Daycare Days

So...I realize I have not blogged in a while. There have been those who have accused me of not blogging since JULY!! OK people...yes, it is bad but my last blog was in fact in NOVEMBER about an event which occured in OCTOBER so not quite THAT bad. ;) However, in an effort to better document my awesome family and our adventures I will try to improve. I find myself busier and busier so my goal is to try and get 2 posts a week up. Yep...2. Yay me!
I realize that many are not aware that in October of last year I started my own lil home daycare. It started with one lil part time 4 year old girl--whom I ADORE, and it has sprouted into 3 regular kiddos plus my two. Most days I have 5 children for at least a few hours. Days when I only have 4...or 3...it feels like playing house. In answer to the popular questions: YES, it is busy. YES, I am tired. YES, 5 little ones is a lot. And ACTUALLY, I am having a wonderful time. My kids have playmates constantly and we go and do and don't miss a beat. If anything it has forced me to be more organized, more productive, and more creative. The kiddos are all very well behaved, and we do preschool, field trips, playgroups, and are almost always painting something. I must say I am VERY attached to them all and I feel very blessed to have such great kiddos in my care and to be working with such good parents. It also makes me value the time I have with my own children EVEN more (if that is possible.)

Here are some pictures of a typical week for us. Aren't we cute!?Dressing up and dancing around like crazy people is a MUST! Lately, we have REALLY enjoyed playing Pretty Pretty Princess while waiting for parent pickups. We are an equal opportunity group so the boys totally play too. Yes....there are LOTS of pictures. I think they love playing this game more than the girls. Oh...embarrassment...I await your arrival in the teen years! Muah ha ha! Dallin wants to be the Pretty Pretty Princess SOOOOO bad. He hasn't won yet. I am going to get him on video saying "I REALLY want to be the Pretty Princess, Mom!" The little guy on the right though won....TWICE! Yep, he totally gloated. Boy did he ever rock those earrings. And here we are at the park. If the weather is good, we try to go there once a week. Kate is ALWAYS the damsel in distress. I think she has magic powers since she is so cute. She can be completely onery and she always gets her own way and everyone loves her. How is this possible? And how can I do that?
Isn't he just the cutest little guy? Here they are riding away from the bad guy. Kate looks over and says "Look at Me! I'm fast!!" Don't worry, I quickly added that she wasn't easy. Ha ha! On Fridays we go on a field trip. Here we are last Friday on our field trip to the post office. We spent all week talking about what happens to letters when we mail them. We even wrote letters and mailed them there. They are all so well behaved on their field trips. I am amazed at how well they stay together and pay attention! Here they are mailing their letters. By the way, taking pictures in the post office is NOT ALLOWED. Note the lady in the red looking freaked and the lady behind the counter frantically waving. I'm surprised they let me leave with my camera.
Most weeks we also hit library storytime and spend a lot of time on art work and preschool. That is the week in a nutshell. Partay!

Flash Back-Halloween Happenings - Fall Festival at Old Settlers Park

Every year, the city of Round Rock hosts a big fall festival for preschoolers and their parents. They hold it in the morning while the "big kids" are at school. It is REALLY REALLY big (plus it is free :) There are lots of lil Halloween games, a hayride, and photo ops...plus yummy snacks and prizes. I have always heard how cool it is and this year I decided I definitely wanted to go give it a try. I will say it did NOT disappoint.
This year I took Dallin and Kate as well as our lil friend, Tessa. I also got to bring my niece, Madison. Fortunately, my mom went to help with kiddo wrangling or we wouldn't have been able to manage it. We got there a little while into it, but still with an hour to enjoy the setup. I had never been and though I heard it was crowded, I thought....it is a pre-k carnival...how crowded can it be? Surely you can get through everything in an hour. I thought WRONG! This thing was HUGE. Old Settlers park is ginormous and this was one SPRAWLING carnival with kids EVERYWHERE. Parking was crazy. After we got parked we treked over to the carnival.
The kids just gasped when they saw it all laid out. The theme this year was Old McDonalds Farm and each kiddo got a FREE goodie bag stuffed with treats and a NICE hardcover Lil Golden Book of "Old McDonald". The treat bag really came in handy because everything they did gave out a candy or prize of some sort.
First, we took pictures at Old McDonalds Farm. Some with the dog....some with Old McDonald. Surprisingly, Madison (who is obsessed with farms and Old McDonald would not get anywhere NEAR the dog or Old McDonald). We also tried to do a group shot at the beginning, but the kids were too excited and it was an epic fail.
We went to several of the games (there were sooooo many games AND kids there). They had cute little games like put the dog bone in the dog bowl and throw the Bat into the cave (which I was totally amused seeing Dallin/Batman do). They also had Tic Tac Toe beanbags. You got a prize for each game no matter what. There were lines for everything and they moved fairly quickly. The kids didn't really mind the lines because it gave them a chance to check out everyone's costumes.
We decided after a few games that we definitely DIDN'T want to miss the hayride (pulled by a real tractor) so we headed over and got in line. The kids were soooo excited for this! I am definitely glad we made a point of getting it in. They will likely forget the little games but they will long remember the hayride and the tractor. They kept saying "Wheee!!"
After the hayride we had time for a couple of games more and then it was time for pictures and heading home. Overall, I thought it was very well done, very organized and next year I DEFINITELY want to get there at the beginning! It really made our Halloween!

