football

daddy has introduced john to football. he enjoys watching it with daddy on the weekends. on thanksgiving john was rooting for the dolphins while everyone else in the house wanted the cowboys to win. today john asked daddy if the giants were playing today. john has learned that uncle t loves the giants. I think that's why he keeps asking about the giants. the boys were watching a game today and john says "daddy who do you want to win?". daddy says the chargers. without hesitation john says "i want the broncos!" he simply wants to root for whatever team is against daddy's team. should be interesting on monday night when daddy wants the giants to win.

marshmallow shooter

the kids and i went to manasquan to visit grandma, grandpa, uncle bob, aunt betty and justin today.  automatically the boys started to play.  they decided to go outside and play with justin's new marshmallow shooter.  after a few minutes of being alone outside, justin came in and said "do you want to see john shoot the marshmallows?"  i ran out and watched john.  he had a hard time at first, but after a few seconds struggling with the shooter and justin giving him a few pointers he was able to get a couple rounds out.  he was so excited to be able to play with justin.  i went back inside and played with gillian.  gillian played with her dolls and her stroller.  then we heard the boys come in the house, they go back to justin's room.  about a minute later, we see justin and he says "we needed shields."  justin is carrying a homemade shield made out of cardboard.  john is carrying a storage container lid that had a handle on it.  the boys continued to play outside and as we watched out the window we noticed that john was eating the marshmallows off the ground.  they say that over a lifetime you eat a pound of dirt i guess he is getting a head start.

muppets, projects & hiccups

i am truly thankful to have off the friday after thanksgiving.  i always had that day off while working at fleetsource, so i was very excited to see that we got it this year at mss.  normally we join all the crazy people and go black friday shopping.  the past two years, we went to walmart with my in-law's.  this year, we stayed at home for thanksgiving and really didn't see the need to run out and go shopping.  plus, i really didn't see any fabulous deals that were worth either staying up late or getting up early.  this year, we went to see the muppet movie.  we decided to go at 11, figuring that gillian would fall asleep during the movie and we would be able to enjoy the show without running around after a one year old.  in the beginning, gillian started to drift off to sleep, but that didn't work out.  she stayed awake for three quarters of the movie and then started to get fussy.  i rocked her to sleep and she slept in my arms for the remainder of the movie.  i have to say that i truly loved the movie.  i grew up with the muppets and kermit and the gang will always have a special part in my life.  i am a sap and i did cry during two parts.  but that's to be expected.  kermit was a favorite of one of my very good friends and i always think of jami when i hear "the rainbow connection."  

gillian watching the muppets

since john was a good boy in the movie theater and the quick trip into old navy, i promised that we would do an art project.  we decided to make crowns.  he made one for himself and i made one for gillian.   

john & his crown

it may be hard to tell, but the crown has his name on it along with dinosaur stickers and fish stickers.  i made a pink crown for gillian.  she cried when i put it on her.  and john said "she's a drama queen."  then she took it off and ripped it into little tiny pieces.

right before dinner tonight i got the hiccups.  i occasionally get the hiccups and they are pretty violent.  it takes a long time for me to get rid of them.  i kept hiccuping, and john kept saying "mommy, why do you have the hiccups?  mommy, why do you have the hiccups?"  he must have said it ten times.  it finally got to the point where i couldn't stop anymore.  then kyle turns to me and says, "seriously, why do you have the hiccups?"  and that's what i started laughing.  that doesn't help to get rid of the hiccups. 

cookies

i have a great mom that always made homemade cookies for christmas or birthdays. since john has been in daycare (or school as we call it) i have been making cut out cookies for the class parties. i am no expert, but i know i can please four year olds. john is my best helper. he does help with the rolling or the cookie cutters. and he is an expert at adding sprinkles.

my assistant and i made three batches of cookies last weekend for thanksgiving. we knew we wanted to bring some to school, some to mommy's work and some for thanksgiving. the cookies were a big hit at work. john said that they had a little party at school on wednesday. i asked what did you have at the party. he replied "my cookies." after much discussion, i discovered that we were the only ones to bring in a treat.

john is not the only one in the house that loves the cookies. gillian loves them too. she prefers the chocolate turkeys. i turned my back and found gillian on a kitchen chair trying to get to the container of cookies.

thankful

it's amazing how quickly john has grown over the last year.  every year at school, they have the kids make a picture of what they are thankful for.  his teacher's captioned his picture last year with "john is thankful for submarines."

thankful 2010

this year, he has made two pictures. 



thanksgiving 2011

 the picture above was described to me as follows:  this is our house on thanksgiving.  everyone is sitting around the table.  that is duncan with dog food (the figure in the right lower corner).  the table has all the food we will eat for thanksgiving.  this is turkey (the bottom circle).  that is pumpkin pie (the circle to the right).  and that is pizza (the circle to the left). 

thankful 2011

the picture above was described to be me as follows:  i am thankful for my friend bodie, my sister gillian, my mom, and dad.  and i am thankful for my mom and dad's cars

 

taco night

taco night is a big hit at our house.  john LOVES tacos.  he has a little routine on how to make them.  check out john's taco video.

tonight for dinner we had tacos for the first time in awhile.  as i put dinner on the table, i turned to daddy and said, i'm not sure what gillian will eat.  daddy says, she'll eat tacos.  she is your child.  and he was right. and she loved them.

leaves

unfortunately, we have quite a few trees on our street and we always have tons of leaves to rake in the fall.  this year, kyle and john have been very good about raking the leaves frequently.  today kyle started raking and set up a big pile of leaves for john to play in. 

even gillian got in the leaves.  she was a little leery at first, but after a few minutes she jumped right in.

john tried to teach gillian how to throw leaves in the air.  gillian thought it was funny for a second, but once the leaves got in her hair she was not happy. 

getting ready to throw leaves

glly is a little shocked



where's john?

so much fun in the leaves