Looking Back....One Year Ago Today!

Sweet Jack-a-roo & Amazing Grace on March 28, 2009!

A Treat!

One of Grace and Jack's favorite adventures is to feed the ducks and the seagulls at Millcreek Park. We spent so much time here last summer feeding the ducks and enjoying every inch of the park! There is a small pond there where many, many ducks and seagulls congregate waiting for a bite to eat. We went to our favorite park on Thursday to enjoy the warm spring day. Prior to heading to the park we stopped at a grocery store to buy three large loaves of bread for our duck and seagull friends to enjoy.

Grace prepares for the feeding. Half a loaf at a time seems appropriate.

A set of wings seems like it would help to fit in with the locals at the park!

Every cute little duck needs an occasional break.

Grace gets pure joy from feeding her feathered friends. She enthusiastically cheered on the ducks and seagulls as they enjoyed their bread.

Jack kept signing "eat" to the ducks in order to encourage them to partake in the feast!

A man's gotta eat too!

Our sweet little Jack also shared some of the bread with his feathered friends as he couldn't resist a little non-organic and non-whole grain flour treat for himself...and what a treat is was!!!

Green Grass in March!

Grace loves to cut paper. Yesterday, Grace made grass by cutting out very thin strips of green construction paper. Grace & Jack used the green strips of paper to make their own spring grass creations. They each glued the grass onto the back of brown cardboard pieces. Grace was excited to see the sun shining today because she wanted to display her green grass on a tree branch outside to inspire the grass on the ground to start turning green!


Jack was very proud of his grass creation and he carried it around with him everywhere today!

"Anyone Who Says Sunshine Brings Happiness Has Never Danced In The Rain"

Growing Easter Grass

With Easter coming up upon us very quickly I thought it would be fun for Grace to plant grass seed inside egg shells as an Easter and a beginning of spring activity. It's also a great science lesson and a nice way to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside! Grace worked so hard this morning to crack a dozen eggs. She carefully rinsed the egg shells out and then filled each one with wet potting soil. Once all of the egg shells were filled Grace placed grass seed on top of the soil.

Grace chose cat grass seeds at our local hardware store to plant inside the egg shells. Grace wanted our cat, Petey, to enjoy the Easter grass too!

Grace later covered the grass seeds with a thin layer of soil. It will be a great learning experience for Grace and Jack to watch the grass seeds sprout and grow over the next few days and weeks. I'll post pictures of Grace's Easter grass in a few weeks. Great work, Grace!

Painting With Cars, Trucks & Tractors

Jack painted today using several of his cars, trucks, and tractors. Jack rolled the wheels of the vehicles through different colors of paint and drove them around on a large piece of paper to create a painting. Jack had so much fun with this and he was very proud of his painting. Way to go, Jack!

A Day At The Park

Ogunquit Beach

It's Spring!

We enjoyed our first day of spring at Oqunquit Beach.
More pictures of our beautiful spring day tomorrow...

Happy Spring!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day person drawing by Grace

"Shamrock" drawing by Jack

I may be away from this space for a few days as a bit of end of wintertime sickness works it's way through our family. Gracie girl is on her way to feeling better from double ear infections. Jack-a-roo and I both have bad colds or the flu but I hope that we both start feeling better tomorrow! Luckily, Daddy has been spared from our end of winter sickness! I hope everyone had a lucky St. Patrick's Day. We'll be back in a few days.

A Great Way To Spend A Rainy Day

We found a wonderful indoor play space for Jack and Grace on Sunday. It is located in an old warehouse - complete with high ceilings, exposed brick walls, and original wood floors. It's such a beautiful space that is filled with all wooden learning toys. The warehouse is divided into different areas and each area targets a specific skill. Some of the themes included a sensory table, a music/dress up room, a nature room, a reading nook, a science center, a construction room filled with trucks, blocks, and tools, a gross motor room with a ball pool, a large wooden climbing structure, and slides, a pretend play room, and an art/painting area. Jack and Grace especially enjoyed the musical instruments, the play kitchen, the trampoline, and the large painting wall. We will be spending much more time here, especially on rainy days. It's such a great place and it is called Peek-a-boo Children's Center, located in Westbrook.

Growing Up

Every Friday Grace, Jack, and I go to the Children's Museum as a fun way to end our fun-filled week! Grace has really been enjoying the wonderful activities that the Children's Museum offers. The activities range from music, dance, theater, cultural and science activities to art projects. Grace enjoyed sitting at a round table with several other children in the museum's art room yesterday as she painted a beautiful mask. It struck me as I was watching Grace yesterday how very quickly she is growing up. I remember Grace walking around the Children's Museum when she was just nine months old. She would excitedly explore every inch of the museum and she still does to this day! I also distinctly remember seeing children there whom were years old than Grace. I used to walk by the children participating in the museum's activities together and imagine what Grace would be like when she was their age. At that time I just couldn't imagine my baby Grace sitting at a table and working - it seemed so very far away. Yet, there was Grace yesterday working at that very same table that I used to imagine her sitting at some day. My time with Grace and Jack has gone by so very quickly. I am treasuring every moment of Jack's "baby" days and every moment of the time that I have with Grace at home until she goes to school. Before I know it my little Jack-a-roo will be sitting at that very same table at the museum and my Gracie girl will be packing her backpack to head off to her first day of school.

Quack, Quack

After we went to Higgins Beach yesterday we spent the remainder of our day back at the Duck Pond in Mill Creek Park. This is a special place for us ~ we spent so much here last summer and fall. Grace & Jack were so excited to see their duck friends again! We walked to a nearby grocery store and bought two loaves of bread to feed to the ducks. Grace and Jack had a great time watching the ducks and seagulls enjoy their treat. It was a perfect afternoon.