Pineland Farm

We spent a beautiful day at Pineland Farm. Grace's time at the farm would not have been complete without a dance for the cows down the aisles of the barn!

The First Sign of Autumn...

PUMPKINS!

Apple Trees...

...another sure sign that autumn is near!

Sorting Farm Animals

Neigh, Moo, Baa, Oink!

Special Delivery

Every morning Grace asks if we can go to the post office to mail a family member or friend one of her art projects, paintings, or cards. She is such a sweet girl! Grace LOVES decorating large manila envelopes with stickers and markers. She also loves to paint the envelopes. Today, Grace asked to mail an art project to Maddy & Poppy and Memere & Pepere. She painted their envelopes in red, white, and blue. Later today Grace, Ella, and I went to our local post office where Grace mailed her art projects in her decorated envelopes all by herself. Grace is getting to be quite the celebrity at the post office. The postman really enjoys Grace's visits and seeing her envelope creations!

Black Olives!

Mommy: "Gracie girl, what would you like for breakfast?"

Grace: "Black olives."

Mommy: "Gracie girl, what would you like for lunch?"

Grace: "Black olives."

Mommy: "Gracie girl, what would you like for dinner?"

Grace: "Black olives."

Making Scrunchy Blossoms on Tree Twigs

Grace gathered a variety of twigs this morning in order to make scrunchy blossoms. Prior to gathering the sticks, Grace and I made tiny balls out of different colors of tissue paper. Grace brought the sticks inside where she dipped the tissue paper balls into glue and stuck them onto the twigs. Grace kept going until her twigs were in full bloom. Great job, Gracie girl!

Messy Monday!

The theme of the day was MESSY MONDAY! Grace had fun drawing in shaving cream that initially started on a cookie sheet then ended up all over our deck! Grace later added food coloring to the shaving cream. Grace was very excited to watch the white shaving cream turn vibrant colors with only a few drops.

Grace also made ooblek using a mixture of corn starch and water. Ooblek acts like a liquid when being poured but acts like a solid when a force is acting on it.

Grace is the absolute best when it comes to clean up time. Many times, Grace and I have the most fun while cleaning up our projects. Grace is always such a wonderful helper and loves to help with the clean up process. I am a strong proponent of allowing children ample opportunities to freely experiment with a wide variety of materials and textures. This often means making a very large mess. I think it is extremely important to allow for this free exploration ~ after all, any mess can be cleaned up and that too is an important part of of a child's learning process. Today, Grace used a hose to clean up our messy Monday projects on the deck. Grace & I had a severe case of the giggles during clean up time. We both ended up very wet and very happy. It was a great messy Monday.

Tick Tock

Ever since Grace was a baby she has shown an interest in clocks & watches. I think this is because of a song called "Tick Tock" by Ron Brown, which teaches children about clocks and telling time. Grace has heard this song since she was a baby and it has always been a favorite (Ron Brown is the creator of Intelli-Tunes, which teaches educational concepts like math skills, phonemic awareness skills, grammar, and early childhood concepts through fun and catchy songs. If you haven't heard of Intelli-Tunes, it is definitely worth checking out.). Grace is absolutely thrilled to have her own watch now and she is very, very proud of it. Oh, and Grace's watch has butterflies on it, of course!

Fun at the Acton Fair

We had such a great time at the Acton Fair today. Grace's favorite part of the fair was seeing all of the animals. In the picture above Grace is watching the pig races, which she clearly loved!

Grace quickly became friends with a beautiful horse named Rosie. We went back to visit Rosie several times during our time at the fair. Grace kept saying, "Tell Good P (our cat) Gracie girl got to pet Rosie horse" the entire car ride home. Grace was also able to pet several cows and calves today too!

As usual, Grace performed a dance for the horses at the fair today. She loves to dance for all of her animal friends!

Saving the World, One Turtle at a Time

The Leger fam was driving to LL Bean today when we spotted Tommy the Turtle toddling along next to the road about a mile from our home. The nearest body of water was over a mile away so we pulled the car over to give Tommy directions. Daddy told Grace that Tommy the Turtle was too hot and that he should be swimming in the water. Grace dutifully pointed us in the direction of Tommy the Turtle and a family decision was made to give Tommy a lift home.

We didn't have a turtle approved five-point harness in the cabin of our car so we decided the safest place for Tommy was in a plastic bin in the trunk. Tommy agreed that was a good idea.

After driving a mile to the river and taking Tommy out of his travel bin, Grace told Tommy it was time for him to go swim in the river. Whether Tommy innately sensed that his natural habitat was close by or just turned in fear as Grace loudly proclaimed multiple times that "Tommy the Turtle need to swim in water" - he headed toward the river embankment.

Saddened that Tommy the Turtle could not come with us to LL Bean but knowing that the river was the best place for him, Grace waved bye-bye to Tommy as he headed home to see his turtle friends.

