Once Upon A Dream

We brought in the new year this morning with a little dancing....
and there were cookies later, of course!

We're getting creative over here.....all the toys are packed. Grammy had to tell demonstrative stories today...see if you can figure out what they were saying and doing! All we can say is TGFG - Thank God For Grammy xoxo

We will be off-line until next week sometime....
We will miss you!
See you soon!

We moved into our new house. We have been so busy. We have a lot of painting/wallpaper removal and cleaning to do! We are back on line, so we should be around a lot more often. The girls are adjusting well, but they miss Staten Island and everyone there so much! Here is the first post...featuring packing in Staten Island and saying goodbye (at school and to Isabella). Also, two pictures from when we first arrived at the new house. There was a lot of snow!

One room down....(sorta)...all the rest to go! Here is Gillian with actual pigtails.....cute! Gabby is helping to prime her room. There used to be two boys in this house...and now there are two girls! We have a lot of blue paint to cover. We will have to post an updated picture....the room is not complete, but it is getting there!

The girls have been getting some mail lately. They find this really exciting. First, Gabby got a letter from her friend/pen pal, Ally. Then the girls got cards in the mail from Grammy! Yesterday they got a letter and map from Aunt Lena, Uncle Tony, and Isabella. It was so cute. Then they had lunch and acted silly. You can see Gabby sniffing one of Gillian's little fluff ball pigtails. They were both laughing hysterically at that!?

We tackled Gillian's bedroom today. She got to put the initial color on the wall after we did the primer. She may have a future ahead of her in painting because she did not want to give up that brush! She loved it. The last picture is really a picture of Uncle Steve after the Giants won tonight....He grabbed everyone because he was so happy!

This is what Gabby said to me when she woke up today and saw the dusting of snow that we got (Hey mom, SNOW, ya know!) We have holly bushes in our yard...can you spot one in the pictures?

We tried some new art supplies/toys that we got for Christmas. Gabby loves this Aqua Dots toy.....YES, I know that it was recalled...but- It is only out under strict supervision....no one is ingesting the dots. I can see why the toy was so popular...even I think it is fun. I just don't know what to do with the things once they are made. Then we tried some of the new fingerpaints/paper that we got. They had a blast...Gillian accidentally scratched her face a few times...finger painting makes her itchy....???? Today, Gillian turned 20 months....I just happen to have this picture of Gabby from November 10, 2004 when she turned 20 months...Time flies!

Gabby was playing in the snow on our deck, and she thought it was extremely hilarious to throw this snowball at me. I told her that I was putting it on the blog to send along to all of you. She was happy about that. I signed the girls up for some fun classes at a local gymnastics and dance school. They have reached their limits in this house and have begun to jump on the guest room mattresses. You can see the snow on the massive trees outside. It really is pretty in person. Anyhow...back to classes. Gillian will be going to a mommy and me gymnastics class and a mommy and me ballet class. That should be hysterical....(Gillian in a leotard...and me doing ballet). Gabby will be doing tap, ballet, and gymnastics. Lucky for me...This is all at one school. Their first class is on Saturday. Gabby visited Craig Elementary today. She had to go for kindergarten registration. Everyone we met was so nice, and the school looked like so much fun! We met the two kindergarten teachers, and one of the teachers was born and raised in Staten Island. We asked her what she missed the most about Staten Island, and she said - the pizza and Ralph's Ice. What a small world. I wonder which teacher Gabby will have next year! She also signed up for the 1000 book club. We get to go to the school and pick up these red bags filled with 10 books. The kids get rewards after reading so many books, and they get a huge award when they make it to 1000. The program starts when children are three, and they must finish by the time they are in first grade. We are coming into the program late in the game, so I hope we can catch up.

We made a chart today to represent the 1000 books that we have to read for the book club. We have finished 30 so far. After reading 30....Gabby said, "We have read so many...are we almost to 1000?" I knew then it was time to give her a visual because....I had a feeling that I was going to hear that question many more times. We started removing some of the wallpaper in the lower part of the house. Here is the lovely.....floral....entry way. The girls had fun ripping the top layer off. Any one have tips for removing that stuff underneath? I have been using the wall paper stripper, but it is tedious work....

We will have to post before and after pics when we complete some of the rooms.

We had our first classes at Spendwood last Saturday. Gillian had Mommy and Me Gymnastics and Mommy and Me Ballet. She loved it! Gabby had Tap, Ballet, and Gymnastics. The school was great. The teachers were talented.... and can't wait to go to more classes. Gabby is in the gymnastics pictures in the group on the left. She is wearing very pale pink. Gillian looked so funny in her first class wearing her little leotard. Both girls will be in recitals in May and June. I am also posting a picture of Gabby as a daddy's hat.

Gianna and Anita came to visit our new house for the first time. The girls had so much fun running, screaming and playing. They had pizza, a bath, popcorn, a movie, and a sleepover.

There was a free puppet show given at our house the other night. We were given glitter glue tickets. There were posters...and special effects! What more could you want?

The girls were getting some sun today...and just goofing around. They were pretending that they were at the beach....That lasted a short while...then Gillian tried to drag Gabby away to play something else.

They have both adjusted to our move pretty well. It has helped that we have had a constant stream of visitors. They seem to really like it here, but they also miss Staten Island...(a nice healthy response).

A lot of you have been asking me what the girls are doing new lately....

Gabby - Gabby has been reading for months now, but she is really taking off as far as reading on her own. She can sound out almost any word... so we will be continuing to work on that this spring. The book club is also helping. She has almost completed 100 books (1/10 of the way finished). She learned to tie her shoe...which will help her out in kindergarten next year...I think (Do kids have shoes with ties anymore?) She loves to play hide and seek in this new house.... which is really nothing new, but she loves to do it everyday.

Gillian - Gillian wants to do whatever Gabby is doing. She really is growing up too fast. She is in a rush to do everything because she sees Gabby doing it. She is going on the potty everday at her own request (We are still far from underwear). We are not pushing the subject or even really trying. She is speaking in sentences and phrases. Her pronunciation isn't perfect...so it is difficult for other people to understand her, but she is doing well for 20 months. She knows all the colors and can count to 10...she also knows most of the ABC song....but can't quite sing it on her own yet. We are working on all the shapes and numbers by sight...

So much for our quick update. They grow so fast.....It is hard to believe that Gabby will be 5 in March and Gillian will be 2 in May.....Some dude in Lowes asked me if the girls were twins today....Do they really look that much alike? I know Gillian is catching up to Gabby size wise, but twins?

Here is Gabby...I finally took some pictures of this...

We spent most of Saturday putting together furniture for the playroom from IKEA and painting. The girls had their dance and gymnastics classes, and Dave discovered this waterfall down the street from the dance studio/gym. It is on the Mowhawk river.

We have one child who loves cotton candy...and one who doesn't even like to touch it. Can you tell which is which? Meme and Papa came to visit, and they brought some Valentine surprises! take a look at these gigantic stuffed animals! Thanks!