the dirty kid and some sidewalk chalk paint

That was a LONG title

(i apologize now this is a long post with a lot of pics!)

First off sidewalk chalk paint

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

add this to your 

"things i need to do this summer" list

your kids will thank you!

"my" kids said 

"this is the best day ever!"

(didn't think i would hear that pharse considering the morning we had!)

equal parts corn starch and water

add food coloring 

(i used LOTS!)

NEEDS to be stirred well!!!

I made a big batch and then poured into muffin trays and then added the food coloring!

You will need paint brushes as well!

Then set outside and let the kids paint the sidewalk!

This was a SERIOUS hit!!

we also dipped our chalk into bowls of water 

and wrote with it

gives a bright color

and draws smoother!

dip dip dip dip, oh forgot I was suppose to be painting

dip dip dip dip

what are we doing again...

we had multiple bowls of all different colors scattered over the driveway!

the kids were sooo busy painting, splattering!

(i did remind parents to send "junk clothes" so i didn't ruin anything nice!)

some of our creations

the color wasn't as bright as I had hoped

but there is another chalk paint recipe I hope to try out later this summer

when one child makes a square...they ALL make squares!

i love how they squat into their positions!

doesn't matter if it spills because its sooo easy to just make more!!

we had lots of spills because of a certain toddler!

busy busy busy!

 last night my husband commented that

I am giving my readers a bad impression of our son/or my parenting 

he is "the dirty kid"

You know what I am talking about

that kid that goes into a white room that is spotless 

but manages to come out covered in dirt and mud.

that is my son!

he is "the dirty kid"

he will hopefully be very proud of that title someday!

but for now

I apologize to his future teachers

this picture gives no justice to how dirty this kid was! 

he was the toddler spilling EVERYTHING

then sitting in it

but...

he was the happiest toddler EVER

and that is saying a lot considering we call him

grumpa lumpa

My husband will frown at this post and how dirty his son is 

but my thought is

HE IS HAPPY

LET HAPPY BE!!

he is not hurting anyone or anything 

(other than maybe a pair of pants and a couple shirts)

so go out get some cornstrach, paint brushes (i used wider brushes so kids could see results quicker)

and some food coloring and let your kids paint the sidewalk!

anyone else out there have "the dirty kid"?

it is like someone threw up rainbow on my kitchen table

i don't even know where that title came from

but its the thought that crossed my mind 

when I took this picture

and this isn't even all of the pictures that were created!

We did a little rainbow free art

I provided the kids with different materials

paper, pom poms, buttons, sequence, jewels, crayons, 

scissors, and glue

and then I set the materials on the table and just let the kids GO WILD!

i love putting the materials on a separate table

its fun for the kids to get up and move around 

and it frees space up on the working tables so kids have more room to work!

this is the face of a kid that just took a giant bite of a gluestick and said "mmmmmmmmmmmmm"

(if you look close you can see it all over the bottom of his teeth)

don't worry I pinned him down and scrapped it out!

FUN TIMES!

the thing I hear the most of when we do projects

"Jill do you like my picture!"

to which the kids will hear

IT'S FABULOUS!!!

I love the way you glued all those different color stripes on your paper!

can you tell me about your picture?

(i use that one when I have no idea whats going on and don't want to hurt their feelings, works like a charm my friends!)

you are the such a creative little genius!

I use a lot more comments depending on the project and what the kids have created

The reason I am sharing this with you is because I want to encourage all of you

not to just to say

"good job" or "way to go" 

"beautiful picture" or "Its fabulous" 

("its fabulous" is my favorite)

I challenge all of you to talk about your child's photos 

let them tell you the story that is behind their creation

sometimes you might hear

"i don't know!" and they walk away

and thats ok, but if you keep asking you will be amazed 

at the language your kids are using!

so...

no more good jobs, and nice pictures

talk about those projects!

The End!

Linking up with Mingle with Us

GET BETTER SOON!!

One of our daycare friends is sick and in the hospital!

Its such a bummer!

They have been there for almost a week and not seeing a lot of progress on our friend!

So today we looked at pics of Coyer in the hospital!

We prayed for him

we talked about the things that make Coyer happy

-wearing a super hero cape, drumming, scooby doo, playing fighter, and the color pink (i think every boy favorite color is pink at one point in their life) 

and then we drew pictures for him!

Here are a couple of the pictures the kids drew!

I was VERY impressed with their creativness and drawings!

