Sept 2012

(9-8-12) Mommy & Jillian @ Appleworks

(09-8-12) Jillian & Chase @ Appleworks

Jillian, Candi, Chase & I took the kiddos to Appleworks.  A little earlier in the season as they didn't have the train running or the pony rides.  They didn't mind one bit.  They had a lot of fun "driving" the play tractor.  They have a few animals to look at, but after going to the Zoo these few animals aren't as impressive to the kiddos.

It was a very nice morning to spend time outside.  Plus we picked up some delicious Apples :).
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SUNDAY SCHOOL
Jillian attended her first Sunday School class this past weekend on 9-9-12.  As with anything new she was very reserved.  I predict after a few weeks of going she will be more outgoing.  Out teacher for this month did a Great job with a simple lesson for the kiddos followed by some coloring, a snack, a song, and then free play.
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STORY TIME

Jillian really enjoys "Story Time" at the library.  They sing little songs read stories, plus they get to have milk and cookies for a snack.  She has always enjoyed the songs and music, but just listened and hadn't tried singing along.  That is until last night (9-10-12).  I heard her singing along to all the songs.  It was so cute!

We also checked out our first books from the library last night along with one Thomas & Friends DVD.   Her latest find for shows to watch is Thomas and is very into them for the time being.

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FUN @ THE ZOO

(3-10-12) Jillian & the Lion - this is the only time it has every been really walking around when we have visited. 

(3-10-12) Having fun at the zoo

(3-10-12) Chase & Jillian pooped after a fun time at the Zoo

(06-2-12) Riding on the train @ the Zoo, thinks she likes it?

(6-2-12) The Zoo Merry-Go-Round

(7-24-12) Another Train ride @ the Zoo

(7-28-12) Yep to the Zoo twice in one week, only made it through party of the animals the first time.

(9-3-12) Jillian had fun with the bird head.  Although she wants nothing to do with going into the "Flights of Fancy" exhibit.  

Fair 2012

 Jillian "helped" at the Pork Producers stand this year.  She was entertained for a lest a couple minutes helping me wipe down the tables.  Other than that she enjoyed sharing a slushy with Rolland and running around.

Had to have her picture taken at the C21 Breeden lady bug sign :).

Jillian wouldn't even step foot into the livestock barn.  She was afraid of the pigs and we didn't even get close tot he cows.  She did like looking at the bunnies, but didn't want anything to do with the birds.  

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Jillian & Daddy driving the boat

Saturday morning a little before 7 am we headed down to Lake Malone for the weekend.  It is about a 4 hour drive and we got there in pretty close to that time frame.  DVD's and a bag of toys kept Jillian pretty well entertained on the way down.  The last 30 mins or so was getting pretty tough on her as she was over being stuck in her seat!

We got there and relaxed in our hotel room waiting for the rest of the Morphew's to arrive.  They all got there about an hour and a half later. Enough time for Jillian and I to go check out the hotel "cool" (Pool for those who don't speak toddler ;)).  That was by far her favorite part!

We had lunch at the Shady Cliff marina (everyone's favorite.. ).  Jillian crashed in my arms at lunch, which is pretty unusual for her anymore.  We did get her up early to leave and it was nearly 2:30 our time.  After her nap and a snack we hit the "cool" again for some swim time.  There was a nice ledge area in the pool for adults to sit on that was the perfect height for her to walk around on.  She kept trying to get the others to join "uncle Johnny come swim, aunt Susie come swim, grandma come swing..etc.."

We ventured out for dinner and ended up eating at a Mexican place.  While we were out we had to stop and put air in the left front tire on our car.  The tire which I had just had "fixed" the night before due to a leak..  It was a slow leak as the tire wasn't completely flat, but it kept loosing air.  It will be going back to the shop that "fixed" it when we get back...  grrr!

The next morning the first thing Jillian asks to do is go to the POOL!  We had plans for going out on the boat.  She was very excited about going out on the boat even though she has never done this before.  Her daddy previously picked out a life jacket for her to wear.  She was a good sport and did wear it willingly, but it was super hot and not terribly comfortable for her.  It was very HOT out on the water.  We rode around for a while then stopped under some shade.  After this Jillian was asking to get off the boat so we all went back and were done with the boat for the day.

