Avi - 4/30/2019

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

First picture; I told Avi and Atley they could take these cars to the hardwood floor where they run so much better.  (battery powered)  Second picture: There are two things I love about this picture: Avi gets so engrossed in her books and other activities.  And I love the amount of time she will focus and stay on task.  Impressive.

Next picture: Avilene in the wolf mask.  Nora saw Avi putting it on and said, "Avi's gonna be the wolf!!"  And Nora and Atley were hiding.  Let's just say Avi totally got into character and was pretty exuberant about being a wolf!  Haha!  They were all having a blast.  :)

I took this last picture when Avi and Atley were being SO funny with these masks!!  I didn't even realize Linnea was in the picture until I was done!!  Isn't that adorable!!  She was listening and watching them so intently!!  So here's what was going on:  Masks are from Goldielocks Story and also the Woodsman in the story.  Avi, the woodsman said, "I have colorful hair!"  Haha!  I didn't tell her it's a knit cap!  Then Avi said to Atley, "I love you Grandma."  Atley laughed and Avi said, "Now you say I love you Grandpa!!"  So Atley said, "I love you Grandpa!!"  Then they started hugging each other.  Isn't that the cutest!?  I was laughing so hard.  (They're watching themselves in the mirror.)

Avi - 4/29/2019

Avilene ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of chicken, whole wheat pita bread, avocado, cucumber, most of peppers, and ate pears.

Both times I went to the bathroom to wipe Avilene - and maybe two other times - Avi said, "I'm not chewing my nails!"  At least she's really thinking about it!!  She saw me watching her once with her fingers in her mouth and she got the cutest grin on her face.  Busted.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and like I always say, they were all very busy! The three biggest kids must have liked the choices in the Play Room because they didn't even hardly explore the Preschool room!  Lots of time left in the week to do that!!  Avi and Atley were getting a kick out of the cars that have several features on them!  Second picture; Food toys with sister.  If you zoom in you'll see she's pretending to eat cantaloupe.  Third picture; On her left arm the girl has accessorized with some jingle bell bling!

Next picture: Three girls reading books and boy the volume was super high and they were in competitive mode!!  At least they were all singing the same song!  I think!!  "The Bear Went Over the Mountain!!"  That was the only one I could hear!!  Last picture:  Avi has been so affectionate lately and it's so precious!!  Lots of "I love you Gary!"  I love you too Avilene!!

Avi - 4/26/2019

Avilene ate a large serving of whole grain cream of wheat cereal and ate her banana for breakfast.  Or as Atley called it; "Queen of weed cereal."  Haha!  Then she changed it to "Cream of weed cereal."  For lunch Avi ate half of her baked beef kabobs with meat, zucchini, pineapple, and peppers.  She ate bites of whole wheat bagel and ate pineapple on the side.  I took this first picture of Avi at lunch time.  What the heck are you doing with your spoon Avi?  She said, "Nothing!"  (I'm still not sure! Ha!)

This next picture is from yesterday afternoon and Nora, Atley, and Avi were doing some sidewalk chalk and as you can see they kept at it for a long time.

Next picture: They asked for the flashlights and headlamps this morning.  I just thought this was a cute picture of Avi.  I'm not sure what she was looking at; maybe the light beam on the wall.  Last picture: They asked to do the same game again that we learned yesterday.  I like this game because there are so many different ways to play with it and learn shapes, colors, and recognize characters.  We've been keeping it pretty basic as we learn the game;  "Foot on triangle, foot on whoever the person was, and hand on oval."  Nice job Avi!.

Avi - 4/25/2019

Avilene ate waffle and no fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she didn't try the shepherd's pie with meat, green beans, carrots, and potatoes.  She ate whole wheat tortillas and ate cherries.  First picture: (At breakfast table!)  Ok, you're busted Avi!  Geez, I wonder why she's such a mess maker at meal times!?!  Haha!

Next picture: This was during outside time yesterday.  We call this "mountain climbing" as they work their way along the thin section of concrete.  Speaking of outside time yesterday, A UPS truck drove by and Avi said, "Is that a SVEA truck?!?"  LOL!  That cracked me up!!  Following picture: Got the hoodie back on!  I'd just fixed her hair.  Doesn't it look good!?!  Ha!!

Last Picture:  They were asking to play the same game we've done all week so I introduced another game which requires several directions and taking turns.  First they identify what I've read off the card and they have to find it with the clues being Shapes, Colors, or People.  Then we decide if they use their hand, foot, knee, elbow, or head and touch the ones we select!  It's a bit of a stretch for these early 3 year olds, but they were starting to catch on!  Avi was touching three pictures - one with her left knee and one with her right foot and one with her left hand.  Good job stretching out and also following directions Avi!!  See the other two waiting their turn and also learning from what Avi is doing!

