Aker Aquatics

This afternoon, we were invited to the Aker's house (Aunt Missy's Mom & Dad's house) to go swimming.  John wanted to go swimming as soon as we got there, but he waited until Uncle T could watch him.  Once Uncle T was ready, John ;jumped right into the pool to show Uncle T all his new swimming moves.  And that's when it began.  That's all John did for the rest of the day.  He jumped into the pool, swam to the side, climbed out and jumped back in.  I gave him one rule, to watch out for Gillian and Grandma Aker.  He was very careful to not jump on top of anyone, but no one was safe from his splashes. 

Uncle T asked "How about you jump off the diving board?"  John said "No Way!  I'm not jumping off the diving board!"  But he continued to jump off the side of the pool.  Uncle T convinced him to move along the side of the pool closer and closer to the deep end.  Uncle T asked him again "How about you jump off the diving board?"  John again said "No Way!  I'm not doing it!"  But Daddy talked to him.  I'm not sure what was said but before we realized it, John was standing on the diving board.

And he loved it.  He loved it so much, he did it again. 

Since he wasn't afraid of the diving board anymore, Uncle T asked "Why don't you go down the slide?"  John said "Well it's not wet."  Uncle T said "I'll get it wet.  Don't worry about that.  Are you going to go down the slide?"  John surprised all of us and went over to the slide.  I honestly thought that he would chicken out when he climbed the ladder, but he didn't. 

He only went down the slide once, but he must have jumped off the diving board a dozen or more times.  Gillian swam the entire time.  Well, I take that back.  She would get out of the pool occasionally make me take off her lifejacket so that she could grab a quick snack and then want to jump back in.  We tried to get her to jump off the side, but that didn't work.  Maybe next time. 

The second cupcake

We went over to Mr. Matt and Miss Brittany's house for a barbecue this afternoon. Miss Britt put out the dessert and Gillian was super excited to hear that there was cupcakes. "I like cupcakes!" John and Gillian both picked out one cupcake each. They sat next to Uncle T and enjoyed their cupcakes. Before I realized it, Gillian was done with her cupcake and Uncle T was convincing her to go get him a cupcake. She got up and went back to the dessert table. She found a blue cupcake with yellow M&Ms on it. Uncle T assumed they were going to share the cupcake. Well that didn't work out too well for Uncle T. He would ask for a bite and she would turn away from him. She inched farther and farther away from him. She ate every bite of the cupcake along with licking the plate. 

Big cousins

Now that Aunt Missy and Uncle T have let everyone know that they are expecting their first baby in August, I can finally blog about it!

We found out on Christmas morning that John and Gillian were going to be big cousins. I tried to tell John. I said "John, did you hear? Aunt Missy has a baby in her belly! You are going to be a big cousin!" John was super distracted and said "But Mom! There's a big box in the other room!" I said "But Aunt Missy is going to have a baby!" John said "But Mom! There's a door on the box!" He was too distracted to listen to me. I told Gillian, "Aunt Missy has a baby in her belly!" Gillian said "Why her eat the baby?" Not exactly Gilly. 

We talk to the kids a lot about the baby. About how they are going to be big cousins for the first time. One night, I asked Gillian, "Are you going to help Aunt Missy with the baby?" She said "I going to feed the baby bottles!" I asked "Are you going to change the baby's diapers?" She said "No! Stinky diapers!" That same night, John asked "How does the baby come out?" Daddy told him "The doctor takes the baby out." That didn't satisfy John. He asked "How?" Daddy said "Carefully!" John again asked "How?" Daddy said "Sometimes they have to cut the belly to get the baby out." Cutting the belly must have scared John, because he stopped asking questions after that. I asked John, "What kind of baby should Aunt Miss have?" John said "A boy or a girl maybe." Daddy said "What about a baby dinosaur?" John said "Is that even possible?"

