Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day weekend and we have been talking a lot about what we love about our mothers.  80% of the kids can communicate things like that to me.  Soon I will have to have another "Kids Speak" posting!

I snagged a flat of Marigolds for our Mother's Day gifts.

The kids created little flower pot cards to put in their flower pots.

The kids each took turns scooping potting soil into the pots.  In the past, we have used ceramic pots and painted them.  This time, Home Depot didn't have enough of them and I was kind of sad.  I like when kids can personalize their special gifts, but these plastic pots will do.  The flowers are potted with love, and that is all that matters!

They all did a wonderful job!

Something special for mom!

We only have a couple left to finish today. 

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

♥♥♥Happy Mother's Day!♥♥♥

Scaredy Guy

I took a bread tab and added some googly eyes.  His name is "Scaredy Guy".  Into the secret treasure box he went!

"I have someone in my treasure box this morning.  I wonder who he is?  He might be a little scared to come out.. should we open the box?"

After peeking inside the box, "Wait!  He's too scared!"  The kids got a little worried.  Did that mean that the guy inside the box is going to scare US?  I thnk that's what they thought.

Out he came, and boy were we surprised! 

When we see him, we must scream along with him so he feels better.

We practiced.

We played a game of "Find Scaredy Guy".  I hid him while the kids waited in the play room.

They could not locate Scaredy Guy.

They couldn't believe that they were close to him and couldn't see him.

Maybe if we use our binoculars like this little guy, we will find him.

There is is!! "AaaaAaAaAaAaAaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

It was a loud game, perfect for  the extra energy the kids came here with yesterday.

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥



Second To One

A nice song here, it's all I've got this morning! 

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

A Pumpkin Prayer

It was time for the punkins to plant the pumpkins.  Yesterday was a beautiful day to get into the garden!  We read a book about the pumpkin life cycle.  We looked at the seeds.

We learned that seeds need three things in order to grow: dirt, water and sunshine.

We headed outside to the garden.  First, we added some compost to the spots where the seeds will go.  The kids took turns mixing it in with the existing soil.  I don't let the kids get into the garden very often because sometimes they are harvesters.  This year, half of the garden is THEIRS. 

Mix, stir, till by hand.

They learned quickly that it is quite a job to get the soil ready!  We want our pumpkin seeds to thrive, so hard work is important.

They tucked the seeds into their freshly turned beds.  We added some popsicle sticks so that the kids can keep watch.  Now they know that if something green pops up next to the sticks, it must be a pumpkin plant!

"Dear Lord, bless this garden!  Bless the hands that work it, bless the vines with pumpkins.  Amen!"

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥



Changes

Here's a throwback photo from 2010.  I remember this time!  I thought of it this morning because today I am back to working Henle House by myself.  While I will miss my handsome hubby throughout the day, I am glad to be back in this routine again.  I will be keeping busy, and I work well when busy.  We begin our morning walk to the bus again!

Another old one, look at those poor kids.  The sun was in their faces and I was trying to get a photo.  We were galavanting around one of the many local farm stands here in Snohomish.  This summer, we might be able to do this kind of stuff again as our capacity shrinks.  Wow- they were so little!  The two on the right are my son, who is now 7 1/2 and my niece who is now 6.  The little one on the far left still attends Henle House- it's crazy to see how little they all were. 

Back to the grind today!  Back to normal!   The blog got the shaft last week as things were just too crazy to take photos and blog.

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥



Breaking My Own Rules

I have a pretty strict rule about the rope chairs. No children allowed during daycare hours.  Sometimes if I have one kid left and need to pass the time I will break that rule and let the last straggler have a go in one of the chairs.  What kid doesn't want to be suspended over a concrete edge in a rope cocoon?

Our own kids love the rope chairs.  They know the rules very well. 

It was a beautiful day yesterday, and these chairs are placed right in the afternoon sun. 

I love the shadows that are casted right around 5:00PM. 

These old trees look so beautiful in the sunshine.

I got very busy in the veggie garden removing the final weeds.  The cabbage plant is Ethan's. He brought it home from school.  The only other thing in the soil right now is a baby mammoth sunflower that popped up from a dropped seed last fall.  I am very excited that in the front flower gardens I found several more and will need to move them soon.  This veggie garden is going to be simpler this year.  Half of it will be Jack-Be-Nimble mini pumpkins gardened by Henle House, and the other half will be zucchini, green beans, corn and snap peas.

Contributing to my "food baby", (Thanks to my friend Tasha for teaching me that term!)  I found this glorious recipe on Pinterest and whipped it up in the morning so I could have some during nap time.  It is so good- I love anything with cream cheese.  I did not make my own crust, but purchased one of the graham cracker crusts from the baking aisle to save some time.  A homemade crust would work better because it is more firm.  It's alright though- when I am shoveling it in to support my "food baby" (the growth on my abdomen due to food intake) it still tastes fabulous! 

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥



Shadow Play

"Look at that glowing orb in the sky!  I wonder what that could be?"  The kids were standing around in the sunshine yesterday and noticed that their shadows had returned.

"Look!  My shadow is copying me."

"It's my FINGER!"

They were realizing that although they could see their shadow, they could not see their facial expressions.

I told them that maybe if they REALLY belt out their funniest faces, MAYBE we could see it in the shadows. LOL.

They tried to get their shadows to hold hands.  It was too confusing.

Meanwhile, my heart is kind of breaking!  I'm downsizing at Henle House because Adam will not be around as my helper come May 13th.  He has an emergency job to fall into, but is still searching for a long term opportunity.  It is so hard for in-home childcare businesses to BUILD a clientele, and to have to send some away hurts my soul.  I love these kids.   I do, however, trust that God knows what He is doing and I have an incredible peace about the whole thing.  If you need to know that peace, give me a call and we can get together and chat.

 ♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