Crazy for Crickets

S sings her made up song:  "Bugs! Bugs!  I love bugs!"  but VA says "I don't like bugs."  But only until I point out that butterflies and ladybugs are bugs.  Then she revises her statement to be "I don't like bugs except for ladybugs and butterflies."
After Pops caught some crickets for us, VA had to revise her statement again because she decided she likes crickets too.

Exploring local parks

Our normal park is Jacobus, but lately we've been exploring more of our local parks including:  Hawthorn Glen, Hart Park, Valley Park, Washington Park, and Highland Park.  We are really lucky that there are so many great parks within walking distance!  I like the variety but the girls still prefer Jacobus best.

Today's Harvest

One of B's favorite activities is picking flowers and vegetables from the garden.  So far this year, we've harvested:

4 Zucchinis
2 Yellow Squash
7 Cucumbers
Lots of Yellow Wax Beans
Lots and lots of Cherry Tomatoes & SunSugar Tomatoes
Some Snap Peas
Lettuce, Spinach, Arugula, other salad greens, and Swiss Chard
and every couple of days we get a handful of Strawberries (which are B's favorite)

Our beans are growing!

The bean seeds that L and I planted last week have now sprouted.  We planted green string beans and yellow wax bush beans.

And the pea seeds that V planted are just beginning to sprout too.

Outdoor play area is all set up for the season!

 Well, I've got our outdoor play area all set up for the summer season now.

There is an adult size table with umbrella and a kid size one too.  There is a sand table and a separate water table.  There is our play house and a little slide.  There is also a shaded seating area for when the sun is really hot.

Recently, I've purchased a couple more riding toys, a magnetic fishing set, a plastic bowling set, more bouncy balls, a couple of sand & water mills, and some more sand toys too.  There are plenty of things for the kids to do outside now and they've been loving their outside time each day.

I've also gotten around to planting and setting up all the pots in my container garden.  In addition to flowers, I'm also growing 15 containers of fruits, veggies, and herbs.

On Monday, L helped me plant bean seeds in one of the raised beds in the front yard.  He did a great job and enjoyed watering it with the hose after we finished.

Today, V helped me plant snap pea seeds in a large container out back.  She likes the helper role and did a really great job too.

Youngstar rating

I received the results of my Youngstar assessment and my daycare has been rated at 3 stars.  I actually received enough points (24 out of 40) to qualify for a 4 star rating, but because I've been open for less than a year, the highest rating I could get was only 3 stars.

If you haven't already heard about Youngstar, it is the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families 5 star daycare quality rating system.  You can find out more by going to their website at:  http://dcf.wisconsin.gov/youngstar/ .

I've heard that most family daycare providers just accept the automatic 2 star rating that they are given, but I knew I could do better than that.  I'm glad that I opted for the informal assessment and coaching.  Next year I plan on going for a 5 star rating with a formal assessment and because of the help I received this year, I know exactly what I will have to do to get the highest rating.

Also worthwhile was the $500 Youngstar grant that I received.   With it, my daycare got a new toddler height table that seats 6, a toddler sized sofa, a shatterproof mirror, and 6 chairs of varying of heights specifically for toddlers.  My daycare kids love the new furniture!

Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree!

Since it is December, of course we've been reading some Christmas books and singing a few (non-religious) carols.

Here's a picture of my Christmas tree.  Every day the kids love to spend time looking at the ornaments.  They've been very good about only touching them gently.  I always remind them, "Gentle.  Only use one finger." which seems to be working since they haven't broken any yet.  Even so, next year I think I might use only shatterproof ornaments, just so I don't have to worry about it so much.

Hawthorn Glen Park

Today we walked all the way to Hawthorn Glen Park, which is a little over a mile away.  It was worth the effort though, because the kids had a great time!

On the way there, we talked and I pointed out different things as we passed by them.  We went under a few overpasses.  We saw a monarch butterfly and a little yellow butterfly.  We saw our mailman, a forklift, big trucks, a loud motorcycle, and a person on a bicycle too.

There are 2 big kid playgrounds at Hawthorn Glen, but the little kids did pretty well on them.  V always waited at the top of the slides for me to go down with her.  And L would call me if he needed help while climbing on anything.

V's favorite thing was the tire swing.  The whole time she kept smiling and saying, "I'm on the tire swing!  Wheeeeee!"

L invented a pretend game where he and V were little monkeys and I was a big hungry bear that wanted to eat monkeys.  When I caught him and gobbled him up, then he changed into being a hungry baby bear.  V made it known that she preferred to remain a little monkey.

