Please Touch Museum

Long time, no post :( I've been a bad blogger. Too busy with holiday stuff I guess...

A couple weeks ago, Brad and I dropped the boys off at my parents' house and we took Grace to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. We had such a great time! Grace loved it and didn't get in trouble once for "touching" things :) The most amazing part was the fact that she ran and played for 2 1/2 hours straight. Then we had an hour ride home, which was past her nap time and she STILL didn't fall asleep! She is used to taking 2-3 hour nap every day. She does not fall asleep easily in the car. I don't know how she does it. Both Brad and I were ready for a nap :)

Grace has her map and is ready to go....


Grace loved this ball activity. She had to put the balls over forced air and watch them linger in the air.

I wish I captured her expression here. She was amazed!


Getting her OT in for the day in the giant hamster wheel :)

Grace loved this! She would first put a foam rocket on a tube, hit the big button and BLAST OFF! She actually did a great job at waiting her turn because this rocket launcher was a big hit with everyone! I love her expression in this picture!

This is the grocery store. I LOVED this exhibit! It was too cute. All the kids were putting EVERYTHING in their carts even as stuff was spilling over. It was so funny! What the kids don't realize is that after you check out, you need to put away all your groceries for the next shoppers.

Grace has got her cart.

And she is off....

Hmmmm, what to choose?

Checking out....

I wish I got a better picture of the "hospital". It was suppose to be a nursery area with lots of cribs and babies, but looked more like a underfunded orphanage, complete with "boy" babies. Yes, there were boy parts!

One of Grace's favorites was the waterway exhibit. It was so cool! There were boats, ducks, spouts and more to play with.

This is to show you how big the water area was. And this is less than half of the exhibit!!!



Alice in Wonderland room. Too stinkin' cute!




I was HORRIBLE at taking pictures on Thanksgiving. I took a couple with my phone but this is the only one worth showing from my camera. We did have a wonderful time! Food was great and we really enjoyed visiting with Mimi, Poppie, Aunt Amy and Uncle Rob. Here are the boys enjoying their Mimi's famous Root Beer Floats. She makes these for them every time we visit :)

Whew!

Grace did great at gymnastics.... overall. She followed along and tried her best to not wander off for about 40 minutes. At that point she came to me fake crying and said she was all done. The cry was quite comical. I reminded her that she needed to listen to her coach and finish class if she wanted to go to McDonalds. She went back in, but tried a couple more times. I really think she was just tired at that point. But all she had to do was sing the goodbye song and we were outta there and on our way to McDonalds!!! I'm just so glad she went in and participated. I was very worried she would protest from the beginning. This class is so good for her. After 50 minutes of gymnastics, she sat the whole time in McDonalds and just ate. She didn't fidget, try to wander around or climb anything :)

If you notice that her eyes are a bit swollen and her nose is puffy and black and blue, this is why....

Last night, Grace jumped on the couch that is against a half wall and slammed her nose on the wall. The sound was so loud!!! Within seconds, the top of her nose between the eyes was puffed out and black and blue. She looked like Rocky Dennis from the movie "Mask". It was so gross. We tried ice, which she would not keep on. I called my friend next door who is an ER nurse. She came over, made a phone call to someone from the ER, I called the pediatrician and everyone felt that she didn't need a hospital trip. We kept her up later to watch and make sure she didn't start acting strange or vomiting. Thankfully after a popsicle, she was her usual self.

The first picture below was taken an hour after it happened and the swelling was down a bit. But the picture still doesn't do it justice. This morning she woke up with swollen eyelids that are slowing turning more and more black and blue. I've taken so many pictures trying to capture how puffy and painful it looks, but it just doesn't work. I feel so bad for my baby girl, but she keeps telling me, "I'm fine." or "I'm all better." She is one tough cookie!


This one was taken this morning.


Some Grace - isms

"Slow down car. You're making me nervous." I can't imagine where she learned that from ;)

"No thanks, Mom." The boys can't break the habit of calling me "Mommy" (which I don't mind, but they do), so it is so funny when Grace calls me Mom.

I was trying to leave the house with Grace and needed to get her shoes on so I said, "sit". She dropped to the ground and starting panting. I laughed so hard and she totally knew she was funny!