Favorite

Everyday I ask the kids "What was your favorite part of the day?" The kids answers are always amusing. Most days they say "Playing outside." But with the cold weather we have had lately, I haven't gotten that response. Yesterday I asked John what his favorite part of the day, he said "Thinking about you!" He is so sweet. I thought that was a one time special response. I was wrong. I asked Gillian tonight what was her favorite part of the day. She said "Spending time with Johnny." I asked John the same thing. He said "Snuggling with you on the couch." How can you not love these kids?

Pick up

I love picking the kids up from school. I got Gillian first. She was in the big room riding bikes with Dorlisa. They had their backs to the door and didn't see me when I walked in. I watched the two of them have a little conversation and then take off across the room. Dorlisa almost ran over a baby doll that was laying on the floor and Gilly saw me didn't stop the bike and jumped off and ran to me (the bike didn't even slow down). She ran up to me and said "Mommy! I missed you so much!" And gave me a big hug. We said goodbye to her friends and went to get her coat on. We couldn't leave school until she got a drink out of the water fountain. 

Our next stop was to pick up John. Gillian loves going to John's school. All the teachers and aides talk to her and make her feel special plus she gets to see some big kids. Picking up John was unevntful. But on our way back to the car, John asked "Why can't we see Gigi's mountain from here?" I explained to him that Gigi's mountain was far from our house and school. He said "Oh, so it looks really small from here." Not exactly what I said, but close enough. 

Music

After dinner, last night John was working on his homework and Gillian was working on a new picture. Gillian asked Daddy "Turn on the musgik!" Daddy didn't understand what she was saying. It took me awhile to figure it out too. She wanted to listen to music while she worked on her picture. Below is a little video of Gillian saying "Musgik."

 

Sunday morning

I was the first one awake today (rare on a weekend). I went downstairs and started a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher and made a dozen pumpkin muffins. As I was putting the tray of muffins in the oven, I was joined by John. "Mom? I didn't know you were awake!" He worked on some Legos while I sat and drank my coffee. He showed me his latest creation and Gillian joined us. She gave me a big squeezie and hung out with us. John asked "Mommy? Can we have some of those muffins?" I gave them the muffins and they sat nicely and ate their breakfast together. We shared a nice relaxing morning with no requests to watch TV. What a nice way to start the day!

Frozen

Over Christmas break, John and Gillian went to see Frozen with Aunt Betty and Grandma. Gillian loved going to the movie. I stopped at the bookstore tonight to get John and Daddy a new book. While I was there I bought Gillian a Frozen book. 

Before bedtime tonight I gave Gillian the book. She said "I know this! I see the movie!" I read her the story. We were about two pages in and she stopped me. "Elsa and Anna are sisters." I read a little more and she said "Look! Her not wearing her gloves. Then everything turn to ice!" Again I read a few pages and she says "What's the moose's name?"  I am so glad that I bought this book. I had a great time reading it with my Beans tonight. 

writers block

I have writers block.  My kids are wonderful and amazing and normally provide me with lots of cute little stories.  But I have nothing.  The past couple of days have just been typical days with nothing out of the ordinary or special.  While there has been nothing exciting going on in my house, there have still been plenty of giggles, snuggles, talking and love.  I am one lucky Mama. 

Snowy Tuesday

When I got home today (after an hour and half drive home), I found Gillian snuggling on the floor in the living room. She said "I was cold. And I take your blanket!" How can you get mad at that?  

We waited patiently for John to get off the bus. My poor little boy was stuck on the for almost two hours! But he was still happy to be home with us. I was a little surprised to see that he was assigned four spelling assignments due on Thursday. I made him a deal, we would watch one tv show and then do one assignment. He was ok with the deal until I turned off the tv. He whined but we for the assignment completed and he was able to watch another tv show. We ended up completing two spelling assignments and a math worksheet this way (less for mommy to do tomorrow).

