Leap Day!

I LOVE leap day because it means that I had an extra day to spend with Gracie girl....and it doesn't get any better than that! Grace had her fifteen month wellness visit with her pediatrician today. Grace is now 31.25 inches long (75th percentile) and is 22.6 pounds (50th percentile). Maddy mentioned that Grace will be in kindergarten when the next leap day arrives (oh my!!!). The only sad part of today was that Maddy and Uncle Adam were not here. They left for Vermont yesterday and how we miss them. I can't possibly thank them enough for an unforgettable visit full of fun, fun, fun, and more fun! An extra special thank you to Maddy who spends countless hours researching and finding the perfect learning toys, clothes, shoes, books, and cards for Grace. I can't express in words how very special it is to me to see you with Grace. You are a truly amazing mother to me and a Maddy to Grace. Thank you, Uncle Adam, for your thoughtful and generous gifts. You are such a strong influence in Grace's life and she clearly adores your calm, gentle, and loving ways. The only missing piece this visit was Poppy, who was in our thoughts every minute. We hope everyone enjoyed their leap day!

Mashing with Maddy!

Due to the snowstorm today, we all were indoors having a fun day of playing, pretending, singing, dancing, cooking, and eating. Grace helped Maddy make Carrot Cilantro Soup. Yummy!

Dressing Up On Another Snowy Inside Day

Photography by Uncle Adam!

Winter Fun Inside & Out!

Uncle Adam & Grace enjoying the snow!Maddy & Grace enjoying the ten foot snow bank!
Mommy prefers the warm pool to the cold snow!!!

Bathtime Superstars!

Since Grace is such a shining star, Maddy has to wear eye protection!!!

Bathtime Fun!

Feeling Better!!!

Poor Gracie girl has been sick the past several days with ear infections. Today was the first day since Monday that Grace has started to shown signs of feeling better ~ a tell tale sign is that Grace has started to climb again! She LOVES climbing into her shopping cart and she was back at it again today. Hooray!

Memere, Pepere, & Gracie Girl!

Memere & Pepere came for a visit this weekend! Grace was so happy to show them all of the fun things she loves at her favorite place, the Children's Museum. Grace showed Memere how she can kick a ball.
Daddy has shared many stories of waterskiing on the lake at Memere & Pepere's house and Grace looks like she is now ready to go. Captain Grace showed Pepere how she would drive the boat! Grace is deciding what to make everyone for dinner. So many choices!

Grace and Pepere share a quiet moment together at the museum.

Thank you, Memere and Pepere, for a wonderful visit. We are so glad that you were able to see all that Grace knows and has learned!

Geary Who?

Our Gracie girl is clearly ready to challenge the design work of the famous artichect Frank Geary!

A Fun Afternoon at the Children's Museum!

Our happy girl!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Grace celebrated the night before Valentine's day in a way most girls only dream of. Grace had a candlelit dinner followed by a candlelit bubble bath before she drifted off to a peaceful sleep.....all that and only fourteen months old. The real story is that we lost electricity due to the big snow & ice storm that we had yesterday but we didn't let Grace know. She certainly celebrated the arrival of Valentine's day in style! By the way, the power came back on today which made Mommy very, very, very happy but I'm not sure Grace agreed. ;)

February is "National Reading Month!"

A very, very, very big thank you to the always thoughtful, generous, and loving Maddy who surprised Grace with 23 Sandra Boynton books to celebrate "I Love to Read" month. Sandra Boynton is one of Grace's favorite authors. Grace is now able to predict what comes next in her books and names several of the titles all by herself! In the picture below, Grace is looking at one of her new books from Maddy called, "Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy!" Grace's favorite area in our home is seen here - near her large basket filled with books.

Grace loves pointing to and naming letters in her books. She especially enjoys the Sandra Boynton books because she loves matching the front cover of the book to the one that is pictured on the back. This Sandra Boynton book is called, "A, An Animal & Adjective Alphabet." Grace can now identify and name over 16 letters but her favorite letter is "G!" Grace turns all the pages in this book until she finds the letter G first."There is no substitute for books in the life of a child."

~Mary Ellen Chase~

Look How I'm Spending My Winter, Michaela!

Michaela is Grace's second cousin. Michaela lives in Delaware and she also has a blog. Earlier today we checked Michaela's blog to find beautiful new pictures of Michaela playing outside on her new bike. We were quite surprised to see grass ~ there wasn't a single flake of snow on the ground!!!! We wanted to share some of our Maine winter pictures with Michaela. We know our friends and family in Vermont & Massachusetts probably have lots of snowy pictures just like these. We are expecting another very big snow storm tonight and all day tomorrow (it's actually snowing right now). It's also supposed to snow for the next seven days. Michaela, can you send some of your warm weather up this way?!?! :)

Here Grace is playing in a huge snow pile that is directly in front of our house. Daddy had to shovel all the snow off of our roof, which left several piles like these in front of our house! Grace looks a little stunned here. We just told her that we are expecting another ten inches of snow tomorrow!!!Here are the snow banks on our road. Some of them are as tall as eight feet!!!

Art Time

Each day after lunch Grace enjoys art time. Grace loves to paint & draw with markers, crayons, and chalk. Before her artwork goes on our refrigerator, I always ask Grace what she would like to call her piece. Today Grace chose to draw with markers. Grace told me she wanted to call her work, "Dots & i's" (each time Grace sees the lowercase letter i she says "i" and "dot" ~ so I think Grace must have been drawing the letter i today).

Fourteen Months Old!

Full speed ahead....

Pajama Day!

Grace & I have been enjoying a pajama day at home! We brought the fun of the outisde inside on this stormy day by putting Grace's slide in the middle of our kitchen. Wheeeeeee!