The World According to the DeLucas

Favorites 2011

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:50:00 +0000

I got this idea from Pinterest and decided to modify it a bit. Instead of doing it on their birthdays, I'll ask them these 20 questions the day after Christmas every year from now on (my mom used to do this every New Year's Eve, but I can't wait that long. LOL). Here are their answers for 2011:

Jill (5 1/2):

What is your favorite color? Purple
What is your favorite toy? My American Girl Doll
What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
What is your favorite tv show? Max & Ruby
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni & Cheese
What is your favorite outfit? My Hello Kitty dress
What is your favorite game? Uno
What is your favorite snack? Crackers
What is your favorite animal? Piggy!
What is your favorite song? Party in the U.S.A., Miley Cyrus
What is your favorite book? If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Laura Numeroff
Who is your best friend? Brooklyn
What is your favorite cereal? Rice Krispies
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
What is your favorite drink? Water
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Blankie
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Roast Pork (??)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Work at McDonalds (Double ????)

Matt (Almost 7):

What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite toy? My 3DS
What is your favorite fruit? Grapes
What is your favorite tv show? Spiderman
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pancakes
What is your favorite outfit? Mario clothes
What is your favorite game? Super Mario 3D Land
What is your favorite snack? Pretzels
What is your favorite animal? Elephant
What is your favorite song? Slam, Onyx (thanks Mark!)
What is your favorite book? "I like to make my own books."
Who is your best friend? Anthony
What is your favorite cereal? Chocolate Rice Krispies
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
What is your favorite drink? Water
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Angry Birds blanket
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pancakes (I sense a theme here...)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Firefighter

Jillian's Christmas Gymnastics Show

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:40:00 +0000

The following is what happens when you take one little girl on an extreme sugar-high from an afternoon at a Christmas cookie decorating party and then send her to her gymnastics Christmas show:

She's such a little goof. :)

I'm an Elf on The Shelf Mommy - and Proud of It!

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:24:00 +0000

I don't pretend to be an amazing mom. I'm far from what you'd call an "over-achiever." I do the best I can. I'm not very crafty, I don't like to cook and don't do extravagant projects with the kids, I probably should read to them more and they most likely watch too much TV and play too many video games. I'd qualify myself as distinctly average, in fact.

But I love my kids. I get so much enjoyment out of seeing them happy, seeing their faces light up and hearing them laugh. When I get moments like that with them, it's like a drug, I just want it to happen over and over again and I never want it to end. (And speaking of "drugs" - of the legal prescribed variety - for the record, In case you haven't guessed, I'm proudly medicated, I have a lack of mood swings to prove it - and my kids will thank me for it later.)

But anyway, especially at this time of year, I want childhood to be a magical time for them. I want to bottle up that sense of innocence. I want their imaginations to have free reign.

I don't think that makes me any different - or better - than most parents out there. After all, don't we all enjoy the same things as parents? Don't we all want, after all, to "do good by our kids?"

So when I read posts like this one, I have to admit, it raises my hackles. Yes, we have an "Elf on the Shelf," and yes, I have gone a little nuts with him this year. But it's all in good fun. I don't do it to make other parents feel less-than. I do it for the sole purpose of making my kids happy. Making them laugh. Seeing their eyes light up every morning when they find him up to one of his antics. Every night I try to come up with new ideas for our Elf. Again, because it's fun. It's good clean, innocent fun. And my kids love it. It's like taking the magic of Christmas and spreading it out over the entire month of December.

They're only going to be little once and they're not going to believe forever. I just want to soak up every bit of this time while I still have it.

The author of that blog above apparently has different ideas of what "fun" is. It seems that "fun" for the author is bashing someone else's ideas so much that the other poor woman actually took her blog down completely. It seems like "fun" for the author means taking the wind out of other people's well-meaning sails. They have a name for that kind of person - Bully. Plain and simple.

Lots of people posted on Facebook this morning about that blog post - saying that they found it funny. I disagree. I don't think it's funny in the least bit. And not just because I have been participating in the Elf craze this year. I don't think it's funny because it's humor with the intent of raising up the author and making others feel inferior. She took something positive and turned it into a negative. I never find it funny to pick on someone else. What kind of example are these people setting for their own kids after all?

