Love Week

We had quite the busy week at daycare last week! There was arts and crafts, sensory activities, stories, and so much sugar. The real highlight of the week was when a few of the Bigs were here Thursday and Friday! The Littles were so, so, so happy to have the Bigs here that they kept asking "can I watch you (color/read/play/walk/go potty/etc.)?" Luckily, the Big are awesome and incredibly patient with the Littles (although, we drew the line at watching in the bathroom!) and made sure to play games with them, helped them make paper airplanes, and helped them build Lego towns and waffle block cities.

Our theme for Valentine's week was (of course) Love and chocolate:

Chocolate noodles in the sensory and pretend corners. The kids definitely ate some, while A LOT stuck on their feet, hair, and clothes.

Colorful hearts. I put the glue and the kids put the pieces of paper on the heart. 

Daycare's King Cake. I told them why we were eating this cake (actually a sweet bread) numerous times, but all they cared about was that I let them eat cake for morning snack!

 A week full of all of her Valentine's outfits because, yes, she had numerous.

Working on Valentine's for their classmates.

Heart shaped quesadillas, broccoli slaw, peppers, banana.

These chocolate covered strawberries made an excellent morning activity and a tasty afternoon snack! When the minis got home, they made some as well.

I had planned on a no gifts Valentine's Day, but I couldn't pass up new vacation clothes for everyone.

Shaving cream hearts. Shaving cream with food coloring dripped on top. I had the kids gently press down their hearts into the shaving cream. These always turn out cool (we've done them for a few years now), but take forever to dry.

Perfect heart shaped sugar cookies that the kiddos got to help make, decorate, and then eat their's for morning snack on Valentine's Day.

Heart shaped ham and cheese sandwich, spinach with broccoli slaw, and banana. 

Our typical Valentine's dinner: heart shaped pizzas, salads, and chocolate covered strawberries. Hubs and I had a bit of a mix up with the pizza arrangements and we both ended up grabbing pizzas for dinner. Four pizzas was more than enough to feed us (and daycare) for a couple of days!

 It takes them a few tries to get a picture.

After Valentine's Day dinner fun.

We did our daycare Valentine's party the day after on the 15th. The day included donuts, brownie cookie cake, decorating Valentine's bags, passing out Valentines and treats, and then a couple of games.

They decorated their bags while watching the Olympics. We're thoroughly enjoying the Winter Olympics around here.

 I honestly haven't had this many kiddos at once since last summer. The coat area was overflowing! The days were fun and tiring all at the same time. The kids all spent a lot of time talking about this upcoming summer, what they'd like to do, and activities they'd like to repeat.

 Playing the floor is lava.

The cats really enjoyed my Valentine's flowers on the table (insert eye roll here).

One of our games was heart darts. I drew heart shaped dartboards on the window (with window marker) and the kids used Nerf guns to shoot at them. It kept the preschoolers and school agers busy for quite a while!

Their most favorite game ever: the Find It game. This time they found heart shapes they helped decorate beforehand.

Chocolate play dough with heart cookie cutters.

Friday was a free day. Their free day included waffle block building, board games, and card games.

 My favorite moment of the week was courtesy of these three boys (plus one more not pictured). They asked to watch a cartoon and I told them all it needed to be toddler appropriate. Everyone agreed on Guess How Much I Love You (based on the book). Of course, all of the toddlers wandered off to play, which left the big kids. I asked them if they wanted the TV off or if they wanted to watch something else. All three shouted, "no! The song's getting ready to come on!" As the theme song played, all three boys sang along and swayed (and watched the next episode). There's so many moments throughout the days that I'm reminded of how big they've gotten. Moments like the one mentioned makes me realize how little they still are.

Since I spent two full days talking about summer activities, I'm growing anxious to begin our spring activities at daycare and spend some quality time outdoors!