Tuesday Afternoon

Here is the last post from Maddy and Poppy. Tomorrow afternoon Rebecca (Mama) will be back with Grace. We are sure that she will post tomorrow evening. Grace has asked for Mama and Dada many times. We have told her that they took a big airplane that went up very high to the beach. We told her that they found shells for her. We have been counting down the days until the big airplane brings Mama home.

Grace has handled this all so well. She is such a sweet, happy, smart and precious little girl. We have loved our time with Grace and have memories that will be with us forever.

This afternoon we went to the hardware store to get stain for our deck. Grace loved the hardware store. A very nice man gave her paint chip cards when he heard her say all the colors. She relaxed in a lawn chair while Poppy shopped. We came home and Grace lined up all of her favorite books on our couch and enjoyed reading to Willie. Really and truly, Bob and Rebecca.....this DID happen just as you see it......Grace lined up the books all by herself and cozied up to Willie! Then we drove to the Arts Center at Middlebury College. Grace loves the arts. We walked through the Art Museum and saw paintings and sculptures. We saw a long dragon kite and found our "BEST" photograph with our best girl! Grace said all the letters in the BEST picture and a professor from the College stopped and commented about how Grace was well on her way! We went in and out of a huge twig house exhibit. Grace laughed and laughed when we played hide and seek with her in the houses.

Thank You, Our Amazing Grace for teaching us so many new things during the past three days.

We Love You,

Maddy & Poppy

Tuesday Morning

Tuesday morning on day#3.

Weather: sunny, breezy and a bit cool, 65 degrees at 1:00PM.

Grace: napping

Poppy: reading the newspaper on the couch (he is sooo happy this week!)

Maddy: blogging, cleaning up, and smiling from ear to ear!

This morning Grace and Maddy went to the playgroup for toddlers in town. There were over 30 children there ranging from newborns to Pre-K. Grace joined right in and had so much fun making new friends. She connected right away with the little girl in the picture named Rose. I think that she liked her because of her cousin Rose! They enjoyed the rice table together. Grace painted, colored, went through the fabric tunnel, went down the slide, played with the big trucks, and the dolls. When it was time to clean-up all the children did their share. Grace carried a big wagon over and put it away. Then we had crackers and juice. After we all sat in a big circle and sang The Farmer in the Dell, Head and Shoulders, The Wheels on the Bus, Ring-around -the-Rosie and the Goodbye Playgroup Song.

Poppy met us at the end of Playgroup and walked Grace home in her stroller. We played outdoors before lunch. What a great "kicker" Grace is! Don't you just love our sidewalk art!?!

Amazing,Sweet,Precious,Irresistible and Enchanted

Monday evening and Grace is asleep. We had another incredible day. We thought that we would leave a magical picture of Grace to end our day. We hope that you enjoy it.

~Mary Ann/Mom/Maddy

~Walter/Dad/Poppy

Beautiful Mama and Rebecca

Bob emailed us these two beautiful pictures of Rebecca at Marco Island in Florida.

She has no idea that we are posting them but, we just couldn't help ourselves we think that she is so lovely.

What We Did On A Rainy Monday Afternoon

Monday afternoon

Weather - rainy:

This is how we spent our rainy Monday afternoon. Poppy just came home and I thought that I would post these pictures very quickly before we take Grace for a ride to Middlebury College.

We drew with chalk, sat in a box, petted Willie again, played dress-up, and even went out in a "little" rain to watch the men cut the lawn with the "cut, cut" machines.

PS. Notice the important information that Rebecca left for us on our chalkboard wall.

Best Friends!!

Doing Projects

Monday morning with Maddy in the kitchen:

After breakfast Grace and I did a few projects. Grace made a very special present to Give to Mama at the airport when Mama comes back on Wednesday afternoon.

Sshhhh, don't tell Dada but Grace made a Father's Day gift, too. I promised that I would mail it to Dada for her!

Playground Fun

The afternoon at Maddy and Poppy's!

After the warm and beautiful morning we had the afternoon turned out quite different.
A strong wind from the north came rushing into Middlebury and blew Grace's hat off! We had fun on the swings and at the playground. We even took a walk to see some big yellow trucks. Grace loved it! She met some new children at the playground and ran in the soccer field. We had a remarkable day. We are all off now to have sweet dreams. We'll show you more pictures tomorrow.

Bob and Rebecca,
We hope that you are enjoying hot and humid Florida! Have a marvellous time.

There Is Nothing Like a Sunday Morning in May With Grace

Sunday morning at Maddy and Poppy's.

Grace went for a wonderful walk around downtown Middlebury with Poppy. Before lunch we played outdoors while enjoying the nice flowers in our yard. All of our neighbors came over to meet Grace. Grace gave everyone a rock! She is such a generous little girl and has the best time sharing. It just melted our hearts! We think that Grace might become a geologist though, because she loves rocks so much. She knows all about small, medium and large rocks.

PS...Notice Ella up in the tree!

