Valentine Box

I loved Valentine's Day in elementary school. I could not wait to make my Valentine Box and handing out Valentines to my classmates, was always a proud moment. It did get a little stressful in 5th and 6th grade when I was worried boys would think I liked them, so I was VERY selective.

Ryan and Henry began the tradition together of writing out class Valentines. Henry wrote his own secret message and Ryan wrote Henry's name. Henry took this job VERY seriously. He had his favorite Disney characters on the Valentines he handed out. I loved this and so did Henry. Here's to many more years of Henry letting us help him the night before his Valentine's Day Party.

The Wheels on the Bus

As we get to the end of summer, I think we are to the half-way point of the really hot heat. And I am so happy about that.  Unfortunately, the end of July also signifies the end of Grammy daycare.  How lucky are we that Henry's Grammy is a teacher and WANTS to be with her grandsons every minute she is not teaching.  Let me tell you, it is a noisy and rough and tumble summer for my mom.  Henry is very attached to his Grammy.  Everyday when we leave, he begs Grammy to come with us, "tum on Drammy, tum on," and then cries in the car when he realizes she is not coming.  

So, today, Henry went back to school.  Just a half day, but he (and Ryan) missed breakfast with Grammy.  She came and picked him up at 10:15am.  We love our preschool and especially Miss Kim, but we are not ready to be away from Grammy.

Thankfully, Henry was super excited to be with his friends. 

He practically pushed us over to get to the door.

Here I am everybody!

A bus and a friend to play peek-a-boo

Thank you Grammy for giving the boys a summer together...we love you so much!

Let them SWIM

I have two boys in my class that come everyday. They are full of joy and energy and let's just say full of need. In different ways these boys have caused my heart rate to escalate on a daily basis, but have also caused my heart to break on a daily basis. We do a combined parenting technique that I call Love and Logic meets Supernanny--except of course these kids are not MY kids and they are not the only kids they are 2 of 14 that all need love and attention all day.

So today, the day that I have been selling my kids all week, WATER DAY! As I was walking out the door with 12 bathing suit, towel toting two year olds, my co-teachers says, "I am nervous." I said me too, but I was also excited and I felt prepared. As we go outside the kids eyes are like dinner plates. I guess one girl said to her mom as she saw the water slide being inflated, "Mom, I am going to have an AMAZING day!" (She is 2) We get outside and there starts a REALLY fun time of splashing and sliding and of course being cold and wanting to get in and out of the water. It was close to perfect fun for all of our kids.

At the end of our time, we tell the kids to go to their towels, of course my to boys that I talked about in the beginning did not get out right away. And I did something I never do and that is LET IT BE. The other kids did not mind and I thought they could use a few more minutes of swimming and sliding off their energy. I sent all of the other kids in two at a time to get their clothes on and have some freetime in the classroom (with the other teacher). Finally I was down to two kids on their towels and two boys in the pool. I sent the two kids in and told the boys to get out, but at the last minute, after the two other kids went inside, I told the boys "one more slide" and I got in with them (and slid down the slide even though I was probably over the weight limit). What a moment for us. I mainly love these boys everyday, because God loves them and he reminds me just how much he loves them and how much they need love and how I am the adult. But today I loved them because I wanted to, because their joy reminded me of how things are supposed to be for kids (and adults). And even though one of them told me "I HATE YOU" about and hour later because I would not give him a bandaid, I still went home loving him. I got a glimpse of the unconditional love of God today and I am going to savor it all weekend. Because it feels good to love even when you are "hated."

The Rainbow Room

My favorite part about working in a Preschool is the holiday season--starting with Halloween! Kids love it as well. We are in full swing making black spiders, bats and pumpkins. I am planning a pumpkin patch day where we plant pumpkin seeds and then they "mysteriously" grow into pumpkins in one day! Gotta love two year olds! No really you have to...I tell this to myself everyday as kids are peeing and then playing in it and licking their hands--not kidding. Enjoy our decorations...

Our Calendar...we count everyday. One girl can count pretty high. She says thirteen, fourteen, FIVEteen, sixteen. I thought, that IS the way it should be. Whoever thought up fifteen instead of fiveteen needs to be put in timeout...come on guy (you know it was a man), give the poor kids a break!

A little Candalaria.

They do not really follow it, but we say it everyday anyway.

Spooky Spiders

I know, I know garden is missing the E, but I couldn't find it and I just keep forgetting to make a new one. We made this last week, when we were learning to be kind to our classmates. My question is this about kindness--do kids learn to be kind or do they learn to be mean? Let me know if you find that one out.