Last of Nice Days

When the girls first went outside Jillian worked on the hula hoop.  She can do it real well on her arm and she kept trying to do it on her body and gets better every time.  So as soon as Jillian was done, here comes Bridget to try to do it too.  She would swing it with her arms and when it fell she would throw up her arm to say "Yea!" 

Then Jillian wanted to show me how well she can do hopscotch.  They loved throwing the rocks.  As always Bridget watches carefully.  Then it was on to the helicopter.  Jillian has figured out how to balance the teeter-totter to do it with Bridget.  It does look kinda scary, but it works. 



Halloween Decorations

Since next week is the first of October, I had the girls help me unpack and start putting up Halloween decorations.  The first thing Jillian wanted was the hanging spider that drops when you clap.  They love the thrill of being scared or scaring anyone that comes.  We didn't get too far on putting up the decorations as they wanted to play with everything and see what was in the next bin.
Thanks to sister Dianne I decided to try some egg carton Halloween decorations.  Jillian is showing off her hanging bat and spider she made.  Bridget worked on a spider but had more fun painting everything but the egg carton.  Also she didn't want to get any black on her fingers.  She threw her bat off the high chair and Sophie immediately chewed it up before I could save it.


 

In the evening we went to Papa Pete's to help James celebrate his birthday.  Then we went to the volleyball game where the girls did a lot of playing with Rielee and a little volleyball watching.  After the game they ran on the floor and got to see Tierney.  The Rockets won in three.



Since it wasn't very nice out Jillian wanted to water color and so did the "Me too!" girl.  Actually they both did very well until Bridget got tired of just painting the paper and painted the tray and then dumped her water on the tray.  Good thing I just gave her a tiny bit of water.  Jillian had a very colorful picture she hung on the refrigerator.

Next they decided to go outside so stepped out on the back deck.  Jillian decided it was cold so she went back inside and dressed her and Bridget in snow hats, coats, gloves, long pants, and boots.  After a minute outside they decided something in the house looked like more fun so immediately came in and shed everything.  Sometimes the attention span is so short.

Jillian wanted her picture taken this morning all ready for pre-school.  She has her new bear pillow and a backpack of things to share today at school.

 

                                                                     


Bridget's Birthday

A couple cute images from Bridget's birthday party.  In the first one she is licking some frosting from her cupcake.  In the next one she is blowing out her candles with a little help from Jillian.  When everyone was singing to her Bridget put her head down and finally toward the end she started smiling about it. 

Playdate

I finally figured out how to get this picture off my phone.  It shows Harper or Ava and Bridget interacting for their minute.  The girls are pretty in pink!

Bridget's Visit

I copied this off my sister Dianne's blog as I took some pictures with my new phone and didn't do so well.  Also Dianne captured exactly what happened.


"Cathy brought Bridget up this morning to play with Ava and Harper. She is so cute and talking up a storm. I think she and the girls sat down together for maybe a minute to have some "tea" and goldfish crackers, and they met up again in the sandbox and in the treefort, but otherwise they were all just doing their own thing. Bridget's thing for quite awhile was to go down the slide and then get a goldfish, pour a little water and drink some, and repeat. They all had a good time, enjoying the nice weather and being outside...as did their Grandma and Grannie."

Little Visitors

The day started great by getting to have breakfast with Tierney.  Doesn't Jillian look awake?  Of course Tierney got to watch Max and Ruby with them.  I'm sure that started her day on a high note.

The twins came and got to try out the new sandbox.  They played there for quite awhile but then moved on to the tents on the deck.  Ava and Harper were hams and smiled for the camera but Jillian and Bridget paid no attention.... They moved on to the helicopter teeter totter and since Jillian and Bridget were used to it and started bravely rocking high, the twins decided that wasn't for them.  They rode scooters and trikes for awhile and then went to have a tea party.

They had lots of fun.  They did a lot but that is normal for 4 active girls all four and under.

Then Bridget got to go to Auna's volleyball match with me since Jillian was taking a nap.  Then we went to Tierney's volleyball match where they got to see everybody. Fun day!

