Winter Fun!

IMG_4528
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Yep - winter has arrived. When the first sight of snow hit us last Tuesday morning, the kids were so excited. Jake looked out the window and said, "wow" (that's his latest word). They got dressed and were out the door and making tracks by 7:15. Usually, we're dragging them out the door to make it to school on time. That day, we were dragging them out of the snow to make it to school on time!

It got really cold yesterday and Megan and Jake were discussing their coat options. This is what I overheard:

M: Jake - it's a puffy coat, not a puppy coat.
J: NOOOO. Mom said it's a puppy coat.
M: No she didn't. She said, "puffy coat".
J: I wanna get a puppy. Do you, Meg?

Here's Megan's first snow angel of the season:



Megan was going into the bathroom the other day and wanted to close the door to gain some privacy from her brother. Jake stood on the outside of the closed door and said, "I can still see you. With my laser eyes".

A while back, I had sent them upstairs to get ready for bed. Jake was complaining about being afraid of the dark. Megan said to him, "Jake, you sleep in the dark every night. Mom sneaks in and turns your light off after you fall asleep". Nice.

Here are their school pictures from this year:



Notice the skull tattoo on his arm. That tattoo had been through countless baths. I truly thought it was going to be a head shot, so I wasn't worried about his outfit. Had I thought about the fact that he's so small, I probably would have put him in a long-sleeved shirt. Oops.



When the photos were sent home, I showed it to Megan and she looked at it, frowned a little bit, and said, "I don't like my smile."

Jake had a play date with his best friend Sean the other day and they went to the basement to play. I heard him from upstairs saying, "That is where Jimmy sleeps. Do you have a Jimmy?" As if everyone has a "Jimmy". So funny.

We went to our December girl scout meeting on Wednesday. On the way there, Megan was talking about this being a meeting that kids can go to. Jake asked if it was only for girls. I said, "Yeah, it's for girls and boys who are Daisy brothers". He lit up and said, "I'm a Daisy Brother!" He has a good time when we're there. He does the crafts with the girls. When we first sat in our Daisy circle, Jake was standing behind me and whispered in my ear, "Mom, what about my vest?" (I had forgotten his makeshift Daisy vest- oops).

One last Jake story. His preschool class has been practicing for their Christmas program. She grabbed me when I dropped him off at school on Wednesday to tell me that Jake had not planned on being in the program. Here's how it went down:

Jake: I'm not gonna be in the program.
Miss Riley: Why not, Jake?
J: I don't want to.
MR: Okay, you don't have to.
(meanwhile all of the kids are sitting on the rug)
MR: Alright. If you're going to be in the Christmas program, stay right here on the rug. Is anyone planning on not being in the program?
(Jake raises hand)
MR: Okay, anyone who does not want to be in the Christmas program, please go sit over at the table.
(Jake goes happily)
MR: Okay, I've got a little something for my performers. Let's sing! (she handing out little suckers while saying this last line).

Jake jumps up from the table, singing loudly, "Baby.....Baby Jesus....Born on Christmas Day".

She said he's the only kid in the class who knows all of the words to all of the songs and she's planning on putting him right in the middle! Hopefully he actually sings.

Funny Guy

It's the Earth!
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Jake is always coming up with something funny. He was playing with Play-Doh one morning while Megan was at school and I let him play with blue and white together (usually he gets only one color at a time, otherwise they get mixed into brown). He was so excited and got them partially mixed, then he held his hands out like the photo and said, "Look, Mom, it's the earth!" I was kind of impressed with that one.

Now onto the funny stuff......he was sitting at the counter yesterday and rolled his eyes way up high and said, "Hey, I'm looking inside my body". I wish I had a photo of his face during that one. It was hilarious.

And, on the way home from school, we had passed a house that had a nativity scene set up in their front yard. He pointed to the 3 wise men and said, "Look - it's the God guys".

Googley Eyes

Googley Eyes
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Well - they may have their father's eyes......













BUT, they have their mother's lips:

Girl Scouts!

Pinning Ceremony
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Last week, Megan and the rest of "my troop" had their Investiture Ceremony -- which means they received their Official Daisy Pin. It was pretty cute. Megan and Sarah got to march their flag around the room and they each had to say their first and last name into a microphone in front of a gymnasium full of people. Megan said she wasn't scared at all.

We had our second monthly meeting today. The girls earned their rose colored petal patch (which represents Making the World a Better Place). We organized a food drive for the local food pantry. They made a little turkey pine cone craft and learned a Daisy song. Jake got to come along today. He wanted to wear a vest like Megan, so I added some pins to his fleece vest and he was happy.