Parents - mothers in particular - feel self-conscious about their abilities as parents enough to begin with. Why do people feel like they have to put other people down to raise themselves up? I'll never understand.

Okay, I've said what I needed to say. I got it out of my system. Now I'm going to get off my soapbox, go do homework with my son, read the kids a bedtime story (or two - as I said, I don't read to them enough), put them to bed, and then try to figure out a way to rig up Elfie so that he looks like he's parachuting from the ceiling from a pair of underpants.

In the meantime, if you feel like a giggle, do check out Elfie's Antics on my Facebook page. :)

Disney 2011 Surprise Trip

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Be forewarned... this is long but for my own benefit, I want to record everything about the trip. :)

This past week Mark and I took the kids on a surprise trip to Disney World. The idea started after Mark got home from a business trip about 6 months ago. He had gone to Orlando and stayed at the Hyatt in the airport. Overnight, the fire alarm went off and in the morning, the hotel gave him a free voucher for a one night's stay. The catch? He had to stay at THAT particular Hyatt within one year of the issue date. Of course that started the wheels turning for a short trip to Disney, because we just couldn't let that voucher go to waste and we couldn't very well go to Orlando without going to Disney World!

We decided on the week of November 7-11, because we figured that by leaving on Monday late afternoon, and because the kids had the 11th (Veteran's Day) off from school, they'd only miss 3 days of school. When we go to Disney, we typically stay at the Dolphin or the Swan, since they're both owned by Sheraton (even though they are on Disney property - near the Boardwalk) and Mark has Sheraton points from work travel, so we can stay for free (or nearly free) most times. So that was our first plan. Unfortunately, though, for whatever reason, there were no available rooms for the dates we wanted, so we had to look at other options. Since we wanted this trip to be as economical as possible, we chose one of the moderately priced resorts - the Caribbean Beach Resort - on Disney property.

We also decided that because we already had another trip in the works for October 2012 with Mark's parents, that we'd invest in an Annual Park Pass for admission to the parks. It's more expensive, obviously, than a regular 10 day pass, but since we were going twice in one year, it made sense to make the investment for the long run.

The decision to make the trip a surprise for the kids was an easy one. I think we've all seen those Disney commercials on TV with real video of parents surprising their kids with trips, and I know they've made me weepy, not to mention that we've had several friends and family members surprise their kids, so we knew it was something we wanted to try. However, those of you that know me know first hand how incredibly HARD it was to keep a secret! Thank God the kids are young enough that they were oblivious to the inevitable slipups that occurred!

Fast forward to the "reveal." The week before, I sent notes to school with the kids to tell the teachers that they'd be absent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with "strict" instructions to keep it a surprise. Luckily, Jillian can't read and I wrote Matt's in cursive, so I was able to get by with a little "white lie" to the kids as to why I was writing notes. I did all the packing while they were at school during the day and picked up little things like travel sized toiletries and stroller bags and clothes a little at a time.

November 7th
Mark worked a half-day, I did some last-minute packing, drove Bailey to the boarder's and we picked the kids up from school at around 2:00. They didn't even know they were being dismissed early, so even that was a surprise. We had all the bags packed and in the trunk of the minivan ready to go, so when we got to car, we told the kids that since Daddy had the afternoon off, we figured we'd do something special:

Matt was in complete shock, I think, and his reaction was kind of dazed. LOL Jill absolutely FREAKED. It was classic. From school, we stopped at home quickly to have the kids change out of their uniforms and left for the airport! Our flight left at 5:00. I had packed each kiddo a backpack full of activities, movies and games for the flight, and they were very excited.

We had a quick layover in Baltimore, where we ate at an "old-fashioned" diner in the airport with "real" jukeboxes on the tables. The kids got a big kick out of that. Then we boarded our second flight. The only notable thing about the flights was that on the second leg, the kid in front of us threw up. Lovely. Luckily our kids didn't even notice.

We arrived in Orlando at around 10:00 that night, and then it was just a quick walk across the airport to the Hyatt for our free stay. It worked out well because the kids were exhausted from the flight and all the excitement.

