Good Bye Fred

Good Bye Fred

Today has been an emotional rollercoaster ( of sorts - maybe that was a little dramatic ) for me.

First there was the pomerian that showed up in our house a couple weeks ago.

Then it left.... it was meant to be. Long story.... ( I have copied and pasted this part of the story from my preschool blog )

My dad passed away Friday the 18th. The funeral was Monday the 21st.

An elderly couple gave us Fred....

I had not been by to thank the elderly couple that gave the dog to us ( through neighbors ) and I was taking Fred to the vet and decided today was the right time. I rang the door bell and no one came. As I got to the truck this little old lady opened the door and sweetly called " FREEEDDDIEEE" . I took Fred to her and quickly realized how much she loved Fred. She invited me in and we talked about how much she misses him. She said every day she has gotten up and ached missing this little dog. ( Understandingly so- cute and precious as he is .) I asked her did she want him back and she cried and said " Yes.. I do" I choked back the tears knowing what I needed to do and said " I will go home and get all his stuff and bring it back to you." She said ' I thought this morning I heard him in the hall way when I woke up, I thought my daughter had brought him home to me. My daughter passed away two years ago today." I am getting really choked up. Having just lost my dad , I know the pain she must be feeliing. I again said " Well, I will go home and get his stuff and you wont be missing him anymore." She said "I dreamed my Debbie had brought him back to me." I said... " Who? What did you say?" She replied " My daughter that passed away two years ago, her name was Debbie." I said ' Do you know what my name is?" She said " no mam" I said , " My name is Debbie and it looks like Debbie has brought your little dog back to you just when you needed it most." At this point my tears are flowing and I hugged her and came home to get his stuff. By the time I made it back to her house, the tears were gone. I took the kennel in with all the accessories we had bought him . including his stylish new red parka for Christmas. I unloaded it all in his spot in her house. I took his dish to the sink and got him water and filled his food bowl. I hugged her again and told her if she ever feels again like she cant take care of him to call. We can help out or take him back.. what ever is needed. I think Fred is an angel. Or maybe my friend Dana was right when she said that my daddy has already charmed an angel and thought I needed Fred for a few days. I think Fred came to me when I needed him most and I think I took him back when his really mommy needed him more.

Who would think on THE day TWO years ago the she lost her daughter DEBBIE, that I would stop by to say thank you....

Somehow I think I havent seen the last of Fred.

Another Dog, really?

We are out of school until the 4th of January but I am hoping my preschool friends are still checking this ever once in a while. I have news!

Remember the Pomeranian... ? I let him out to potty last Friday morning and he disappeared. Long story - short he ended up at my sister in laws house ( her son is the one that originally put the abandoned pup in our house. ) She didnt keep her and the man that found her took her to the animal shelter. I had called there to see if anyone had called looking for one. Thirty minutes later they called and said they had found " MY pomeranian". HE ISNT MY POMERANIAN! :)

Fast forward past the funeral.

Danielle and I are out shopping and Randy says to " Hurry home, he has a surprise for me." I called my mom and she said the same thing. So we hurry home. Geneviette ( the four year old grandbaby ) is at the fence with her arms stretched out as far as they will go yelling " Don't look ! It's a puppy and it's for Christmas!"

Seems the neighbor heard about our plight with the pomeranian and thought we really wanted a dog. Some elderly people around the block had a dog they couldnt take care of and thought we would make a good home. Lydia said " God has blessed you with this dog." I think Randy was so shocked he didnt know what to say... and how do you argue with God ?

So.. meet Fred. Fred is here to stay and fits in our home so well. He is great with

Geneviette which hopefully means he will be great when preschool starts. I have already emailed our environmental rating scale observer about the implications of having a dog in the home with the kids. We will make it work.

I love Fred already.

Polar Express PJ Day

A day of highs and lows -

The day started with the children being greeted to the room looking a little " different". We had the two long tables end to end and chairs on either side. Like a train... ( follow me here.. )

On the table was a ticket to ride the Polar Express for each child. Once every one was here we started the movie on the wall from our LCD projector screen. The children sat on their train as they watched. When the scene started with the conductor punching tickets, our very own conductor arrived from upstairs ( Randy ) and punched the kids tickets. They were so excited and though the knew it was Randy.. the played along.

Movie restarts- plays to the hot chocolate scene:

Here comes Randy again dressed tapping his toes and singing "Hot Hot Hot Chocolate." In his hand was a tray filled with little cups of hot chocolate. Since we had not had breakfast we paused a but then to enjoy waffles , strawberries and whipped topping. YUM!

Movie Restarts to Reindeer Scene:

We made those awesome reindeer with our hands! We baked reindeer cookies and played the Reindeer hokey pokey. Randy also sat them in the dining room floor and sang Christmas songs with them and talk to them about guitars and mandolins.

