The Paper Clip

John found a paper clip on the driveway today. He picked it up and climbed into my car. He sat in his seat quietly and bent the paper clip. He said to me "Look! I made it look like a walkie talkie!" He was right. He bent one arm of the paper clip up and it did look like a handheld walkie talkie. John then said to me "The last time I found a paper clip I was in the dinosaur class. Me and Landon were passing it back and forth during nap time one day." I yelled at him, "John you are supposed to sleep during nap time!" He said "What? They didn't see me. It's ok. I don't know how to sleep at school anyway."

Leaves

Daddy was outside today blowing the leave into one big pile. John was watching from his room. He came running to me and said "I'm going outside to help Daddy! He needs my help." I got him dressed in warm clothes and he continued to talk to me about helping Daddy. "I am going to use my leaf blower. It used to be Daddy's but now it's mine." Daddy borrowed Poppy's backpack leaf blower to clean the yard and he has let John help out using Daddy's handheld blower. The blower is a little heavy for John but he is pretty good at it. Anyway after bundling John up in warm clothes he headed out to help Daddy. He had so much fun helping blow the leaves. John came back inside an hour later with rosie cheeks. He said "We moved all the leaves! It's cold out there!" Daddy said John did a great job.

Holiday Lunch

On Thursday, The Lincroft Center for Children had their holiday lunch.  John and Gillian have been singing Christmas songs for the past couple of weeks.  Gillian has been singing Jingle Bells.  John knows a lot of songs, but he refused to tell me what songs his class would sing.  I was able to take my lunchtime and run over to school to watch them sing.  They started the show with the Tiggers first.  They sang a little song and went back to their table.  Next was Gillian's class.  I was very worried.  I thought she would see me and go running.  But she didn't.  She stood in her spot next to her BFF's Jo-Jo and Dorlisa (aka Dora). They started with Jingle Bells, then they sang Santa (to the Bingo song) and last they did the Reindeer Pokey. 

After Gillian's class, we saw the Dolphins' and the Dinosaurs' then it was time for the Kindergarten.  John's class all wore black pants with white shirts, scarfs, mittens and handmade hats.  They sang Frosty the Snowman first.

Next they sang Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.  The kids really loved this song.  Look how excited they got at the end!

I was so proud of my kids.  They both sang very well and listened to their teachers.  After the show, the kids had lunch.  I had to go back to work, but I am so glad I got to see them sing.

Listen Better

John and Gillian have not been listening very well lately. Last night we were watching cartoons before bed and John kept jumping on my bed. I must have said "Stop jumping on the bed" like a dozen times. So I thought I would teach them a lesson and I had Buddy leave them a message. He spelled out in Cheez-it's "Listen Better - Buddy." John discovered Buddy this morning and asked me to read it to him. I told him what it said and explained to him that maybe Buddy heard Mommy yelling at you last night. John says "Maybe it means that Buddy needs to listen more!"

Beanie Girl

Gillian got the nickname Gilly Bean when she was only a few weeks old. I mainly call her Beanie. I think I need to stop. Daddy asked her today what her name was. She replied "Gillian Beanie!" We were expecting her to say Gillian Marie. I will have to make more of an effort to call her by her real name.

Tonight at dinner, Daddy asked John to tell us about his day. John said "I'd like to hear about Gillian's day first!" Daddy turned to Gillian, how was your day? "I play with Dora!" Daddy asked her what they played. She said "Babies! With Dora!" Daddy asked her if they sang songs. She said "Yes. ABCs!" And then Daddy asked her to sing it. She sang the alphabet song beautifully. She does drop a few letters. My favorite is T, U, V. She says it "T wee wee."

Easter weekend

We started Easter weekend by visiting the Easter Bunny. As you know visiting the Easter Bunny did not go well, but the rest of the weekend was great! We went to Grandma's house on Good Friday for potato pancakes, applesauce and green beans. Good Friday dinner is probably my favorite meal of the year. I was very impressed both John and Gillian loved the pancakes. We actually saw John sneak a few extra ones by the end of the meal. John wanted to sleep over Grandma's house so he could play with Justin. Luckily the timing worked out for everyone, and he ended up spending the night on Good Friday. I picked up John on Saturday morning, the boys were still in their pj's. They were both really sad when I got there and requested that they could play some more. I couldn't say no. So they got dressed and ran outside. According to Uncle Bob, the boys were well behaved. John got to sleep in Justin's race car and Justin slept in Uncle Bob's bed. And John said "Uncle Bob slept on the couch!" The boys got to play a little more and then I took the kids home. Daddy was outside cleaning up the backyard. John wanted to help too. "I gotta get my work boots on and help Daddy!" The boys worked outside while Gillian napped and I cleaned the kitchen.

Sunday was Easter. John woke up in the morning and came right into our room. "Mommy I want to snuggle." We snuggled for a few minutes and he realized that it was Easter morning. We decided it would be best to send Daddy a text so he could wake up Gillian. Daddy came upstairs and he woke up Gillian. John started to tell me "the Easter Bunny came last night. He left us baskets." I asked him how he knew that and he quickly replied "Daddy told me." That still cracks me up because he hadn't even seen Daddy by that point. As soon as Daddy was done changing Gillian, John went running downstairs. "I told you he came!". The Easter Bunny not only left baskets of goodies but he also hid a few eggs in the house. John had a great time looking for the eggs. Gillian was content to play with her basket. The Easter Bunny filled our eggs with M&Ms and a few with dollar bills. Without opening an egg, John shook one and said "that's M&Ms!" The next one he shook didn't make a noise. He looked at me and said "I know what's in this one. Money!" What a little smarty pants.

We then headed to Aunt Trish & Uncle Kevin's for dinner. Aunt Trish always sets up a big egg hunt for the kids. Each kid gets his or her own set of eggs to hunt. John had to look for dinosaurs and Gillian had butterflies. John and Gillian brought their own buckets. Before the hunt started John said "My bucket is big. For all the eggs I'm going to get!" Already talking trash. Hilarious considering each kid had a set number of eggs to find.

Overall a fabulous weekend. It was so hard to drop the kids off at school this morning and go to work.

Visit with Santa

Daddy and I decided to take the kids to see Santa today. I talked to Gillian before we left the house and asked her what she wants Santa to bring her. She said "Presents. Baby dolls. Loopsy." She was very prepared to talk to Santa. We got to the mall and waited in line. Gillian was very good on line. John really didn't spend much time on line. When we got there Daddy took him for a walk and when they got back John and I had a secret mission (we had to go get a Christmas gift from John to Gillian) so we took a walk. When John and I returned we were only 6 people from Santa! Gillian told me "I sit on Santa's lap!" The line moved pretty quickly and before we knew it it was our turn! John went right over to Santa and sat next to him. Gillian was not that excited. She cried. Daddy had to kneel next to Santa with Gillian on his knee for the picture.

Later I asked Gillian why she didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. She said "I cry!" I asked her why. She said "He have gloves and glasses. Daddy have glasses." I'm not really sure I understand her logic.