The Little Legers

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

Attending the Maine State Ballet's Daddy Daughter Dance

2012-02-12T07:52:00.003-05:00

Bob and Grace attended the Maine State Ballet's Annual Daddy Daughter Dance last night. I took these pictures of Grace and Daddy just before they left to go out for dinner before the dance. Grace couldn't wait to dress up and surprise Daddy. When Grace arrived home last night she danced and twirled her way into our house and told me about the special time she had with Daddy. Watching Grace get ready for the dance and seeing how excited she was to go with her Daddy will be one of the sweetest memories that I will always hold on to of Bob and Grace.

Special Time with Eve

2012-02-11T20:20:00.001-05:00

Every Wednesday morning, Eve and I share some very special girl time together at the Children's Museum while Jack is in his theater class. I love watching Eve's spirit shine through as she explores everything in the museum. Oh, how I love this little sweet pea of mine!

Grace Makes a Heart Doily Valentine Shirt for Eve

2012-02-10T19:55:00.001-05:00

Grace made this adorable heart doily shirt for Eve this week. To make this shirt, Grace first glued a heart shaped doily onto one of Eve's onesies. Grace then mixed red and white fabric paint together until she came up with the perfect color. Grace dabbed the paint into the holes of the doily using a sponge. Once the paint dried she carefully removed the doily to reveal a sweet Valentine heart. Grace can't wait to surprise Eve with this special shirt on Valentine's Day! I'll post pictures of Eve wearing her special shirt next week.

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2012-02-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

T is for train.

2012-02-07T14:48:00.000-05:00

T is for train and train tracks.

Jack really loved working on this letter. Jack asked to make T look like a train track with a train on it - similar to the one in the book Freight Train by Donald Crews. I especially love Jack's rainbow colored train wheels!

P.S. I must say that the speech-language pathologist in me is feeling a little guilty about this letter since the word train actually begins with the consonant blend tr- and not the t sound. I thought I would make a note of this so that some day when Jack looks back at this post that I can tell him! I have a feeling that my train loving Jack-a-roo won't mind too much that I let this one slip! ;)

Learning About Viscoelasticity by Making Bouncy Balls!

2012-02-06T14:03:00.007-05:00

Grace and Jack made bouncy balls and through this experiment they learned that the balls they made, although they looked and felt like a solid, were actually not! Instead, their bouncy balls were something between a solid and a liquid called viscoelastic! They discovered that their bouncy balls eventually started flattening out when they were not touched.

Here is how Grace and Jack make their bouncy balls:

1) Mix 1/4 cup of white glue with a few drops of food coloring.

2) In a separate glass, dissolve 1 tablespoon of borax in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add 2 tablespoons of this mixture to the glue mixture and mix together. Grace and Jack played with this mixture for awhile before moving on to the next step.

3) Add a few drops of the extra borax mixture to the dough mixture made above and begin rolling it between your hands to form a ball. Continue rolling the ball until it is hard and dry enough so that if dropped, it bounces.

Here are some pictures of Grace and Jack making their bouncy balls...

I Spy Letter Bottle

2012-02-03T20:04:00.003-05:00

Grace, Jack, Eve and I all worked together to make this I Spy letter bottle. We filled a bottle with rice that we colored red and placed the uppercase and lowercase letters that we have been working on creating over the past several weeks inside. Eve loves this I Spy bottle. She does a such a great job shaking it to find the hidden letters inside. Great job, Eve!

Groundhog Day: Spring is on its way in Maine!

2012-02-02T14:24:00.007-05:00

Every year we make our own groundhogs on Groundhog Day. Our groundhogs did not see their shadows today. Hooray...spring is on it's way up here in Maine!

Grace, Jack and Eve couldn't wait to finish their breakfast and head into the art room to begin painting their groundhogs together. Groundhog Day has always been such an exciting day in our home. It's just as exciting as Christmas morning -- really and truly!

Jack was so excited when his groundhog emerged from its "burrow" and did not see its shadow! Jack can't wait for spring to arrive.

Eve was also very excited to bring her groundhog outside. She walked all around our yard with a big smile while carrying her groundhog!

Grace woke up this morning and declared that she was, "just TOO excited for Groundhog Day!" Grace also wished us all a very happy Groundhog Day first thing this morning. I love how enthusiastic and passionate Grace is about life - especially the little things.

Science Fun: Inflating a Balloon with Baking Soda & Vinegar

2012-02-01T08:10:00.000-05:00

Grace and Jack love science and conducting science experiments. Yesterday, they mixed a solid (baking soda) and a liquid (vinegar) together inside of a bottle to create carbon dioxide gas. Once the chemical reaction started they quickly placed a balloon over the top of their bottles and magically watched the balloon inflate! Through this experiment, Grace and Jack learned that the carbon dioxide gas they created was heavier than the air in the bottle. The carbon dioxide gas pushed the air upward and into the balloon to inflate it!

Sledding

2012-01-30T13:45:00.001-05:00

We had just enough snow left in the field across from our home to go sledding this past weekend. I have been having so much fun taking Grace, Jack and Eve sledding during the week and it was extra special having Bob with us over the weekend!

Sink or Float?

2012-01-28T14:33:00.008-05:00

I filled a bin of water for Eve and placed a variety of objects in it for Eve to experiment with the concept of sink and float. Eve had a great time exploring the objects and this was a fun language activity too!

Eve had fun locating the objects that sunk to the bottom of the water bin.

Eve also had fun splashing the water!

Before I really knew what was happening, Eve had climbed right into the water bin! I guess she was a little curious to see if she would sink or float. Eve and I laughed together as she sunk right down to the bottom of the bin!!!!!

Exploring the Properties of Magnets

2012-01-27T14:39:00.012-05:00

One morning earlier this week I presented Jack with a glass filled with water and several paperclips. I told Jack that he could show Grace and Eve a very exciting trick of removing the paperclips from the glass without ever touching them. This lead into a great discussion all about magnets and how they work! Jack learned how magnets attract objects made with iron and that they have two poles, a north and a south pole. Through several experiments, Jack discovered that magnets can pull through gases, like air, but they can also pull through solids and liquids. Jack did many hands-on activities to explore magnetic fields and also to explore the properties of magnets.

After showing Jack how he could remove the paper clips from a glass of water without ever touching them, I filled a bin full of water (to further demonstrate how magnets can pull through liquid) and placed magnetic and non-magnetic items in it. Jack had a great time discovering which of the items were magnetic.

After lots of time to experiment and play, we removed the items from the water bin and Jack did a great job sorting the magnetic versus the non-magnetic objects...

Yay, Jack!!!!

Dancing Raisins Science Experiment!

