My How You've Grown!

March 31, 2009December 21, 2008

(Jack is six days old here!)

March....Out Like A Lamb!

March ~ In like a lion and out like a lamb! To celebrate the end of March, Grace made a lamb today. Grace painted the ends of a popsicle stick & two clothespins black. Once the paint dried Grace clipped the two clothespins to the pospsicle stick to create the legs. Grace then glued cotton balls onto the popsicle stick to create the wool......and now onto April showers bring May flowers!

Story Time At Our Library

Learning About Fingerprints

Grace learned all about fingerprints today! I first traced Grace's right and left hand onto a piece of paper. Grace placed each fingertip on an ink pad and stamped her fingerprint onto the appropriate finger. Grace then used a magnifying glass to closely examine each of her fingerprints. Grace learned today that no two fingerprints are the same. How exciting! After examining her own fingerprints, Grace asked to look at mine too.

Look At Me!

Jack loves making sounds to that very handsome boy in the mirror! Jack is doing such a great job with his speech development. He produced so many sounds today including raspberries, m, b, p, g, k, t, d, oo, ah, and eh. Jack is carrying on true conversations ~ we engage in many back and forth turn taking exchanges during sound play. Jack closely watches my mouth as I talk and he is even beginning to imitate sounds. Hooray, Jack!

Our Beautiful Happy Boy!

Our Little Star!

The Napping House....

Where everyone is sleeping.

(At the very SAME time!!)

Transferring & Sorting Using Tongs

I gave Grace a pair of tongs and a bowl divided into three sections along with red, white, and blue chips. I first demonstrated to Grace how to transfer the colored chips using the tongs. I was curious to see what Grace would do next. Grace independently transferred and sorted the chips into the bowl according to color. Grace loved this activity so much that she transferred all of the chips seen here using the tongs! Using tongs is a creative way to teach children how to use the muscles for scissor cutting and also serves as a fun way to increase hand strength for fine motor activities.

As Grace was working on transferring and sorting the chips I noticed that Jack was closely watching what Grace was doing. I thought it would be fun for Jack to join in on the fun so I put several of the chips into a plastic bag so he could touch, feel, grab, shake, and experience them firsthand too. Jack did such a great job holding onto the bag and he was full smiles during this activity. Great job, Jack!

Jack & Grace Visit Daddy At Work!

"Daddy, This Is Easy"

"I can't believe Daddy didn't hedge this derivative. I could have done this when I was one."

A Vision Of Spring

Maddy made this beautiful outfit for Grace ~ the halo, tutu, kiwi shirt, leg warmers, and socks. Grace asked me earlier this week if she could wear her tutu to visit Daddy at work so she could wish everyone there a Happy Spring. We decided that today would be a perfect tutu day and a wonderful day to see Daddy at work! Grace looked like a beautiful spring fairy and brought a huge smile to everyone who saw her. Thank you, Maddy, for making Grace feel so special and for brightening the lives of so many today.

Volcano Day!

One of Jack & Grace's favorite songs is called Old St. Helen by Billy Jonas. Since we are frequently singing and dancing to this song about a volcano I thought it would be fun for Jack & Grace to learn more about them. Today was designated volcano day! First thing this morning Jack & Grace worked together to make this volcano picture. Grace painted the base of the volcano brown while singing, "Wo, wo, wo, the lava's gonna flow. Wo, wo wo, the mountain's gonna blow....." Jack helped to shred the yellow and red tissue paper to make lava while smiling the whole time. Great job, Jack! Grace later glued the tissue paper to the top of the volcano to create the lava.

Science Experiment!

Grace put baking soda and red food coloring in a small bowl. Grace then poured in vinegar to make lava!
ERUPT!

This science activity was a big hit and Grace ended up making at least fifteen lava explosions.

Later this morning Jack, Grace, and I visited our library to check out books about volcanoes. We spent the remainder of our morning looking at the volcano books, making more lava explosions, and dancing to Old St. Helen!

Building A Bird's Nest!

Grace has been working hard since Friday to make a bird's nest! Grace first cut brown yarn into many short strips. Grace dipped each strip into glue and placed them onto an inflated balloon. Each day Grace added more and more yarn layers to the balloon to build her nest. After days of waiting ever so patiently for the finished nest, Grace was finally able to pop the balloon with her scissors. This was, by far, Grace's favorite part! Grace loves to cut with scissors and she was super excited to use her scissors to pop a balloon!Grace built a beautiful nest for her red cardinal bird. Grace is very proud of her nest and she was most excited to show it to Jack after he woke up from his morning nap today. Jack gave Grace a big smile upon seeing the nest and upon hearing the red bird happily sing.

