Swingin' The Day Away

Yesterday the weather was fairly nice so we decided to spend part of the day outside.  And as always, Grace went straight for the swing.

Matt was able to acquire the swing on the left from a house in the neighborhood (they were setting it out for the trash, and after asking permission to take it we had a second swing!) and it is the perfect size for Grace.  And Glen loves his baby swing.

Grace dressed herself on this day...stripes, polka dots, jeans pushed up to the knees, and to top it all off snow boots in high 60/low 70 degree weather!  At least she was dressed and happy.

Slowly we are turning our backyard into a great playground for the kids.

A Tradition In The Making (I Hope)

When I was growing up we could almost always count on two things to eat during the week.  Sunday mornings we had donuts (from the store) and Saturday nights we would have homemade pizza.  I remember raving about my mom's homemade pizza and was quite surprised when people talked about how good the chain (delivery) pizzas were because my mom made such better than that!

Now that Grace is getting a bit older I wanted to try to start a tradition like that with her.  So we shall see how this goes.  I decided that it might be nice to have Thursday pizza night (since our weekends are so unpredictable).

On Thursday I started around 2:00, soon after Grace finished lunch, and we made the dough for the pizza.  Grace helped me measure things out and dump things in, and stir it all around.  Later she helped me kneed the dough, I pulled off a little ball for her to punch down and kneed.  Then I raided her play kitchen for some plastic knives and a rolling pin.  I let her roll out her little ball while I rolled out the large portion for our pizza.  I gave her a few slices of ham to "cut" with her non-serrated play knife while I chopped up the rest.  She helped me sprinkle on the mushrooms and the cheese, then happily when back to playing with her "play-dough").

I had the pizza assembled and ready and Grace happily played with her dough for about a half an hour longer.

The pizza turned out really well and it was a great one-on-one time with Grace and I.  Each time she does this with me she might be able to help a bit more.

Yeah, I think that this could be a good tradition (if I keep it up.)

Mainly Pictures

On Sunday morning I was greeted to this sight.  A very happy Glen who was giving me the biggest smiles.  I tried to capture a few of them, but I only was able to get a partial smile out of him with the camera ready.  Still it is very cute.

 

 He discovered himself in the mirror!

 This weekend Matt and I also were brave enough to go out to eat (which we have not done for a LONG time).  But, we were smart and went to a child friendly place like Red Robin!

 As we waited for the waiter and our food, Grace took it upon herself to play with all of the sugar packets.  She would pull them out and hand them to Matt who would hand them back to her.  This happened a couple of times till Matt got an idea.  He took one of each color (blue, white, pink, yellow) and made a pile for each color.  And each one that Grace picked up, she was to put in the correct pile.  She ended up sorting the colors perfectly most of the time.  There was a time when Matt did not make the piles first and he just started handing her the sugar packets and she made the piles for herself, and sorted them herself.  I am so proud of her.

 Glen was there too...though he was sleeping the whole time.

 Nothing is better than sleeping on a bed of clover!

This is just our daily life.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Busy

Life has been a bit crazy around here lately.

Lots of travel and lots of activities.  Then add on the colds that all four of us have had in turn this past week, we have been busy.

I would like to write about two of our activities.  One day Carol, Amy, Grace, Glen and I went to visit my dad's oldest sister (Gladys) and her husband (Floyd).   

We had a very nice visit with them.  We got caught up with the news of their family.  They got to meet Glen for the first time.

Looking at this picture and seeing Grace who looks a bit like me when I was little (much darker hair though), I am reminded of when I went to visit Grandma and/or Aunt Gladys when I was younger.  I remember that same vase that is on the table, they had similar toys, and my goodness Aunt Gladys looks so much like Grandma (at least from my memories).  I am glad that Grace and Glen can have this similar experience.  It is neat to see it through their eyes.

Even at 87 years old, Uncle Floyd was able to keep up with and play ball with Grace.  That was so much fun to see.

Yesterday Grace and I went to a local park for a play date with my friend Jennifer and her two year old Jessica.

Grace loves this park.  And I think that she tried out every element that they had.  But she always seemed to go back to the horse (above).

But she did love driving the car.

And flying the helicopter with Jessica.

But the sandbox was a favorite for both girls.  I was so happy for once to have such a messy car because I was able to find buckets and bowls for the girls to dig with and fill up.

It was a long and fun day at the park.  She was ready for a long, wonderful nap.