Grace loves any fine motor task so this morning we took a Parmesan cheese shaker and Grace practiced putting toothpicks into the holes. Grace absolutely LOVED this activity. She put all 100 toothpicks into the container! Grace later sorted the toothpicks according to color. Great job, Gracie girl.
One of Grace's favorite things to do is to sit in her green chair and look at her books. Here, Grace is enjoying looking at one of the many beautiful scrapbooks that Maddy has made especially for Grace. Grace amazes us with her ability to remember details including people, places, and events. Maddy made the scrapbook (seen here) for Grace that tells all about her trip to Vermont last month while Bob and I were in Florida. Grace received the scrapbook in Maddy's package this past week and much to our surprise Grace had remembered every detail of the trip! She told us about every one of the pictures. Grace even remembered a little girl's name that she had met only one time at a playgroup while she was in Middlebury. We are very happy that Grace has such a strong love of books at such a young age ~ she has learned so much from them.
Grace was all smiles today as we went to La Kermesse, a French American festival. Grace relishes being around lots of people and she enjoyed every second today. Grace twirled her heart away to a concert band, ripped up the dance floor during two signing performances (regardless of the on-stage talent being displayed!), yelled "hi", waved to all the animals, and longed for just one little taste of fair food as she solely dined on her organic peas, pears, and mangoes.
One of the performances at La Kermesse today was a circus show. Prior to the start of the circus Grace enjoyed roaming around the tent ~ she put on a great show for all the onlookers with her twirling, dancing, and jumping. We think if it were possible, Gracie girl would have been center stage in the circus ring! Grace enjoyed watching the jugglers, trapeze artists, dancing clowns, and the ring master. Grace loved the show so much that she was was willing to offer Ella (seen below) to the performers to show her great appreciation for their talents! 
The picture below is our favorite picture that was taken of Gracie girl today. Although you can't see her beautiful face, this picture captures the true essence of Grace's personality. You can always see in Grace's face that she is intently thinking about everything around her and trying to assess how things work & what people are saying. In this picture, Grace's curious spirit shines through as she tries to see what lies beyond that circus tent wall!
Memere graced us with her presence for the past two days. We had such a fun time with Memere yesterday ~ we met Daddy for lunch, shopped, and we lucky enough to find an organic strawberry patch to pick strawberries. This was Grace's first time picking strawberries and we can't wait to go back for more. Today, Memere watched Grace in the pool at her swim lesson. Grace enjoyed showing Memere all that she can do in pool. After Grace's swimming lesson we went to the Portland Public Library to see a reptile presentation. Grace saw live turtles and snakes - even a yellow one! In the picture above, Grace and Memere share a quiet moment at the library together. Before Memere left for Massachusetts today, we enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park. Grace loved picking dandelion flowers with Memere at the park too. Thank you for a wonderful visit, Memere!
On our walk to the lake this morning, Grace and I were on a hunt for the last remaining dandelion flowers. We were hoping to find as many dandelions as we could because we wanted to make dandelion flower prints when we returned home. Luckily, we were able to locate fifteen flowers and Grace found thirteen of them! Grace's favorite color is yellow and she can easily spot the "lel-lo dande-ly-lons." Grace loved dipping the flowers into yellow paint and pressing them onto paper. Grace's prints came out beautiful ~ we can't wait to frame them once they dry!
We headed to Memere and Peper's house in Leominster, Massachusetts this weekend for an informal gathering of about fifty of Memere's co-workers. Memere was adamant that this was not a retirement party though, coincidentally, Memere's last day as a full time teacher is tomorrow. We all had a wonderful time reflecting on Memere's 30 years of service to elementary school children in the Grafton school system. She has been a model teacher who put countless hours beyond classroom time leaving a permanent impression on hundreds of children's lives. We are all so proud of the work that Memere has done. The bottom picture is of her three granddaughters - Rose (3.5), Kimberlee (8 months), and Grace (18 months) relaxing on a hammock by the lake across from Memere's and Pepere's house. The top picture is of Grace looking so exceptionally cute, as always. Grace was so kind and made sure to say "hi" to every guest. Grace later changed into her bathing suit and had so much fun swimming in the pool then ventured into the lake. Our fearless little Grace walked into the lake water all the way up to her neck - another Big Girl accomplishment!