Avi - 4/24/2019

Avi ate a bite of French toast and bites of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two big servings of whole 30 chili with sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and peppers.  She ate two servings of whole wheat dinner roll and ate  tropical fruit.

The kids were asking to play the same board game we played yesterday - I posted a picture in yesterday's Blog with them playing.  And they really enjoyed it again.  Avi and Atley chose the same color pieces, but Nora chose green this time.  She said, "I had blue yester-morning."  Two times today I heard her say, "yester-morning."  :)

We went outside this morning and here are some pictures: Avi was giving Nora a ride in the stroller and Nora was asking to go "faster!"  If you zoom in on Avi you'll see she was working hard to fulfill Nora's request!  Look at their hair; the wind was blowing too.

Next two pictures: We did a couple of games with the blocks and in the first one I simply said, "Avi, stand on number 7."  Her number recognition is excellent so it wasn't too challenging for her, but she was having fun.  I like how Nora (who's just starting number recognition) is watching intently.  Notice who's on a block in the background!!  Miss Monkey Maniac herself!!  If you zoom in on Svea you'll see her heels are on the edge of the block and her butt is hanging over the edge!!  No wonder she's always bruised!!  In the following picture the instruction was this; "Find your letter Avi ("A") and put it on number 5."

 

Last picture: The kids were asking to do bubbles and so we did; it was a bit windy, but that usually makes it more hilarious!  For me at least, but judging from the laughing and squealing I think they were enjoying it too!

Avi - 4/23/2019

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat English muffin and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, two servings of whole wheat toast, ate beets, sweet potatoes, and applesauce.  At breakfast Atley said, "We can't cough at the table."  Haha!  I said, "Yes we can cough, but cover your cough like this."  (So I did a cough into my elbow.)  Nora said, "We can say aaah.....chooo!!"  Ha!  Avi said, "NO! We say Bless you!!"  Hilarious!  Also, from Avi's chair at the table she can see the wind chime Mom and Dad brought back from Hawaii and she frequently mentions it.  At the Lunch table today Avi said, "My Mom and Dad got the wind chimes from
Ha-why."  Hee hee!  I loved how she said Hawaii and I wasn't about to correct her.  Ha!

Svea and Avilene were here early this morning and arrived before Linnea.  That's rare!  And because of that Svea doesn't see Eric very often and was watching him closely.  I said, "That's Eric."  Avi said, "Like carrot."  What?  She said, "Yes, Eric and carrot, they rhyme."  Haha!  Well.....close.  Avi also said to me; "Hey Gary! Remember the other day when you saw a house fly?!?"  "Yes I remember!!  What a moment in time that was!!"  :)

First picture; The kids liked watching me spray paint numbers on the "stepping stones" yesterday and we painted the big wooden "cookies" too.  The plan is to use them for some outdoor games.  Second picture: Avi was in the legos table with Svea and started making a bunch of noise by shuffling her feet around in the legos.  And it's noisy!  Avi was watching Linnea's reaction to see if she thought it was funny.  :)

Next picture: I couldn't get the picture I wanted, but this one is pretty cool.  Avi was jumping really high and then putting her legs straight out in a "sitting position" so she'd hit the mattress on her bottom.  It was very impressive.  Last picture:  We just finished playing this game for the first time and they all did great!!  (It's much easier to try things like this during this week while Baby Callahan is on vacation.)  Anyhow, it involved taking turns and waiting for your turn to select the top card, then I would read the card and they put their color piece on the right animal.  Nora was red, Atley yellow, and Avi was blue.  Notice Avi posing for the picture.  :)

Avi - 4/22/2019

Avilene ate bites of whole wheat Chex cereal and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomato, ate avocado, and bites of oranges.  I looked out the window during lunch and there was a little bunny rabbit in the yard.  So I took Nora, Avi, and Atley out on the patio and the bunny continued to sit in the middle of the yard munching grass.  Atley asked, "Can we go get it?"  Sure!  So away they went running across the yard after the bunny, and away the bunny went; even faster!  :)  That was just too cute.  Atley asked, "why did it run?"  Because you were chasing it!!  Ha!  I told them it was the real easter bunny!  (Just running a bit behind schedule.)

If you read Svea's Blog you read that Atley was trying to play hide-n-seek with her.  Well later Avi and Atley were playing hide-n-seek too.  Atley was standing in the book rack ('unique' hiding spot) and said, "Try to find me in the book rack Avi!!"  Haha!  So Avi was wandering around the other side of the room, where she couldn't see Atley,  saying, "Where oh where can Atley be!?!"  Avi had the cutest little look on her face!!

