Playhouse

Mommy bought me the coolest new playhouse. It is just my size, and it fits my new puppy too.

Grace and Paw Paw...and Pup Pup

Newest Addition

This is the newest member of the Hardy household. Lamar is in NYC for Fleet Week, so Grace and I made a command decision and went out and got a dog. She is a pure bred cocker spaniel. Solid black with the exception of the white triangle on the forehead. She is six weeks old. We have not named her yet. We are going to live with her for a few days first. Grace will be her registered owner. We are accepting suggestions. So far, she is VERY lazy. She just lays around. Definitely going to be an inside lap dog.

Drive

This is the new fun thing to do at our house. When we get home from school, Grace gets into the front seat to "drive." She turns all of the switches and buttons in the car, while I sit in the passenger seat and read the mail. This was the only way that I could get the grass cut on Thursday. I left her in the car with the window down to play while I cut the front yard. Don't alert CPS:)

Maestro, If You Please

Daddy is teaching himself to play the piano. Grace has in turn taken an interest.

Visit From Paw Paw

Paw Paw and Grandma Moody came to visit for Memorial Day weekend. They came armed with all of the favorites....cashews...granola bars...animal cookies. The first thing I did was turn the five gallon box of cookies over onto the floor.

More Bay Pictures

Chesapeake Bay

We took Grace to the bay on Saturday. It is about a two mile drive from our house. You really could not ask for a better set up. As posted below, Grace took swimming lessons at the YMCA, so we knew that she did not fear water. We did think that she might be a little uneasy in the vastness of the bay with waves and extra people. Boy were we wrong. She walked right down to the water and sat down in it. She loved every minute of it. We did not put her in her swimsuit due to the expected temperature of the bay, but she did not care. The water is definitely for her. She is a Navy Baby.

Southern Belle

Another dress from G-G. This one has an ice cream cone on it. We LOVE it. The hat...Mom and Dad love it. It is almost impossible to get Grace to wear one. We had to snap the picture in a hurry. The hat will probably never sit on her head again.

Virginia Beach Aquarium

I got a year membership to the aquarium for Mother's Day. Grace has discovered fish. She had a great time watching the fishies. She ran through the building, played in the canoe, watched the sharks, and played in the stingray tank. When she discovered that there were actual stingrays swimming in the tank...well...let's just say that it was time to go.

Easter Dress

This is Grace's Easter dress. G-G gave it to her. She wore it for most of Sunday. She had a great time playing out in the front yard with the azaleas.

Easter Morning

Grace was excited to get her basket from the Easter Bunny. The bubbles in the basket were the greatest hit, although when she discovered candy in the plastic eggs, all bets were off. She finished the inside of two eggs before church that Sunday.

Growing Up

We did something today that we have not done since Grace was born...we got her haircut. Mommy had a REALLY hard time. Daddy has been saying that we needed to get it done since his return from Bahrain, but I think that the kicker was when a complete stranger walked up to him last night and said that she needed one. We went to the Cartoon Cuts place, which "specializes" in cutting children's hair. Grace sucked on a blue raspberry sucker the entire time. In the end, we got her bangs cut and the back evened out. Mommy still had a really difficult time. We have a certificate with a lock of her cut hair on it for keeping:)

Swimming Lessons

Well, we finally remembered to bring a camera to swimming lessons today. Grace and Daddy got in the water together. They are practicing using the kickboard to swim and float, jumping in the water, going under, and everything else. She really has a great time. She is a little lazy at times, just using Daddy's arm to float on the water. I am really glad that we put her in lessons. Now all we need to do is get her in the boat before she is too old and becomes scared of it.

Relaxing with Daddy

Grace sitting with Daddy before swimming lessons on a beautiful Saturday morning.

PigTails

Grace has a very difficult time sitting still. There is just too much to see in this great big world. I am always trying to get her to sit still long enough to do her hair. Usually it involves bribery with suckers or goldfish crackers. She usually will leave it up for about a half hour and then pulls it out. I try, but it looks like I am raising a tomboy.

Deep Thoughts....by Grace Hardy

Grace is a little over 18 months and has really started to come into her own. She has started talking up a storm, has developed definite likes and dislikes and strong opinions. The minute we get home in the afternoons or when she wakes up in the morning, her first word is "outside." I think that the child would sleep out on the back deck if we would let her. She loves the outdoors. The last owners of our house were elderly, so whe have a ramp on our deck to get up to the back door. She loves to run up and down.

Her two new favorite statements are "no" and "dada's hot." The "no" I definitely understand is a normal word and transition into developing her independence. The "dada's hot," well, I am not really sure where that came from exactly. She will repeat it over and over again. It is really pretty cute.

She has also started giving real kisses, as in puckering up to give them. She has gotten so sweet, yet, so independent and argumentative.

New Tricks

I could not find Grace this morning after I finished washing my hair. I had left her in the den watching Barney, drinking her chocolate milk, and reading The Wheels on the Bus. When I went back in to check on her after I dried my hair, she had left the den. I quickly went to look in the bathroom, which is where she always is when we can't find her. This is what I found. Definitely shows that she is an observant child.

Happy St. Patrick's Day....very late

This is my hat that I made at school for St. Patrick's Day, because my really slack Mommy forgot to dress me in green for the real day. My teachers were really upset with her, but they allowed me to make my hat to wear at school. Of course, this was the first day that I would actually put the hat on my head and keep it there.

CHEESE!

Coming in after a long tricycle ride, waiting for a banana...what else.