10 seconds

I am reading John "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." Tonight we got to the part where Harry gets to test out his new flying broom, the firebolt. I read "Harry saw the Snitch dart out behind Wood, and within ten seconds had caught it tightly in his hand." John said "What? That's like, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten! That's fast!"

Never enough accessories

Today I got Gillian dressed for Thanksgiving. I sent her downstairs to play while I got ready. I was taking too long and she came to find me. I was very surprised to find that she had added to her outfit. She found quite a few accessories. 

She even put clips in her hair! My favorite is the cape and the sword. I guess to Gillian there is never enough accessories. 

I spy

I picked up the kids from school today and as Gillian and I walked out of school, she asked "Can we play I spy?" I said "Of course." As we drove to get John, we played "I Spy." Gillian is not very good. So we stick to simple ideas. I started and said "I spy with my little eye, something that is pink." She thought about it for a few seconds then said "My jacket!" And she was right. She said, "Ok, my turn. I spy something that is green." I laughed and tried to not solve it right away, "Is it the trees? How about that bush? I know, it's the grass." She giggled and said "The grass!" We went back and forth for awhile. It's really hard to come up with something simple for Gillian to guess and that will travel with us while driving. Gillian had a hard time too. But she loves to give hints. So she says "I spy something that is pink!" I guessed "Your backpack or your jacket." She said "No. I give you a hint. It's Clover (her bunny) his ears. But the inside." Well that's not a hint, that's the answer. So I say "Clover's ears." She laughed and said "No. Here's a hint. It's the INSIDE of his ears." Awesome hint. I say "The inside of Clover's ears!" "Yup, your turn!" She cracks me up. We continued to pay after we got John, but it didn't last long because John got frustrated with her. Oh well. I enjoyed it. 

'Cause

I snuggled up with Gillian tonight and watched her put her fingers through the loops on her manket (her favorite green blanket that Grandma crocheted). I don't even think she realizes she is doing it. It is just routine. I asked her "Why do you do that?" She said "'Cause, Grandma makes the loops. And my fingers fit." Hard to dispute that logic. 

Thanksgiving pageant

Today was the annual Thanksgiving Pageant at Gillian's school. All the classes sing songs and then they have a turkey lunch.

Since Gillian's class was going to sing songs about turkeys, all the kids in her class had headbands with turkey legs on them. 

Here are some videos of the songs.

Once again, TLC put on a great show.  I'm so glad I got to see it!

The bracelets

This morning, I found two paper bracelets in Gillian's bookbag. I asked her about them. She said "They're bracelets. I made them." Yup.  She was very helpful. 

Tonight, Daddy asked her "Gillian, what are these?" She said "Bracelets. And when you wear them you turn into whatever super hero you want." She put them on, and said "I'm Wonder Woman. And now I'm Cat Woman." John asked "Can I try them?" Gillian took off the bracelets and John put them on. He said "They don't work. I wanted to be Superman, but I'm not." Gillian looked at him and said "That's because you're a boy. They only work for girls."

Here is Gillian modeling her magic bracelets. 

Spanish Class

At dinner tonight, I asked John about his day.  He said "It was good."  I noticed that he had a new library book in his backpack, so I said "I see you had library today.  What other special do you have with library?"  He said "Spanish."  I said "Great.  What words did you learn today?"  He questioned, "Spanish words?"  I laughed.  Daddy said "No French words.  What French words did you learn today in Spanish class?"  John was very confused.  And said "I take Spanish."  This conversation went south quickly.  Anyway he finally said, "Do you know Julio and Julio? It's two different words."  Then he sang us a little song.

We were impressed, even though he only sang half the months of the year.  Daddy asked "Do you know the song for the days of the week?"  John said "Yeah. Do you?"  Daddy said "Yes."  And then he sang us a song for the days of the week.  When he finished John said "That's not right.  I didn't learn that today!"  We laughed and said that's because Daddy sang the days of the week and you sang the months of the year.  John said "Oh!" 

The cake

When GillIan heard that it was Aunt Betty's birthday last week, the first thing she said to me was "When do we get cake?" She was a little distraught to find out that we weren't going to have any cake. I suggested that maybe we invite Aunt Betty over this weekend and make her a cake. GillIan loved that idea. "Yes, ask her!" I asked her "What kind of cake should we make?" GillIan said "A pretty one. Maybe pink. Or blue or her favorite color!" We brainstormed for a while about what to put in the cake and how to decorate it. Gillian loves cake so it is easy to keep her talking. So I asked Gillian why she liked cake so much. She said "I just want to eat it forever!" 