Pictures of Avi at Little Treasures: First picture is from Friday afternoon when she was covering Svea with a doll blanket and Svea would just sit there.  :)  Second picture - Avi looking a bit forlorn and trying to coax one of her friends to "come watch me pee!!"  Next picture; Play dough and Avi said she was making "buttons." And it looks like buttons Avi!!  Last picture; She wanted to use the scissors so I drew a line for her to follow and she worked very hard to cut all the way across the paper and stayed right on the line.  Nicely done Avilene!  Earlier we'd talked about Linnea being gone today and that she'd visited Grandparents in Helena.  During these activities Avi just randomly asked; "Is Linnea going to Seattle?"  Not that I'm aware of.  :)

Avi - 4/19/2019

Avilene ate oatmeal and most of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, green beans, and applesauce.

First picture: This is Nora's MO under noisy circumstances!  Zoom in on the picture and you'll see she has her ears plugged!  Atley, Avi, and Linnea were being loud and rowdy!!  At least Nora wasn't distressed and she was still smiling!!  :)

Next picture: Avilene LOVES these types of books.  Around the border of the pages are the things you're supposed to look for.  This particular book not only has the pictures, but also the number of the items in the picture.  For example in this picture there were several sheep to locate.  And even one set of shears she had to locate as they were cutting the wool off of a sheep and Avi was interested in what that was about.  She asked, "What ate those things called?"

Last picture: we'd brought the medium sized blocks in from the patio so Lauralea could do some testing with Linnea.  Avi, Atley, and Nora wanted to build with them.  Atley said, "I'm making a Christmas tree."  Avi said, "We (Nora and I) are making a train!"

Avi - 4/18/2019

Avilene ate bites of whole wheat bagel and ate her peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hamburger and sausage pizza with whole wheat pizza crust, tomato sauce, olives, pineapple, and peppers.  She also ate a large serving of pineapple on the side.

Yesterday Avi got up from her nap and asked me to snuggle her.  So while I was snuggling her I asked her if she had a dream during nap time.  She said, "Yes."  What did you dream about?  Her answer made me laugh!  "Donuts!"  :)

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon!  The kids (primarily Avilene) started asking about sand play in the middle of February when there was still lots of snow on the ground!!  Nora was the first one done in the sand, but she still played for probably 15 - 20 minutes.  Atley and Avi went for several more minutes after that!

Next picture: Atley and Avi were wearing the easter hats and then Avi decided to add the bunny ears as well!  Atley saw that and she too added some bunny ears.  I think Avilene was watching the mailman when I took the picture.

I took the next picture during Art Time when the kids were doing some "dot painting."  That was Linnea's first time and she loved it.  Their Art Pictures are displayed on the wall in the entrance room above the cubbies.  Avi got her paint shirt on and said, "I did it all by myself."  Nora said, "Good job! You're so big today."  :)  Last picture:  Avi said, "Hey Gary!! Look what I did!!"  Whose sock is that? (I already knew.)  "Svea's!!  Haha!

Avi - 4/17/2019

Avi ate two servings of whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a bite of pork roast, bites of whole wheat tortilla, no carrots or potatoes, and ate a large serving of fruit salad.  Avi and Atley had a conversation about the "easter bunny" at the lunch table.  I have to preface this by saying, Atley came in this morning talking about what the easter bunny was gonna bring and Avi came in talking about painting Easter eggs tonight.  So they both had easter bunny on their mind and it went like this; Avi said, "We're coloring Easter eggs today."  Atley said, "Easter bunny gonna hide the eggs."  Avi said, "NO he's NOT!!"  Atley said, "Why?"  Avi said, "He's gonna bring them from the store!!"  Haha!!  It was SO cute.

Also at the breakfast table Avi said, "I love you Gary."  Awww...I love you too Avi!  Those unsolicited spontaneous gestures of love are SO precious.

First picture: See the stack of blocks Avi is pointing to?  And the pattern directly behind the stack that looks the same?  Good job Avi.  Following picture:  Avi was working with the small blocks and said, "Look what I'm building.  Do you want a picture of it?"  Well of course. :)

Next picture: Well we had a little visitor at the breakfast table.  Not a stranger, just someone who doesn't usually join us at meal time!!  You know that distracted the kids!!  Last picture:  Well this isn't quite what I had in mind for a group hug.  Haha!  They were in that position for what seemed like a long time; at least several seconds!!  Avi finally lifted her head and looked at me like; "how long is this gonna last?!"