After bath, Daddy found Gillian and I in Gillian's room. He said "Hi pretty girl." And Gillian said "We was jumping on the couch. With no cushions!" This is funny for two reasons: 1) No one questioned Gillian. She freely gave us this info. 2) Daddy yelled at the kids yesterday and told them not to jump on the couch. 

As I tucked the kids into bed, Gillian said "Let's talk." I snuggled with Gillian and she told me all about Repunzel and Cinderella. When she was done with Cinderella's story she said "Let's talk about ponies." And she started to tell me all about Twilight Sparkle. I had to stop her because it was getting late (and I still needed to tuck in John). She wasn't happy with me but I have a feeling that tomorrow night I will learn about all the ponies. 

I love my kids and I can't wait to see what adventures we have tomorrow. 

Princesses

Gillian loved meeting the princesses in Disney World.  I know what you are thinking, we haven't been in Disney World in almost two months, but Gillian was just talking about the princesses the other day.  So I figured I would write a little post about Gillian meeting all of her favorites. 

The first characters we met were Pluto and Minnie Mouse.  Gillian was VERY afraid of them.  I'm not sure if it was the awe of meeting them or because it was early in the morning or just by their sheer size.  Anyway, she was afraid of them, and didn't want to go near them.  The next characters we met were Chip and Dale.  They were awesome.  They took the time to interact with Gillian and she lost her shyness.  But our very first princess we met was Belle.  We went on the Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction.  Gillian got to dance with Belle and have her picture taken.

Later that night, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to see a parade and the fireworks.  We didn't end up seeing the parade.  We ended up going on a few rides and we got to meet Ariel!  Ariel was super nice, even though Gillian was super tired and cranky.  She loved Gillian's autograph book and kept saying that she was happy that Gillian picked a page that matched the color of her tail!  Unfortunately, the pictures we took with Ariel didn't make it on my PhotoPass, but I did get one quick shot on my cell.  It's proof that we met Ariel! 

The next day we spent in Animal Kingdom.  Unfortunately, we didn't meet any princesses there.  But the following day we went to Hollywood Studios.  In Hollywood Studios, we met Princess Sofia!  Sofia the First is one of Disney's newest princesses and Gillian loves watching her show (so does John).  Gillian waited patiently for her turn to meet the princess.  John, on the other hand, was not so happy.  He kept saying "Do I have to meet her?  I don't even like the show!"  But he still asked Sofia for an autograph and posed for pictures. 

The next day we went back to the Magic Kingdom.  Daddy scheduled a fast pass so that we could meet Cinderella and a visiting princess.  Gillian loves "Rella" and was happy to see that the visiting princess that day was Sleeping Beauty.  We first met Cinderella.  Gillian was a little shy at first, but Cinderella showed Gillian her beautiful blue shoes.  And Gillian showed Cinderella her t-shirt.  Gillian happened to be wearing her Cinderella shirt that day.  They talked about Cinderella's mice and Gillian told her "I like Gus-Gus."  I will admit it, I got a little teary eyed watching my little girl talk with her favorite princess.

After meeting Cinderella, we met Sleeping Beauty.  We really got lucky.  Sleeping Beauty is another one of Gillian's favorite princesses.  Even to this day, Gillian says "Her was wearing pink.  The red fairy make her dress pink.  But the blue fairy want it blue!" 

After the Magic Kingdom, we went to Epcot.  In Epcot, we saw Snow White.  Daddy and I think that Snow White was headed for a break, but when she saw Gillian and a few other girls, she stopped to take some pictures with them.

In Epcot, we also got to meet Belle again!  Belle was super nice and loved Gillian's autograph book.  If you listen carefully to the video below, you will hear her compliment Aunt Missy on making such a nice book.

 
As you can tell, by this point in our visit Gillian is very comfortable meeting a princess and talking to her.  She loved meeting Belle again.  Now she says "I meet Belle in her beautiful dress and again in her blue dress!" 