Tweet, tweet!

Memere!

We were so happy to have Memere visit us over the weekend. We met Memere at Cabella's after Grace's swimming lesson on Saturday morning. Grace showed Memere around the store and even took Memere "camping!" This was Jack's first time at Cabella's and he was very impressed with all of the animals, especially the big moose! We then spent a wonderful afternoon together eating and shopping in Freeport. After Grace & Jack fell asleep on Saturday night, Bob and I enjoyed going out to dinner. This was the first time I have been out after dark since before Jack was born!!! Thank you so much, Memere, for your wonderful visit. We can't wait to see you and Pepere in April!

Maine Maple Sunday

Today we went to Hilltop Boilers in our neighboring town of Newfield, Maine to celebrate Maine Maple Sunday. This is as much a celebration of the sugary sweet treat as it is one of the first signs of Spring. Yes, there is still a few feet of snow on the ground and it's expected to be 10 degrees tonight. It's Maine, we'll take what we can get.
Gracie Girl and Mommy tasted some fresh maple sap flowing from one of the trees at the Boilers. Gracie, and the rest of us, were disappointed to find out that it barely tastes of sugar. I guess this is why it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. It truly is a labor intensive avocation.
Grace enjoyed sitting on one of the big tractors. We took pictures and smiled as she turned the wheel and pretended to drive. We were quickly brought back to reality as she became bored with turning the wheel and looked for the clutch and gearshift to make things happen. Why pretend when you can make the puppy hum?

Sweet jack ~ snugly warm slept through his first Maine Maple Sunday - so much sweeter than any syrup.

Our Afternoon At The Library

On Friday, the first day of spring, Grace was excited to wear her spring coat for the very first time. We didn't exactly have spring-like temperatures outside so Grace ended up wearing lots of layers under her coat including a onesie, two shirts and two pairs of pants! Grace's spring coat made its first public appearance at our local library. We decided it would be fun to go to our library to read and check out some books about spring. Grace and Jack had a great time looking through all of the new books that our library has to offer. Grace chose several books to bring home with us. Grace also chose some great books for Jack too!

We are planning on visiting our library once per week. Weekly visits to the library will provide Grace and Jack with lifelong learning and literacy skills and valuable opportunities to experience the enjoyment of reading and the excitement of discovering new knowledge and works of the imagination!

Happy 40th Birthday!

The little caterpillar from the book we all know and love is 40 years old today. March 20th is designated Very Hungry Caterpillar Day! Grace & Jack made these cute fingerprint caterpillars this morning to mark this special occasion! We also celebrated by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Spring Has Sprung!

Here is what we did with Grace & Jack's paintings! We had lots and lots of painting parties since the beginning of March in order to get ready for this special project. Grace, Jack, and I made these beautiful flowers to celebrate thes first day of spring today. I cut out Grace & Jack's paintings into the shape of hearts to make the petals of the spring flowers. We then punched holes in the hearts, added a green pipe cleaner for the stem and secured the flowers with a button in the middle!

Mud Season

I Feel The Burn!

I certainly DO NOT need any gym membership living on Leisure Lane. All it takes to get in great shape is pushing two children in a double jogging stroller down a muddy road while talking and singing the entire way!!! :)

Taking Everything In

Jack loves going on stroller rides down our dirt road. We have been very fortunate this week to have spring like weather. We have been taking full advantage of the warmer temperatures by going on walks each day after Grace and Jack wake up from their afternoon naps. I can see Jack's bright blue eyes taking everything in while we are outside ~ so many new sights and sounds that the great outdoors has to offer!

Melting Rainbows!

Here is what Grace did with the colorful ice cubes she made on Monday ~ Grace made melting rainbows! It was a warm morning so we spread a blanket outside and gathered our materials for this fun science project. Grace first poured canola oil into two glass jars. Next, Grace dropped the different colored ice cubes into the glass jars she filled with oil.

Grace, Jack, & I had fun watching the colorful ice cubes float in the oil. We all waited patiently to see what the ice would do as it melted....

...MELTING RAINBOWS!

This science activity kept us learning and guessing all morning long! We can't wait to do it again very soon.