Apple Picking

I feel like we might be trying to stuff all of our favorite fall activies into one long weekend while I'm trying to fight off a cold. Saturday was a beautiful day to go pick apples, and I think we finally found a place we really like: Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow.

A Little Catch-Up

We had a great but busy summmer. I can hardly believe it's almost the end of September; some big changes have started and others are coming!

In August Grace had her 3 year old checkup. She grew almost 4 inches this year and is 39 inches tall. I think she was at 36 lbs.

In August, we also had a great week in NH. For all the crappy weather we had earlier in the summer, I was so glad to have a beautiful week in NH. We took Grace up the ski lift on Mt. Sunapee and I think if she had her choice we would have done that every day. (She certainly tried to get us to do it every day.)



She loved the water!



And showed how big a cheese she really is by climbing to the top of the rock wall at the park.



The rest of the pictures I uploaded are here:

NH 09

At the beginning of this month Grace started in a new preschool class. It's a much larger class with twice the number of kids. It feels a lot more like a school room than a day care room. She also started dance lessons, doing a little ballet, tap and tumbling. She's still being a little shy, but is happy to show you the things she learned at home. Now she just needs to start doing them in class. :-)

The other big thing we celebrated this month was Spencer's first birthday. How cute is he? Grandma thinks its time for a hair cut, but I think he's perfect just the way he is.

A Fish Named Grace

I don't think you can deny that this has been a bust of a summer for swimming in my pool. The first time I went in it was two weeks ago. I was really looking forward to having Grace in the pool this summer, it seemed like she'd be finally old enough to really start enjoying it so when we finally got in and she was afraid I was pretty bummed. Something changed today, I think it was watching her friend Ian float around in a tube that made Grace decide it was time to let go and swim and swim she did. And Mommy and Daddy were proud. So proud that we made a video.

The Big Cheese Turns 3

Here's some pictures from Grace's Birthday parties here in Worcester and at Ned & Amy's house in Branford. Both parties were lots of fun! I sure would like to thank Amy for all her help with Grace's Abby Cadabby cake! I couldn't have done it without her help!

Cape Cod

Grace and I had a great week in Cape Cod with my Mom, Amy and her boys. The beach couldn't have been more perfect for Grace who loved playing in the surf and digging in the sand. I bought Grace her own little boogie board so she could be like the "big kids" which is really sort of road.

I don't recommend sharing a bed with Grace. She is very wiggly and stuck to me like glue. I was glad when Neil arrived to kick her out of my bed.

I loved watching Spencer play in the sand. He loved crawling all over the beach in attempt to play with the big kids. He would have crawled right into the ocean if we let him.

I know Grace will miss her Gray-Gray, she asked on the drive home if he could come live at our house. When they play together they are truely 2 peas in a pod.

Nolan is a good big cousin. When he's not egg Grace and Gray on he plays really nice with them.

I really enjoyed the Cape. This was my first time there and I sure hope to go back in summers to come.

Ultrasound

I went for another ultrasound yesterday. I had one about 3 weeks ago, but the baby was in a funny position and they didn't get good pictures of the heart so I had to go back. What a difference a few weeks makes in the pictures you get. The baby was in a much better possition this time and we got some good pictures. It was neat to watch! We even watched the baby yawn a bunch of times.

Feet.


What a beautiful profile!


Yawning


I'll let you figure this one out yourself.

Spencer is Cute!

I love how babies smile. They smile with their whole body and Spencer is no exception!



I guess Gray and Grace are pretty cute too!

A Few Memorial Day Week Pictures

Memorial Day Weekend was long, busy weekend. We sure did apprecate Matt and Andy's help will the deck as well as Nancy's help with my garden. We couldn't have gotten nearly as much done last weekend without them!!

The title of this picture is "Mommy make it warmer!" Grace kept asking us to make the water warmer. She didn't really get that when you're outside the water only comes in one temperature.





I don't think that Matt, Andy and Neil could have built the deck without their supervisor. This is one of those pictures that we'll show to the boyfriends. If the picture isn't embarrassing in itself I will let you know that after she was done she yelled to the boys that she had pooped and that it had corn in it.



Interestingly, she did something similar at my parents house the weekend before where she put the potty at there garage door so she could watch Gray play outside. I think we're pretty close to calling Grace potty trained, I guess now we need to teach her a little modesty.

Happy Birthday Allison!

Jen's daughter Allison turned 1 this month! Here are a few pictures from her party at the playground.

Displaying that there is no climber she won't conquer, Grace went right up this one.



If there was a picture to follow this one it would be Grace flying off the end of the slide and doing a face plant into the ground. I guess it's a fast slide. We were more careful with later trips down.



Here's the birthday girl loving the swings.



Grace and Ian had fun on the swings too. At first Grace didn't reconize Ian with his new haircut.



More of the birthday girl! Soooo cute!



Allison is very good at picking the rocks out of the sand and handing them to you, maybe I should see if she could come help me pick rocks out of my garden. :-)



Ian the cookie face was trying to hide from my camera, but I got him.

Mom's Day at the Zoo

Last year we spent Mother's day at the Southwick's Zoo and we decided to contiue the tradition this year. I didn't take a whole lot of great pictures because it was very windy. We had a fun day, Neil and I enjoyed the animals and Grace loved the playground and rides. I think she could have cared less about the animals. We made the mistake of telling her there was a playground and she keep asking if this was the way to the playground. Then we made the mistake of telling her she could ride the rides after lunch. Coincidentally, she started asking for lunch at 10:30. It took me a while to figure out that she wasn't hungry.

Grace didn't like feeding the goats this year, but this little goat was pretty cute.









Not so interested in feeding the deer either. I like feeding the deer, they are a little less grabby than the goats.



Finally the playground. I really realized at the playground what a difference winter makes. There wasn't anything Grace couldn't do or wouldn't try. My toddler is becoming a little kid .



After lunch, finally the rides. See the little girl with Grace in the red car. I don't know what they talked about during the ride, but it seems they made a plan to ride all of the rides together. Grace called her, "my girl". Grace would get off a ride and ask, "Where's my girl??". It was cute.