Fun Flowers

Jon picked up some very fun flowers for me this weekend. I took a ton of pictures because they were so bright and made me smile! I have a very sweet hubby!!!

Toy Story 3

Can't wait for next summer!

Emmy's 1st Soccer Game

Today was the day - Spiders vs. Termites. (we're the spiders). I think Emmy had fun. Last night she told me, "I don't think soccer is my talent." BUt she was still excited for her game today. I'm starting to think that maybe football could be her talent. She decided to make soccer a little more physical than some of the other players: she balled up her fists and just plowed into people, grabbed them by their jerseys and pulled them to the ground and perfected falling to the ground while taking out as many other players as possible. Maybe we should go over the rules of soccer before her next game! The game was a lot longer than I thought it would be too - they played for an hour and she didn't sit out at all during the entire second half. I had one tired 5-year old on my hands at the end of the game!

Saving a Robin

We are ...... the Bird Rescuers!

I have to say the daycare crew was quite excited this morning as we helped a robin recuperate from a collision with our front windows. Everyone who comes to our house every day knows that occassionally there are dead birds lying on our sidewalk - victims to our big front windows. Now I don't have supremely clean windows..... we must have a maginificent reflection from our big maple tree in our front windows. In the past 2 weeks I think there have been 5 birds crash into the windows out front and 2 into the patio door out back (and that is REALLY not a clean window).

This morning's latest victim was a medium-sized robin. She slammed into the windows hard while I was out front with Reed, Rylee and Talasia. I kept the kids back while I grabbed some heavy duty gardening gloves and picked her up. She was thrashing around so hard and quite stunned so the goal was just to try to keep her quiet until it became obvious that she was ok or that she wasn't. After I got her picked up and she was calm I held her so the kids could get a closer look. Not too close - but close enough that they could really get a good look at her and see how pretty she was. We are all delighted about 5 minutes later as she started wiggling to get free and flew away. The kids are pretty sure that she got feeling better because she pooped (thankfully not on me). Reed's comment was, "she went poop and that made her all better!"

Thankfully this was one successful bird saving mission and the kids were delighted to get to see a robin up close and to watch her fly away safe.

It's Good to Be 9!

Bria had a great time at her party last night! Almost everyone she invited was able to come and it was 2 hours of loud crazy girls - but everyone seemed to have a great time. Guests included: Lauren, Kailey, Jenna, Taylor, Chloe, Paige, Danika, Mia, Brenna, and Ingrid. So we entertained 12 girls last night. They started out playing outside, then we had some pizza and worked on decorating hats and bracelets. Then it was more outside time before we did gifts. After gifts we came in and they decorated their canvas photo mats. Then it was time for cake and heading home. It was a whirlwind of a party but Bria was delighted with it all! Here are a couple of pictures. Canvas photo mat
Bria with her under the sea cake

decorating canvas mats

Bria and Danika

Bria and Kailey

Bria and Jenna

Bria and Chloe

Bria and Paige

Bria and Mia

Bria and Emmy

Bria and Brenna

Bria and Ingrid

Bria and Taylor

Bria and Lauren

Playing outside

The Cake is Ready

Now that the cake is done I just have to make sure that no little fingers or paws get ahold of it before Bria's party tonight!

Being Brave

I read today's post on "Stuff Christians Like" and he had entitled today's entry "Being Brave". If you are curious, you should read it - it's really good. Part of what he mentioned in his post was being as brave as a 6-year old.... and he goes on about that.

