Bike Rides

Sometimes when we are at Mamaw and Papaw's house mommy and Amy go off for a run (sometimes daddy goes too), but quite often when that happens Grace begs to either run with us or go for a bike ride.  On this occasion Matt let Grace ride and carried Glen to a nearby cul-de-sac.

 Grace seems to be happy riding her bike, that is until Glen started playing with the rocks.

 Oh, rocks are so much better than riding.

 But what is better than rocks?

 That has to be the massive amounts of fallen pine needles that cover the cul-de-sac!

There is no end to the joy when there is rocks and pine needles around to play with!
Oh, the simple things in life :)

Owl

As I mentioned before, Glen's second word was owl.  He is fascinated by owls.  Any bird is an owl to him.  He can spot an owl anywhere.  He loves them.

Mix that love with his aunt Amy's talent of crocheting and you get an owl hat.  The owl hat is for Glen to wear, only one problem...when he wears it, he can not see it.

I think that he would prefer others to wear it so that he can see the owl.

 So the wonderful hat sometimes gets worn by Glen, but more often it gets worn by Grace or someone else so that Glen can see it and touch it

and say "owl!"

Update on Glen

Glen, my little man, is growing so fast!  He is already growing out of quite a few of his 2T shirts and he has not even turned 2 yet.  But I knew he was going to be a big boy, he has remained at 90 to 95 percentile at each doctor visit.

Glen's first word was mama, followed closely by owl (in reference to Owl on Winnie the Pooh)
but now he is babbling up a storm with other words mixed in.
He now says:
Dada
Baa
Vroom
Woof
Papaw
Mamaw
Apple
Barbecue
Eeyore

He can also sign:
more, please, juice, milk, hi and bye

He is nodding to answer questions.

He loves to draw and balance on balls either by sitting on them or laying on his tummy on them.
Such a sweet little boy you are!

Brother and Sister Love

One day this past week I made some paint for the kids.

 Painting is some serious business around our house.  They were busy for almost an hour!

 Look at all of their art.  It is beautiful.

 Another way that they have been busy was to play with moon sand that I made for the kids.  They play so nicely together (sometimes!)

 But my favorite of all is when Grace "reads" or tells stories to Glen in the backseat of the car while we are going to our destination.

I love that they are getting to an age that they can enjoy each other.

Dance Class

Our local community recreation center is great!  Not only does Grace go to preschool there, but we also decided to sign her up for dance class there.

Every Tuesday afternoon Grace takes beginning dance class for ages three and a half and up.

Here Grace is playing a dance game where they have to leap over the river.

 She loves dance, she especially loves her dance outfit (which I shockingly found at a thrift store for just five dollars)

 Here the teacher is circling the kids up to do a new activity (Grace is on the far right)

 This is Grace's favorite part of dance class.  They get stickers on their hand at the end of class.

 Grace is learning a lot and loving every minute of it.  She comes out and tells me about the teddy bear dance, dancing with horses, and doing I'm A Little Teapot among many other games and dances.  I am glad this program is offered to her.

Todd Lake Hike

One Sunday afternoon (after church and nap) we took Glen to mamaw and papaw's house to stay with papaw while mamaw, Carol, Shannon, Mike, Amy, Adam, Austin, Matt, Grace, and I went for a hike at a place called Todd Lake.  Todd Lake is about 20-30 minutes away from where we live so it was a nice scenic drive.  When we got there. 

 The hike was level, and lovely.  Grace loved the rocks and trees and leaves and wanted to examine everything.  Adam was great about telling her everything he knew about nature.  Oh, I forgot Carol's dog, Lacy, also came along.  She was a great motivator to keep Grace moving too because Grace wanted to be near her at all times.

 A mile into the hike we found this stream and took some pictures.  It was then we also realized that it was time to head back to the car.

Grace did fantastic hiking 2 miles all by herself (not being carried).  I hope that we can do that again, maybe when it warms up.  This was the perfect hike for kids (maybe Glen can join us in a year or so).

Preschool

Our local community center has a great preschool program.  I learned about it from my sister who first sent her children there, and then became a teacher there.  I was so impressed with it that I was determined to get Grace in (there are only 16 openings for the whole city).  I got in line to sign her up one and a half hours early.  I was the only person sitting there (except for mom who was there with me) for about 15 minutes, then people started coming in faster and faster to line up for the openings.

Grace got in!  

 School started right after Labor Day.  She has made many crafts and friends.  Most of her friends that she had before preschool are in the 4 year old class next door, but they have about an hour of play time with the 4 year old class so she gets to see her friends too.

I am so glad that we have this program and that she is able to get a taste of what school is like.  But more than anything I am glad that she is meeting new friends and getting new experiences with her teachers.

Side note:  Before preschool started, Grace said that she would only go if they gave her homework!