Apparently, Adam and I spend too much time on our computers, because Grace has insisted on having her own laptop. Now I just need to teach her to type so she can take my dictation.

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, Grace has been learning about diversity at school. They talked about all of the many ways that people can be different. So when I mentioned that today is the actual holiday, Grace said: "Let's talk about the ways that we are different. I am different because I get…

A couple of weeks ago, Grace suddenly started drawing flowers. Beautiful, colorful, unique flowers that I loved so much I immediately framed two of her drawings. Up until then, she had been drawing mostly people and houses, with the occasional animal thrown in for good measure. Most of her art was messy and busy, and…

While cooking dinner this evening, I managed to set off all of the smoke alarms in the house. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, Grace commented: "Mommy, did the recipe say to smoke the quiche?"

Today was Grace's first day for staying a full day at school — until 3:00. This means that she got to stay for lunch, quiet time (yeah, right), "focused exploration" in the classroom, and music. She was very excited about all of this, and took off eagerly this morning with her new lunch bag. She…

Poppy dodged a bullet yesterday (or rather, a scalpel), when a snowstorm prevented me from making the journey to the veterinarian in Kennebunk who was going to spay her. Instead, she spent the morning in the car, waiting quietly and patiently until we could bring her back home. She's a good bunny. Don't tell her,…

Grace has been wanting to see a "real" movie for a few months now, so we decided that a kid-friendly movie would be the perfect birthday afternoon activity. So while Tess was napping, we presented Grace with a viewing of Finding Nemo. I chose this movie because she is familiar with the Nemo character (ah,…

The design of this one-of-a-kind instrument began several weeks ago when Adam let Grace hammer some nails into a piece of wood while he was working on the chicken coop. Shortly thereafter, she let herself into the basement, opened a can of red paint, and started painting it before I realized where she was and…

Instead of a big, crazy birthday party with all of her classmates, Grace agreed to celebrate by having a special "big girl morning" with her best buddy, Elyse. I took them to our local art studio for kids, where they spent an hour painting, gluing, drawing and giggling. We then headed to Friendly's — a…