2012-01-26T14:54:00.004-05:00

I drink a lot of seltzer water and Grace and Jack have been asking many questions recently about all of the bubbles in my water. We discussed how the bubbles are made from dissolving a gas called carbon dioxide. I thought it would be fun to conduct the classic dancing raisin experiment to demonstrate just what all of those carbon dioxide bubbles can do!

We hurried home right after Grace' ballet class this morning to do our dancing raisin experiment. Since I have been talking about making raisins dance with my seltzer water with Grace, Jack and Eve for the past few days, they were quite excited and very ready to finally conduct this experiment!

To conduct our experiment Grace and Jack placed several raisins at the bottom of their glasses. Eve excitedly watched with me nearby. I think Eve definitely sensed all of the excitement in the room with all of her squealing and clapping! Grace and Jack poured seltzer water into their glasses and were amazed to see their raisins start dancing!

Grace, Jack and Eve learned the science behind this experiment: Raisins sink in water because they are more dense. Since seltzer water contains dissolved carbon dioxide gas, those

bubbles attach themselves on the irregular surfaces of the raisins and make it float. When the bubbles pop, the dense raisins sink to the bottom again. This up and down motion caused by the bubbles make the raisin appear to be dancing!

Later this afternoon we tried the experiment again but with a few changes. This time we created our own carbon dioxide bubbles of gas by combining vinegar (acetic acid) with baking soda. The raisins REALLY danced when we created our own bubbles. We also tried the experiment using blueberries and discussed why our experiment worked with raisins but not with the blueberries -- it is because raisins are wrinkly and the carbon dioxide bubbles have places to attach to.

This was a great afternoon for us. Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of Jack and Eve doing more science related experiments and activities!

Learning About the Scientific Method

2012-01-24T17:37:00.001-05:00

We started a week long science experiment yesterday. I placed an egg inside of a glass filled with vinegar. We will be observing what happens to the egg throughout the week. My goal was to keep this science experiment simple so that we could focus on the terminology associated with the scientific method and discuss each step of the process. I asked Grace and Jack what they thought would happen to the egg throughout the week. They each came up with some great ideas. We then talked about how each idea or guess is called a hypothesis. We also talked about what they were seeing happening to the egg inside of the glass or their observations. We immediately noticed bubbles collecting around the egg shell. I explained to Grace and Jack that this was a sign that a chemical reaction was taking place. They were both so excited that they began clapping their hands! We will be collecting and recording data throughout the week on the changes that we notice until the end result. I'll post pictures of what happens to our egg at the end of the week!

Grace and Jack came up with many great hypotheses about what would happen to the egg, however, I must admit that my favorite one was as follows:

"I think that the egg will turn into a truck tomorrow. (Long pause). No, I think it will turn into an excavator!" This was followed by a big smile and a bit of a twinkle in this childs' eyes. Can you guess who came up with this one?!!!!! :)

O is for Olive

2012-01-24T14:28:00.008-05:00

O is for olive.

Eve and Jack used glittery green paint mixed with some brown paint to make green olives for uppercase and lowercase O's. Eve loves to paint and she had fun with this letter. Eve can identify the letter O and she makes her hands go around in a circle whenever she sees this letter!

A Gymnastics Birthday Party!

2012-01-22T14:33:00.007-05:00

Last weekend we went to Massachusetts to attend cousin Rose & Kimberlee's gymnastics birthday party. We all had a great time! It was so much fun. It was also so nice to see everyone again. In the picture above, Grace is standing with the two birthday girls!

Cousin Rose turned 7 on December 15th. Jack and Rose share the same birthday!

Cousin Kimberlee turned 4 on November 2. Kimberlee's birthday is exactly one month before Grace's!

Gracie!!!!

Jack-a-roo!

Kimberlee and Eve

Thank you to Auntie Allison, Uncle Steve, Rose and Kimberlee for such a fun-filled party!

Typewriter

2012-01-20T14:01:00.007-05:00

Here is one of Grace's favorite things -- her typewriter! Maddy and Poppy surprised Grace with this typewriter for her birthday last month and since that time I have loved hearing every clackety clack of the keys, every ringing of the bell at the end of the margin and Grace's voice (loud and proud!) after she reads what she has typed. I know that Maddy and Poppy searched high and low and everywhere in-between for this typewriter. Thank you! It has brought us all great joy. It also reminds me of simpler times. There is an English novelist who writes all of his books on a manual typewriter rather than a computer and he puts it best:

"I think the computer user does their thinking on the screen, and the non-computer user is compelled to do a lot more thinking in the head."

By the way, did you know that there is software available that adds typewriter sounds to your computer keyboard? It is designed to make the process of typing more interesting, to reduce stress and to help promote rhythmic typing.

Love, Grace

2012-01-18T19:38:00.011-05:00

Grace surprises me pictures, cards and notes every day. Here is a little note that I found today sealed in an envelope. Find out tomorrow how Grace made this sweet message for me!

Sensory Play -- Snow Dough

2012-01-18T15:02:00.010-05:00

We made snow dough yesterday. It was such a wonderful sensory experience and very easy to make. Here is the recipe:

4 cups of flour

1/2 cup of baby oil (we used lavender scented oil)

This dough has a soft, silky smooth texture and it filled the room with the sweetest smell. The lavender scent we used was also very relaxing.

We made our snow dough in a bowl and then transferred it into a bin and onto Eve's tray. The dough molded very easily -- perfect for making snowballs and snowmen!

Eve loved this sensory play experience. In the picture above Eve is using sign language to sign the word "snow." Eve kept signing snow while playing with the dough!

Jack and Eve couldn't wait to play with the snow dough once Grace arrived home from school that morning. Grace loved the snow just as much as Jack and Eve too!

J is for Jack.

2012-01-17T14:35:00.000-05:00

J is for Jack.

A is for alligator and apple.

C is for carrot.

K is for king.

Here are the alphabet letters that Jack, Eve and Grace have been working on together over the past several weeks! We started with the letters in Jack's name. We have had so much fun with this ongoing project. I'll be sure to post pictures of our alphabet letters as Jack, Eve and Grace make them. This week we are working on the letters in Eve's name....what fun! Once we have finished all of the letters of the alphabet I will put them together to make our very own alphabet book!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Portraits

2012-01-16T14:29:00.010-05:00

Jack's portrait

Eve's portrait

Grace's portrait

Here are some pictures of Jack, Eve and Grace working on their Martin Luther King, Jr. portraits...

To honor Martin Luther King, Jr. today, Grace, Jack and Eve made a portraits of him. Today, we talked about how Dr. King forever changed our country by his courageous leadership qualities. We talked about Dr. King's I Have A Dream speech and march. We talked about how Dr. King made America a better place and how loving the differences in everyone makes us all beautiful people.

