Stripes/Taste Of Summer

We painted 17 stripes yesterday!

I tried to get them to paint each strip a different color.  It was a suggestion.

The results were beautiful!

I love the bright colors!

The weather is unusually warm for us this week.  We are having a taste of summer!  

My kids have been outside playing with the football in the late evenings.  They were so happy to see the return of the rope chairs.  Hello, old friends!  I can't wait to take them for a ride today at nap time.

 They stayed cocooned in them as the sun  began to set.

Smudge watched.

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

It's How I Roll

Something amazing happens when the sunshine is out.  Everyone is so happy.  We notice the growth in the gardens.  We see things much more brightly.  The colors seem to pop.  The jackets come off.  What is it about grass that makes a kid need to roll in it?  It's a right of passage when it comes to childhood.  The kids were sliding down a small slide and rolling across the yard.  It was a glorious afternoon.

She held onto her toy. 

"Yaaaayy!!"

♥Genuine smiles.  These are gifts from God.♥

This week has been beautiful so far!  I am so happy to see the sunshine.  If the sunshine is out- so are we.  It's how I roll.

A Clematis is reaching.

The Wisteria is waking up!

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

How Do You Do It?

I have had countless people mention to me that they don't know how I do my job and come out sane.  I understand why they think my job is difficult.  I have children in my home for 11 1/2 hours Monday through Friday.  My first one arrives at 6:00 AM, the last one usually leaves at 5:30 PM.  There are a few things that I do that makes my job easy.  Otherwise, I might not come out of this job sane each day.  Don't get me wrong- not every day at Henle House is bliss.  I just don't like to blog about the negative.  God has blessed me with this job, and I like to share the blessings.  

These photos are from some extra free play we had on Friday.  I'll be honest for you- having a house full of children means there will be struggles.  On any given day I deal with whining, separation anxiety, personal boundaries, tattling, fighting, you name it.  But the one thing that keeps this place running like a well oiled machine is that I remain consistent with my rules.  

The kids know the rules, and I do NOT negotiate.  I do not allow choices for a misbehaving child.  (Honestly, you can walk to time out or I will carry you, but you are going to the chair.)  I am the adult, they need to learn that there are consequences.  The only way that works is if I actually follow through, even if that means we miss some extra outside time or have to give up a treat that I have already baked.  Because of this, my job is easy!  

Another thing that I do is to have the kids follow a schedule daily.  They know that when it is clean up time, they are in charge of it.  I will not clean up for them unless they are vomiting or bleeding.  They learn responsibility.  I reward the kids with verbal praise and a treat or a sticker when I see outstanding work.

I said, "Ok guys!  It's time to clean up for group time!"  I said it only once, and they all worked together.

It only took them a few minutes.  They do it because they know that nothing else happens until it is done, no negotiating.

Here they are having snack.

They are each responsible for cleaning up their snack and bringing their cups into the kitchen.  If they forget,  I have them come back and take care of it.  EVERY time.

They have learned that during quiet book time, they have assigned seats.   I don't even have to remind them that it is book time because it's in the schedule, and this keeps them busy while I prepare art.

I'm telling you, it keeps things running so smoothly!  They are so good!

Here they are putting their own books away.  If they just throw them on the shelf, they are asked to return to put it away correctly.  They know this, and most of the time do it correctly the first time.  Some people might think I'm strict.  I just think that it's important to have expectations.  the kids are proud of themselves for being able to accomplish this stuff by themselves.

Here they are working on their art.

They each turned the letter T into a tree.

See?  

They each put on their own coats, located and put on their own boots and went out to play.  This is how I survive.  Teaching them to be independent, and not wavering from the rules I have put into place.  Another thing that makes my job so easy is that the kids that are with me all of the time have often been coming to our house for years.  The people you should think about thanking are the school teachers!  They have classrooms filled to the brim with students who they only have from September through mid June.  Now THAT is a hard job!  They have to start all over with their expectations each September.  That sounds exhausting!  I used to dream of being an elementary school teacher.  Not so much anymore.  If the opportunity ever presents itself to me to be able to purchase a building, I would start my own preschool.  As the Scorpions sing "Don't Stop At The Top", I always think about my next step.  I don't want to stop at the top, and with Henle House, that's where I am.   I'm licensed to the maximum, and can't go up any further.  When the huge daycare down the street was up for sale, I was really considering it.  Maybe God will present an opportunity to move up somehow.

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥

This song always gets me pumped.

"Don't Stop At The Top" by Scorpions.  It makes me want to move up the corporate ladder.

Blue Sky

 We got out some beads and created some necklaces.  It was really just a time filler project.  We've been creating a lot of stuff lately and I wanted something easy to implement.

 They worked for all of about 10 minutes...

 Because THIS happened.  Blue sky!  Run!  Stand in it!

Before I knew it, necklaces were tied on, coats and boots were thrown around in a mess of getting ready, and they were gone.  The only evidence was a table of beads.  The paper said that Washington has reached a new record as far as rainy Springs go.  The sun is out again this morning!

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Nest

We began with half of a paper plate.  The kids colored them brown.

The next step was to rip some brown paper strips to glue onto the paper plate.

Ripping is not always easy, believe it or not!  Funny how the kids books are easily ripped, but when the kids are handed paper to rip up, they "can't".  (Laughing.)  They got the hang of it!

Adding the paper strips create a nice 3D effect.  I like when art has layers.

They added three birds, beaks and eyes.

Is there a "Love" button?

These are perfect for Spring! 

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Tulips

T is for tulip.  "What's a tulip?"  We had to pause and take a look.

They didn't want to venture out with me.  They had socks on, and the wind was SO COLD!

We looked at this tulip. 

Out came the tissue squares again.  We use these so often!

It took a while, but they worked steadily to add some colors to their tulips.

It can be a challenge to get the tissue squares separated from each other.  They stick together.

I love the results!  Beautiful tulips!

It was time to change up our dramatic play area again.  I am low on supplies for the rest of my ideas, so I thought I'd just add some extra preschool manipulatives and the art easel to create a preschool fun space.

It dawned on me yesterday-- the kids are all three years old or older- I can now get out all of the stuff I had previously hidden.  There is so much stuff that can't be out in the open when one and two year olds are around.  Now I can put a puzzle out and trust that it won't be eaten or thrown around.  AWESOME! 

Christmas lights help light the dark area.

I brought out the easel.  One side is for chalk drawing, the other for paper drawing.  Need to clean a chalkboard?  A quick wipe down with vinegar will do the trick.  It cleaned up well this morning. 

I'm so glad the kids can access chalk again!  It's a fun thing to play with. 

Keeping in the preschool theme- an alphabet train floor puzzle.

Some lacing shapes.  I'm excited that I have lots of other stuff that I can add to the mix every couple of days to keep it exciting.

I took these flashcards out of my group time basket and punched holes in them to hang for easy access.

It's been really fun to mix things up in the play room!

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