October 27 - Beautiful Blonde Pirate

Julia went from princesses and dresses to becoming sporty spice in first grade. She likes to be active and be ready for activity at any time. I'm not joking, whenever she tries on anything she says "Can I run around in this?" She still climbs trees, rides her bike and goes for jogs for fun. So, she's a t-shirt and shorts, hair in a ponytail type of girl (except for school when she was a jeans and t-shirt girl, which is what everyone wears here due to the school dress code). The last time her hair wasn't in a ponytail was when she was a flower girl 2 years ago (it was in a bun). 

So, our girl scout troop traditionally has a big Halloween party every year. Obviously, things are different this year so our typical party wasn't in the cards. One of the GS mom's recently moved to a new house and offered to host a viewing of 'Hocus Pocus' for the girls in her driveway. We decided to plan this Thursday for Saturday, so limited notice. We recently watched Pirates of the Caribbean and Julia wanted to be a pirate. Well, we found one pirate outfit that could ship in time. And to my surprise..Julia asked me to blow dry her hair. She wore it down! She has the most beautiful natural highlights (that aren't as easy to see when it's in a ponytail). And, drum roll please, she let me put on some eye makeup! So fun! Love our little pirate!

Ahoy Matey!

People pay a lot of $$ for highlights like this (of course she doesn't believe me)

October 26 - Sports Weekend

cold morning

Our weekends have been pretty empty since March..until this past weekend. There have been two swim meets this fall that we opted out of but this past weekend was our home meet and we were strongly encouraged to attend. Julia has tapered off on swim due to cross country and didn't want to go and 'be slow' but we convinced her she could whip out a 50 free. So, we headed to the pool bright and early Saturday morning in 55 degree weather. 

Now, you may be wondering, how does a swim meet work in the current environment? First of all, outdoor pool only. The pool area is open to coaches, officials, timers and swimmers in specific heats only. Masks are required for everyone-the kids have them on until they are on the block and put them back on as soon as they get out of the pool. My volunteer job was at the one gate everyone was allowed in and out of. My job was to take temperatures and make sure people filled out COVID-19 health forms. There was a dad whose entire job was to remind everyone to wear masks (everyone was required to wear a mask, even around the pool area) and social distance.

Go Luke!

Every team had a general area where they were supposed to set up outside the perimeter of the pool gate and each team had volunteers whose sole responsibility was to make sure everyone was 6' apart. I'm sure you can see how fun all these volunteer jobs were LOL! Well, Julia swan her one event, the 50 free, and broke 30secs!! This is a big deal in swimming to break the 30 sec mark. Great job Julia! 

Sunday was the first (of two) cross country meets of the season. Cross country is easy for social distancing because there aren't a lot of kids that compete and it's in a huge park. No need to anyone to bunch up. Still, masks were required for all spectators and they even had a police officer there that told parents that anyone who violated the rules would be kicked out of the park. Both kids compete in 3k meters (just under 2 miles). Luke went first and did great! He had a really strong finish and was a little speed demon! Julia was the next age group and also did really well placing 6th. So proud!

Great job!

October 21 - Bye Bye Thumb

Jillian came out of the womb sucking her thumb. Literally, her thumb was in her mouth in the first few pics we ever took of her. I'm sure you have heard people say it's the worst habit ever. I'll be honest...a thumb sucking baby can self soothe. That translates to a sleeping baby. Everyone knows you don't mess with a baby that sleeps. I loved thumb sucking baby Jillian.

As we entered toddler-hood we knew we had to nip this in the bud. Jillian primarily sucked her thumb when she was tired and while she slept and we could see her teeth being pushed forward. The dentist told me "You need to stop this."  But wow oh wow it was hard. We tried socks on her hands. We tried nasty tasting nail polish (applied morning and night). We tried bribing her with a "Mommy Jillian trip to Disney." We tried scaring her with "You are going to look like a bunny!". Nothing worked. After a year of Jillian saying "I'm done sucking my thumb" (and not stopping), I was on the verge of buying arm braces when she finally stopped. I waited to post this to give it a few weeks but it's been over a month and no thumb!! Finally!

October 19 - Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Luke,
Happy birthday to you!

Luke started the day with breakfast in bed-breakfast being a Starbucks chocolate chip Frappuccino and pumpkin bread (he had the choice of breakfast or lunch and he 100% wanted Starbucks). After school, he was granted use of his iPad (which he hasn't had for months) and was in heaven. We ordered sushi for dinner (his choice) and then had an ice cream cake (shaped like a pumpkin) for dessert. Happy birthday Luke!!

Favorites (I need to start this for all the kids):

Age: 10

Color: green

Sports Team: Pinebrookwood Orcas

Restaurant: Starbucks/Jason's Deli

Food: mac and cheese

Snack Food: strawberry M&M yogurt

Beverage: chocolate chip Frappuchino

Ice Cream: French vanilla

Store: game store

Book: enjoying Hardy Boys

Hobbies: video games

Sports: swimming & cross country

Pets: 2 dogs (Apolla & Bella), 1 cat (Lucky) and 1 hamster (Peter)

TV Show: Psych

Misc: loves to argue about seemingly anything and everything; leaves socks all over the house, has an aversion to putting dirty laundry in his laundry basket and dirty dishes in the dishwasher; night owl; takes the fastest showers ever; loves to snuggle with me when JD is out of town

October 13 - Not Fancy Enough

This is not fancy!

Last Monday, the day was finally here. The day where...uniforms were required for school. Unlike Julia's preschool uniform, Jillian had a lot of options. I let her look at the options and pick out the ones she liked. I hoped this will get her excited about the uniform. Did it work? 

No. An emphatic NO. Julia somehow finagled her into a navy jumper (missing the white shirt) and Jillian spent a solid 30min throwing a fit worthy of an Academy Award. Screaming. Crying. Shouts of "this isn't fancy enough!" and "I hate you for making me wear this!" could probably be heard from the house next door. She finally calmed down enough to go to actual school.

And when I picked her up? My little blonde gem walked out of school STILL MAD about the uniform. By day 4, she was only throwing a 5min fit and today was also minimal. 

But look how adorable...

October 5 - Cross Country

Cross country started up last week and there is a new team member...Luke! Luke has been doing great at swim but the temperatures here have been dropping and the pool temp is about 76 degrees. Our coach recommended kids who are very skinny (Luke) or temperature sensitive (also Luke) either skip practice or wear wet suits. So, JD and I decided it was a good time to shift gears and try something new. I'm sure you can imagine Luke's excitement about trying a new sport (not excited in the least) so he was not a happy camper on the drive to practice last Monday. However, he did the entire practice without complaining and did great. After one lap (approx a half mile), he proclaimed "My legs feel great!" After a few more he proclaimed "I can't feel my legs." The second practice was tougher but he worked hard, I'm super proud of him. Julia is excited for the season as she's in great shape going into it (opposed to last year when she had not been swimming or doing any cardio). The team only has 7 kids and who knows if they will even do meets, but it's a nice to switch things up once and awhile. 

Go Yamo's!

My adorable playdate while the big kids run