Yum! Chocolate Cheerios

We had to laugh after looking at Bridget a few minutes after giving her some chocolate cheerios.  Notice the one on her forehead.  This little "sweets" eater will love her chocolate.

New Stuff XLVII

All-new, all-different, all-fun ... courtesy of those Woodruff girls:

1. "Oh for goodness sake!" : One of Jillian's favorite phrases these days.

2. "Tell you what ... / How about this ..." : This is a common sentence starter for Jillian, typically when she's trying to persuade us about something.

3. Clothes Horse : Jillian will typically go through about 3 or 4 changes of clothing in a day, usually into one of her dresses. She's got the coordination thing down, as she knows what accessory goes with each dress.

4. BFF : When we ask Jillian who she played with at pre-school, it is always "Reese". Apparently, they're good friends and spend most of their playtime with each other. And, there may be a little rivalry, since Jillian constantly talks about two other girls who only play with each other.

5. Picking Up Bridget : We have to constantly get after Jillian about her picking up Bridget. Even though she might be strong enough to do it, she's not very gentle, and it usually ends in Bridget crashing to the floor.

6. Tattletale : Now that there is a little sister to tattle on, we hear it all the time from Jillian ... "Mooooommmmm" or "Daaaaaaddddd", followed by "Bridget did ..." this or that. Not that Bridget cares much right now.

7. Self-confidence : It appears that Jillian has plenty of this. When she changed into one of her dresses and came out to show Daddy, and Daddy remarked "You look so pretty!", she responded "I know, Dad."

8. In Other People's Shoes : We typically have some pairs of shoes in the hallways, since we kick them off when going on carpet. So, Bridget is very fond of slipping into them, and then trying to walk around in them.

9. Take It and Run : Perhaps Bridget will be the little imp, always seeing what she can get away with? Well, time will tell, but she's getting good practice now, as she loves to grab things (that she knows Jillian, Mommy or Daddy want) and run off with them, giggling the whole way.

10. Mean Face : It's Cousin Meagan's trademark, and Bridget has learned it, too. She scrunches up her nose and squints her eyes, and makes a loud sniffing sound.

11. Tongue Clicks : However you describe this sound, Bridget now does it, and sometimes does it a lot.

12. Climbing Everything : Maybe this has already been mentioned, but it bears repeating. Bridget is climbing everything! We are routinely finding her standing on top of chairs, Jillian's kitchen appliances, and just about anything else she can crawl up.

13. Sippy Cups : We've begun the transition away from the bottle towards sippy cups. Bridget is pretty good at using them already, showing a dramatic flair by throwing her head back when she sips.

14. "Is it Christmas yet?" : As soon as Thanksgiving was over, we heard this from Jillian. Slowly, much of her talk is turning to plans for Christmas, like "where's our tree?"

Snowman

Every time Jillian visits Tierney in her room she makes a snowman.  Tierney has these big fluffy balls so Jillian stacks them up and then dresses the snowman in a scarf, hat, earphones, and any other thing she can think of.  She is quite creative that way.  Tierney's job is to hold up the snowman until she finishes.

Pre-school Photo

It was one of those moments, when Mommy and Daddy looked at Jillian's pre-school pictures ... their little Sweetie-Pie was growing up. Hard to believe how much it's happened already! Jillian did a very good job smiling for the camera (although she was very serious for the class photo).

Sister Fun

Both girls were in good moods this morning and spent a lot of time playing together.  They had the most fun with Jillian piling up pillows around Bridget and Bridget throwing them off the couch, both of them laughing hilariously.  Then they moved to taking the cushions off the small couch to use it as a bouncer which works because without the cushions it's pretty close to the floor and high around the sides.  Then Bridget would join Jillian in riding her little sit-on-car while Jillian rode her bike around and around.  Then later Papa hooked up a dogs leash to the little rider and pulled Bridget around.  Bridget would pull her car around when she wasn't riding it, using it like a pull toy.

Bridget is always determined to do everything that Jillian does, so today when Jillian was napping, Bridget got on Jillian's bike and managed to move it a little.  She has a will to keep up with big sister!

Busy Playtime

When Rielee came to play the first thing they did was get all dressed up including fairy wings you can't see.  They even got Bridget dressed up in a grass skirt and lei.  Boy, was Bridget excited about that.  She also had goggles for something.  I had a hard time getting cooperation for a picture from all but Rielee and the other pictures didn't turn out, only this one where I cut off part of Rielee's head.  They moved from this to outside (after changing) to ride bikes and everything else.  They have a lot of energy as when they finished that they headed up to the tree house to play Pirates.  Bridget was  right in the middle of all the action and loving it.  They then picked apples from the tree and played in the waterfall, floating leaves down to the pond. When Rielee went home it was then nap time for Jillian and she went right to sleep.

Rocket Send Off

Bridget got to go to the Rocket send off for the team.  She wanted to stand by Rielee and shake her pom-pom.  The girls appreciated the send off.  Jillian was in preschool so missed it this year.

Future Teacher

Now that Jillian is going to preschool, she likes to pretend she is the teacher and do what they do in school.  Obviously they do the alphabet song every day.  She found a dowel on the counter so she lined up the alphabet (not in the right order) and sang the song while pointing at the letters she knows.  Then I had to point while she sat in a chair and sang it again.  It's hard to do that song when you have to search for the right letters. 

More Volleyball

Jillian, Bridget, Mommy, and Daddy got to come to the district game and see Macee and Tierney win District.  Of course, Jillian was also happy to see Rielee there.  Bridget didn't want to be confined to the bleachers where she couldn't run around so Mommy had to watch a lot of the match from the foyer.  But after the match Jillian and Bridget had the run of the floor.  In fact, Daddy had to catch Jillian to get the picture.  It's not easy!

Show and Tell

Jillian was so excited that she got to show Sophie for Show and Tell at Preschool.  She had been waiting to do it for a long time.  I sat in the back with Sophie so Jillian and the kids didn't notice.  All the kids sat quietly while they shared.  Then Mrs. Elliot told Jillian to look and she squealed when she saw Sophie and that was the end of the children sitting quietly as they all wanted to pet the dog.  "D" for dog was the letter of the week so it was appropriate.  The teacher finally got the kids to sit in a circle so everyone could pet Sophie.  Jillian was so proud.  

The Fairy Princess & The Cupcake

Jillian got dressed up as a fairy princess this year, complete with wings and a battery-powered light up dress. Bridget dressed up as a little cupcake that kept her nice and warm.

Because Mommy had to work on Halloween night, we took the girls around town on Sunday night, to whoever was available at the time, so the girls could do a little early trick-or-treating and Mommy could come along. Then on Monday evening, Daddy took the girls around to a few more stops, including the neighborhood with all the other kids that were walking around (it was pretty busy on our street).

Jillian pretty much understands what's going on, so as soon as she gets candy at one place, she is immediately asking to go to the next stop to get more candy. Bridget just enjoys walking around, but if the candy bowl is lowered to her level, she'll grab as much as she can.

Pumpkin Carvings

Here's this year's edition of Jack-o-Lanterns. Mommy carved her Cinderalla pumpkin in front. Daddy carved a "mad" pumpkin, which Jillian took exception to, saying it's a "happy halloween". Jillian first colored her pumpkin with crayons (hard to see here), before carving a happy face. And Bridget has the tiny pumpkin.

Jillian is giving Bridget a big hug in this photo, doing her best to keep Bridget from running away, as she always does when it's picture time.