Sprinker!

One day last week Mark had a meeting in Indy so Grace and I were flying solo after school. It was a gorgeous night so we spent about an hour in the front yard running through the sprinkler. We had so much fun!

This is Grace...

I often get the question, "What is Grace up to these days?" Well, the short answer is, "a lot!" She continuously amazes us with how fast she's growing and learning.

Last Tuesday she started in the 2A's classroom. I was a bit nervous because she's still 3 months away from being a two year old but three of her classmates also moved with her so that eased my mind a bit. Well, any worry I had was silly because she is doing fantastic in her new class! Mark and I are really impressed with the new teachers and the fun activities they do. Each day they have lesson time (this week they are learning about the letter B, the number 2, the color white, and rectangles), music/dance, stories, and crafts. Don't get me wrong, they still have a lot of that all important unstructured play time but they have really stepped up the learning in this classroom! We've even had a bit of homework--just a bio sheet to fill out and attach a picture to and bringing in something white, but still, it was homework!

And even before the move to the new classroom, we had definitely noticed that Grace's mind was developing at warp speeds. For the last few weeks she's been singing her ABC's (albeit a little hard to understand all the letters!) and on Saturday we were watching Sesame Street and she counted to ten with them. Mark and I just looked at each other with our jaws on the ground! Each day it seems like she picks up 10 new words and every time we're in the car she is pointing things out to us. Our favorite game is for her to tell me whether I should "Go!" (with the fist pumping action) or "Stop!" (with the hand up) at stop lights.

She also has quite the personality. Mark says she has got this from me but when she thinks something is funny she looks at you and shrugs her shoulders and scrunches up her nose. It's so funny! My favorite though is when I try singing along to her songs in the car and she tells me "No, no, no!" When I ask, "Why?" Her response is "Silly!" I guess I already am embarrassing her with my angelic voice :-)

And her independence doesn't stop there. When we get her to school each morning she refuses to hold our hand or let us carry her in. Normally she wants to walk a step or two ahead of us. It's so funny because she's acting like such a big girl but is sucking her thumb and twirling her hair the whole time! Luckily for us, when we pick her up from school, it's a much different scene with her latching on and wanting to be carried!

Be are so blessed to have this little girl!

Grace wearing daddy's shorts as a dress (yes she is in one leg of them with the waist at the floor!)

Mark's Girls

A fun Saturday

We travel a lot so it's always fun to get a weekend at home. We had such a great Saturday! I had an interview for my dissertation early in the morning and when I got home from it we loaded Grace's wagon into the car and headed to the farmer's market. It was then home for a nap followed by heading to the meet and greet for the new students in the Comm department. Grace was my date and she enjoyed meeting the new students :-)


After dinner Saturday night, we headed back downtown for "Mosey Down Main." They close off about five blocks of Main Street and there is various entertainment, vendors, and food. We had never been and it was a fun way to spend a Saturday night. Grace even got a princess crown!

Forgotten pics!

A few weekends ago, Mark's parents came up for Sunday dinner. Sara got some great pics of Grace playing outside and of Grace and I mixing up batter for strawberry shortcake. It was really nice to have the up for the evening!

Friday night

Most nights I love dinner time in our house. I've tried to start getting Grace involved in helping me cook. Friday night we had tacos. I had a little cream cheese leftover so I decided to make bean dip (my fave--cream cheese, beans, and cheese). Grace helped me spread the cream cheese and beans on the plate. I then showed her how to take the cheese and spread it on top. When I did it, I said "Woooo!" Well, for each of the twenty little handfuls of cheese Grace spread on the dip she said, "Woooo!" Way too cute :-)

Then during dinner Grace saw her ponytail holders and asked me to put it in her hair. Of course she also insisted that I put one in my hair too...

State Fair

Mark and I took off work a bit early on Thursday to take Grace to the State Fair. We picked his mom up and headed to the fairgrounds. We had a great time despite the high temperatures and the lack of animals (I think they took a lot home to get them out of the heat). Grace loved making the animal noises and of course saying goodbye to each of them as we walked away. Normally the big draw for the fair is the food. (Un)fortunately, the heat did not make fried food sound appealing so we minded our diets pretty well :-)

Happy Birthday Porter!

Wednesday was the 2nd birthday of Grace's friend, Porter. We joined Porter and his family and friends at Puccini's for a birthday dinner. Grace and Porter had so much fun together!

Porter sharing his trucks with Grace

Photography by Grace :-)

Grace managed to stick her little finger in Porter's cake before the candles were even lit!

He was so cute with his cake!

The Linvills

Pre-hug contemplation

Hugs!