Partially Unplugged

I'm taking the high road until September.  I just returned from a fabulous visit to my childhood home in Grantsville Utah.  I enjoyed being partially unplugged.   It's time to take a blog break until September! Our August is filled with birthdays and long lazy days, it's time for me to take a break.   See you then!♥♥♥

Great Game

Here is a great game that everyone should own: Rush Hour.  It's a great boredom buster for one person to sit down for some quiet time.  It came in a box, and in the box was the bag shown above.  It holds the game.  

The game is set up to look like gridlock traffic jam.  The player chooses a card and then proceeds to set up the cars and trucks according to the picture.  The goal is to get the red car out of the traffic jam by moving the cars and trucks along their "roads".  The cards gain difficulty as the player moves through them.  

See?  The cars cannot move diagonally, just North South east and West.  

Sometimes a little advice from another set of eyes is helpful. ☺

Finally!  The red car can exit.  That level has been defeated.  Happy Wednesday!  I am flying to Utah tomorrow morning and am excited to see an old friend.  I plan to do NOTHING.  It will be glorious!♥♥♥

One of my favorite Tori Amos songs, 'Spark' being played live.  I sure wish she had played this during her last stop in Seattle.  I am very happy to hear Tori has a new album coming out soon and hope I get to go see her again. ♫

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!♫