This morning, Gillian and I made Aunt Betty's cake while John was at karate. Gillian was very excited to help. She insisted on wearing her "Olaf" apron. 

We made a simple box cake. But Gillian was in charge of mixing. "Mama, you do the eggs. I mix!" She was an excellent assistant. She was patient and helpful. And waited until I was ready with the next ingredient. She mixed with a spatula. 

 

And she got to use the hand mixer too. It was her first time using one. She did tell me, "I get to lick them when I done!"

And yes, she got to lick the beaters. 

After we mixed the batter, we added orange sprinkles to make the cake confetti but with only orange. Cause orange is Aunt Betty's favorite color. Gillian helped me pour the batter in the pans and I put them in the oven. Gillian constantly checked the oven to see their progress. While the cakes were baking, Gillian made Aunt Betty a card. 

The cakes cooled and I frosted the cake with orange icing. I asked Gillian to decorate the top with sprinkles. She used orange and mixed sprinkles. She actually took handfuls of sprinkles and put them on top. But she was pleased with the finished product and that's all that matters. 

Aunt Betty came to visit today and Gillian was so happy to show her the cake. 

The cake was delicious and Aunt Betty was so happy. I'm glad I got to spend the morning with my little lady and Gillian was happy to get some cake! And surprise Aunt Betty too!

Good Night

The past few nights, we have put the kids to bed and then about 15 minutes later John arrives in our room. He is normally rubbing his eyes from the light in our room. He will walk over to Daddy give  him a hug and say "Good night." And then over to me and do the same. He did this again last night and gave me the best hug. I told him "You're my best boy." He said "I know!" Got to love those extra kisses. 

Drop off

I dropped Gillian off at school this morning. When we walked in her classroom, Miss Lissette kneeled down and said "Do you know so and so from the kindergarten class? Well their mommy had a baby today! Baby Matthew. Isn't that exciting?" Gillian said "I like babies. Do you know I have a baby cousin? Baby Mackenzie!" Miss Lissette smiled and said "Yes. You love Baby  Mackenzie very much." Gillian then got off subject, and said "Do you know that my Grandma made a blanket for my stuffed animals and babies? And it's blue." Miss Lissette said "You are lucky that your grandma makes you things." I said "Oh, Gillian is obsessed with all the things Grandma crochets." Gillian then said "This is my Mom. And my Grandma is my Mom's mom. And do you know what? Her name is Grandma! Can you believe it?" Miss Lissette and I laughed. And I said to Gillian "You know Grandma's name. It's the same as mine." Gillian said "Oh that's right. It's Rose." She's so funny. 

Baby blanket - part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Gillian and her little green baby doll blanket. Her baby blanket just fell apart and Gillian couldn't explain what happened. I washed the baby blanket and we showed Grandma. Grandma determined that it would be easier (and faster) to make a new blanket. Gillian got the new blanket on Friday. She was so excited, "Grandma made me a new baby manket! And I can use it for babies or stuffed animals. And it's blue. I always wanted a blue manket." She has been carrying around her pink fox with the blue blanket since Friday. I just checked on her. 

Notice her manket on her shoulder and new blue blanket covering her pink fox. I wouldn't be surprised to find pink fox on the floor in the morning and Gillian snuggled up with baby blue blanket. She loves a good blanket. 

The story

I tucked Gillian into bed tonight and she asked me "You want me to tell you a story?" If Gillian asks you if she can tell you a story, you never turn it down. It will not disappoint. I said "Of course." She rested her head on her hand and thought for a minute. Then said "Once upon a time, there was a girl. And her name was..." And she paused, scratched her head and said "What was her name? Do you know? Oh, I remember. Once upon a time there was a girl named Strawberry Shortcake. She has pets. One is pup. Ummm pupcake. I think. And there's the BerryKins. And you know what? They are tiny (and she held up her fingers so show how tiny they are). And there's one. He wears a diaper! A diaper! Wanna know why? Cause he's a baby! And Strawberry has friends. There's Cherry. And hers loves to sing.  Blueberry likes books. And hmmm yeah, there's Plum. And Plum likes to dance. Orange likes to help people. And Lemon. Her likes to do hair! And thems all friends. Can I tell you another story? It's a little hard, I can't read it but I can tell you about it. It's a superhero story. Do you know Captain America? He's a superhero. And his weapon is a shield. And he throws the shield at bad guys. But you know what? What happens when there's lots of bad guys?" I couldn't answer her question, so we ended story time. 