One night when I was tucking Gillian into bed, we talked about the baby. She said "Aunt Missy eat a baby. We don't eat babies, but she find a baby and eat it!" I asked her "What should Aunt Missy and Uncle T name the baby?" Gillian said "Baby!"

Last night at dinner, Gillian said "The baby needs a manket! The baby likes green. Grandma can make her a green manket like mine!" Oh, did I mention, Gillian insists that the baby is a girl! 

I asked the kids "What should Aunt Missy and Uncle T name the baby?" Gillian said "The baby is a girl. We name her Gillian!" John said "I know. Name the baby Travis. Cause there is only one Travis!" He was referring to Travis the turtle that his Uncle T gave him when he was born. Daddy and I reminded John that Travis the turtle was named after John's Uncle T (who's name is Travis). John said "Oh yeah, I forgot, but they could still name the baby Travis." I asked John, "What about a girl's name?" John said "How about I come up with boy name and Gill comes up with girl names?" 

One day I showed John a sonogram picture of the baby. John asked "How did they get a picture of the baby?" I explained to him that they have special machines that can show you inside of someone's body. He said "Wow! That's really cool!" 

John and Gillian are super excited to be big cousins! They have wonderful big cousins so they have some big shoes to fill!

A day at the office

Yesterday John was scheduled off from school and I had planned to bring him to work with me. We woke up yesterday morning and Gillian's school had a 10:00 am start and Daddy had a 10:30 start. So the only options were for me to wait out Gillian's delay or bring her to work with me. I decided to bring her to work. I packed up a bunch of activities for the kids and we headed to the office. (On a side note, I work at my in-law's car dealership and it is not a problem to bring the kids to work)

We stopped at the service center to drop off some Valentine's cookies for the employees. Aunt Missy met us at the door. She asked "Who wants to stay with Aunt Miss?" Gillian raised her hand and said "I do!" I got Gillian out of the car and she and Aunt Missy went to work. John and I went over to the sales building and started our day. We have an extra desk in our office that John has claimed. John hung out at his desk playing games on his DS. I was able to get some work done too. Mimi came in and John told her "It's really hot by my desk!" (His desk is by the window.) Mimi had a solution, she made him a little fort. 

He loved his little fort. He also convinced Mimi to add another tablecloth to the fort so it was bigger and the sun didn't make him hot. Uncle T came inside and asked John to help him with the plow truck. When they were done, John said "Uncle T drived and I got to do the plow. I made it go up and down!"

Meanwhile, Gillian was having a great time in the service department. Every time a tech or another employee came into Aunt Missy's office, Gillian would point at them and say "Who's that? What they doing here?" Gillian was very busy and she made pictures for Uncle T, Mimi, Miss Sharon and me too. Gillian and Aunt Missy walked over to the sales building in time for lunch. Gillian was not happy when she saw that John had a nameplate for his desk. John only has a nameplate, because Poppy modified it for him.

Notice the masking tape? It's covering Poppy's middle initial E. Anyway, Gillian asked "Where's my name?" Aunt Missy made Gillian a nameplate out of card stock. Gillian wasn't happy. "I want a wood one!"

The kids had a little picnic in John's fort. 

The picnic was short lived. Gillian ended up eating at my desk. And I ended up with peanut butter on my monitor. I packed the kids extra snacks and juice boxes thinking that they would have some for an afternoon snack. Well Gillian ate everything in her lunch bag. 

After lunch the kids played games on the iPad and my phone. When Mimi came back from her meeting, she set the kids up in the conference room with Disney Junior on TV. 

They spent the rest of the day hanging out in the conference room watching cartoons, relaxing and drawing pictures. It was a long day for them and they were very good. 

Christmas

Christmas seemed to go by very quickly this year.  It would take too long to write about all of our adventures, but here are a few of my favorite memories:

On Christmas eve, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Gillian was the last one opening presents.  Because every present she opened she would say "I love it!"  Then hug whatever she got.  She did it with everything. 