Our Snow Day

2012-01-14T13:57:00.015-05:00

We had our first big snowfall on Thursday. We spent the day (in our pajamas!) celebrating our first snow day of the season. When Bob left for work that morning, Grace and Jack went outside in their pajamas to wave goodbye and to run in the freshly fallen snow. They were so excited!

Once Eve woke up we brought the snow inside and had our own indoor snow party using cotton balls for snow!

We even made our own snow angels inside!

Luckily, we had a plow to move all of our snow...

...and a dump truck to remove it!

After breakfast we thought it would be fun to fill a bin with some snow and bring it inside to play with. We quickly went out onto our deck to scoop up some snow for our snow sensory bin.

Just before coming inside, Jack performed a snow dance for us on our deck!

Eve and I went out on our deck with Grace and Jack to help collect some of the snow. After a few minutes we went inside together to gather materials for our snow bin. While waiting for Grace and Jack to come in, Eve stood at the window and loved watching the beautiful snowflakes fall.

Jack, Grace and Eve had the very best time playing with the snow from the warmth of our home! They loved making miniature snowmen and had fun pretending to cook and bake with the snow.

Eve is definitely a winter baby! She certainly does not mind the cold -- she loved playing with the snow. Eve had fun putting the snow in and out of containers.

Grace had a great idea to paint the snow using watercolor paints. In the picture above, Grace is painting some snow in her bowl. The colored snow looked beautiful!

Grace, Jack and Eve spent over an hour playing, painting, cooking and baking with the snow.

Eve was fascinated with the bits of colored snow that Grace and Jack painted and placed inside of the bin for her to play with.

Later that morning we made snow play dough. We added blue and turquoise glitter to our dough for a wintry look. We also added a few drops of peppermint oil.

We went outside to play in the snow several times throughout the day. Here are some pictures from our time outside:

Sled rides!

Snow angels!

Going on a wintry walk near the woods!

Each time we went outside we measured the snow to see how much snow had fallen! At the end of the day we made a snow depth graph.

We finished our snow day with a special treat of hot cocoa!

Snow Day

2012-01-12T20:06:00.004-05:00

We enjoyed a snow day at home today. Grace and Jack were up first this morning and they were both so excited to see the snow falling that they ran outside in their pajama footsies to celebrate! We had a fun-filled snow day which consisted of an indoor snow party, a snow sensory bin, painting snow, measuring snow, sled rides and making glittery snow play dough. More pictures of our snow day to come!

Exciting Times for Jack & Eve at the Children's Museum!

2012-01-11T20:13:00.003-05:00

Jack joined Teensy Weensy theater class at the Children's Museum! This theater class is part of the Children's Theater of Maine. The rehearsals take place every Wednesday morning at the Children's Museum and they are designed for children between the ages of 3-5. In the picture above, Jack is walking down the stairs to the theater room for his first class. Doesn't he look like such a big boy now?!!

Jack arrived early to the class and waited outside of the doors for the class to begin. Due to low enrollment this month, the teacher of the class has arranged a special theater class just for Jack in January focusing on Dr. Seuss stories! Jack can't wait until February because the class will practice performing the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, which is one of Jack's favorite books. At the end of the month Jack will perform for family and friends. We can't wait to see Jack up on stage.

After Jack's theater class he had fun playing with Eve at the Museum. Here are some pictures of the fun time these two had together...

I think Jack and Eve look so much alike in this picture. They had such a great time together in the Toddler Park area at the museum.

Little Miss Eve loves the Children's Museum! Eve has been visiting the Museum since she was just one week old. Each time we visit the Museum I can see just how much she has grown. Eve is now walking around the Museum on her own and she loves playing and interacting with all of the exhibits.

Eve climbed all the way up to the second level of the firetruck for the first time. She was very proud of herself and so excited to join her big brother up there!

Jack made lunch for Eve and I at the Museum. I just love a boy who can cook!! :)

Childhood Desk

2012-01-11T20:12:00.005-05:00

We gave Grace my childhood desk for her birthday this year. It is now in Grace's bedroom and it is pictured above. Watching Grace work at her desk brings back so many wonderful memories for me from when I was a little girl!

The "Art Room"

2012-01-10T19:22:00.003-05:00

This is the room in our home that Grace spends the most time in. We call it our "art room." This is also my favorite space in our house. It is in the art room where do most of our creating, learning and crafting.

We gave each of our children a wooden painting board and easel set for Christmas. Grace has spent so much time painting, writing and drawing on her easel since she received it. Every day I receive several pieces of art or love notes from my Gracie girl that she works so hard on in this room of ours. I am one very lucky mama...yes, indeed!

Making Alphabet Letters!

2012-01-10T15:33:00.008-05:00

Over the past two weeks Jack and Eve have been working on creating alphabet letters together. My goal is to introduce one or two letters each week. Since children learn best through hands on experiences, exposing them to the world of letters through their world of play makes learning them so easy and fun! Since the beginning of this long term project, big brother Jack has been so excited to teach Eve all about letters and their sounds. Eve does an amazing job imitating letter sounds and she can identify the letters a and j!

This morning, Jack and Eve had fun together painting with orange paint using a variety of paint brushes, rollers, spools and scrapers. Stay tuned later this week to see how their orange paintings transform into a letter of the alphabet!

Happy First Birthday to our Sweet Eve!

2012-01-07T19:07:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday

January 7, 2012

Being One is Fun!

December 2011

11 months old

November 2011

10 months old

October 2011

9 months old

September 2011

8 months old

August 2011

7 months old

July 2011

6 months old

June 2011

5 months old

May 2011

4 months old

April 2011

3 months old

March 2011

2 months old

February 2011

1 month old

January 27, 2011

Almost 3 weeks old

January 8, 2011

One day old

The day our sweet Eve was born...

January 7, 2011

7 pounds, 11 ounces

18.5 inches long

8:20 a.m.

I think I spoke too soon...

2012-01-07T19:06:00.003-05:00

On Thursday morning I wrote on the blog that we had a case of a stomach virus in our family and how fortunate I felt that it had not spread through all of us. I spoke much too soon! On Thursday evening we all went to bed healthy but Bob and I woke up in the middle of the night (within a half hour of each other) both of us very, very sick!

We want to express a very big thank you to Memere, who dropped all of her plans to come up early Friday morning to help take care of Grace, Jack and Eve. THANK YOU so very much, Memere! We could not have done it without you!

I feel so thankful that Bob and I started feeling much better this morning -- just in time to celebrate Eve's first birthday! :)

2012-01-07T09:30:00.002-05:00

HAPPY, HAPPY First Birthday to our sweet Eve today!

We are off to celebrate but look for pictures of the birthday girl tonight!