Voting

On Tuesday morning, Daddy took John to the fire station behind our house to vote. John was so excited and proud. That night after dinner, I asked John if he wanted to go vote with me. He said "Yes! You can do all the picks and I'll push the finish button!" Well John got a little too excited and Gillian said "I want to vote!" So we all walked to the fire station to vote. I asked if John could come in the booth with me to vote. They said sure. John was hilarious. He kept asking, "Are you done yet?" And he was so loud. I kept saying "Shhhhh." Finally we were done. And when I walked out of the booth, Gillian was pouting. She said "But I wanted to vote!" Daddy told her, "You can vote from my phone when we get home." 

We got home, ate dessert and Gillian had a bath. When she was dressed in her jammies, she found Daddy downstairs. When it was time to read books before bed, she told me "I voted!" I asked Daddy later about how she got to vote. He said "We took a selfie. She pushed the button for the picture and then we looked at it. And she pushed done. And she voted." Gilly is changing the world. One selfie at a time!

Clap

Tonight Daddy and I had a conference with John's teacher. We asked Grandma and Grandpa to watch the kids while we were at the conference. When we arrived home, we found Gillian trying to spread blankets on the floor. I told her to put them away and that made Gillian very upset. Daddy calmed her down and talked to her. It turned out that she wanted to put on her dance leotard and dance for everyone. She was laying out the blankets for a stage. Daddy quickly changed her into her leotard and we watched Gillian dance. She did a few turns and then ran over to Johnny and whispered something. She also whispered to Daddy. Then she came over to Grandma and I and said "Clap!" So we clapped for her. She smiled big and continued to dance. She stopped, looked at all of us and said "Clap!" And we clapped. How could you not clap? She is quite the performer. 

Halloween 2014

Halloween this year was much like every other year. But this year, Gillian asked me "Can you come to my parade?" I said "I'm not sure." She said "Last year all my friends' parents came but you wasn't there." Wow, way to lay on the guilt trip Gillian. It worked. I made sure I was there. Gillian and her class proudly marched around the parking lot. 

And they all gathered together and sang us a little song. 

 

Plus I even got a picture of Gillian and the Elsas. 

After school, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is our Halloween tradition to go trick or treating with Justin. Grandma makes a few pots of soup for dinner too. 

The kids were awesome this year. They said thank you at every house. Justin was an excellent big cousin. He warched out for John and Gillian and always made sure they were at the front and didn't miss out on any good candy. 

We went back to Grandma's and ate our soup. John asked if he could have some candy for dessert. I said yes. Of course his picked out a full size Hershey bar. I told him "Only half." He ate half of it and came back over to me and said "But it's melting." I laughed at him and ate a piece. He then reached in and grabbed the last piece of the chocolate bar. I said "John!" He laughed and said "What? It's going to melt!" This kid. 

After Grandma's house, we headed over to Mimi and Poppy's house. The kids rang the bell and said "Trick or Treat!" Poppy was surprised to see them. The kids were excited to see everyone especially their baby cousin, Mackenzie. 

The kids had a great Halloween!

Zarina

This year in anticipation that Gillian would want to be Elsa or Anna from Frozen for Halloween, I encouraged her to be Zarina the Pirate Fairy from Tinkerbell. She loved that idea and desperately wanted to be Zarina. Well I hesitated and didn't buy the costume right away. Big mistake. I went to my local Disney store. They didn't have it, but they kindly told me when shipments came in. And I called them religiously (well all the stores in the state). I ended up finding the costume on eBay and paying more than I like to admit. Once I made the purchase I regretted it. Maybe I should have just let her be Esla. All my doubts went away when the costume arrived. She loved it and it looked awesome on her. 

I went to Gillian's parade at school yesterday and one of her teachers said "Her costume is perfect for her." And she was right. Gillian is pretty, sparkly and a little fiesty. The perfect pirate fairy.