Basketball Stars

The boys have discovered the basketball hoop :)

We lowered it for them and it seems to have made

whole new game for them. It doesn't matter what
kind of ball they find, if it fits through the hole it is a basketball. These 3 boys played for hours this week shooting and scoring and doing their victory dances. It was adorable.

Jumping Fun!

We broke out the jump house this week in the backyard. This is always a crowd pleaser! They had a blast jumping and going down the slide. Landon told us it was "So COOOL" They played in there most of the morning. And begged to go back after nap (unfortunately it was way too hot!)

Lets get messy and have fun :)

This is as many of you know my very favorite activity to do with the kids! This is goo... We love goo! It is the funnest / coolest creation ever. It is simply cornstarch and water, but it makes this liquid/solid that is so fun to play with because it "melts in your hand". By the way, it is great stress relief too.

Each child played with the goo in their own way. Some went for 30 min. of just making hand prints in it. Others wanted to see how much of it they could pick up and watch it melt. McKinley needed to see how much she could splatter it when she picked it up and clapped with it in her hand :) We all sat around and play with the goo for about an hour and a half this morning. Which only ended then because I gave them a bucket of water to wash off in. Gotta love the freedom of being young :)

Lets drive!

On your marks, Get set, Paint! And their off... We wanted to motivate some uninspired artists to paint with us so we took their favorite toys and used them as our paint brushes. They loved it! The kids took the cars and vroomed all over the paper until there were awesome tracks everywhere. Every single kid participated with a smile and a sound effect, that is just what we like to see around here!

WELCOME BACK McKinley! We missed you this summer!

WELCOME LANDON! We are so glad to have you joining our fun!

Sweet Treats!

For those of you that know us well, you know that sugar is not a common thing around here. I try to avoid it most of the time, but once in a while we need to indulge. The kids were going back to school and unfortunately Danny and Alex were leaving us to attend kindergartens that we are not able to accommodate. So to lift our spirits we made ICE CREAM! Actually we made cupcakes in ice cream cones :) The kids were able to help measure the ingredients, mix the batter, fill the cones, and after they cooled the kids each decorated their own cupcake cone. So much sugar they may never sleep again! They loved it and it was a wonderful way to get everyone ready for the change.

Lets build something...

As you know we spent a week talking about birds. We learned about their feathers and went bird watching. All sorts of fun! We also found these GREAT kits to make our own birdhouses. They were perfect! There were three different styles of house for the kids to choose from and they each (with minimal assistance) put together their very own birdhouse. Then they got to paint it however they wanted. They were so excited! Many of talked about what kind of bird they wanted to live in their house and choose paint according to what they thought that bird would want the house to look like. We had a couple of bluebird houses and a Tweety Bird house. They were just wonderful!

Sorry for the delay...

I am very sorry to all of you who have been checking here wait for new stories about your kids! I have been swamped! As many of you know we have welcomed some new friends into our care recently, welcomed back one very missed little girl that left for the summer and had to say goodbye to 4 of our friends. All of this plus school starting has made things a little bit crazy around here. But I will try to catch you up on the last few weeks :)