Piano

2012-01-05T19:27:00.014-05:00

Eve has watched and listened to Grace and Jack play our piano since she the day she was born! Over the past week Eve has discovered that she is now able to reach the piano and play it all by herself...and what an amazing discovery this has been for our little ladybug!

Grace was super excited to teach Eve all about the piano. The two girls played their first duet together today...

...and then the duet became a trio!

After this piano performance Jack asked to be referred to as "Maestro!"

2012-01-05T06:57:00.004-05:00

We started off the New Year with a stomach virus (OH NO!) but fortunately it did not spread through our whole family. We are all healthy now and back into our routine. I'll be back later today with some pictures. Happy Thursday!

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T08:27:00.011-05:00

Eve

Jack

Grace

Jack and Grace

Eve

Grace

Jack and Grace

We celebrated our New Year's Eve at the Children's Museum. The museum hosted a New Year's at Noon Pajama Party that was full of crafts, special events and confetti! There was a countdown to 2012 at noontime in the Museum's gallery, where at the stroke of noon hundreds of balloons dropped down on us! It was so much fun.

Happy 2012 to all of you, my dear readers! As always, thank you for the time that you spend here on this blog. I hope your new year is filled with joyful learning, simple everyday pleasures and great happiness.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T06:54:00.005-05:00

Christmas Eve Morning at Memere & Pepere's House: Part 1

2011-12-29T19:27:00.011-05:00

Dr. Grace Leger examining cousin Rose!

Fireman Jack to the rescue!

Sweet cousin Kimberlee

Cousin Rose admiring her new American Girl doll

Auntie Allison and Eve

Silly Uncle Steve!

Rose!

Jack and Rose working together on a fun new puzzle!

More pictures to come...

Our Special Spot in the Woods

2011-12-27T14:05:00.015-05:00

We went for a walk in the woods directly behind our house yesterday afternoon. We found a beautiful spot near our home where we spent time skating, locating animal tracks, gathering sticks to make fairy houses, examining snowflakes, making snow angels on the ice and admiring the beauty that surrounded us.

I took Grace, Jack and Eve back to our special spot in the woods again today. We spent most of our morning there constructing a "house" that we started to make out of sticks and pine branches along several patches of ice. We are so excited to continue to build our forest house there throughout the winter months.

I remember as a little girl creating a fort that my brother and I built in the brush alongside the dirt road where we lived. Adam and I would spend many of our summer days there playing and imagining together. A neighbors dog would often join us in our adventures (remember Oreo, Adam?!!!). I hope that my own children will create their own special childhood memories in their spot in the woods, just as I did with my brother.

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T15:18:00.013-05:00

Our Christmas day was spent snowshoeing, playing in the snow, making snow angels, skating on nature made ice rinks, walking through the woods, wagon rides in the snow, searching for animal tracks and warming up by our bonfire. Simply perfect.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T07:22:00.001-05:00

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

2011-12-24T19:58:00.010-05:00

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

...while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

Making Gingerbread Cookies!

2011-12-22T14:51:00.007-05:00

Happy first day of winter!

We made gingerbread cookies this morning. I tried to find a relatively "healthy" recipe for our gingerbread boys, girls and babies. The recipe that we used is shown below. We made the dough yesterday afternoon and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. Grace and Jack made the gingerbread cookies while Eve was taking her morning nap (since the dough had raw egg in it I did not have Eve help this morning). However, Eve did a great job helping to make the dough yesterday. Eve especially loved the smell and a little taste of the ginger -- she's a little spice girl!

Ingredients:

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup oil (we used olive oil)

1 cup sugar (we used much less)

1 large egg

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup molasses (We used Blackstrap molasses since it is healthier than light or dark molasses. Blackstrap is an excellent source of iron, calcium, vitamin B and E and manganese.)

Directions:

1. Whisk whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a large bowl. Beat butter, oil and sugar in another large bowl with a mixer until creamy. Add egg, molasses and vinegar; beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine. The dough will be very soft. Divide the dough into four equal portions, wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least two hours or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover several baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Working with one portion of dough at a time, on a floured surface, roll the dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut cookies using cookie cutters. Gather scraps and reroll. Using a spatula, place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough.

4. Bake the cookies, one batch at a time, until puffed but still soft, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Grace and Jack were very excited to put a lucky gingerbread boy and girl into their beautiful gingerbread houses that they made and decorated over the weekend! :)

Making Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-21T18:20:00.008-05:00

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 cup of warm water =

Lots of fun!

Decorating our Salt Dough Ornaments

2011-12-21T15:44:00.000-05:00

The Joy of Planting an Amaryllis Bulb

2011-12-20T09:10:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things about being a mother is seeing how the simple things in life bring such tremendous joy to my children. I also love how my children notice the teeniest of tiniest of details that most of us would overlook and how they always find the beauty in everything around them.

Yesterday morning I thought it would be nice to plant an amaryllis bulb, hoping to have it bloom for Christmas. I sat back and watched how taken Grace, Jack and Eve were with this simple activity. They spent over an hour planting an amaryllis bulb together. They discussed everything from the texture of the soil to every detail of the amaryllis bulb and stalk. Grace, Jack and Eve decided that their favorite part of planting the amaryllis was the way the soil smelled when they added the water -- "just like spring!" What a perfectly lovely way to spend a morning.

Using Math Skills to make Christmas Tree Cards!

2011-12-18T20:24:00.014-05:00

Jack collected sticks and small branches a few weeks ago for our Christmas cards and here it what we did with them! This year we decided to use all natural and recycled materials for our cards, which consisted of recycled cardboard pieces, sticks, branches and beach glass.

Grace and Jack used math and measuring skills to construct each card! First, they measured their pieces of cardboard using a ruler to determine how long to cut their sticks to make the base of their Christmas trees. Next, they either subtracted 1/2 or 1/4 of an inch (depending on the length of their cardboard piece) for each subsequent branch. Grace and Jack both worked so hard to make these cards. They have always loved measuring with rulers and tape measures (I think both are such great visual tools to learn about numbers, addition and subtraction) and they put their math skills to such good use for this project!

Once all of their sticks were measured and cut, Grace and Jack glued the sticks onto pieces of cardboard that they had cut out from a box that we had received in the mail. They added a piece of beach glass on top to complete their Christmas trees!

The pictures below show Grace and Jack measuring and constructing their Christmas tree cards...

Great work, Grace & Jack!!!

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-18T17:49:00.001-05:00

We made and decorated gingerbread houses this weekend. It was great fun! We can't wait to make more gingerbread. We will be making gingerbread boys and girls to go with our houses this coming week. I'll be sure to post pictures.

I Can Feed Myself!!!

2011-12-18T15:16:00.003-05:00

"Look Mommy. I did it all by myself!"

