Fun Day!

First today the twins came to play and it was early so they played indoors.  Jillian set up the two tent houses and put blankets inside to play nap but the twins thought they had to take naps for real so they were upset, until Dianne explained it was pretend. 


Then today was Rielee's last day of school, so she came down to play later and the three of them were outside the whole time, mostly riding the jeep and bikes around.  Then they went to Aunt Robin's house to play downstairs with all the neat stuff.  Jillian was so-o-o happy that Rielee could come play!

Play-Doh Fun

Every day Bridget says Play-Doh to get someone to play with her.  So when Jillian is napping Papa will sit down with her and make things from Play-Doh for her and then she rips them apart.  They both seem to have a great time.

New Stuff LI

Just to keep things interesting, here's some new stuff from the girls:

1. Hot, Cold, Warm:  When Bridget starts eating or drinking something, she tends to say it's "hot", even if it's just right. So, we say "no, it's not hot". To this, she'll respond "cold". So, we say "no, it's not cold". Finally, she'll respond with "warm".
2. Joining Groups:  One of the social lessons that Daddy taught in student teaching was about how to join groups. Well, that's one lesson we won't have to teach Jillian. When we go to the park, Jillian immediately scopes out the situation, finding a kid or groups of kids, and then makes her move ... and before we know it, she has new best friends.
3. "J i i i i i i l l l l l l l !!!":  If we ever call out for Jillian, Bridget will help us out, yelling out Jillian's name. Sometimes Bridget does it on her own when she wants to get Jillian's attention.
4. Big Sis Clothes:  Bridget can't wait to get bigger, so she can wear Jillian's clothes; but that doesn't stop her right now, since she often tries to put them on herself. We've seen some pretty strange combinations.
5. New Hamster:  No, we don't have one, but Jillian sure would like to buy one. She always talks about buying one when we go to Petco, usually saying that Mommy will get it for her.
6. "Kissy":  This is Bridget's word for kiss, and she always wants lots of them before going to bed.
7. "Robot":  This is a word that Bridget says a lot, but we have yet to figure out why.
8. Monkey Bars:  We were told by Mrs. Elliott, Jillian's pre-school teacher, that Jillian was the first kid in her class to conquer the monkey bars at school, swinging all the way from one end to the other. Jillian was a very proud little girl!
9. "See Attle":  A couple weekends ago, we told Jillian we were going to Seattle to watch a volleyball tournament. Jillian responded with "Who's Attle?"
10. Bridget's ABC's:  Jillian has sung the ABC song enough times that Bridget has learned it. Bridget doesn't quite sing the whole thing, but so far it sounds like this: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G ... J, K ...Q, R ... T ... W, X, Y and Z, Now I see see see, Next time ..."
11. Jillian's Numbers:  Jillian got lots of practice counting at school, so her numbers sound like this: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 100". We're not sure why she skips 16, or why there's no 20, but she loves to end with 100.
12. Bridget's Numbers:  Right now, the only numbers Bridget knows is 2 and 5. It's not that she's counting or anything, but she likes to say them.
13. Big Bad Wolf:  Jillian begs us to play this with her. The game consists of her and Bridget being the little pigs, and Mommy or Daddy playing the big bad wolf, and we go through the story. It ends with the little pigs squealing while the wolf chases them.
14. Freeze Tag:  This is another game Jillian loves to play. Mommy or Daddy are it, while Jillian runs away. If we happen to tag Jillian, she "freezes" for just a second before running to find Bridget who touches her to "unfreeze" her.

Getting Comfortable

The twins, Ava and Harper came down to play today and they were more comfortable with each other this time.  Jillian at first did some organizing of activities and then the girls discovered the kitchen and play house so they had a lot of fun with that.  I don't know why Bridget has her feet in the oven?