Movie restarts to Ice Scene:

Ice skating with wax paper!

Movie restarts to end!

It was awesome to hear the kids cheer when the little boy was able to grab the train and get on and when Santa came on. Oh the innocence.

I took several videos.. for you to enjoy.

The highs were so high. The lows were so low. As soon as we got the children down for a rest the phone rang. My dad had a heart ache and passed away . I have great memories to hold to of my dad. He was a good man. I am sure he is in Heaven and preparing Christmas with our Father.

See you January 4th.

A Special Visitor

Cute little snowman ornaments we made today. The white part is fingers, can you tell?

We also decorated fun foam gingerbread babies after reading " The Gingerbread Baby" by Jan Brett. We did the " Gingerbread Man" when we had a unit on fairy tales . We will also visit one of the Gingerbread stories again after Christmas break while we explore many of Jan Brett's masterpieces. Revisiting the same activities and books is a good thing for preschoolers. They can start to put more pieces together and sometimes have completely different experiences as they develop and begin to comprehend better.

The kids LOVE this little fisher price nativity....

And our visitor- I know you thought it was going to be that jolly red man in a suit, right? It is this precious dog. Randy and I came home to find him in our house last night. Yes.. in our house. It was funny as he ran downstairs to greet us. We both looked at each other like " who's dog?" I have wanted a cute little lap dog forever and with it being close to Christmas I said " Is it MINE?" with a smile I am sure as big as a four year old with a piece of bubble gum. Randy replied no....The kids and I have enjoyed him as we search for his birth mother. Randy and I haven't discussed what happens if we can't find her family. She is an older dog and appears to have cataracts. I could easily fall in love with her. BUT.... you know I am a quality facility and go through a HUGE inspection once a year to maintain that. The rule for pets is YES! But anytime they touch him I am supposed to send them to wash their hands. Do you know how often that would be? I know the new would wear off but I still am not sure. For today, we will pretend she is ours. By the way, I named her princess. :)

Tomorrow is PJ Day and our Polar Express Party!

Jingle Bells

Mrs. Beth has hung out with us a little today . My dad is still very weak and my mother had chemotherapy and was afraid to leave him alone. Randy is his best bud and Beth was off, so this was an easy fix. Please continue to pray for my parents and their health.

Today I watched one of the kids place baby Jesus in the donkey's cart and push it back and forth and sing " Rock a bye baby." It was the sweetest thing ever. I guess it does look a little like a stroller.

Anna came in to day with these ornaments she and her mother made me. This will become a keepsake that will be passed down - something I will cherish. This little ornament is Randy .See the gray hair and the moustache?

This is me. Dark hair and I like the smile. Randy was quick to point out that Ellen had made me a low cut V neck. ( gasp ! Surely that isnt my trademark?)

And then there were 16 friends. Their names were on the bottom and made to " look " like our little friends. There are blonde ones with bows, dark ones, and pig tails. So much thought and love went into this project and I love it.

Today's table work was making jingle bell bracelets. There are stickers on the tray that are numbered 1- 5. The child would take out 5 bells and lay them on the stickers and then put them on a chenelle stem for a special bracelet we will use for our program. This was a great math activity. One on one correlation, large and small ( instructions were to get one large and 4 small bells ).

All in all, it was a great day. I will leave you with a short video clip. I think journaling is a healthy thing for adults to do. We use journals to get more fine motor practice, artistic expression etc... As we juggle our schedule around we have started journaling on our mats before nap. It is so cute to look in and see each child lying on their belly drawing. Also, their work is more unique as they aren't sitting at a table next to their neighbor. Today I heard a sweet voice singing a song as they drew. It touched my heart. I grabbed my camera but missed most of it. But... here is what I got !

Get well Soon friends !

Many of our friends are home sick today. FIVE are out! They seem to be feeling ok but running low grade temps. Sharae ( above )was feeling ok but "playing dead."

Jaden showing the kids how it is done!

Katie... quiet as a mouse.

Jaden's 5th birthday was today so her mom came and played all day with her and her friends. They took out some of our new games and had a blast. What a much better way to spend the day than with cake and ice cream - memories last longer.

Kynley said her head was cold.

The new game they tried out was " I can do that!" It has a lot of things they can learn from like following directions, counting and number recognition. The player takes a #1, #2 and #3 card and lays them in order. It gives them tricks to do like- skip around the thingamajig with a cake on your head. It has props inside for them to use. A little cheesy , but still fun.

Other games they played were candy land and chutes and ladders. Chutes and ladders did not keep their attention very long. ( BTW the cool new games I got including the old school ones that are in book-like boxes came from Target. 9.99 or 14.99. )

I hope our friends are back tomorrow. I have a couple more ornaments we want to make and I hate for them to miss out!