November 8th
The next morning (Tuesday) we woke up bright and early and headed down to the queue for the Magical Express (the free shuttle that takes you from the airport directly to your resort at Disney World). Since we were so early, we had the whole bus to ourselves! The kids were beyond excited and every so often over the course of the trip would shout out of nowhere, "We're at Disney World!!" The best part of the Magical Express and staying "on property" is that they take your bags and drop them off to your room for you, so after a quick check in and visit to our room (with a pirate theme that Matt was thrilled about), we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom!

Our first stop in MK was for a Mickey ice cream bar, and our first ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean, a family tradition. Jillian is tall enough this year (40" exactly), so she was able to ride most of the rides at the parks, so with a little bit of coaxing, we got her on Splash Mountain. She liked "everything except for the big hills," but refused to go back on for the rest of the trip. We had our traditional hotdogs from Casey's Corner on Main Street for lunch. And the nice thing about going to Disney the week we did was that they were in the process of transitioning from Halloween to Christmas, and the parks were not crowded at all. In fact, we got right in for a visit with Mickey and Minnie with not even a 5 minute wait!

After spending a few hours at Magic Kingdom, we headed to Epcot via the Monorail for our reservations in Canada's restaurant, Le Cellier. Before dinner we were able to get on a few rides like Finding Nemo and what Jill calls the "Golf ball ride" a.k.a. Spaceship Earth (which, for some strange reason, Jillian LOVES and for equally strange reasons, Matthew HATES). We stayed until the park closed that night to watch IllumiNations from a table in Great Britain (thanks to a really nice family, who offered us their table as they were leaving).

Scariest thing that happened on vacation? Tuesday night around 11:30 Matt got up, sleep-walking, in his underpants, and tried to open the hotel room door because he thought it was the bathroom. :-O Thank God the door was heavy and that Mark and I are fairly light sleepers, otherwise he would have been locked outside in the middle of the night. For the rest of the week we barricaded the door and dead-bolted it just in case.

November 9th
Wednesday morning we went to Animal Kingdom. Again, the crowds were low, the weather was perfect and we were able to get right on most of the rides! Mark took Matt on Expedition Everest, a roller coaster he loved last year, but this year for whatever reason, the yeti theme freaked him out and he refused to ride again with me. When Matt gets nervous about something, he obsesses about it, so for the rest of the day all he wanted to talk about was the yeti. We made up silly stories about the shy yeti on the mountain who just wanted to make friends by giving out snow cones to take his focus away from the scary aspects of the ride.

Also, we had promised Jill she could get her face painted (she chose a butterfly design), and Matt insisted on a yeti on his face, even though that wasn't listed on the board as an option. Luckily, the guy painting faces was really nice and said he could improvise... and improvise he did! The "yeti" he painted on Matt's face was spectacular!

The jungle safari was Jillian's favorite and we got lucky since most of the animals were out and about! I think that's the most animals I've ever seen on that ride by far!

After a visit to the petting zoo where Jill got to pat her favorite animal - the pig - and we took pictures of Grandpa's favorite animal - the cow - we went back to the hotel for an afternoon relaxing by the pool for me - I forgot my bathing suit! - and going for a swim for Mark and the kids. We then went back to the room to shower and get ready for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. For an additional fee, you can buy tickets to the party and the park is open to just the people who have special wrist bands from 7:00 PM to midnight. They also have games for the kids, a special parade, fireworks and free hot chocolate and cookies.

But I think their favorite part of the night was having their pictures taken with Phineas and Ferb, their favorite Disney cartoon characters. Matt's grin was priceless.

Needless to say, they were absolutely exhausted by the end of the night. Jill was a little weepy because she had to do a lot of waiting around while we took Matt on the "big kid" rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain, so we let her pick the last three rides - Small World, the Carousel and the Dumbo ride. Jill rode on Mark's shoulders for the walk back to the bus, while Matt passed out cold in the stroller.

On the bus, both Matt and Jill fell fast asleep. Mark was standing with the stroller, so when the bus stopped at our stop, he got off with the stroller while I tried - very unsuccessfully - to wake Matt since I couldn't carry him and Jill at the same time. I even resorted to shaking him and slapping his cheeks (gently, I promise) but the kid just wouldn't wake up! I moved a bit to pick Jill up and he feel over on the seat, right on his face and just kept sleeping. Everyone around us was very amused. LOL. Mark came back on the bus and picked Matt up and we carried two very sleepy kiddos back to the room.

