This morning we walked down to the Farmers Market at the Marble Works by the falls. Grace loved all the colors of the fruits and vegetables. We bought yellow and green string beans and red and yellow tomatoes. We sat under a shady tree by the falls, had a snack and Grace read us a summer story. Grace greeted all the people (as only Grace can!), showed everyone Ella and said "Hi children"!
For dinner we decided to do a Muffin Tin Monday! We put some of Grace's favorite foods in a muffin tin......melted cheese sandwich, hard-boiled egg, bananas, tofu, kidney beans and peas.
We went to the Brown Bag Special today at Festival on the Green. The performers were Jeh Kulu Dance & Drum Theater. Grace fell asleep to the rhythmic beat!
This morning Grace and I made butterflies. Grace used her water colors to paint dots on a coffee filter. We hung them to dry. Then we gathered the wings in a clothespin and added a smile and eyes. Grace then chose a pipe cleaner to make the antennae. As the final step we put sticky magnets on the back of each butterfly. Grace made 10 butterflies. Don't they look beautiful on our refrigerator? The bottom picture shows Grace wanting to give a butterfly away as a thank you gift to one of my neighbors.
Grace and I worked on another butterfly project today. We used fabric markers and a stencil on a white shirt to color butterflies. We had a marvellous time and Grace's concentration shows on her sweet face! Just wait until you see the finished shirt tomorrow as Grace dances to the beat of Africian drummers at Festival on the Green. Love, Maddy
Look at Grace all dressed up in Great Grandma's necklaces and bracelets!
We were all sooooo happy to have Great Grandma and Great Pop-Pop visit this morning. Great Grandma cleaned out her jewlery box before she came and brought Grace all of her beads and bangles. Grace loves to say, "I love you, Great Grandma and Great Pop-Pop. Thank you for the beads." It was a very special visit for all of us. Everyone had a "grace-filled-morning!"
This afternoon we made a butterfly finger puppet. Grace put dots on the butterfly. Grace loves stickers and dots so I knew that she would have fun with this craft. 
This is Grace doing the "butterfly dance" with her finger puppet and of course, with her Ella.
A day with Grace would never be complete without reading some books. Grace is enjoying the book "Caterpillar to Butterfly" by Sally Symes. Grace loves the plush caterpillar that is attached to a string that chomps its way through the pages of this colorful story that ends with a beautiful butterfly. See you tomorrow~Maddy
This morning we went to the Peasants Market on the Green. Grace was so friendly and kept saying, "Hi people" and waving to everyone! We found a new hat and a pretty dress for Grace. We went to the Middlebury Natural Foods Market and had a little lunch. We have more plans for a butterfly activity after nap time. 
Grace and Rebecca are in Middlebury. It is a joy to have them here. We have been preparing for their visit for weeks now (it's Mary Ann--the guest blogger). We are having butterfly week. It is about all things...butterfly. 
Daddy came home early from work today to spend some extra time with us before Grace and I leave for Vermont tomorrow. We had a fun family afternoon together. It was so nice having Daddy home with us. Grace finished several art projects and Daddy took Grace for a bike ride before dinner. I stood on our deck nervously watching Grace and Daddy bike away going very, very fast! I could hear Grace giggling all the way and saying "more fast" down our road while Daddy looked back and said, "Don't worry Mommy!" :)
Grace really enjoys the book Brown, Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? and the companion books by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle. I photocopied all of the animals in Brown Bear, colored them to match the animals in the book, and laminated them to create a fun matching game for Grace. I really love to incorporate books into as many of Grace's activities as I can so I was excited to introduce this to her. Grace easily matched all of the animals to those in her book when given a choice a four. Grace's favorite part was when I spread out all of the animals on her blanket and she was able to sort through the pile to find the correct animal match. We had a great time with this activity!
Grace and I went to her swimming lesson this morning, which was a fun way for us to cool off on another very hot day. After swimming we met Daddy for lunch and then spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Children's Museum. This has become our routine after Grace's weekly swimming lesson. In this picture, Grace is looking out of a large window at the museum. She was determined to locate my car in the busy parking lot. Grace knows all of the numbers and letters in my license plate and she kept calling them out until she finally spotted my car!
Today, I put ice cubes into into a large bowl of water and showed Grace how to scoop the ice cubes using a slotted spoon & drop them into an empty bowl. Grace LOVED this activity and she was very focused. This was a great activity for a hot afternoon and a fun way for Grace to practice scooping as well to develop her hand eye coordination and fine motor skills!
Here, Gracie girl is just about to take another large bite of her homemade mango popsicle. When Grace & I went shopping for popsicles at the grocery store last week and I was very surprised and disappointed to see that all of the popsicles labeled as "all fruit" had added sugar and some even had artificial coloring. Yikes. So, Grace and I decided to make our own popsicles out of fresh fruit. We had a great time making our homemade popsicles last week. It was fun combining different combinations of fruit. Our favorite popsicle combination so far is banana, mango & raspberry. We both enjoyed this yummy treat on this very, very hot day!
Last night I made several ice necklaces for Grace to wear today knowing that it was going to be hot & humid. I froze ice cubes overnight and put a long string through each cube. This morning the ice necklaces were ready to go. I hid a secret surprise in each ice cube for Grace - edible flowers and fruit slices so that Grace could not only wear her necklace but eat them too! Grace really enjoyed wearing her ice necklaces and it is such a fun way to keep cool on a hot summer day. We'll definitely be making & wearing lots more ice necklaces this summer!
We spent today at the Wildlife Animal Park with Daddy to end our wonderful long weekend. Grace was so excited to share her knowledge of all the animals at the park with Daddy. Grace served as a tour guide for us and she named all of the animals including: the bobcats, porcupines, fisher cat, lynx, raccoon, ducks, geese, moose, owls, bald eagle, peacocks, fish, and mountain lions. Grace also enjoyed her new ride today - her bright red wagon. Grace loved pushing the wagon around the park just as much as she enjoyed riding in it!
Isn't Daddy SO silly!?!!!
"Daddy, if you can't keep up I'll just have to pull you in the wagon myself!"
Grace was equally thrilled once we put her bathing suit on and she played in the sand. Grace exhibited exceptional fine motor skills and sequencing by spooning sand into a small container, pouring sand from the small container into a big container, then pouring sand from the big container onto the ground so she could use plates to make sand pies....and she didn't even try to eat the sand pies. The pies must have been delicious because her friend Zoe (a small doll Grace brought to the beach) ate about twelve of her sand pies. 
We can't say enough about how precious Grace is to us. We cherish every second we get to spend with her. When Daddy can catch Grace for a big hug and a quick nose rub, it's his favorite place in the world.
Making sand pies is very serious business. The concentration of a tight rope walker and the precision of a surgeon is required for every move!
