PB&J

John had a half day of school on Friday. On half days, he spends the time from dismal to 6:00 pm (or when we pick him up) at TimePlus. TimePlus is the aftercare program at his school. TimePlus is a peanut free program, so we can't pack John a PB&J for lunch. We normally buy him a lunchable. He thinks it's a special treat and it's easy for mom to pack. Daddy went to buy one on Thursday and they didn't have the "big kid" lunchable (the sub sandwich kind). So Daddy bought turkey, cheese and rolls. Daddy picked the kids up from school and he told John "Sorry no lunchable. But don't worry Mommy will make you a turkey and cheese sandwich." Gillian asked "Can I have a sandwich too?" Daddy said "Of course. John just can't have peanut butter." Gillis asked "Am I allowed to have peanut butter?" Daddy said "Yes." "Ok, then I just want peanut butter with cheese." John meanwhile is saying "Thats disgusting!" Daddy questioned Gillian, "Oh do you want jelly with that also?" Gillian confidently said "Yup." John started gagging and said "I'm going to throw up."

She was pretty adamant about it. When I got home she asked "Can you make me a peanut butter and jelly and cheese sandwich for school?" I asked "Are you sure?" We convinced her to wait until this weekend to try it out. Hopefully she will forget all about it and I won't have to make that disgusting sandwich. 

Taquitos

Yesterday John told Daddy, "I'm hungry." Daddy offered "Do you want Taquitos?" John said "What?" "Taquitos." "But I don't know what that is!" Daddy again repeated "Taquitos." John got angry "Don't say it in Spanish!" Daddy said "It's still Taquitos. Do you want some?" John said "Taqui-NO!" 

Lunch

Most days John takes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to school. We always tell him what's available for hot lunch. Today I told him that lunch was pasta. He said "Yes! I'll buy." Daddy also talked to him about lunch and told him that there was chicken patty sandwiches on the menu today. 

Everyday Mrs. Belena asks the kids if they are buying lunch or if they brought lunch. If they are buying then she gives them their lunch card and asks them what they are buying. 

When I picked up John from school today I asked him about lunch. He said "It was good. But I like the other thing that they had today too!" I said "Oh the chicken patty sandwich?" He said "No I had the sandwich." I was confused. He said "I didn't know what baked ziti was so I said chicken patty!" Yup. That's my fault. I should have said the pasta was baked ziti. Oops. But he said "It was good. I would get it again!" 

the picnic

While I was taking a shower this morning, there was a knock on the door.  I knew it was John.  We are teaching the kids to knock on closed doors before they enter them.  John is doing really well with this process, Gillian is not.  Anyway, there was a knock on my door.  I told John to come in.  I stuck my head out of the shower and asked "What's the matter John?"  He asked me "Can we have a picnic in the living room?"  How can you say no to that?  Well I couldn't.  I told him yes and he went running. 

I finished my shower and as I was brushing my teeth, there was another knock on my door.  He was back.  I let him in and he said "Just be careful.  We put the dog in the kitchen.  So don't let him out.  Okay?"  Smart little boy.  He gated Duncan into the kitchen so he wouldn't interrupt the picnic.  I got downstairs and saw that they had spread out a blanket on the floor.  There were four plastic cups on each side of the blanket.  And John was looking for some paper plates.  I showed him where to find the plates, and he handed them to Gillian.  Gillian put them next to the cups on the blanket.  John asked me "Do you have any little pieces of paper?  I want to write everyone's name on the paper so that they know where to sit.  And maybe I should write a menu."  I gave him some sticky notes to write the place cards, but I told him that we didn't need to write out a menu.  I asked him what he would like to eat for his picnic.  He didn't know.  He picked out some cookies and rice krispie treats for snacks.  But he kept saying "We need a main meal.  What should we have as a main meal?"  I ended up making them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

All four of us sat down for the picnic.  The kids munched away on their sandwiches.  Gillian told us "I don't like the crust.  Cut it off!"  I told her "You need to eat the crust.  It makes your hair curly."  I should have told her this earlier.  She ate her entire sandwich.  After each bite, she would touch her hair as if to see if it was curly. 

Overall, we had a fabulous picnic lunch with our kids.  I am so glad that they worked as a team to set it up for us.    

Nature Walk

Daddy asked me this morning why I was packing John's lunch in a brown bag. I told him that John was going on a field trip. He said to John, "Just another boring day at school today?" John said "Maybe for Gill! I'm going on a field trip. We are going on a nature walk and we are going to have a picnic." 

When I dropped the kids off at school today, I asked John if he wanted to wear his hat on his nature walk. He reached in the car and grabbed his new camo hat that Aunt Katie gave him. He put it in his head and said "Hope I don't lose it in the nature!"

At dinner tonight I asked John about his day. He said "I got to see three turtles and this is the part that Daddy doesn't like so much, cause he's afraid." Gillian screamed "It's a snake!"  We all laughed and I asked John if they saw anything else. He said "Well I didn't see a lot of natureous stuff. Like caves or bears." He is hilarious. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff. 

The artist

Today we went to lunch at MJ's in Tinton Falls with Grandad. The restaurant overlooks a small waterfall. We were seated at a table by the window. John and Gillian were given crayons to draw on the paper-lined table. Gillian started scribbling right away and drew a rainbow. John, on the other hand, stared out the window before he started drawing. He drew a big blue circle and colored it in. He stopped and explained his drawing to Daddy, "It's a waterfall that has a hole at the bottom that drains to the ocean. Can I make the rock green?" He added his rocks and a big yellow sun. The whole time he was coloring he would stop and look out the window for reference and then continue. I asked him how big the whole was to the ocean. He said "Not too big. It's tiny. You wouldn't even know it was there!" I love that he took what was out the window and put his own twist on it. Love his imagination. 

Dealership

Today, we went to the dealership to visit Mimi, Poppy, Uncle T and Aunt Missy. Plus, on Memorial Day Mimi always cooks hot dogs for the customers so the kids were able to get lunch too. The kids shared a hot dog and had some popcorn too. We spent some time talking to Aunt Missy and then the kids went inside for an adventure. I stayed outside with Aunt Missy. Before I realized it, we heard a loud crash. Gillian had walked into one of the floor to ceiling windows. Daddy brought her outside to me. Poor Gillian was crying. She said to me "The window! The window hurt my nose!" While I was consoling Gillian, Daddy told me that tho was the second window she walked into.  She did the same thing just a few minutes earlier in the sales manager's office. Poor little lady isn't used to all those glass walls. 

John loved being at the dealership. He loved running around the showroom and testing out the new cars. He also loved helping the customers when they came over for a hot dog. He would show them where the drinks were and point out the snacks too. He was so sad when it was time to go. He didn't even say good bye to everyone. He was having too much fun.