that he would have to be the man of the house. He said "I will do whatever the man does!" Then he turned to Gilly, "Gilly, we are going to Aunt Missy's house. Don't worry. I will be with you!"

I dropped the kids off and it was a tearless drop-off. Aunt Missy was prepared she had coloring books and crayons and all kinds of fun stuff for the kids. From the little bit of information I got from John it sounds like they had a fun night. They had pizza and colored and did crafts. Aunt Missy told me that Jaxx, one of their Labradors, wanted to play with Gillian's baby. At one point Aunt Missy caught Jaxx with baby's head in his mouth! Poor baby. Good thing Gilly didn't see it.

Below are some pictures of the kids crafts and John snuggling in his bed at Aunt Missy's house.

Chicken pumpkins

Tonight we had to run to Toys R Us to pick up diapers and a bike lock. Before we got to the store, Daddy told John that we were not buying any toys and we were just picking up two things. He understood even though he was disappointed. I got Gillian out of the car and I told her that we were not looking at babies or toys and we were just buying diapers. She said "No toys?" I said that's right we are just looking. And she said "And no touching!"

We decided to just pick up fast food for dinner. We asked the kids of they wanted cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets. John didn't hesitate and said "Cheeseburger!" Gillian couldn't decide she first said "Cheeseburger!" Then she said "Chicken pumpkin!" We had her repeat it a couple of times and every time it sounded like pumpkin.

Funny things

John & Gilly say the funniest and sweetest things. Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple of days:

Yesterday morning in the car on our way to school, Gillian took her shoes off and pulled out her ponytails. "Gilly! You can't go to school with no shoes!"

When you ask Gillian what a crocodile says. She responds "Crocodile snap!"

While the kids we taking a bath we were listening to music and all singing along. John asked "is this a girl song or a boy or a baby song?" I said its an everybody song, why? He said "if it was a baby song then we couldn't sing it. Only Gilly could sing."

Tonight John came in for an extra hug after we put him to bed. As I hugged him I said I'm so proud of you, my big kindergartener. He walks away and says "I know!"

This morning Gillian pulled out her ponytails and dropped one of the ties. She asked "Johnny get it!" John leaned over and stretched but couldn't reach it. "I can't reach it!" he explained. She didn't understand "Why?" He said "The seatbelt won't let me!"

Tonight at dinner John served himself a second helping of spaghetti and meatballs. Gillian then wanted more to eat so she stood up in her chair and reached for the spoon. "I do it myself!"

Also tonight, John made a wish. "I wish I was a ninja!" I told him that it takes awhile to become a ninja. He replied "How many whiles?"

Homework

John received his first homework assignment today. When we got home I said to him that we need to do your homework now. He said "I'll do it after dinner. That's when all the kindergarteners do their homework." The assignment was a worksheet with his name written out. He had to trace his name twice and then write it out twice. John has been writing his name for awhile now, but always capital letters. You could see this little assignment was a challenge for him. He made a small mistake and wrote a capital N instead of a lowercase N. He was a little upset, but I explained to him that's why we work slowly and that you get to write your name twice. The second time he concentrated more and wrote a lowercase N. After he finished he proudly said "See I can do it!"

Check-ups

We had the kids annual exams scheduled for this morning.  I have been talking to both John and Gillian about going to the doctor and how we are going to be brave and do what the doctor asked.  I have even been sing that Doc McStuffin check up song.  For those of you that don't have Disney Junior on all the time, Doc McStuffin is a little girl that repairs toys.  She also has a little song about check ups.  Check out the video below:

I thought that by singing the song that Gillian would understand that the doctor was just going to look in her ears and eyes and everything would be fine.  Well we got to the doctor's office and John was great.  He stood on the scale and got weighted and measured.  He also sat still and had his blood pressure taken.  He said "This doesn't hurt at all!  It tickles!"  He also had his hearing tested.  He listened to the nurses instructions and raised his hand every time he heard a beep.  Next they tested his eye sight.  Again he was awesome.  Then it was Gillian's turn to get weighted.  She wasn't so sure about the big scale.  John told her "It's really easy.  Did you see me?  I was brave!"  The nurse and I agreed to weigh and measure her in the baby room.  This way all she had to do was sit in the chair to get weighed and then lay down to get measured.  She sat still, but I had to hold her down in order to get her height. 

We had some down time in the exam room while we waited for some paperwork to be filled out.  John sat in the doctor's chair and checked out all the tools on the table.  He loved playing with the doctor's reflex hammer.  It was shaped like a dinosaur.  John said "It looks like a dinosaur.  But it has a long neck, but long-neck dinosaurs don't have spikes on their neck.  It kinda looks like a dragon.  Mom, you know what kind of dinosaur it looks like?"  I was completely intrigued by his whole thought process here.  Of course I said no, what kind of dinosaur does it look like.  He says "Amargasaurus!"  I didn't know if that was true or not.  I had never heard of an Amaragsaurus before (in case you are interested, check out this link to learn more about the Amargasaurus).  But he does know his dinosaurs.  I did get a picture of him holding the reflex hammer. 