Grandma made Gillian an upside down doll (it's a doll that doesn't have feet, when you flip up her skirt there's another baby on the other side).  Gillian named her sleeping doll "Ba-nana" and as she says "the wake up baby, Ba-neeny."  Silly names, but it was the first time she has named any of her baby dolls. 

Christmas morning, Daddy woke up me and said "Their awake!"  I could hear John waking up Gillian saying "It's Christmas!"  Then they came running into our room to wake us up.  "It's Christmas wake up!"

We all went downstairs to see if Santa came.  They went running towards the big pile of presents.  Gillian wasn't slow to open her gifts, but John was more methodical.  He opened everything from Santa and was a little sad.  We asked him why he was so sad.  He said "Because I didn't get Skylanders Swap Force.  The one thing I asked Santa for!"  We told him to get the gifts from Mommy and Daddy and open them.  He was very happy to see that he got Swap Force. 

We went to Mimi and Poppy's house in the late morning on Christmas.  After opening presents there, Gillian stood up and said "Is there anymore presents for me?"

Uncle Jay and Nicole brought John and Gillian gifts.  John loved his Superman toy so much that he had to put his coat on and take it outside.  He was joined by Uncle Jay, Daddy and Uncle T.  I love that all the boys had to try out the new toy too!

The morning after Christmas as I was getting John dressed, he said to me "I wish everyday could be Christmas!"  Me too, John.  Me too. 

The airport

We had to get up super early last Wednesday morning to get to the airport on time. We left our house at 3 am so that we could meet at Uncle T and Aunt Missy's house. We thought the kids would sleep in the car. We were wrong. They were wide awake by the time we reached Uncle T's.

Aunt Missy's dad drove us to the airport. It was raining so we were all a little nervous about the flight getting delayed (well at least the grown ups were). Gillian fell asleep on our way and as we approached the airport I whispered "Gilly, we are at the airport." She jerked awake and opened her eyes. We checked our bags (and realized we left the strollers on the van) and headed to security. John went with Uncle T while I had Gillian. John did awesome and was even given a TSA badge sticker. Gillian was also very good in security. She listened to the TSA agents and they were patient with her. 

We had plenty of time to hang out at the gate. We picked up some breakfast sandwiches (and the egg fell out of Gillian's sandwich) and waited for our plane to board. Southwest does not assign seats, but since we were traveling with small children we were able to board early. We got two rows. The boys sat in front with John at the window while the girls sat behind them with Gillian at the window. 

It was the kids first flight. We were not sure how they were going to like it. As we were taking off, John loudly told Daddy and Uncle T "The plane is going to catch on fire!"  Gillian, on the other hand, repeated "We flying! We flying!"

 

 

Again, we thought the kids would sleep on the plane. That didn't happen. They were wide awake and colored in their new books or played on Daddy's iPad. Gillian enjoyed the snack. Well she enjoyed everyone's snack. She ate her cookies, my cookies and some of Aunt Missy's too! 

As we were landing, John said "We're going down!" I felt the need to correct him and said "Yes, the plane is landing!" We landed and took the tram over go the main terminal and that's where we found Mimi and Poppy.  

Below are some pictures from the airport.

Adventure with Uncle T

Once again, since school was closed on Friday, I asked Uncle T if he would be interested in watching John for me.  Uncle T said "Just John?  During the day?"  I answered yes to both of his questions and he said "Okay, dress him warm.  We have work to do!" 

Uncle T came to pick up John on Friday morning.  Uncle T already had a truckload of split firewood.  They were going to bring it to Mr. Matt's house.  I headed to work and the boys headed over to Mr. Matt's house.  Miss Brittany texted me to let me know that John was hard at work stacking firewood.  When Mr. Matt got to the office, he also told me that John was working hard (for like 20 minutes).  He also said that he asked Johnny "I heard you are going on a trip."  John put up his little finger (as if to tell Mr. Matt to wait a second), then he responded "Nineteen days!"  Mr. Matt then said "How about I take Aunt Missy's ticket and it would be you, me, and Uncle T in Disney?"  John again raised his little finger to Mr. Matt, thought about it for a second and said "Well I'd have to write Mickey a letter and I don't think he knows you!"