Happy Third Birthday to our Jack

2011-12-15T14:26:00.023-05:00

Happy Birthday, sweet Jack-a-roo

December 15, 2011

Three Years Old!

December 2010

Almost 3 years old

November 2010

2 years, 11 months old

October 2010

2 years, 10 months old

September 2010

2 years, 10 months old

August 2010

2 years, 8 months old

July 2010

2 years, 7 months old

June 2010

2 years, 6 months old

May 2010

2 years, 5 months old

April 2010

2 years, 4 months old

March 2010

2 years, 3 months old

February 2010

2 years, 2 months old

January 2010

2 years, 1 month old

December 15, 2010

2 years old

June 2010

18 months old

December 15, 2009

Jack's First Birthday

June 2009

6 months old

December 2008

2 days old

The day our sweet Jack was born...

December 15, 2008

10 pounds, 2 ounces

19.5 inches long

12:54 p.m.

2011-12-14T15:11:00.004-05:00

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jack today!

We love you so much our sweet Jack-a-roo!

I'll be back with pictures of our birthday boy through the years tonight.

A December Tradition -- Advent Books & Activities

2011-12-14T13:27:00.002-05:00

The beginning of December through the beginning of the New Year is an extra special time for our family. It's that time of year when our autumn celebrations come to an end and when the winter ones begin. It's that time of year when we celebrate three of the best birthdays (one of which is happening tomorrow!). It's that time of year when the holiday making begins! The weeks leading up to Christmas are very, very busy for our family but they are always filled to the tippy top with such fun, excitement and traditions.

I do believe that our favorite tradition this time of year are our advent books and activities. Every morning we gather in front of our Christmas tree to read our advent books together. Each day in December a new page is read and a new little window or door is opened to reveal something new. This year we have added two new advent calendars (thank you, Maddy!). One which we open a door to find tiny animals, trees or other forest elements which in the end will create a beautiful winter forest scene. Our other new advent activity is based on Eric Carle's Dream Snow book. Each day we open a door on this calendar to find a tiny ornament, which we place on a small tree to decorate. In the pictures above, Grace, Jack and Eve are enjoying our advent books from three different days last week. This is a tradition that my Mom started with me and oh how I love passing it down to my own children now.

Painting Snow

2011-12-13T16:06:00.003-05:00

Since we do not have a flake of snow on the ground right now, Eve painted some for us today! Eve loved finger painting with white paint on blue paper. We have several of Eves' pictures hanging inside and hopefully they will bring us some snow soon -- we are hoping to build a snowman outside!

After making many, many snow pictures for us (Grace and Jack have named all of Eves' paintings "Blizzards!") I put the paint directly onto Eve's tray so she could experience a slipperier method of painting.

...and who doesn't love a little taste of some "snow"?!!! :)

Collecting sticks

2011-12-13T15:20:00.002-05:00

One morning last week Jack went outside to gather sticks for our handmade Christmas cards. As you can see, Jack was quite proud of the sticks and branches that he gathered! Pictures of our Christmas cards to come...

Calendar Time with Eve

2011-12-12T19:23:00.004-05:00

Every morning we do calendar time. The moment I begin to sing our calendar time song Eve drops whatever she is doing and crawls as fast as she possibly can to our blackboard wall where I keep our calendar. Eve pulls down on the calendar and excitedly announces to me how very happy she is that calendar time has started! Eve sings along with all of the calendar/morning songs, helps place the number on the calendar and pulls off the picture of President Obama to say good morning to him. Eve can also identify the American flag and loves it when we all sing "You're A Grand Old Flag." I love calendar time too because it is a fun way to teach so many concepts.

Sewing with Jack

2011-12-12T19:23:00.003-05:00

Jack is one mighty fine sewer! Jack's love of sewing began earlier this year when he started sewing with Maddy on her sewing machine. Since then Jack has been practicing hand stitching at home using a blunt needle and yarn. Oh how love watching my Jack sew. He becomes so focused with his sewing projects. I feel that the discipline taught by learning to sew can extend itself into other areas of life. Sewing can help to teach some key life skills (in a very fun and rewarding way!) like hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, creativity, planning, sequencing, organization, following instructions, math skills, problem solving, discipline, patience, self-confidence and a wonderful sense of accomplishment!

Finger Knitting with Grace

2011-12-12T19:21:00.008-05:00

Grace loves to finger knit. Her little fingers work so, so, so hard while she knits very long strands of yarn. I love finding Grace sitting on a windowsill (as in the picture above), on her bed, in her carseat, or on the floor with her yarn basket close by while she finger knits for long periods of time. Grace uses finger knitting to make rings, necklaces, crowns and for imaginative play. Grace experiences so much joy from creating something beautiful and unique with her own hands. Every one of her finger knitting projects is a treasure.

Eve's First Haircut!

2011-12-11T14:47:00.010-05:00

Little Miss Eve's two pigtails have been getting quite tall and a bit out of control recently! :) The time had come for Eve's very first haircut. We were all quite excited for our Eve as we drove to the salon today. Just as Eve always does, she greeted everyone in the salon with a big smile and wave. Eve charmed everyone there while she waited patiently for her haircut. In the picture above Eve is sitting inside of the salon while she waits for her turn.

Eve smiled her way through her very first haircut. She sat on a little booster seat and loved being entertained by all of us while she was getting her hair done!

I took this picture of Eve in her car seat right after she got her haircut. Eve's short new cut opens up her face and lets those beautiful blue eyes of hers sparkle even more now!

You can click here to see Grace's first haircut (she was 12 months old) and here to see Jack's first haircut (he was 8 months old)!

Saturday at Pineland Farms

2011-12-10T15:34:00.000-05:00

Grace

Jack

Eve

Grace

Jack

Eve & Daddy

Grace

Jack

Eve & Daddy

Jack

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts ~ untie the ribbons."

2011-12-09T04:23:00.003-05:00

Decorating for Christmas

2011-12-08T08:14:00.001-05:00

Every year we decorate our home for Christmas the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Eve was simply fascinated with all of the boxes, tissue paper and ornaments that appeared while we decorated our tree.

We are full of Christmas cheer in our home and we have been enjoying so many moments reading, singing, making music, telling stories, dancing and playing near and around our tree this year. Oh what fun it is with Grace, Jack and Eve!

Leaving the Theater after the Nutcracker...

2011-12-07T19:27:00.004-05:00

Backstage after the Nutcracker...

2011-12-07T19:17:00.003-05:00

Jack could not wait to get backstage to hand deliver Grace a bouquet of flowers. I loved seeing how proud Jack was of his big sister and how happy he was for Grace.

Grace on Stage in the Nutcracker!

2011-12-07T19:14:00.001-05:00

Bravo, bravo Gracie girl.

We were all so proud of you for performing on that big stage!

