Jammies

Miss Katy had Pajama Day and we all loved being comfortable all day!!! Maybe Miss Katy should have Pajama day more often!!!

FALL........

Mrs. Katy got a new toy for us to play with......A BOX!!! Ok...well what came in the box is really cool too, but playing with the box was a lot of fun!!!
What came in the box...well it is a pretty cool wagon that lets us all have our own car to sit in. It's called a Choo Choo Wagon!! There are three 'cars' to this wagon, and it allows Joey, Hannah, and Balian, to each have their own 'car' so that we can all take a nice walk and enjoy the nice fall weather we were having!! Speaking of the nice fall weather, we not only got to use our new wagon, but we also got to enjoy the weather by playing outside!!!

Hurricane

Well it sure is Hurricane season around Ms. Katy's house. She has had two Hurricane's enter her house. They were Hurricane Hannah and Hurricane Joey. They are very sweet and good kiddos, but they sure do know how to destroy a room filled with toys in a matter of minutes!! We are starting to work on the cleaning up, however, that will be a learning process!!

REALLY!!???

So everyone wanted to sit on Ms. Katy at once.....good thing Mr. Kurt had started his vacation (a day before we left for Jamaica for a week) to take a picture of this cute event!!! Hannah and Joey are sporting the tropical clothing to get Mr. Kurt and Ms. Katy ready for their tropical destination!

Jamaica was wonderful!! What a great get away for a week. The weather was wonderful and the company I was with couldn't have been better!! We ate some wonderful food, drank some awesome drinks, and loved being in the sun all day with nothing to do. Who could ask for a better vacation!!!

OK...so Life sure has gotten away from me over the past TWO months. Lets see...A new kiddo started named Balian, who is 18 months. He is growing and learning everyday!!

Hannah has started Kindergarten!! From what I hear, she is doing great and really loving it!! Alya is adjusting to her sister going to school and not coming to my house just fine! She enjoys being the BIG girl and helping me out all the time!


Hannah and Joey are getting bigger and learning more each day too! They love to dance and clap to any and all music they hear! They are using baby sign language to let me know some of their basic needs!!
Madi is doing great too! She is enjoying being a big helper for me as well as helping Ayla. She is starting to get potty trained, which has its good days and its bad days! We have started our learning time again, and Madi really enjoys singing the songs and learning new things!

My sister and brother-in-law, had their third baby, Sofia at the beginning of Aug. She is so precious! Then during Labor Day weekend they moved to New Orleans for Jeneson to go to school! Sad times, but Good times. God has a plan for them and they take step after step in faith that God will lead them where He wants them to be!!

Hopefully I will do better about updating my blog and not go a month or two with no updates!!!

WOW!!!

So it's been awhile since my last blog! Sorry about that...we've been pretty busy. At the beginning of July, we added a member to our family as well as the daycare. His name is Ruger and he is a doberman. He has adjusted well to our house and the kids. This is his first time meeting them and he enjoyed the attention and petting he was getting!!!

We've also been able to enjoy the wonderful summer weather that we've been having (minus the rainy days and the humidity)! We've had a few water play days, but we've also tried to get outside every chance we get!! The kiddos sure enjoyed the water day. They got to play in the water table, as well as the sprinkler! They really enjoyed dumping the water from the water table on themselves!!

The kiddos and I have also enjoyed the company of our neighbor, Drake. Drake enjoys coming over to the house, to see Ruger, eat lunch, and play with the kiddos while he is off school for the summer and not at one of his many tennis camps! Drake plays games with the girls, keeps them company, helps them clean up, and then eats all of their lunch (just kiddin')!!

Changes are going to continue to change around here!! School starts for Hannah in less than a month and she is getting excited!! We will also be having a new friend join us everyday to play, grow, and learn, his name is Balian! Families are also taking vacations, as well as Mrs. Katy and Mr. Kurt!!! We will continue to enjoy this wonderful summer we are having and I hope to be updating this blog a little more!!!!!

Ahh..Peace and Quiet

Ahh...Peace and Quiet!!

I just love the sound of nap time music and the breeze blowing in the windows!! Have you ever watched a sleeping baby or child? Why do they look so sweet, innocent, quiet, precious, and lovable?? Those words and thoughts jumped into my head today during nap time.

We had some special friends come play with us (my nephew Josiah and niece Lydia as well as Mrs. Sandy (my mom) and Mr. Joe (my dad))!! And we couldn't have asked for a better day! After all the rainy indoor days we have had the kiddos sure needed a nice day like today to get some energy out and play outside! Soooo..that is what we did most of the morning!! When Josiah and Lydia visit the kiddos have a rough time with nap time and laying down, but I just knew that they would be fast asleep as soon as Josiah and Lydia left. And boy was I right.

