Grace spent quite a while the other morning making me a birthday cake out of play-doh. She presented it to me on a tray, while singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in Spanish. Her Spanish sounded a lot more like Yiddish, and my birthday isn’t for another five months, but fine details don’t matter much to Grace. Besides,…

Adam plays soccer every Sunday morning at 7:30, which has come to mean that the girls and I make an apple pancake together and listen to my iPod during the first mellow hours of the day. This morning, when it was time for breakfast, Tess pulled her chair up right next to Grace’s, so they…

Grace decided that her new favorite friend, a stuffed kitty named Snowflower, needed a winter hat. (You know, for all of that snowshoeing she does through the woods.) Grace cut and rolled a piece of paper, all by herself, and affixed it to kitty’s head using – you guessed it – scotch tape. Tess thought…

Tonight before bath time, I had the girls try on a couple of new summer dresses that I bought to take to Texas next month. They were thrilled to put them on, and insisted on wearing the dresses until I had to forcibly remove them from their wriggling bodies. The two of them danced and…

The girls have been playing with a bouncy blue elephant. It is not new, but it had been in exile – I mean, in recovery – for quite some time, due to flagrant misuse and abuse. We allowed her (name: Rudy) back into the house as long as certain rules are followed: elephant must remain on…

Grace and Tess helped me bake and decorate cookies to take to Grace’s playdate with Elyse this afternoon. Both girls stood on chairs and used their own rolling pins to roll out the dough, and Grace even used the cookie cutter and transferred the cookies to the sheet herself. Later, Grace iced and decorated several…

We awoke this morning to a foot of new snow, and yet another snow day for Grace. Tess was thrilled to have an entire day to play at home with her big sister. And I think it’s safe to say the feeling was mutual. On that note, we are sending you love this Valentine’s Day –…

I learned something interesting about baby dolls the other day – they like to dance. And they really know how to boogie. They like to wear hats, even though their shiny heads can make this very difficult (oh, the tears when a hat slides off). Also, they like to be partially naked – or at least…

And what did she feed them for breakfast?? (Yes, those are socks on their hands. And yes, those are underpants on Grace’s head, with a plastic star on top for added beauty!)