Sun and Fun

This is the wonderful time of the year for Jillian as there is fun and water everywhere. She is ready to go outside right away and will only want to come in to eat. Lately the only clothes she needs is a swimsuit. Yesterday was especially fun since Auna came and played with Jillian until her nap. Auna was a good sport about getting wet too. Auna is so patient and fun with kids. Then Tierney joined them and Jillian wanted to show Tierney how high she could swing, "All by myself". She really wants to try the zip line but I told her she had to be able to reach it all by herself which luckily is a about a foot away from her reach. At Disneyland we got her the neon bubble gun and this is the latest craze. Everybody and everything gets bubbles. It has been refilled about 10 times. These are the best of days for a 2 year old.

Slip-n-slide

Jillian was so excited about setting up the slip-n-slide that she ran up to the Johnsons to get Cale, Ty, and Brock to do it with her. She was hesitant at first but the boys went right at it. They got creative with all sorts of things so Jillian decided the sled made a good boat and went down laughing all the way. She thought it was funny to push Brock to get him started. Down at the bottom there was a small pool where she wanted to wade but then the boys would come down the slide with a big splash and she would get all wet. The sprinkles down the side of the slide made a good drinking fountain. Brock and Ty were still going at it when she was wet and had enough.

A Day at Aunt Dianne's

Aunt Dianne helped out us out in a big way by watching Jillian last Friday, when all of the regular babysitters were away on vacation. Aunt Dianne has a blog, too, and she posted the story of her day with Jillian. You can see it by clicking here: My Life As Grandma

And just as a teaser, here's a photo of her pool time. When Jillian came home that day, she told us that the "whale" had bit her on the lips.

Jeep Washing

Jillian likes to decorate her jeep and scooter with chalk. Since the hose was out, filling up her pool, she decided it would be a good idea to wash her jeep since it was dirty with all the chalk on it. Since the hose wouldn't reach the jeep she had to get in the jeep and drive it closer, which surprised me that she figured that out instead of asking me.

First she wet it down. Then she wanted some bubbles and a wash mitt so she could scrub it down. She did a very thorough job and made sure everything had bubbles. Then she would rinse it and then start all over again. Finally, after a really long time, I told her it was time to turn off the hose and dry her jeep which she did with a rag.

Horsey Girl

Jillian loves horses! Thanks to the Paul family, she has gotten to do quite a bit of riding on horses. Here's a photo of Jillian and Lindsey riding on "Jazz". Whenever we talk to Jillian about going to Cindy's or to see McKenna & Lindsey, the first thing that pops into her head is horses.

About a month ago, our neighbor Jack gave Jillian a little horsey-on-a-stick. It was something that he kept for his granddaughter Maddy, but now that she was grown up, he fixed it up and gave it to us. Jillian likes to ride the little horsey, like this photo shows. She calls the horsey either "Jazz" or "Cowboy". Note that she also likes to wear her "cow boots".

The New Bedroom

On Friday, Aunties Greta and Sheryl and Uncle Richard came over to our house to help us move furniture, now that the carpet was installed in the bedrooms. We moved Mommy and Daddy's bed into their master bedroom, along with a couple of other things. But, we didn't yet have a new bed for Jillian. Uncle Richard suggested we use an inflatable mattress in the meantime, so we blew up the big queen air mattress that we have (usually for Kids' sleepovers). Then we threw a sheet and blanket on it.

That night, we told Jillian that she would get to sleep in her new bedroom. She was kind of excited about it, and had no problems laying down in it while we read a story to her. After turning out the lights and laying with her for a while, she eventually fell asleep. She would end up waking up a couple times throughout the night, but she went right back to sleep.

On Saturday morning, she woke up before Mommy and Daddy were out of bed. She wandered up and down the halls yelling "Mommy!" and "Daddy!". She was a little disoriented, not knowing where we were. After a minute or so, she found us in the new master bedroom, where she climbed onto the bed and started jumping around.

A Day Out with Thomas

This past Saturday, Jillian went with Cousins Adam and Andy to ride on the life-size Thomas the Tank Engine. We got up early in the morning and carpooled with the Uncle Clark, Auntie Greta and Adam to Snoqualmie. We met up with Auntie Sheryl and Andy there, and got in line for the train. We were far enough up that we got into the car directly behind Thomas. The kids were very excited to see Thomas, and to take a trip on a train.

Afterwards, Auntie Sheryl got all the kids their own engineer hats (like this photo shows) and Thomas t-shirts. Jillian also went around to lots of exhibits and got a bunch of stamps and tattoos, and ended up with a free prize : a mini-Thomas camera. She thought it was great because she could look into it and say "cheese". We ended the day with a trip to Red Robin.

The next day, Jillian was still excited about her ride on Thomas. At church, she was yelling "I rode Thomas" to everyone she saw.

New Stuff XXVII

More stuff! Mostly memorable quotes from Jillian:

1. "What's this mean?" : Actually, she's asking us "what is this?", but it's close enough, so we go ahead and tell her what it is.

2. "I sure do" : This is something that Jillian says instead of "yes".

3. "Mmm-hmm" : Another thing that she says instead of "yes". Maybe she's just tired of answering "yes" all the time?

4. "Can I have baby in my tummy?" : Mommy just about flipped when she heard Jillian ask her this question. Jillian likes her babies, so we guess it was only natural for her to want to be like Mommy.

5. New Baby Names : Whenever we ask Jillian what the new baby should be named, she responds one of two ways. It's either "Apple Dumpling" (from her Strawberry Shortcake video) or it's "Richard".

6. "How's baby doing?" : This is a daily question, and Mommy answers "baby's doing fine". Jillian also likes to pat Mommy's tummy.