November 10th
Thursday morning we let them sleep in and took a bus over to Hollywood Studios to have a leisurely walk to the Boardwalk area for breakfast at our favorite little pastry shop, called the Boardwalk Bakery. We then walked over to Epcot to catch the rides we didn't have a chance to do on Tuesday. Again, since Jillian is now 40", she was able to get on my personal favorite, Soarin, and Test Track. Jillian loved Test Track so much that we rode twice in a row. I'll never forget her fist pump while yelling, "TEST TRACK RULES!"

Oh, and we had Perry the Platypus with us that day because we were planning on going to Hollywood Studios that night, where Phineas and Ferb had a meet and greet, so Perry got to come on all of the rides with us that day as well. I don't know how many times over the course of the trip that someone came up to us asking where we got him (at home at the Disney Store a few months prior), or yelling "Perry!" as they walked by! It was hilarious!

Later that afternoon, we walked from Epcot, through the Boardwalk, to Hollywood Studios. Mark wanted to ride the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, so we headed over there to get a Fast Pass. Much to our surprise, Matt walked over to the measuring stick thingy and he was just tall enough to ride! He must have had a sudden growth spurt in the weeks leading up to the trip because he was definitely not tall enough when we measured him before! The cast member at the entrance of the line was amazing! She saw that Matt was so excited to be tall enough, and instead of making him and Mark wait in the 30 minute line, or wait until later to return with a regular Fast Pass, she gave Mark and I each a special Fast Pass to ride immediately, so that he could take Matt on right that minute - bypassing the lines completely - and then I could do the same with Matt as soon as they got off, if he really liked it.

When they came off the ride, though, Matt was in tears. The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster goes completely upside down - in the dark - in big spirals and loops. Mark said that Matt was terrified. Poor kid! We felt awful, even though we fully explained to him before he went on what to expect. Mark and I decided that I'd ride alone and I started walking towards the line with my Fast Pass. Matt - still with tears streaming down his face - ran up to me and said he wanted to go on again! I was shocked! I must have asked him 20 times if he was sure he still wanted to ride, but he insisted! Later he told me he went back on because he didn't want me to have to ride alone. I love that little boy!

The thing that cracked me up, though, was that he ran up to the measuring stick again, took off his shoes (he was obviously too short without them on) and said, "oh well, I guess I can't ride, I'm too short," but the cast member (not the same one from before) told him that they measure with shoes on and he was fine to ride if he wanted to. He insisted he did want to and so we walked back onto the ride. He almost backed out again when we got to the front, and I totally would have walked off the ride with him, but after thinking about it for a minute, he changed his mind and got on. I held his hand the entire time and when it was over, he was grinning ear to ear. He loved it the second time around and if you ask him what his favorite ride is now, he'll tell you it's the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. So proud of my little man for being so brave and facing his fears!

The whole reason we decided on Hollywood Studios that night was to see The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights and to visit with Phineas and Ferb again. It started at 6:00 and continued every 20 minutes or so until park closing at 8:00, but since we got sidetracked with our little Rockin' Roller Coaster adventure, we missed the first show, so we went to see Muppet Vision 3D show first, were lucky enough to be the last ones allowed in line to visit with Phineas and Ferb, who, of course, loved that Matt brought Perry and got a bunch of hilarious pictures (PhotoPass link below), then headed over and caught the last light show. I really expected the kids to love it, but they were surprisingly underwhelmed. By that time, the park was about to close and the kids were hungry and tired, so we headed back to the hotel where we got a (very) late dinner and put the kids to bed.

November 11th
Friday we got up very early, since it was leaving day and the hotel staff was coming at 7:00 to pick up our luggage and take us to check out and say goodbye to our luggage (the Magical Express weighs and checks your luggage for you so that you don't have to do it at the airport! Very nice service when you have kids!). After the check-out process was complete, we headed to the Beach Club Resort for a character breakfast at the Cape May Cafe with Donald, Goofy and Minnie. The kids had a great time and got a kick out of it when Minnie "told" them that Mickey wasn't there because he was out playing golf.

