WANTED!

I'm looking for one (two if they are siblings) 2 1/2 to 4 year old! We want another friend to play with during the day! If you know anybody who is interested, please direct them to this blog and ask them to e-mail me at maggietruitt (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!

P.S. Have I told you lately how much I love my job!?!?!

Painting Day!

Everybody is in a good mood this morning, and our routines/schedules worked out just right that we had some time for painting! Enjoy the pictures below!









Even Noah got in on the action!

MLK Jr's Birthday and Other fun Pictures!

On Monday, we had Savannah's big sister over to play for the day! Here, the girls are looking through magazines to cut pictures of people out... we looked for all kinds of people! The girls found a BUNCH and enjoyed cutting them out.

And here's a group photo with the finished project!

And in this photo, Noah's wondering, "Let's see... what kind of trouble can I get into with this one when I start crawling next month..?"


Here's a picture from yesterday with the girls coloring so well together. They LOVE to sit at the table and share the crayons/markers. Savannah will usually try to copy the speed and grace that Julia colors with - so I try to play music during free-art time to inspire some variety in movement! Such fun!!!

SuperWoman

I love my job. I have a lot of fun, and it's incredibly rewarding. I can talk for hours about how much fun my job is and how much I love the kids I care for.

But, let's be honest. It's hard work! My job is not cut out for just anybody and that's why I wake up every morning and thank God for giving me my gifts and talents and showing me how I can use them everyday ...and get paid for it!

I do have my crummy days. Don't we all? There are those days when everything is all out of sync. You know the kind of day... when you wake up 10 minutes late, then get in the shower and realize there's no soap, and you spill your coffee at breakfast, maybe one of your kids wakes up WAY early, and you forgot your briefcase at home and you remembered that as you were sitting at the tenth RED LIGHT of the morning... Yeah, those kinds of days are never fun - but that's what evenings are for. You get home, shake the day off, relax with your family and look forward to bed time.

Today, is NOT one of those days for me! Today, I'm on the ball.
At 11:30 this morning, I was taking care of all four kids at the very same time...

• I was feeding Rebecca while stirring the lunch meat that was simmering (scary, but had to be done).
• I was also feeding Noah in between stirs - he's so flexible and easy going ... he loves to watch me cook!
• Julia was trying to spell her name on the fridge with the letter magnets, and I was helping her locate the letter J by giving her hints (It's blue, it's near the handle...)
• Savannah was going around the room, naming all the objects and stating their owners. (Julia's seat? Rebecca's toy? Noah's bib? Maggie's chair? Rich's water? etc. etc. etc.)

I had a SuperWoman moment... a moment when all the stars are aligned just right. And, when lunch was over, and all four kids were fed and sleepy - I took a moment to stop. I thanked God once again for showing me the way to my own happiness. I'm really so blessed.

So, next time I have an OFF day? I'll just keep reminding myself that another good day is right around the corner...

For my birthday

I got two beautiful things for my birthday today!

1. I got to spend the day with these gorgeous kids (sorry, HANDSOME, too, Noah)
2. They all (ALL FOUR OF THEM) slept from noon until 2:30!

I'm so lucky.

Teacher's Secret

Do you know how to....

• Clean your tables and chairs (and pretty much anything else) to a spotless shine
• Fragrant the room to cover up diaper pail smell
• Promote social skills and creativity
• Encourage sensory building
• and have fun

all at the SAME TIME?

It's easy! Just get out the shaving cream!

...after the break

We all had a very nice break around here! The kids all took the week of Christmas off, and we used Weds thru Friday last week to recover from the holidays (monday and tuesday were holidays off as well!). I honestly missed the kids during the time. The break was nice for me - I needed the time off and enjoyed a wonderful trip "home" to Colorado ... but once we got back on the 25th, I woke up the morning of the 26th with a bit of a longing for Savannah and Noah!

Here are some pictures to get you back up to speed!!

Savannah's day back after the break was also her 2nd birthday! We sang to her many times ("Happy Birthday" seems to be one of Julia's favorite songs to sing anyway!) and we had lots of fun following Savannah's lead in playtime. Here's a shot of the girls playing together...


And here's a picture of Savannah sporting her newest princess crown - still wet with paint and glue...




And here is some video from Friday that I just couldn't resist including. The girls were dancing and singing and enjoying some free time in the evening..
Do you know the song "Tootie-Tah?" I really wanted to catch them dancing it correctly, but this is just as cute...



Julia is clearly the leader in this activity!