Embarrassing

Tonight at dinner, we had the kids tell us about their day.  Gillian told me how she sailed her little sailboat in the regatta and ate mac and cheese for lunch.   She also said "I saw Johnny when he was shooting his rocket!"  John said "Yeah.  I know that already."  I asked "Does she scream your name?"  He just smiled.  I said "I bet it's something like this 'JOHNNY!  HI JOHNNY!'"  I also waved at him.  And he said "Yea.  Kinda." 

Sorry Johnny, Gillian is just excited to see you.  They haven't been in the same school or camp over two years.  Seeing John during the day is really cool for Gillian and I know she won't get tired of it soon.    

Mini Golf

We spent last week in Myrtle Beach with Mimi and Poppy.  On Father's day, we took the kids to Captain Hook's Adventure Golf.  We separated into two groups, boys against girls.  The girls went first.  Gillian is an excellent mini golfer.  She understands the rules, but doesn't have much patience waiting for everyone else to go.  She also takes a lot of strokes.  After the third or fourth hole, Gillian must have heard me ask Mimi what she shot.  So Gillian started to tell me what she shot.  But every time, it was a two.  Didn't matter how many strokes she took.

Here Gillian is teeing off on one hole.

  
And here she is finishing and she tells me what her score is.

She is so funny.  Got to love her.

We had an awesome time at mini golf.

 

Mini Golf

We spent last week in Myrtle Beach with Mimi and Poppy.  On Father's day, we took the kids to Captain Hook's Adventure Golf.  We separated into two groups, boys against girls.  The girls went first.  Gillian is an excellent mini golfer.  She understands the rules, but doesn't have much patience waiting for everyone else to go.  She also takes a lot of strokes.  After the third or fourth hole, Gillian must have heard me ask Mimi what she shot.  So Gillian started to tell me what she shot.  But every time, it was a two.  Didn't matter how many strokes she took.

Here Gillian is teeing off on one hole.

  
And here she is finishing and she tells me what her score is.

She is so funny.  Got to love her.

We had an awesome time at mini golf.

 

Glasses

John told me tonight, "When I grow up, I'm going to still wear glasses. I'm not going to get contacts. But on my second pair I'm going to make guards that would flap down and cover my glasses. I would still be able to see, but the guard would block the smoke. You know when I'm building stuff." Gillian said "Or you could just take the working glasses in my room." John looked at her like she was crazy. She said "I have glasses in my room that you could put over your glasses and they would stop stuff from flying at you." John said "Gill, my invention is for smoke!"

I love that he has created a solution to a problem he hasn't experienced yet. And that Gillian solved it with simple logic. 

Pez instructions

Gillian wanted Pez for dessert tonight. She had a brand new lamb Pez from her Easter basket. She couldn't open and asked me for help "Why do they make it so hard to open?" I said "I don't know." Then she asked "Why do they put instructions on the back?" I said "I don't know. It's so easy." She said "Yea. It's like putting a pickle in the oven." Never heard that analogy before. 

April Fools Day

This morning Daddy found John downstairs watching TV. John is an early riser and he is allowed to watch TV on weekends (or spring break) without having to wake Daddy or I. Daddy told John, "Turn off the TV, go upstairs and get dressed we are going to the dentist. You are having all your teeth pulled." John got very worried and a little scared. Daddy quickly said "April Fools!" John said "Good one Dad!" He didn't hesitate and said "We gotta do the water thing to get Mom!" And the two of them went upstairs and John tied a rubber band around the sprayer on the kitchen sink. 

Later that morning I went to use the kitchen sink and got sprayed. I knew immediately who was responsible. I called John upstairs. He had a huge grin and said "April Fools!" He was so happy that he finally was able to trick me!

Fat or Phat

John says to me tonight "Mom, do you know there's a fat and a P H phat?" He's been learning about homophones in school, so I wasn't surprised by his question. I said "Yes. Do you know the difference?" He said "No, not really." I told him "P H phat is another way to say someone is good looking." He said "Well that's silly. Why would someone invent that? You can just tell them they are good looking. And what if someone thinks you called them fat? That's not nice!"

