Avi - 11/30/2017

Avilene ate most of french toast and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate meat from pulled pork sandwich, bites of bread, ate peas, and two servings of watermelon.

Hey Molly, as you were driving off this morning Hudson said, "Bye Molly."  Avi growled at him, "My Mom!!"  So of course, Hudson HAD to say, "Bye Momma, bye Momma."  Let's just say, Avi didn't like that at all!  Haha!  We quickly moved on to another (less volatile) activity!  :)

This first picture:  Hudson and Avi hurriedly cleared the toys off the shelves so they could convert them to bunk beds!

We read Christmas books at Story Time!  Never too early to get out the Special Christmas books!!  At the end of "Frosty the Snowman" book I said, "Bye Frosty, bye Frosty."  Avilene said, "He coming right back."  Cutie!  We sang songs and did some sign language as well.  I'm impressed with how many signs Avi remembers and how quickly she can identify them!  I did the sign for the color "orange."  Avi said, "Pumpkin!!"  Ha!  Cracked me up!  Last picture: We did some Christmas stickers at Art time.  It's never too early for Christmas stickers!  Ha!

Avi - 11/29/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate her squash, and a large serving of fruit salad.

When Daddy Andy was leaving he asked Avi, "Can I have a love?"  Nora was standing at the gate and just lifted up her arms and he hoisted her up and got a hug.  So cute!  I told him he should be feeling pretty special because not everyone gets that opportunity with Nora!!  :)  Then Avi hugged her Daddy and of course Atley was ready for a turn as well.  I was totally waiting for his reaction when he reached over the gate and picked up Atley.  Kind of surprising, right Andy!?  Yup, and that's why she can push that swivel/rocker chair around and around no matter what anyone else wants!!  Haha!!

I was changing Avi's diaper and she was singing, "Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle.....cow jumped over the moon....dish ran away with the spoon."  We have sang/read that several times lately because that's the new book I bought on my trip which has several more versus.  She and Hudson are already singing some of the other verses; "Hey doodle doodle the fish and the noodle..."

Here are some pictures from this morning's activities; Not much too say about this first picture except I thought it was cute!  This is the reflection I saw in the mirror when Avi was playing with the pillow. The 2nd picture was pretty funny!  Hudson was trying to tell Avi something and she was messing with him; closing her eyes and pretending not to hear him.  He was saying;  "Avi! Open your eyes and look at me!!"  (Repeat and repeat!!)  The last picture: I put Baby Linnea on the floor for some "tummy time" and Atley immediately went over and lay down beside her.  Of course Avi and Hudson soon joined them.  This actually only lasted a few moments and the older ones were off to something else.  And I monitored it very closely in case anyone is overly concerned about the Baby!  Linnea has a brother at home about Hudson's age so she is already adjusted to having kids close to her.  :)

Avi - 11/28/2017

Avilene ate bites of whole wheat bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, half of brown rice, half of stir fry vegetables, and ate raspberries.

Note from Yesterday afternoon: my daughter text me a picture of her little dog and she'd put a headband with reindeer antlers on the dog's head.  It looked cute and hilarious and I was showing the kids.  Ave kept saying, "I want to see the reindeer, I want to see the reindeer."  Haha!

I love how observant Avilene is and how she is ready to jump in and fix everything!  :)  I finished feeding the baby and asked Hudson to sit the bottle on the changing table and "stand it up" because it still had an ounce of milk.  He put it up there and it tipped over, but I didn't really care because it wouldn't drip out with that small amount.  The next thing I noticed Avi had gotten a couple of blocks to stand on, stood the bottle upright, and said, "I stand it up Gary."  So cute.  Thank you Avi!  You are so helpful and I love it!  Not much to say about this first picture except how cute it is.

We read lots of books, sang songs, and the kids played on the mattress a lot just like they do everyday!!  They love that mattress and never get tired of it!!  Lauralea and I started using a mattress in the Daycare many years ago and it's always been a favorite.  Atley and Avi were playing in the igloo for a short time, but I got this cute picture of Atley laying her head on Avi's lap.