On our way back to the marina Jillian fell asleep in my arms.  I figured she was out for her nap so when we got back I carried her up the hill back to the hotel.  The second I laid her down she woke up.  I figured she would just go back to sleep.. haha, no way.  After we ate some food for lunch she was awake.  So instead of nap time we went down and joined the others for some pool time.  She played in the pool for nearly 2 hours!  After all that activity she took a good nap.  I finally woke her up so we could head to the park to grill out for dinner.

The Lake Malone state park was only about 15 minutes from the marina.  The picnic area left a lot to be desired.  The picnic tables were chained to trees so you couldn't move them at all.  also they were on a semi steep hillside.  Also this was the only picnic area.  Nothing like what we thought it would be.  They did have a playground there.  Sue and I took Jillian to play.  She played on the swing and went down the slide a few times.  It was just so HOT that we couldn't stand to stay for long.

Rick's dad got to operate the portable grill without a spatula to flip the burgers of with.  Also we only had spoons not forks.  He managed to grill the burgers and dogs still!

Once we got back to the hotel we got ready for bed and packed up some stuff since we were heading out early in the morning again.  Some of them went for a quick dip in the pool before calling it a night.

Potty Training Progress

(4-15-12) My big girl

Starting this week Monday (5-7-12) Jillian elected to wear her "big girl panties" instead of a diaper or pull-ups.  She has been wearing them everyday this week since then.  We have had only a few little accidents, which is to be expected, but overall has done an excellent job with this.   We are so very proud of her progress on being a big girl!!

Yesterday she even wore the same pair of panties all day including a dinner and shopping outing with mommy & papaw!!  As with most kiddos the peeing in the potty comes first and she isn't so sure about the other.  Her daddy tells me she asked for a diaper for this purpose today.  

She likes to follow me everywhere including the potty of course.  So yesterday she told me that I was being a big girl like her.  Love it!  

We have of course been working on this on and off since a little before she turned two.  Letting her lead us and so far that has worked out pretty well.  :)

New Play House & Slide

She likes to tell you when to come in the play house and when you should leave.  She tries to get Tito (our dog) to go in.  He doesn't listen to her at all.  It is funny to hear her bossing him around.  I have helped coax him into the playhouse.  He will stay for a couple minutes then push the door open and leave.

Playing in the play house for the first time.  She didn't like it at all ;)

Last spring/summer my parents found a great deal on a swing set for Jillian.  It has places for 4 swings.  Now that she is bigger she really loves to slide so we added a slide addition to the existing swing set.

After it was done I mentioned to Jillian to say thank you to her papaw.  She must have said it like 20 times at least!  "Thank you papaw.. thank you papaw"  She kept saying it until he would respond your welcome.  Then a few seconds later she would start again.  As she was going down the slide she would get to the bottom and say "yeah papaw!!" followed by clapping.  It was too dark out by the time the slide was done for video so I don't have any of that on video, but it was very cute.

4-24-12 slide addition to her swing set complete.  She loves it! Thanks Papaw!!!

(4-25-12) Jillian going down her new slide.  

1st Bike Ride 4-2-12

The kid/baby seat was just added to my bike and we got it back yesterday.  So we had to try it out!  We have had this helmet for Jillian for about a year.  Last spring/summer she wanted nothing to do with it being put on her head.  She did just fine last night.  I'm sure it helped that mommy, her meemaw and papaw were all wearing helmets too.

 Getting her helmet strap sized so she can't just pull it off.  It does have a very nice anti pinch device under the chin strap.  Especially since this one is ticklish on her neck so she was squirming around and opening her mouth.   A bit of a challenge to get it latched under these circumstances. 

Jillian all set to go with her helmet.  What you may not be able to see are the pink bunnies on her helmet.  

Ready to go.  It felt a little odd at first with the extra weight on the back.  As we pulled out of the drive I was told she had a huge smile on her face.  She held onto her little "handle bars" the whole time.  We took a loop around the people trail and got close enough to the airport to see a big plane, which she enjoyed.  We did also stop by a park so she could play.  We didn't have a lot of time to stop since it was getting dark, but she did not fuss at all when we put her back in her seat to head home.  

