Here's My Trouble...

Our Weekend through the Eyes of the Cell Phone Camera

Saturday was packed...Azalea Trail Run for Daddy (which he rocked, by the way....must have been all of our cheering!)...

then hunting camp for four little boys...

Beautiful day....tons of fun!

Thoughts on Spring, Speech Therapy, White Polo Shirts, and all things Suessical

Bear with me friends...I'm going to be all over the place.  Lots of nothing going on here but lots of living.  Some things we're doing and things we're going through to record...

First, spring is here.  And it is HOT already.  We've been enjoying the good weather by spending lots of time outdoors.  Nerf wars, baseball, playground trips...you name it and the Gills are doing it.  Love, love, love the warmer weather.

The boys have become quite obsessed with all things basketball.  They love to play in the driveway and have enjoyed watching the tournament with Daddy at night and on weekends.  We also still love to play baseball.  No organized sports for this crew yet, but there seems to be no need when there's always a parent to pitch and a brother to play with!

Moving on...speech therapy.  Both Philip and Daniel have recently begun speech therapy.  Philip has trouble with his 'r' sound and the speech therapist reccomended a little help.  After waiting six months to see if it would develop, we gave her the okay to begin.  It got me thinking about Daniel, who has trouble with lots of sounds.  I had the SPS therapist test him and subsequently realized it was worse than I thought.  All that to say, Daniel has now started speech therapy too.

He loves it!!  He gets to get out in the morning at the SPS carpool line.  He loves Ms. Kraus and all things St. Paul's.  He brings home flashcards that we play 'Go Fish' and 'Memory' with...at least four times a day!!  I don't know if it is going to St. Paul's that is so exciting or if he is truly thrilled to be speaking clearly, but he is so very happy.  His improvement is unbelieveable...we are so proud of him!!

Speaking of St. Paul's, my sweet Daniel has some major clothing issues.  He only has about four pairs of pants that he will wear (despite about six other pairs we have in his size) and he always wants to wear a white polo shirt with them.  To top the outfit off, he must have his blue Columbia fleece....even when it is 80 degrees outside.  Bizarre...but the upside, to the shirt at least, is that he always looks nice.  I mean, it could be a ratty t-shirt that he wants to wear everyday.  I think the white polo shirt comes from the fact that Philip wears one as part of his uniform everyday.  Oh how glad I'll be to get this one in a uniform next year!!

Moving on, we are in the midst of a little Dr. Suess love affair these days. 

Philip and Daniel celebrated his birthday earlier this month and I guess that brought his books back to the forefront.  I love his silly books and the boys do too.  At night, Philip, Daniel, and I crawl in bed with a Dr. Suess book and take turns reading pages.  I am amazed at how fluent Philip has become...reading the pages without stops to sound things out.  Equally amazing is Daniel's ability to read and sound out words at his age.

Earlier this week, I was busy putting William and John down for naps.  I peeked into the boys room afterwards to find this...

Philip was reading Green Eggs and Ham to himself.  I've caught him flipping through books hundreds of times, but this was the first time that I caught him reading silently by his own choice.  Oh how that makes my heart happy!  I love to read and truly hope that my boys will grow up loving it too!

Well, friends, I think that you're all caught up now.  Life is good here at the Gill house...hope you are enjoying your Spring days too!

Simple Days

I've written to you before about what a change full day school has been for me.  Lots of days I am left feeling like I have little quality time with the boys...too much rush time getting everyone in and out of the car for carpool.  Many days, I am left longing for the simple, ordinary days where not much is accomplished other than together time.

What to do?   I try to grasp it whenever I can.  Yesterday, no one napped in the afternoon.  Instead of  Despite being extremely frustrated at my inability to get anything done, I offered a trip down to the park...one of our favorite pasttimes that we simply can't fit in much these days! 

The fun continued at home where little boys found lots of water puddles to splash in!

After carting John and William around running errands yesterday, I promised John (who cries whenever I put him in his carseat) that today would be spent at home.  We napped and picnic'ed at home...

Sometimes when it is just me and the two littlest, I am taken back to those slower days with just Philip and Daniel.  Days when we had all the time in the world to explore the outdoors, read lots of books, and simply be together.  There's no doubt in my mind that our pace in those years created the bond that is so strong between Philip and Daniel.  I am trying desperately to give these two little guys that same gift...despite all the carpool runs!

A Sad Goodbye

About seven years ago, I remember standing in Irving Hall at church and telling someone that we were expecting our first child.  Mrs. Maddox, another church member, overheard and came to tell me that Scott and Jason were also expecting their first.  I knew who the Weekley's were, but I did not know them well at all.

Well, our first babies brought us together!  Scott and Jason have become dear friends of ours over the years at Trinity.  Philip and Mary were buds for so long at school together.  It has been so much fun to watch them grow up.

Scott and I have had many playdates together with her girls and my boys.  We've had many phone 'therapy' sessions over the dramas at our church.  We've developed quite a friendship, and it sure stinks to see them go.  They move to Arkansas next week...insert tears here...

So, to send them off, we had a pizza party last night.  Ever since my boys read this...

they have been dying to have a pizza party.  I thought it was a perfect idea for feeding six children six and under!

It was so much fun.  I definitely see a pizza party in our future again.

Goodbye, dear friends, we'll miss you! 

Can't wait for your visit this summer.

A Cold, Wet Beach Getaway

With Chris' out of town for the weekend, I jumped at GranGran and PopPop's invitation to join them at the beach.  I didn't even consider the weather...didn't even check the forecast.  All I could think about was a change of scenery and two extra sets of hands.

Well, it rained...and rained...and rained.  And then it rained a little bit more.  Seriously, it rained all day Saturday. 

The boys held it together pretty well but that condo is small!  We read some books, played some games, took some naps, and kept PopPop's laptop busy!

We ventured out in the rain for lunch at Sunset Grille.  The boys were well behaved...even this guy!

After lunch, we got about a twenty minute break from the rain.  PopPop and I headed out with the troops.  Our feet went numb quite quickly, but at that point we'd do just about anything to get their energy out!

JohnJohn thought sand tasted great!

Sunday brought this glorious sunrise....

and much better weather...a little warmer and absolutely no clouds in the sky!  We started out early with a trip across the street to let Roxy go for a swim.  Then it was back to the beach for lots of sand play!  It really was a great weekend.  The boys loved having GranGran and PopPop around.  Dad was quite the entertainment and it was so fun to see the boys have so much uninterrupted time with their grandparents!

Despite all the fun, these guys were happy to return home to their Daddy!