Avi - 11/27/2017

Avilene had bites of bran cereal and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch:  From her chicken salad she ate chicken, olives, half of tomatoes, and a bite of cucumber.  Ate avocado, pears, and pita bread.  She was saying, "More pears, more pears!"  So I told her if she'd eat her chicken I'd give her more pears.  Several minutes later Avi said, "I eat my chicken; more pears."  And she'd ate all of it.  :)  Also, shortly after she arrived this morning I asked, "What'd you do last night?"  Yup, just what I thought she'd say; "I ride the carousel!"  Lauralea heard all about the carousel too while I was gone.

I had an awesome time in Louisiana with my precious daughter and her husband.  (He's a great guy too!!)  I just have to include a couple pictures from my trip - I'm limiting it to just two pictures, ha! So here are a couple that are quite different from what we see in Montana and they typify the State of Louisiana!!  1st picture:  Love these boats and I'm going on a ride up some bayous on my next trip there!  2nd picture:  My daughter only lives about 40 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico and any houses right on the Gulf waters are built high!!

I love the first day back from time away.  So many loves!!!  In this next picture I turned around and these two had moved the yellow bench over here and sat down to read some books!  Shortly after I took the picture Hudson was reading/singing "Baby Beluga" to Avi.  She knows it too of course, but she was just listening to him.  That was cute.  We had so much fun just hanging out, reading books, and enjoying being together again!

I was feeding the Baby her bottle and Nora comes over and held up a book saying, "Ah, ah, ah, ah..." It was obvious what she wanted so I asked her if she wanted me to read her the book and she said, "Yeah."  It always amuses me when this age group isn't even aware that you might be doing something else and not able to meet their immediate "want."  (not "need.")  So I said, "Did you notice I'm feeding Baby Linnea?"  Avi (who was sitting on the couch beside me) chimed in and said, "read book."  So again I asked, "What am I doing?"  Avi said, "read Row Row."  (That was the name of the book.)  LOL!  So typical and it cracked me up!!

Avi - 11/16/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pizza: whole wheat crust, tomato sauce, hamburger, olives, peppers, and pineapple.  She also ate half of her pineapple on the side.  I put Nora in her highchair for breakfast and she started tugging and yanking on her bib straps in a frantic manner, but at least she wasn't yelling!  What's that about!?  Avilene comes running over saying, "Yellow bib, yellow bib, yellow bib!"  Haha!  Silly Gary!  I put your yellow bib on Nora!!  :)  Believe me that's not the first time I've been in trouble with the little people for putting the wrong bib on someone!!  They know which bib is theirs and that's the only bib they'll accept!!  :)

Ok everyone!  Here's another reminder that I am leaving tomorrow for the airport about 10:30 am.  I will be here until that time.  Lauralea will cover for me tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday.  Little Treasures is closed Wednesday the 22nd - Friday the 24th for Thanksgiving.  There will be NO BLOGS until I'm back for Daycare on Monday the 27th.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I'm SO very thankful to be able to go to Louisiana to see my daughter and her husband.  (And wear shorts during November!)

Here are some pictures from Avi's morning:  In the first picture Avi was taking toys to Baby Linnea and put the "toast" in the baby's hands.  Then she got the toasters and put them on the couch in front of her.  Avi said, "You're welcome!"  LOL!!  That cracked me up!!  So stinking cute!!  Then Avi was running across the floor and intentionally falling down and saying, "I'm ok!"  Run across floor, fall down, "I'm ok!"  Repeat and repeat!  :)  In the last picture Avi was pointing at the people in the picture and she asked; "What's this boy's name?"  Peter.  "His name is Peter?"  Yes.  :)  By the way, Happy Birthday Peter!