Before the Nutcracker Performance...

2011-12-07T15:03:00.007-05:00

The day of the Nutcracker had finally arrived! The picture above is of Grace holding Daddy's hand on the way to the theater for her debut performance in the Nutcracker.

We were all very excited to have Memere, Pepere, Maddy, Poppy, Auntie Allison and cousins Rose and Kimberlee come to see Grace perform. As soon as Grace and Jack saw their cousins they immediately all joined hands.

Sadly, I did not get our sweet baby Eve in any of these pictures since I was carrying her. Eve was so excited to be at her first Nutcracker performance. Eve kept smiling, kicking her feet and raising her hands above her head all while squealing loudly to express just how excited she was! In fact, Eve was SO EXCITED while watching the Nutcracker that she had to leave the theater several times for expressing her excitement a little too loudly! :)

And then there is our Jack-a-roo, who is always surrounded by so many girls!!!! I must admit that I agree with cousin Kimberlee here -- our Jack is so darn cute that I could just squeeze him right up too! :)

Grace, Rose & Kimberlee enjoyed sitting together inside of the theater just before the performance began. These girls are so cute together.

2011-12-06T08:17:00.002-05:00

Jack

Eve

Grace

Here are a few pictures I took of Jack, Eve and Grace just before we left to for the Nutcracker!

Getting Ready for the Nutcracker...

2011-12-05T08:26:00.001-05:00

Grace

Jack

Eve

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Grace performed in her first Nutcracker ballet. It was a special day for all of us.

Thank you so much to Maddy for making Jack his special Nutcracker shirt (sewn from tool fabric!!!) and for Jack's Mouse King mask....it was all SO perfect for Jack-a-roo!

Thank you to Maddy for Grace and Eve's beautiful outfits and matching headbands. You made them both feel so special.

Thank you Maddy & Poppy for Grace's beautiful Nutcracker necklace, which will always serve as a beautiful reminder for Grace of her first Nutcracker performance.

More pictures of our Nutcracker day to come!

Our Thanksgiving Day

2011-12-04T14:29:00.011-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving Day. While we were waiting for Maddy and Poppy to arrive that morning we went for a walk outside to deliver our handmade turkey hand print cards to several of our neighbors. It was such a bright, sunny and beautiful day outside.

Once we returned home from our walk Grace, Jack and Eve waited in our dining room for Maddy and Poppy to arrive! Eve entertained us all by playing peek-a-boo with our tablecloth while Grace and Jack watched for Maddy and Poppy's blue car to drive down our driveway. This picture was taken the exact moment when Jack spotted Maddy and Poppy's car. You can see Grace waving to them from her chair!

This year Grace and Jack set our Thanksgiving table all by themselves! Here is one one of their place settings. Grace and Jack worked so hard that morning cutting out confetti to decorate everyone's plate. Grace wrote all of our names on circles of red, orange and yellow.

Here are the girls enjoying some girl time together after our Thanksgiving meal -- Maddy, Grace and Eve. Oh, how I love these three beautiful girls!

Eve was all smiles on her very first Thanksgiving! Eve loved all of the special time she spent with her Maddy and Poppy.

Every time Maddy and Poppy visit Jack runs to play the guitar they gave to him last year. Jack always puts on quite the show for us!

Our Thanksgiving day ended outside with a lantern walk using the lantern that was handmade by our Grace. Thank you to Maddy and Poppy for all of the beautiful Thanksgiving memories.

Happy Fifth Birthday to our Amazing Grace

2011-12-02T19:45:00.019-05:00

December 2011

Happy Birthday, Amazing Grace!

November 2011

4 years, 11 months old

October 2011

4 years, 10 months old

September 2011

4 years, 9 months old

August 2011

4 years, 8 months old

July 2011

4 years, 7 months old

June 2011

4 years, 6 months old

May 2011

4 years, 5 months old

April 2011

4 years, 4 months old

March 2011

4 years, 3 months old

February 2011

4 years, 2 months old

January 2011

4 years, 1 month old

Grace's Fourth Birthday

December 2, 2010

Grace's Third Birthday

December 2, 2009

Grace's Second Birthday

December 2, 2008

Grace's First Birthday

December 2, 2007

June 2007

6 months old

December 2, 2006

4:09 a.m.

8 pounds, 13 ounces

20 inches long

2011-12-02T14:29:00.000-05:00

Happy Fifth Birthday to our Amazing Grace!!!!!

It's time to start the celebration....

I'll be back tonight with pictures of our Gracie girl through the years.

Our Handmade Thanksgiving Decorations

2011-11-30T19:59:00.005-05:00

Turkey hand print cards

Coffee filter autumn leaf garland

Our thankful tree

Dirt + Water = Mud!

2011-11-29T08:17:00.002-05:00

We had such a lovely Thanksgiving and a fun filled Nutcracker weekend. I have so many pictures to share from last week but until then here is a post of Jack that I had ready a few weeks ago but never posted. Right now we are in the middle of decorating for Christmas, preparing for all that Christmas brings, and getting ready to celebrate TWO big birthdays very soon! In the midst of all of the busyness, I hope to return tomorrow with some new pictures.

One day towards the middle of the month we had warmer temperatures so I asked Jack if he wanted to get some of his trucks together to "work" in the mud. Jack's little feet ran so fast to gather some of his construction trucks and he was so excited to get right to work!

I gave Jack a bowl and he filled it with some dirt from our garden area. Jack added some water to his dirt and made the perfect mud mixture. For those of you who know Jack, working with mud and trucks is very serious business! He went right to work on his "construction site."

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

2011-11-24T00:58:00.001-05:00

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I will be back next week with pictures. Wishing everyone a beautiful Thanksgiving and weekend until then!

Making Thanksgiving Retelling Bead Necklaces

2011-11-21T03:23:00.001-05:00

One of our favorite Thanksgiving activities from last year was making necklaces and bracelets using colored beads to tell the story of the very first Thanksgiving. Both Grace and Jack remembered making the necklaces and bracelets last year and they were both able to retell the events leading up to the first Thanksgiving too! Last week we made necklaces for everyone in our family to wear on Thanksgiving.

Each bead on the necklace represents a piece of the first Thanksgiving:

1 tan bead to represent the Pilgrims leaving England
1 white bead to represent the sails on the Mayflower
3 blue beads to represent the Pilgrims long trip across the ocean (66 days)
1 green bead to represent the Pilgrims spying land
3 white beads to represent the snow that the Pilgrims enduring during their first winter
1 green bead to represent the arrival of spring
1 tan bead to represent Squanto and the Native Americans who helped the Pilgrims
4 colored beads to represent all of the harvest foods served at the very first Thanksgiving: red for cranberries, yellow for corn, tan for turkey and orange for squash and pumpkins

This year we discussed the events leading up to the first Thanksgiving in much more detail. A large part of Grace and Jack's pretend play over the past few weeks has been recreating the first Thanksgiving. Grace and Jack love taking turns being Pilgrims and Squanto!