Last Hot Days

Jillian insisted we get out the slip and slide along with the pool.  At first she used the little car to go down and then cautiously would try to crawl down underneath the sprinklers.  Then all of a sudden she was filling the sprinkler can, throwing the water straight up and it would rain down on her.  She was getting soaking wet but it didn't bother her.  Meanwhile Bridget was content to sit and play in the pool.  Jillian saw Tierney come home so she shouted to her about the slip and slide and since Tierney was hot from practice, she came up and slid down several times.  Brock and Ty came by to watch.  Then Tierney gave Jillian a ride down on her back, so now Jillian was ready to try it.  She sat down at the top and Brock gave her a push and she slid down fast.  Then they encouraged her to go on her stomach and once she tried that there was no quitting, over and over again.  Not just walking to the top but running uphill every time. She didn't want to quit but the water from the pump was getting low.

Jillian asked me to take a picture with Bridget and the dogs, which wasn't the easiest task.



Busy, Busy Girls

Bridget sees older sister continually playing with dolls so to keep up with sister she wanted a set too.  Just like big sister, Bridget set up the dollhouse, talked to the dolls, had them talking to each other, and going to town in the doll's little car.  This was early in the morning.  Later it was outside for the rest of the day.  Papa took them for a walk in the woods, then Grannie took them for a walk and decided it was much easier  to use the little tractor to ride around.  Jillian steered the whole time, and thank goodness, she has the steering pretty well mastered. 

Jillian spent a lot of time twisting the rope around on the swing and unwinding.  She would get off and be dizzy for awhile and then do it over and over again.

The girls spent the night.  Jillian got to sleep in the hide-a-bed in the playroom.  She was thrilled with that. It didn't go as well with Sophie sleeping with her as opposed to the nap, as Sophie kept jumping down and scratching on the door.  Finally Jillian said Sophie could leave and she fell asleep on her own.  Bridget went to bed early and slept all night without getting up.  Wow!



First Day of School

Here's a photo of Jillian's first day of 4-year-old preschool. She is wearing one of her new pretty dresses that she got just for this occasion. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Cathcart, and she'll also have the same teacher aides as last year (Mrs. Scarborough and Mrs. Wirkkala). She had the chance to go to the open house a week ago and see all of her preschool friends from last year. This year, there'll be 20 kids in the classroom, which means many more friends.

When she brought home her stuff from preschool, she showed us her name that she had written (over the highlighter guides) and the little book about caring that she had made. Plus, she's learning some more sign language.

Kids Days at the Beach

This was the annual kids days at the beach.  Taking the trip was Will, Auna, James, Tierney, Cale, Ty, Brock, Macee, Parker, Rielee, Jillian, and Bridget with adults,Rick, Heather, Papa, and I.  We left Saturday after the VB jamboree and went right to the Astoria pool.  They had a short swim there as someone had an accident in the main pool (not one of ours).  They spent the rest of the time in the hot tub and the smaller ones in the kiddy pool.  Next was Custard King for ice cream and then on to the cabin.  They all went right to the beach to play a baseball game while the little ones played in the sand.  The next day it was right to the beach after breakfast to build the biggest moat ever.  They all shoveled while Jillian and Rielee played in the waves and Bridget ran all over screaming and jumping in small ocean puddles or running away from waves.  When the waves started breaking down the moat, the big kids were playing king of the hill and Jillian got knocked off and tumbled under water which was the end of her playing at the beach.  Mommy took her back to the cabin and she promptly fell asleep. 

This is a picture of the first day when they went to the beach.  The bigger kids wash the sand off their feet in buckets of warm water but Jillian and Bridget decided it was a great place for a bath so the went all the way in. 



The girls pick out videos to watch in the evening the first night and the boys pick them out the second night.  This is Sunday night when the older kids were watching their video and Jillian and Rielee were watching Despicable Me on the computer.  (Bridget was already in bed.)

Then Monday we cleaned up and headed for Funland.  Jillian and Bridget were thrilled with the little prizes they got from the tickets.  We had beautiful weather both days-no wind!