Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Loving Summer

Gillian talked me into buying some Lillies. I'm glad she did. It's nice to walk into the kitchen and see the flowers on the counter and when you walk in our front door it smells amazing.


Monday, June 27, 2011

Involved Cat

Gracie loves Gillian's toys. She has pretty much destroyed all Polly Pockets clothes and she loves to bat around anything tiny she can get a hold of but when the Barbies come out, she likes to nap in the middle of everything.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

Strawberries

Today Gillian and I went with Grampie Brooks to the strawberry patch to pick our own strawberries. Just the smell walking to the patch was unbelievable.


Once we were back home Gillian and I made fresh strawberry milkshakes....oh so good!




Friday, June 24, 2011

Daycare

Dear Gillian:

Today is your last day of daycare, you will probably not remember this day when you are older. Kind of like recently you have been asking me about your first day of daycare. It’s hard to believe that 3 years and 4 months have gone by since you started attending daycare.

When you first started going you cried all day…from when we dropped you off until when we picked you up. Don’t worry that phase passed so eventually you were okay with us dropping you off and you got so excited when we picked you up. You even got to the point that you were thrilled when we dropped you off and didn’t want to leave when we came to pick you up.
It’s hard to believe when you started there, you still used a Nuk, you weren’t talking and you were extremely wobbly on your feet. The time has flown by and now you talk like a teenager (including attitude) and you are becoming stronger and stronger every day.

Your Dad and I are so grateful that you were able to attend such a wonderful daycare. The women there treated you like you were their own child and we are positive you were their favorite!

I know over the next couple of months will be an adjustment for you which we took into consideration when we chose to have you leave daycare at the beginning of summer rather than the week before starting school. The daycare has been a huge part of your life for most of your life and you will miss it, I’m sure of that.

Tomorrow you will start a new chapter in your life. Your Dad and I are confident that you are ready. We are so proud of the young girl you are becoming. We love you!

Love,
Mom

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Fun Run

Gillian started her fun runs tonight. She now had to move into the ½ mile group. I had warned her prior to going that she would be younger than a lot of the kids and not to be discouraged if she didn’t come in first. I gave her the usual competitive pep talk in our house – if anyone falls, keep running; if you fall, get up and start running again; just keep running.


So she took off with everyone and headed straight for the back of the pack. I couldn’t really figure out what she was doing because she didn’t know any of the other kids so I knew she wasn’t staying there because she knew them. As they got closer I realized one of the children was crying…Gillian does not deal well with crying. She didn’t seem to know what to do about it (her usual response to anyone crying is panic). So I’m yelling telling her to keep running so she proceeds on as the child’s mother gets her son out of the way.


Then she catches up to another kid and proceeds to run so close that she is almost tripping him rather than run around him she just stays right on his heels. So I’m yelling to pass and she just stays right there for the entire race…lol


So you can imagine the conversation in the car on the ride home about next week’s run. You must pass people. You are going to hurt yourself and others running that close to people. If someone is crying you can’t help them so don’t wait for them. Basically this is a heartless sport and the goal is to be first over the finish line…lol


Competitive parenting at its best! For a child that will have a meltdown after losing a board game she takes not coming in first quite well in sports. All she cared about is getting a popsicle…that was the win to her. I wish life was that easy.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Family Fun!

Last night I got home from work and I was in a somewhat bad mood. Right after arriving home from work a coworker called and I was on the phone for about a ½ hour which put me in somewhat of a better mood so I went downstairs to see what Craig and Gillian were doing. They had blown up water balloons and I could hear them talking about ambushing me…well I was not interested in getting soaked with cold water balloons. I kept listening; they had set aside a couple balloons by the slider for me so I had somewhat of a chance and put a bunch in a dump truck that was placed on the opposite side of the yard.


I went into survival mode and they were getting ready assuming I would walk out shortly so I grabbed a pitcher and filled it with semi warm water (I do have a heart) and proceeded out the front door. It was going to be all about timing whether I would survive.


They were so engrossed in their conversation they didn’t even see me coming till it was too late (and I’m not fast people, I guess their ability to block everything out came to my advantage). So I managed to throw half of each of them. Which then started the war and eventually all balloons were gone and a hose was brought out. By the end we were all soaked and had a very fun evening!

