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. 

Colors

Tonight at dinner, we did our usual conversation starter, "How was your day?" John said "It was good." I can't stand those simple answers. So I asked "What was your special class?" He said "Art! And we didn't have it in our classroom!" I asked "Why not?" He said "Cause there were teachers eating lunch in there. You want to know where we had class?" Now I'm getting very excited. He doesn't normally give us this much information. So I play it cool and say "Yes. Where was your class?" He said "Outside! We were learning about primary colors. And how you can make all the other colors with primary colors." I quizzed him and asked "What does blue and red make?" He said "Purple!" What about yellow and blue?" "Green!" "OK, how about yellow and red?" "Orange!" Gillian thought that it was a game. So she started just saying colors. "Pink!" "Yellow!" John got annoyed, "No Gill. Yellow is a primary color!" 

We talked more about primary colors and secondary colors. I am very thankful that the teachers were eating lunch in the art room and John got to have art class outside. He retained a lot and was excited to share with us tonight. 

Another Snow Day

I woke up this morning, and it wasn't snowing.  But I checked online to see if the kids had school.  Both schools were closed in anticipation of today's snow storm.  I told Daddy about the school closures and he said "Okay."  Luckily, he was scheduled off today because he worked on Saturday.  I got ready and went to work.  As I was leaving, John woke up and walked downstairs.  "Is it a stay at home day?"  he asked us.  We explained that it was a school day but school was closed because it was snowing (it had started snowing by this point).  He was super excited about no school!

After working a few hours, I came home to find Daddy making the kids lunch.  We had lunch and the kids played for a little bit.  Then I bundled them up and we all went outside to play.  I practically had to beg John to come outside with us.  He kept saying "I'll just watch you guys."  After bundling the kids up (that takes forever), we went outside and started to play.  The snow was good snowball/snowman snow.  I attempted to make a few small snowmen, but Gilly-zilla smashed them all.  John and I had a little snowball fight and the Gillian got bored.  "Smashing makes me tired.  I go inside."  Johnny and I decided to go in the backyard to play and Gillian's attitude changed.  We went out back and the kids went right to their playground.  They had to go down the slide and play on the swings.  After awhile, Gillian and I got tired and we went inside to play.  John stayed outside for another half hour after that.  He kept himself busy playing on the swings and clearing off the deck.  For someone who didn't want to go outside, he stayed out for a long time.

At dinner, I asked everyone "What was your favorite part of the day?"  John said "I think you know!  It was the snowball fight!"  Gillian said "Daddy.  Daddy and John." Overall, a pretty awesome snow day.

   

The Band-Aid

I picked up the kids from school today and in the car on the way home they told me about their day. Gillian said "John got a ban-did." I said "I saw that. John what happened?" John said "I fell and got a cut. And it was bleeding. I can't run fast now." I asked John to tell me what happened. He said "I jumped and fell." Gillian elaborated "John was running around. Him jumped off the wood. Then him get a band-did. Him has a boo-boo. I don't have a boo-boo. Him does. Him has a band-did."  Thank you Gillian. That was very informative. 

Outside

I love that the weather is getting nicer. John and Gillian have been playing outside everyday at school and when they get home they just want to play outside. When I got home tonight the kids were playing outside. I watched them play. John was collecting "helicopter seeds" and Gillian was following him around. He found the "helicopters" and brought them to the top of the slide and would drop them over the side. I called them inside when dinner was ready. John came running and Gillian cried. I think she was a little surprised that it was dinner time already. We ate dinner and when we were finished, John immediately asked "Can we go outside?" I can't argue with that. I sent them outside while we cleaned up the dishes. I went outside to see what they were doing. I pushed them on the swings for a little bit. Then John decided to get off, so that meant that Gillian was done with the swing too. Gillian went under the swing set and was pretending to serve John and I some milk. I am so glad that they have active imaginations and the desire to play outside. 

Playground

It was so nice outside today. Daddy picked up the kids and decided to go to a local playground. I met them there. John had already made a friend by the time I arrived. John was chasing the little boy all around the playground. Then John started yelling, "Hey! I got a sister! Her name is Gillian!" "Hey I'm over here!" Then John banged his head on a slide and he blamed it on the little boy. I made John apologize. It wasn't the boy's fault. He was no where near John.

