A Busy Christmas Week

 

My sister got the minis this Magic Growing Christmas Tree. It was awesome to watch and made the perfect, quick experiment!

The week of Christmas. Always an insane one with exceptionally busy days as we welcome bigs back for a day or two. We made the most of it. The last of the holiday crafts, endless rounds of Find the Pickle Ornament, treats, special snacks, holiday movies, playing outside, board games, and our special Universal Yums Christmas box. It was all perfect and equally exhausting.

Our Christmas break began like this: with a paint stained sink and a lost tooth. Let me explain. The night before break began, the minis began their universe diorama and did some painting. Then they put it all in the sink, leaving it to dry on our porcelain sink. So, I had to spend some time scrubbing the sink. When I was done, I told the kids I was using the bathroom. As soon as my butt hit the toilet seat, two kids run up to the door and announced, "Harlow lost her tooth when we were playing the game!" Before I could ask questions, they ran away from the door. So, I spent a few minutes wondering if the tooth was loose to begin with or if it got knocked out from Throw Throw Burrito. Both were good possibilities, and I was relieved to find out it was the first scenario and not the second. 

I sent some goodies home for parents. The littles could have cared less, but the bigs made a huge deal out of the fact that I gave their parents alcohol. One kid announced, "I'm going to tell my parents right away that you gave us alcohol." She meant it as she was going to hand it over immediately, but it sounded very questionable when first said!

The kids decorated ice cream cone Christms trees and then got to eat them! I told the kids that I wanted a picture of their creations before they dug in to eat them. The two and three year olds patiently waiting for their pictures were adorable. Occasionally I question if anyone ever listens to me, but then they do something like this to show me they really do listen.

I love playing simple Lego games with the kids. It's as easy as: Build me a square that's red. Build a rectangle that's yellow. This child chose to build a red square purse. This is a prime example of learning through play. Also, the newest toy I put out is all about learning through play. This pop it puzzle kept the kids age 4+ busy all week.

I'm lucky enough to have many of my relationships span a good portion of my life. It's been an amazing experience watching babies grow up and become the best of friends. As I watched an eleven and ten year old sit in the middle of the sidewalk for hours talking about life, I couldn't help but think how lucky they are to have each other. These kids have no idea how rare it is to grow up with the same group of friends and remain close. When I asked later what they spoke about, I was amazed at some of the deep conversations they had. Here I was thinking they were talking about the latest Pokemon cards they bought and instead they were talking about how to make new friends because friendship can be really hard. Kids never stop amazing me.

Me: "Okay kids, everyone sit on the floor and I'll give directions for our find the pickle game." Zeus the dog comes and sits in the middle of the floor, staring at me, waiting for me to begin talking. I laugh every time he does this. The kids LOVE our Find It games, but finding the pickle ornament is a particular favorite. I was told to hide it hard, so I did. Then I was told I hid it too hard. So I hid it in plain sight and I eventually had to give hints as to where it was hanging. My favorite part is always the kids closing their eyes in the breezeway while I hide the pickle around the daycare room. They take the game very seriously.

A daycare mom surprised us with delicious sugar cookies! It's something I rarely do, but I allowed a cookie to be eaten for breakfast the next morning (along with apple slices, sausages, and yogurt). The kids were ecstatic about sugar for breakfast.

Nothing like getting your hair caught in your sweater's zipper and yelling for help at 7 a.m. No hair or zipper was damaged in the rescue mission.

The absolute highlight of our Thursday was the Universal Yums box. In the past it was led by me. Over the summer, I let the oldest mini lead while I helped. This time, I let the bigs completely take over and they did a stellar job! All kids participated and they even had the littlest ones taking part in the voting of the snacks.