But it got me thinking. You would think that I, being a daycare provider, would not forget this important fact, but sometimes I do. Kids are brave. For kids entering daycare it's a BIG deal to be that brave and step away from mom and/or dad to spend the day away from home interacting with a different adult and usually many different kids. It's a REALLY big deal. And these little kids are old enough to form opinions about all this and most of the time, they handle it amazingly well. When I have a new child come into daycare there is usually about a 2-week transition period. All the trainings I've gone to tell you to expect kids to take 6 weeks before they are fully adjusted. Almost all of the kids I've cared for have adjusted in the 2-4 week time frame and by the time they hit 6 weeks it is so familiar for them it feels completely natural. This is part of my job and it's a process I go through with each new child who comes to my home for daycare. And it's not just kids starting or switching daycares. It's the child who is starting preschool for the first time. Every kid who has moved to a new town and has to start over EVERYWHERE new. It's for all those kindergarteners out there this year who are still trying to get used to a million new things. Every kid who has to face something new for the first time gets a chance to be brave.

With Emmy starting kindergarten this year, I sometimes forget how big all of this is for her and how brave she is. Being gone from me all day every day is brand new for her and it's a huge deal for both of us! But she is being so brave - she likes school and she's working through the bumps in the road. So at the end of the day when we are talking through one of the days she fell apart, I need to remember this is all still new and fresh and it's still the adjustment phase. And Bria, she is almost fearless when facing something new - she truly enjoys jumping headfirst into something brand new and exciting. I can't think of the last time she wasn't brave about something new. Both of my girls inspire me to look at life differently - more bravely.

Kids are brave - every new circumstance is truly new to them. They don't have a lot of past life experience to fall back on. Yet, they are brave. You really should check out the Stuff Christians Like blog - this is all verbalized beautifully in today's post. But all of these rambling thoughts make me want to be brave - like a child, like my girls, like all the daycare kids I see come through my door. It's good to be brave. 1995 - Kentucky, Spring Service Project for Northwestern College

Happy Birthday Bria!

Bria is 9 today!! Hooray! She turns 9 on 09-09-09. It's Wednesday - and Wednesday has 9 letters. Also, September has 9 letters! If I played the lottery I bet you can guess what number I would pick today! Also, 09-09-09 is the last of the single-digit dates for another 1001 years!

And Bria has already celebrated her birthday a lot - with more to come. In August we had a birthday party for her with my family and this weekend she got a present and cake from Jon's family. This morning we woke her up with presents from us (as well as a shopping trip a couple of weeks ago with me). We're heading out to the chinese buffet restaurant with the girls for dinner tonight. And Friday night Bria is having a party with a bunch of her friends from school! So - she is sufficiently spoiled!

We love you, Bria, more than you could know! Hope your day is amazing!

Long Weekend

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. Jon's parents were here Friday night through Monday morning and it was a good time hanging out with them. We had another mini-birthday for Bria with cake and a gift and visited a park for a little bit one afternoon too. I think everyone had a good time. Monday during the day we were all going to golfing together, but it was really windy and my allergies were bugging me again, so I stayed home with the girls and Jon went by himself for a little while. We just kind of crashed yesterday - everyone was really exhausted even though we hadn't been out and about doing things all weekend. I think the quiet day was a very good thing.
So, hopefully the daycare crew comes back ready for the week. I expect everyone to be a bit on the tired side - it's a Monday and it's a Monday after a 3-day weekend: that usually means tired kids. So we'll ease back into to the week and get everyone back into the routine.
Tomorrow we will celebrate Bria's birthday too!
Until later....

Busy Kids

We have one busy house around here! Along with the first week of school.... soccer practice started for both girls and Awana at church started last night as well. So for a couple of months we are going to be on the go in the evenings. Monday nights: soccer for Emmy. Tuesday nights: soccer for Bria. Wednesday nights: Awana for both girls. Saturday mornings (in a couple weeks): soccer games for both girls. It's all right though. The change of pace from our laid back summer feels ok. And by mid-October soccer will be done and the only extra things we will have going on are Awana and piano practice for Bria.

Here are a couple of shots of the girls in action at their practices this week. They had a lot of fun!

The daycare crew has enjoyed a lot of outside time this week: we are taking advantage of the beautiful weather. We're taking long morning walks, playing in the yard and enjoying scooters and chalk out front.