The boys ran a few errands and then headed to the dealership so Uncle T could pick up his paycheck.  When I saw John, he came running over to me.  I asked how his morning was going.  He said "Great!"  I asked him if Uncle T fed him breakfast.  John said "I got a sandwich and milk!"  I asked where they were going next.  Uncle T said "Maybe to get some lunch.  And then to get wood.  John how much wood do we need?"  John said "We need eight pieces for a birdhouse!"  And off they went onto their next stop. 

Later I received a picture message from Uncle T. 

 

That's John in a Dizzy Dragon.  It could only mean one thing!  The boys stopped at iPlay America.  Aunt Missy was a little surprised to see John by himself on the ride.  Uncle T said "John wanted to ride solo.  He's a big boy now!"  John went on a few rides and got to play some games too. 

 

After iPlay, they got something to eat and then went to Uncle T's house to build a birdhouse.  Uncle T got two kits to build two birdhouses.  Uncle T used a tack nailer to help move the process along.  They made the first birdhouse and John convinced Uncle T to use a hammer instead.  Uncle T told me "After my thumb got hit a couple of times, I asked him if we could do it my way."  And they finished the second birdhouse with the nail gun. 

 

 

John had a great day with his Uncle!  Thanks Uncle T!  



the reveal

We are going Disney World over Thanksgiving weekend this year with Mimi, Poppy, Uncle T and Aunt Missy.  A few weekends ago we revealed the news to the kids. 

After we went pumpkin picking, Mimi and Poppy had John in their car and we had Gillian in our car.  As Mimi & Poppy approached their house, Mimi pointed out some boxes on her front porch.  She asked John to bring them inside for her.  When he got to the front porch, he saw that the boxes had his name and Gillian's name on them.  We brought the boxes inside and after looking at them closer, the kids saw that one was addressed to John and Gillian from Mickey and Minnie Mouse! 

Below is a little video of the kids opening their box from Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

I love how each of them are excited in their own way.  And how perfect is it that John asks to write Mickey for a calendar or a countdown?

a big pumpkin

Today we met Mimi, Poppy, Uncle T and Aunt Missy for breakfast and then went pumpkin picking.  If you remember, last year (check out last year's post: pumpkin picking) John had very specific criteria for the perfect pumpkin.  The pumpkin had to be round, not too dirty and a stem.  This year, he wasn't that specific.  He was just looking for a pumpkin. 

However, Gillian wanted a BIG pumpkin.  She looked at every pumpkin and she kept pointing out the biggest pumpkins.  She found one when she was searching with Aunt Miss and she tried to move it herself.

We found two pumpkins.  One nice round one and one that is lumpy.  I think the lumpy one will look really cool when Daddy carves it.  After we found our perfect pumpkins, we got a bag of carrots and we walked around to feed the animals.  Gillian was a little afraid to let the animals take the carrot out of her hand.  She would drop it as soon as they attempted to grab it.  After awhile, they both got more comfortable with the animals and Gillian would talk to them.  "Him's a baby and that's the mommy!"  "Them's like the carrots." 

 
After Daddy, Aunt Missy and the kids fed all the animals, I tried to get a quick picture of the kids in front of an inflatable pumpkin with a cat on it.  Gillian liked the cat from far away, but once we suggested that she stand in front of it, she said no.  But I got a really cute picture of John with the pumpkin.