Trunk or Treat - October 30

As Halloween this year came on a Sunday, my kiddos opted out of Trick or Treating on Halloween proper. We attended LOTS of fall festivals and went to a church Trunk or Treat on the evening of Oct 30. This was for my brother's ward in Austin and they really do it up big. The kids were very excited to go Trick or Treating with Madison as well. Kate even convinced Nana to go after a very LONG day of soccer "but Nana, if you don't go I'll be sad!" (btw if you are wondering my brother made the chain mail himself and went as a knight this year!) This year they had it outdoors so it didn't seem quite as overwhelming as last year's extravaganza....but still lots of candy in a very small area.
They had a haystack the kids could dig through and find prizes. Dallin found 2 whistles. Kate moved like 2 pieces of straw and found nothing....big surprise. They also had a cupcake walk. Dallin waited in line until he realized that he couldn't have the cupcakes and then took off to check out the other attractions. Kate, on the other hand, who has the WORST LUCK EVER went around that circle like 100 times before she "won" (really I think they just felt sorry for her and dug out her number). She was soooo proud of her big red cupcake. She ate off all the frosting and threw away the cake. That's my girl...every time. On our way to show Nana Kate's hard earned cupcake, we saw some people carrying a whole plate of awesome looking cupcakes labeled GLUTEN FREE! I think we must have looked like the happiest people on Earth because they told us to take one for Dallin. Dallin was soooo excited there was a cupcake for him. I never thought a cupcake could make me all weepy, but man was I ever grateful to the folks who brought those special treats. At the carnival they also had hot chocolate and popcorn which the kids thought was AWESOME! Dallin was especially into the food element.
The the trunk or treating began. Cars and trunks were decorated and kids went around "trick or treating" each trunk. If there was 1, there were 50 or more. The kids ended up totally LOADED with candy from a relatively short jaunt around the church lot. It was also fun seeing all the decorations and costumes. I think my favorite was the car that was themed "Up" and the people all had costumes from the movie. Then they gave away helium balloons or balloon swords or crowns. Dallin opted for the sword. Kate went with the crown. Kate got some fake teeth about halfway in and HAD to put them in right away. This made it even funnier when she tried to say trick or treat and smile at people. They would say "ohhhh what a cute pumpkin!" (Kate smiles and growls) "Ohhhh! a scary pumpkin!" LOL Plus she still had frosting on her face from the cupcake so it looked like some bloody vampire pumpkin. LOL
The kids were exhausted but happy when it was over. Dallin fell asleep on the couch before he even managed his first piece of candy. They are working through it ever so slowly. Kate would eat it nonstop if I let her. I tend to help a little with the chocolately pieces ;) It was a fun time! Happy Halloween!

The Spookout - Dallin's First Soccer Tournament

On October 30, Dallin attended his very first soccer tournament...the Spookout Tournament hosted by RRSA. Our team this season has been a pretty solid little team so when this opportunity came up, we decided to go for it. It was a fun Halloween themed 3v3 tournament. Dallin's team of 6 normally plays 3v3 anyways so that was no big change for them.They decorated the fields with balloons, the board dressed up and even some of the Refs. Here is our ref in his/her blonde wig. The boys thought this was very funny! The teams could dress up or have matching Halloween themed shirts and names. They even brought in moon bounces for the kids between games.
Dallin's division was U5/U6. They played 3 games - each game was split into 2 - 10 minute halves. 5 of our players participated in the tournament. Since our uniforms this season were orange and black and our team name was the Tigers...we went with the theme and dressed up as "Tigers" for the tournament. The boys had their hair spray painted orange and black stripes (except Dallin who just needed black stripes added to his orange hair). Then we took black lipstick and drew on whiskers and a nose. The boys thought this was soooo great and they were so darling and excited about the whole thing. Several of them were barely able to sleep the night before.
Our first game was 10am against our arch nemesis...the Sharks. This was our 3rd time playing them this season and they have been the only team that has really been a challenge for us this year. The first time we played them....we got schooled. The second time (and this time) we gave them a run for their money, but still came up a little bit short. It was a tight and exciting game. Between the 1st and second games most of the team hung out at the bounce houses and let the boys go nuts. We brought snacks and picnic lunches to enjoy. Our second and third games (1pm and 5:30pm) were against U6 teams. Our boys were scared to "play against big 6 year olds", but they really did play well. I was really proud of them for holding their own. They did not win the games, but they DID hold their own and didn't give the game away. If we had been at our best, I think we could have taken them (not that I am biased), but our boys are littler and were so tired from all of this excitement.
In the younger age divisions, there were no 1st, 2nd, 3rd places awarded. Every boy got a participation medal. Our boys were so proud, and the medals were super cute. They had Spookout Tournament 2010 with a spiderweb goal and a skeleton goalie. I love this picture of all our lil guys and their medals. I hope our team stays together. They are so great! I especially love the way my dad is looking down at them. He is so proud. He really loves them (especially Dallin).