Gillian was playing contently by herself. She would climb up a ladder and go down the slide. Or climb up the rock wall. One time she went down the slide and then lost her footing and fell down. She giggled and got back up again. She went down the slide again and "fell" at the bottom. Again she giggled. She thought it was so funny. "I fell down!"

John's new friend had to go home. So it was just John and Gillian on the playground for awhile. Gillian was trying to climb the rock wall. She had done it a few times during our trip but somehow she lost her confidence. John stood at the top of the jungle gym and said "Come on Gill! You can do it! Keep going!" That's all she needed, a little support from her big brother.

Outside

I picked the kids up from school today. Both of them had red cheeks. I asked John how many times he got to play outside today (normally the highlight of his day). He said "No nap today! You know what that means? We went outside three times today!" I asked Gillian the same question. She said "One, two, three...five, six!" I said, you went outside six times today! She nodded. John shook his head.

We got in the car and I asked the kid if they wanted the air conditioning on in the car or the windows open. They both opted for the windows down. Gillian looked out her window and told me "I see a tree! Mommy look a house! Mommy! I see cars!" The entire car ride home I got a play by play of everything we drove past. At one point John said "There are trees everywhere!"

John 0, Slide 1

John was playing outside at school today and fell down the stairs to the slide. He said "I was going down the stairs and I think I missed a step!" Poor boy scraped his cheek and forehead and fell into the mulch.

While he was in the shower tonight, he complained that his eye hurt when the water hit him. We soothed his eye pain with a cool washcloth. He said "Now the funnest guy in town is the boringest guy!" I must have looked confused, because he followed that statement up with, "I'm the funnest guy in town!" Apparently his injury will make him boring. He then told me "My eye hurts really bad and my cheeky and my forehead. You know what! There's a pipe that takes blood to my forehead and my cheek. Maybe we can figure out which pipe it is and fix it!" Love the way he thinks. We cleaned up his face and got him out of the shower. My poor little boy.

War

Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch. We met Aunt Betty, Uncle Joe, Uncle Bob, Aunt Trish, and the cousins. We had lunch and the kids went outside to play. Sammie only stayed outside for a little bit and ended coming inside to play with Gillian. The girls decided to watch Cinderella. The girls snuggled on the couch and watched Gilly's favorite princess movie.

I was talking to Grandma and Aunt Betty when we saw Uncle Joe, Uncle Bob and Daddy walk past us. All three of them had Nerf guns, with additional magazines and bags full of extra darts. They headed out back to blindside the boys.

When I got out back I saw Daddy on the deck firing down to the boys below while Uncle Joe and Uncle Bob were running around shooting at the boys. Justin and John were running around and giggling. It was chilly outside so I only watched for a few minutes.

When they came back inside they shared their stories. At on point John got a Nerf gun set it up with the bipod and laid down on his belly. He aimed and fired right at Uncle Joe. He hit his mark and shouted "I got his gut!"

Green Meadow Farms

Today John's class and the Dinosaur class went on a field trip to Green Meadow Farms. John told me all about his trip. "First we got on a bus! Adriana was in my group and my chaperone was Miss Denise." I asked him what happened when they got there. He said "Then we got to pet and feed the animals. We got to feed them on the inside." I didn't understand what he was talking about. He meant the inside of the fence. They got to go inside the fence and feed and pet the animals. I asked what kinds of animals he fed. He said "Cows and sheep and geese. And what says 'gobble gobble?'" I told him a turkey. He says "Yea a turkey and ponies." He kept telling me animals and I could hear Gillian say "I like ponies!" He tells me that they fed the animals and then they got to pick their pumpkins. "At the end we got to go on a hayride. And can I tell you something? I got in timeout by accident." Now it's been a long time since John has been put in timeout at school. So I ask him why he was put in timeout. He says "I accidentally hit Ryan." In my opinion you don't accidentally hit anyone. I asked him what happened. He said "He was pointing at me!" We had a long talk about how hitting is way worse than pointing. He then admitted "I hit him two times. One time because he was pointing at me. And another time because he wouldn't let me move the wheelbarrow." Again we talked about how hitting is wrong and that he would get no dessert and no television shows tonight as punishment.