We did try to meet Jasmine while we were in Epcot, but the timing just didn't work out.  I think that Gillian had a wonderful time meeting all of her favorite princesses in person!

Silly Gilly

Gillian cracks me up. She is a lot like John and just says the first things comes to her mind. Here are a few do my favorite Gillian comments from the past couple of weeks. 

Daddy brought Gillian home and told her to wait on the front porch. When Daddy joined her on the porch, she said "It's not Christmas anymore. You need to take down the wreath."

One morning, I was walking down the hallway with her. She told me "It's so dark. I can't even see my hooves."

I told Gillian that I was going to take her to get her hair cut. She said "Ok. But I don't want the train. This time I sit in the tractor!" I don't know how she remembers that. It was months ago when she last had a hair cut. 

On Saturday morning, I was leaving the house to go to my hair appointment and Gillian stopped me and said "But I don't have my shoes on!" I explained to her that we were going later for her hair cut. She said "Fine. Whatever."

I took Gillian food shopping with me today. As I was buckling her into her car seat, I said "Thanks for coming with me." She said "I didn't even want to come. I just wanted donuts."

When we got home, I gave Gillian one bag to carry in the house. As I carried a bunch of bags, Gillian told me "I can't carry anymore. My hands are full!" 

Sunshine

On John's first day of school, he came home and told us "We are going to have a music concert in June!"  (check out First Day of First Grade).  Well he was wrong, the concert wasn't in June, it was in January!  The concert was on Friday.  John has been talking about the concert for weeks now.  And I was very excited to see him perform.

Grandma was going to join me at the concert, but Daddy wasn't going to make it since the concert fell on a Friday.  But in a last minute maneuver, Daddy was able to get off.  We told John that Daddy wouldn't be able to make it so that it would be a nice surprise.  Grandma, Daddy and I met at the school and found seats inside the cafeteria.  John was all smiles when he saw us.  At that time, I thought he saw Daddy but we found out later that he didn't know Daddy was there until the end of the show.

The show started with the pledge of allegiance and then the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.  The first song the kids sang was "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows."  I got videos of all the songs.  (As a disclaimer, I took the video with my phone, so it is not great quality and you see a lot of peoples heads.  John is right in the middle of the screen.  He is wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and khaki pants.)

  
Next was "On the Sunny Side of the Street."  John has been singing this song for weeks.  He even sang it for Grandma at dinner one night.

The next song was "You are the Sunshine of my Life." 

The next two songs, I recorded in one video.  They sang "Why does the Sun Shine?" and "Why does the Sun Really Shine?"  Clearly these were the kids favorite songs to sing.  John and his classmates really got into all their dance moves.  I am impressed that they were able to sing all the words to these songs.  I am not sure I could remember "the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma."

They finished off the show with "Walkin' On Sunshine." 

John and all the first graders at MFA did an awesome job at their concert.  I am very impressed and proud of my little man.

The amulet

Gillian loves Sofia the First. It's a show on Disney Junior about a princess. Sofia wears a special amulet that helps her talk to animals. Yesterday, I picked up the kids from school. Gillian had her stuffed bunny Clover. Clover is one of Sofia's best friends. Gillian told John "I need my amulet. I can't hear Clover!" All through dinner, Gillian kept telling us "I need to find my amulet!" After we ate dinner, John worked on his homework while Gillian went to find her amulet. I even helped. But we couldn't find it anywhere. John helped us but we still couldn't find it. Finally, I searched in the cushions of the couch and there it was. Gillian was so excited. I put on her amulet. She got all sad and said "My amulet isn't working! I can't hear Clover!" John said "Let me try." He took off her amulet and put it on. He held Clover and said "Oh. Ok." He smiled and said to Gillian, "You need to hold him close to your ear. Try it now." He gave Gillian back her necklace and Clover. She held Clover to her ear and she said to us "My amulet is working now!" 