I tried to entice them into taking a walk on one of the nature trails, but they were set on staying at the playgrounds.  There were a lot of dragonflies buzzing about, but the kids just weren't interested.  Maybe we'll try again next week!

Exploring the new playgrounds at Washington Park

This morning we took a walk to Washington Park to explore the several new playground areas that recently opened there.

Each little playground area was about a different topic in nature.  The first one we stopped at was about bees.  The next ones we went to were about leaves and how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.  One playground area had a giant spider web.  There was also one about pond life and another about fungi.

Pops came with to help make sure the little climbers were safe from any falls.  And it was a good thing because climb they did!  I kept a really close watch of them and I was really impressed with their skill and bravery.

It was a fun day for both kids and for me too.  I love it when I can send them home really happy.

There are a lot of parks within walking distance from my house, so next time we might check out another one.  It mostly depends on how much energy I have in me because it's quite a workout pushing a stroller!

What a week!

Pops (that's what the kids call my dad) caught this huge moth for L last night.  The picture doesn't really do it justice.  The thing is more than 3 inches long and looks even bigger with its wings open.

I presented it to L when he arrived in the morning and he looked at it with D several times throughout the day.  After D saw the moth, she put in a request for Pops to catch something just for her next.

In the afternoon, L announced that he was going to take a nap and that his moth was going to nap with him.  I set up his mat w/ sheet, blanket, and pillow and L put the moth next to his mat.  He didn't actually do any napping but I thought it was still cute.

After a little while I moved the moth back to the table so that no one could accidentally kick the container.

It was quite a week getting 3 new kids at once.  It was an adjustment for me, for them, for D, and for the dogs.  One morning Keeley demanded that I hand feed him and another night I found Teagan had put herself to bed in her crate which normally she hates sleeping in at night.

I'm sure next week will be better though.  I'm making the adjustments that I think are necessary.  I plan on setting up a separate room for V to nap in so that she doesn't have to listen to S who only seems to cry when she has an audience.  And I'm going to set up a special place for V to play in the kitchen while I'm cooking so that I can talk to her the whole time.   D is starting school and I'm going to set up a place for her to work on her homework in the afternoon.  Plus I've got a stroller on order so that we can start taking morning walks in the neighborhood or to the park.

This week was an adjustment but next week, I think we'll fall into a routine that works for everyone.

A few other things we did this week include:  listening to the ocean inside a big conch shell (every kid seemed to enjoy this), reading books (it's the best way to get L to be still), playing with the water tables outside (they all get completely soaking wet but I think it's worth it), guessing which objects will sink or float (led by D), games, puzzles, music, hide & seek, and we watched Lilo & Stitch.

We also did some painting.  These 2 pictures were painted by S and I think they turned out rather amazing considering her age.

The first day, I didn't intend to have a 1 year old painting but she was so interested in what the other kids were doing.  To keep S from pestering them, I set her up with her own piece of paper and paintbrush.  At first she kept trying to eat the paint.  It is non-toxic and washable but don't worry, I still stopped her from eating it.

The second day is when she produced these 2 pictures and this time she seemed to understand that the paint goes on the paper, not in her mouth.  Whenever she looked as though she was considering tasting it, I just reminded her "no, paint goes on the paper".  She likes to be praised for doing a good job and she especially likes it when we do a high-five.

In the morning I had read L a book about Henri Matisse which I thought was too advanced, but he proved me wrong.  Right away he says to me, "That's silly, you can't draw with scissors!" and later when we were painting he said, "I need more beautiful colors".  So I asked, "You mean like Henri Matisse?"  And L replied, "Yeah, like Henri."

Flower Garden

I wanted to post some pictures of the flower garden because it adds so much to the outdoor environment.  The earlier pictures of the outdoor areas were taken in May before the garden really had a chance to get growing. 

The front garden passed it's prime a few weeks ago.  The raised beds containing vegetables are still growing strong, but most of the flowers that hide it have already bloomed and faded.

The container garden in back is just about at it's peak.  Each summer I grow well over 60 containers and hanging baskets filled with flowers and herbs.  This year, I'm growing cherry tomatoes too.

I think the colorful flowers add a lot to the outdoor environment and kids like to help water the plants.

Next year, I hope to involve kids in the process of starting seeds indoors, and also in preparing and planting the many containers.

The butterflies and bees that the bright flowers attract are good for learning about insects and how the natural world works.  There are a lot of things for us to sketch and make note of in our nature journals.

Being able to pick some flowers and make a colorful arrangement is a nice way to bring the outdoors inside too.