Spring Forward

Busy Hands

Grace & Jack made oobleck today (cornstarch + water + food coloring). They filled their picnic table with their oobleck and had the best time playing outside together in the warm sunshine.

I adore these twenty little oobleck covered fingers!

Pineland Farms

Welcoming Spring. We are so happy to be back here.

Back In Boston

The Little Legers hit the town in Boston again on Saturday. Grace led the charge with her trusted Jack-a-roo. The mission - have as much fun as possible and use every ounce of energy to get the job done.

Jack couldn't be held back by his aged father so he took off on his own. Jack sprinted to the waterfront, found a yacht that would be appropriate for the team, then came back to get us laggards.

Grace surmised that we needed some more team members so she anointed Mrs. Mallard and one of the ducklings from The Make Way For Duckings group as an honorary member of the team.

Grace chose the duckling "Quack" following many interviews, due diligence research, and extensive genetic testing.

We then enlisted the help of the MBTA to find Jack's team member.

Grace relaxed momentarily while we had an intense team meeting to determine who would be the final member of the Little Leger team Saturday. You can't see the paparazzi flocking all around us as the monumental decision got closer. Grace, Jack, Mommy, Daddy, Mrs. Mallard, and Quack were all nervous that the final team member could be "outed" on TMZ or tweeted prematurely.

No worries, Grace enlisted the help of local law enforcement officials to keep the tabloid journalists at bay. We continued to search, search, search and then...

We found Wally! Jack was smitten immediately and Wally was added as the final honorary member of the Little Leger team.

Jack grabbed hold of Wally and took him to seal the deal on his yacht purchase.

Unfortunately, Little Buddy fell asleep right before closing on the yacht. C'est la vie for the Little Leger super team. On to another mission....

Create

I covered our dining room table with paper and added chalk, crayons, paint brushes, paint, markers, and stencils. The end result was the most beautiful, creative, and colorful table that I have ever seen.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss & Read Across America Day

Yesterday was a very big day in our home! We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday and participated in Read Across America Day. Grace and Jack started off this great day by making their own Dr. Seuss inspired fun-in-a-box. In Dr. Seuss' book, The Cat in the Hat, the cat is famous for releasing Thing 1 and Thing 2 from his own "fun-in-a-box." Grace and Jack painted and decorated their own "fun-in-a-box" and later filled them with their own fun items!

Jack got right into making his "fun-in-a-box!" Way to go, Jack!

Here are Grace and Jack's finished boxes. Jack chose blue and green paint for his fun box and Grace chose purple paint for hers. Grace added lots of glitter to her paint and as a finishing touch added glitter hearts, birthday stickers, and poms.

I asked Grace and Jack if they were the Cat in the Hat, what would they keep in their "fun-in-a-box"? It was so much fun for me watching them fill their boxes with fun items. This project celebrated a wonderfully imaginative children's book and it was a great way to inspire Grace and Jack's imaginations too!

Here are Grace and Jack sharing their "fun-in-a-boxes" together. It was so sweet watching them share their items with each other. We later took the boxes outside, went on a nature walk and gathered natural items to put inside the boxes.
You couldn't possible celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday without eating green eggs! I secretly added some spinach to Grace and Jack's eggs. They were both delighted by their Dr. Seuss breakfast surprise.

After breakfast Grace and Jack made Dr. Seuss shirts. Grace asked to have a Cat in the Hat shirt. Grace used red fabric paint to paint the bow tie and hat on the cat.

Here is Grace's finished shirt!

Jack chose green paint so I made him a Green Eggs and Ham shirt. Jack used the green paint to paint the ham and eggs!

...and I don't think there was any better way to honor Dr. Seuss and Read Across America Day than to sneak in a book (or two...or ten!) throughout the day.

Here is a poem that I read to Grace and Jack yesterday to affirm our strong dedication to reading:

I promise to read
Each day and each night.
I know it’s the key
To growing up right.

I’ll read to myself,
I’ll read to a crowd.
It makes no difference
If silent or loud.

I’ll read at my desk,
At home and at school,
On my bean bag or bed,
By the fire or pool.