Grace spent today making a very special project for her two fabulous grandmothers! Grace painted Maddy & Memere their own flower pot. Grace chose the colors for each flower pot on her own. Grace had remembered that Maddy's favorite color is blue so Maddy's pot is full of different shades of blue whereas Memere's pot is more on the yellow side. Later this afternoon Grace and I visited a local greenhouse where we spent lots of time finding the perfect flowers to fill the flower pots. We will plant the flowers tomorrow. It will be so exciting for Grace to give Memere her pot when we see her this weekend and to give Maddy her pot in early July. 
Grace was very gentle with all of the flowers at the greenhouse. She was very careful not to touch the flowers as she bent over to smell nearly all of them!! Grace told Daddy all about painting the flower pots and about her exciting trip to the greenhouse when he returned home from work. It was a very fun day for us.
Grace has really been enjoying doing some of her art projects on her easel out on our porch. Grace especially enjoys drawing with markers on the dry erase board side of her easel. Grace has recently started drawing a shape that resembles the capital letter G. Grace draws her G the same way each time and after it is drawn she always points to it and says "G."
We were very lucky to take advantage of a blue sky in between two very large rainstorms today. During the rain break, Grace and I enjoyed some time at the lake across from our house. Grace found rocks to throw into the water and she put on a show for me which included lots & lots of dancing on the beach! 
Grace chose to paint with yellow and green paint this morning. Once the paint dried I cut Grace's paintings into different shapes so she could sort them by color. I thought it would be fun for Grace to sort today using something she created!While I was preparing lunch for Grace I scattered the colored shapes seen above on our kitchen floor. I had not brought out this sorter for several weeks so I was curious to see what Grace would do with it. I was very surprised when I turned around to see that Grace had sorted all of of the different colored shapes onto their correct peg all by herself. Way to go Grace!!!!
Here are just some of the things that Grace loves about her wonderful Daddy:Daddy is sooooooooooooo funny. He always makes Grace & Mommy laugh.- Daddy makes up silly songs and sings them to Grace.
Daddy does funny dances which always makes Grace laugh. Daddy gives the best Eskimo kisses.Daddy is great at reading books to Grace every morning.Daddy calls Grace several times a day from work to say hi.Daddy makes bath time lots of fun.Thank you, Bob, for being an amazing husband and father. You fill our lives with love, smiles, and lots of laughter every day. Happy, happy, happy Father's Day!
Grace spent every morning this past week painting these birdhouses for Poppy and Pepere for Father's Day. Each morning Grace chose the color paint she wanted and as the week went on new layers of paint color were added! Grace kept saying "Poppy" and "Pepere" as she was painting and "love it" when she was finished. Grace can't wait to give her gifts to Poppy & Pepere. We wish them both a very happy Father's Day and thank them for being such wonderful fathers and grandfathers.
Today the Leger fam went to the Cape Elizabeth Family Fun Day - and boy did we have fun! We listened to a steel drum band, watched a gymnastics demonstration, went on two tractor rides (Gracie wanted to drive but apparently she's not quite big enough), watched lots of children play games, and listened & danced to a rock band concert. The event was held at Fort Williams Park, which is home to the Portland Head Light. The Head Light is a very special place for us as Rebecca and I got engaged at the Head Light just a short six years ago on June 29th. Above, Gracie is rockin' out to the steel drum band. She felt the beat so she let the rythym move her.
Poppy and Uncle Adam share the same birthday! We wish them both a very special birthday and a wonderful year ahead full of all fun things!
Grace was smiling all day today because we visited the Wildlife Animal Park. Grace truly loves animals and this is one of her favorite places. I just wish the pictures could capture all of Grace's many smiles, giggles, and laughs today!
I can only imagine what the ducks were thinking....."Oh no, she's back! We do not want her pink elephant. We're ducks - we swim in water and go "quack quack" but we do not play with soft pink elephants." These are the same ducks that Grace tried to give Ella to last time we visited the park. Grace loves these ducks SO much but sadly I'm not sure that her affection has been reciprocated. I don't think I have ever seen ducks waddle so quickly as they did today!!!!