Jake is still cracking us up on a daily basis. A few weeks ago, while we were at Damien's birthday party, Christina told Damien to come out of his room to say goodbye to Uncle Jimmy. Jake looked at them and serious as can be, said, "That Uncle Jimmy - he's ours". I guess he's not ready to share his uncle.

Speaking of Jimmy, Jake was telling us that Jimmy has a fat belly and proceeded to stick his belly out as hard as he could and turned quite red in the process. It was pretty funny.



Jake had picture day at school last week, so I combed his hair and used a little water since it was sticking up a bit. He came down the stairs and said to Jimmy, "My hair is awesome". We're not really sure where he came up with that one.

And, finally, Jake found his Halloween costume from last year and decided to put it on yesterday. It was WAY too small, but he ended up keeping it on for about 6 hours. Then, he got up this morning and put it on again for a little while. I think I have to hide it.



We made a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden on Sunday since it was so nice outside. Our neighbor, Francesca, came with us. Nothing funny here, just a nice photo:



And, Darin pointed out that Megan has found her "me time". She gets into the shower and sings like there's no tomorrow. She literally sings the entire time she's in there and couldn't care less as to who might be listening. I'm gonna have to record it.

Good Times

Funny Faces with Grandma
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

The last few weeks have been fun and busy. A couple of weeks ago, we paid a visit to Grandma Helen and Scott. The kids had a great time running around with Scott and enjoying the birthday cake that Grandma got to celebrate my birthday and Scott's birthday. They got them to make funny faces for this photo :-)

My kids seem to have a lot of photos of themselves flying through the air. So, I figured I'd add another for all to see:



And then, since it's always the kids flying around, we decided to add one of Darin:



There's not much of a story to go with this photo. I just happened to love this rare moment:



We made it to the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago, as well. We ended up spending over 3 hours there. They had such a great time and since we got there closer to lunchtime, it wasn't crowded at all. They seem to like the facepainting station the best. They get to decorate their own faces:



and here's Jake:



And, finally, Halloween turned out to be quite fun. Jake was enough of a sport to put a mask on for a photo. He literally told me, "I'll put it on for only the picture, mom". I was able to snap two photos and then he was on his way....trick or treating in his jeans and coat again.



And, Megan embraced her role as Bat Girl. Here's some of that Girl Power in action:

Some stuff...

The troop
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Here's a picture of Megan's scout troop. Yes - there are lots of them. This is why my stress levels are high. That's a lot of kids to register, organize and keep busy. What was I thinking?

Megan came with me to watch the Chicago Marathon a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty chilly that morning, but she was a great cheerleader.


Some of my friends asked her if she was going to run a marathon someday and she was pretty positive that she would. On the way home from dropping Jake off at school today, Megan was asking me if I ever won a race. I explained that I had when I was younger, but not so much lately. I asked her if she was going to be a runner and she said, "Yes....and a doctor. I can be two things, right?"

There's one more funny Meganism that comes to mind. Often, she will ask if we can watch the Hurting Show. Go on, take a guess as to which show that is! Yep, America's Funniest Home Videos. I guess someone is always getting hurt on that one.

Jake has decided that Halloween is scary and he doesn't want to dress up. When someone asks him what he's going to be for Halloween, his reply is either, "nothing" or "just Jake". I guess it's not his thing. He's not really a fan of the dark either. We usually have to turn on lights before he'll get near a room. One morning last week, the light in the stairwell was on and it was too bright so he asked me to turn it off. I was holding his hand when he stumbled a little bit on the stair and he said, "The dark felled me".

Ok, now the latest thing that my kids were up to. This morning, I went to the grocery store while Jimmy was home with them. Megan wanted to paint his face and he agreed. The following is what I came home to. They named him the clown lion. All I can say is he wins the award for being the most fun today.

Oh boy - am I behind, or what?!

Butterfly
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

I just noticed that my last post was right after the first day of school. Dang - guess I've been pretty busy. Both kids are really enjoying school. As a matter of fact, Jake was originally set up to go to school on M, W & F, but he loves it so much that he wanted to go every day. So, Oct. 1st I switched him to the 5-day program and he couldn't be happier. This morning, as Darin was taking Megan to school, Jake looked at us with a huge smile and said, "I go to school every day!" He's pretty proud of that.

Megan still gets up for her 7:30am start time without too much trouble. She's a big fan of school too. She gets home and wants to do her homework right away. We got her progress report and apparently, she is "a joy to have in class". Well, duh. :-)

This photo is from the Cleaveland's annual Octoberfest party. They had an awesome face painter. Megan tricked Darin into washing off her first paint job, so she could get a second. Here is the original:



Jake is not a fan of face paint, so he decided to just jump in the bouncy house. This was one great party. The kids had a fantastic time.