After breakfast, we headed back to Magic Kingdom for one last visit. The first thing we did when we arrived was get in line to visit the princesses - Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Jillian, of course, was beyond excited to see the princesses and have her picture taken, but Matt, not so much. He said he would absolutely NOT go and have his picture taken, but when the time came, he went "just for Jillian." I'm so glad he did because the pictures they took were hilarious ( PhotoPass link here). There was one picture (my favorite) of Belle kissing Matt on the cheek and Matt looks all embarrassed. He also bragged to Aurora all about how he went on the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (twice!) and loved it.

We let Jill pick the last rides since she had to do a lot of waiting around for Matt the past week, and she chose Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Then Mark and Matt went on Thunder Mountain one last time and we got some lunch and did some shopping. It was Veteran's Day and the park was MOBBED, so we decided to cut our losses and return to the hotel to get ready to leave.

It was a good thing we did, too, because after a quick snack at the hotel, we literally ran over to the Custom House, collected our carry-on bags and hopped on the Magical Express bus with minutes to spare. From there it was a quick 20 minute ride to the airport. Once there, Mark started to get a little concerned because he couldn't find our car keys in our carry-on bags. He couldn't remember what he did with them, and couldn't remember seeing them since we left Manchester. All we could do was hope that they were in our luggage, which we wouldn't see until we got back to New Hampshire at 10:00 that night.

The kids did great on the flight - Jill even slept through the landing - and we arrived on time back in Manchester at around 9:30. We immediately headed to the baggage claim and prayed that we'd find the keys. Well, guess what? After sorting through dirty laundry, souvenirs and toiletries - no keys. We still have no idea what happened to them. We called the both airports, both airlines and both hotels we stayed at and no one has found them. Mark called his dad, who stopped by our house and got our spare set, and drove up to the airport so we could get home. The poor kids were exhausted but were very patient and made the best of a bad situation by watching TV on our iPhones, playing I Spy and eating donuts from Dunkies. Finally, after an hour and half waiting at the airport, Mark's dad (our hero) arrived with our keys and we took two very tired kiddos home and tucked them into their own beds, then collapsed into ours.

It was an amazingly fun, crazy, eventful whirlwind of a trip and I loved every minute of it (with the exception of the lost keys, of course). If you ask both kids what their favorite part of the trip was, they'll tell you it was the surprise! :) That was my favorite part, too. If you've read this long, you're amazing!! Links to our pictures can be found below:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Disney's "Official" PhotoPass Pictures:
PhotoPass Slideshow

So Proud!!

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:10:00 +0000

Okay, I'm claiming bragging rights on my children tonight.

We were at the mall shopping and a guy at one of those "Cash for Gold" kiosks gave the kids a couple of balloons. Then we stopped at Bertucci's for some dinner. As we were eating, a very harried looking mom with a baby and a two year old sat down next to us. The baby was fussy and the little boy was acting... well... like a typical two year old.

We finished eating and were getting ready to leave and I noticed a thoughtful look on Jillian's face as she was looking at the kids sitting next to us. Then she got up, walked over to their table, and asked the mom if she could give the baby her balloon. Matt saw what Jill was doing and without hesitation, walked over and gave the two year old his balloon. The look of pure gratitude on that mom's face was priceless. She (as well as several people at tables surrounding us) kept saying how kind and thoughtful my kids were and how she hopes her kids will be like that some day. I was so proud I could have burst. Thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes.

How did I get so incredibly lucky?

First Week of School

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:22:00 +0000

Click here to view these pictures larger

Punch Buggy

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:17:00 +0000

Backstory:

A big thing in our car these days is the "Punch Buggy" game. Matt in particular is very good at the game, and has even come up with variations such as "Kick Buggy" (whenever he sees any sort of rounded sedan-type car) and even "Tickle Buggy" whenever he sees a Nissan Quest (which is the type of minivan we have).

The problem is that most of the time Matt sees the punch buggy first, and seeing as he has longer arms, he can reach across the seat and deliver an enthusiastic slug to his sister fairly quickly. Now, don't worry, Matt knows not to actually hurt with his punches. He's very gentle. And, I hate to admit it, Jillian is kind of a sore loser.