The tooth

Gillian and I picked John up from school today. In the car he said "Guess what? One of my tooths is loose!" I said "No way!" He was so excited and told me "The first time I noticed it was at lunch. My tooth hurt and I asked someone to look at it. And they said that it could be loose. And then I told a teacher and they said it was bleeding and I put a paper towel on it!" When we got home, he show Gillian and I how it was wiggling! I text Daddy to let him know and Daddy said "I'll get my pliers." I told John what Daddy said and John said "No, no, no!"

We ate dinner and when John was almost done he said "I can't eat anymore. My tooth hurts!" I took a look and told him that I thought his tooth would come out tonight. John said "Well I'm going to stop eating." 

He played with the tooth during homework and bath time. Every time I caught him, he said "I can't help it!" 

When Daddy got home, he jokingly brought in some pliers. John screamed NO and ran from him. But Daddy put down the pliers and John showed him the wiggly tooth. We put the kids to bed and as I tucked John in, I said "I bet it falls out in your cereal tomorrow." John giggled. About fifteen minutes after we put the kids to bed, we heard someone get out of their bed. John ran into our room saying "It fell out! Look!" Daddy and I checked out John's new smile and Gillian joined us. She said "I heard noise and I get up!" John showed Gillian his tooth. We put the tooth on his nightstand for the tooth fairy and put everyone back to bed. Gillian resisted at first "I don't want to go to bed. My teeth fall out!" 

I still can't believe that my little boy lost a tooth! He is growing up too quickly!

Sentences

John gets a spelling list every week. He is given a list of activities to complete with the spelling words.  And you only have to complete 3 activies. A few weeks ago, John told me that he wanted to write sentences with his spelling words. I told him I would write them down after he dicated them to me so that he could rewrite them. Every sentence he said was ridiculous and a run-on. I got frustrated and told him to do another activity. He wasn't happy with me. I told Daddy about the horrible night of homework and I think he laughed at me. 

Tonight, John got his new list if spelling words. This week everyone in John's class had to write four good sentences. Daddy worked with John while I was moral support. John picked the word "white." He suggested "Snow is white and if you put something white in the white snow you will lose it." Daddy nicely said "I think you may be over thinking it." They settled on a shorter version. The next word John picked was "snake." I thought he was going to suggest "My dad is afraid of snakes." No, John had other ideas. He said "Snakes can be really long and snakes can be really short." Daddy was once again very patient with John and suggested a shorter more concise. Daddy was excellent with John and helped John get four good first grade sentences. I hope Daddy will help again next week too!

basketball

We signed John up to play basketball with the Tinton Falls Recreation.  It was supposed to start the first Saturday in January, but it got cancelled due to the snow.  Luckily this Saturday the weather was perfect and John got to have his first day of basketball.  It is an instructional program four first graders, and the kids get to practice for 45 minutes and then they get to play against another team for 45 minutes (there are a total of four teams).  Daddy took John this Saturday and the first text I received said "Not the smallest one on the team!" 

 



John had a hard time mastering dribbling (I think a lot of the kids did), but John listened to his coach and followed instructions.  John made some new friends and was very strong.  Daddy told me that one of John's teammates threw him a ball and the ball bounced off of John's fingers and hit him in the face.  John grimaced but didn't cry.  He was very tough.  He brushed it off and moved on. 

 

When I saw John, I asked him about his first day at basketball.  He told me "I met a new friend.  His name is Daniel.  Like my second name!"  I am so happy that he made a friend and remembered his name.  He also told me "I do not like the buzzer!  It's loud."  Daddy told me that every time the buzzer went off John would cover his ears. 

