What do you want for Christmas?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have been so busy here!  The month started with each child decorating their very own advent calenders. The calendars are very simple, but every morning we get to glue another picture on today's date, and when we run out of pictures, we know it's finally Christmas Eve!  I actually stressed out about how to do advent calenders this year...  I'm glad I kept it very simple. The kids don't mind - they still love discovering pictures in their own little envelopes every day and deciding which one to glue on this time. :)  I wish I had a picture of these easy calendars for you, but I don't!  Oops.

We've also been busy making wreaths, snowflakes, snowmen, tree ornaments, and even a cotton-ball bearded Santa!  Today, was the busiest and most fun we've had all month, though - we spent the entire morning in the kitchen.

Morning snack was Reindeer Bread!  Check out these fun pictures. :)

After snack, we got busy with holiday treats for other people.  We started with the treats we're making for moms and dads this year.  Now, I know it's not right that I'm about to spoil the surprise... truth is, I've never been good at surprises anyway - especially when it comes to gift giving. :) Just ask my husband - we usually have whatever gift we bought each other long before Christmas is here.  I stink at holding out! So - if you want to be surprised, I guess you should just stop reading now and ignore the adorable and fun pictures below...



Here are the M&M treats we made this morning:












Kudos to my friend Judy who got the idea from another blogger.  What a perfect treat to make with these kids!  They really enjoyed laying out the pretzel squares, and of course they were super helpers when it came to unwrapping all those kisses.  By the time we were half done with the tedious job of squishing those M&M's down, the kids got tired so they scurried off to wash hands and go play while I did the rest. (Shhh, I'm totally okay with that!!) :)   Anyway - what a fun project it was.

Don't tell the kids, but they did a lot of learning during this too.  They used their small motor skills to get those Hershey wrappers off (muscles we need, to improve cutting with scissors and writing with pencils), and they had to use their cognitive thinking to decide what comes next (first the pretzels then the kisses) and of course they had match one-to-one. Let's not forget the task of working together. I had them work in pairs. (We missed Noah and Caleb today! They went to spend time with Nana...)  There's a lot of other lessons that went into this, too - like social skills and science discovery.

 

After the treats were made and the kids got some playing out of their systems, we got busy with old fashioned cookie cutter cookies. :)  This was SO MUCH FUN.   I'm so proud of how well we all worked together. In pairs (we made two batches), they took turns adding ingredients to a big bowl, then stirring, and kneading. (I should have snapped a picture of them stirring!)

Then, they shared their favorite cutter shapes with one another and they waited patiently as I scooped the shapes with my spatula to put them on the baking pan.  This task included pre-math skills as we had to figure out how many shapes we could fit into the dough before rolling up the used dough to start over again.














This afternoon, the plan is to ice and decorate these cookies. I love the holidays!!

(P.S. Thank God for naptime!)

Rainy day in November

The first rain of the Fall is here and instead of sulking about it with nothing to do, we decided to roll up our pant legs and enjoy it!

Typically, it's hard for us to enjoy the outdoors on days like today. It's pointless to go out with a towel to wipe down the swings/slides, because the forecast isn't promising dryness anyway.  There was a break in the rain, but I'm not anxious to let the kids play because it's not easy to stay dry even if it's not raining....  we almost always end up with wet bottoms, wet pant legs, and soaked shoes, socks and tootsies.

Luckily, the temp today isn't unbearable.  We only stayed out until the first comment was made about the cold.   :)  It was FUN!  And, the kids really enjoy the chance to go puddle jumping and not getting in trouble for it...  at least, my own girls do anyway.

And when the feet are cold, warm towels are retrieved from the dryer (Yes, I'm that nice!) and we put our socks and shoes back on to resume our regularly scheduled indoor play.
What a better way to spend a rainy morning than by creating things with Play Dough!

Happy Friday!

