Mom's scrapbooking night

I have always said when I die I want " memory maker" on my tombstone. If you lose every thing you still have the memories that no one can take away. Tonight the moms of my friends

( the preschoolers ) came over to hang out and scrapbook their child's memories they have made so far this year. I printed off over 500 photos and took out all the scrapbooking materials and we got busy. Each child has a scrapbook that we will add to all year. When a child leaves Bright Beginnings, they will get to take their memory album with them. This is my take on the night. The parents scrapbooked some old memories and made a few new ones with the other moms. I know I did...

Blah - hum bug

Ok, I am having an off day.. or the kids.. or the health dept lady. One of us for sure!

No really, I am not in too bad of a funk. Let me explain.

The day started off with a new black backdrop for our art work display not going up like I thought it would. I was bummed.

Then.. tonight is the mom's scrapbooking night. I provide all the materials and they start putting together books that will be taken home when the kids graduate to kindergarten. First , I had to spend hours yesterday going through my computer and uploading over 500 photos to walmart. Yes... 500. Can you imagine how many I have actually taken? Then, if that wasnt bad enough. I sorted all 500 plus pictures into 16 little piles and put them in envelopes to make tonight easier. See.. I dont know if you have figured this out about me, but I detest tedious work. This... was tedious. It will all be worth it tonight when I hear the moms chattering and having fun putting their child's book together but for now.... yuk.

The kids seemed a little rambunctious . ( I can't believe that didnt show up in spell check. ) It just seemed everywhere I looked was chaos. Not the normal fun organized chaos we love and expect but a weird chaos.

I actually saw one of the kids pretend to " toot" on another child's head when he was on the floor. I didnt even address it. I know.. I know, I should have . But at that point, I just thought maybe.. I was in a different world than everyone else and the things I was seeing were not real.

Like... the file folder game with the head torn off the gingerbread boy. Did that really happen?

Then there was Anna. She is really studying the fish bowl, which the kids NEVER do. I saw this as a great teaching moment. " Anna, what are you looking at?" Anna replies " The fish, I think he is tired and resting." Hmm.... He is still a lot, so I go to take a look. " Anna, that is a tired fish. I think while he is resting I will take his bowl into the kitchen and clean it." ( AND..... after you leave I will flush him down the toilet and get a new fish that is breathing! )

Lets forget all this and sing some Christmas songs....Tis the season.

Ding Dong.... Health Department. :)

Lovely.

It went well. She didnt write us up on anything.

Is it 3:00 yet?

Tomorrow, will be a better day. I just know it. !

Thanksgiving Feast Fun

We had such a great day today ! We have 16 little reasons to be thankful.

Almost Turkey Day!

You know normally the children are divided into two groups and they each go out for an hour at a time . While one group is out the other group is doing circle time and eating. If you havent noticed it is cooler outside. Randy is really freezing doing two straight hours. Since I am kinda fond of him... I am changing our schedule for the cooler weather. I did a trial run today.. didnt like it. But be advised. The kids schedule is changing up a bit.

Our birthdays are graphed.

" Look Ms Debbie, Me broke my arm."

Little slices of other cultures everywhere you look.

"Look Ms Debbie the real one and the play one are the same."

My new toy. Speakers that fill the room hooked to my IPHONE. I love it. I pull up Pandora and of course my favorite station on there is The Laurie Berkner Family Radio station. The kids love it. Today we listend to Jason Mraz. Just makes you feel happy.

Audrey decided to take a break .... probably all that dancing wore her out!

P is for Pilgrim

I love it when I see my little friends pretending to be teachers.
Kynley checking out the Indian Corn we popped in the microwave.

Audrey found a new use for the plant that Clara gave us. She was taking little animals and pretending they were in a jungle. Very clever...

Our art portfolio's are getting a little full.

Today we added feathers to our Indian vest. Assessments can sometimes we done this way. Look how Rosanna sorted out all white feathers to go on hers. We dont need worksheets! We LEARN THROUGH PLAY! :)

Today we talked about Pilgrims and how that starts with the letter P like pig and purple. We read the book " One Little Two Little Three Little Pilgrims". We took one page and distinguished who was pilgrims and who was Indians. After we mastered that I pointed at individuals on the page and they said the sounds for I and P accordingly. You could see their little brains working over time trying to do that.

We are getting ready for our big feast Wednesday. Remember... show up at the community building at 11:00 .Our plan is to start walking the kids down there at 10:30. There are some moms that have volunteered to already be down there getting ready, if you would like to help, please let me know. On the sign in sheet today and tomorrow you will have the opportunity to tell me how many to plan for and what dish you would like to bring. After eating everyone can go home and start celebrating with families.

I am a little nervous. Tonight I am hosting the Arkansas Family Child Care Associations first online training. It is in a server that allows the participants to see and hear me, I can share power points , documents and web sites. YIKES..... say a little prayer at 7 tonight that all goes well. :)