Ponies and dragons

I picked up Gillian from school today.  When we were both in the car, I asked her how school was today.  She didn't respond right away.  And finally she said "My friends got sick.  My friend Leo and Sophina."  I said "What happened to Sophia?"  "No Mommy!  Sooopphhinnnaa!"  I've never heard of this friend before, but again I said "What happened?"  She said "Leo and Sophina went to the hospital.  I don't want to talk about it anymore."  And she stopped talking for a few minutes.  Then she said "I want to be Twilight Sparkle.  You can be Rarity.  Daddy can be Applejack."  (For those who don't know, Gillian is talking about My Little Pony.  Check out this older post to learn about the Ponies).  I said, "I'm not sure Daddy wants to be Applejack.  I think he likes to be Big Macintosh."  "But I want him to be Applejack.  My whole family is ponies.  I Twilight Sparkle.  You Rarity.  Johnny is Rainbow Dash and Daddy is Applejack."  It's hard to argue with that.  I said "Ok, what about Uncle T?"  Gillian said "No, Uncle T."  I said "What about Aunt Missy?"  Gillian said "Aunt Missy can be Pinkie Pie.  Aunt Betty can be Fluttershy cause her afraid of dragons.  Not me.  I laugh at dragons."  I said "There's a pink dragon?  I never heard of a pink dragon."  Gillian said "Yea, there a pink dragon.  Fluttershy is afraid of it.  Not me.  I not afraid."  She then proceeded to have a little conversation with herself and all the characters and how they saw the pink dragon and how they had to help Fluttershy to get away from the pink dragon.   

The haircut

Earlier this week, I asked Miss Brittany if she would cut John's hair this weekend.  Miss Brittany is our neighbor (she is also Mr. Matt's wife) and she is a hairdresser.  I wasn't sure if she would be comfortable cutting a little boy's hair.  But she said she would be happy to give John a haircut.  We made plans to meet her today. 

Tonight John and I walked over to Miss Brit's house.  We knocked on the back door and walked into their kitchen.  Miss Brit asked John "How do you want your hair cut?"  John looked at me and then said "You know!  You tell her."  I explained to Miss Brit, that John wanted a faux hawk.  I also told Miss Brit, that I thought John's hair was a little too short for a faux hawk and that it probably needed to grow more.  She agreed and we decided to cut the sides short and leave the top longer this way maybe next time he could get a faux hawk.  After we decided what the plan was, Miss Brittany starting cutting with the clippers.  John is very used to clippers.  Daddy has been giving John buzz cuts for a long time.  John sat very still and Miss Brittany asked John how school was.  John gave some short one word answers and then I prompted him with "Tell Miss Brit who came to visit school on Friday."  That prompted John to tell her all about the firemen that visited school and about fire drills and lockdown drills and fire safety.  He was chatting away when there was a knock on the back door.  Aunt Missy arrived!  (Aunt Missy and Uncle T were going to visit Mr. Matt and Miss Brittany for dinner tonight.)  Miss Brittany finished John's hair.  What a difference it made!  He looks so grown up. 

I tried to stay and talk with the girls.  But John was not having any of it.  He was ready to go.  And since I wasn't moving fast enough, he just started pouting in the middle of the kitchen.  We said our goodbyes and we walked home.  It is so nice to just walk next door and get John's hair cut by someone we know and trust.  Thanks Miss Brittany!             

Gillian's Adventure

Gillian spent Friday night at Uncle T and Aunt Missy's house.  Aunt Missy came to pick her up.  Gillian was ready before Daddy could get her car seat into Aunt Missy's car.  "I go now?"  I buckled her in the car and gave her a kiss.  I tried to get another kiss, but she had enough.  She wanted to go. 

Aunt Missy told me that they had to stop at the food store to get something for dinner.  At the food store, Gillian conned Aunt Missy into buying donuts.  She hugged the bag saying "I goin to eat them all!"  Gillian also saw some My Little Pony fruit snacks that she had to have.  Next she told Aunt Missy "I need yogurt."  Missy picked up a package of yogurt, and Gillian told her "We don't need all of them.  Just one!"  Aunt Missy explained to her that you had to buy the whole package and you could buy just one. 