Painting with Water

With high temps only reaching the mid to upper 80's we are experiencing a COLD front around here!  The kids (and I) are enjoying this break in the uncomfortable humid heat wave we've had this summer.  Of course water play with toddler pools is always a fun way to celebrate the sunshine. And, simply running through the sprinklers is always a hit, too.  But on days like today when I can't seem to muster up the energy to help remove 6 adorable outfits to put on 6 tight swim suits and sunscreen 6 adorable kids just to reverse the process in an hour (only with dripping wet swimsuits and a laundry load pile of wet towels)- well, a little paint with water is a popular activity!  This one kept the kids busy (and quiet! my headache thanks them!) for almost a whole hour. :)  Enjoy the pictures!

Busy Busy Fun!

Sorry to have dropped off the blogging bandwagon! We've been very busy around here.  For Easter, we had a small egg hunt in the backyard - it was such a treat to find all the eggs in and around the playground. :)  For Mother's Day, we made a DVD with pictures and video.  Now it's the beginning of June already, and I'm trying to figure out where Spring went!?! Summer came HOT and QUICK.  But, we manage to stay cool.  Here are some pictures from today's water play fun. :)  It was Caleb's first time having water play at Maggie's house!

A Showcase

What started out as a video of Paityn being a ballerina, turned into a wonderful showcase highlighting the multiple talents here under Maggie's roof.  Not sure if it's all considered "dancing," but these moves had me LOL'ing ... so glad I caught part of it on camera. :)

They did this for at least 5 minutes

Skid-a-marink!

With Valentine's Day approaching, we've been working on our love song. ;) I've also been asking the kids to practice WINKing because... let's face it - two and three year olds trying to wink? JUST TOO CUTE!
Enjoy. :)

Merry Christmas!

Personalities

Below, I've embedded a video that illustrates perfectly the mid-morning personalities that we have! Every morning sometime after breakfast but before snack, we always have our "circle time." This time is used for music & movement, songs, finger-plays, games, and the like. The point of circle time is to have large group time, where the children will practice taking turns, listening to each other, making decisions, and learning concepts (right now, our focus is on the CIRCLE and all the different colors). My absolute favorite part of circle time is the music - in case you couldn't tell that from the musical vlog posts I have submitted here already.

The following video is a wonderful window into what life can be like with four 2 year-olds to entertain during circle time!

Aaron is bursting with energy. He gets so excited and has so much enthusiasm he can hardly contain it! He has a hard time picking a song... in the video he bounces from "The Wheels on the Bus" to "Open, Shut Them" to "Slippery Fish" and "ABC's" all within this 55 second video. He loves to sing fast and be silly. Most of the time, I ask him to slow down and participate in large group with the rest of us - but on this particular day, I just had to capture his energy - because it's adorable and fun and exciting... his enthusiasm is completely contagious. And plus? All that energy is just a part of who he is. And I love him!

Noah is the follower in the group. Imitation is the greatest from of flattery - especially to a two-year-old, and Noah loves to flatter. When we're not singing or reading stories, Noah is bouncing from child to child trying to figure out which one he wants to focus on. In this video, you can see Noah thinking about mimicking Paityn. But since Paityn is not very busy this morning, Aaron quickly catches Noah's attention and Noah plays with Aaron. Later in the clip, Noah gets distracted by Aaron's feet - which is pretty funny to me. Noah will often be focused and playing intently with something or someone and if he has a new thought about what he's doing, you can tell. His focus changes and he pursues his new ideas steadfastly. Noah has always been very focused and easily amused. Which is a great quality - I love him!

Paityn was tired the morning we captured this part of circle time. She is calm in the clip, and might even seem a little bored by all the antics. This is because Paityn is our observer. Even on her most energetic and active days, I often find Paityn sitting back and observing the action before jumping in on it. Don't get me wrong - Paityn can muster her energy without much trouble - but she quietly observes and takes note before acting. Just watch the look on her face as I stop singing... she almost looks bothered by the change in the room. If she wasn't tired (and possibly not feeling well - the poor thing!) she probably would have mimicked the boys. And after that song, if we would have sang it again - I can almost guarantee you that Paityn would have been center-stage, showing them some of her new moves. But, what's the rush - why jump into the action when there is important observation and note-taking to be done, first. Paityn picks up on things very quickly with these moments of observation. I wish I was more like that! I love her!