That all being said, here's the conversation that took place in our car last week:

Matt: PUNCH BUGGY! No punching back!

Jill: OOoooh!! No fair! Matt always gets to hit me!

... leading to one of those things you never think you'd say to your kids:

Me: Matt, would you please let your sister hit you for once?

The Pickley

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:26:00 +0000

(Just so you know, "the pickley" is one of the nicknames we have for Jillian, which is an off-shoot of "Jill-Pickle").

Jill: "The pickley is having a hard time."
Matt: "You have a hard life Jillian."
Jill: "It's not easy being me."

Kindergarten Graduation

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:39:00 +0000

Click here to view these pictures larger

Oh yeah, and hey? How did I get from this:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

to this:

and this:

I'll never stop loving you

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:27:00 +0000

Matt called Jillian dumb this morning. After a lengthy lecture about why we don't call people names, Matt went up to Jill, unprompted, gave her a hug and an apology. Jill hugged him back, her cheek against his chest, his chin resting on top of her head, and she said, "That's okay Matthew, I will always keep loving you, no matter what."

That really touched my heart because, #1 I didn't have to tell Matt to give Jillian a hug and an apology, he thought of it all on his own, and #2, what Jillian said to Matthew is something I always tell the kids when they do something wrong. After punishing or lecturing or talking to them, I always follow it up with a hug and tell them that no matter what they do, I'll never ever stop loving them.

Jillian's Gymnastics Recital

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:38:00 +0000

Hey Mickey:

Singing in the Rain:

Enjoying her flowers from Meema and Grandpa after the show:

Matty-isms

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:43:00 +0000

"Soap is like hot lava for germs. It burns them all up."

After he got sick: "I need to brush my teeth with your toothpaste Mum, because it fights germs for up to twelve hours."

"Lungs are the air conditioner for your body. They help you to breathe."

"I'll eat whatever you tell me to... 'cept for the things I don't like."

"I got kicked in the wiener... [a few minutes go by] ...What's a wiener?"

Fruit salad

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:22:00 +0000

First comes love...

Then comes marriage...

Then comes the baby in a baby carriage!

Matt and Jill had a wedding ceremony for Raspberry and Coconut this afternoon and were thrilled to welcome Coconut, Jr. to the family shortly after.

His pet fuzzy

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:28:00 +0000

1. Matt has been walking around all afternoon with a cotton ball, calling it his "pet fuzzy."

2. Jillian came home from school today all excited about music class. Apparently they sang "Farmer in the Dell" and a boy named Chris was the farmer and picked Jill as his wife. They start so young these days.

Case of the Sillies

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:33:00 +0000

We were driving the other day and the kids were being overly silly in the back-seat. I asked them to be a little quieter because I had a headache. They didn't calm down so Mark repeated my request to settle down. Jillian said, with a "tone" and an eye-roll,

"But Dad, we just have a case of the sillies."

Right of Passage

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 21:20:00 +0000

Jillian and her friend Hannah met the age-old right of passage yesterday when they threw something in the toilet that is definitely not meant to be thrown in the toilet - handfuls of Q-tips. I could hear them giggling upstairs yesterday and assumed they were playing dress-up (which is what they were supposed to be doing). But after Hannah left I realized that they might have been up to no good when I saw some goldfish crackers floating in the toilet bowl and when I flushed... well, nothing went down.

Mark spent an hour trying to fix the problem with the plunger and later a snake, to no avail. We kept asking Jill what she did and at first she'd only admit to the goldfish crackers and then in a really small voice, finally said "Q-tips."

It was around this point that I noticed that most of the box of of Q-tips was gone. They were also stuffed down the drain in the sink. So suffice it to say, in came the plumber, who promptly dislodged a large handful of Q-tips from the toilet.

Jill wanted to know if she had to go to jail for doing something naughty. I told her no, but as a consequence, we had her skip her much beloved gymnastics practice today. Hopefully this is a lesson learned.

