Teeth

Jack finally cut his first four teeth around his first birthday. Now they have grown in enough to where you can actually see them. So after many tries here you go....

A picture of the two top pearly whites...

And a picture of the bottom two little tooth buds...


Yay for teeth!

Growing Jack

Jack has absolutely grown up right before my eyes in the past couple of weeks. He is walking everywhere now and is talking up a storm. He and Grace are playing more and more every day. It is great! I am so thankful that we are now into year number 2. Kids are just so much more fun as they are able to communicate and play more!

So my favorite things Jack says lately are...

Cheese! This actually sounds more like "eeees". Grace has a play camera and she likes to take our pictures all the time. She tells us to "say cheese" and jack is so funny. He lifts his arms above his head and screams "eeees!"

He also says "yee haw". This really sounds more like "eee aaaw". He says it when he is really excited about something. So, for instance, I'll say "let's go swing!" and jack will say "eee aaaww!"

He also still really loves to do patty cake. He is working on clapping, can roll 'em up, roll 'em up, and then throws his arms up in the air when we say "put 'em in the oven foe jack and me".

And his favorite song is old macdonald. I'll sing "old macdonald had a farm" and jack sings "e-i-e-i" and I say "oooo".

He is such a sweet little fella and I am loving this new stage! I know he is gonna grow up on ms so I am trying to soak it all up now before it's gone and we are on to bigger and better things. :-)

Little Lessons "A"

I thought that since Grace has been loving her lesson time each morning so much we would try to formalize it a bit more. We have already worked through the alphabet doing one letter per day, so I thought I would try taking a letter a week and really work on remembering the sound it makes and look at how it blends with other letters. It's also the perfect time to do some crafts and little science experiments etc... Just some fun time each morning after our prayer and bible story. I don't want to make it too hard or serious, but I really think since she is eager to learn and seems to absorb things so quickly I will take advantage of this time. So here is what we have been up to this week. The letter A!

She usually colors a little worksheet or practices writing the letter on a plain sheet first thing while I get our craft stuff together.

Monday we made an apple. She got to cut and glue which was a huge hit.

Tuesday we made an apple tree. We used an apple to make prints and then ate the other half for our snack!



Wednesday we drew an ant picnic. We made little ants out of her thumbprints.


I asked her to think of things you would eat at a picnic and then draw them on the blanket. She of course thought of the pig picnic on the busy busy town game and drew some of the things that the pigs eat.


Today we are heading to Arkansas!!! This is definitely my favorite "A" activity!

Next week is E. We will see what I can come up with. Hopefully I will post a little each week so you can see what we've done and so I'll have a record!

Swinging, Swinging

See that blur in the middle swing there?!?

It's official! Grace can not only pump herself, but she can totally get herself started swinging as well! What a big accomplishment in a little girls life. :-)






Brother can't pump himself quite yet, but swinging is one of his favorite activities!






The only problem is that he sometimes falls asleep!

It's A Mommy Daughter Date Kind of Day

This morning Grace and I had a much needed mommy daughter date! It was quite possibly the absolute best mommy daughter date yet! It started with me getting doughnuts for breakfast. Then Grace and I went to see the Peter Pan Players production of 101 Dalmations the Musical. We seriously had SO MUCH FUN!!!

Here is Grace. Dressed in a new fall outfit. Ready to go see the show!

She did a great job of sitting still and watching. The show was only about 40 minutes, so it was the perfect length for kids. Afterward we got to meet the cast and get the kids autographs. Grace was star struck! She wanted to meet everyone except for Cruella Deville. She did not want to have anything to do with that mean lady! I'm not quite sure she ever really understood that Cruella was just a character and not a real person.

Here she is with one of the puppies. I have no clue what that face is about. I said smile... She did that. Hmmm....


Then we went to Another Broken Egg Cafe where my girl got a really special treat with her pancakes and bacon... Orange juice! My girl can drink up the OJ, now.


When we got our food I asked her if she wanted to say the blessing. She didn't even say yes. She closed her eyes, raised her head up and said (in a not so prayerfully quiet voice), "Dear God, We thank you that we had a mommy daughter date. We thank you that I got to see a musical, and we thank you that I didn't have to go home to eat lunch but that I got to go out to eat at a restaurant and get a pancake. In Jesus name, Amen". Now that's a sincere prayer!

Then we stopped my Maxwells market on the way home to get some crab and Brie dip and boudain for grilling tonight. Grace hopped the whole time we were in the store.

Well, all in all it was an absolutely wonderful morning. I did ask Grace on her way home if she liked the movie (our last date was to see Winnie the Pooh -her first movie) or the musical better. She said she liked the movie better because she got to have popcorn, a real Coca-Cola and en-'em-en-'em-ens (m and m's). But she said she would definitely like to go to a musical again. Hopefully we will make that happen sooner rather then later, Grace. You are a great date!