Recap Part II: Gracie

Miss Grace has really blossomed into the funnest little kid. We figured she'd have spunk. And she has exceeded our expectations. She's really lots of fun, and a great little buddy for me. Some of Gracie's favorite things of late:

• Coloring. She will sit with a coloring book and her twist-up crayons for a very long (toddler ) time.
• Running and jumping. She loves to play "run away" which consists of her running into another room (laughing hysterically) until you go and find her. Then she runs into another room etc. etc... Did this kid spend to much time in an apartment or what? And she still loves jumping. Every night after our family prayer, she hops to each of us to give kisses. This became quite the little work out while Sandy, Ray and Sara were here. Thats a lot of hopping.
• Jungle Book (Nyungle Book) and Cinderella (Inderehee). Most of the time, she watches Jungle Book standing so she can march like the elephants and dance like Balou and King Louis.
• Counting. She can count to twenty, although she likes to skip the number four for some reason. You can bet that if there is a collection of something somewhere, Gracie will take the time to count it out for you.
• Books. Gracie still loves her Princess ABC book, and all of her Sandra Boynton stories. She will go through her whole book shelf if someone will sit and read with her long enough.
• Helping Mom. Like I said, she is my little buddy. She helps with grant, with the laundry, unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the bathrooms, and putting on make-up. I love it. Every night, we put on our aprons, play some fun music and cook dinner together.

Northern Michigan has a lot of working farms. And we got here just in time for the Festival season. Every weekend there was a Harvest Festival or an Apple Festival going on somewhere. The farms look like something out of a fairy tale. It was so much fun to see the country, eat the great food (Honey Crisp apples, caramel apple pie, apple cider slushies, fresh produce, home made breads) and play with the animals. Gracie especially loved the latter.

This was taken at the Harvest Festival at Friske Farms.

And these are from Old Mill Pond Farm

Check out those trout. The pond was a little over stocked I think.
All in all,our little California girl is adjusting well to her new mid-western home.

We celebrated her 2nd birthday at the begining of October. We all wore Mickey mouse ears, even Grant. The evening started out with a yummy taco salad... Grace loooooves taco salad.
Followed by the Nemo cake made by her aunt Sara.
Then some great presents. By the way, Mom O, Gracie wears her apron on a daily basis, and loves looking through her cook book. She also received a little clothes shopping spree, the poor kid needed it, and...
This great Radio Flyer trike.
I'm excited to get her involved in the things going on in the community this winter. Our library has a lot of things for kids her age, and there is a toddler gym that is open during the winter months.