This is one of my very favorite expressions (mouth wide open!) that Grace has. Here she was looking at a raccoon climb up the wall of its kennel. My wish is that Grace always have this sense of wonder and amazement about all things in life.
Grace completed an eight week session of swimming this morning. Grace has been taking swimming lessons for almost one year now! I remember her very first swimming lesson like it was yesterday. We can't wait for her lessons to start back up again in two weeks. Every Tuesday after swim class we meet Daddy for lunch and then Grace and I spend the afternoon at the Children's Museum. Grace enjoyed a new bug display at the museum today. The museum is borrowing the exhibit from the ECHO museum in Burlington, Vermont!
I filled up a large tupperware bin with water on our porch this morning and let Grace experiment with a variety of objects that sink and float. I thought this would be a fun way for Grace to learn more about these concepts as well as a great way to beat the heat!
Grace did a fantastic job this morning helping Mama & Dada make pancakes. Grace helped pour the pancake mix, crack the eggs, mix the batter, and flip the pancakes on the stove using a spatula. We all enjoyed Grace's delicious pancakes out on our screen porch. We are now off to the beach to try to stay cool.
One of Grace's favorite things to do is to sit in her green chair and look at her books. Here, Grace is enjoying looking at one of the many beautiful scrapbooks that Maddy has made especially for Grace. Grace amazes us with her ability to remember details including people, places, and events. Maddy made the scrapbook (seen here) for Grace that tells all about her trip to Vermont last month while Bob and I were in Florida. Grace received the scrapbook in Maddy's package this past week and much to our surprise Grace had remembered every detail of the trip! She told us about every one of the pictures. Grace even remembered a little girl's name that she had met only one time at a playgroup while she was in Middlebury. We are very happy that Grace has such a strong love of books at such a young age ~ she has learned so much from them.
One of the performances at La Kermesse today was a circus show. Prior to the start of the circus Grace enjoyed roaming around the tent ~ she put on a great show for all the onlookers with her twirling, dancing, and jumping. We think if it were possible, Gracie girl would have been center stage in the circus ring! Grace enjoyed watching the jugglers, trapeze artists, dancing clowns, and the ring master. Grace loved the show so much that she was was willing to offer Ella (seen below) to the performers to show her great appreciation for their talents! 
The picture below is our favorite picture that was taken of Gracie girl today. Although you can't see her beautiful face, this picture captures the true essence of Grace's personality. You can always see in Grace's face that she is intently thinking about everything around her and trying to assess how things work & what people are saying. In this picture, Grace's curious spirit shines through as she tries to see what lies beyond that circus tent wall!
Maddy surprised Grace with a fun package yesterday. One of the surprises in the box was a t-shirt for Grace that reads, "I know my abc's." The t-shirt got me to thinking last night about how Grace can name and identify all of her uppercase & lowercase letters so I thought I would fun to see if Grace could match letters too. This morning after Grace's bath time I set up some of her magnetic letters on a cookie sheet for her to match. Grace easily matched all of the lowercase letters by herself. To make the activity more challenging, I set up lowercase letters with their corresponding uppercase letters. Grace was able to match all of those too. Hooray Grace!
Here is a close up picture of Grace's adorable shirt. Thank you, Maddy! 
Grace and I made jingle bracelets and anklets this morning. We threaded bells and a variety of beads on elastic cords. It was a VERY FUN project! Grace loved threading the bells and sorting the beads into different categories. Grace chose sparkly pink and green beads for her bracelets and multi-colored beads for her anklets.
The picture seen below was the only one that I was able to take of Grace before she started twirling, hopping, jumping, and dancing with her jingle bracelets on. The entire neighborhood must have heard Grace's squeals and laughter as she danced around our deck for nearly an hour with her bells jingling the whole time!