Avi - 4/16/2019

Avilene ate whole wheat English muffin and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate several bites of chicken with stir fry vegetables, several bites of brown rice and one bite of oranges.  The kids wash their hands in the kitchen sink and I'm getting a stool with rubber feet so it doesn't slide on the tile floor.  It moved a couple of inches with Avi at breakfast time and she said, "rubber band around these handles?"  Translation: She was problem solving!!  Rubber band around handles and then tie to stool to keep it from moving!!  I'm impressed!  Love that kid!!

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon.  I placed some wood blocks I cut for the kids to practice hammering nails!  (Things just got serious at Preschool!!  Ha!  This is in a spot behind a gate so the littlest people can't get in there.)  Avi totally nailed it!!  (I know, I'm hilarious!!)  She pounded down at least 8 nails!  Great job Avilene.  Obviously the wood is fairly soft, thank goodness, but that was great! How's that for hand-eye coordination practice!!

Last picture: All the kids were at the window waving at our neighbor Big Willy when all of a sudden Avi yells, "IT'S A FLY GARY!"  Haha!  (I was feeding Callahan.)  That stinking fly kept them busy all the time I was feeding the baby and then the others finally lost interest except for Avi and Atley kept at it for several more minutes.  Avi had different toys and a couple of dress-up shoes trying to clobber and subdue that fly and finally they were successful.  :)  "Here's the fly Gary."  Uhh..take it to the garbage and wash your hands.

Avi - 4/15/2019

Avilene ate two servings of cheerios and half of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat pita bread, olives, half of salad, and ate her strawberries.  At the breakfast table Avi told Nora; "If you dink around you're gonna be done!"  Nora said, "NOOO!"  Avi said, "Say, no thank you!"  LOL!!  Well, we're off to a good Monday morning!!

Avi was still sitting at the breakfast table, everyone else was done, and she heard Linnea start howling from the play room.  (She's been struggling while trying to poop.)  Well Avi just immediately said, "Atley just hit Linnea!!"  They were on the opposite side of the Play room and Avi did NOT see anything!!  She was just doing some "experienced guessing!"  Haha!  Well, again I say, we're off to a good Monday morning!!

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and here are some pictures from Avi's morning.  Avi showed me the book and she said, "Gary!  I like ALL these flowers!!"  There are some nice pictures in it!  Second picture - she found the same picture in a book that she really likes and has showed me several times in the past.  So I had to show her my back pocket with the red bandanna.

Next picture: This is a little tennis ball person I made last week; when you squeeze it the mouth opens wide and kinda creepy, but the kids like it!!  So last week we named it "Freddy."  Lauralea put some red lipstick on it and I asked Avi if she remembered his name.  She said, "Freddy.  Then she added, but he is a girl."  Haha!  So now it's LuLu!!  Last picture: Avi asked Nora if she could join her working with a preschool tray.  Nora said yes and when I took this picture they were just getting started.  It made me laugh how Nora was holding her left hand.  She really does have a middle finger regardless what it looks like!!  :)

Avi - 4/12/2019

Avilene ate lots of oatmeal and a bite of baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of salmon, ate whole wheat dinner roll, cauliflower, and ate her mangoes.  As I've previously mentioned during meal times the kids are focused on the digital pictures and they act like they've never seen them before!!  There is a picture of me holding Gideon and EVERY time it appears they yell for me to look.  And occasionally I'm busy - surprise - and miss it!!  Avi was appalled!!  In a very accusatory tone she said, "GARY!! YOU MISSED GIDEON!!"  I said, "Guess what Avi?!?  I get a new picture of him every day!!  Avi replied, "Well, I got a new haircut!!!"  LOL!!  I roared!!  (It's all about ME!!  Egocentrism at it's finest!)

Then she said something else that made Lauralea and me laugh although we had NO idea what she was talking about!!  "Hey Gary!!  Dad told me to get out of the bathroom!  Mom told me to get back in the bathroom!"  Haha!

Reid was here yesterday afternoon and he was peeking over the toy shelf to see if Avi was still sleeping!  She'd just woke up and saw me walk by, but she was pretending to still be sleeping! And the second picture:  Everyone was thrilled to be outside!!  I cut some wooden "stepping stones" and also these various sized wooden slices.  (We'll call them "cookies.")  Reid was showing the kids one way to use them.

Here are a couple pictures from this morning:  I love her representational drawings she's been doing lately!!  And they're getting more detailed.  Another smiley face this morning with a nose and hair.  Well done Avi!!  Last picture:  The three oldest girls going back to Callahan's room when he woke from his morning nap!