Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

As this year comes to an end, I just want to thank all of you once again for allowing me the privilege of caring for your children.  I feel blessed to have each of you in my life!  I look forward to many fun adventures and learning experiences with your children throughout the new year!

Alex is ready for a party adventure.

Parker loves to learn and explore.

Here are some holiday pictures of the children and a few from our Christmas party from last week. 

Parker

Jackson

Owen

Alex

Rocco brought his own reindeer antlers!

Shelby

We had our Christmas party here last Tuesday since most of the children just happened to be coming that day.  Jackson, Owen, Alex, Rocco (and Andrew) were all here that day.  For our craft, we made Christmas stockings where we looked through the Christmas toy catalogs and cut out our favorite toys to paste to our stockings.  It was a big hit ! They loved looking through the catalogs and finding all kinds of toys to add to their stockings.

Another fun activity we had was decorating our cookies with frosting and Christmas sprinkles.

Jackson enjoys his decorated cookie.

Rocco frosts his cookie.

Yummy!

Alex sprinkles red and green sugar on his cookie.

  We also had a small party gift to open during our party.  The boys were so excited to open their gifts!

Ready, set...

Open your gifts!

This week we talked about New Year's.  I asked the children what happens on New Year's.  Alex proudly shouted out, "Everything goes on sale!"  I laughed so hard!  Kids sure do say the cutest things!

The weather was warm yesterday so we headed outside for some outdoor fun.  With the record breaking amounts of snow we received for the month, the snow piles were a lot of fun for the kids to climb!  It's hard to believe that they are standing next to the basketball net!

That' a lot of snow!

Outdoor fun!

We also played downstairs and had some movie time too.  We even had a dance off in the afternoon!  It was a lot of fun!

Best friends!

More fun together.

Movie time!

Happy New Year everyone!  See you next year ;-)

Christmas Countdown (and Welcome Owen)!

It's been a busy time around here lately.  As we get closer to Christmas, things always get hectic around here!  The days seem to have less hours in them and there's ALWAYS plenty of things that still need to be completed!  Ugh!

We've had visits from Jackson, Rocco, Shelby, Drew and Luke and even my nieces Norah and Aleena.  I can't believe how big all of the children seem to be getting!  They are growing up so fast! 

Jackson

Rocco proudly shows his shark picture.

Shelby

Drew

Luke

We are also very happy to welcome our new friend, Owen. 

Owen is one of Drew's preschool friends who will be visiting us occasionally.  I think he enjoyed his first day here which just happened to be on a day that Drew and Luke were also here.

Owen, Luke and Alex play at the train table.

  Shelby loved being here for a bonus day.  She was especially happy to be here on a day Parker was also here.  She loved seeing how big Parker has gotten and loved to be able to hold her!  Shelby is quite the little "Momma" and loves all the little babies!


Aren't they both so cute?!

Owen came back and this time spent a whole day here. 

Owen proudly shows off his finished puzzle!

He had a lot of fun playing with Alex and the two of them quickly became good friends!  We spent the day talking about counting down the days until Christmas.  Both of the boys added ornaments to the Advent tree (an annual day care favorite here).

Adding the ornaments

We also spent some time reading stories about Christmas and what our families do to get ready for Christmas.

The boys enjoyed all of the Christmas books during story time.

I've been busy trying to get things ready for our upcoming Christmas party.  There are presents to wrap, activities to prepare and cookies to bake (the children will be decorating them).  I'm sure we will have a great time.  I can't wait! See you all soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm so thankful (and honored) to have each of you in my life!  I love all of the children dearly.  They bring joy, laughter and happiness into my home.  It's so much fun to be a part of their lives and be able to watch them grow up!  Thank you for allowing me that privilege.

Alex and Shelby enjoying one of the last of the warm days we had. 

Well, our unusually warm Fall weather ended abruptly and instantly it began to feel like winter!  It was nice while it lasted but now it's back to reality-Minnesota style!  Time to pull out those winter coats, boots, hats and scarves once again!

The children have been having fun here getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We have had visits from Shelby, Drew and Luke, my nieces Norah and Aleena, and even a visit from Rocco!  Here are a few pictures of the children with their Thanksgiving turkey crafts.

Norah, Aleena and Alex

Luke and Drew

Jackson proudly shows his turkey craft!

Jackson just loves Parker!  She really seems to enjoy when he is here too and wants to be right near whatever it is that he is doing.


Story time!

"Hello, Jackson?"

"Oh, hello Parker!"

What a cutie!!!

I always love the days when Drew and Luke come over.  They are such good boys.

Fun with the flannel boards.

Drew and Luke had a blast playing with the dress-up outfits.  They had a lot of fun (as you can see)!

The construction worker and astronaut.

The pirate and the...cheerleader???

Parker has become very interested in books.  It was so cute to watch her as Andrew read to her.

 Mr. Roy was off from work on Tuesday and so he got to see Parker for a little while too!

Parker and "Mr. Roy"

 Finally, yesterday we had a pre-Thanksgiving party here with Andrew, Alex and Rocco!  Everyone had a great time!  We played Stuff the Turkey, baked cookies (in the new oven!!!), read Thanksgiving stories, colored Thanksgiving pictures, and made cool Turkey headbands.  The headbands looked hilarious on the boys!

Annual reading of the children's favorite: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie!

Alex shows off his coloring skills.

Although I didn't get a picture of them actually playing, the Stuff the Turkey game was a big hit!

Hope your Thanksgiving is filled with lots of love, laughter, family and of course, good food!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!