Baby Eve was so excited to receive a beaded necklace from Grace and Jack. This will be Eve's first Thanksgiving and we are all so thankful for her!

Grace and Jack have their Thanksgiving necklaces hanging on the back of our dining room chairs. We will all be wearing them on Thursday while giving thanks for our many blessings.

Painting our Thankful Tree

2011-11-17T13:10:00.003-05:00

It is so important to reinforce the concept of what it means to be thankful and ways to express how much we have to be thankful for. Every year around Thanksgiving time we make our own thankful project as a means to concretely see our thankful wishes. In years past we have made thankful boxes and thankful leaves which allowed us the opportunity to write and draw what we are thankful for. This year we are making a thankful tree. Jack painted the tree yesterday morning while Grace was at school and when Eve was napping. We will cut out Jack's painting into the shape of a tree and place it on our wall. Tiny scraps of yellow, orange and red pieces of paper will be placed near the tree so that Grace and Jack can write or draw what that they are thankful for. This year I will write what makes Eve smile or laugh and place that on the tree for her first Thanksgiving. We will tape the pieces of paper directly on our tree so that our thankful wishes resemble autumn leaves. I'll post a picture of our thankful tree next week for Thanksgiving.

Update: We finished our Thankful Tree this morning and hung it in our dining room wall. It warms my heart to see how much Grace and Jack are thankful for and how much they are enjoying this activity. Our tree is already bursting with so many beautiful thankful leaves! I'll share them all with you next week.

"Being thankful opens us up to receiving all kinds of wonderful blessings. When in a state of gratefulness, we acknowledge our true selves & radiate this energy to others." ~Unknown

Our Lantern Walk

2011-11-17T03:15:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday evening a lantern walk was scheduled at Grace's school. Every November Grace's Waldorf school has a lantern walk -- a festival of inner light in the outer darkness of the approaching winter. The lantern walk begins by hearing stories and singing songs. As darkness falls the children venture out into the night with their lanterns. They walk along a lit path with glowing luminaries while carrying their lanterns in a mood of quiet reverence. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily the night the lantern walk was scheduled so it was cancelled. Grace brought her lantern home earlier this week and we had our own lantern walk around our house!

This picture of Grace holding her lantern was taken just before she led us outside.

Grace led us all around our house carrying her lantern all while sweetly singing.

Pumpkin Spice Playdough!

2011-11-16T15:06:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of Eve playing with the pumpkin spice playdough that Grace made. We added some gold glitter for an extra special touch! In a few days we will be using this playdough to make turkeys to decorate our Thanksgiving table!

Coffee Filter Autumn Leaves

2011-11-15T19:34:00.007-05:00

Jack made beautiful coffee filter autumn leaves yesterday. Jack used red, yellow and orange markers and marker dots to color coffee filters. Once he was finished coloring, Jack placed the filters on our driveway and sprayed them with water until the colors blended together. Once the filters dried I cut out maple leaf shapes. We will be making a leaf garland with the leaves to decorate our home for Thanksgiving. I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished garland.

Sensory Bean Bin

2011-11-15T19:30:00.000-05:00

Over the years I have made many sensory bins for my children. I LOVE them! I think sensory bins are an amazing (and a fun) educational tool. We made this simple bean bin for Halloween a few weeks ago. We filled it with black beans and colored navy beans orange and green. Eve loves sensory play and she has been enjoying exploring and playing in this bean bin. This activity engages a variety of senses in learning and it targets fine motor and language development in such a fun way!

Eve's tiny fingers worked so hard to grasp the beans using her pincer grasp.

Eve loves the way the beans feel on her toes. I always make sure she is barefoot in the bin so she can also feel the texture on her feet as well as her hands.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Dough

2011-11-15T19:29:00.004-05:00

Grace made a homemade batch of pumpkin spice dough for us yesterday. Our home smelled just like pumpkin pie when it was finished cooking. Here is Grace's recipe:

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

4 teaspoons cream of tartar

6 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

a dash of nutmeg

2 cups of water

2 tablespoons of oil

red & yellow food coloring

Grace combined the dry ingredients in a saucepan and then added the water and oil. Grace mixed the ingredients together and then helped me cook it over medium heat until the dough formed. Once the pumpkin spice dough cooled Grace, Jack and Eve kneaded it until it was soft. Thank you, Grace!

Higgins Beach in November

2011-11-13T20:22:00.011-05:00

Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T19:40:00.007-05:00

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all veterans today and always. Thank you for your bravery and for all that you have sacrificed to protect our freedom. Thank you Poppy and Uncle Steve for your service. You are our true heroes.

Happy Birthday Memere

2011-11-10T21:06:00.004-05:00

We put our "to do" things on hold this week and spent our days at the beach enjoying spring-like weather. Many more pictures to come...

We wish Memere the happiest birthday today on this lucky 11-11-11 day! We are thinking of you and we can't wait to see you in two weeks. Happy, happy birthday. We love you.

The Nutcracker

2011-11-09T15:48:00.010-05:00

We are SO EXCITED that Grace will be performing in the Maine State Ballet's production of the Nutcracker this year! Grace will make her debut performance the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Attending the Nutcracker with Grace has always been a magical experience for us. It will be extra special this year because Jack and Eve will experience their very first Nutcracker performance together. We can't wait! You can click here and here to see Grace attending the Maine State Ballet's production of the Nutcracker in 2009 and 2010.

Our Day at Pineland Farms

2011-11-07T19:56:00.009-05:00

Pineland Farms

2011-11-06T19:32:00.003-05:00

We spent today at Pineland Farms. This little John Deere tractor of ours worked so very hard in the hands of our little ones to move hay and feed the cows in the cow barn. More pictures of our day at Pineland Farms coming tomorrow!

Our Daylight Savings Time Outdoor Celebration

2011-11-05T20:23:00.006-05:00

Jack

Grace, Jack and Eve have been going outside every night after dinner since the spring to play before their bath and bedtime. We made our outside playtime extra special tonight since it will now be dark after dinner beginning tomorrow due to the changing of the clocks. We let Grace, Jack and Eve stay up a bit later tonight to savor the last evening of light until the spring. We our extra playtime together and a bonfire in our backyard!

Grace swinging

Eve

Carving our Jack-o'-lantern

2011-11-02T13:52:00.003-05:00

Pumpkin Sensory Play!

