Well, since Mike has been up to his elbows in olives this month, I decided to take the kids to SLO for a road-trip. Alumni weekend is always a fun reunion and most of our group heads back. This year Red was the only one who played in the game and she made us proud! Thank you Clarins for letting us have some sleepovers!
One morning Giada went on an adventure with friends, so Gino and I went to campus for a run. Man did those hills kick my ass! It's not like that in Lodi! The campus has changed so much, it really was fun to see everything. I even ran up Fredericks for Old Time Sake! Ran by AGR, looks like they were supporting Breast Cancer Awareness.
Calivirgin supported CP Softball
As usual, Hot Virgin Jalapeno was the popular choice to top the popcorn with; have you tried it yet?
I missed the "wear a gray shirt" memo!
A trip is not complete without the stop at the Avila Barn and the Beach!
Just a girl and her corn. Both kids ate their corn so fast, I couldn't believe it.
As you can imagine there are points in the day that go smoother than others. Often times I want to lock them in a room together and make them work it out. Luckily, there are a lot of times that are very sweet, and they love to be with each- other. Caught a few sweet ones recently.
Giada
- Almost 5, hard to believe
- Has an excellent memory, and asks very in depth questions. I'm already worried about the teenage years with this one, based on how she already reacts as a 4 year old
- Loves going to Grace Preschool, this year 3 days a week
- Gymnastics/Dance class is a weekly highlight
-Loves trying to rhyme things, and what she comes up with is pretty funny
- Her hermit crab Periwinkle just died, so that was interesting to deal with. At first she was really upset, now we have buried her and moved on. She did tell her friend "Dylan, I was going to give you Perwinkle, but then she died and I didn't want to give you a dead crab" ** No worries Nicole, I wasn't going to give you a live pet
- Loves doing puzzles and is very proud of herself as she gets better at them
-Makes up jokes and asks you to as well, watch out she usually doesn't like what you come up with, and it cannot be a knock knock joke
- Continues to draw a lot, and much better than I can even attempt
- Growing the bangs out is taking FOREVER. Now she wants to cut them but we are not doing that now after making it so long
- She is always writing cards and letters with the words she knows, and wants to mail them to us. Asks us how to spell things out. Mom, Dad, Pops, Giada, Gino are some she has gotten good at writing.
Giadaisms
-- "Me and Gino are not the calmest kids, you probably want to keep Cole" (after we watched him one afternoon)
-- me: Giada I can't do everything at once Giada: "do you wish you were an octopus so you had more hands?"
-- "Gino god and Santa are watching you so you should be a good boy"
-- "I tested the scissors out on my tongue (from her play hair stuff) and on Ginos hair and it won't cut"
-- "When I wake up in the morning, snap crackle pop I will be dry"
Gino
- Runs everywhere he goes
- Jumps off everything, climbs on everything
- Definitely asks "Why"
- Can speak pretty well now. It took him quite a while to get going so now that he speaks well, his vocabulary and the way he answers questions makes him seem so much older to me, but I think it is because he sort of missed the babbling stage because he didn't speak much then
- Getting pretty good at colors "geen" " lellow" "giants" (orange) "red" "bu""chocolate" (brown)
- Enjoys painting and drawing, just all scribbling at this point
- His easy going personality is pretty much gone. He definitely knows what he wants these days
- LOVES fruit, peas, he is pickier than Giada
- Growth spurt lately, all of a sudden everything is too small for him
- Goes to sleep later now, between 8-9 and still gets up 6ish. Some days even no nap....so sad.
- He does go down for bed relatively easy after a couple books. Pacifier is gone! We only really let him have it at bed, or the car, but we were sick of it. I told him it was for babies, we could give it to his cousin Cole. I said that for about a week and then just got rid of them, and it hasn't been an issue since. He has hardly brought it up. I'm shocked and thrilled!
-Loves playing dress up
- Working on manners so he just says "please welcome thankyou" to cover all his basis
- "Mommy Julie" is a new favorite Giada has taught him to say now that he has mastered "Mike"
- Likes counting... 1, 2, 2, 1, 2,1 over and over