Avi - 11/15/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, most of whole grain tortilla, ate vegetables (carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes), and fruit salad.  This situation at breakfast didn't really faze Avilene at all, but I'm still gonna post it!  It was a little chaotic during breakfast time; especially for Nora.  We had a situation with the sump pump in the basement yesterday and the plumber was scheduled to be here at 8:00 this morning.  Well of course he showed up about 45 minutes late - about the same time as Hudson, Avi, and Nora.  Thank goodness it was a quick fix (like I thought it might be) and he was done by 9:20 while we were still eating breakfast.  So what was the problem you ask!?  Well Nora saw his face! Yikes!  Poor Nora was screaming (LOUD) because I was not in the lunch room and she couldn't see me.  Baby Linnea had fallen asleep in the Baby chair and I was putting her sleeper on her so she could go to bed and she was crying.  Poor Linnea.  "Sorry," I said to the plumber,  "It's not usually like this!  (Pause) Sometimes it's worse!"  (Humor!)  I'm sure he'll never try to get his child into Little Treasures!  Ha!

Last night I found this "score card" in the lunch room where Kenzie and Riley were doing some art after snack yesterday.  I have no idea what it was - Kenzie is always creating a game of some sort - but if "low score" wins then Nora, Avi, and Gary rocked this game.  Knowing how Kenzie thinks I'm sure that is NOT the case.  :)  I thought this was really cute.

Here are some pictures from this morning's activities: the song on the iPod was "If you're Happy and You Know It...clap your hands!"  Atley immediately started clapping and Avi joined her.  Then it was ....."happy and you know it stomp your feet."  That was the verse when I took the picture.  Avi and Atley were stomping their feet!!

They were all excited about the new baby so I asked if they wanted to see Linnea on the monitor!!  "YEAH!!"  Here's a picture of that occasion!  :) Not really what they had in mind for "seeing the baby," but it's the best we could do at the moment!  So the last picture shows the baby hanging out with her new friends!  Atley and Avi had just left the gate and it was cute to see all 4 "older" kids looking at the baby, but my camera was on the changing table.

Avi - 11/14/2017

Avilene ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, bites of brown rice, ate stir fry vegetables, and a bite or two of oranges.  At breakfast she said, "thank you" so sweetly!  Adorable.  Hudson was done first at breakfast and she looked at his plate and asked, "Can I have Bubba's plums?"  Haha!  No, but I'll give you couple more that haven't been handled by Hudson!!  :)

At lunch Hudson was asking about every vegetable in the stir fry mix; "What's this Gary, what's this Gary?"  (sugar snap peas, green beans, water chestnuts, broccoli, carrots and more)  And he was eating each one as he asked me.  His curiosity helped Avi be curious as well and she was also eating all of hers.  Very cool.  Except her curiosity was like this; while Hudson was pointing at the food on his plate she opened her mouth and said, "What's this Gary?"  Your teeth.  (My amazing humor is frequently lost on these 2 year olds!!)  So she reworded the question; "What's in here!?"  :)  Mush.

Avi and Hudson had a few of their "Daycare Siblings" squabbles this morning.  I had to laugh (quietly) at this one;  Avi said, "Bubba! Move back!"  He said, "No, you!"  :)  They fight like crazy and 20 seconds later it's all over and they're immediately buddies once again!!

Here are some pictures from this morning: Avi working the phone lines - obviously multi-tasking!  In the 2nd picture she and Hudson (in the background) were jumping blind off the balance beam.  The last picture; Avi finding new ways to play with the blocks!  We also did some stickers at Art Time.  When I announced it was almost Story Time she and Bubba did some frenzied cleaning of the couch.  They had it cleared off in about 10 seconds.  :)

Avi - 11/13/2017

Avilene ate lots of cheerios and ate banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of ground beef, half of whole grain pita bread, no tomatoes or lettuce, ate her avocado, and cantaloupe.

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet Avilene!!  It was SO much fun to go Avi's party and thank you for inviting us!  I (and Lauralea) have always enjoyed seeing the Daycare kids in their own environment.  It helps me learn more about your children, your personal family culture, and I just love that!  Hard to believe she's already 2.  She's learning, developing, and growing at an awesome pace and I'm super proud of her and thankful to know this little girl!!