Kindness

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 23:39:00 +0000

We were on our way home tonight after a movie and Jill turned serious. She said to me,

Jill: "Mrs. B [her teacher] told me about how some people don't have homes and have to sleep outside when it's cold out because they have no warm beds to sleep in."
Matt: "If you see someone who has no home, mumma, you stop and I'll give them money from my piggy bank.
Jill: "Me too, he can have my money, too."
Matt: We'll give him money and he can buy a house.
Jill: "And he can buy a fridge... and a... fridge."
Matt: "And a sleeping bag, so he won't be cold anymore."

Thlumb Kisses

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:45:00 +0000

I have the same bad habit of a lot of moms I know - when I see some sort of foreign sticky substance on my kids' faces, I just feel absolutely compelled to stick my thumb in my mouth, reach out and swipe that grime off of their faces. I just can't help myself. So today, on the way to the kids' dentist appointment, I noticed that Jill had some peanut butter from lunch on her cheek. In went the thumb and off came the peanut butter.

Jillian said: "Ewww! Mumma, I don't like your kisses!"
Me: "What? Why don't you like my kisses?"
Jillian: "I like your regular kisses, mumma, but I don't like your thlumb kisses. "

Parent Teacher Conferences

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:41:00 +0000

I'm sorry, I just have to brag about the kiddos. I just got back from parent-teacher conferences and both kids got amazing reviews.

Matt's teacher told me that he's a joy, very respectful and polite to both the teacher and the other students. That he does his work well, that he cheerfully completes it and on time, that he follows directions, he's very focused and is extremely bright. She said that she didn't have a single negative thing to say.

Jillians teacher also said she was a joy, that she always pays attention and does what she should be doing, that she's wise beyond her years and very smart, that's she's meticulous in her work, that she's always polite and respectful and that she's every teacher's dream.

I'm so incredibly proud. What I wrote above doesn't even begin to give justice to how much both teachers raved about how well Matt and Jill are doing. I keep getting tears in my eyes even thinking about it.

A little boy's prayer

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:55:00 +0000

Jill told me on the way home from school that it's the first of October today.

Matt piped in, "God made it October, mumma! I'll say a prayer to him to thank him." He paused for a moment and then started solemnly reciting:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen."

I almost drove straight off the road. It was just like Bethany from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That's my boy!

Rock Star

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:15:00 +0000

Jillian was rocking out to a song in the backseat of the car yesterday and I told her she was a good singer. She said,

"Yeah, I'm going to be a rock star (in her best I-know-it-all voice) when I grow up."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, I'm going to be a rock star, and it's going to be so much fun.... but I want to be a mommy, too," she added pensively.
"You can be whatever you want to be," I assured her. "You can be a rock star and a mommy if you want to (figuring I was being a good mom who encourages her little girl that she can do anything she wants when she grows up)."
"Yeah! I'll be a rock star and a mommy and the daddy will go to work, just like my daddy, and make all the money so I can be a rock star!"

I just didn't know how to respond to that...

The power of advertising

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 00:58:00 +0000

Matt has a bad habit of, um, licking his toys. I know. ich.

So anyway, this morning he had his toy in his mouth and I said, "Matthew, that's so gross. There are germs all over that. You're going to get sick one of these days."

Matt said, "No I won't Mumma. I won't. I used your toothpaste. It kills germs up to 12 hours after brushing!

Funny things they say

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:49:00 +0000

Me: Matt get your fingers out of your mouth.
Matt: How did you know that? Do you have eyes on the side of your head?
Me: Yes, and on the back of my head, too.
Matt: You must be an alien!

Jill: Mumma, it's my r'sponsibil-ty to pick the movie.

Jill: Mumma! This is no time to joke around! I need to find that doll!

A Short Story

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:37:00 +0000

Jillian: Mumma, guess what? I cleaned up my whole room! It was only a short mess though.
Me: A short mess?
Jill: Yeah, a short mess. Like a short story!

Golf

noreply@blogger.com (KellyBean) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:23:00 +0000

Matt was explaining the "rules" of golf this morning to Jillian:

"Jill, there's this guy. His name is "Fluff." He has white hair. He doesn't play golf though. He just holds the flag for the golf players. If you hit the ball into the water, you have to go get it. That's why golfers bring their bathing suits. They keep them in their cup holders. When they hit a ball into the water, they have to dive in and get it back. Those are the rules."