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.