Aunt Missy sent me a picture of Gillian eating her ice cream after dinner.  Gillian truly enjoys ice cream and desserts and wants to make sure her whole face gets some too! 

     
In the morning, Uncle T went to check on Gillian.  She was awake in her bed.  Gillian told me "Uncle T wake me up!"  Then she got to watch cartoons and have breakfast with Aunt Missy. 

Gillian and Aunt Missy went to the beach after they had breakfast.  Gillian got to make some new friends and play in the sand.  They even saw some dolphins in the water.  Gillian told me "Them jump out of the water!" 

When I was tucking Gillian into bed on Saturday night, I asked Gillian if she would like to spend the night at Aunt Missy and Uncle T's house again.  She didn't say anything, she just gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. 

Mini Golf

We took the kids to play mini golf today.  The kids wanted to know where we were going and Daddy gave John one hint.  When we pulled into the mini golf place, John said "We are going golfing.  Then why did you tell me 'fore'?"  Daddy and I giggled.  He didn't know what fore meant in golf.  We explained it to him. 

We met Uncle T and Aunt Missy inside and we picked out our balls and got our clubs.  John proudly told the lady at the counter "I don't need that.  I brought my own club!"  We got to the first hole.  John went first.  Then Gillian.  Daddy told her to put her ball down.  She said "I don't want to lose it!"  We let her know that she would get her ball back at the end of the hole.  That made her feel better. Gillian loved hitting the ball for about the first four holes.  Then she hit the ball and it fell in the water.  After Daddy rescued it, she didn't let it get far from her.  When we did get her to hit her ball, she would hit it then pick up the ball and put it in the hole.  John, on the other hand, loved mini golf.  He listened to Daddy and Uncle T and took his time before he hit the ball.  He has to be more patient, but he is turning into quite the little golfer.

Caaake Party

Aunt Missy and Uncle T invited us to their house for a party to celebrate their first anniversary. I told the kids it was a party to eat cake. This made Gillian super excited. All day yesterday, she said to me "We go to Missy's house now?" After asking me a million times I think she finally relaxed that we were not going to their house until today. 

On our way to Uncle T's house, we had to make a quick stop to pick up whipped cream. While we were taking our detour, John informed us "I don't think this is the way to Uncle T's." When we pulled onto their street John said "Finally! I thought we were never going to make it." 

When Gillian finished her dinner, she said "Is it time for cake now?" She sat and waited while Aunt Missy got everything ready for dessert. She even went outside and told everyone "It's cake time!" She was the second one to get a piece of cake. She ate all her cake and ice cream too. She even asked for a second helping of ice cream.

The Crayola Factory

Crayola sign made out of crayons

Aunt Missy and Uncle T decided that they wanted to take the kids on an adventure for their birthday.  They thought that an adventure to the Crayola Factory would be perfect.  It isn't far from home and both of them would enjoy it. 

The kids had their birthday adventure last Sunday.  When we arrived (after a quick photo shoot outside) and walked inside, John said "It's Crayn-tastic!"  The Crayola Factory has tons of activities for the kids to do.  Our first stop was naming our own crayons.  "I want pink or blue!" Gillian said.  Blue was available.  I helped Gillian type, Gilly Beanie on her crayon wrapper while Daddy helped John.  John picked green (it's his favorite color).  After we printed the labels and we wrapped up our new crayons, we moved to the next station.  Our next project was making magic markers.  We made a few markers and continued into the next room. 

 
The next room had a huge coloring table, a big ball maze, and a place where you could take your picture and put in on a coloring page.  John and I got in line while Daddy was in another line with Gillian.  John and I were just deciding what kind of background to have, and Gillian joined us in line.  She said "I take picture with Johnny!" Finally it was our turn.  The kids picked their background (the crayon-men were pirates), and it took us forever to get both kids faces in the picture.  They were happy with the results and we moved on.  We went to the big coloring table.  Gillian picked out a picture of ice cream cones to color and John found picture of an underwater scene.

