Jump Rope for Heart

In February, John's school participated in Jump Rope for Heart.  All the kids at school jumped during their Physical Education classes, but kids also had an opportunity to raise money to support the American Heart Association.  John was very excited about raising money and bugged Daddy and I non-stop about asking people to donate.  Thru John's persistence, he raised $385 for the American Heart Association. 

Last week, Daddy and I received a letter from Mr. Davis and Mrs. Landis.  John was one of the school's top fundraisers and we were invited to go to an assembly on Friday.  Daddy had court on Friday, but Grandma and Grandpa joined me.  We arrived early and found our reserved seats.  They got all the kids in the gym/cafeteria and the top fundraisers got to sit in the front.

We heard from the superintendent, and a representative from the American Heart Association.  We found out that MFA was number one in the Monmouth County for collections, third in the state of New Jersey and 9th in the country!  They handed out awards for the highest class in each grade level (John's class was the highest in the first grade). Mrs. Landis then announced that they were awarding the top three fundraisers in each grade.  They announced grade one.  There were two girls tied for third place and John was announced as the second highest fundraiser for the first grade!

I am so proud of him.  He walked confidently across the stage and wasn't afraid at all.

After all the awards were given out, then the teachers put on a little show for the kids.  They jump roped and danced.  The kids loved it.

Like I said before, I am very proud of my little boy.  But he couldn't have done it without the support of his family.  He had a lot of generous donors especially his Granddad, Grandma & Grandpa, Mimi & Poppy, Gigi & Pop-pop, Uncle Joe & Aunt Donna, Uncle Kevin & Aunt Trish, Aunt Katie & Bert, Aunt Betty, Uncle Bob, Uncle Jay, Uncle T & Aunt Missy and all the other donors.   

The diner

We took the kids to the diner for dinner tonight. John wanted eggs and toast for dinner. Gillian wanted pancakes. We ordered and the kids entertained themselves by coloring on their menus. Gillian then announced to everyone, "I have to go potty!" I ran her to the bathroom, shushing her the entire time. Gillian took care of business and we were back at the table. After sitting down for less than thirty seconds, Gillian said "I gotta go poop!" Once again, I ran her across the diner and she took care of business. Luckily dinner arrived shortly after our second trip to the bathroom. Daddy ordered a Belgium waffle. Gillian took one look at it and said "I want that!" Daddy said "But you have pancakes!" Gillian said "But I want that." And Daddy traded with her. John was jealous, but in the end everyone got a piece of the waffle.  

Muddah

I picked up the kids from school today. Once I had John in the car he said to Gillian and I, "I need to talk to Gillian before dinner. In private." Gillian said "I got my Muddah's day present in my bag. And you can't have it until Muddah's day. On Muddah's day you have to be nice to your Muddah!" I'm giggling because I know what is going to happen next. John says "Shhh, Gill we will talk at home." Gillian said "It's a handprint!" John said "I she said 'It's a present.'" To keep the peace, I said "That's what I thought John." Gillian said "No. It's a handprint. And it's pink. Cause Mommy likes pink. It's for Muddah's day!" "Gill! You're ruining it!" I told him to calm down and that nothing was ruined and that I will love whatever you give me. 

When we got home, they ran upstairs and locked themselves in John's room until dinner. I love that they are so excited about trying to surprise me (and I love how Gillian says mother).

Tall

I keep our bowl of Easter candy on top of the hutch. After dinner tonight, John asked for some candy for dessert. I got up and reached for the bowl. Meanwhile, John pushed his chair over to the hutch. I told him "You can't reach it even on top of the chair." He tried and couldn't. He said "You know what? We need the 16th president! He could reach it. He's like taller than the ceiling!" I said "I'm not sure he is that tall." John grinned and said "Yea. He's really tall and he wore a tall hat too!" I said "I'm going to find out how tall Abraham Lincoln was." After a quick internet search, I discovered that Abraham Lincoln was 6'4". I told John. And he said "See! I told ya!" I said "We should find out how all Uncle Bob is. I bet he is as tall as Abraham Lincoln!" John was doubtful. I texted Uncle Bob. And he is 6'4" too! But John said "Lincoln is taller. Because of his hat!" But Uncle Bob said "Hats don't count." John said "But hats make him LOOK taller!" Uncle Bob said "Hats don't count." John laughed and came up with a new theory, "Uncle Bob is bald and Lincoln had hair. His hair makes him taller." Uncle Bob said "No. I've got hair. And Lincoln was bald. That's why he wore a hat." And then I sent him a picture of Lincoln and said "Not true!"

And that's when Uncle Bob FaceTimed us. He said "John, I have hair. See?" And he shows us his head. Then he says "See that? (And points the camera at grandpa's head) That's a bald spot. Lincoln had a combover. Do you know what a combover is?" John says "Yea. A combover is something covering something else." Uncle Bob said "See Lincoln had a combover. I'm just as tall." John didn't really seem to agree. So 

Uncle Bob asked him a few questions about Lincoln. "What number president was he?" John said "16th." Uncle Bob asked "What happened to him?" John said "He got assinated." Uncle Bob asked a few more questions, but John didn't know a lot of the answers. We learned a lot about Lincoln tonight, most importantly, that he was taller than Uncle Bob!

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. 

PSA

Tonight at dinner, Gillian asked "Can I have a drink?" John said "Me too? I want milk!" Daddy got the milk. Gillian said "I like milk it's my favoritest!" John said "The doctor said I have to drink a lot of milk. But I don't know why." Daddy said "Well milk has calcium." And John said "And calcium gives you strong bones (and he pointed at his arm) and teeth (and he pointed at his teeth)." I asked him how he knew all that. He said "What? I learned it in health!"

Tornado

Gillian showed me a picture she made in school. 

I said to her "That's beautiful. What is it?" She said "It's a tornado. Tornados are bad. If there's a tornado, we need to go to the basement. Or a bathroom! We have LOTS of bathrooms!"