Pumpkin Picking

This morning we went pumpkin picking with Mimi, Poppy, Uncle T and Aunt Missy.  We walked to the pumpkin patch and Mimi noticed a corn maze.  She asked John if he wanted to check it out.  John didn't hesitate and the two fo them rushed off to the maze.  The rest of us went to the pumpkin patch to pick out a oouple of pumpkins. 

When Mimi & Johnny got back, we heard the whole story of what happened in the maze.  Mimi said, they got into the maze and John said "Mimi, do you have a cell phone?  You will need to text Mommy in case we get lost."  They wandered through the maze and John had to go potty.  Mimi told him it was okay to just go in the maze, because it could be awhile before they got out of the maze.  John argued with Mimi, "I can't go here.  I can hold it."  Mimi looked around and confirmed that there was no one around and told him just go in the maze.  John did and they got out of the maze safely ansd dtarted to walk towards the pumpkin patch.  "Mimi, you need to text Mommy and ask where she is.  So we can find her."  Mimi explained to John that they would be able to find us, the pumpkin patch was not that big.

John started the quest to find the perfect pumpkin.  He used a lot of the same critera as he had last year (check out pumpkin pickin from last year).  It had to have no holes, a stem, round and not too dirty.  After some pretty extensive searching, John found the perfect pumpkin.  We headed up to pay for our pumpkins and decided to stop to feed some of the animals.  John was not too excited about feeding the animals.  He didn't like them to eat out of his hand.  Gillian, on the other hand, loved feeding the animals.  She was very particular about what animals got the carrots she had.  She also liked talking to the animals and would say "Hey! Hey!" 

John found a goat (ram?  I'm not really sure what it was), with three horns.  He told Mimi, "He knocked down all the trees.  He has three really strong horns and knocked down all the trees here."

After feeding all the animals, we paid for our pumpkins and headed to Mimi & Poppy's house.  We had to help Mimi with her new Halloween decoration.  John and Gillian were big helpers and helped Mimi with putting out additional Halloween decorations.  After Mimi's house, we headed home and Gillian took a nap. 

 After nap time, we headed to Thompson Park Day.  I did not realize that it was that big of an event.  We got there and the park was full of cars and people.  They had rides, activities, races and all kinds of fun for the kids.  We immeditely ran to Aunt Betty's Auto Zone.  The Auto Zone had big wheels for the kids to ride, an obstacle course and some building blocks.  John and Aunt Betty ran thru the obstacle course a couple of times and then they built a little building out of the building blocks.  Gillian got to knock it down.  After visiting Aunt Betty, we went to see a magic show.  John loved it.  He giggled and was surprised with all the simple magic tricks.  Gillian got a little antsy, so we moved on and walked around some more.  We tried to get John in one of the races for his age group, but we were just a few minutes too late.  But the ladies running the races still gave John an inflatable ball which was the participation prize.  We walked around some more, and John and Gillian both got to talk to the pumpkin head man walking around on stilts and the raccoon too.  We were only there a short time (today was just a busy day), but we will totally make an effort to get to next year's Thompson Park Day.

Petting Zoo and Craft Fair

Today we met Mimi at Freehold Raceway for Open Space Pace.  Bascially it is a festival for horses in Freehold.  They had a parade, races, vendors, music and a petting zoo.  We didn't get to see the parade of horses through downtown, but we arrived at the raceway in time to walk thru the vendors and go to the petting zoo.

John loved the petting zoo.  Gillian was a little unsure.  She wanted either Daddy or myself to hold her while she leaned over to pet the animals.  We walked around first and let the kids pet and see all the animals first and then we let John feed the animals.  He was a little unsure at first, but Daddy held his hand and showed him how to feed them.  John loved it.  He said "It tickles!"  After watching John feed a few animals, Gillian was ready too.  She fed the alpaca and loved it.  But she did tell me "This one is my favorite." while pointing at the donkey. 