On a normal day, I usually have to remind the older girls that it is nap time, which means they need to lay down, rest, be quite, and fall asleep, like 3-5 times, but today, I only had to remind them ONCE and then they were fast asleep enjoying the breeze blow on them and dream sweet dreams!

Now if only I didn't have things to do during nap time and I could enjoy the breeze and the sweet dreams with the kiddos!!

WoW!!!

Thanks to these GREAT guys; Todd and Drake Taylor (our neighbors), my Dad or as the kids call him Mr. Joe, our great friend Marcus and of course Kurt, the kiddos now have a swing set to play on!!!! These guys worked away on Memorial Day and after work on Tuesday to finish it up so the kids could enjoy it!! While they worked, my mom and I made sure they had food and beverages and helped them find the pieces they needed next. So if any of you want to have a play date with the kiddos and the wonderful swing set..just let me know!!
On May 29th, Kurt and I ran the Solider Field 10 (10 miles and finished on the 50 yard line of Solider Field!!). We finished the race in 2 hours 4 minutes and 35 seconds, with a 12:38 per mile pace!! I would have never thought that running 10 miles would have been so much fun!! I was so amazed with myself and being able to complete my first ever race, that I was crying as I crossed the finish line!! It was truly amazing and I wouldn't have been able to do it without Kurt encouraging me along!!




Where has the time gone??
I ask this because tomorrow is Joey and Hannah's 1st Birthday!! I started watching them when they about 10 weeks old!!! I've enjoyed watching them grow up and learning a TON of new things!! They are now both walking and babbling and are always on the go. They like to play and giggle with each other as well as play with the older girls!!
Then...Sept 2009
NOW.......May 2010

Grant $$

Well as some of you may or may not know....I recently received The Quality Counts Grant from Child Care Resource and Referral!! This is HUGE for me! I wrote the grant by myself and within it, asked for money to buy some outdoor toys for the kiddos as well as some multi-cultural and diversity toys. I really wasn't sure how or if I was going to get it. This was the first time that I have EVER written something like this and to top it all off...I realized about two weeks before it was due that is was due in two weeks (I thought I had another month to work on it). Oops...
So with the grant money that I received, I have ordered all of the new toys and playground stuff for the kiddos!! Now we are just wanting for it all to get here and to put it all together. We bought a wooden swing set for the backyard, and sand and water table, a climber with a slide for the younger kiddos, some people for the kids to play with, a mirror center for the babies, some toys for the sand and water table, as well as a toddler swing for the swing set. I am so excited and so are the kiddos about all of the new toys and stuff we will have to play with and enjoy the nice weather (well except for today because it is raining).
So now we just have to prepare the yard and get everything ready for this wonderful addition to Creative Kids Family Child Care!!!!!

Where Kurt??

So today, after a month of being off, Kurt went back to work! However, over the past month the kiddo have really gotten used to him being around the house doing this and that and helping when I needed him to. So i knew that today was going to be interesting when they found out he was at work.
Madison (22 months) was the first to ask "Where Kurt? I told her he was at work. Madison said "Work?" Like why is he at work, he should be here. I told her that he had to go to work today and that she might get to see him later! Thankfully that answered her curious question.
Hannah (5 in June) was the next one to ask but it wasn't until around morning snack! She came up to me and goes "Why haven't I saw Mr. Kurt?" I told her that he went back to work and that she would get to see him when he came home for work. Than Hannah says. "Well I thought he was working here." I told her that he just had some time off of work and that that time was all done and that he had to be at work today. I think she understood and then she went back to playing.
Ayla (3 years old) finally asked me while I was cooking lunch "Where's Mr. Kurt?" I told her that he was a work and then she went back to cleaning up and getting ready for lunch and nap time.
I find it amazing how some children notice things right away, while others notice changes at the funniest or weirdest times. And the thing that I love about teaching children and observing them, is that no matter what has changed they always want to know why. Children amaze me!!!
On a side note, I was going to post some pictures today, however, my computer crashed on Friday and we are working on getting everything off of the Hard Drive, so I don't have any pictures on my new computer yet!!

WELCOME

Well this is totally new to me!!! But I thought that I would give it a try and see how is goes. I thought that blogging would be a good way for me to allow others into the daily like of me as I run my In-Home Family Child Care, Creative Kids. Is there any other adventure better than taking care of the daily needs, teaching, being creative, playing, laughing, crying, sleeping, feeding, changing, and enjoying the children that I provide care for?? I think NOT! I truly love what I am doing and wouldn't trade it for the world! I started my In-Home Child Care in August of 2009 when my husband and I moved to Bloomington/Normal. With my education back ground, and the fact that I knew it was going to be hard to find another teaching job, and knowing that I would love to stay at home with our own children (when we have them), opening my Child Care what the best decision.
So my that is how I started on this adventure into In-Home Child Care! I hope you enjoy following along with my adventure!!