Greenway

About a month ago a friend of mine was on summer break from college.  She wanted to go on a walk with Grace and I, so she introduced us to the Greenway of Roanoke.  I have been wanting to try out this area since I have hear many good things about it.  However the website is unclear about where to park, where some of the trail heads are, etc.  So I felt it was kind of the thing where someone introduces you to it, and life is great.

Well we had a wonderful walk, and the Greenway was wonderful!  Two weeks later the MOMs group that I belong to was planning a stroller walk on the Greenway.

We were flooded out of the direction that I went last time, so we went the other way and explored that side of the Greenway.  Now let me explain, the Greenway system is one that (when finished) will start in Vinton, go through Roanoke, and end in Salem.  It will be walking paths that go by rivers, parks, neighborhoods, etc.  Usually when walking in this area I pass at least 3-4 wonderful playgrounds that Grace just begs to play on.
While walking with the MOMs group we did stop and have our kids play on the playground for awhile before heading back.

This past Thursday my friend Jennifer and I wanted to get our kids together for a play date.  I suggested the Greenway.  Jennifer had never been on it, and like me, was waiting for someone to introduce it to her.  So we walked a short while and then had the kids play on the playground.  We ate a snacky lunch then headed back.  It was such a wonderful trip.  I plan to go back, even just by myself.

The one main thing that Grace has learned from all of this is what playgrounds are for.  She never noticed them before but now we can not pass one (even while driving) without her pointing to it and making noises.  She wants to stop and play!

Not Much To Say

Grace is cutting 4 teeth at this moment.

I am feeling the yucky part of early pregnancy.

Matt and I are building garage shelving (well, I am helping as much as I can...which usually involves keeping Grace out of the way)

Life is good, but not much to say.

Trying to get the blog header

I must say that doing a photo shoot with a one year old is not easy.  Especially when you are trying to have that one year old hold up a piece of paper.

My blog header might be the best picture of the bunch, but here are a few cute ones that I thought I would add also.

 

She has no idea what is coming!

Who Would Have Thought?

Grace has many dolls. 

Grace has many stuffed animals.  

Grace has many toys.  

There is no question that she has a lack of any of the above.

Since she was born I tried to get her to love a "lovey" that I bought from Target.  It is soft, silky, has a teddy bear head on it, etc.  Well as much as I have tried, that is not the object that she has seemed to cling to.

What has she chosen you might ask?

Well, it is over 30 years old...

And it is very well loved by her mother...

It is Butterscotch Bear from my childhood.

 

I must say, he did hold up very well from all of the loving that I gave him as a child.

But who would have thought that she would by-pass new items to cuddle with an old toy?

At night and also nap I usually find her with one arm curled around this bear.  And when she wakes up she is usually holding him when I get her out of the crib.  Once Grace went into the master bedroom and found Matt sleeping so she (somewhat kindly) laid Butterscotch on top of Matt.  I guess he needed a toy to sleep with too.

I guess she does have a lovey, just not the kind I was expecting :)

Easter Party

Today Matt, Grace and I went to an Easter party at our church.  I was unsure of how this was going to go.  Grace had been to an Easter egg hunt two days prior so I was sure that she would be fine with that part, but I knew that there were other activities offered.  It turned out that the party went wonderfully!

 We started with some coloring as all of the kids started to arrive.  Grace has been really enjoying scribbling, coloring, and actually eating (when I am not looking...which has happened twice) crayons and colored pencils.  So this was a very fun activity.  However, taking the crayons away to move on to the next activity was not so fun.

 Our next activity was an Easter egg hunt.  We were able to get 22 eggs per child (that is a lot of chocolate).  Fortunately Grace still does not know that there was candy in the eggs.  She just simply thought that they were fun rattles.  

 Grace was wonderful at picking up the eggs and putting them in the basket.  However, she decided that she was done after 16.  So I picked up the remaining 6.  The eggs were very obvious and just tossed in and open field.  Wonderful for the age group.

 Next activity was a snack craft.  They told the story of the empty tomb and we "built" the story out of food.  A half of a doughnut for the tomb, a doughnut hole for the boulder, teddy grahams for the women who visited, a cookie with pretzels for wings as an angel.  It was a great activity. 

 In pure Grace fashion, she did not wait to build the whole scene...
She did not wait for the story...

 She began to eat each part of the craft as it was placed in front of her on the plate

 And it was good!
We then had story time where we listened to two stories.  Or at least tried to, before she decided that it would be more fun to run up and down the hallway.

 Which is a good thing that the next item for us was game time.  Which involved balls that have handles on them so that you can hold the handle and sit on them and bounce, but these balls had bunny slipcovers on them.  Grace decided that she needed to pet and hug these bunnies.

 She also needed to kiss them.

 We also played bunny bowling.  She did pretty good rolling the ball from a sitting position.  But it was not long before she decided that it was more fun to knock them down without the ball (mainly using her head).

 The day was wonderful, but what I was most amazed at was she did very well at taking turns with others.

Happy Easter to all!

Pigtails

 Today I decided to try doing something with Grace's hair.  After a trip to Walmart to find ponytail holders small enough for her hair, we were ready to experiment.

I think they are very cute.  Also, she has kept them in for about 3 hours at this point (longer than I ever expected).  What do you think?

Stacking

 Recently Grace has enjoyed her wooden blocks more and more.

 She really loves stacking them.

 She has been able to stack seven of the small blocks (the two top ones in the picture above) in a tower before it falls over.

Look at that concentration.  Now I am being pulled away from the computer to help Grace with a puzzle.