Wool socks

Daddy loves wool socks and on occasion I borrow them. On Saturday night, I went to check on the kids after they were in bed awhile. Gillian was sound asleep. John was not. Before I could lecture him, he said "I know. I should be asleep. But my feet are so cold." So I bent over and pulled off my socks, well Daddy's wool socks that I was wearing. I put them on John's cold feet. He was so happy. And he actually wore them all night long. 

Sunday night I helped him get dressed in his pajamas. When he was dressed he asked "Where does Daddy keep his socks?" I told him and he helped himself to another pair of Daddy's socks. He loves those socks. 

Groundhog Day

Yesterday,  Gillian and John told me all about Groundhog Day.  John completely understood the concept of the groundhog predicting the weather.  Gillian was a little confused.  I got a video of her explaining what happens on Groundhog Day.

Parking

Daddy and I park next to eachother in the driveway. One spot is closer to the front door and it is easier to back out of. Daddy normally gets the better spot because he arrives home before me. He has been giving me the better spot lately because of all the snow. I am not the best at driving in reverse and he has been nice letting me park in the better spot. 

Tonight Gillian and I arrived home and Gillian immediately noticed that he parked in the good spot. She yelled "No way! He got the good spot!" I simply pulled into the other spot. But Gillian said "Just park behind him!" I laughed and said "It's ok." She said "He took the good spot. Park behind him!" So I did. And she laughed and laughed. She ran inside to tell Daddy all about it. She yelled "Why'd you take the good spot?!?" She cracks me up!

Snow is magic

Yesterday morning I was on the phone with Aunt Missy as I was getting the kids in the car to drive to the bus stop. We were talking about work. We got in the car and my phone synced with the car so everyone could hear our conversation. John started talking to me and I looked back and realized his coat wasn't zipped. I said "John zip up your coat it's cold out!" This was probably the second or third time I yelled at the kids during my conversation with Aunt Missy. She took this as an opportunity to tell the kids "Guys, you better listen to Mommy because if you don't the snow won't come to your house. It will snow everywhere else and you won't be able to play in it." She quickly hung up and I was left with two kids that didn't understand. John said "How is that possible?" Gillian said "I don't understand." I said "Well where does snow come from?" Gillian didn't know. I said "It comes from the North Pole. And who else to we know that lives in the North Pole?" She said "Santa!" I then asked "Isn't Santa the most magical person ever?" Gilly said "Well elves are magic too!" I said "Exactly, the North Pole is magic. So snow must be magic too!" She was totally on board until we heard John say "Well actually snow is made from tiny water particles in the air. It doesn't come from the North Pole." He totally debunked my whole story. Oh well, I think snow is magic. 

Dancing

We went out to dinner tonight.  We sat next to the window and throughout the meal, John danced in his seat and watched his own reflection in the window.  It took me a couple tries but I got it on video. 

Pick up

I picked up Gillian tonight and then we headed to John's school. When we arrived at John's school we found another parent waiting by the gym doors. But it didn't look like anyone was there. So I said to Gillian "Maybe they are in the library. Let's go over there." The library is on the other side of the school. I was planning on driving over there. Gillian said "Let's walk." We didn't walk. We ended up jogging around to the library (we beat the dad that opted to drive). John was not too happy to hear that we had to go all the way to the gym to get to our car. Gillian didn't care. She ran all the way back. In the car, John asked "Why did you decide to walk? It's too cold!" Gillian just laughed. John said "She's crazy!" It just made Gillian laugh even harder. 

Pickles

Last night, I drew a hot bath for Gillian. She was so content and took her time getting herself washed. I said "Gillian you gotta get your body washed." She said "But I'm just relaxing. You know like one of those places where you get green on your face and then they put pickles on your eyes?" I laughed at her. And finally got her to get washed. Next it was John's turn in the bath. He also laid down in the water and relaxed. I said "Gillian thought it was like one of those places where you get green on your face and ..." Gillian finished my sentence and said "Pickles on your eyes! Why do they do pickles?" I explained "It's not pickles, it's cucumbers and it's to take away the bags under your eyes." Gillian didn't miss a beat and said "You have bags under your eyes." Yes I do sweetie. I'm a mom. I guess I need some pickles. 

