No time to blog!

Things are moving at an incredible pace around here, just like I like it. There were a few days last week where we had some easier days - so I spent a lot of time organizing, cleaning, sanitizing, and writing plans. I guess it was a spring cleaning frenzy for the daycare! Now my records are all up to date, the toys are all cleaned, the couch has been throughly vacuumed (big job!) and the floor has been mega-mopped! Plus, I have a plan for themed activities for the whole summer. It feels nice to be back on top of things.

This week, we kicked of an Earth Day theme. On Monday, we went on a Trash walk. We walked the perimeter of the house, and even into the neighbors back yard, picking up trash and recycled items (Unfortunately, we didn't find much to recycle!). We talked about wasting and reusing. I'm thinking that the conversations went right over the girls' heads, but at least we're talking about it. It will all kick in soon. Yesterday it was dreary in the morning, so we colored a recycle symbol and painted the Earth on a paper plate. They look really cute - I hope to take pictures... but I've gotten pretty lazy with the camera lately.

Perhaps my lack of pictures has to do with my hands being full! Noah is walking and cruising everywhere! I'm amazed at how much a baby changes between 6 and 10 months. And Rebecca is showing signs of teething - Every once in a while we see some white on her bottom gums. Julia is getting more creative in her play - adding details with every scenario she acts out. Savannah is close to being potty trained!

Today, we're going to plant some grass seed in a potato. I'll kick myself twice if I don't get photos of that!

Alrighty - that's my interesting post for the day. Thanks for stopping by!

Just a list

Here's just a list of some of the things we did today:

• built towers with blocks and then knocked them down, over and over and over again
• played with shaving cream
• cleaned out the office closet (and found lots of fun things to play with)
• colored on paper with the babies (pictures coming soon, promise!)
• painted with watercolors
• played with sand, indoors
• read a million gazillion books
• played with noodles ("extra" noodles from today's yummy soup)
• prayed together
• sang together
• clapped together (one of Noah's new hobbies)
• practiced our letters (we're working on "T" right now)
• played with puddles outside (just for a few minutes, it was too cold!)
• played pretend (Julia was the mommy and Savannah did whatever Julia told her to, it was endearing)
• played ball with the babies - Noah and Rebecca are going to be great friends!

Nap time is just about over - I'm sure there's much more we are still going to accomplish today! I truly have the best job in the whole world. I wish you could spend a day with me. Thanks for stopping by!

Childcare by Maggie is closing down, effective May 1

April Fool's! Just kidding. I wouldn't give this job up for anything. I continue to feel so blessed to be in the position that I'm in - working for amazing families and growing with amazing children. I called my aging grandmother last night to say hi and to let her know I was thinking of her, and - as always - she asked about the kiddos in care. She told me that just the other day she went to Will's orchestra concert. Will is a college graduate that is in the CSU Orchestra in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Will is graduating with a management degree this May. My grandmother babysat will from the time he was a few months old until he was about 10 years old. And now, 15 years later, she is still invested in his life and attending the concerts that began as she took him to his violin lessons a decade-plus ago. Those are the kinds of friendships I want with the children I teach today!

You may have thought that this blog was forgotten. On the contrary! I think about the blog everyday, as I know there are many readers who are anxious for pictures and stories of the little ones. Each day, I think - "Oh I really need to blog about this!" and I kick myself for not having my camera nearby or for not simply downloading and then uploading the pictures that I do already have stored on the camera that I almost always have conveniently in my pocket.

Perhaps when things get back to normal, I'll be able to post more consistently. We've all suffered from the icky germs that attack when seasons change. Luckily (?) We've not all had the same virus... so at least we know sanitizing and cleaning is one of my top priorities! Today, it seems as though everybody (even me) is feeling better. We're all in attendance and we're all in good spirits. That's the kind of news that I like to blog about!

So please do keep checking. I hope to post some evidence of Noah crawling around looking for new adventures to get into. I hope to post pictures of Savannah and Julia playing one of their many newly invented games - usually having something to do with a ball or stick or rock or something. I also hope to post more about Rebecca's developments - she's signing like crazy - saying things with her hands like "mommy" and "more" and "milk."

But for now, just say a little prayer of thanks for our health!

More pictures!

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words... That's good, because I haven't had a lot of time to jot down many words!

Sounds from the Playroom

The girls were playing around Noah, who was sitting in the middle of the floor minding his own business:

Savannah: (Takes a double-take at Noah, and continues walking. Then, goes back to Noah and gets right up close to Noah's face to inspect...)
Me: What's the matter, Savannah?
Savannah: Noah?
Me: Yep, that's Noah - are you going to play with him?
Savannah: Oh. He looks like him dad.

I had to giggle wondering if she thought maybe that was Noah's daddy sitting in the middle of our floor?


Later...
The girls have discovered imaginary wings, and have been flying around the playroom gracefully. A few hours ago, Julia commented about how her hard/fast running was making her heart beat really fast and she wanted me to feel it.

Savannah: Ut-oh Maggie (coming to me, sticking her chest out)
Me: what?
Savannah: Ut-oh my heart is beating (putting my hand on her heart to feel)

I assured Savannah that it's a GOOD thing to have your heart beating! I told her I'd like to know if her heart WASN'T beating. :)



Then:
The girls were still flying and Julia stopped to get paper and marker.

Julia: See what I drew mom?
Me: That looks great! Tell me about it?
Julia: That's me! And do you see my wings?
Me: Oh yeah - looks like your wings are right there by your arms?
Julia: No mom, that's my hand.
Me: Oh of course it is. Where are your wings, doll?
Julia: My wings? I'm a girl, I can't really fly. I don't really have wings, mom.

Whew, I'm glad she cleared that up for me! ;)

Videos!

I went a little camera crazy on Leap Day. I had this idea to try and capture a little bit of every part of our day... so that you could get a full picture of what one of our days is like. (I wanted a shot of breakfast, then circle time, then snack, then playtime, etc. etc....) but that was way harder than I imaged it to be! So, when I had the time, I shot as many pics as I could and I know you'll enjoy them! (See post below!) Also, my camera has a video feature on it... while the video isn't the best quality it definitely catches some great moments. The most frustrating thing about my camera, though, is that when I'm recording video, it stops recording at random times... so I might be shooting something REALLY good (like the girls singing or like Noah on the move) and it won't let me catch the whole thing. GAH. Oh well :) Enjoy the clips that I did capture!



In the next clip, you'll see how close Noah is to crawling! He moves from sitting to all fours very easily!



In this next clip, you'll get a small taste of what it looks like when Noah goes backwards. He has very strong arms! He can go from one end of the room to another (as long as there are no difficult obstacles, hehe) in about 15 seconds!



And finally, this clip will give you a sneak peek at just how stinking. lucky. I. am. to. be. playing. with. kids. for. a. living!!!!

Pictures Pictures Pictures!