2011-11-02T06:56:00.002-05:00

Eve LOVED playing with the pumpkin pulp and seeds that Grace and Jack scooped out of our jack-o'-lantern. By the time Eve was done playing she had tasted the pumpkin, had pumpkin on her from head to toe and she was surrounded by pumpkin seeds! It was so much fun for all of us to watch and hear Eve have such a great time with the pumpkin.

Our Jack-o'-lantern

2011-11-01T13:25:00.002-05:00

Lots & lots of thought was put into our jack-o'-lantern this year. Grace and Jack worked together as a great team with lots of help from Eve (who smiled at every decision!) to determine what shape eyes, nose and mouth our jack should have. A very big thank you to Grace who carved our jack-o'-lantern all by herself this year! Thank you to Jack for helping with the jack-0'-lantern design and for scooping out the inside of the pumpkin. Thank you to Eve for providing us with lots of laughs as you thoroughly enjoyed playing with the pulp and pumpkin seeds. More pictures to come!

Happy Halloween from our Three Little Bakers!!!

2011-10-31T02:14:00.001-05:00

Halloween Through The Years

2011-10-30T17:45:00.004-05:00

Grace's First Halloween

Ladybug

October 2007

Grace's Second Halloween

Dressed as Ella (Grace's elephant lovey)

October 2008

Grace's Third Halloween & Jack's First Halloween

Cowgirl & Cowboy

October 2009

Jack's First Halloween

Cowboy

October 2009

Grace's Third Halloween

Cowgirl

October 2009

Grace's Fourth Halloween & Jack's Second Halloween

Giraffes!

October 2010

Jack's Second Halloween

Giraffe

October 2010

Grace's Fourth Halloween

Giraffe

October 2010

A Sneak Peek....

2011-10-30T08:39:00.009-05:00

Here is a little peek into our Halloween costumes this year! I will be posting pictures of Grace, Jack and Eve wearing their full costumes tomorrow.

Maddy made Grace, Jack and Eve's Halloween costumes this year -- everything from head to toe -- and they are beyond spectacular! I can't thank my Mom enough for the time, planning, thought and love that went into every stitch and detail. Grace, Jack and Eve look absolutely adorable wearing their costumes. We have had the best of times over the past few days wearing these costumes to several Halloween celebrations!

P.S. Maddy made each child their own special treat bag that goes along with their costume. One bag says, "SWEET," one bag says, "SAVORY" and one bag says, "SPICY." My Mom and I were laughing because we said that the bags could be interchangeable among the children at any given time depending on the moment!!!! :)

Our Happy Halloween Cards

2011-10-30T04:49:00.002-05:00

*ghost footprint cards from left to right -- Grace, Eve, Jack*

Every year for Halloween we make ghost footprint cards. This year Grace wanted "Happy Halloween" written on the top of her cards. On Eve's ghost footprint cards we all thought it would be cute to write "Peek-a-boo. Jack thought long and hard about what he wanted on his card. Grace and I gave hime several suggestions but in the end Jack decided that "Trucks" would be best. He declared that everyone would LOVE having a Halloween card with "trucks" written on it. :)

The First Snowfall of the Season!

2011-10-29T13:42:00.014-05:00

We received our first snowfall of the season yesterday. Oh my! The last time I recall snow falling in October was during my freshman year of college. We only received a little dusting yesterday but I don't think we'll have to wait too long for some more snow to fall. We are preparing for a "historic" October snowstorm tonight and into tomorrow with up to a foot of snow expected to fall. I know three little ones here who think that this would be the absolute best Halloween treat of all!

Grace and Jack were the first ones up yesterday morning. I told them that there was a big surprise waiting for them outside but that they would have to wait until the sun woke up in order to really see it! Once the sun rose we quickly bundled up and headed outside. Grace and Jack couldn't believe their eyes when they walked outside. They kept picking up handfuls of snow to examine it and they had the best time playing in the snow together. Eve woke up a short time later and she was very excited to experience a whole new world outside too! What a fun winter it will be with our snow loving Grace, Jack and Eve.

Peek-a-boo Pumpkin Masks

2011-10-28T13:54:00.006-05:00

Thank you to Jack for painting our pumpkin masks orange! Grace helped me cut out all of the eyes, noses, and mouths for our jack-o'-lantern masks. Grace, Jack and Eve each made their own pumpkin mask. Grace and Jack really wanted Eve's mask to have three teeth --two on the bottom and one on top, just like Eve!!! Grace and Jack made similar masks last year and had a great time with them. They were very excited to make masks this year so they could play peek-a-boo with baby Eve!

Once Eve was done making her jack-o'-lantern mask I used it to play peek-a-boo with her. I took this picture of Eve when I removed the pumpkin mask from my face. Eve's favorite game right now is peek-a-boo so she really loved playing with the pumpkin masks. :)

Peek-a-BOO!

Creating the Perfect Pumpkin Orange!

2011-10-27T18:33:00.006-05:00

One morning earlier this week while Grace was at school and Eve was taking her morning nap, Jack created the perfect pumpkin orange paint color for a Halloween project. We had run out of orange paint so Jack asked to make it himself by combining red and yellow paint that we had on hand -- what a clever boy! When Jack was done he declared, "It's pumpkin orange!" Jack used his pumpkin orange to paint paper plates so we could make peek-a-boo jack-o'-lantern masks for Eve. Pictures to come!

More Apple Orchard Pictures

2011-10-25T19:01:00.006-05:00

I'll be back on Thursday with some pictures of our Halloween activities!

Apples!

2011-10-24T19:10:00.003-05:00

After Maddy and Poppy left for Vermont yesterday morning, we went to an orchard near our home to pick apples.

I love this picture of Jack, Eve and Grace eating their apples while sitting inside of a large apple crate in the middle of the orchard. I especially love how Jack and Grace are looking at Eve as she tries to take a big bite of her apple!

A Special Weekend

2011-10-24T13:45:00.009-05:00

*Maddy, Poppy, Grace, Jack & Eve*

We spent a beautiful weekend with Maddy and Poppy. We had the loveliest day on Friday at Grace's Waldorf school where we celebrated Grandparent's Day. It was wonderful to have Maddy, Poppy and Memere all together to learn what the school has to offer. Sadly, we missed seeing Pepere but we are looking forward to seeing him in November!

We are all really missing Maddy and Poppy today but we can't wait to see them again at Thanksgiving. They left yesterday morning but surprised us with this sweet message written in chalk on our driveway. Thank you to Maddy and Poppy for the special weekend. You left us with so many memories. We love you.

2011-10-19T19:41:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts so far this week but we have been quite busy. I'll be back some time over the weekend to catch up on my blogging.

We are so excited to see Maddy and Poppy tomorrow and Memere and Pepere on Friday. They are coming to Maine to participate in Grandparent's Day at Grace's school on Friday. Hooray!