 

After the kids had fun at the petting zoo, we watched a couple of races.  John and Gillian loved cheering on the riders (and horses).  We had a quick lunch and then we headed over to the Colts Neck Craft Fair.  Uncle T and Aunt Missy were there with a few cars from the dealership and a giant pumpkin.  They were giving a prize to the person that guessed the weight of the pumpkin closest without going over.  Uncle T had just purchased a funnel cake when we got there.  I felt really bad because Gillian and John just helped themselves.  We walked around the craft fair for a little bit and ended up buying a replacement funnel cake.  The kids had a great time, and even posed for a picture with the giant pumpkin.   

Beach Day

School was closed on Friday.  I asked Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Betty to watch the kids for the day.  Since Grandma and Grandpa go to the beach everyday they decided to take the kids with them in the morning.  Aunt Betty didn't have school on Friday so she joined them.  Also, Aunt Trish had the week off, so Aunt Trish, Sammie and Kyle also went to the beach. 

I dropped the kids off at Grandma's already dressed in their bathing suits along with some beach toys, towels and a couple of changes of clothes.  I left them in capable hands, and I headed to work. 

A few hours into my day, I received the picture below.  They were already at the beach having fun.  

   
When I picked them up later, I was very anxious to hear all about their day especially their adventure at the beach.  John carried his bag of toys to and from the beach (I warned John that when you go to the beach with Grandma, you have to carry your own stuff.  If you can't carry it, you can't bring it).

John and Gillian loved the water.  John originally told me "I don't want to get my bathing suit wet!"  But according to Grandma, he was in and out of the water all morning long.  And on one of the trips in the water with Aunt Trish, they had to go under a wave.  I know my John was not happy about getting water in his face, but he survived and continued to go in the water.  Grandma told me that he was not a good listener.  Grandma need a short break.  So she told John that he could play in the sand but he could not go in the water without her.  She sat down and before she knew it he was at the water.  He wasn't paying attention and got hit by a wave.  He fell down face first, but got back up again.  John wasn't the only one that had an adventure in the water.  Gillian and Aunt Betty had to go under two waves back to back.  

Overall I think they had a fabulous day at the beach with their cousins, grandparents and aunts.  I asked John if he wanted to go to the beach again.  He said "Yes.  But not that beach.  The water is salt water!"  I told him that all the ocean water is salt water.  He looked at me completely shocked "All the ocean water in the whole world is salt water?!? Oh Man!"
   

Bike ride

We took the kids to Thompson Park this morning for a bike ride. We put Gillian's seat on my bike and the girls went cruising. Daddy stayed with John. We met up at the playground. The boys made it to the playground before us. John immediately said "We beat you here. We are faster than you guys."

We played on the playground and had a little snack before we were on our way again. This time we moved Gillian's seat to Daddy's bike and I stayed with John. John is really at riding his bike, but he needs to concentrate. I was riding behind him and I told him to move over to the right. Before I realized it, he was in the grass. He gets so distracted. He looks around at the people or the trees or his feet. But we will keep working with him. He will need to fix this concentration issue before he loses the training wheels.

Italian Festival

Last night we took the kids to the Italian Festival at Freehold Raceway. There were rides and food and fireworks.  John was very excited about going on the rides.  The first one he went on Gillian was able to go with him.  She was a little unsure at first going by herself, but after the ride started she was so happy.

Gillian loved her first ride and was very disappointed that she couldn't go on the next ride with John.  John flew the airplanes solo.  The airplane ride was one where the kids could control if they went up or down.  John spent most of the ride up in the air.  John and Daddy went on the spinning monkey ride. 

After the spinning monkey ride, John got to go on another one solo.  It was a bouncing car ride.  John jumped into the number one car and was on his way.



The next ride was the Flintstones ride.  Gillian was big enough to go on it, but accompanied by an adult.  I got to ride with the kids.  John drove while Gillian and I hung out in the back of the car.  John is really funny on the rides.  He kept telling Gillian, "If you push the buttons, then you will fly out of the car.  You can't use the steering wheel, cause I'm driving!"