Since we didn't have two hours to watch Tommy walk the twenty feet from Grace to the river, Daddy facilitated Tommy going back into the water.

This was a great experience for all of us and our smart little Grace reminded us on our way home that "Tommy the Turtle live in water" when we passed the river.

Bubbles!

Grace and I made bubbles today by mixing together water, dish detergent, and corn syrup. Instead of using a typical bubble wand that comes with store bought bubble solutions, we found various items in our kitchen. Blowing bubbles using colanders, spoons, and cookie cutters was so much more fun and exciting for Grace ~ she loved it! Grace's favorite "bubble wand" was this slotted spoon. Grace was able to make long chains of bubbles this way. The colander made lots of tiny bubbles which Grace enjoyed running and chasing after to pop. Grace was very intrigued how the bubbles on her hands didn't pop when her hands were wet!

After blowing bubbles with the kitchen utensils, Grace was full of giggles as she put both hands into the bubble soap bowl to play. Grace made lots and lots of bubbles by splashing her hands in the bubble soap!!

Grace's bubble play wouldn't have been complete without some bubbles on her nose and Mommy's too!

Foxes Need Sunscreen Lotion Too!

Every day Grace talks about all of the animals that she so dearly loves at the Maine Wildlife Animal Park. Grace & I go to the park once a week so Grace can visit all of her animal friends. In this picture Grace is inside an enclosed fox house that overlooks a field where the foxes live. Grace really enjoyed dancing for the foxes today (seen here!), however, she was very concerned that the foxes were not wearing sunscreen lotion. Grace kept saying over & over again, "Foxes need sunscreen lotion. It's very, very sunny outside."

Cloud Paint

Grace and I made cloud paint this morning. We mixed together one half cup of Elmer's glue with two cups of shaving cream to create a light and fluffy paint that resembles clouds. Grace painted on sky blue paper using the cloud paint. The exciting part is that the paint actually dries soft and puffy, just like clouds!Grace made lots of cloud paintings because she was having so much fun with this new style and texture of paint. Initially, she gently scooped the paint onto paper using a wooden spoon but towards the end she dug in with both hands!

Grocery Shopping

Grace really loves the grocery store. To make the shopping experience even more exciting for her I have been making Grace her very own grocery list each time we go. I print the words of the food items that Grace is responsible for finding on a paper. Underneath the printed words, I write the numeral and draw pictures of the items so Grace can independently read her list. On the way to the grocery store this morning Grace sounded out the letters in the word "bananas" and kept saying, "Gracie girl find two bananas at grocery store." Grace proudly carried her list into the grocery store and told everyone she saw that she was going to get two bananas. Grace searched the produce section until she spotted the bright yellow fruit.

Grace counted out two bananas and put them into her small canvas bag. She carried her bag around the grocery store as we continued to shop. Grace loves her shopping list ~ it turns into an exciting treasure hunt for us each time we go to the store!

An Amazing Day with Amazing Grace!

We spent a wonderful day today at York's Wild Animal Kingdom. We had never been there before and we were thrilled that we had an opportunity to introduce Grace to a whole new group of animal friends - and to reconnect with old friends such as the ducks and geese. Below, Grace is very excited to feed the ducks. Grace was her usual gentle self while slowly extending her precious hand with one piece of food at a time. The gaggle of ducks reciprocated by waiting patiently.
This is a great picture of Grace in the butterfly exhibit. It was truly magical. The large house was filled with hundreds of butterflies - small, large, blue, black, large spots, small spots - an incredible variety of butterflies were flying freely amongst the flowers and trees. Grace was focused on finding the butterflies that Maddy gave her, which Grace raised and then released two weeks ago. Enough said - one of my two favorite things to do in the world - kissing my beautiful wife and kissing my Gracie Girl.

Naptime

"My Shadow"

Grace loves her shadow and Ella's too. Today Grace danced with Ella to see their shadows take on different forms. Watching Grace enjoy her shadow today brought back memories of a poem I used to read to Grace when she was a baby called, "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Sewing Block

I try to keep a variety of interesting toys and books in the car for Grace. One of her favorite things is her sewing block, which is seen here. Grace loves lacing the string through the different holes and Ella is always a great helper!

Grace's "Bean Box"

Grace asked to play with her "bean box" this morning, which is a Tupperware bin filled with different sizes, shapes, & colors of beans. I put various cups, funnels, and spoons in the box so Grace can enjoy scooping, pouring, filling, and emptying. Grace also loves to hide her tiny animals in the beans and search for them.

Grace wanted the full sensory experience of her bean box today so she climbed right in!!! Grace loves the feel of the beans on her hands and in between her toes. Grace then went on a bean box ride while she was still inside the box, which consisted of me pushing her around our porch. What a fun morning we had!