7. "I want to cheese" : Daddy's new Flip video camera sits on the dining room table, and Jillian likes to point at it and say this; meaning, she wants Daddy to take a video of her saying "cheese".

8. "Welcome to the wup-wup" : Yet another phrase that we have no idea where it came from, though the best guess is that it came from a video.

9. "Venti iced vanill lat" : If it's the weekend, it means that morning is coffee time. Jillian knows the routine, and when she wakes up, she immediately says "I want hot chocolate". Today, we were talking about Mommy's coffee, and Jillian said "venti iced vanill lat", probably because she's heard it so much.

Hot Day-Waterfall

It was such a nice day and started out warm, so after Jillian's bath she was ready to head outside early. First she took a walk to the meadow below Aunt Robin's house and saw a rabbit in the grass which she called a puppy. I explained that it was a wild rabbit and then she wanted to pet it. She walked up the hill to Aunt Julie's house and spent a few minutes on the trampoline and proceeded to pick Julie's flowers to give to her. Next she discovered the waterfall and of course wanted to play in that. Soon she was soaking wet, and proceeded to go "au natural" until Rielee arrived to play. I persuaded her to get dressed again and then her and Rielee just got

wet all over again. It was so hot in the sun that we got out the

little wading pool and set it up in the shade so they

could play. Jillian again decided that it felt better

without the restriction of clothes and would strip off

everything. After many hours of water fun it was time

for a nap for which there wasn't any objection. So far 3

changes of clothes.

Sighting No. 53

Somehow got this photo of Jillian this afternoon, despite the fact that she didn't want to have anything to do with the camera.

The Forbidden Trampoline

The Johnson family brought home a trampoline a couple weeks ago. As soon as Mommy and Daddy found out, they said "no trampoline for Sweetie-Pie". Mommy had seen far too many broken bones come through the hospital that resulted from trampoline accidents. So, Jillian didn't get to jump on the trampoline ... at least for a while. Pretty soon, it seemed that she was finding her way onto the bouncer. And one day, while Daddy was picking up Jillian at Grannie's house, she was asking Tierney "can I go bounce?". She and Tierney went up to the Johnson's and did some bouncing, like this video below shows. At least the trampoline has a pretty strong net around it, and the kids know to be careful when Jillian is in there.

By the way, the top photo has Jillian showing off her flowers that she picked at the Johnson's. She has become obsessed recently with picking every flower she can find, and then carrying them around with her wherever she goes.

The Big Beach Trip

This was one of the biggest Kids' Day at the Beach trips ever, with 15 kids and 4 adults and 1 dog, for a total of 20 bodies. It included Ainsley, Emmy, Will, Tierney, Cale, Macee, Ty, Brock, James, Auna, Parker, Rielee, Jillian, Norma (the Gourde's foreign exhange student), Marta (Norma's sister), Papa, Grannie, Daddy, Mommy and Mocha. It was a challenge fitting everyone into the beach house, and especially interesting having to share only one bathroom. Jillian loved having all the company, though. Her favorite part, of course, was the fact the her Cousin Rielee made the trip for the first time with her, so they played together almost the entire time.

The first day was a cold, windy and rainy one, but we made the trip to the beach anyways. Jillian and Rielee went right for the water, and played in the waves. It didn't last long though, as Sweetie-Pie got cold pretty quickly. We put a big sweatshirt on her to keep her warm, but she wasn't too happy, so we headed back to the house. Even though it was cold, we still stopped for ice cream, which made Jillian a little more happy. We finished the day with a quick stop at the Ocean Park Elementary playground. In the beach house, Jillian's favorite things to play with were the little wood kid puzzle, and the big box of poker chips.

One other thing to note was that Jillian went no. 2 on the potty, for the second time ever. When she got done, she ran into the middle of all the kids and said "I went poop in the potty!" The kids cheered, and Jillian had a big smile on her face.

The second day, we went to the beach again and had better luck with the weather, as it was warmer, less windy and not raining. The older kids played wiffle ball and football while Jillian and Rielee played in the sand. Then, when the sun came out, we headed to the water to do some wave jumping. After a couple days of seeing the waves, Jillian got more comfortable, and didn't need to hold hands anymore when the waves came in. We went back to the beach house, stopping for (cotton candy-flavored) ice cream on the way. After lunch, we next went to Astoria to go swimming in the aquatic center. Jillian wore her Dora swimsuit, and enjoyed playing in the water for several hours. Thanks to all the activity, she and Rielee fell asleep in the car on the way home.

The third and final day was the nicest one, so we spent a lot of time at the beach. Jillian just ran and ran from sand to water. She liked to lay around in the "dry water" (the warm water on the upper part of the beach). Eventually, she got a little chilled and headed back for ice-cream early. The rest of kids followed later, and after another stop at the "park", we headed home.

Running in the Waves

This is a picture of Jillian and Rielee playing in the waves before they got cold. Then there's a picture of Jillian all covered with sand and with wet hair, looking miserable.

Kids Days at the Beach

It was a new record-15 kids-13 cousins and Norma( the foreign exchange student from Italy) and her sister Marta. Jillian really gets into the beach stuff, loves the sand, digging and pouring sand with Rielee. She got brave enough to run into the waves after a few times of shying away from them. She would play and play in the water until she was a shivering cold little girl but would eat her Cotton Candy ice cream cone on the way back from the beach. All this wore her out and she would conk out immediately for a nap or asleep for the night, and surprisingly sleep in until at least 8:30 AM. Also at the beach with Jillian were Cale, Ty, Brock, Ainsley, Tierney, Emmy, Will, Auna, Macee, Parker, and James.