Losing my marbles

Wow.  Grace has grown up so much in one week of kindergarten.  She won't tell me much about school.  Some days she tells me I am allowed to ask only two questions.  (That is bad when I waste one on a question like, "Why is your glue still in your backpack?")  Some days she makes up funny stories about what happened in her class.  And some days - if I get lucky - she actually tells me a tiny bit of something about her day.  A couple of days this week she was playing with wooden blocks with grooves in them when I picked her up.  You build a contraption and then race marbles down.  This is a new interest for her.  I like the open-ended play and that she has to figure out how to make the marble run work.  And, since we didn't have anything like that in our house, I did some research and found this awesome Quadrilla set at a local toy store. Right after school today we built this twisting tower together.

The only problem is that there are marbles rolling all over the floor.  The set comes with about 30 of them and Grace wants them ALL to roll in her tower at once!

Browns brainwashing

If you live in this house, you are
supposed to cheer for the home team!

Grace started kindergarten

Like I mentioned on Facebook last night, I am not sad about Grace starting kindergarten.  She has been in "school" since she was 18 months old.  But, I did get a little choked up when I put all her supplies in her bookbag.  This is really happening and my baby is getting to be a big girl.  She was over the moon, beyond excited this morning.  And when I asked her to complete the sentence, "I am ..." she said "happy".  There is nothing better.

Waiting with the girls for the boys to arrive.
Her teacher, Mrs. Peterson, was getting everyone checked in.

I hope this new adventure is the start of a journey that will take Grace to destinations we can't even imagine yet.

I love you.  And you will always be my "baby".

Let's try this again

Getting ready to play!

Grace wanted to try soccer again, so Kyle made arrangements for her to attend practice in our community's youth soccer club.  The time conflicts with music lessons, but in August and September there are a few Saturday mornings that we don't have music so Grace was able to go and play.

Grace was given a gold jersey and all the kids joined their coaches for different skill stations.  They went to each location for about 15 minutes and practiced dribbling, shooting, playing 1 on 1, and moving the ball between cones.  Grace did a great job!

They played freeze-tag and to unfreeze someone
you had to kick the ball between their legs!

Near the end, they played a game against another group.  Grace did okay but she was a little too polite and didn't "steal" the ball from the other players.  We need to help her learn to be more aggressive in sports.  When she does get the ball she can run pretty fast and after Kyle coached her a little at a break, she went back in and kicked the ball away from the other team so they couldn't score.  Another time she put herself in the goal and blocked a shot from going in.  That one might have just been a fortunate accident - in the right place at the right time!

This looks like she hit the ball with her head or her chest, but really she was tossing it to Kyle.

After soccer we went over to Grace's new school to find her name on the kindergarten class list.  We already knew her teacher's name but it was fun to find her name anyway.  

Walking back to the car after soccer. 

The school's mascot is a raccoon.

Grace's lake

I can't believe I haven't posted in 10 days!  That has to be some kind of record.  It isn't because we aren't doing anything....it is because we are so busy with work, school, soccer, and trying to squeeze every last bit of summer out of these August days.

We have a BIG, BIG, BIG event coming up next Thursday.   But until then, here are a couple of Grace's lake photos that she made with her camera.  The child never ceases to amaze me.

Three princesses

We had a great time on July 28th at the Akron Zoo's "Princess and Pirate Night" with our friends Dawson and Karli!  Personally, I think our princesses are much prettier than any Disney princess!  (We are really making good use of that Ariel dress and headband!  Grace wears it all the time. )

Thanks for the photo, Kellie!

City playground

I haven't posted in a while....we have just been busy.  But here are a couple of photos from NYC when Grace enjoyed one of the water playgrounds in Central Park.  We didn't intend to get wet (which is why she is not in her bathing suit) but once we got there it loked like a lot of fun so she took her shoes off and jumped in!

Love the buildings in the background!

Under the umbrella

This photo that Kellie took tonight HAS to be called "Singing in the Rain".  That's what our two crazy girls were doing while we were waiting for the storm to decide if it was going to come or not.  We didn't get to see the ballet in the park like we planned, but we had just as much fun playing in the rain showers!