Grace eventually put her bracelets on her ankles and she continued to wear them all day. I have a feeling Grace will be jingling for a very, very, very long time to come! I'm sure you'll be seeing lots more pictures of Grace with her jingle bracelets on. :)
Grace spent today making a very special project for her two fabulous grandmothers! Grace painted Maddy & Memere their own flower pot. Grace chose the colors for each flower pot on her own. Grace had remembered that Maddy's favorite color is blue so Maddy's pot is full of different shades of blue whereas Memere's pot is more on the yellow side. Later this afternoon Grace and I visited a local greenhouse where we spent lots of time finding the perfect flowers to fill the flower pots. We will plant the flowers tomorrow. It will be so exciting for Grace to give Memere her pot when we see her this weekend and to give Maddy her pot in early July. 
Grace was very gentle with all of the flowers at the greenhouse. She was very careful not to touch the flowers as she bent over to smell nearly all of them!! Grace told Daddy all about painting the flower pots and about her exciting trip to the greenhouse when he returned home from work. It was a very fun day for us.
Grace has really been enjoying doing some of her art projects on her easel out on our porch. Grace especially enjoys drawing with markers on the dry erase board side of her easel. Grace has recently started drawing a shape that resembles the capital letter G. Grace draws her G the same way each time and after it is drawn she always points to it and says "G." 
We were very lucky to take advantage of a blue sky in between two very large rainstorms today. During the rain break, Grace and I enjoyed some time at the lake across from our house. Grace found rocks to throw into the water and she put on a show for me which included lots & lots of dancing on the beach! 
Grace chose to paint with yellow and green paint this morning. Once the paint dried I cut Grace's paintings into different shapes so she could sort them by color. I thought it would be fun for Grace to sort today using something she created!
Here are just some of the things that Grace loves about her wonderful Daddy:
Grace spent every morning this past week painting these birdhouses for Poppy and Pepere for Father's Day. Each morning Grace chose the color paint she wanted and as the week went on new layers of paint color were added! Grace kept saying "Poppy" and "Pepere" as she was painting and "love it" when she was finished. Grace can't wait to give her gifts to Poppy & Pepere. We wish them both a very happy Father's Day and thank them for being such wonderful fathers and grandfathers.
Today the Leger fam went to the Cape Elizabeth Family Fun Day - and boy did we have fun! We listened to a steel drum band, watched a gymnastics demonstration, went on two tractor rides (Gracie wanted to drive but apparently she's not quite big enough), watched lots of children play games, and listened & danced to a rock band concert. The event was held at Fort Williams Park, which is home to the Portland Head Light. The Head Light is a very special place for us as Rebecca and I got engaged at the Head Light just a short six years ago on June 29th. Above, Gracie is rockin' out to the steel drum band. She felt the beat so she let the rythym move her.
This is one of my very favorite expressions (mouth wide open!) that Grace has. Here she was looking at a raccoon climb up the wall of its kennel. My wish is that Grace always have this sense of wonder and amazement about all things in life.
Grace and I went on a nature walk this morning. We enjoyed hearing the birds sing and picking flowers, especially the daisies. 
Grace found several rocks along the way to add to her rock collection.
Grace and I arranged the wildflowers in a small bud vase when we returned home from our nature walk. We have the flowers on our picnic table out on our porch so Grace can enjoy them during her mealtimes and they serve as a beautiful reminder of our special walk this morning.
Grace completed an eight week session of swimming this morning. Grace has been taking swimming lessons for almost one year now! I remember her very first swimming lesson like it was yesterday. We can't wait for her lessons to start back up again in two weeks. Every Tuesday after swim class we meet Daddy for lunch and then Grace and I spend the afternoon at the Children's Museum. Grace enjoyed a new bug display at the museum today. The museum is borrowing the exhibit from the ECHO museum in Burlington, Vermont!
I filled up a large tupperware bin with water on our porch this morning and let Grace experiment with a variety of objects that sink and float. I thought this would be a fun way for Grace to learn more about these concepts as well as a great way to beat the heat!
Grace did a fantastic job this morning helping Mama & Dada make pancakes. Grace helped pour the pancake mix, crack the eggs, mix the batter, and flip the pancakes on the stove using a spatula. We all enjoyed Grace's delicious pancakes out on our screen porch. We are now off to the beach to try to stay cool.