Tonight I plan on swinging by the hospital to drop off a

goodie basket and pictures from the daycare kiddos! 

They all wanted to go with, but I told them that we just have to many different germs

and can't share them with Coyer right now...they were bummed but understood!

Get better soon Buddy we miss you!!
Please pray for Coyer that he will get better and come back to daycare soon!
If you want to read his progress go The Fergen Family

P.S. Today is my birthday and I may or may not have had the kids sing happy birthday at least a dozen times...the benefits of working with kids!!!  :)

ME! ME! ME!

Is that not how kids think?

ME! ME! ME!

and lots of adults...

Well to go along with our

I wanted the  kids to do a little lesson about themselves.

First we did a self portrait

you can get the blank face HERE

I had the kids go into the bathroom and look into the mirror and tell me what they saw

and then we came back and drew what we saw onto our blank face 

Then I made a little booklet for the kids to fill in

(just did it on power point, super easy, nothing to exciting!)

The book had:

My Favorite Food:

this would be corn dogs with a GIANT bowl of ketchup!

My Favorite Color:

a rainbow of purples and pinks!

My Family:

she was so into drawing herself, she only had room for her little brother

her comment was "my family is so big I don't know if I can fit them all!"

she got them all in!!

My Name:

Had the kiddos work on writing their names!

Our books are complete! 

I think I am going to keep the books and add more pages when I think of it!

I would also like each child to do one and not everyone was here!  

So this may be a work in progress!!

I was also given a list of questions from another childcare provider and I would love to include the answers to that in the book as well!!

What are some pages I could add to the kids books "About Me!"

Linking this Post up with Thrifty Thursday #7

Together we make a box of crayons

I LOVE MY LITTLE DAYCARE!!

(some days I think a desk job would be nice)

anyways...I do LOVE it most days!

I tell people often it is not just a daycare I run, 

It is an extended family!

and not even the children, but their parents!

We all get along, kids, and parents!

It is wonderful!

So today I wanted to do something about MLK

but something that my kids could relate to!

So I googled books...lots of MLK books,

which is great but my I didn't think my kiddos would fully understand!

Then I came across 

The Crayon Box that Talked!

a great poem about how the colors didn't get along but the things that they could do together was BEAUTIFUL

So I made my own little crayon box

and had the children color a printable crayon

While the kids colored we talked about how we are different and no 2 people are alike, 

some are 

tall, short, long hair short hair, boys, girls, blue eyes, green eyes,

some people like

to dance, play sports, listen to music, watch movies, ect...

but together we make a crayon box full of awesome kids!

What melted my heart was the fact the kids called me the crayon box, 

and I hold them all and take care of them...tear!!!

We then filled our crayon box with each individual crayon to make our box complete

(its not fully complete because not all the kids were here!)

they are my little box of crayons!  Each one different and unique in their own special ways!!

Linking this little post to Show and Tell #84

Also linking up with A Story + Art = A Great Start

Yarn Blocks

I am going to go off on small tangent

I went to school for 4 years, and complained for 4 years

about the fact that we could never do fun projects with the kids!

By "fun" I meant the cute ones that the teachers do most of the work!

fun??

well college was over and started my first preschool teaching job

(a place I will NEVER forgot and learned soooo much!)

20 kids, NO TIME for "fun" projects!

and then my college education kicked in saying 

kids aren't having fun when you do all the work!

Kids are having fun when they do all the work!

Then comes starting my own daycare!

we did a few things here and there but nothing much!

Then this summer it hit me!

I NEED to do more!  

I NEED to teach these kids!!

and that is when the blog started! and we have been super busy!!

having FUN!  and learning!!

Where am I going with this (i don't really know)

but,

During the months of November and December 

we were doing a LOT of  

"teacher made projects"

I do all the work, I cut the pieces, 

I glue things together

ME, ME, ME

it was cute! the parents loved it, but it wasn't as much fun

Don't get me wrong the kids love doing anything!

But it was becoming

"Hey come here I need to trace your hand!"

PROJECT OVER!

WHAT?!?

I was forgetting to let the kids do what they wanted

not because I found this cute idea on pinterest!

don't get me wrong we will still continue to do these cute projects every now and then

but I need to get back to letting the kids do the work, 

NOT ME!!!

all week I have just given the kids the materials and they got busy!

I love their little creations!

Sometimes I cringe and think...ahhhh that is NOT what I wanted you to do!!!

but that is what THEY  wanted to do!!

and its THEIR project so they get to control it!