Gillian was too small for the next ride, and John actually had to have an adult accompany him.  So I got to ride the hang gliders with John.  Of course he wanted to get a green hang glider, the first one we got to was broken.  He was so disappointed.  But luckily we were one of the first people in line, so we were able to get a green glider.  He has been on a ride like this before, but this one was a little bit bigger and went higher than before.  He was really calm and cool while we were waiting for the ride to start.  He told me where to put my hands and that it would go up high in the air.  As soon as we were up high in the air he said "I am not doing this again.  Never ever again!!"

Our next ride, Gillian was able to go with us.  John, Gillian and I got to ride on the dogs.  On this ride, the dogs go up and down. Gillian and I rode together and John rode with another little girl in the car behind us.  As we were flying up and down, I could hear behind me "Mommy, Gilly!  Push the button, you can hear the music!"  Daddy and John got to go on the next ride together.  It was a barn that went up in the air and twisted around. After the barn, we all went on the ferris wheel together.  John was really scared to go on the ferris wheel.  He didn't like the height, but by the end of the ride he loved it. He admitted "It was fun!"

We met up with one of Daddy's colleagues and walked thru the rest of the festival with him and his wife.  John got his arm painted and no trip to a festival is complete without some cotton candy.  We used up the rest of our ride tickets and by then it was 8:30.  The kids were pretty exhausted, so we decided to leave instead of staying for the fireworks.  I think that was a good decision, considering John slept until 9 am this morning.  He never sleeps in that late!

First Swimming Lesson

John and Daddy had their first swimming lesson today. Daddy got John dressed and John came running downstairs to find me. "Look! I look good. I'm wearing a water shirt!" Daddy and John ran off to the swimming lesson and Gillian and I agreed to meet them after their lesson.

Gillian and I arrived at Dorbrook. We met John and Daddy at the pool. John came running over. "I put my face in the water! And I blowed bubbles!" He was grinning ear to ear. Daddy told me that John did very well but he needs to work on his listening skills. They got to work with kick boards and kicking. John also got to "rescue" animals in the pool. The instructor threw them to the deep end and the kids got to use the kick boards to swim over and rescue them. He is so proud of what he accomplished today.

Overall John's first swimming lesson was a success and he is excited about next week.

End of the Year Party

The Lincroft Center for Children had their annual end of year party today.  John has been talking non-stop about the party for a week now.  TLC rents a water slide for the big kids and a bounce house for the younger kids.  They also get a lunch of hot dogs and Italian ice for dessert.   

waiting in line

He woke up this morning super excited.  "Mommy!  I need to wear a bathing suit to school today."  We looked at his bathing suits, and he was a little critical.  He wanted one with a shark on it.  I don't know where that came from, because he doesn't have any shark bathing suits.  Anyway, we decided on a green and blue one and a blue water shirt.  While he was getting dressed, he kept telling me about what was going to happen today.  "We are going to have hot dogs and chips and Italian ice.  We need to wear our bathing suits because we are going on a water slide.  Gilly doesn't have to wear her bathing suit.  She doesn't get to go on the water slide.  Just the Dinosaurs and the Kindergarten." 

I dropped the kids off at school.  He was a little worried that the other kids would make fun of his water shirt.  I guess we are getting into that stage.  I found out when the water slide and bounce house would arrive and I planned on taking an early lunch so that I could see the kids play.  I arrived at TLC around 11:30 and found John playing with a bottle game.  He was so happy that I came to visit, he immediately dragged me over to the water slide so that I could see him go down it.  While he was waiting in line, his teacher told me that John was a little apprehensive at first but once he tried the slide he loved it. 

Gillian in her classroom

John with the fishin pole

He waited his turn and went down the slide like a pro.  Shortly after his trip down the slide, it was time to go inside.  All the kids had to get changed into dry clothes and it was time for a picnic lunch.  I got to help hand out the lunches and help the kids with their juice boxes.  Daddy described it perfectly, "You liked being class mother."  I did. It was a nice change for a Thursday afternoon.  I also got to see Gillian in her class too.  I didn't go in, because I was afraid that she wouldn't let me go home.  I talked to her teachers and they told me that she loved the bounce house and that she wasn't too fond of the hot dogs.  We decided that she must prefer grilled dogs over boiled hot dogs.  Oh well. 

