Best Laid Plans

So the plan this weekend was to celebrate Halloween in spades. Friday night was a Halloween party at Grace's school and Sunday is our town's annual Halloween parade. Grace was excited about both.  Friday night I put her in her Sophia the first costume, we went to the school, bought our tickets and 15 minutes later we were back in the school parking lot with Grace shaking, crying and swearing that Halloween is very weird and she is not going trick or treating ever again.  The problem was that the second we walked into the school cafeteria, she saw a little kid in a gorilla costume with a mask and she lost her mind. I could not convince her that it was just a kid in that costume and it wasn't real. She cried, she refused to let me put her down, I couldn't distract her with the crafts or cookie decorations and she was sobbing to go home. So we did.  We stopped for a quick dinner and then mutually decided that we would skip the Halloween parade on Sunday.

So we went from lots of plans, to very little plans which worked out perfectly.  This morning we took a trip to Starbucks and rather than going through the drive through which I prefer, we went inside so Gracie could people watch.  That made her happy as a clam.  Next we went to Target and bought her some new jeans and a new winter coat because as Grace says, she is getting "giant tall." While there I  decided it was time for a new pair of slippers for her and she chose a sparkly princess pair (big shock there). When I told her she was getting the slippers, she hugged them to her chest and spent the rest of the time thanking me for them. We also picked up a pumpkin carving kit.

When we got home we set to the task of pumpkin carving.  I haven't carved a pumpkin since I was about 11 and even then, my dad always did most of the carving. I generally prefer drawing a face on it but Gracie asked if we could carve them this year so we did.  She loved the whole process.

Then she spent the rest of the day playing with her cousins and the neighbor kids.  Gracie told me tonight it was a perfect day. I have to agree.

Fall in New England

Not that I think about leaving New England very often, but on the rare occasions when I do I realize that if I ever did, I would so miss the fall season.  We have been very lucky with weather lately and the colors are just spectacular.  A couple of weeks ago we went Apple picking which is one of Gracie's favorite things to do . 

Today we had nothing planned so last night Gracie and I decided that we would just sleep until we woke up and then we'd have a lazy day.  Well, as it turned out, we were both awake at 5:30 and after an hour of lounging around we decided that a lazy day would just not do today.  Instead we headed to our favorite breakfast place and then to Gracie's favorite farm.  Anytime I mention going someplace special she always says are we going to the farm? It's owned by the Audubon Society and I was thrilled to find out that today we could renew our membership for half price! We had gorgeous weather and Grace kept saying mom, we sure live in a beautiful place! I could not agree more.

Grace took this picture

Ready for the hayride

She is in the process of jumping but she looks like I hung her up like a scarecrow

First Day of Four Year Old Pre-School

Yesterday was the first day of her second year of pre-school and man, she was excited.  She woke me up at 5:30 and asked if it was time to put her new dress on for school.  She was disappointed that it wasn't but she handled it well.  After a little bit of snuggling we made pancake batter and waited for her cousins to come over for silly pancakes.  You can do that on a Monday morning when you're cousins live upstairs from you. 

Uncle and cousin Meggie

Auntie, Gracie and cousin Jake

Cousins

Meggie's pancake masterpiece

After breakfast we cleaned up and got dressed for the day.  Auntie Amy sent her a beautiful first day of school outfit that cousin Sarah picked out.  After she was dressed she looked in the mirror and said "Sarah really picked out a great dress for me!" I said, we Auntie Amy sent it too and she said "yes, but Sarah picked it out for me! "

 When we got to school she ran right over to the other girls that were waiting.  They were all adorable admiring each others new tights, new shoes, backpacks.  Gracie's friend Elyse said Gracie, you must like polka dots because you have them on your dress.  I didn't know that about you!

After drop off I went to work and she called me after school with all the news of what she did and what she had for snack.  Overall, it was a great day.

Summer

I can't believe that it's already moving into the middle of August. The Summer has flown by for us but it's been so much fun!  Here's what we've done.

In June my sister Amy and her family came from California for 10 days.  The first few days they were here all of us, including my parents and my other sister Kate and her family rented a house in the cape for 3 days.  House was awesome.  lots of room for all of us and a pool that the kids swam in constantly.  If was so much fun for all 5 cousins to be together. 

Cousins at the beach

At the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden in Springfield, MA

My three girls, Grace, Sarah and Meghan

Gracie and Jake engaged in serious conversation

So proud!

Josie, Gracie and Katie

Three beauties

Gracie and Noah

Serious discussions over Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Grace, Noah and Auntie Robin playing with bubbles

We had such an amazing time and the babies are just gorgeous and fun and sweet and Noah was a love. I knew I missed Andrea and Robin but I didn't realize quite how much until we were all together again. Now that I know we can handle the drive, we'll make it more frequently.

