Door Slamming

Clearly James has learned from the masters Eric and Ellie how to slam his door. He slammed it yesterday and I said "I'm sorry but if you do that again Daddy will have to use his tools and take off your door for a while."
He responded "Well then I'll take Daddy to Home Depot and get a new door and then I'll slam that one."

Dreams

I checked on all the kids before bed and James thrashed around a little bit saying "I can't see the train."

Then at 5am I heard James screaming and thought it was another bad dream. When I went in there he was half asleep so I asked what was wrong and he said "I don't like spicy dinners and you almost always make spicy dinner."

Missing the cousins

Eric can't wait until we go to Asheville to see Marley, Ally and Ayden. Tonight he said "why do we have to wait till august, why can't we just go right now."
I said "Well... daddy is in California." and he responded "but you know how to drive."

Love from James

"Every time I come to this house moms and dads are mean."

Kids' Take on the Royal Wedding

Eric and Ellie watched some of the royal wedding. Eric said "prince Harry looks like a really cool guy." and Ellie said "prince Harry is the handsomest guy I ever saw... If he asksme to marry him when I'm a grown up I'll say yes."

Jamesisms

Mommy "love you James."
James "mama you're on my team."

What's your name? "Jamesy Drew Gregory"

Happy Dirt-Day

Just celebrated James and Eric's birthdays. Love how James sings "Happy Dirt Day." Eric had a bunch of boys over for a beyblade celebration and James had a few friends over for pizza and cupcakes. We had a family party for them combined over the weekend. James blew out the candles like a pro. He was adorable running around in his new construction vest and hat fixing everything in the house.

Little pumpkin

James is getting so big! In a month he'll be 3. We finally took the side off crib to make a
Toddler bed and he loves it. It was a big moment the first time he walked
In to get me out of bed instead of calling for me to get him.
Tucking him in the other night I said "good night little pumpkin."
He said " I'm not a pumpkin mama I'm james Gregory."

Monster Jam Minivan

Today Andrew said maybe we should have the plugged tire moved to the back so in case the tire went flat the car wouldn't go off the road. Eric "that would be soooo awesome... just like Monster Jam."

You Mean

James "Daddy.. you mean."

Mommy "James, that's fresh, we don't say that."

James "Daddy you not cute."

Townie

was just driving through Norwood Center and Eric said "I'm probably not gonna move out of Norwood when I grow up cause I'm definitely gonna wanna see what it looks like here in 30 years...." Oh boy....

Prince and Princess

Andrew was being funny and put a screensaver of Prince William and Kate Middleton on my computer. James thought it was Auntie Lindsay and Uncle Jon. I guess that's a compliment!

Funny Day

The kids had some finny stuff to say today:

Ellie -- "When I am 17 and James is 16 I bet he's gonna talk a lot better than he does now."

Eric -- "Mom, how many liquor stores are there in Times Square?"

Christmas Vacation

What an awesome week we had hanging out as a family. Andrew was home all week and we really didnt have a lot of plans but ended up having so much fun.

Thursday- Took James to lunch at Panera and LLBean while the big kids were at school
Friday- Eric went bowling, Ellie spent the day baking with Nannie, Xmas Eve dinner at Lindsay and Jon's
Saturday-CHRISTMAS... barbie house, beyblades, monster trucks, wonderpets beanies, trains... breakfast at Auntie Carole's, Dinner at Nannie and Papa's
Sunday/Monday-big blizzard, 18 inches, they loved making snow balls and looking for animal footprints
Tuesday-Kids go to work at Oracle with Daddy
Wednesday-Sledding, Afternoon movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Thursday-watched Madison, Ellie playdate with Leanne, Eric playdate with Mikey
Friday- Train to Boston for First Night Sculptures, Westwood Fireworks, Lindsay and Jon's party
Saturday- Rob and Anita visit
Sunday-Patriots Party

Blizzard

We were outside playing in the snow storm today and it was really windy. James yelled "mama the snow is making me sad."

I love all my people

Tonight I was putting James to bed and I said I love you… he responded with I Love mommy, daddy, sissy, brothy… I love all my people.

Shower

Tonight they wanted to know if they could wear their rainboots in the shower.

Halloween

Darth Vader
Buzz Lightyear
Wicked witch of the West

Barbie Day

The last day before school starts so Ellie and I spent a long time together playing Barbies. Her story was so cute that we were acting out. Barbie (Viveca) was getting married to Brian (the African American Ken doll.) She dressed all the bridesmaids and even little flower girls. Ken (the best man) got hurt in a surfing accident so one of the Barbies was his nurse in the hospital. Since his wife, Cheryl, was the maid of honor she asked the videographer to take a video so she could bring the DVD to show Ken in the hospital. The nurse fed Ken orange soda and watermelon to get his strength back. (contents of Barbie BBQ set) Viveca and Brian went to Hawaii on their honeymoon. I asked how long the flight was but she said let's just pretend it only takes two hours in the Barbie car. In Hawaii they met another couple (Ken2) and another Barbie. The realized they are both from Norwood and they are neighbors.
Viveca got a couple phone calls on her cell phone... one was Cheryl calling to say Ken was ok, and he liked the DVD. And one was from "Auntie" who babysitting the doggie but the doggie wouldn't drink anything. So Viveca told Cheryl "believe it or not all that dog drinks is orange soda." (Ellie herself hates orange soda but the Bbq set came with 3 bottles)
Then Viveca and Brian went to the beach to go suntanning (we discussed the danger of UV rays) and they met a mermaid! The mermaid's pet dolphin got a "stubbed flipper" so Viv drove the mermaid and the dolphin quickly to the vet in the convertible.
The vet put the dolphin in the pool and put a bandage on the flipper. Then Viv and the mermaid took the dolphin back to the ocean and Viv said she would come in 2 weeks to help bring the dolphin to get the bandage off.
Later, Brian and Viv ran into the mermaid again and she told them the dolphin was ok so they didn't need to go to the vet.
So, they get back from the honeymoon and Viv has a baby girl at the hospital. ("She didn't know she was gonna have a baby and it didn't take 9 months")
Ken comes to visit now that he is out of the hospital and brings a new carseat and a new hat for the baby.
The new baby is named Elizabeth and the baby's older cousin Dorothy came to see her in the hospital. DOrothy couldn't stay because she had to go to her first day of Kindergarten.
Then Grandma Midge (the short haired Barbie from the 60s my aunt gave Ellie) came to see the baby too. This is the same grandma that held the flower girls on her lap during the wedding.
And that's where the story ended... with Dorothy off to Kindergarten.. and that's where Ellie will be tomorrow. What an imagination... and wow.. can you tell what's going on in her life!!!!

Eric's Eating

Eric was unimpressed with the turkey sloppy joes I made for dinner. I told him to tell me 3 things he would eat and of course, chicken fingers, hot dogs and pizza were his choices. He also told me he likes vegetarian food better so I asked him what about chicken fingers and hot dogs and he said he could be a vegetarian except for those 2. We had a similar discussion when he was 3 but I thought by 6 he would have changed his tune.