Thumbprint Art

Thanks to another great suggestion from Noni, this morning the kids and I worked on some thumbprint art. Emmy and Talasia really got into creating some fun animals and characters. Reed, Rylee and Camryn enjoyed making the thumbprints most of all. There were several resources I used as a jumpstart for ideas, even though I didn't actually have any of the books! Just seeing the covers gave the kids enough ideas to get started. One website I found was Thumb Print Zoo. A website called Burning Daylight also lists some fun books and resources if you want to look into thumbprint art some more. I hope to check out some of these books from the library to use in the future.
Emmy's creations

Talasia's drawing of Plankton

Serena's Visit

We enjoyed having Serena and Jon's parents here this weekend. She got to see some spots around town, eat at the girls' favorite restaurant, paint bricks for the backyard, and hang out with her favorite neices! Thanks for coming everyone!

Dramatic Pose

Silly Faces

Conga Line
Superhero poses on the swings

Good Reminder

Just a quick good reminder on today's Our Daily Bread:

God knows each winding way I takeAnd every sorrow, pain, and ache;
His children He will not forsake—He knows and loves His own. —Bosch

God’s love still stands when all else has fallen.

Some Good Phineas and Ferb

Because it is Saturday and my brain refuses to function much today, I think the world should pause for a moment and enjoy some Phineas and Ferb....








See.... don't you feel better now?

Earth Day, April 22, 2009

To celebrate Earth Day, the kids worked on a painting project outside this morning. Everyone had a brick to paint and they all had a good time painting. (Thanks for the idea Noni!) They can take them home and find a fun spot outside to put their Earth Day brick. So, here they are......

Chuck

Chuck is THE best show on TV.... probably EVER!!! Join us in telling NBC to bring it back for Season 3 next fall! I don't know if life will be the same without Chuck! :)

Follow this link for ideas to help bring back Chuck: (thanks Tabbi): http://zachary-levi.com/2009/04/09/ten-reasons-to-watch-chuck/

http://zachary-levi.com/2009/04/12/help-nbc-chuck-get-a-third-season/comment-page-1/#comment-4503

http://petitionspot.com/petitions/renewnbcchuck

So Glad It's the Weekend

We are just really enjoying the weekend around here. Even though it's turned cold and yesterday was really dark and gray with even a couple of the tiniest snowflakes in the air..... we're still just really enjoying the downtime. We picked up some river rock to work on a landscaping project after church today. We enjoyed some good food at the Fireman's Ball in Warren, Minnesota last night. We got our storage area under the steps put back together yesterday and some more cleaning up done downstairs and in the computer room.... Just lots of odds and ends stuff yesterday that felt good to get done.

This morning we have church and this afternoon Bria has Girl Scouts while the rest of us hopefully work on yard stuff. It's still going to be chilly and a bit gray today, but next week looks like it will be beautiful - in the 70s with lots of sun! I can't wait! The winter was long and every part of me is so glad that spring is finally here. I think we appreciate the return to warm weather more than a lot of other people in the country! Not to say others didn't have a long winter too, because I know it was long this year for a lot of people. But when we first moved up here we didn't understand why people filled their summer days with SO much activity - I mean everyone seems to fill out every single day with as much going on as they can. We didn't understand that at first. But, now we get it.... people up here really appreciate the warmth and the sun and the chance to be outside (without 5 layers on) more than what I'm used to seeing. We get it now! So this summer promises to be filled with lots of outdoor stuff: golf, tennis, walks, parks, scooters, bikes, camping, exploring, tubing, company, swimming.... !

Here are some random photos from the past week:

Emmy wearing the mermaid swim stuff from Grandpa and Grandma Holthe


Emmy and Mom enjoying some cuddle time.
Sleepy Emmy.... fighting off a cold right now.

Our projectg for today: continuing the river rock around the bottom part of the deck where grass will never grow again due to all the foot traffic our yard gets with 10 kids and a dog! Can anyone take a guess what our summer project will be? Just take a look at our deck and I'm sure you can tell!

Playing Outside - Finally!

Spring has finally sprung here and I couldn't be happier! It is SOOOOO good to be able to get the kids outside enjoying fresh air and running off some of that extra energy. Everyone's moods and attitudes are better and that makes it nicer around here for everyone! On Tuesday school was closed and I had the entire crew for the day: the big kids were outisde for 4 1/2 hours!! It was so wonderful! We are making good use of the deck and the sidewalks and the driveway. The yard is still off-limits due to all the mud, but hopefully some light rain to wash everything off and then some wind and sun to dry it all up and we should hopefully be in the yard next week.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Whew! Our trip to Iowa for Easter weekend was really fun and really busy! We got back Monday afternoon and had a nice chance to unpack, go to the store, and get ready for the week. We spent Thursday and Friday with Jon's parents and we visited the drive-through Zoofari between Omaha and Lincoln, went to the Children's Museum in Omaha and enjoyed hanging out. Saturday and Sunday were spent with my family and we got to hang out at Tabbi and Trever's house Friday night for awhile too, which was a blast. We spent a day at the Omaha Zoo, did Easter eggs and egg hunts and went to church together Sunday morning. We headed up to South Dakota Sunday afternoon to see Jon's grandmas and then drove home from there on Monday. Busy, busy, busy, but it was a lot of fun! Here are some of the pictures from our weekend - thanks everyone!

Children's Museum in Omaha

Fun at the Melby's

Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo

National Public Health Week

Tabbi shared this YouTube video with me and I thought it would be a good reminder as well as a good way to spread the word about National Public Health Week.

Bria - Ode To Joy

Bria was really excited to be playing "Ode to Joy" in her lesson for the next week and she wanted to share it with everyone!

Pagosa Springs

Another favorite Danny Oertli song...

Short Week

Just a reminder for all my daycare families, I will be open on Monday and Wednesday this week. I am closed on Tuesday for my birthday and closed on Thursday, Friday and Monday next week because we are traveling to Iowa for Easter.
Due to our shortened week of daycare, we are going to be busy with all kinds of Easter activities this morning. Hopefully the kids will enjoy decorating foam easter eggs, some coloring pages and lots of glue and foam stickers. If I can find my packed camera, I'll be sure to get some pictures posted before we leave if I have time... otherwise it will be after we get back. Thanks to everyone for making other daycare arrangements this week!

Wow... Friday is Here Finally!

In the daycare world, you might be surprised to learn that Fridays are the toughest days around here. For most people, Monday is the dreaded day of the week, but in our little corner of the world, it's Friday when everyone falls apart. For most full-time kids, they are in daycare for 45-50 hours a week, and that's a lot of time to put on your "brave" face and hang out with your crew. Most adults I know who are working a Monday-Friday job, are always so glad for Friday because we know that the weekend is coming - a break from the daily routine and the people and work politics. And for adults, that usually translates into Friday being easier to be at work because we know that break is coming. For kids - they are just as ready for the break and ready to spend a couple of days with their parents in their homes.


So, in light of the fact that it is Friday, we are having some open play time and watching "Garfield and Friends" and I think we'll have some mac and cheese for lunch and pray for a nice long naptime to refresh everyone's attitudes and get through the rest of the afternoon.

One of our birds was a bit more creative in his attempts to get the bird food - he crawled right down inside the feeder for some food!

Bria's First Piano Practice

Bria LOVED her piano lesson yesterday and came home from school so excited to practice. This is one of her favorite songs to play last night: