To the Park!

What a beautiful day it was today...so we just had to take a walk down to the neighborhood park. I pulled the kids in the wagon and off we went. They had a blast going down the slides...over and over again! Here's Kate, Kenzie, and Michael hanging out in the green monster. Gotta love the AZ "winter" weather!

Christmas Party

We had our Christmas Party this past Wednesday...oh what fun it was! Of course, we enjoyed some festive holiday snacks and since the weather was beautiful (close to 70 degrees!) we ate outside. Above (from left to right): Dylan, Kaden, Mitchell, Kate, Carly, and Michael.

Here we are making our 'Reindeer Food'...it's not fair for just Santa to get cookies--the reindeer want a treat too. All we need to do now is on Christmas Eve, spread out the reindeer food on the lawn (or wherever seems appropriate) and the reindeer will see the glitter path right to your house! Plus, they will smell the yummy oats and know which house to come to!

It was very sweet to watch the kids exchange gifts and wish each other a Merry Christmas! Here we have Kate giving Kaden and Dylan a present.



And of course, there's no leaving Kenzie out...she opened presents from her preschool friends too! Merry Christmas!!

M is for Magnet

For science today, we did a very fun project with a magnet. We made an ice skating pond out of construction paper. Next, we made a little person with a paper clip attached to each leg. Then, we took a ruler and attached a magnet to the end of it. And then for the fun part...place the ruler/magnet under the paper and watch the little person ice skate. It's almost like magic!

Cerreta Candy Factory

Today we visited the Cerreta Candy Factory in the historic district of Glendale, AZ. We got to see how the candy was made and learn about different kinds of candy. We even got to taste some of the yummy treats...white chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate mints, and fudge. The best part was making our own chocolate pizzas. The kids were able to choose their pizza toppings...raisins (sausage), m & m type candy (peperoni), nuts, marshmellows, mini mints, etc. Then they covered them with white chocolate (cheese). What a tasty field trip!

Kaden, Carly, Michael, and Kate are enjoying their chocolate mints!


Here we are making our chocolate pizzas...our favorite part!

After visiting the candy factory we headed over to Murphy Park which is where Glendale Glitters is held at night during the month of December. We had a picnic lunch and then played around in the grass areas. We even got to see some workers putting up more Chirstmas lights in the big trees.

Gingerbread Houses

Today we began our day by reading the 'Gingerbread Baby'. And then for the really fun part...we each got to make our very own gingerbread house! Each child brought in some candy to share with their friends to help decorate their masterpieces. I must also thank "Nanie" for helping construct the houses yesterday! The kids had a blast decorating their house and they turned out very, very nice...see for yourself!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We had our thanksgiving feast the day before thanksgiving...and what a feast it was! Everyone brought something to share...turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, rolls, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, turkey shaped rice crispy treats. The kids had made cute little placemats with their hand prints as well as an Indian feather headband to wear. We had great company since all of our families were able to come. Thank you everyone for such a special day...HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and your family!

Mitchell (Michael's brother) wearing his Indian feather headband.

Michael enjoying some playtime (and still enjoying his Star Wars mask from Halloween!).

Kenzie enjoying her Thanksgiving feast!!

Fun Friday

For some reason, these kids have all been asking about having a cupcake. Maybe since it was just Halloween and we had some then. Or maybe since they had a yummy one at Michael's birthday party. Or maybe it's because cupcakes are just plain good. So, for a special fun treat...we made some today. All of the kids helped mix everything together. Then they each got to decorate their very own cupcake. So here you see Kenzie, Carly, Michael, and Kate enjoying that special cupcake. What a fun Friday!

K is for Kazoo. Today the kids also had a fun time making their own kazoos. We made different sounds by practicing various humming noises. The humming creates a vibration that makes for a pretty cool sound.

The Sandbox Has Arrived!

Mr. Steve has been working hard on getting the sandbox ready...and it's ready!! Here is a picture of Carly, Kate, and Kenzie breaking it in. All of the kids are enjoying digging with the trucks, shovels, buckets, sand toys, etc. I love how it has a seat around the edge so I can sit right there and watch everyone play. On a side note kids, be sure to wear clothes that can get dirty! Isn't it so much fun...Thank You to Mr. Steve!!

Happy Birthday, Michael!

Today is Michael's 3rd birthday! We celebrated yesterday at Enchanted Island with all of his friends. All of us preschool friends were lucky enough to attend because it was TONS of fun. Lots of little rides...a roller coaster, tea cups, airplanes, bumper boats, an awesome train ride around the park, etc. We all had a fun time helping Michael celebrate his special day. Now today we got to sing Happy Birthday once again and enjoy some of those yummy cupcakes.

Here are the kids at Encanted Island celebrating 'Rock-n-Roll' style...Rock on kids!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MICHAEL!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We had our Halloween Party this past Wednesday and what a fun time it was! The kids came dressed in their adorable costumes. We enjoyed some spooky Halloween treats, played 'Pin The Eye On The Monster', and made a haunted house treat bag! It was especially fun to have our families join us on this fun day! Thank you for all of the party contributions, too.

Kaden...a.k.a., Spider Man!

Minnie Mouse (Kate) and Star Wars (Mitchell)

Pirate (Michael) and Cinderella (Carly)

The kids enjoying our spooky treats...cookies, cupcakes, juice, crackers and cheese, and veggies...yum, yum!

Kate playing 'Pin The Eye On The Monster'.

Michael's turn...

Carly's takes a turn, too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Music Time

Carly, Kate, and Michael are singing one of our favorite songs,"The Itsy-Bitsy Spider"...as you can see by their hands turning into spiders crawling up the water spout! We also like to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, London Bridge, Ten in the Bed, Humpty Dumpty, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Mulberry Bush. We love to march around to Grand Old Duke of York. So you can tell most of these are nursery rhymes and let me tell you, the kids really enjoying putting movement to the music...it's one of their favorite times of the day!

Tolmachoff Farms Field Trip

Today we visited the pumpkin patch at Tolmachoff Farms and what a blast we had. Here is Kate, Kaden, Michael and Carly taking a rest next to a scarecrow right next to the pumpkin patch.

Here we are just about to enter the mini corn maze. Along the way we found lots of corn that was just about ready to be picked. Of course, the kids found some on the ground that they kept as a souvenir. The corn stalks were taller than the kids so it was cute watching them find their way through the maze! (picture: Kenzie, Sarah & Nate (Carly's cousins), Carly, Kaden, Michael, and Kate).

Finding our way through the mini corn maze.

One of the best parts of the day was visiting the petting zoo. We got to feed the goats, pigs, chickens, and even an ostrich. The kids enjoyed feeding the animals right out of their hands!

Carly and Nate on the tractor bikes.

Kate and Michael taking a turn on the tractors.

Kaden said this was his favorite part of the whole day!

Kate, Carly, Kenzie, Kaden, and Michael have turned into vegetables!

All the kiddos enjoyed jumping around in pieces of CORN! As they jumped up and down it made a funny popping noise...like they were 'poppin corn'!

Kaden's pumpkin...

Kate and Carly sitting on Kate's pumpkin...

Michael's pumpkin...

Fall Marble Painting

Today we painted with marbles. You just put a marble in some craft paint, place your paper inside of a cardboard box, put the marble in the box and roll away! The marble rolls all over your paper creating a paint trail of neat designs. The kids painted these 'Fall' signs with orange, yellow, and red paint with the word 'Fall' written on the paper. Which happens to go with our letter of the week, "Ff". Not to mention they thought it was tons of fun!

Fall is Here!

We enjoyed a nice Fall morning outside playing with chalk. The kids love to ask me to draw them a picture. Today they wanted me to draw them "spooky" pictures. So, we drew pictures of pumpkins and witches and wrote 'HAPPY HALLOWEEN'. Lovin' this cooler weather!!!

How Many Kids...

can fit in one playhouse? Let's see...Carly, Mitchell (Michael's brother), Kenzie, Kate, and Michael are all able to play inside at the same time. And even nicely too!! This playhouse is one of our favorite places to play during the day. They like to "call" their other friends on the phone and cook each other food. Today they called Kaden on the phone to see if he wanted to come play! We enjoyed having Mitchell over to play and teach us new things that he learns at his preschool. He taught us how to count to twenty in just one day! ;)

Surprise!!!

Well, what a surprise it was! Mr. Steve was so nice to surprise Ms. Jen on her birthday...with her very own Peter Piper Pizza birthday party with all of her friends!! We all loaded up in the car and headed over to enjoy some pizza, games, and cupcakes. We had fun on the rides and playing games. The pizza was delicious and the cupcakes were so yummy. What a memorable birthday it was. Thank you everyone for the thoughtful gifts. I enjoyed my special day and I think the kids had some fun too!!



Michael, Carly, Kaden and Kate enjoy the yummy pizza!





Carly having a fabulous time on the alien ride!



Kaden having a blast on the alien ride!

Michael lovin' the lion ride!

Old Tonka Toys

The four kiddos were enjoying getting to play with some "new" toys for the backyard. These toys were actually Mr. Steve's trucks when he was a kid. They took turns playing with the "little people" and filling up the trucks with grass. Good thing for the shady tree since it was still pretty hot outside even though it's September and in the morning...soon the weather will cool off, right?!