Rebecca is the rule-follower. At the beginning of this clip, Rebecca is making sure that I can see that she is sitting "criss-cross-applesauce." She sings, "See mom!?" ....constantly seeking praise for being the good girl. The rule follower. She looks to Aaron for leadership (only because he's taken the lead on this particular morning... Rebeca will look to anybody for leadership, as long as she knows what she's supposed to be doing and how to do it). She keeps checking Aaron to see what is next, and though tempted to join in on the playful silliness that the boys have going on, she is careful to sit properly and wait for further directions. I love that about her, though I sometimes find myself wishing she would take a couple more risks. I see a lot of myself in her, which I suppose is perfectly appropriate! ;) I certainly love my little girl!

Okay okay, so without further ado: The video. Enjoy!!

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes!

Showing off :: Cute kids!

Here's a short clip from our daily circle time!


One more, just for fun...


These kids are just so stinking cute. And I can't believe that I get PAID to hang out with them everyday!

Trash Day!

Thursdays are special at Miss Maggie's house. Thursday is trash day! Usually one or more of the kiddos sees the trash containers out on the curb when they arrive on Thursday mornings, and so they come in excited saying "trash truck?! trash truck?!"

Occassionally, we'll miss the trash truck. It usually comes during our transition from circle time to morning snack - and when we're lucky, we'll catch it without trouble. But, when we do miss it, the rest of the morning is typically filled with toddlers' voices singing "oh noooo! missed trash truck! oh mannn!"

It's really cute.

And maybe I'm a dork, but Thursday mornings at about 9:30 are usually one of my favorite times of the whole week.

I wish I could still get excited about the simplest, most predictable things. Something as simple as the city trash truck coming to haul away our garbage is exciting and wonderful in itself.... the guys can lift lots of heavy trash, the trash goes into a really big, loud, interesting truck, and they drive off with all our trash to get rid of it for us.

I know the kiddos will grow out of finding joy in Thursday's trash haul. But, for now - I am enjoying it every week, as the kiddos run to the windows and wave at the trash guys who have learned to smile and wave back at us. It's a lot of fun to see the kids' faces light up!

Tiny Tim

Paityn's 2nd Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Paityn! We started this morning's rhythm & rhyme time out with the song Happy Birthday! Today, we are going to decorate a crown for Paityn to call her very own. During lunch, we are going to wear some party hats, and after we eat, we'll sing again and have the cookie treats that Paityn brought to Maggie's house to share! I hope Paityn's birthday is equally as special as she is. When she first started coming here, she was just more than 1 year old and had that cute tipsy toddle as she tried to master walking. Now, she's got all the gross motor skills under her belt and is talking and singing, dancing and climbing everyday! They get big quickly, but each new age & stage is more exciting than the last. I'm so excited to get to share Paityn's birthday with her today!!

Check her out in this 5 minute video. She's quite the camera hog! :)

Dance off!

Need a giggle? Want to see each of the different personalities we have on a daily basis? You've GOT to watch this video! Gather your friends around, this is about as cute as it gets...

Random Pictures - Fun in the Sun!

Click image to enlarge :)

"If I were...." unit

I already spilled the beans about our "If I were" project, so I figured I'd provide a little more detail. The project has taken us a very long time to complete, and really it's still not done as I have some finishing touches to add to the children's books. But, it's important that we gauge interest and excitement in something so that we can add to that to foster development. For example, little Noah is a pretty big fan of FISH, so when we got to that part of the song, we took some time to talk about fish, count the fish in our tank, and sing other songs that have "fish" in them. Likewise, when we got to the kangaroos, Paityn started to show off her ability to hop! And, I realized that we had never really practiced hopping before, so we took a few days to sign some songs and do some activites that included hopping around - we discovered that there are lots of animals and critters that hop!

The only thing I find as a "downer" about this project is that the kiddos are not taking their creations home to share with their loved ones right away. I'm holding on to their completed creations so that they can go into a nice book at the end of the unit. Since I love to show off what we've been doing here, the parents have had to be very patient and trust that I'm actually working with the kiddos on things that are artsy/craftsy. :) So, now I present to you... proof that we have been very busy!


Here is the music & movement component of the first part of our song (pay attention to the end, little Paityn has quite the moooves!)




So, what do you think should be next? I'm thinking Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? would make for some creative art ideas and some great sound recognition activities!