 

Below are some videos of John playing basketball.  He has some good intentions, but most of the time, he is just all over the place. 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends

John has a friend named Maddy. Maddy is in the first grade at his school but not in his class. They met at Time+. Yesterday I picked up the kids from school and John told me "Don't be mad, but Maddy and I wrote F's on our hands. Because we are friends!"  In the bathtub that night he said "My F washed off. Tomorrow, I'm going to write it on my arm where it won't get washed off." Tonight at dinner, John rolled up his sleeves. Daddy noticed something on John's arm and asked "What's that?"  John said "A B and an F." Daddy said "I can see that. Why?" John said "Well Mom knows already." Again he didn't answer Dadddy's question. Daddy said "Well, tell me." John said "I have a friend named Maddy. She goes to Time+ with me. I have a B and an F on my arm because we are best friends. That's why!" 

For the record, I am not happy that he is writing on his arm and hands, but I am very happy he has a best friend. 

The picture

I found Gillian at school tonight sitting at a table coloring. She looked up at me and said "I coloring a picture!" I said "That's great but we have to go get John."  She said "Ok. I gotta finish it."  She colored a little more and then handed me a crayon and said "Write my name."  As we were leaving her classroom, she described her picture to me "It's Beauty and the Beast!"

In the car she continued to tell me about her picture.  "It's got all the princesses. Cinderella. Ariel. Who's Ariel?" I told her that Ariel was the little mermaid. She said "Oh. And her boy! Her boy has a dog." I said "Her prince is Prince Eric." Gillian pointed at her picture and then said "He's over here with his dog." I asked her who else was in the picture. She said "Jasmine. Sofia and her mommy. And her daddy and James and Amber." I said "Is Sleeping Beauty in your picture?" Silly Gilly asked "Who's that?" I reminded her that Sleeping Beauty was the princess that the fairies kept trying to change the color of her dress. She remembered and said "Yes. Her is over there in her pink dress!" I love that she saw all of these princesses in her little drawing. 

She carried her picture into John's school. All the Time+ teachers complimented her on her beautiful art work. Gillian was super excited to show John. John took one look at it and said "Nice job Gill." Then he turned to me and whispered "Does she know it's just scribbles?" I told him that Gillian drew a picture of all the princesses. He just shrugged his shoulders and put on his coat. Sometimes he has no imagination.  

Below is Gillian's beautiful picture:

The juice box

On Sunday, John and Gillian came upstairs to get some juice boxes. Gillian asked John "Can you bring mine downstairs?" John said "No." Gillian said "I can't carry it! It's too heavy." John said "Fine, if I carry it, I get to drink it!" Gillian screamed "No! It's mine!" John said "Well then you gotta carry it." Gillian said "I can't!" John didn't take that excuse, he said "You just gotta be strong!" That worked and she carried the juice box downstairs. 

the snowman

I ran out this afternoon to do a few errands and I was surprised to see the kids and Daddy in the front yard.  As I pulled in the driveway, I rolled the window down and asked "What are you guys doing?"  Gillian smiled and said "We's making a snowman!"  We attempted to make a snowman on Friday when we were out in the snow.  But the snow was too dry.  It wasn't good packing snow.  It had warmed up today and the snow melted a little and made it easier to make a snowman.  Daddy and John worked on making the body of the snowman, while Gillian just walked around.  I helped her find a couple of sticks for arms and she told me "We need a carrot for him's nose!"  I asked Daddy "What else do we need?"  Daddy rattled off a list of items and I ran into the house.  I remembered that a few years ago Grandma gave us a snowman kit.  I found the kit in Gillian's closet and I went back outside to my family.  John immediately questioned me "What's in the box?"  I told him to bring it to Daddy and then he could open it up.  Inside were all the pieces to make a perfect snowman, a hat, a scarf, eyes, carrot nose, a pipe, buttons and a mouth.  Finally our snowman was complete.  John was so proud.

 

snow day

Friday was a snow day for the entire family.  I woke up early and John was the first one to join me.  He was super excited about no school.  Gillian, on the other hand, didn't wake up until 9:30.  The kids were good all day.  They didn't fight and they didn't really ask to watch television.  They played Legos and babies and dress-up and ninja turtles. 