The doctor came in and again John was awesome.  He did everything the doctor asked.  Then it was Gillian's turn.  Again, she didn't want the doctor to look in her ears or her eyes or listen to her heart.  Dr. Yee said "she's feisty!"  Yup, that's my girl.  Everything checked out fine.  Both kids are growing and doing the appropriate things for their age.  Next came the shots.  Gillian got two shots.  They did the second one and she just cried and cried.  John was brave, but he did shed some tears.  I hate to have them cry, but I know that John was really in pain while Gillian was her typical dramatic self.  Dr. Yee said "John you get three lollipops because you had three shots."  As soon as Dr. Yee said lollipops.  Gillian stopped crying and said "Lollipop!" 

Dinner and a show

Gillian has always been a good eater. But lately she is very distracted during dinner. Tonight, for example, she was standing on her chair singing. We had to keep telling her to eat. She would eat but then get up and sing again. All of us were finished with our dinner and I told John that he could not get up until Gillian was done. He said "I'm going to sleep here! She's never going to finish. Then she will have to take it to school with her!"

Brielle Day

Today was Brielle Day.  For those that don't know, Brielle is a local town and they have a day every September with a 5K and 10K race, craft & food vendors sell their wares and the local fire engines give rides to the kids.  Daddy and I have been going to Brielle Day since we were little.  We started going again a few years ago and meeting up with my Mom, sisters and brother. 

Last night we told John that we were going to Brielle Day in the morning.  He immediately said "I remember! We went on the fire truck last time, and we got sprayed with water!"  He remembers everything.  I was showering this mroning and apparently, John went in to wake up Daddy.  John woke him up by saying "Today's the day we go on the fire truck!"

It was lightly raining when we arrived.  We walked past the last couple of 5K runners.  John, so nicely, ran along side of them and said "I'm the fastest runner.  I'm even faster than adults."  We then met up with Aunt Betty, Aunt Trish, Grandma, Grandpa, Sammie, Justin and Kyle.  We walked around looked at the crafts and assorted vendors.  Justin and John found some wooden guns that shoot rubber bands.  The nice vendor let the boys try them out and both decided they had to have one.  Well, Justin actually got two and John got one, but they were very happy with their purchase.  No Brielle Day is complete without some old fashioned sarsaprilla.  We enjoyed our sarsaprilla and headed over toward the fire truck rides. 

Aunt Trish, Aunt Betty, Justin, John, Kyle, Gillian and I went on the fire engine.  I'm sure I have mentioned it before, but Gillian does not like the fire whistle that goes off at the fire station behind our house.  So I was prepared for Gillian to not like the fire truck ride.  She loved it at first.  She leaned over and watched all the cars and waved to the people as we drove past.  But we made our first turn and the fire truck sounded its siren and that was it.  She jumped into my lap and didn't move.  We drove past the fire station where we got sprayed down with water.  Poor Gillian got hit with the most and was soaking wet.  As we started to approach Brielle Day, I told Gillian to look for Grandma and Daddy.  She started yelling "Grandma! Grandma!"  When she did finally see them, she burst into tears and started to cry.  I think the whole trip was a little overwhelming for her.  If you ask her now if she wants to take a ride on the fire truck, she quickly says "No!"   

After the fire truck rides, the rain started to get heavier.  We all headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's house for lunch.  Gillian and Sammie played with Gillian's babies while the boys played with their new guns.  John and Justin were dueling.  Don't worry.  We gave both of them strict instructions. No shooting their rubber band guns at anyone. 

 

  

Pancakes for dinner

I picked the kids up from school today. I asked John what he wanted for dinner. He didn't hesitate and said "Pancakes!" He had an awesome first week of Kindergarten. I couldn't say no. We picked up Daddy and headed to Perkins.

John wanted to order the chocolate chip pancakes but we have done that before and they are too sweet for him. We ordered him the silver dollar pancakes and Gillian got French toast. She even told the waiter "French toast for me!" The kids were awesome during dinner. John ate all of his pancakes and most of his cookie for dessert. Gillian, on the other hand, ate most of her French toast and all of her cookie. They were very good this week and deserved a special treat.

Veggies

Most nights we fight with John at dinner. We fight over how many veggies to eat or how we need to eat and not just drink milk. I have discovered that when we have him eat a veggie he will chew it for easily two minutes straight. It has nothing to do with the size of the bite, it's just that it is something he doesn't want to eat. Tonight he had to eat carrots and zucchini. He finally worked up the strength to eat the zucchini and he chewed and chewed and chewed. The piece was smaller than a square inch. And then he says "The zucchini is good." I asked him if he wanted another piece. He didn't even hesitate "NO!"

