A Reindeer After Christmas

Beginning the end of January, in the midst of all the snowfalls this year, we welcomed a very special helper into our home. We are going to call her Reindeer because of her helpful, positive attitude and the fact that she loves Christmas time! Reindeer is my daughter, K-Bird's best friend and is studying to be an elementary teacher. She needed to find a place to do her preschool internship for her college classes, and was approved to do it within our childcare. Meet our Snow Angel!

Our cubs love Reindeer! Her cheerful attitude shined through our home for several weeks as she planned and brought fun activities for the cubs to do. We made butterflies out of hand prints, Valentines cards for the mom's, and played some fun games. She even brought and prepared a special pasta lunch for the kids and made a Valentine's Day jello treat with strawberries.

 BUTTERFLIES

VALENTINE'S DAY

 

 

SNOWBALL TOSS GAME 

Our most favorite day was when she brought her pet tortoise, Otis, to visit. The kids loved watching him walk and eat lettuce. We talked about the differences between turtles and tortoises and colored our own tortoise made out of paper plates.We also listened to a Franklin story on YouTube.

TORTOISE DAY FUN!!!

 

Thank you, Miss Reindeer for being our very special friend. 

We love you so much!!! Can't wait to hang out with you again soon! 

New Little Friends

It's been a few years since we've had an infant to care for due to state licensing rules and regulations on how many infants you can care for at one time. Since our last toddler turned two in August and some of our older kids headed off to kindergarten we had the privilege of starting care for a new little one. She was three months old when she began care several months ago and is now approaching eight months old this month!

It took us some time to give her an animal name, but we finally decided on Sea Horse since her mom loves dressing her in outfits consisting of unicorns, cute animals, and sea life. She is a very good baby and fairly easy going. Her colorful personality and smiles brighten our days and the other kiddos have adjusted well to having her here. We thought we'd only have her on a temporary basis due to other families holding spots for their infants, but one family had a change in their circumstances that allowed us to take her long term. We are so grateful to have her here and that things worked out the way they did so we can cuddle her for a longer time.

In October we welcomed an 18 month old who needed temporary care while his caretaker was out of town for several months. This situation worked out perfectly for us considering we are holding a spot for a baby beginning in March. His parents suggested Iguana as his animal name in the interview, so it seemed like a good candidate!  It took him several days to adjust to being here because he's such a Mamma's boy, but now he loves coming and hanging out with his friends. He is truly a sweetheart and a very mellow, fellow. He loves listening to songs from Queen according to his mom, so we sometimes play "We Will Rock You" to brighten his day. Now all the other cubs join in the sing along. In fact, music and freeze dance are often a daily occurrence. There is a slight chance that he will become a permanent cub once he turns two due to some unexpected circumstances, and we are somewhat hopeful it works out considering he is so loved around here.

As we start a new year, we look forward to the adventures and changes ahead. New faces will arrive and some will head off to school in the fall. In the meantime, we learn to take each day as it comes and thank God for all the little blessings who are in our home each day. Hopefully, I can post an update more often since they grow up so quickly. I can't believe it will be ten years in May that Lion's Pride has been licensed. We are truly amazed at how far we've come and how much we've learned and grown ourselves.

Summertime Again

Another holiday has come and gone, which means a little time off for me and the opportunity to make another update.  Recently I took updated individual pictures of our cubs before Piglet headed off to Florida for seven weeks to be with her dad. We are missing her quite a bit, but we are grateful we were able to also capture a few group shots of her and her friends before leaving town. Ladybug has joined us for the summer months while she's been gone, so it has been fun to have an old friend back with us.

 (Top: Swan, Tortoise, Owlette; Middle: Piglet, Triceratops, Ladybug; Bottom: Caterpillar, Unicorn, Spider)

There are a few new faces here for the summer. Swan is the little sister of Chick and Goose. She has been coming once a week since the beginning of June (instead of Chick, since she is now going to preschool with Goose). We thought her name was fitting since she is an easy going baby and it fits in well with her sisters' names. She is a lot of fun to watch and gives the best cheesy grins each time we look her direction. We are not sure how long we will watch her but hope to continue having her one day a week while her sisters take on a new adventure homeschooling with their mamma.

