Vacation Bible School

Yesterday my licensor came for a surprise visit.  I have been waiting for a couple of months and was prepared.  It went very well!  Due to the visit, we didn't get to our project, so I don't have anything about the daycare to blog this morning.  I thought I'd share about Vacation Bible School though!  The handsome hubby rode along in the parade over the weekend to get the word out about VBS.  He was occasionally suspended from this tow truck- owned by Pilchuck Towing.  We handed out balloons and fliers and candy to over 600 children!  

Our daughter Stephanie and her friend were great balloon helpers.  There were a lot of people blowing up balloons and decorating the float and tow truck.  

Aiden played in the balloons! 

Join us for VBS at Machias Community Church August 6-10th, from 9:00am until noon.  1615 Virginia St in Snohomish.  Phone number is 425-334-1291.  Happy Tuesday!  This weather has me thinking about preschool planning. It feels like fall.♥♥♥

Water Play

Sometimes it gets warm enough to play with the hose.  We no longer use a pool due to regulations by the state.  I can't believe how the rest of the country is cooking miserably yet we are kind of cold.  Have we reached record lows yet?  It sure seems like it.  We had one particularly warm day- it was probably 75 degrees.  Good enough. 

Those who wanted to get wet ran at and away from me.  It turned into a battle.  Them vs. water. 

"Wait, maybe if I hold this ball up I won't get wet."

Others liked the idea.  Balls in hand, they approached. Cautiously.

"Retreat!" 

Other objects were not successful as protection, either. We all had a nice day.  Happy Monday!♥♥♥

Deuces Are Wild by Aerosmith.♫

Squid

The ferocious squid, often a topic of conversation at our house.  Looming below the surface, it waits to attack.  I am certain it's a deadly species, Adam thinks not.  We debate this all of the time.  We created squid yesterday.

"What's a squid?"  We checked youtube and found a video of the creature of death, attacking the camera.  

I cut the shapes out of paper plates and taped on some tentacles before art time.  It was a beautiful day and I thought I'd speed up the project a little so we could take advantage of the weather.  

See?

 I gave the kids orange and red paint.  I love the way projects look when the colors are mixed a little.  

Paint...paint...paint...

Add eyes.. We used white oval construction paper and then added googly eyes. 

This brave boy was staring down the enemy.. for a while.  I found it comical. I would keep an eye on that squid.

Glub glub glub.. attack! Happy Friday! ♥♥♥

Led Zeppelin "Fool In The Rain".♫

Music And Movement

If I have a brain freeze and everyone looks bored, we will flip on the Greg And Steve CD.  It has a couple of really phenomenal music and movement choices on it.  We like the one that directs us to "move your body as stiff as you can.. "♪

♫"Move around, like you're a stick man..."♫  The music that accompanies each direction is appropriate for the action.

"Can you move like a CHICKEN?"  Giggles from the kids.. chickens are so funny.   Silly farm animal music followed. ♫

I love the "Tiptoe... Ssssshhhh!" part.   For obvious reasons. LOL  The CD also boasts a great "If You're Happy And You Know It" song, too.  It is perfect for those times when I just need a minute to complete a quick diaper change or something but need the rest of the kids to focus on something else.  Happy Thursday!  This morning I am mother of the year for sending all three of our kids to the dentist.  They groan, but I praise God every time they can go to the dentist.  Maybe they will understand when they grow up.   I sure need to go. (When don't I? LOL) ♥♥♥

Here's a fun Greg & Steve song for you- "Going On A Bear Hunt." ♫

Story And A Craft

Here is one of my favorite children's books.  The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Dan and Audrey Wood.  It's a story that the illustrations were created to look as though the mouse is interacting with the reader the entire time.  The mouse is trying to hide his freshly picked strawberry from the big hungry bear. 

We created our own strawberries yesterday. I cut strawberry shapes out of paper plates. 

Paint, paint, paint.

We used a toothpick with some yellow paint to create the strawberry seeds.  It worked out nicely!

The final step was to glue on the stem.  Hooray for summer and all of the berries it brings! 

Meanwhile, Smudge apparently needs some attention.  Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Feel So Close by Calvin Harris. LOVE!♫

Birthday

We love birthdays!  Isn't that the most important day every year to a child? (Or is it Christmas?) I think every child who has entered our front door dreams of adding a number to his or her age.  As close as possible to the actual date, we try to have a little party.  I usually don't tell them we are planning because I like to surprise them.  The cupcakes are baked, the table is set, a small gift is wrapped.  All in honor of our birthday person!

Everyone decorates a cupcake. 

We use a popsicle stick to spread the frosting.  Then comes the sprinkles.

It's always a big deal to lick the frosting off of the stick BEFORE we sing to the birthday person.  

 Our birthday girl turned FIVE!  She has reached that milestone every preschooler dreams of- 

kindergarten age!

We sang ♫Happy Birthday♪ just to her.♥

A wish was made, and out went the candle.  Let's eat! Happy Tuesday!

Birthday, by The Beatles. ♥♥

Playdough Day

We got out the Koolaid Playdough that I made last December.  It is still soft and wonderful!

It was rainy outside.  It's rainy outside today, too.  When will it end?

The kids squished, molded, stacked, flattened, rolled and stretched it out for an hour.

I love those trays.  It's good to have playdough boundaries.  Boy am I glad we don't have carpet in the main areas of the house.  I would be cleaning bits of playdough out of it for days!  Trays or not, playdough bits always end up on the floor.

I stayed close to accommodate the constant "LOOK!"'s, and it was never ending.  

Making dinner. :)

Making me a smiley face.. :)

Finally, a squid turned octopus.  Happy Monday!♥♥♥

Song for today is Stand In The Rain by Superchick.♫

Doodle Painting

 This is one step up from free painting.  Just draw some doodles on the paper for the kids to paint!

It encourages them to use different colors, and I love to see colorful art.♥

Aiden traced his doodles before filling them in with paint.

This little guy worked diligently, paying special attention to painting in the lines.

I think we have a Picasso, here!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Crayola paint? (Um, yes, I think 100 times.)  The colors are so vibrant, and it just washes off of everything. I LOVE it.

It took a little bit of time because we used Q-Tips to paint with.  See how beautiful?

Each one was unique. ♥

Meanwhile, it looks like yesterday was our last day of sun for a while.  It's so dark this morning.  Raining with a little bit of thunder.  I'm glad I took the time to poke around the gardens yesterday.. I found a chick blooming from a tree stump.♥

There were now TWO little fuzzy caterpillars on the gourd vine.. How cute!

The apple tree is heavy with growing fruit.   I can't wait to get some of it into the dehydrator!  

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Song for today is "I'm Free" by Kenny Loggins. 80s flashback.♫