A Day in the Life

I wake up each morning and am excited for my day.

After I have 'opened' the curtains, let the dog out to pee and turned on the lights, I wait for little people to arrive.

It is always the best part of the morning, huge smiles and big hugs. My favorite is when the little ones jump into my arms. What a glorious way to start the day.

Some days it is snuggly, story, play quietly calm days. Some days it is full of noise, dance. laughter and rolling around. Some days it is everything and some days it is nothing. Some days we paint all morning, it's never enough. Some days we read the same book over and over. We spend time learning new things, shapes and colors. Letters and sounds. Snow is the most exciting topic. Walks and parks. Car rides and friends. Library and art galleries. We love the museum. The zoo is fun but not as much in the winter. Maybe on a warm day.

We always have a delicious lunch, followed by teeth brushing and stories. Songs with actions, It is unbelievable what they learn and how quick. As a matter of fact, today Tyson was singing HEad and Shoulders to Vada at lunch as Vada did all the actions with him. Vada loves circles and triangles but not squares. She tries to say triangle and circle but shakes her head no to sqaure. They know the letters their names start with. They know K is for Kathy and M is for mama. P is for puppy.

Where was I?

This is how our day is, full of excitement and adventure.

I am not 100% sure who has more fun, I love my job, I love watching these beautiful little people grow and change. I love when I see them after they have gone to school that I am met with the same hugs and happiness. I am excited to see Caden, now big, playing hockey next weekend. He was fabulous at soccer and he has the most incredible little brother. Blake and Whit are so big and so amazing, both in full time school now, both so amazing. There is many more but these are some of the last few.

I love each of these kids so much. Our family loves them all.

Playing, nurturing, guiding and loving are so easy. I love love love my job.

One mom said to me that I love children that aren't my own as much as my own. I love that. I do.

So this is our day. There is naps and quiet time, cooking and baking. Garden growing and puppy walking. We are all about Polar Express right now and watching them with their pocket watches waiting for the train to come is magical. Going to see Santa is so exciting, until they see a fully dressed human santa, that will be interesting. We got a Santa that is the size of them today and Tyson looked at his pocket watch and said "North Pole Bada" and hand in hand they went to Santa. Vada discovered a bell on Santa and became super excited, She was trying to say bell and then went to get the book and showed me the bell.

So again, this is our day, fill of wonder, exploring, laughing. Some tears. Not many. Learning to be kind. Potty training, oh the excitement of a pee! It is a celebration around here with a pee! I have no idea what is in store when we get a #2. Oh lordy we may need a party!

So when my day is done and all the hugs and kisses are finished. I feel happy. Happy to have spent a glorious day with such amazing people.

This is what our days look like!

Snow Days

Potty Training

I decided to buy a potty.

Tyson and I have been talking about the potty a lot the past few weeks.

I brought it in the house and we opened it up and Tyson was so excited for his own potty.

I told him he is allowed to use his potty anytime but he needed to only sit on it without a diaper.

This started the afternoon with a bare bum.

He loved sitting on his potty and we would sing all kinds of songs, then something took place....

He was so happy and proud!

Admiring his work

Just hanging out on his potty again.....

He is amazing!

Library fun

Snowmen

Creating snowman was a lot of fun after our snowball fight

Crafts were fun for the kids this week and when we went outside to play in the snow, Tyson was not sure why the snow was so cold. I referred to the crafts as snow crafts and I didn't think he would think the snow outside was the same. It was quite difficult to explain the difference to a two year old. In the end he thinks inside snow is warm and outside snow is cold but does not have a running nose or boogies.

Indoor Snowball Fight

What do you do when it is cold outside?

Have a snowball fight!

We had so much fun

We had a great time throwing 'snow', cotton balls at each other. 

Cooking 101

I love when the kids participate in daily life. Together we made stew, biscuits and jello

There is stirring, mixing, pouring and laughing

I really like how they share and watch and are excited with the finished product that they made.

Pouring in some ingredients

The stew all ready to cook!

What amazing helpers!

Reading Corner

We do a lot of reading everyday, some of my favorite moments with the kids are when we are reading, we snuggle and talk and have precious quiet moments.

And there are times when they take turns to read to me. I love when we share favorite stories.

They are now recognizing the words on some pages, beginning reading.

My very favorite story and now theirs...

Are You My Mother?