Ponies and Canoes

It was a beautiful weekend here and we took full advantage of it by trying to be outside most of the time.  On Saturday we attended a birthday party for Jen's coworker's daughter.  They had great food, a fun playset and Grace's favorite.....Ponies!!!!

On Sunday we trekked down to Newton to a canoe rental place to give Grace her first taste of the Charles River.  She actually seemed to like it.

No Like the Mice

One of the restaurants in the area has a character brunch for kids a couple weeks a month.  This Sunday was Mickey and Minnie Mouse so we got up early and met up with the Shahs for a liitle fun.  Unfortunately Grace wasn't into the mice this time around which is very out of character for her.  The one pic we got below.

Fortunately this weekend was beautiful.  We spent the day Saturday on the Minuteman Bike Trail and most of Sunday outside around the neighborhood.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all of the mothers and mothers-to-be out there.

We had a nice mother's day.  Grace and I started out with a run to the local coffee shop to get donuts and coffee for breakfast in bed for Mommy.  We headed to Portsmouth, NH for lunch and some shopping.

We gave our mothers framed copies of the below portrait.   This was taken at costume day at school.  They brought in a bunch of costumes for the kids to choose from and, of course, Grace chose the fairy costume.  Just love the devilish little smile in the pic.

Bittersweet

I made kind of a big change this week.....after almost 14 years I am leaving my postition at the company I work for to take a new job.   I will still be working in the IT field (actually I will be doing the exact same job I have been for the past few years).  But I will be knocking about 2 hours off my daily commute.  No more driving into Boston every day and I will have more time to spend with my girls. 

We had some really hot weather this weekend and got to spend part of it celebrating Uno de Mayo with the Shahs.  It was our first cookout of the year and Grace got to take a couple swings at her first Pinata.  Some pics below.

Vacation Week

Jen was on vacation this past week, overall it was a pretty low-key.  Jen and Grace had a couple play dates and the weather was pretty nice so they got to enjoy the outdoors.  Unfortunately our old digital camera decided to stop working so she wasn't able to take  as many pictures as she would have liked.  We were able to get out this weekand and pick up a new camera so just a couple pics below.

First bike ride of the season

This strawberry is bigger than my head

Wheeeeee!!!!!

Swingset!!!!

Grace's Swingset was finally installed today and she couldn't have been more excited.  We waited until I got home from work to bring Grace out to play on it.  Keeping it hidden was no small feat for Mommy given that it is huge.  Some pics of Grace enjoying her swingset below.

Hand me downs

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Princess-Easter-Anniversary

Busy Busy weekend over here.  We started out on Saturday with a trip down to Worcester to see the Disney Princesses on Ice show.  We didn't tell Grace where we were going, just that it was a surprise.  And boy was she surprised.  She absolutely loved the show.

Today of course was Easter and we have been talking a bit lately with Grace about the Easter Bunny coming to leave her candy.  She really got the whole Easter thing this year and was in our room at 7:30 (at least she slept in an extra hour) getting us out of bed to go downstairs to hunt for Easter eggs.   We spent the rest of the day with family and enjoying the beautiful day that we had today.

Lastly, it was two years ago today that we got the best news of our lives.  It was referral day, the day we first saw the beautiful little face below.  It was only a picture but it kept us going for the next month and a half while we waited to travel and meet our sweet Grace.

Those days of waiting are a distant memory now that we have this beautiful, smart, funny little princess in our lives.  Happy Easter!!!!  Hope everyone had as great a day as we did.

More Easter Fun

Lots of Easter fun today.....We picked up an egg coloring kit at the supermarket this afternoon and helped Grace color some Easter eggs.  Some pics of the fun below....

Thank You Easter Bunny

We took Grace to the mall on Saturday for a visit with the Easter Bunny.  Last year she wouldn't get anywhere near him unless mommy was with her so we weren't sure how it was gonna go.  This year she toughed it out and even attempted a forced smile.  She called it a day when the photographer asked the Easter Bunny to give her a hug though. 