My mom took this video of us riding last night, while she was also on her bike.

1st Zoo Trip

Took Jillian to the Zoo for the first time back on 3-10-12.  She LOVED it!

 Checking out the "kitty".  With the big glass windows you could get really up close with the tigers!

 "smiling" for daddy, since he didn't come along

Two tired kiddos after checking out all the animals at the Zoo.

I didn't get many pictures since I was too busy making sure to keep track of my little one.  If you ask her what she saw at the Zoo she will tell you: Elephant, Baby Elephant, Giraffe routinely.  If you ask what the Giraffe was doing she will tell you he was walking around and eating, which he was.  

We did also take them to the Dolphin show.  She liked it as long as the fish were performing.  The Dolphins were a little less than cooperative during the show that day so there was a lot of time when they people were just talking about them that wasn't all the entertaining.

Visiting Amy & Adam

Saturday monring we drove down to visit Amy & Adam along with Candi & Chase.  The 3 "big" kiddos had fun playing while Adam watched.  We even managed to get a picture with all 3 of the "big" kiddos looking at the camera at the same time!  I will have to get this from Sarah though since it was taken with her camera.

When we first got there one of the dogs jumped up on Chase and he was not amused.  He actually cried, which is unusual for him. Guessing the jumping up on him scared him.  He is used to my dog, but my dog is 70 pounds and better not be caught trying to jump up on the little people.  It was very short lived and then he was fine with them.  Chase's mommy Candi is not much of a dog person, yet the two little dogs Sarah has kept buggin her for attention or snuggling up next to her. 

We went to lunch at a Mexican place and everyone did well.  You never know how a meal out with 4 kids will be!  Adam napped through all of it and the others did pretty good about sitting or at least staying around our table. 

Jillian & Amy enjoying their suckers

After lunch we went to Whole Foods store in search of a specific cheese I had there before that I wasn't able to find back anywhere else yet.  They have rather small carts so when Sarah put the infant carrier in the the back section you couldn't then use the upper part.  It wouldn't open since it was hitting Adam's seat.  We put Jillian and Amy in another cart.  They did well riding with out trying to stand up.  While there we gave them each a dum dum sucker. 

Amy & Jilly playing the big piano, Chase is playing the little one.

After we left the store we were trying to decide if we would go back to Sarah's to let the kids play for a while longer or head back.  We just said if they stay awake back to your house we will come back if not we will just head home.  They managed to stay awake so they got to play a while longer.



Jillian "holding" Adam. It didn't take her long to ask for me to take him back and hold. She said "mommy hold Adam".



Hair Styles

12-18-11 I think this was actually the first time I pulled her hair up with anything.  Only stayed in long enough for a picture.  She wasn't a fan.

1-26-12 "bitty" pony tail, she hated this and wanted it out.  It was all I could do to get a picture.

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Yipee she has enough hair for me to play with :)  Also she has decided to let me.  It took some convicing.  It seemed to work well to tell her it was like Katie & Ellie's hair (her little friends).  She will on occasion ask for pig tails :).

2-18-12 Full piggy tails

2-13-12 Half piggy tails

Potty training in progress

Jillian is showing interest in potty training.  Especially after seeing that some of her little friends are using the big potty.  Doesn't hurt to have some slightly older friends for her to hang out with. 

She is really just getting started.  She has successfully used the potty on multiple occasions, but won't always use it.  We are just taking it slow for now, which seems to be working.  She will ask sometime to go potty and will actually go.  Of course not every time since I think she sometimes asks to go right after she has used her pull ups. 

In the last few weeks she has even started to let daddy or papaw take her to the potty.  At first she was more resistant to them helping her. 

To encourage her to use the big potty we give her a special treat if she goes.  She gets M & M's and seems to really understand the link.  She will go and then say get MM's (as she calls them), but luckily she isn't asking for the every time she goes.

During her bath on this past Saturday she peed in the tub.  After doing this she told us what she did and asked, get MM's?  Um. nope sorry we don't get MM"s for peeing in the bathtub.  Silly girl.

Jillian's 2nd Brithday!

Jillian's custom made birthday banner :) 

Our princess turned 2! She got to celebrate with most of her family.  A few of them had the stomach bug and could not attend.  We were sad they didn't feel well but glad they didn't come share those germs!

Wearing her custom birthday shirt :)

Trying to force out a smile for the camera

"icing" her cupcakes

This is her "new" dog Pepper.  This dog was a gift from me and my mom to her dad (Jillian's great gpa  when he had to stay in the hospital fora bout 6 weeks.  He loved his dogs and couldn't have them at the hospital so we got him this to keep him company.  Her great gma know that she loves dogs so she gifted this down to her.  Let her name it. Which it of course looks like one of her dogs that is named Pepper, hence that is what Jillian calls it.  Here she is all worn out from the Birthday festivities.  Moments after I took this picture she was sound asleep.

Jillian and her CAKE.  This goes with the Word World theme, which is her favorite show.  Really the only show she will watch.  She already has episodes she doesn't like.  If you put one of those on she says "no want that one, no want that one" and waves her arm.  She will request some by what the theme is.  Yesterday she wanted twinkle star.  It is an episode in which the Duck character sings twinkle twinkle little star. 

Jillian playing in he new kitchen from mommy & daddy.  Mommy & her papaw spent about 2 hours working together to assemble.  Mommy read the directions and papaw mainly tightened all the bolts and things.  It have 32 steps.  I think we did a great job myself.  She really seems to like it :).  She had fun opening and closing the fridge & freezer doors pulling out milk and "pouring' it in her cup and putting it back again.  She is all about keeping drawers or doors closed.  So each time she gets something out she closes the door after it.

She got lots of nice things (not that she needed anything at all).  She obviously likes the new toys.  This morning she was asking to play ice cream and with Jilly's kitchen :). 

MeRrY ChRiStMaS

Jillian got to celebrate Christmas several times. We started on Christmas Eve and my Grandma's house with all my dad's family there. Jillian loved playing with her cousins. She even made up to Karla and they had a good time playing. She is a very shy child in general and takes her a while to warm up to people especially in a large group setting. She tends to stay close. Not a bad thing necessarily.

The next Christmas celebration was Christmas morning at home with her Mommy & Daddy. This was followed by Christmas with Rick's family around dinner time. The next day was Christmas at my parents house.

For Christmas Jillian got a trampoline from Santa.  She has really been enjoying playing on it.  She has found other uses than just bouncing.  She likes to put stuff up on it as well as lounge around on it.

12-25-11 Relaxing after a "hard" morning of opening presents ;)

12-25-11 Jillian jumping on her trampoline for the first time.  I think she likes it. :)

She also got a Cookie Monster toy that talks and moves a bit.  It is very cute and has a backpack with 3 cookies in it.  When you feed him the cookies they fall back into his backpack.  She was not a big fan of this toy to start with.  She didn't like that it was animated and would shy away from it and hang on tightly if it got near her.  So Cookie Monster has been hiding in the closet.  Every once in a while she asks to go peek at Cookie.  When asked if she would want to play with him she would say no.  She just had to check that it was where she had us put him or something pretty silly.  Other times she would tell you that Cookie was sleeping in the closet. 

Saying all that yesterday she asked to go peak at Cookie.  I took her over to see him and asked if she wanted to play with him.  Much to my surprise she said YES!  So I got him out, but left him turned off.  I showed her what to do with the Cookies and she was soon playing with him having fun feeding him his cookies.  I did try to turn him on for her later, and she started to shy away from him.  So Cookie Monster is cool as long as he isn't turned on.  Perhaps she will change her mind on this too soon enough. 

(1-8-12) Jillian playing with Cookie Monster

At this point she has already pretty much mastered playing with an Ipad courtesy of her grandparents.  So for Christmas she got her very own Kindle Fire!  While they do work pretty much the same there are some differences on how to get back to the home page and switch apps.  It didn't take her too long to figure it out.  The only issue I have found so far is that with the one click purchase set up and no logging in required you have to really watch that she doesn't go to the app store and start downloading random things.  I was directed towards a kiddie app that makes it so you cannot get to the app store that works well.  You have to draw a "Z" on the screen to close out of the program and get back to the main page. 

(1-8-12) Jillian playing with her "IPAD"