I asked the kids if they wanted to go outside and play.  Gillian screamed "YES!"  John said "No thank you."  I asked him "Why?"  He said "Because I don't want to take off my jammies."  First of all, yes, they were still in their jammies.  It was a snow day.  And I said "Well you can keep them on.  Let's go."  I bundled the kids up in their snow pants and hats and gloves and scarves.  Poor Gillian couldn't put her arms down and John said "It's hard to walk around."  Their complaints stopped when we got outside.  John went running towards their playground and Gillian needed some help getting down the stairs of the deck.  She walked towards John and wanted to climb up on the playground too!  But we had John clear off some of the snow first so it was easier for her.  We even convinced John to go down the slide. 

We asked Gillian if she wanted to make a snow angel.  She said "Okay."  I asked her "Do you know what a snow angel is?"  She said "When you lay in the snow and move your arms and legs?"  I'm impressed.  Last year, she didn't really play in the snow too much so I was surprised to hear that she knew was it was.  She made a beautiful snow angel.  And John did too!  Even Daddy made a giant snow angel.

 

 



Gilly and Mommy got cold and we went back inside.  John decided to stay outside and play.  I watched him from the kitchen.  He took his snow shovel and would fill up the slide with snow and then he would climb up on the playground and then try to go down the slide.  He got stuck one time and didn't know what to do.  But he didn't panic and he figured out how to get out.  The next time, he brought the shovel down the slide with him so that he could dig himself out when he got stuck.

We had so much fun playing in the snow.

 

back to school

This morning it was hard to wake the kids up.  I knew it would be rough and I sent them to bed at 7:30 the night before.  But it didn't help.  I went in to wake up John.  He just grunted at me and said "Why do I have to go back to school?"  Gillian, on the other hand, actually jumped out of bed.  Daddy had climbed into her bed to snuggle with her.  They snuggled contently until I walked in, then she jumped into my arms.  They were slow to decide on what they wanted for breakfast.  They were slow to put on their shoes.  After Daddy and Gillian left, all John did was complain.  "Why do I have to go to school?  Why do we have to learn to read?  Why do we have to do so much work?"  I explained to him that we need to go to school to learn things so that we can have good jobs and nice houses and cars and etc.  He hates that answer.

We got to the bus stop.  It was freezing this morning.  We were out there for like two minutes and John was complaining.  "We have been out here for like 20 hours!  When is the bus coming?"  While we waiting, he said "I wish weekends were 7 days!  You know, like my shirt!"  He got a shirt that says "I vote for a 7 day weekend" for Christmas from his Aunt Betty.  Apparently it stuck with him, because after having twelve days off he still wanted more.

At dinner tonight, I asked John about his day.  He said "It was good.  We watched a movie.  And Mrs. G helped me write a story."  I asked him who Mrs. G was.  He said "She's the lady that comes in when Mrs. Belena isn't in."  How lucky is this kid?  His first day back he got a substitute teacher and school is closed tomorrow because of the snow storm.  He is one lucky boy what a easy way to adjust to the routine after winter break.   

The magician

John got a magic kit for Christmas.  He opened it today and learned a few tricks to show me.  The first one was a magic box.  I had to pick a color on a cube then put it in the box.  He then put the box behind his back and then "guessed" the color I picked.  Of course, he guessed my color.  I was completely amazed.  As I was praising him for learning such a great magic trick, he said to me "Want to know how I did it?"  Clearly he has a lot to learn about keeping magician's secrets. 

Later he found me in Gillian's room, "Mom!  I need quarters!  Two of them!  I'm learning a new trick!"  I told him where he could find quarters and he ran away.  He came back later with a magic wand.  I asked him, "Did you find the quarters?"  He said "Nope, I learned a new trick!"  He then showed me how he could float the wand in the air. 

Once again, he showed me the secret to how he made the wand float. 

Before dinner, John had another trick to show me.  He had a rabbit that he made disappear.  I got this trick on video.  Enjoy.