We had a really good time and learned a lot. It will be interesting to see how we do next year if we do it again! Dallin played really well. He is becoming a more seasoned soccer player and I love watching him play! GOOOOO Tigers!

Movies and Fireworks in the Park

Remember When....July 16, 2010In the summer time, the city of Round Rock usually hosts 2 big "Movie in the Park" nights. It is a fun and free family event. We went once last year and decided to go to one this year as well. We loaded up the snacks and the kids and headed out with my entire family (except mom and dad who were out of town). Our friends, the Tucks, were there too!

Since the 4th of July had been unusually wet here, the city actually decided to COMBINE Movie in the Park WITH the 4th of July fireworks so....we got a twofer! They even added an extra movie so people could choose between the two. They showed the fireworks first and then we ended up watching The Spy Next Door. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed watching the fireworks and movie, eating snacks and being with family and friends.

Fun Stuff from Grandma and Grandpa

Remember when.......July 16, 2010

Who is that? Hmmmm....who could that be? Glasses, moustache? Hmmm......lol Yes, this is just one of the wonderful toys that came from Grandpa and Grandma Kellogg's recent package. Since we moved from Utah to Texas, Grandpa and Grandma Kellogg have faithfully mailed the kids a package every month. Each package is filled to bursting with wonderful treasures that the kids love. They look forward to it all month and tear into each package with gusto. Books, projects, treats, and toys all come out way. This last package also contained dry erase boards for the kids, dance mix CDs, and saxazoos (a kazoo shaped like a saxaphone) amongst other fun goodies. It came in especially handy since the kids were recovering from their sunburns. We are grateful that the kids have grandparents who take such an active role in maintaining the bond with them across the miles! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

Too Hot to Handle or Mom's Bad Judgement

Remember when......a few weeks ago I decided to take my kiddos to the sprinkler park with some friends. We were set to meet them around 11 and I thought we probably wouldn't stay too long. The weather was looking like it was going to rain any minute...cloudy and nasty. I had my kiddos in their bathing suits and couldn't find the sun stick so I made the worst judgement call EVER!! I thought "it's really cloudy and we will be out an hour or less...Dallin has a swim shirt on...Kate doesn't burn..we'll be fine"
Boy was I ever W..R..O..N..G. Right when we got there, the clouds cleared up and the sun was out and HOT. We had such a great time we ended up staying for 3 hours! I thought the kids looked a little pink, but I didn't think they were severely burnt or anything. I got them home and rubbed aloe all over the burnt parts. They were a little crispy, but I wasn't yet too worried.
Then later...it happened. I looked over at Dallin and realized he had a giant blister on top of his ear. The picture is blurry but it was really big and looked liked melted plastic or cheese. I almost screamed. It was pretty nasty looking and TALL! I checked and found one on the other ear too. I found out what to do and set about treating them. I was pretty freaked. Kate kept complaining about her sunburn, but hers didn't LOOK as bad so I kind of told her to suck it up. Getting ready for bed, I felt terrible when I discovered GIANT blisters on both of her tiny shoulders. Both kids ended up with mild heat exhaustion and had the runs for several days.
Can we say major mommmy guilt? I felt so terrible. Really really really bad. I treated both kids 4 times a day and had them stay in the house and naked and as still as possible for 2 days. Then we stayed inside for about a week after that. Kate ended up popping her blisters the second day by jumping on my bed....hmmmm. They really enjoyed the "sick days" and being pampered. We ended up with no scarring and no infections and I definitely learned a lesson. I will never EVER do that again. My poor little crispy critters! Sorry guys!