It was a short week for daycare, due to a scheduled day off for me. Although it was a short week, it was jammed packed with building, games, activities, coloring, and a couple of theme days. Here is a brief look at the week, as I'm having difficulty keeping up with the pictures every time the kids create something new!
We broke out the Crystal Climbers for the first time since Christmas. The older kids have been getting pretty creative with their buildings (mostly space ships and rockets), while the younger kids pretend they are "food" for their dolls.
One of the daycare moms told me about the pie fights she had at her daycare when she was younger. This instantly peaked my interest and we held our first pie fight in the backyard. Kids two and older enjoyed throwing the pies (pie tins and Cool Whip, plus whatever Whipped Cream I had leftover in the refrigerator from playing Pie Face) while the kids younger than two picked up stray pie tins and licked them clean. All of the kids LOVED this activity!
This was my favorite part of the week, although you can barely see it as I sneaked the picture taking through the screen. The kids wanted a picnic lunch, so my daycare helper and I obliged. We were inside getting seconds and more water for the kids when we looked outside to see a few of the kids standing up and dancing while the other kids clapped their hands and chanted. We have no idea what we were doing, but when they saw us looking out the window they instantly stopped. I love little, innocent, and funny moments like this. This group of kiddos have known each other for so long now that they are incredibly close to one another. This is both amazing and a little frustrating (they treat each other like brothers and sisters. If you've ever had a sibling, you know why this is both good and bad).
The sprinkler in the front yard (because we've already managed to destroy the backyard). The big kids mastered jumping over the sprinkler ball without falling!
We celebrated the middle mini's birthday. Read more about his day here. I am loving all of the birthday cards the minis are making for each other this year.
Slime Day was a hit with everyone. Read more about our VERY interactive theme day here.
The big landscaping/outdoor project started and the kids had a blast watching all of the machinery coming in and out of the property! We had a truck drop off new rock, a skid loader destroying the terrace, and tons of workers digging, knocking down, and scraping....and the kids had a front row seat to it all! I'm so thankful we had some excellent workers here who took the time to tell the kids everything that they were doing and showed them their tools and equipment.
Since we had minimal use of the yard, the kids spent an afternoon playing with the new Kinetic Foam Harrison got for his birthday. It is some pretty neat stuff and not at all messy. Definitely try it out for a hot summer afternoon (when mom just needs a break) or for a rainy day. I bought more of this stuff to have on hand for our just in case days.
There were a few fights this week. The oldest got upset about a Lego (??? Ok, so I'm still not sure), but I was able to diffuse each situation fairly easily.
We ended our week with a Pasta Play Day in the kitchen. The kids consumed A LOT of pasta, ate spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, played restaurant (they took turned playing chef and ordering the food), and even sold each other bowls of pasta (for $20 a piece).
The craft of the week (spaghetti plates using a paper plate, cream colored yarn, brown construction paper cut into small circles, and glue) was not well received. I only convinced two kids to make a plate. The kids didn't want to because "we can't actually eat it." So next time we'll just skip the craft on this day!
Summer has been nothing less than extremely busy. I love that the older kids still enjoy all of the activities and even enjoy putting a new spin on things and showing the younger ones how to play. With the backyard out of commission for the next week (and the week after that is our vacation), we'll be doing some of our favorite things indoors: playing dress up with the dress up clothes, playing board games and the Find It game, painting, and more.