Cashmere Apple Days Pie Winners

On a sibling note: Ellen and Martin made apple pies for the

Apple Days Festival at the 

Cashmere Historic Museum and Pioneer Village.

Ellen won 1st place with 

her Great-Great Aunt Lolita's Red Hot Apple Pie 

and Martin won 2nd place with his Apple Crunch Pie.

The winning pies are then sold as a fundraiser for $13 each with a missing piece!

We didn't buy them back so we'll never know how good they are. 

Well, actually pie making is on our list of fun for October. 

Maybe we can make a Red Hot Crunch Apple Pie. Hmmmm!

Congrats!

Swim in the Bath

Tonight was the first time I showed Grace how to swim in the bathtub. Maybe I shouldn't have but oh boy did we have fun. I will definitely need to keep a hand on her at all times in the bathtub now. She was in 7th Heaven! She blew bubbles and dunked her head over and over and over again!!!

After the bath,  I showed Grace some video of her swimming last summer in the public pool. She laughed and laughed and looked real close to the computer screen and tried to push her hand into the video-water. A happy girl, tonight.

Therapeutic Horseback Riding

This is Grace's first day of therapeutic horseback riding. She didn't like the helmet but she did like the horse and the riding. She will ride weekly until the end of October. Then, she will start again next spring, I hope.

Grace started Kindergarten today! Kindergarten! I can't believe it!

The Happy Swimmer!

A second video of Grace end of summer swimming.

End of the summer 2011 Swim

One of Grace's last swims of the summer, 2011. She has become a good little swimmer! In the previous summer (2010), I had to hold Grace very tight in  a bear hug or push her into the water in an umbrella stroller. The longest she could handle the public pool in 2010 was less than a half hour. This year, Grace would stay in the pool, playing the whole time for almost 1&1/4 hours! She puts her own head under water, blows bubbles, and even flaps her arms a little. She also likes floating on her back, now. and her "jumping"- who would have guessed!!!!! What a gal!

Coming Home

After a wonderful 6 weeks away visiting family, we came home last week.
I took a different way into town then I normally do. Just as we drove past the cementary with its tall douglas firs, Grace started fidgiting happily in her car seat and smiling real big. She began signing "please-please-please-please" over and over again. She was laughing with excitement. I can only guess that she recognized her hometown! I was so excited for her. I was also surprised by the place where she recognized the town. 6 weeks can be a long time for any little kid. I'm happy that Grace feels comfortable most everywhere we stay but is excited when she knows she's home.

Sunshine Spitting

Grace found a new pasttime, sunshine spitting. She was scooting on the floor and found herself in a patch of sunshine. There she found if she spits, she can see the spittal in the sunshine. She spit and spit until her mouth ran dry.

Happy 6th Birthday!!

Being read a birthday book by a friend.Happy Birthday to you...
All my friends at my birthday party.
Friends help make my flower headband.

Playing GAK with friends is so much fun!

Look! All my friends play GAK with me.

Grace really enjoyed her 6th Birthday Party with her friends.

Preschool Graduation

Grace received her diploma for graduating from preschool.
We have a KINDERGARTNER on our hands, now!

Grace talks with Talking Tom on ipad

What a conversation!

Grace walks forward in Kids Walk!

This was the end of the playing session. I will try to get better video of Grace walking forward, soon.

Piggy Snores

The other night, Grace would just not go to sleep. Finally around 9:30 PM, I put Grace in her bed and said, "Night, night." I sat down to watch tv for awhile and Grace talked & sang quietly in her bed. After about an hour, I heard funny "pig" sounds coming from her room. Then I heard dad snoring loudly from our bedroom. Grace was copying the "pig" sounds she was hearing. She puts her hand up near her nose and blows out with a little smile on her lips. Darling.

Knock Knock

So, I wasn't there, but Grace's Para related this story to me:
The Para needed to change Grace. The paper that they put on the changing table was out. So, she gave Grace the empty roll and pushed Grace in her wheelchair to the nurse's office to get more. Coming up to the nurse's office, the door was shut. Without prompting, Grace leaned forward and knocked on the door. Then she tried the handle. A few seconds later, the nurse opened the door and saw Grace with the empty paper roll. She said, " It looks like you need some more paper, " to which Grace instantaneously signed, "Please." A whole conversation and unprompted communication. The Para was so excited to share. Now, as I tell everyone the story, while in Grace's presence, she knows I am talking proudly and she smiles like she knows that she did something great.

Mommy's little Helper

Grace and I spent almost an hour washing dishes (dishwasher is broken at the moment), building suds castles, spilling water everywhere, then sweeping and mopping the floor. She had a blast splashing in the water and throwing small bowls of water on the floor. She looked proud to help sweep with the broom

Long time not blogging.

It's been over a year since I last wrote on the blog. I thought, well, maybe Ishould give it up. But, someone reminded me, lately, that it is really great when I notice and remember the tiny special moments I have with Grace, now and then. Those moments are important and precious. So, I'll keep trying to post things when they come up. She is darn cute and definately worth it!