Classroom rules

Tonight, Gillian kept singing this little song. It went something like "follow directions quickly." Later I heard her say "Rule number two." Finally I got her to sit still long enough to sing the full song.

 

Her art teacher made up these simple rules for her classroom. The song helped Gillian to remember. Very creative teacher. 

Book Report

John's class has a book report every other month. For October, they had to read a book and make one of the characters out of a pumpkin. John read one of the "Captain Underpants" books for his report. Daddy and John worked really hard on the written part as well as the pumpkin. I think Captain Underpants looks awesome!

Autumn Kickoff

Today was Autumn Kickoff at Gillian's school. It is basically a field day where the kids get to participate in a series of events. Every year has a theme and this year it was about working with disabilities. I was able to sneak out of the office for a couple of hours to watch Gillian and her classmates.

I think she was excited to see me!

I missed the first two events, but I did get to see Gillian working as a team with her friend.

 

The next event was stacking giant cups. But the tricky part was that the kids couldn't talk. Gillian did awesome. It must have been hard for her to not talk!

The next event was my favorite and all the kids did so well. They had to go through an obstacle course with one hand behind their back.

 

Gillian was a good sport, listened to instructions and was supportitive of her classmates. 

The book

John and Daddy found bought John a new book at the beginning of the month. The book is called "Treasure Hunters" by James Patterson. We wanted John to read it for this month's book report. But John's teacher said it was too long. The book is 450 pages long (with illustrations). So John read a different boon for his report and went back to reading "Treasure Hunters" for fun. 

I am very proud to say that John finished his book tonight!

K-cups

On Sunday morning, we asked the kids to fill up our K-cup holder. It took them no time to fill the holder. When they were done, they started stacking the extra cups. 

John created a little pyramid and Gillian insisted on making one just like it. John patiently walked her through each step. 

She was so proud of her accomplishment. But when I asked for another picture, she accidentally knocked over her pyramid. I thought she would get mad, but she calmly started building again. The kids played with the K-cups for a half hour before they got bored. 

The bug with wings

Monday night after bath, I found Gillian in her room. She was very upset. "Mommy, there's a bug with wings in here!" I looked down and there was a brown moth on her dresser. I quickly sandwiched it between two pieces of paper. I headed towards the bathroom to flush him, but I looked down and the moth was gone. I lied to Gillian and told her he was gone. She was still a little shaken up and asked me to snuggle with her before she fell asleep. 

Tuesday morning, Daddy saw the moth again and pointed it out to Gillian. She screamed and jumped into my arms. Daddy flicked the moth and he ended up under Gillian's dresser. Once again we told her "Don't worry he's dead." 

Wednesday night, we tucked the kids into bed and before long Gillian was out of bed. "The bug with wings, isn't dead!" Yup the moth was back again. But Daddy came to the rescue and finally killed the moth. 

Poor Gillian. She had a rough week with the bug with wings. 

Go Fish

This summer we taught Gillian how to play Go Fish. Last night she played a couple hands with Daddy. She is very good and loves to play. 

When I got home from work today she immediately asked "Can you play Go Fish with me?" I said "Yes, but we have to play in the kitchen." I pulled a chair up to our island and we played our first hand. Gillian won. We started the next hand and I blinked and she was on the floor. Somehow she fell out of the chair. I'm not sure how it happened, but the cards went flying. I got her an ice pack and we started the next hand. Even after falling out of the chair she still beat me! Love her. 

 

Happy Day Farm

We went to Happy Day Farm on Sunday. We started at the pumpkin patch. 

The kids looked everywhere for the perfect pumpkin! Gillian loved all the little pumpkins. 

Finally we found a big pumpkin for the family, a little one for Gillian and one for John too!  

Then Aunt Missy, Uncle T and Mackenzie arrived and we checked out the rest of the farm. There was all kinds of fun stuff to do!

Hang out on a big rocking chair. 

Climb a tire mountain. 

Play in a giant box of corn!

Climb on a giant spider web. 

Test our strength!

Race rubber duckies. 

Try to rope a cow!

Ride some bouncy horses. 

John ran through a little corn maze (like 12 times). 

Do some bouncing. 

And go for a hayride. 

We got on the hayride and Gillian said "Where's the hay?" Hay or no hay, Mackenzie loved the hayride. We took the hayride over to the petting zoo. The kids got to see pigs, horses, llamas and chickens. Mackenzie loved the chickens. But John got to hold one!

It was a fabulous day at the farm!

The t-shirt

Today I dressed Gillian in one of my favorite t-shirts. It's a pink shirt with a picture of a chocolate chip cookie and over the cookie it says "tough." This shirt is perfect for Gillian, my tough cookie. 

Tonight at dinner, I looked at her shirt and realized there was pen or marker on it. The more I looked at it I realized that there was a big circle drawn around the cookie. I asked her "What happened?" She said "I don't know." I continued to question her and she confessed to drawing on her shirt. This really irritated me. She has lost Manket until she can behave. 

Fire Safety

Tonight at dinner, Gillian told us about Health Class and how they practiced "stop, drop and roll." She also told us "If there's smoke then you gotta crawl. And if there's a fire then you don't go back to get your toys." I said "That's right, no matter what we don't go back in the house to get anything. Even Manket." I know. I shouldn't have said anything. She immediately started crying. I said "Don't worry, first it isn't going to happen and second if anything happened to Manket Grandma can always make you another one." This didn't seem to make her feel better. She continued to cry. So I said "Should we call Grandma?" She nodded and we called Grandma. Gillian asked "Can you make the same blanket?" Grandma didn't understand why she was asking this question. So I explained about the possibility of a fire and how Gillian was told to not go back for toys or anything. Grandma understood all the tears and told Gillian "Don't worry, if anything happens I will make you another blanket. I have the pattern and I will make sure we get the same green yarn." This made Gillian very happy. 

At bedtime Gillian snuggled her Manket and asked "Does Grandma have a clueprint?" (Yes, clueprint. That's how she said it.) I asked "A clueprint? For what?" She said "A clueprint for another Manket!" I said "Yes. Don't worry Gramdma has everything she needs to make another Manket." 

New job

John has a new job. Yesterday Daddy told me that John has been helping every week to pull the garbage can in from the curb. Last night he moved the full can to the curb and this afternoon he pulled it back it. He's quite the big boy!

Feety jammies

Daddy laid out feety jammies for Gillian last night. When I went to tuck her in, she was not happy. I said "Look at you in feety jammies!" She said "I don't like feety jammies. They're hot!" I tried to make it better, and said "It's cold tonight, you will want to be warm." She wasn't happy but she didn't make me change them. 

This morning when she woke up, Daddy asked her "Do you like your feety jammies?" She said "No. They hurt and they are hot!" 

We are a little sad. This may be the last time she wears feety jammies. Our little girl is growing up. 

Cool

This morning, I was talking to John. I asked him "Is it ok if I come and read to your class?" He smiled and said "Yes, because I want my friends to meet you." This makes me so happy. I said "So it's cool to that I go to your school? So I'm cool?" He said "Yes! Why?" I am so happy at this point. And he said "Yes. You are cool. Well a little cool." Ouch.