We also enjoyed another road trip a couple of weeks ago. A good friend of mine got married at Cornell University.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Grace was invited to the wedding as well.  So instead of me driving up on Saturday and back first thing on Sunday, we made a weekend of it and went up on that Friday.  It was supposed to be a 6 hour drive but at some point, my GPS decided to go into silent mode.  Not sure how far we went before I figured this out but we ended up adding two hours to the trip.  Once I figured out the issue I reset the GPS and then called my brother in law in California and asked him to double check it on map quest just to make sure we were going to actually find our destination. Luckily, he confirmed we were on the right track again.  We ended up stopping at a diner in the middle of no where upstate NY. The diner had not been redecorated since 1973 but the food was very good.  When the waitress seated us she asked if Grace wanted a booster seat and we said no thank you.  We are asked that question often and it makes Grace crazy because in her mind, she is super big.  The waitress comes back with our drinks and asks again if she wants a booster or a high chair.  Again, I politely say no thank you. The waitress then says are you sure, she's so tiny. Grace said "I am not tiny. I am just right thank you." The waitress walks away and she said mom, "why does everybody think I am a tiny baby? I am NOT a tiny baby who needs a HIGH CHAIR!" I just told her that we know she's a big girl and that's all that matters. But I was proud of her for politely sticking up for herself.  Once we got to the hotel we swam, had dinner and watched TV in our jammies.  The next morning we woke up and swam and had a leisurely morning.  Then it was time to get ready for the wedding.  The ceremony was at Sage Chapel which was lovely.  1,000 degrees, but really lovely.  The reception was at the Statler Hotel on the Cornell Campus.  It would be an understatement to say that Grace was the bell of the ball.  She danced for 3 1/2 hours straight. People were forming circles around her, she had a dance off with a grooms man, and won, and she participated in the cotton eyed Joe even though she had never done the dance before. She also got to dance with Bride which was the highlight of her life to date. She had the time of her life.  We left just after 9:00p.m. and as we were leaving she said "mom, this dance party is not over yet! Why are we leaving?" I explained that it was way past her bedtime and we had to get up early the next day and we had a long drive ahead of us.  As we were walking to the car I told her how proud I was of her because she was so patient and so well behaved. She said "Do you know why I was so happy today? Because I got to dance with the bride and I got to go to this great dance party. When can we come back to Ithaca for another dance party?" It was a great weekend and honestly, a really good summer.  I'm sorry to see it coming to an end.

First and Last

I am amazed at how quickly the school year has flown by.  It feels like I just dropped her off for the first day of pre-school and now it's already the last day.  Here are the pictures from the first and last days.

First day in September

Last day on June 11th

Mother's Day

It says Happy Mothers Day. Hand and hand we will be forever together you and me.

There is nothing better than handmade pre-school gifts.  The teacher sent home paper and paint and asked me to make my hand prints so I knew there was a masterpiece coming but this exceeded my expectations.  So grateful for this girl and her first family who are allowing me to be her mom. 

What a Week!

Gracie and I have had a pretty incredible week together.  I was a little nervous because she has trouble when the routine changes. We spent a lot of time talking about how some things this week would be exactly the same and others would be different and then we talked about all the possibilities for fun things to do this week.

On Monday she had two doctors appointments. The first was at 8:30 in the morning in Boston to see the nutritionist.  We had to leave by 7:00 to deal with the traffic even though we only live 12 miles away.  After about 30 minutes sitting in bumper to bumper traffic Gracie announced that "traffic makes me really tired". I thought that meant she would sleep but she just sent the rest of the ride asking me if traffic made me tired too.  The appointment was great and they said she was gaining decently between appointments and she was happy with her progress.  At noon we had her four year appointment with her regular doctor and she was delighted with her progress.  She is 28 pounds and 38 1/2 inches and she has grown 3 1/2 inches in the last year.  Grace was great during the appointment and when it was time for the MMR Booster she looked at me and said mom, I need you to hold my hand. It was a little pinch and then when it was over she looked at me and said mom, I am so brave. I am proud of me!  Then we went home and she played for the rest of the afternoon.

On Tuesday after preschool we headed off to Gracie's favorite farm which is owned by the Audubon Society.  Gracie wanted to go see the stinky pigs.  When we got there we learned that the pig had 3 piglets in early April so Gracie was thrilled with that but since they were new babies we didn't take any pictures of them.  

 After the farm we went to the mall to get new sandals.  I thought that would take 10 minutes.  It took over an hour.  She immediately saw a pair of sparkly silver sandals and said "mom, I am getting these sandals." I said no. She said "mom, why don't you like you these sandals? They are so stylish!" Apparently, I don't know style unless it's pointed out by a four year old.  We eventually decided on a pair we could both live with.

On Wednesday we had our annual appointment with the international doctor and developmental specialist.  We were actually about 6 months with this appointment but I figure better late than never.  They were incredibly pleased with how well she has progressed.  She now has body fat which they were excited about.  Developmentally she is doing exceptionally well. They told me that cognitively she is testing at a 6 year old level. She did so well at the appointment and when they were checking her body fat the doctor explained the tool she would use and Grace looked at her and said, "Ok, but I need you to please be gentle because I am a little scared". She could never had expressed that a year ago.  She just would have screamed bloody murder. She was really proud of herself and I was proud too! The appointment was in Boston so we had to leave early.  This time traffic didn't end up being too bad so we got there early and had to wait in the car.  She was getting restless until I realized that I had my camera with me so she played with that to pass the time.  Here are some of her portraits.

 

After the doctor we took a trip to the zoo.  Our nearby zoo isn't great but Gracie likes it and we had fun.