In addition to keeping up with school, I was somehow roped into becoming a Daisy Scout leader. That's right - the leader. Megan's school doesn't offer a scout program, and she's been exposed to Girl Scouts through the O'Donnells since she was a baby. So, when I called to get her signed up at Queen of All Saints, the coordinator asked me if I would be one of the adult volunteer leaders. I said sure, since Megan is kind of shy and she only knows one of the girls from that school. I had to go to a volunteer orientation one evening and when I showed up, I noticed that I was listed as the troop leader. That woman was tricky. So, we've had our first meeting and it was a big success - but now I've got to start working on a plan for meeting number two. Fortunately, when they're this young, they only meet once a month. Phew.

I've got more to say, but I've got to get some work done today. More to come soon.

A big week for Megan

Kindergarten!
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Megan started kindergarten today. She was excited to go and has been counting down the last 4 days. No tears or hesitation from this girl. I think Darin and I were more nervous for her. When I picked her up, she said, "I LOVE it! The curtains are very pretty". She said she met lots of kids but can't remember their names yet. I asked her if she was nervous at all and she told me, "no". I really don't think she was. Aww....getting so big and confident.

Speaking of confident, Megan learned how to ride a two-wheeler this past weekend. On Sunday afternoon, she was riding her strider bike (a no-pedal balance bike) and she told me she wanted to ride with pedals. I said ok and then she announced loudly, "Francesca - my mom's gonna take my training wheels off right now!" So, I proceeded to get the tools out and take them off. I held on to her seat for about two passes of the length of the sidewalk and by the third pass, I let go and she was off! She still has a tough time getting started, but it won't be long for that to follow.



We also took the kids bowling this weekend. They had never been bowling, which is why the news is making it onto the blog. Our neighbors had won a certificate or something and invited us. It was a bit chaotic, but they seemed to have a good time. They really liked the shoes.

Update

Pre-school
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

So, Jake came out of school on his first day and said, "It was fun". I think he's still a little out of sync these days since he's not doing everything with Megan. Darin dropped him off at Debbie's this morning and he cried - even though he's been going there since he was 3 months old. It was the first time he's gone there on his own without his sister. Must have been a bit strange for him. Hopefully he'll be pleased to go back to school tomorrow.

My baby started preschool

First Day
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Awww......Jake started preschool today. He was not happy about it. For the last few days, when we would ask him if he was ready for school, he would say, "I don't want to go to school. I want to stay home with mom". He cried on his way in (I'm sure it didn't last long). We're heading out to pick him up now. Let's see how it went.......

Our Annual Myrtle Beach Trip

Self sufficient
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

We just returned from a week in sunny Myrtle Beach. And, it was truly sunny for the entire week (except for 20 minutes of rain one day). We were originally going to drive there, but found some cheap tickets on Spirit Airlines, so we decided to fly. This year, the kids were completely self-sufficient. They had all of their own belongings in their own suitcases and rolled them through the airport all by themselves. It's amazing how much easier it was this year over last!

The kids hit the beach the first night:



Jake was a fan of that surf beginning on day one. Megan seemed to enjoy the pool a bit more. We kept busy with lots of activities. Obviously, the beach and pool were main attractions. But we also went miniature golfing.



We visited a water park (I have no pictures of that one) and both kids went down the big slides. Woo hoo! We went to the amusement park (I don't have pictures of that either because my battery died). Darin and I played golf and we had an all around good time.



Here are some beach and pool shots to sum up our trip:







And finally - a family photo:

She's 5!!!

Birthday Girl
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Megan turned 5 on August 4th. She woke up in the morning and said, "Do I get to go to school today?" Apparently I had told her that you can go to kindergarten when you're 5. So, I told her that school starts in the fall. Now, every other day or so, she asks me if it's fall yet. I hope we experience this same sort of enthusiasm a few months from now when we have to be at school by 7:30am. She is not a morning person.

We had a very girly party last Saturday. Megan even made a sign for the door. If it's tough to see in this photo, it says "no boys allowed".



We had lunch at a fancy table with lots of flowers:



We painted flower pots with oil pastels and planted flowers:



And as a few of the girls were leaving, they said "Megan, your party was great". So funny.

Summer Water Fun

Splash!
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

We've had lots of water fun this summer. The backyard pool with the slide has been a big hit. It's our "go to" activity when we're not up for a big outing.







We head out to Montrose Beach when we've got more time on our hands. Jake is much easier to take to the beach this year than last. As soon as he hits the sand, his shoes come off and he runs for the water.



Megan is a beach girl too:



On this particular day, Uncle Jimmy joined us (since he's not working like much of the construction industry).



He was nice enough to buy them ice cream. Note to self - ice cream and sand do not mix.



We got home and went in the neighbor's Slip n' Slide to wash off before I'd let them into the house.