Grace Leger Hard At Work

Just to let you know, it's not all fun and games when dealing with Poppy. I had to get some tax work done and I needed some help. So Grace and I went over the paperwork. Grace knew what to do and went right to work on the calculations. She did an excellent job. I couldn't have done it without Grace's help.

(Actually, it's all fun and games when Grace is here. Grace and I enjoyed a good book together. Grace also had fun playing with Rebecca's old calculator and watching the paper tape come out. When Rebecca was a toddler, she wanted her own calculator because she wanted to be a "working mans".)

Maddy & Poppy Doing This Post!!

Hello to all of the viewers and readers of Grace's blog.

This is Maddy and Poppy posting from our home in Middlebury, Vermont. Bob and Rebecca are at Marco Island off the western coast of Florida. They are at a Board Retreat for Bob's work. Bob is in senior management at the Town and Country Credit Union in Portland, Maine. Each year the executives and board members go away on a week long retreat to an exotic place. Rebecca did not go last May because Grace was still a baby. So, this year they both went and left Grace with us. We are having the best time ever with our sweet little Grace. She is pure love and joy. We are enjoying ourselves so much we can hardly stand it! We'll be posting more pictures as soon as we can. You cannot believe all the fun things we have done!

Bob and Rebecca,

We love Grace more than ever. She is the best child in the whole world. We are sure that you are missing her very much but have a wonderful time with each other. All is perfect!

Too bad, that Rebecca is not staying the whole week----she is coming home on Wednesday.

Life As An Artist....

...is always very colorful and full of lots of clean up!

Every morning after breakfast (and right before bath time!) Grace has art time. I think it's very important to let Grace express her creativity through art and also to let her experience a variety of different textures and colors. Grace clearly enjoyed painting this morning....and now it's time for her bath!

A Big Sister!

We are extremely excited to announce that Grace is going to be a BIG SISTER!

We are having another baby!

Due date: December 21, 2008

A Very Happy Mother's Day

We spent our day together at Maine's Wildlife Park. We saw fisher cats, raccoons, black bears, peacocks, mountain lions, porcupines, bobcats, a skunk, a cougar, deer, ducks, geese, ravens, hawks, owls, and a bald eagle.

Being with my beautiful daughter and wonderful husband made this a very, very, very happy Mother's Day for me!

Grace One Year Ago Today!

I was looking through some older photos of Grace today. This picture of Grace was taken exactly one year ago. Grace was just five months old and she had just learned to sit up on her own a few days before this picture was taken. It's unbelievable to see how much Grace has changed in just one year. The one thing that has remained the same is Grace's very happy and sparkly personality!

We wish Maddy & Memere a very happy Mother's Day tomorrow. Thank you for all that you do! We love you.

Ferry Beach

It is so nice to be able to post lots of beach pictures, especially after the very snowy winter we just had. I am thrilled to say that the last of our snow is finally gone! I thought it would take until June to melt. Grace and I enjoyed a warm and very, very windy afternoon at the beach today. Because of all that wind, Grace's hat kept blowing away. Grace thought this was very funny and she let out huge giggles each time it happened, which was a lot! Hearing her giggles made my day!

Grace is Back!

Sadly, our Gracie girl has been sick for the past several days with ear infections but she is back today feeling great! Grace and I have spent most of our day outside enjoying our hammock and marveling at the beautiful shades of green that have appeared in our neighborhood over the past few days. We have small green leaves on all of our trees and even some beautiful green grass in our yard!

Grace's look of pure joy is priceless!

Seventeen Months Old!

Grace continues to amaze us by how quickly she learns and how much she knows. Here is a brief update about our Amazing Grace:

• Grace has started to combine two words together. Some examples include: big dog, Daddy work, little rock, hair tie, I love, go bus, and more please. Grace's single word expressive vocabulary (spoken words and signs) is very large. Grace talks all the time and we love hearing all that she has to say!
• Grace can count to 13 by herself and to 20 with some help
• Grace identifies and names colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black)
• Grace knows all 26 letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. She is able to recite the entire alphabet when we point to the letters.
• Grace can spell her name
• Grace can identify the printed words mama & Grace
• Grace imitates the drawing of vertical & horizontal lines and circles
• Grace identifies the basic shapes and more complex ones including: rhombus, pentagon, octagon, & trapezoid
• Grace understands the size concepts little, medium, and big. She uses these words to describe objects, mostly rocks and balls.
• Grace names the functions of common objects. Her favorites are telling us that scissors "cut, cut" and that spoons "scoop"
• Grace remembers past events and tells us about them using a series of words, signs, and gestures
• Grace follows two-step directions
• Grace is very charming and she has a great sense of humor. She keeps us smiling and laughing all the time.
• Grace's favorite things: buckling buckles, going for walks to the lake, the beach, our cat Petey, apples, eggs, books, markers, painting, stickers, her swimming instructor, music class, her Learning Tower, The Children's Museum, the produce section at the grocery store, potty time, swinging, shoes, phones, dressing, dancing, twirling, walking backwards, lotions, and any fine motor task. Grace's very favorite thing in the entire world is ELLA (seen below).