Spring Wonderful Spring

Mother nature cooperated and gave us a beautiful first day of Spring on Saturday.  We were able to head out for a walk around the neighborhood without winter coats for the first time in a while.  Sunday was a little cooler but we still were able to get outside for a little bit of swingset shopping.  Grace picked out a cute little model equipped with a slide and playhouse.  It should be delivered and installed within a couple weeks so I will post some pics then.  Couple pics from our week below.

State of Grace

I havent posted on the latest milestones that Grace has reached recently so I figured tonight I would post a little update....

• Grace will be turning 2-1/2 later this month.  We can't believe how fast she is growing.  She amazes us daily with how smart she is and always has us laughing with the things she comes up with.
• It has been a rough winter for Grace health-wise.  She has had an ear infection, a sinus infection, pnemonia, a stomach virus and at least a half dozen colds.  She was barely sick last winter....must be daycare.
• To go along with the above sicknesses Grace has been prescribed three rounds of antibiotics, the third we are currently in the midst of.
• We converted Grace's crib to a big-girl-bed a couple months ago.  Grace is doing great with it although we often get a little visitor staring at us in the middle of the night.
• Grace has been going pee and poop on the potty for months now, although not consistently.  We think she is ready to go diaper free but we will probably wait until Jen's April vacation to officially start.
• Grace is now at the age where she is testing boundaries.  We have started issuing time-outs to stem the unwanted behavior.  This seems to stop the bad behavior when it is happening but doesn't keep it from happening the following day.
• Grace was given a developmental assessment at daycare a few months ago and she scored above average in all areas.  We had a meeting with her teacher to review the assesment aand she was very impressed with Grace.  The only area she said Grace needs to work on is cleaning up after play.  Grace tends to dissapear at clean-up time.  We have the same problem at home.  Probably pretty typical two year old behavior though.
• Grace's communication continues to improve by leaps and bounds.  She can recite her ABCs and can count to 20.  She speaks in full sentences now and it is pretty rare that she says something that we don't understand.
• She has her daily schedule down better than mommy and daddy.  She knows which days of the week she goes to Me Me's, Gram's, and daycare.  And she has been known to correct us if we get the day wrong.
• She can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Barney Song and The Wheels on the Bus and certain parts of many others. 
• She can get a drink of water from the sink by herself.  I actually found this out as I was writing this and she snuck upstairs.  All was quiet (never a good thing) and I found her upstairs (without pants on) on her stool pulled up to the sink.  When she saw me coming up the stairs she said "My getting a drink of wa wa".

Monkey Feet

I know I have been a little lazy with just posting videos lately but this stuff is too funny not to post.  If this kid is anything she is a creative dresser.

My, What Big Hands You Have!!

Just a video post tonight of Grace trying on Daddy's ski gloves

Vacation Week

Jen was on vacation this week so Grace had lots of mommy time.  We still sent her to daycare on Tuesday and Thursday since we pay for it anyway but Grace really enjoyed her extra time with mommy.  Overall it was a pretty quiet week.  We got some snow on Tuesday and Grace had a playdate with the Shah girls on Friday.  On Friday night Jen and I had a date night, kind of a belated Valentine's Day Italian dinner.  Thanks to MeMe for babysitting.  Some pics from the week below....

Attend Juilliard she will not

We were out for dinner the other night and Grace was singing at the top of her lungs without a care in the world.  Must be great to be two and fearless.   Not sure how much the other diners appreciated it but we thought it was pretty funny.  We captured her encore performance the other morning for your enjoyment.

Gung hay fat choy (Happy New Year)

I know I am a week early but we attended our adoption agency's Chinese New Year party this weekend.  It was a good time as usual and we were able to meet up with a couple of families from our travel group.  It's always nice to see how big the girls are getting.  We almost thought we weren't going to make it this week as I picked up a nasty stomach virus and then Jen started feeling sick on Friday as well.  Luckily Jen didn't get the same virus as I had.   A couple pics below of Grace enjoying the party,