Gracie Bug's First Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

All About Pumpkins!

Today was a pumpkin day at our home! Grace wore her pumpkin pajamas all day, ate pumpkin for lunch, painted handprint pumpkins for Halloween, went on a walk to find all of the pumpkins in our neighborhood, and we read all of our pumpkin and Halloween books!

A Sneak Peek! Grace Debuts Her Very First Halloween Costume!

We attended Portland's "Old Fashion Family Halloween Party" today and had such a fun time. Grace showed off her first Halloween costume (a ladybug, of course!!!) in a costume parade. From the looks of it, Grace didn't want to leave the stage. She was the cutest little bug there. Look for more Halloween pictures and videos of Grace this week.

"I Can Play Too!"

After the Halloween party, we went to a state championship little league football game to support the son of one of Daddy's co-workers. After the game was over, the fans rushed out onto the field to celebrate while the next teams to play were warming up for their game. Grace loved running on the football field and she said she is now ready to play. We eventually talked Grace out of playing football and convinced her to become the teams ladybug mascot instead!

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. ~Dr. Seuss~The favorite part of my day with Grace is spent looking at books together. Daddy was there this morning to capture our special time. Grace's wide range of knowledge truly shines during book time. Grace easily points to pictures that correspond to the words she hears, identifies parts of objects, and she is even beginning to identify several familiar letters and shapes.......the magic of books!

'Look, A Pine Tree!'

When Grace and I would go on our daily walks this summer, I pointed out all of the beautiful flowers to her as we passed them. Now that all of the flowers are gone, I have been showing Grace all of the pine trees. I always pick a few pine needles for Grace to hold in her hands as we are walking. Grace now points to EVERY pine tree that she sees and vocalizes quite loudly to express her excitement. I'm amazed how she is able to spot even the tiniest of pine trees. Since we live in the Pine Tree State, there is no such thing as a quick walk anymore because we now stop at every visable pine tree to pick a few needles and take in the distinct fragrance! It's so wonderful how Grace makes us slow down to "smell the pine trees!" Thank you, sweet Grace, for opening my eyes to all of the beauty that surrounds our home.Maddy, thank you for Grace's new shoes. They are absolutely adorable. I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of them in pictures to come on our blog!

Another Beautiful Day at Ogunquit Beach

Grace and I spent our day together at Ogunquit Beach enjoying perfect beach temperatures in the high 80's ~ and what a treat it was to be at the beach near the end of October. Grace wore her tutu and much to our surprise she was the only one at the beach wearing one!!!! ;)

Tutu Beach Pictures!

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

ALCS Champions!

The Leger family is all decked out in their Red Sox hats & shirts to show their full support of their favorite baseball team tonight. Go Red Sox.

Celebrating Fall in New England

We enjoyed a beautiful Sunday morning at one of our many local apple orchards before Maddy & Poppy left to go back to Vermont. Grace enjoyed walking through the rows of apple trees, riding on Poppy's shoulders, and helping Maddy pick Cortland apples. It was a great way to end such a fun-filled weekend. After apple picking we sadly watched Maddy & Poppy drive away from the orchard to head back to Middlebury. Grace continued to search for Maddy & Poppy and kept waving and saying, "bye-bye" long after their car drove away.

The Odyssey

Walking on the Beach

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Today is October 20, 2007. The temperature was in the mid 70's. It felt like June instead of September and everyone at the beach thought so too.

Poppy & Grace in Orange

Poppy & Grace enjoyed showing off their orange accessories in Kennebunkport!!!!
Donna, thank you so much for the cute pumpkin bag!

Ladybugs EVERYWHERE!

This is almost unbelievable ~

Maddy found a ladybug on her hand while playing with Grace in Kennebunkport. Later at Ogunquit Beach, Maddy picked a flower for Grace and lo and behold there was a ladybug on the flower stem (click to enlarge). It was the flower that was meant to be picked for our little ladybug!

Maddy Celebrates Her Favorite Holiday, "Sweetest Day" with her Sweetest Girl!

Celebrated on the third Saturday in October, Sweetest Day started in 1922, when a candy company employee organized a group to help deliver candy and small gifts to orphans and others whose lives needed brightening. Today, it's still a time to remember those who bring happiness to our lives. Maddy loves the Biscuit book series and has given Biscuit books to Grace on every holiday! Maddy surprised Grace today with a package filled with Biscuit Halloween books. We wish everyone a very happy Sweetest Day.

It's Fun to Play at the YMCA!

We spent Saturday morning in Portland at the YMCA's Open House Family Day. By quite a few years, Grace was the youngest & tiniest person there but that certainly didn't stop her from grabbing a basketball and going right out to the middle of the basketball court to join the big kid and adult game that was going on! Although Grace didn't make the shot into the hoop, she definitely was the show stopper and all-star of the game!

Grace, Where is Your Tongue?

"Where's Grace's tongue?" is one of our favorite things to ask Grace because we think her response is so adorable. What amazes us even more is that Grace sticks out her tongue every time we ask her to, which is many, many, many times per day - we can't stop ourselves!

Our First Video Posting. Hooray!

We have finally learned how to post a video! This short video clip was taken of Grace this afternoon at the Children's Museum. We have been so excited that Grace has been walking since she was nine months old but we haven't been able to capture this entirely in pictures so we think this is a perfect first video to share with everyone. We can't wait to show more videos of our Gracie girl with all of you!

A Visit To See Daddy at Work!

Grace and I had the best ending to our day ~ we went to visit Daddy at work. Grace and I always love to visit Daddy's Credit Union but

the only difference this time was that Grace walked to her Daddy's office all by herself!

Oh No....It's Time for the Winter Coat!

Gracie, what do you think of the colder weather?

Our Little Pumpkin

Ready for Halloween!

We have been waiting for the first cool day of October to debut the absolutely adorable outfit that Maddy sent to Grace. Maddy handmade Grace's candy corn skirt and it is as cute as can be! We think Grace is yummy enough to eat in this outfit!! Thank you so much, Maddy. Grace loves the outfit too ~ she touched the pumpkin on her shirt all day today and each time she did she would say, "puh." She also loves touching the tulle on the bottom of her skirt.

Family Fun at the Biggest Fair in Maine

We spent a fun day together at the largest fair in Maine ~ the Fryeburg Fair. Grace loved watching all of the people and enjoyed seeing a helicopter flying above the fairgrounds. We saw lots of horses, sheep, and cows, including a baby calf that was born only four days ago. Grace spent most of her time at the fair excitedly pointing to everything around her. Grace was thrilled to see lots of pumpkins but she was most excited to ride on Daddy's shoulders! After a full day of fun Grace enjoyed a some well deserved rest in her stroller on the walk back to our car!

A LADYBUG!

We couldn't believe our eyes as we were walking to the Fryeburg Fair today when we looked down and saw a real ladybug resting on top of Grace's tiny right foot. We had to look twice to make sure what we were seeing was real! The ladybug couldn't have landed in a more perfect place than on our Gracie Girl because she has such an intense love for ladybugs. What made this moment even more unbelievable is that right before we left for the fair, Gracie Girl was walking around our front yard with what we call her "magic ladybug wand" (seen here). The wand has tiny ladybugs on the leaves and Grace loves carrying it around with her. Grace and her wand must both be truly be magical! The picture seen below shows Grace gently touching the lovely ladybug on her foot. Grace was able to get a long look at the ladybug before it flew away.