The new baby, Linnea, is here today and she was pretty fussy when Hudson and Nora arrived (at the same time)!  She was getting very tired and scrubbing her eyes and a short time later she was asleep! Nora and Hudson stared at Linnea like she was a foreign creature and it was so funny!  Then when Avi arrived she wanted to know where the baby was and I showed her the monitor, but that wasn't really what she wanted to see!  Ha!  Avi was pretty sure she needed to sit right at my elbow when I was feeding Linnea.  So cute.  This will be good practice for Avilene and she'll be a super big sister!!

We did a toy, book and puzzle exchange this weekend and here are some pictures from this morning's activities.   I was taking a picture of Avilene and I didn't even realize you could see Nora's reflection in the mirror.  Nora is intently watching Avi comb her hair!!

These last two pictures were so funny when I started to listen to what Hudson was saying on the phone.  Avi had been playing with the food toys and I heard Hudson saying something on the phone about "syrup."  (And there is a "syrup" toy in this set.)  So I asked Hudson who he was talking to.  He said, "Emergency guy."  I said, "What happened to Avi?!?"  Bubba said, "Her ankle."  Then he held the phone up to Avi's ear and said, "Say hi to the emergency guy."  Avi said, "Hi emergency guy!!" Haha!  I was laughing so hard!

Avi - 11/10/2017

I don't usually do a Blog when a child arrives just prior to lunch time, but considering I was gone yesterday I decided to post a couple notes for Avilene.  First, Lauralea told me last night she was glad I have my job and she has her job!  Haha!  Me too!!  It was a busy day for her yesterday, but so far she's still agreeing to cover for me so I can leave for Louisiana next Friday.  :)

Avi arrived about 11:00 this morning and she was here for probably at least 3.5 seconds before she and Bubba were in a squabble!!  Ha!  Lauralea told me she thought it was pretty much a 50/50 split between those two who was the instigator of their conflict!  Yup, I agree.  :)  Lauralea also said that Kenzie told the kids to come to the window to look at some deer outside and Avi said, "Reindeer?" :)

For lunch Avilene ate salmon, half of whole wheat dinner roll, several bites of corn, and ate mangoes.

Avi - 11/8/2017

Avilene ate french toast and strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a bite or two of paleo stew with hamburger and vegetables (green beans, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli).  She ate one cracker and a large serving of tropical fruit.

Reminder: There will be NO BLOGS tomorrow November 9th.  Lauralea is covering for me all day while I work on my property in Plains.  Blogs will resume on Friday!  Also, Kenzie and Riley get out of school at 11:00 Thursday morning so tomorrow will be a fun day for the Daycare kids.  I may as well do another reminder here!!  The new Baby starts on Monday the 13th (Avi's Birthday) and the Blogs will continue as usual.  However, her eating and sleeping schedule will problaby alter the times when Blogs are posted!  Just keep checking if the Blogs aren't here at their usual times!  All Blogs will get posted by 2:45 at the latest!

These first 3 pictures are from yesterday afternoon.  Avilene was playing with the masks and she was putting on 4 and 5 masks at a time.  Kenzie and Riley thought that was hilarious so they were adding as many more as would stay on Avi's head.  If you look close at the first picture you can see Kenzie is laughing hard!  So cute.  The 2nd picture shows the back of Avi's head and you can see all the masks. This was before Kenzie and Riley "helped" her!

There were 5 kids in the tunnels (there are 2 tunnels hooked together) when I took this next picture.  You can see Avi at the bottom of the picture.  She is the last one headed through.  They went through here over and over and over!

So, first thing this morning, Avi is right back piling the masks on her head again! Ha!!  And then trying to read a book!  Ha!  She couldn't see, but I'd laughed so apparently that's all that mattered! Silly Avi!  In the last picture: all three of them huddled together this morning playing with the legos farm animals and the barn!  By the way, there happens to be TWO more of the barns identical to the one in the picture, but the one being used by another child (which was Hudson) is always the most interesting one!!  :)  Hudson said, "Hey Gary! Avi's helping me build my farm!"