Singing in the rain

NYC Horses

Grace still has a love affair with horses every time she sees one.  Not being a "horse person" myself, I haven't pursued lessons, although I don't mind exposing her to the experience of riding when there is an opportunity. Our New York horse experiences were both traditional and unexpected.

On our first day after seeing the movie Brave, Grace didn't want to go back to Nana and Ba's "hotel" so we stayed on the bus and went to Times Square where we saw some of New York's Finest mounted police.

As usual for our visits to the Big Apple, we walk near and in Central Park so that means we see the horse and carriage rides lined up along Central Park South.  

Every time we walk by Grace goes up to each horse and says "Hello" (this time she was saying, "Hello, Mate!").  She took several photos of her favorite ones, too!

Sometimes I think Grace is a horse whisperer.
She and Sophia looked right at each other and then
they both started stomping their feet!

Another traditional "horse" experience took place at Le Carousel in Bryant Park.  It was a small but beautiful carousel and a great way to get out of the heat and direct sun while we were waiting for the Broadway shows to begin.  Grace is never one to turn down a ride on the merry-go-round!

Right after this ride, we returned to our picnic area near the stage.  And a few minutes later.....

Joey came out!  Joey is one of the horses from the War Horse musical at Lincoln Center.  It is a life-size puppet that three men operate.  Two are inside and one walks along as the handler and maneuvers its head.  It was the most interesting and unique thing I have seen in a very long time.  Grace was fascinated because it looked like a horse walking and galloping in the park.  She and my mother followed Joey so she could get a better look and when she came back she explained to me that it is a puppet with people inside.  

Is Eloise home?

How many little girls over the years have gone to the Plaza and asked that question?  I suppose it might have been more thrilling back in the day when the Plaza was still a hotel and you could enter the grand lobby and talk to the Concierge who would be able to show you her shoes.  Now, the Plaza is private residences (funny how that worked out....now Eloise really COULD live in an apartment there!) and what is left is a perfectly pinkalicious store on the lower level.  Still cute...just not the same.

Since Eloise wasn't home, Grace went to the tea room to write her a note.  We put it in Eloise's mailbox and they said she would write back when she returns from vacation.

In Eloise's dressing room, Grace sat right down at the piano and started to play "Lizzy's Cat".  That was cool.  She also chose a baseball cap as a souvenir and wore it everywhere we went for the rest of the NYC trip!

If I can make it here....

Ahhh, New York, New York.  It is home for me even though I haven't lived there in years.  going back is always a homecoming.  There is nothing better than seeing my parents.  But, I also get to share my favorite parts of New York with Grace.   It is incredible to experience the mundane - taxi rides, the bus, and street fairs, and the new - Broadway in Bryant Park and Eloise at the Plaza - with my special girl.  I know she is falling in love with the Big Apple.  She looked out the window of the plane and said "Goodbye New York.  We'll be back soon" and the first thing she told Kyle in the car was "I love New York".  Nana would be happy.

The view from my parents' building. 

For her 5th birthday Grace asked my parents to get her a camera. You would think she is a little young for a "real" camera but she really does a great job with her photos.  So, for this post, I thought I would use some of Grace's best shots to show New York through her eyes.  

Everything from this point forward is from Grace's camera!

Nana kept telling Grace to look up.  So she has a lot of

photos of the tall NYC skyscrapers!

The Empire State Building taken from Bryant Park.

Grace is like the Horse Whisperer.

She LOVES the horse and carriage ride and

talked to all the horses along Central Park South.

Grace loves looking at the street fair booths. 

Do you know who lives at the Plaza?  Eloise!

We went to see her "apartment".

(This was taken from the moving horse and carriage!)

Sophia the horse who took us on a ride.

Notice Ba in the background.

Nana and Ba.  They are laughing because

Grace posed them and then told them to say

"monkey butt" instead of "cheese". 

Spiderman was everywhere because of the new 

movie and the Broadway play.

Posing Mommy and Nana. 

I love the perspective of a typical NYC street.