Inside Days

This is the best picture I could get of Ava, Harper, and Bridget playing so well together.  I said smile and they did, but not at the camera.  Notice they all have to have their own set of dolls or animals.  Jillian was playing at the counter with her own set of dolls.  The twins are getting more comfortable with Bridget and Jillian.

After the twins left Jillian worked some more on her reading and writing.  She loves to write her letters now and spell and write some simple words.  Today it was Dan and Dad.  She could relate to those two names.

After naps it was off to Vancouver for Tierney's basketball game.  They were so good at the game.  Jillian and Rielee sat together and colored most of the game and Bridget sat by me and colored and played with the sticker book.  It was a busy fun day!

Play Date

This photo shows Jillian and her friend Emma leaving preschool for the day, wearing the new hats that they made. Jillian looks like she's about to jump out of her skin, because she's so excited to finally have a play date with Emma. She'd been asking for quite some time to do it, and then Mommy surprised her in the morning with news about it. At first Jillian was a little unsure about Mommy not being there with her, but she quickly got over it. Mommy learned that Jillian and Emma pretty much spent their entire time dressing up in Emma's princess clothes. When Sweetie-Pie returned home, she was wiped out and fell asleep on the sofa.

Thanksgiving Program

Jillian's pre-school had a special Thanksgiving program.  The children did several Thanksgiving poems with hand motions.  Jillian had the motions all down and even managed to smile at Mom and Dad, Papa Ken, and Papa Bob and Grannie.  The boys on each side of her watched the parents or the girls, not really into the program.  The parents and grandparents were seated at tables and after the program the children joined them, and sat where they had made special place mats.  We had soup, juice, and then a cake that the children had helped make.  It was all very nice.

Little Turkeys

After their naps Jillian and Bridget made these hand print turkeys.  Thank goodness Rick was there to help with Bridget as they would do one color with their hand and then need to wash their hand, which Jillian could do on her own but Bridget needed help.  They were happy with their turkeys.

These little turkeys are getting wiser every day.  Just recently they have figured out how to delay their naps.  Usually right after lunch it's nap time but Jillian will ask if they can play for 5 more minutes.  Then they go to the dollhouse and play together like little angels, no arguing or fighting, just two sweet girls playing so nice.  Since they are being so-o-o good I hate to break it up so consequently they get to stay up longer.  They did the same thing the other day when it was time for bed at night.  Maybe Grannie is getting soft?

Writing and Playmates



Since Jillian is interested now in writing letters to make words I decided to try writing on school lined paper.  She did real well on learning to start at the top and finish at the bottom.  She was proud when I would star a letter that she did very well.  She improved a lot from the first line to the second line.

Ava and Harper got to come this morning to play.  Ava and Bridget played so well at the counter with the doll set and Jillian and Harper had the horses and the play house.  We have to keep Mocha in the bedroom when they come because I think it's Mocha's size that scares them. 

After lunch and naps, Rielee got to come play.  They had a great time with the tea set, Play-Doh, Moon Dough, and horses.  Rielee was the teacher for awhile and had Jillian spelling words. 

The day went by fast.

Rocket Volleyball

This was the girls when they were cheering on the VB team on the way to state.  Rielee, Ava, Harper, Bridget and Jillian.  The girls had pom-poms and pictures of the girls on the team.  Harper held Macee's picture and Jillian had Tierney's picture.  Bridget also had one but it was upside down.  Maybe someday they will all be playing too.

Jillian Artwork and Writing

Jillian has suddenly become very focused on both drawing and writing. She has been working very hard at both, and doing pretty well.

The artwork she made all by herself is of a rainbow, with flowers and grass, and some writing down in the lower left (the wiggly lines are Jillian's version of story-writing). Jillian has been asking us often about the correct order of the colors of the rainbow, and it looks like she was listening. This piece of art was given to Mommy as a gift.

The writing is of the word "HAT". Jillian first sounded out the letters in hat, and confirmed with us whether she was right. Then she wrote the word out herself. The order isn't quite right, but she knows that she needs those letters to spell the word. She wrote many of these small notes for different people. The next day, she wrote the word "HAT" for Grannie, so now Grannie is thinking that it's about time for some reading lessons.

State Champ

Here's a photo of Jillian and Bridget with the volleyball state champion, Tierney. The Castle Rock team had just won the championship game in a thrilling game against Lakeside at the Sun Dome in Yakima, and Tierney played awesome. Jillian and Bridget had a great time, mostly playing with Rielee and some other girls. It was very late when the championship game ended, so the girls had their pajamas put on for the long trip home.

Picking Apples

First thing this morning Jillian made "Muddy Buddies".  I picked that recipe because all of the kids like them.  She did all the measuring and mixing and working hard at it, as this picture shows.  After we poured the chocolate-peanut butter over the chex, her and Bridget got to shake it in the bags with powdered sugar.  They did a great job on that too.  Jillian licked all the bowls and spoons afterwards, but when I said to try the "Muddy Buddies", she wouldn't even taste them.  Bridget loved them though.  When the other kids came later they enjoyed Jillian's snack.

After naps the girls wanted to play outside.  They rode scooters and the jeep for awhile.  Then when we were walking they saw the apple tree and wanted baskets to pick apples.  Jillian would pick the apples and I would polish them.  Soon she had a full basket and decided to take some up to Julie's family.  She left them 5 apples because that is how many are in their family.  Then she went to Robin's house and gave them 3 apples, one for Uncle Dan, Aunt Robin, and Tierney.  Bridget didn't pick much but enjoyed eating the Delicious apples, two in fact.  Even baby Ariel got tossed aside in favor of the apples. 

A Mermaid and Candy Corn

The girls were so excited to begin their trick-or-treating last night.  Jillian was surprised to see the little pumpkin when she awoke from her nap.

Mommy, Bridget, and Sophie all dressed in their orange costumes waiting for Daddy.