John told me when I got home from work that he had blue Italian ice and it was yummy.  He had a fabulous day today and I did too.

Wheeeee!

Daddy picked up the kids from school today.  On the way home, John asked "Daddy, why are we going so slow?"  Daddy explained to him that there was traffic.  "Daddy, can I open my window?"  He opened his window, stuck his head out and had the following commentary:  "Whoa, look at all of those cars!  You gotta make it past the force field.  We made it to the pond.  We made it past the smallest mountain.  Now we are on the Speed Speed Speed Speed Road."  Daddy then turned on to Shrewsbury Avenue.  John declared it "Super Speed Road."

Daddy got a little glimpse of John enjoying the open window.

It made me think of the GEICO commercial with the little pig.

Unusual Monday

We are having unusually warm weather in New Jersey.  Daddy picked up the kids from school and gave me a quick call.  He was wondering if I was going to be on time today.  He had brought the kids to a local park to enjoy some of the nice weather.  I was out the door on time and found them still playing on the playground.  Gillian came running towards me and wouldn't let me out of her sight.  John on the other hand waved from the top of the slide.  Daddy told me to put Gillian down and let her climb the jungle gym.  The second I put her down she would cry.  She just wanted Mommy. 

I took her to the top of the jungle gym and tried to get her to go down the slide.  She wouldn't go.  I sat down and we went down the slide together.  She giggled and loved it.  As I got off the slide, Daddy stopped me and showed me the video below of Gillian.  I guess my little lady is brave and adventurous.  She just wanted Mommy to go up and down the slide with her. 

While Gillian and I were going down the slide, John was having "a race."  Which basically meant that he would start at one end of the jungle gym and go through all the obstacles and then end up going down the slide.  I loved watching him go down the slide.  The slide was plastic and was super staticky and his hair would get all spiky when he went down.  The video below is of John finishing his race and going down the slide.   
 

What a pleasant way to start our week.  



snow day

This winter has been pretty mild.  We saw a little bit of snow in October but that has been it.  Last night it snowed.  I didn't tell John about the possibility of snow.  I didn't want to disappoint him.  He woke up this morning and came running to find me.  "Mommy!  Mommy!  It snowed!!!"  He was so excited.  He found Daddy and made him look out all the windows to see the snow.  When Gillian woke up, he saw her and said, "Mommy?  Did you show her the snow?"  I had a hair appointment, so I left the kids with Daddy.  When I got to Point Pleasant and it was snowing, I text Daddy to let him know that he should try to get the kids outside to play.  I was afraid that it would start raining and they would get to enjoy any of the snow.  Daddy took the kids out for a little bit. 

The kids had a little snow fight with Daddy and they tried to build a snowman too.  Daddy said that Gillian not too fond of the snow.  But she did try to make a snowball.

I got home from my hair appointment, made the kids lunch and put Gillian down for her nap.  Gillian didn't want to go to sleep.  I tried to rock her.  As I was rocking her, I told John to read books in his room.  After a little bit, he came into Gillian's room and said "Can I rock too?"  I let him climb into the chair.  He sat right next to me.  I thought he was just going to be silly and wake her up.  But no, he climbed into the chair and patted Gillian on the back.  What a good big brother.

John and I got to play outside while Gillian was napping.  Our goal was to clear some of the snow off the deck for Duncan.  That didn't take long and we got to play for a little bit.  John wanted to go by his swing set.  We walked all the way there, and he climbed on top.  "There is snow up here?"  Silly boy.  He sent me back to get his little snow shovel.  He had to clear off his swing set. 

He worked really hard to clear off the top of the swing set.  Then he had to go down the slide (which was covered in snow).  He got stuck and then giggled and giggled.  He loved it. 

After playing outside, we watched Yogi and made super hero cookies.  Overall a really good snow day.