 

We moved on to the next room.  The next room we got to draw on tablets, and send our drawings to the big wall.  John colored a green turtle, while Gillian made a pink sparkly shark.  The best part was waiting for their drawing to go onto the wall.  Just when the kids would lose their patience, their drawing would arrive and they would yell "That's mine!" and try to catch it. 

 

After we made our art come to life, we moved to the crayon-boats.  This room had a big water table, were the kids were able to move their crayon boat thru a series of locks and up and down ramps.  I know that Uncle T and Daddy had way more fun with the boats than the kids.  The big boys had a lot of fun moving the boats thru the locks. 

 

In the next room, there was an area to paint, an area to make a cardboard treasure box, an area to make your own puzzle and a huge playground.  This room was packed with people.  There were tons of kids on the playground and there was a big sign on the playground saying kids 3 and up.  Daddy and I looked at the playground and agreed that Gillian could not go by herself.  Daddy took one for the team and followed Gillian thru the playground.  While John, Gillian and Daddy were playing.  Aunt Missy and I colored a few sheets to cut into puzzles.  Finally, Gillian joined us.  We asked if she had fun, and she said "Yes! I go down the slide and say 'yee-haw!'"  Daddy, on the other hand, did not have as much fun.  He got a burn on his elbow from going down the slide.  He said "If she is going back it, you gotta go!"  John and Aunt Missy cut our pictures into puzzles and then John wanted to paint.  The kids painted a couple of ties and we put them thru the drying machines. 

 

 Doodle in the Dark was next.  The kids favorite part of this room was the "Move & Groove."  In the Move and Groove, you stand in front of a screen with a crayon man on it.  When you move the crayon man does the same moves as you.  John loved it.  He did all of his crazy dance moves.  Gillian kept waving at the crayon.  Also in this room, we got to write on backlit doodle boards.  Aunt Missy made sure Gillian Beanie and John Daniel's names were written there.     

 

 

The last stop was the fourth floor.  This floor was all about melted crayons.  We started with painting with the melting crayons.  Gillian loved the painting.  We moved from color to color so that she could paint her little dinosaur.  Gillian loved it so much that we stayed to paint another dinosaur while John and Daddy waited on line for the drip art.  The drip art is where you take two crayons and they melt onto a spinning picture.  Daddy and I got to help John make his drip art while Uncle T and Aunt Missy helped Gillian.  After we made our drip art we moved onto melting crayons into a shape.  John made a green dragon crayon and Gillian made a blue worm.  Not really sure why she decided on a worm.  

 

 

We had a great day at the Crayola Factory.  The kids are so lucky to have Uncle T and Aunt Missy to take them on a wonderful adventure.  Thanks Uncle T & Aunt Missy!!!

 

   



Waterlogged

John and Gillian spent the night at Mimi and Poppy's house last night. Daddy and I went to pick them up and found them playing in Mimi's backyard on John's big water slide. They were so excited to see us and tell us about their night. After a quick hello, John showed us how he went down the slide (Last year he was a little unsure, check out last summer's blog post called "Water slide."). While we were watching the kids play, Mimi got a call from Uncle T. Uncle T and Aunt Missy were at Aunt Missy's parents house and we were all invited too. We let the kids play for a little bit longer. Gillian finally got the nerve to try the slide. She did it once and landed in the water and said "Yes!" She loved it. But only when she was by herself without a big audience. 

Gillian does not like to be in a wrt bathing suit. If she is out of a pool for longer than two minutes then she wants out if her bathing suit too. Before we went to Aunt  Missy's parents house, Gillian asked to be changed. When we arrived at Aunt Missy's parents house John and Daddy went right into the pool. I had to convince Gillian to put on her bathing suit (or bath-ing suit as she would say). I got her in her suit, but she was unsure about going in the pool. Aunt Missy found Gillian some chips and she happily sat in a chair and ate her chips (and didn't share). 