First day of Kindergarten

John woke up this morning and came running into our room. I asked him if he knew what today was. He said with a big grin on his face "Today I go to kindergarten!" There was no fighting or arguing this morning. He got dressed all by himself and was ready to go to school.

Daddy drove John to school and I drove Gillian to school. We met there and walked in. Gillian immediately saw her old teacher Miss Sharon. She started saying "Shar-Shar!" Luckily her new teacher Miss Rose saw us and directed us to the kids' new cubbies. John went running down the hallway to his new classroom. Gillian was a little unsure. Miss Rose moved all the other Piglets to their classroom and started to take toys out. She said to Gillian "Do you want to play babies?" That's all Gillian needed to hear and she squirmed out of my arms and across the room to the babies. John, on the other hand, was so excited about starting his day. He gave me a kiss goodbye and basically pushed me out the door.

I was the lucky one that got to pick the kid up today. Gillian was playing with a toy but John saw me right away. "Mommy!" He came running up and gave me a big hug. He then went quietly over to Gillian, "Gilly, look who's here!" She also came running over. We got their stuff and I headed towards the door. John stopped me and said "Mommy! We need to go to my classroom!" I followed him to his classroom where he proceeded to lecture me "Mommy, we need to get the stuff out of my folder everyday. It has all my work in it." He was right, all of his work was in that folder.

He told me about his day. "We made circles. We got to play with play dough. We had snack in the morning, goldfish and I said no thank you. And in the afternoon we had our cookies as I said no thank you. And we did work in the afternoon!" I think he had a pretty good day.

In the pictures below John and Gillian are holding signs. I asked them to write their name. I can't wait to compare these pictures to next year.

Letter to John

Dear John,

Tomorrow you start Kindergarten. I am both happy and sad to see this day arrive. I cannot believe my little boy is ready to embark on his first steps of his education. I know you are ready for this new challenge. I truly hope you have everlasting memories of the friends you will make and the lessons you will learn this year. I know you will be my brave, strong, smart boy. Put your listening ears in and pay attention to the teacher. Always remember the most important thing: Daddy, Gillian and I love you more than you know and we are so proud of you!

Love you big much,
Mommy

Kiss Kiss

I put Gillian to bed tonight. I tucked her in, gave her Kermit to snuggle and turned on her doggie that plays music. I gave her a few kisses. She turns to me and says "Hug?" I leaned over and gave her a hug. "Kiss?" I give her another kiss. I say goodnight and go next door to John's room. I start to tuck him in and I can hear Gillian say "Kiss, Kiss?" I run back into Gillian's room and give her another kiss. I turn to walk out and she says "Kiss Rella?" (Gillian has a Cinderella doll that she calls Rella). Of course Rella gets a kiss and Kermit and doggie too. Once again I leave her and head back into John's room. I tuck John in and give him plenty of snuggles and kisses. After all of those kisses, I realize that I left my phone in Gillian's room. I went back in and again I hear her say "Kiss? Kiss!" How can you deny that request? I gave her tons of kisses and to make sure I was being fair I stopped in Johns room. I'm glad I did. He hopped up and said "I forgot something!" He gave me a giant hug. Love my sweet babies.

Beach Day

School was closed on Friday.  I asked Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Betty to watch the kids for the day.  Since Grandma and Grandpa go to the beach everyday they decided to take the kids with them in the morning.  Aunt Betty didn't have school on Friday so she joined them.  Also, Aunt Trish had the week off, so Aunt Trish, Sammie and Kyle also went to the beach. 

I dropped the kids off at Grandma's already dressed in their bathing suits along with some beach toys, towels and a couple of changes of clothes.  I left them in capable hands, and I headed to work. 

A few hours into my day, I received the picture below.  They were already at the beach having fun.  

   
When I picked them up later, I was very anxious to hear all about their day especially their adventure at the beach.  John carried his bag of toys to and from the beach (I warned John that when you go to the beach with Grandma, you have to carry your own stuff.  If you can't carry it, you can't bring it).

John and Gillian loved the water.  John originally told me "I don't want to get my bathing suit wet!"  But according to Grandma, he was in and out of the water all morning long.  And on one of the trips in the water with Aunt Trish, they had to go under a wave.  I know my John was not happy about getting water in his face, but he survived and continued to go in the water.  Grandma told me that he was not a good listener.  Grandma need a short break.  So she told John that he could play in the sand but he could not go in the water without her.  She sat down and before she knew it he was at the water.  He wasn't paying attention and got hit by a wave.  He fell down face first, but got back up again.  John wasn't the only one that had an adventure in the water.  Gillian and Aunt Betty had to go under two waves back to back.  

Overall I think they had a fabulous day at the beach with their cousins, grandparents and aunts.  I asked John if he wanted to go to the beach again.  He said "Yes.  But not that beach.  The water is salt water!"  I told him that all the ocean water is salt water.  He looked at me completely shocked "All the ocean water in the whole world is salt water?!? Oh Man!"