Avi - 11/7/2017

Avilene ate waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked chicken, most of whole grain waffle, taste of cabbage salad, and two servings of baked cinnamon apples.  So I took this first picture at breakfast today.  I've moved Avi to the table for all the meals now.  I always start with snack and then if they do okay the next step is graduating to full-time at the table.  It all hinges on them being willing to listen!  :)  And she's doing pretty good - with lots of reminders of course!  I decided to move Hudson straight across the table at lunch.  Avi had her leg on the bench trying to reach him.  Ha!  That's usually how I arrange them when they start out anyhow - as far apart as possible!!  I try to set them up to be successful!!  :)  So at Lunch they were at opposite corners!  There is a lot for them to remember, but they quickly adjust: keep your tummy up to the table, eat only the food on your plate, keep your head over your plate, stay at your seats, tell me when you're done, etc!!!  Good job of listening Avi and Hudson!

Avi was telling Lauralea all about the "Christmas lights!"  So Lauralea asked, "where are the lights at Avi??"  She said, "By Gary's gate!"  Isn't that cute and a pretty accurate description!  You can definitely see them from Gary's gate!  A neighbor in the Cul-de-sac to the east has a jump on his Christmas lights this year - Shining bright on November 6th and it's quite the display!  :)

Nora was pushing Hudson in the swivel/rocker first and he immediately started demanding more speed, more speed!  Ha!  So I took this last picture when Avi was pushing Nora around and around.  Nora was giggling and laughing - loving every minute of it.  Love that grin!  We also read lots of books and the kids did some dot painting at Art Time.

Avi - 11/6/2017

Avilene ate some kix cereal and ate her mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground turkey, bite or two of hamburger bun, ate tomato, avocado, and cherries.  Like I've mentioned many times I like asking the kids what they did last night or over the weekend.  Avi said, "Play soccer on Saturday!  It fun!"  So cute!

Then Avi was saying some about "Atley."  I couldn't figure it out until I followed her eyes to see where she was looking!  And she was looking at our "clown pants;" which are a pair of spare pants we use when the kids run out of spare clothes!  They are quite hideous and no family has ever (accidentally) kept them or failed to return them!  Haha!  They are so old, but Lauralea is putting new elastic in them for me!  :)  Last Friday I put them on Atley because she was out of spare clothes that fit her so Avi believes they belong to Atley!!  She was saying; "Atley's clown pants!"  (By the way, Atley is gone all week to the east coast to visit her Grandma.)

This first picture from today - Avilene put two babies in the swivel/rocker chair and was spinning and rocking the chair; giving her babies some rides!  :)

The last 2 pictures:  Hudson said, "I'm barbecuing!"  Then he put some food on a plate and took it to Avilene.  It must have been good because she came back for more!  I think the last picture is so cute; Avi went over and looked at the doll in the sink and asked Hudson (who was still barbecuing),
Avi:  "Your Baby?"
Hudson:  "Don't touch her; He's resting!"  (You saw the bold pronouns right!?)
Gary:  LOL!

Avi - 11/3/2017

Avi ate oatmeal and apple bites for breakfast.  For lunch she had a few nibbles of hamburger stew with carrots, green beans, and potatoes.  She ate dinner roll and apricots.

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon and here's the story behind it!  Riley was feeding Nora her cottage cheese and I took a picture of them.  Well of course Kenzie wanted her picture taken so she ran over to Avi's highchair and said, "Take a picture of me!"  And at the same time asked Avi if she wanted some peaches.  (Avi has her spoon in her right hand for her cottage cheese.)  Look at Avi's reaction.  "Really Kenzie?  Do I look like I need help!?  I've got this!"  :)

Also yesterday afternoon Kenzie and Riley wanted to take pictures of me reading to the kids.  (Hudson had left by this time.)  They took several pictures with my phone and I thought they did a good job.  :)  Kenzie noticed it was snowing so she got some jingle bells for everyone (which just happen to be in this toy rotation) and they were all lined up at the window watching it snow while Kenzie led them in singing; "Jingle Bells!"  Super cute!!