The Mug

Every year we give John money to buy Christmas gifts at the holiday shop at school. This year we did the same thing for Gillian. The gifts are normally nothing special, but it teaches them responsibility and they love picking out gifts. Gillian brought her gifts home and wanted to wrap them up immediately. We had John help her. Later that day, we all went shopping in Target. While we were there Daddy saw a display of mugs and said "You know the one thing I really want for Christmas is a new mug. But I don't think anyone will get me one." And he walked away. The kids stopped me. Gillian was grinning from ear to ear. She said "I got Daddy a mug! It's the one thing he wanted. And I got it for him!" She was so excited! John grinned too. Daddy later confided in me and said "I saw the kids wrapping my present." I said "You shouldn't tease her." He said "I'm not. Did you see her face? She was so excited!"

Daddy's birthday is a few days before Christmas and it presented another opportunity to talk about Daddy wanting a mug. At dinner one night, he said "I guess I'll have to use my birthday money to get a new mug for Christmas. I really want a new mug, but no one got me one for my birthday." Gillian smiled and said "Wait until after Christmas." Then she leaned over to me and whispered "I got him a mug! He only wanted a mug and I got him one!"

On Christmas Eve as I was tucking the kids in to bed, Gillian asked "Do we eat breakfast before we open presents?" I laughed "Is that because you want Daddy to have his mug right away?" She said "Yes!" I told her "Don't worry, we will make sure that Daddy gets his mug right away."

The next morning, the kids woke up and we headed right downstairs. The kids looked at all the presents and Daddy said "I would really like some coffee before we open gifts." Gillian ran to the tree, found her present and gave it to Daddy. He opened it up and he got his wish! A new mug! And Gillian made Daddy's wish come true!

Cuban Pete

We watched The Mask for Daddy's birthday on Saturday.  John loved it.  But Daddy was even happier when the kids all danced along to his favorite part, Cuban Pete.

Tree skirt

The other day when we put up the Christmas tree, I pulled out our tree skirt. I tried to explain to Gillian that it was special because Grandma made it. Gillian heard skirt and she immediately tried it on. 

Best part is that I ended up finding the tree skirt in the basement a few days ago. It was with Gillian's dress up stuff. 

Tree shopping

On Sunday, we picked out our Christmas tree. We met up with Mimi, Poppy, Uncle T, Aunt Missy and Kenzie. Before we searched the field for the perfect tree, we stopped to take a few pictures. 

We split up. John helped Mimi and Poppy while Gillian helped me. It didn't take long this year. Gillian posed in front of our tree. 

We then got to see Santa! Gillian was super shy and didn't want to sit next to him. John wasn't shy and went right over to Santa. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas. John proudly told him "I would like Lego Dimensions." Santa told him "Well I'm in the surprise business, I promise there will be a surprise under the Christmas tree." 

Gillian eventually sat next to Santa a answered a few questions. She was still a little shy but she was brave. 

When we got home the tree got set up outside until we were ready to move it into the living room. Everyone helped move it. 

We set up the tree and I finally added lights last night.  It's starting to look a lot like Christmas.

counting

Gillian has learned how to count by ten.  If you ask her how she learned, she says "From Peg + Cat!"  Peg + Cat is a new show that the kids found on Netflix.  It's about a little girl, Peg and her cat.  It's on PBS and the kids seem to really enjoy it.  Anyway, every time Gillian counts to 100 by tens she adds a little extra flair.

 

She cracks me up.  And of course when you ask her where that little bit at the end came from, she says "Peg + Cat."  With a little bit of help (from John) I found the episode Gillian learned how to count by ten.

 

This is the full episode.  The song is at the end when Peg is cleaning up the chickens.

 

The Oreo

I taught John the proper way to eat Oreos tonight. He caught on very quickly and was very happy with the result.