Today was that day!

I took a few minutes to wrap blocks in yarn

In my mind the kids were going to stamp with the yarn blocks

and make pretty patterns!

YA RIGHT!

They smeared and mixed colors one paper after another

I even heard, 

"YOU ARE MAKING BROWN!!!!"

There was soooo much mixing and smearing going on brown was being created!!!

and then I took a step back sat on a chair and thought

this isn't what I had in mind but they are

happy, laughing, mixing, creating, counting (how many stamps before they needed more paint) smearing the paint in different directions, it was a mess!  but it wasn't about me it was about them!

Don't get me wrong!  I still love doing the cute crafts and plan on doing one tomorrow!

but remember to think of what the child wants!  Not what we want!

Linking up with Mingle with Us and TGIF Linky Party #11 and Toys in the Dryer

Also linking up with Sharing Saturday!

if only I were an octopus

Top 11 Things I heard in 2011

some I hear daily! 

some are those sayings that just make me laugh every time I think about it!

11 - There is a monster living in Jill's house

(when the air or furnace runs the doors jiggle)

10 - We don't want to come inside yet!

9 - Your baby is fat!

(my baby is a big boy)

8 - I am Hungry!

(these kids are ALWAYS hungry!)

7 - You make the best food EVER!

(this is said when i make mac-n-cheese)

6 - moo cows in the pasture!

(i have a little boy obsessed with cows!  and I hear this phrase 100 times a day!)

5 - There are squirrels in my pants playing with my nuts

(this was not said inappropriately! He was pretending!)

4 - Jill, I wish you were an octopus with 8 arms because then we wouldn't have to be so patient, and you could do everything at one time!

3 - When you swallow bubble gum your butt cheeks will get stuck together!

(i giggled for days after this was said...i actually still giggle about it!)

2 - Jill, you have the best house EVER!!

1 - Jill, you are the best!

1, 2 are my favorites and thankfully I do get to hear them daily!  I am so blessed to have a beautiful daycare family!!!

and these sayings are why I do my job, even on the bad days!

Why I do Daycare

you see these little hands?

They are all my little hands!

When I trace their little hands they light up and say "Please do me do me!! and THAT TICKLES!!"

Those little phrases makes me giggle and make me happy!

These little hands are beauitful, they love their friends, they love me, they are my little daycare family!

These little hands also drive me CRAZY! 

Those hands hit, take toys away from other children, those hands get dirty and they wipe them all over my glass door and my kitchen cabniets, and they dont pick up toys during clean-up time.

But even though those little hands don't always make good choices, they are mine!

Everyday families drop their kids off at my house, and without words they tell me to love them, to protect them, to feed them, and care for them! 

Everyday I do! 

I might get crabby and frustrated and somedays think WHY do i do this?

But then each day I am reminded that I love these little hands when they are good and when they are bad! 

I love all my children! 

I love my job!!

DAY 7

The kids are getting soo excited for Christmas!

My have been playing Mary, Joespy, baby Jesus and the 3 wisemen! 

Its so cute watching the kids play this!

I need to get some pictures of them while they are playing.

Today on our chain link it told us that we had to decorate Christmas cookies!

-thankfully yestraday afternoon I peeked at todays and made a batch of sugar cookies-

Here is the recipie I used to make my sugar cookies:
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 tbsp milk
Powder sugar for rolling dough
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set Aside.  Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.  Add egg and milk and beat to combine.  Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.  wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

and here is my frosting recipie:
2 cups powdered sugar
2tbsp butter - softened
1tsp vanilla
1tsp almond
mixtogether until smooth, add food coloring

Each child got 3 cookies to frost and decorate.

I love how intense they all look!

Then we ate our yummy cookies for snack!

What's your favorite thing to make during the Christmas season?

Mine is pretty much anything covered in almond bark! :)

I have one more thing to add, Please take a few minutes to check out this wonderful blog post and blog.
Is there something you want to do for Christmas that isn't for yourself or your children but for someone else?
Please read this blog and learn more about how you can help a couple become a family!

Then I leave you with this silly boy!

this is my little man!  his hair sticks up, he has super snot boogers (we call him number 11) he drools constantly, even though I put clean clothes on him they instantly look dirty :)  He is loud, yells A LOT, gets into everything, loves to dance, an climbs onto everything!
Tell me you don't LOVE this face!