John, on the other hand, was swimming all over the pool. He made friends with Aunt Missy's Aunt Maryann. With the help of Aunt Maryann John swam easily fifty laps. Gillian finally joined us in the pool. She swam all over the pool too. We pulled the kids out of the pool to eat. They both ate dinner. And John was dying to go back in the pool. I told him he had to wait until an adult was in the pool. The second an adult had their toes wet John asked me "Can I go now? Please?" He went back in the pool and had a great time with less people in the pool. He wasn't afraid to just swim everywhere. 

Again we pulled John out of the pool but this time for cake. He ate his cake and again asked to go in the pool. This time he went in the pool without his floatation device. He can touch in the low end, but he gets very nervous and worried that water will hit him in the face. Since this was now his third time in the pool today he was very brave and didn't get scared when more people joined him in the pool. Gillian also joined John in the pool. She didn't have her floaties on either. Aunt Missy gave her a raft to sit on. She kept showing off the raft to anyone who would listen "Look at my new thing!" "It's for princesses!" "I just laying here!" She was shaking and I decided to pull her out of the pool. She was not happy with my decision. She was also not happy that John climbed onto her raft. "It's for princesses, not brothers!"

Sunday adventures

This morning, we went to Mimi as Poppy's house for breakfast. Gigi and Pop-Pop (the kids great grandparents) were in town and breakfast was the perfect opportunity to get together. After breakfast the kids ran around the backyard blowing bubbles. I had to help Gillian with we bubbles. She has a tendency to spill bubbles. She wasn't happy with my assistance and kept saying "I do it myself." I finally caved and watched her spill half of the bubbles in grass. 

After breakfast we went to Uncle T and Aunt Missy's house. Uncle T, Uncle Kevin, Daddy and Billy (Aunt Missy's brother) were fixing Uncle T's boat. The kids were not too excited about fixing the  boat, they really just wanted to visit with the dogs. We were surprised to see Aunt Trish, Sammie and little Kyle there when we arrive. The kids were happy to see their cousins and they all played nicely on the boat. We also got to spend some time with the dogs. Plus, Miss Kalyn taught the kids how to weed in Aunt Missy's garden. 

Gillian and I beat the boys home. We decided to fill up the kiddie pool and get her dressed in her "bath-ing suit." Gillian was ready to jump in the pool when John and Daddy got home. John ran upstairs and got on his suit too. The kids played outside in the pool and with their water table for hours. 

Overall a busy but fun day! And a special thanks to my sister. She took the picture of the kids below!

Trucks!

The kids had a truck-filled weekend. On Saturday, Mimi took them to the Touch a Truck event in Wall. During Touch a Truck, the kids get to climb into all the township trucks and learn about them from township employees. Both kids looked exhausted when they got home on Saturday afternoon. I asked them to tell me about their adventure. John told me "We didn't get to drive them. But we got to honk the horn!" I asked him which truck was his favorite. He said "The crane! It was super tall!" He asked Daddy and I what we did all day long, "Did you go to Touch a Truck?"

Bright and early this morning, Uncle T and Chucky (Daddy's cousin) arrived at our house. Uncle T and Chucky came to help Daddy trim some of our trees. In order to help them reach the branches, they brought Poppy's bucket truck. The kids were so excited. They couldn't wait to ride in the bucket. But they first had to do a little work. Uncle T was up in the bucket and he trimmed a few branches. When the coast was clear he would tell the kids. They would run and pick up the branches and move them to a pile. They were very helpful. Then it was John's turn to go up in the bucket. He went with Uncle T, and he was so short that you could only see the top of his head from the ground. The whole time he was in the bucket, Gillian was saying "Is it my turn? I go now!" Next it was Gillian's turn. She went right to Uncle T and then she started to cry. He didn't even move the bucket. She just didn't like it.