Well I have to post another blurry picture of Avi!!  (At least Atley is in focus!!)  Avilene was pushing the swivel/rocker chair around and around at a high rate of speed!  I wonder if Atley is enjoying the ride?!  Ha!  Atley was laughing loud and uproariously and urging Avi on to greater speeds!  Good times and Silly kids!!

Avi - 11/2/2017

Avilene ate french toast and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pulled pork sandwich, bite of peas, and ate cantaloupe.  She got here right at breakfast time and into her highchair and immediately noticed Nora's new winter boots sitting on Nora's cubby.  And Avi was excited.  "Nora has fuzzy boots!!  And fuzzy hat!!"  Ha!  Nora has a knit cap with a "ball" (or whatever it's called) on the top.

Momma Molly already saw this, but I'm gonna Post it today.  This picture is from yesterday afternoon.  Kenzie had put everyone's name on a piece of paper and then she had Riley draw the lucky winner from the bowl!  I like how Riley is intentionally looking elsewhere!  No cheating here!!  Each child was awarded a medal on the basis of this drawing!  Ha!  She wrote on their paper/medal whether they got 1st, 2nd, 3rd...  (Kenzie just recently won a medal as her soccer team won a tournament!  So she's really into the medal thing right now!) These girls frequently include the little ones in their fun games after school.  Momma Molly didn't seem too impressed that Avi had won a 3rd Place medal - 3rd out of 4 children!  Ha!!  It could have been worse - Poor Atley didn't place in the top 3 and Kenzie told her "You're just gonna have to work harder Atley!!"  Not sure what "hard work" had to do with this drawing!  :)  The whole thing was really cute and funny.  (Atley - and the rest of them - really had no clue about their "placing" so no feelings were hurt in this game!!)

Here's another blurry picture of your child.  By the way, I Post more blurry pictures of Avi than anyone and I think that's pretty much self-explanatory!!  Ha!!  There are settings on the camera for such things, but I don't have time for that!!  :)  Avi being Avi - cover my head and jump!  The story behind the last picture:  Avi was laying her head on this Monte pillow and said, "I'm comfy."  Then she grabbed the doll blanket, went over to where Hudson was at, and asked him to cover her.  As he was covering her he said, "Good night Sweetie."  Isn't that cute?!

Avi - 11/1/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  She was the only one who like the frozen mangoes.  (They really do taste different than the fresh mangoes - my opinion!)  For lunch she ate ground beef with marinara sauce, noodles, bites of squash, and two servings of fruit salad.

Yesterday afternoon we were reading on the couch and she spotted a silver SUV drive by the window. She jumped up and said, "Momma mini-van!"  Haha!  That hit my funny bone!!

I did some building with Avi and Hudson with the legos and then they continued to play - build and destroy - with our creation.  In the following picture Avi went to the fence to greet Lauralea.  That is a morning ritual, but the blanket over the head is a new look!  Atley saw it and immediately put a blanket on her head before greeting Lauralea as well.

You can't see it in the next picture, but Avi was carrying a doll blanket.  She came up to me and said, "Purple blanket."  "Oh, it is?"  She said, "Yes."  And ran around he corner to point to the purple crayon in one of the color posters!  I believe she was trying to teach me what purple looks like!  Ha!  (Lots of people have already tried that Avilene!  So far it hasn't worked!)  My partial colorblindness always fascinated my stepdaughter Missy.  For probably 7 years - Junior High through High School every night at the Dinner table she'd ask the same question: "Hey Gary, what color is my shirt?"  :)

So here's the story behind the last picture:  The kids did some coloring with markers and then we did some leftover halloween stickers too.  (Avi loves doing the stickers, but isn't quite so thrilled with the coloring.)  So we were basically done when I took the picture and they were ready to leave.  So I said, "Point to your favorite sticker!" (It was my intent to make the picture look like they were still doing some art!  Haha!!)  Avi is showing Nora which sticker she should be pointing to!!