Each book that I read
Puts smarts in my head,
‘Cause brains grow more thoughts
The more they are fed.

So I take this oath
To make reading my way
Of feeding my brain
What it needs every day.

Words by Debra Angstead

A BIG FUN Day!

We had the best day celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday and participating in Read Across America day. After our big day of celebrating I'm off to bed a little early tonight so I'll share pictures of our fun day with you tomorrow!

Our March: Celebrating National Reading Month

Since Jack was just a few weeks old I have been amazed with his deep love of books. One of Jack's favorite things to do is to sit and look at books. Jack can sit for a half hour or more looking at a wide variety of books and as a result of his strong love of books he has learned so much. One of my favorite things is when Jack has a book in hand and he comes up to me and walks backward to sit on my lap so we can read together. Jack is such a sweet and smart little boy!!Here is Jack diving head first into one of our many book baskets! Jack's favorite books right now are The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and the transportation book series by Byron Barton -- especially Trains, Planes, and Trucks.Our Gracie girl is truly an amazing reader at just three years of age. Grace is reading hundreds of words and she is now even able to read words that we spell out loud to her. Above is a picture of Grace forming sentences with her Teaching Tiles Reading System. Grace loves to read the words on each of the tiles. Grace independently arranges the words in their correct order to create sentences. Grace then reads the sentences she has created to me. I'm have always and will always be amazed by our Grace. Here is one of the sentences that Grace created and read to me this morning.Grace's favorite books right now are the First Discovery Book series by Gallimard Jeunesse. They are the BEST books and Grace has learned so much from them (I have too!). Grace especially enjoys Light, Flying, Bears, and Musical Instruments.

Snowflakes That Stay On My Nose & Eyelashes

We were inside this morning playing a board game with Grace while Jack was taking his morning nap. In the blink of an eye the snow that was falling outside transformed into the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen. It was one of the most beautiful snowfalls I have ever experienced. We quickly seized the moment, grabbed our hats and a piece of paper and headed outside. We ran outside to catch the large snowflakes on the paper so Grace could see how each one was different. Those big and beautiful snowflakes only lasted several minutes before they began to change over into tinier flakes. It is moments in life such as these, the sweet and simple ones, that are a few of my favorite things.

Indoor Fun

We took Jack and Grace to a fun-filled family facility this afternoon that had indoor playground equipment and a large jungle gym area. Jack and Grace had the best time sliding, climbing, running, bouncing, and riding on rides. We can't wait to go there again on another cold and snowy day!

Rainy Days

playing

splashing in puddles

falling asleep to the pitter patter of raindrops

Outside: It's Raining, It's Pouring...

...but inside: It's snowing!

We were expecting a big snowstorm today but it ended up being too warm to snow ~ it rained all day instead. So, we decided to bring some of winter inside and we created our very own snow party. I brought Grace & Jack's picnic table inside our kitchen and filled it with cotton balls, snowflakes, and animals. This was a fun sensory activity for Grace & Jack and it brought a little bit of winter back to Limerick, Maine (we haven't had any significant snowfall in weeks). The best part was that no hats, mittens, thermals, snowsuits, scarves, heavy socks, and boots were required!! Let it snow!

Hibernation

Since the beginning of winter Grace has been very interested in animals that hibernate. Today, Grace was so excited to make a picture of animals hibernating in their winter homes. Grace cut out a picture of a ladybug, squirrel, skunk, bat, beaver, snake, frog, bear, and a gopher. Grace glued the animals into their winter homes ~ a burrow for the snake, chipmunk, & skunk; a den for the gopher; a hollow tree for the ladybug and squirrel; a cave for the bear; an empty barn for a bat hanging upside down; the bottom of a pond where the water does not freeze for the frog; and a lodge for the beaver. Grace has really loved learning about all of the animals that are considered true hibernators and those that are not considered true hibernators (like bears!). How exciting it is for Grace to know that the hibernating animals will be waking up from their long winter's nap very soon!

Grace was very proud of her picture and she chose to hang it on a wall where Jack would see as soon as he woke up from his morning nap. Here is a picture of Grace describing her picture (quite enthusiastically!) to Jack. What a great teacher Grace is and Jack has learned so much from his big sister!