Jillian got to take home her first reading book today, An Apple Ran to practice with Mommy and Daddy.  The older kids always remember that one.  She has been working this week at Grannie's Summer School on the sounds for that first book.  She is so happy when she sounds out the words so maybe this time she is ready, because last time I tried she said "No".  She even took it to practice reading on the way home when Daddy picked her up. Whew!

Rainy Day Indoors

Jillian and Bridget got invited up to play with Ava and Harper this morning.  They played and shared very well with each other.  I got Ava to stand by Bridget for this picture.  Bridget kept the right names for the twins the whole time we were there.  Steve fixed the girls some cinnamon sugar toast that Bridget thought was yummy.  Now my plain toast won't do.

This was my attempt to get all four together for a picture.  You have about 20 seconds, so I didn't have the camera ready in time and everything fell to pieces quickly.  At this point it was nap time for everyone.

After naps and a short reading session the girls got to play with the giant Tinkertoys.  Together we built an airplane, a glider seat, a Ferris wheel, and this off-road cycle.  Jillian did such a good job of following directions.  Bridget played very well with the Tinkertoys, putting some together and then throwing her arms out and saying, "Ta Da".  But after she got bored she started climbing on the cupboard and throwing the Tinkertoys so I had to put the stool down.  This did not make her a happy camper, shouting "Me too!".  Luckily she can still be distracted so Papa took her outside.

Pretty Princesses at the Wedding

We went to Auntie Sheryl and Robin's wedding this past weekend up the Alderbrook Resort in Hood Canal this past weekend, and Jillian and Bridget got to be in it! That meant they both got to wear pretty pink princess dresses. They were so excited! Bridget and Cousin Karlie walked down the aisle holding hands, while Jillian and her friend Hannah were flower girls.

We did manage to take some individual pictures of both girls, shown here. Note the poses by Jillian - she's getting pretty good at it, when she wants to. It's a good thing we took these pictures when we did, because Bridget managed to get her dress pretty dirty, with all the falling down and climbing things. To see bigger-sized photos, just click on them to expand them up.

It was quite the fun weekend for all the kids at The Bend. There was a kids room and play place downstairs for the kids to go wild in, and go wild they did. There were a couple of bunk beds that we had to hide the ladders (due to Bridget and Karlie wanting to climb them), and there was a pool table that we had to hide the sticks (due to the kids using them like baseball bats). They were up at 6:00 or so in the morning, and they all played hard until nap times, and afterwards they were right back after it again. At the wedding reception, the crew danced and danced, with Andy showing us the "bug" move (lay on the floor and squirm around), while Jillian just wanted Daddy to toss her into the air over and over.

And for fun, here's the crew hanging out together and enjoying a laugh just before the wedding ...

Busy Day Outside

We started the day early with a walk way over the hill.  Bridget surprised me when she saw a tree that had fallen and said, "Tree fall down."  She is up to 3 word sentences now.  On the way up the hill Bridget kept saying tractor so I guessed she wanted a ride on the lawn tractor, which hasn't happened in a long time.  First Papa gave them a ride, which Jillian wasn't happy with because Papa didn't go the right way.  So I gave them the next ride and happily Jillian can steer much better. ( I just had my hand by the steering wheel to make quick corrections if need be.)  She did great and wanted to go really fast down the hills.   We rode the loop at least 3 times plus other side trips.  

Next Jillian had a new bug catcher so we went on a quest to find bugs.  Where are they when you want them?  We finally found a spider for her jar, then a couple of beetles, and a potato bug.  Most of the time she just scooped them into her jar.  She would gingerly try to pick them up but they were too fast.  We almost got a butterfly which she caught with her net but it got away right when she tried to put it in the jar.  After showing her bugs to Mommy and Daddy when they came, she let the bugs go back to their homes.

Since the girls hadn't been here for awhile and the day was nice, they had to do everything they usually do outside.  They rode the jeep and quad, had a tea party, played a long time in the sandbox, and pretended to sleep in the hammock while I sang "Rock a bye baby" and whenever I tried to quit Bridget would say, "Sing Rock baby."