The bug

While I was cooking dinner tonight, Gillian was playing with magnets on the fridge. She was trying to put all the letters in order. She sat there contently for quite some time. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw her running to put a shoe under the bench in the living room. I asked "Beansy, whatcha doing?" She came over to me and said "I saw a bug. I was going to squish it. But it's fast!" I said "Where's the bug?" She said "Over there. It's a cricket." I asked "Are you sure it wasn't black?" I thought it was an ant. She said "No. It was blonde. But I don't see it anymore." And she sat back down and played with the letters again. My little lady is tough. A little bug isn't going to stop her. 

Practice

John had practice tonight for his First Communion. Gillian and I brought him to the church and we were just going to hang out for a few minutes, but Gillian wanted to see everything. We sat in the church and Gillian was very good. She paid attention to everything that the kids were doing. She kept asking questions "Why are they standing? Why do they have to hold their hands like that?"  But she got very frustrated when the kids all lined up to practice getting communion. She asked "When can I do that?" I told her "When you are 7." She pouted. She watched more kids go up for communion. Then she said "Johnny doesn't need it all. Johnny can cut it in half and then I get a piece!" She cracks me up. I again told her that she can't have communion until she is bigger. She refused to sit next to me for the rest of practice. Oh well, with the exception of that little argument she was excellent for an hour in a church with no entertainment. I'm a proud Mama. 

Yard work

John and Gillian helped Daddy with the yard this weekend. Their primary job was picking up sticks. John was an excellent helper. He took Daddy's garden cart around the yard and would pick up the sticks and put them in the cart. Gillian was an okay helper. She got easily distracted. Yesterday when they were supposed to be picking up sticks, she picked me a bouquet of flowers instead. 

Today they finished their task and then helped Daddy spread mulch too! John was telling Daddy a little while ago, "I wish the garden cart had a tool that would pick up sticks when I drove over them." Daddy smiled and said "I have a tool that picks up sticks." John said "You mean me, don't you?" Smart boy. 

The art show

John's school had their annual art show tonight. I took John and Gillian to look at the show. John was super excited. He practically ran through the school. We got to see a lot of beautiful artwork. The theme this year was coexist with character. There was a lot of animals and nature scenes. John's favorite part was a full size cut out of a blue whale! It took up an entire hallway! Gillian loved a jungle science complete with monkeys. 

My favorite part was seeing John's beautiful artwork. 

Knock Knock Jokes

Gillian has been telling us a knock knock joke she learned over spring break. It's hilarious.

In case you can't understand her, the joke goes like this:

Knock, Knock
Who's there?
The interrupting cow!
Interrupting cow, but before you can say who Gillian screams "Mooooo!"

So tonight at dinner, Daddy says "I've got a joke!" He proceeds to tell us Gillian's interrupting cow joke. Gillian then screamed "That's mine!" She giggled then told us the interrupting pirate knock knock joke. 

The Lizard Guys

Gillian's school had the Lizard Guys come visit today. Gillian told me about their visit in the car tonight. She said "Silly Billy came today. What? That's his name! He brought a lizard. The lizard was so fast! He ran all over the carpet! And there was a frog. He was slimy and bumpy!" I asked "Was he a tree frog?" Gillian said "No! But he was hopping everywhere. And he said 'I'm outa here!'" I said "Really?" Gillian said "What? I can talk frog!" She also told me about the snake. "The snake's name was Jack-Jack. He was a boy!" Then she told me about the turtle. "And there was John's favorite animal! His name was Tickle. He was slow. Not like the lizard." It sounded like Gillian had an awesome time.  

Pump It Up

Gillian had a birthday party today at Pump It Up for twins from her class. She was super excited about this party. She asked me first thing this morning "Is today Ryan and Sofia's party? Can we go now?" 

On our way to the party, she asked "Do you know how to get to Pump It Up?" When I assured her that I did know, she still questioned "Are you sure?"

We arrived and Gillian didn't do any of her typical shy maneuvers. She ran right up to her friends and started to play. She had a blast playing on the inflatable slides and obstacle courses. 

It was hard to get a good picture of her because she was moving so quickly. When we moved to the second room, Gillian and her friends kept going on the slide. They would climb up, slide down again and again. They all seemed so happy and content. 

Next it was time for pizza and ice cream cake. Gillian is still talking about the party and about how her party will be there. 

The Pottery House

Today Gillian's class had a field trip to the Pottery House and I got to chaperone! Gillian and I arrived at school at snack time. Gillian sat on the carpet with her friends while I talked to the other mommies. We were each assigned a group of a couple of kids along with our child. I had Sofia, Serafina and Gillian. It was Sofia's birthday today too! She asked "Can we sit in the back of the bus?" I can't say no to the birthday girl, so we sat in the way back. 

We arrived at the Pottery House and all the kids got to pick something to paint. They had lots of choices hippos, lions, aliens, bears, lady bugs and more. From my group, Serafina went up first and picked a ladybug, the last ladybug. Sofia also wanted a ladybug. So I asked one of the employees to find another one. Thankfully they found one. And thankfully Gillian didn't want one too. She opted for a bear. Everyone set to work on their painting. 

