Making Christmas Decorations...

Every year we make these Christmas
decorations. It is really fun for the kids and they can do the entire project pretty independently. First they put applesauce and Cinnamon in a zip lock bag. Then they squish it around to mix it together. Then we place the mixture in between sheets of wax paper and roll it flat. Then we use gingerbread men and girl cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes. The we let them dry, tie on a ribbon and they can be hung on the Christmas tree at home or just put out somewhere because these little decorations smell amazing and keep their smell for a very long time. It is one of my favorite Christmas activities!

Treasury Hunts

Tiandra has been taking the kids on treasure hunts.
It has become their favorite outside game! Everyday
Someone is asking when we will do our hunt. It is

really cute, we have these colored plastic coins that get hidden all over the backyard. While T hides the "treasure" the kids all sing a song and look away. The when the song is over she says go and the kids all run like crazy hoping to find some treasure. They get so excited and just want to do it over and over again.

Just some fun pictures!

Christmas Trees

We painted our Christmas trees, but we wanted to do something different. So, we made special paint brushes out of left over branches from the real Christmas tree. We each selected a few small branches and taped them together to make a "handle". We simply dipped the untaped end into the paint and looked at all of the fun patterns and designs we could make with these different brushes. They turned out great and gave the children great stories to tell.

Rock Stars

Introducing the Jibber Jabber Rock Stars! We ordered some inflatable guitars and microphones. The kids came in and found them and just went crazy

with it. They spent hours coming up with rock star dances and their original songs. So great to watch all that imagination going to good use :)

Sorry for not keeping up for a while. You know how it is with the holidays, everything is go, go, go. But let me try to catch everyone up. This is the kids making Thanksgiving lunch. It was fabulous! All of the parents chipped in small contributions for food. We had turkey sandwiches, cranberry sauce, dressing, rolls, all the Thanksgiving favorites including mashed potatoes which the kids all got to help us make from scratch. I of course peeled and boiled the potatoes, but the kids did the rest. They loved mashing them, we had different kinds of mashers for them to try out. Each of them got to add an ingredient, milk, butter, etc. It was a very long but fun process. And they like eating it so much more if they brought it or if they were able to help make it.

Yay for the Holidays!

We all love the holiday season. If not for the food, for the awesome arts and crafts we get to send home with the kids :) Check out the adorable turkeys the kids made... They kids went nut getting to stuff the bags to make the bodies and then glue on the feathers however they wanted. The faces were all very unique and the kids had a blast! They even learned how to do the "Waddle Waddle Turkey Dance" It was hilarious!

We also made some Fall wreath to hang on the door. The kids had so much fun cutting all sorts of little shapes from the different colors of paper. Then they were able to design their own reefs to take home by carefully choosing their favorite cut outs and gluing them around their paper plate wreath to make it a one of a kind piece of art. More to come, just wait and see...

Halloween Fun!

We had the kids where costumes and trick or treat around the backyard. It was so cute! They had a blast showing off their costumes. I love this time of year :)

Table painting is the kids current trend. They want to do it all the time. We just put the paint

directly on the table and let them explore with there fingers, paint brushes, sticks from the yard,
whatever they would like.

We let them practice their shapes, letters, spelling their names all sorts of things that they don't even realize they are learning because they are having so much fun just playing. Most of the time after we are done painting we take a paper and make a "print of the table.

This makes a beautiful and unique picture that the kids can take home and use as a prompt to tell their loved ones all about the fun they had that day :)

We want a STORY...

The other morning while Tiandra was trying to make breakfast for the kids McKinley came into the kitchen with a book and showed it to us. We both looked at the book and smiled and told McKinley that the book was called the The Icky Sticky Anteater. She looked at the book and looked at Tee and said "Book" she handed it to Tiandra and we both knew that meant that they were having story time right then and there. Tee sat on the kitchen floor and and began to read to McKinley. Within a minute all of the kids had gathered to hear the story and brought their own books to have Tiandra read. Needless to say, breakfast was a little late but there were no complaints. Just some happy smiles and a stack of books :)

Pumpkin Patch :)

This week we took a field trip to the pumpkin patch. As in years past we took the kids to Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Farm in Natomas. I love this little farm, because they make it very toddler friendly. We had a great time! They climbed the hay mountain, went through the hay maze, had a great time in the mini hay maze where they were able to drive cars through. They played on the super cool teeter totters, explored the HUGE pumpkins, played in the old west town. And then each child was able to take home a pumpkin as big as they could carry. I was a great field trip and thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to go with us!

Check out our musical skills :)

Lately we have been doing a lot of music and movement. Above is McKinley and Aurora dancing to the music. To the left is the Jeremiah and Hezy doing the same. They were so cute and working so well together :)

This is McKinley letting us know that the Daddy's on the bus say "Shh, Shh, Shh" So cute!

This is Lilly showing us how the babies on the bus go "Wha, Wha, Wha"

I am so proud of our little characters :)