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Girls



Zandra, Emma, Ava and Gillian

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!

I had been looking forward to this past weekend since Craig and I had booked it. We went down to Hartford, CN to see Eddie Vedder perform. It’s a nice small venue and it was time away for us and for a HUGE Pearl Jam fan that my husband is, it seemed like the perfect Father’s Day weekend.


It was hard to break the news to Gillian that she would not wake and see Daddy on Father’s Day. There may have been a meltdown. And she is at the age that she knows we are doing something without her if she is going away for the night so she wants to know what she is missing.


On the way there Craig and I discussed when we would take her to her first concert. I’m not sure she is quite ready as sometimes getting her to sit through a movie at the theatre is tough and concert tickets are a lot more expensive than the movies.


Once we made it to our hotel and gave our car up to be parked for the night we headed out for some food. After goggling some restaurants we headed out to Salute. It was a nice Italian restaurant. From there we went to Black Bear Saloon for the pre-party. It is very rare that I go have drinks alone with my husband….it was SO nice. And definitely something I want to do again. From there we headed to the show which was really good. I love to people watch and I saw 3 air guitars…by 3 different people…lol I couldn’t help but laugh each time I saw them. From the concert we headed back to the hotel…it was about 3 miles of walking according to Google as we didn’t bother with a taxi since the weather was so nice.


Sunday we were up and on the road as quickly as possible so that we could get home to Gillian. It was so nice to walk into my parents house and have Gillian all ready with Craig’s Father’s Day gift and wishing him a Happy Father’s Day…she is so grow up!




(Craig is wearing the hat Gillian picked out for him and a frame that she made for him.)


Monday, June 13, 2011

Gymnastics & TBall

We signed Gillian up for summer gymnastics! It will only be 1 day a week as we are hoping tball will be starting so we didn't sign her up for 2 days.




We did found out that the weather and wet fields have been why tball hasn't started. It's going to be a short season, that's for sure.




Gillian is looking forward to starting both activities soon.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Fire Dept Field Day

Last year we took Gillian to her first Fire Dept Field Day. It's free and the weather had been beautiful that day. It was her first encounter with a parade and she had a blast.




We had mentioned to her this past week the field day was coming up and if she wanted to go which of course she answered she wanted to go...free candy!




The weather did not look quite as nice, a chance of rain was the forecast...we got soaked! Gillian had a blast which was what the day was all about so that is all that mattered.





(I kept trying to get a picture of her waiving, you can't see her left arm but that is what she is doing.)



(Sorry for the blurry picture but she was a wild woman trying to get all the candy because we all know she loves to collect it and then will rarely eat it!)


Car ride home enjoying her tootsie roll!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Last Day of Gymnastics

Today was Gillian's last day of gymnastics for the year. As much as I hated having to participate in gymnastics with her every Saturday morning, I was sad to go to the last day. It was another reminder that she is growing up and doesn't need me quite as much. It is amazing to see how far she has come in that class. There is a huge difference in her from the first day to the last day. All her moves are stronger and she isn't quite as scared as she was in the beginning (her main fear is the balance beam...not the uneven bars which Ms. Kelly says she is fearless with). I am very proud that she will be attending level 1-2 in the future. I love that although Gillian will openly tell you, "I'm not very good at this", she keeps trying.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Recital Time

Gillian has her dance recital tonight. She is over the top excited to be up on stage. It’s funny that such a shy little girl has no second thought about getting up on stage in front of an auditorium full of strangers. We look forward to dance recital time because that means dance class is coming to an end for the year (it can be a long year!). But I can’t believe she has already been through 2 years of dance. I remember the little girl that I had to sit in the dance studio and watch the other kids because she wouldn’t join in then it was hit or miss the entire first year whether if we got there she would participate (there may have been bribes). Now she will glance at the window to make sure we are watching but it’s not her top priority. My baby isn’t a baby anymore and I’m constantly being reminded of it.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Sharing a forward...

I received this as a forward and thought I would share....enjoy!

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because theyhaven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.



I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.



How many women out there will eat at home because their husband complained when they suggested going out to dinner?



How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched your favorite show on television?



I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.



Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!



We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.



Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'



When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasmfor life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.



My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.



Now..go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?



Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I shared this with you.



Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?



When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.'And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi'?



When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.



'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!'