The kids were great. They all focused on their own project and they were well behaved. And Gillian painted a beautiful bear!

Dance Party

We had a little dance party tonight in the basement.  The kids really took advantage of the open space. Of course I got videos of all their awesome moves.

I love Gillian's interpretative dance moves at the beginning of this video.

I love John at the end of this video.

 



Finally, the kids kept playing air guitar, so Daddy took out a couple of Rock Band guitars for them to dance with.  Gillian is a real natural with the guitar. 

As always the dance party was a lot of fun.

Science Project

John's class is learning about solids, liquids and gases. On Monday each kid in his class was to wrap up a solid, liquid or a gas and then present facts to the class about their object. The other kids then get the opportunity to guess what the object was. John and Daddy filled a balloon with carbon dioxide made from mixing vinegar and baking soda. And John carried the balloon in a box to school. Monday morning, John was very nervous about standing in front of his class and presenting his project. When I picked him up from school he was so proud. He was one of the first to present his object and none of his classmates guessed what it was. Today he told me, "Everyone finished presenting today and it was just me and Maya that had gases. Everyone else has solids. Some people did liquids." He was so proud that he had something different. 

Cake

Yesterday was my birthday, we spent most of the day getting our house back to normal. We had new carpet installed on the second floor and yesterday we moved everyone back into their rooms. When Gillian found out that is was my birthday she asked "Can we make cake?" Gillian loves cake. Daddy promised her that they would make a cake together on Sunday. 

The first thing she asked this morning was "Can we make a cake now?" Daddy told her that they would make the cake while John was at religion class. After class I told John, we need to go to the store and get icing. He said "Can't we make icing?" Let me just say that I am so proud of him immediately thinking that we could make it. I said "Yes, but mommy doesn't have time today." John said "But everything you make at home tastes better than the store stuff." Again, this kid knows just what to say to make me feel amazing. I said "Thanks, but like I said before I don't have time today." 

We arrived home to find that Daddy and Gillian had made the cake. Well Gillian did all the work Daddy just cracked the eggs. 

I helped Gillian ice the cake. Gillian and John helped clean up the icing. 

The cake was delicious. Gillian did a great job!

 

Egg Hunt

Grandma had an egg hunt at her house on Easter. We had the usual cast of characters: Justin, Sammie, Kyle Thomas, John and Gillian. 

Grandma sets up the egg hunts so that each kid has a specific color or theme to look for. For example Gillian had to look for purple and animals while John had green and dinosaurs. This makes it fair for everyone hunting considering the wide range of ages. This year there were new eggs that were tricky and looked like common things like the grass or a lady bug or a rock. These eggs were free game for anyone to find. 

I stuck with Gillian during the hunt, mainly because John is too fast and ran the whole time. Gillian didn't really need much help. She would see purple and go running. 

All the kids helped each other out. There was a lot of yelling "Hey, there's an animal over here." Or "I see sports over here!" 

We went around the house a couple times looking for some of the camo eggs (they are hard to find). And we finally gave up and everyone counted their eggs. 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for an awesome egg hunt! The kids had a blast!

Milkshakes

On Saturday night, we took the kids to Smashburger for dinner. Normally the kids opt for milk as their dinner beverage. But we decided to treat them with a milkshake. It was well worth it. 

Gillian kept calling her milkshake a smoothie. She said "I love my smoothie. John, let me try your smoothie." She tasted everyone's milkshake and decided Mommy's chocolate Oreo and her chocolate milkshakes (I mean smoothies) were her favorite. John, on the other hand, kept drinking his shake and then said "Do you see how far down mine is?" And they would compare the heights of their shakes. 

Once again, I love that a simple treat made a huge impact. 

Trick Shot

Daddy caught John demonstrating his trick shots with his Nerf Gun on Sunday.  I love this little video.  He is so confident and creative at the same time. 

Chalk pictures

John and Gillian spent the day at Grandma's house. They spent most of the day playing outside. Aunt Betty sent me some pictures of Gillian's chalk pictures. 

That's Gillian. Aunt Betty traced Gillian and Gilly added the tutu! Then she added more detail. 

Gillian laid next to her chalk picture. 

When I picked up the kids, Gillian proudly asked "Did you see my picture?" She was so proud. 

At dinner tonight she said "Oh no! I wanted to make Elsa's ice palace." John said "Well, if it rains tonight everything will wash away and you can make the palace." I love her picture and how excited she is to create something new. Can't wait to see what else she makes. 

Clinking Cookies

I love making cookies for holidays and just for fun. Yesterday I brought a platter of Easter cookies to Grandma's house. Gillian ate more cookies than I would like to admit. But she also handed cookies out to Uncle Kevin, Aunt Betty and Grandpa. Gillian and Aunt Betty started a new tradition of clinking cookies before they would eat them. Silly girls. 

Puzzles

Gillian loves to do puzzles. Last week I went to pick her up from school and I found her sitting at a table putting together a puzzle. She asked "Can I finish it?" I have a hard time saying no to that. So I sat down with her and watched as she completed her puzzle. She put some pieces together then said "close your eyes. I want to surprise you." I closed my eyes and waited for what seemed like forever. It was totally worth it. She was so proud of her finished puzzle.