Another new face is Cat. She is here with us short-term during the summer months since her other daycare situation fell through. She is 5 years old and has beautiful curls. She is getting to know Caterpillar, Spider, and the rest of the gang pretty well despite feeling uneasy her first day here. We decided to name her Cat because she enjoys interacting with others, takes long naps, but also likes her space once in awhile.

Our previous daycare client Rabbit has been hanging out with us as well this summer. She's 12 now and her dad has been making some needed improvements to our backyard. We had an extreme make over with new railroad ties around the pea gravel area, fence repairs, trees trims, and fresh paint on our deck, ladder and porch swing. It's a huge weight off my shoulders and makes the yard much more enjoyable.

In the fall, Caterpillar and Spider will be heading off to kindergarten! It's hard to believe, but they seem ready for some new adventures in learning. I will miss their mischievous giggles while playing together and helping hands with the little ones. We will have 9 month old joining us in August and a newborn early next year. New seasons bring new adventures! In the meantime, we are enjoying our summer fun and helping Caterpillar adapt to having a cast on his leg after having surgery mid-July. He's been a trooper for sure!

 

New Year - 2019 Update

It's February, already?  Time sure goes by quickly when you run a daycare!

Last summer kept us hopping with extra kiddos here to play with while school was out and August brought some changes as usual. Ladybug, Cheetah, and Goose started preschool, but come to visit now and then. Miss Karen took a week off to recover from minor surgery, and our little babies have turned into toddlers!

We started care for a 4 1/2 year old (turned 5 in January), whom we call Spider since his favorite super hero is Spiderman. He has been a great friend to Caterpillar since the other preschoolers left. They play well together, and we had a great time baking with the boys during Thanksgiving week when the three toddlers were all out of town. It was a lot of fun and they did a great job staying focused and helping. The pumpkin chocolate chip muffins we made were delicious too! They will head to kindergarten in the fall, so we are enjoying doing fun things with them in the meantime.

                                         Spider                                             Spider and Caterpillar

Here are some pictures of our full-time busy toddlers and four year olds hanging out last fall.....

Piglet, Owlette, and Tortoise                               Spider and Caterpillar

Fun in the Leaves!!!

 

Here are our part-timers, Goose and Chick with Caterpillar on Halloween

Below: Piglet, Tortoise, and Owlette with Rabbit in their costumes

 

In January, we had the privilege of beginning care with Triceratops and Unicorn. Triceratops comes every day of the week and Unicorn comes with her brother on Wednesdays. We chose their names because they both like those animals the best (even if unicorn isn't a real animal... it seemed to fit.) Triceratops just turned three and enjoys playing super hero toys with the bigger boys, as well as, singing and dancing. Unicorn loves the color pink, ponies, kinetic sand, and anything related to princesses of course. She turns 5 in a few weeks and will start school in the fall.

                                 New Friends                                           Sister and Brother Buds

Here are recent, individual pictures of each of our kiddos that come weekly! They keep us super busy, and we look forward to the many adventures ahead!

                                        Spider                                                          Caterpillar

                                          Unicorn                                                   Triceratops

                                      Chick                                                              Piglet

                                             Owlette                                                 Tortoise

Beat the Heat

It has been so hot this summer! We've spent a lot of time trying to beat the heat with the water table. It takes a bit of time to get everyone ready to play outside and covered with sunscreen, but once we do, it's fun watching them splash and play in the water.

Since I recently acquired my experienced provider licensed, I've been able to watch Owlette's older brother, Alligator who's visiting from South Dakota.  We've also had Crocodile on summer vacation as well, so he's been hanging out with his brother Cheetah and the other boys. It's been a unique schedule this summer with my part-timers rotating days, so some days we have a majority of boys and other days we have mostly girls. The babies stay pretty consistent though.

Piglet is visiting her dad in Florida, so we've been missing her, but will get to see her again in a couple of weeks. Here are some fun pictures to reflect on all of our summer fun so far!

The girls: Ladybug, Chick, and Goose

 The boys:  Cheetah, Crocodile, Alligator, and Caterpillar

All the crew above, but on different days! Below, Cheetah and Ladybug who will be headed to preschool in the fall. Fawn (in the black and white polka dots) will also be going to preschool, so we will miss having her one a day a week. Caterpillar has especially enjoyed hanging out with her! We wish you all the best on your new adventures and hope to see you on some school breaks.

 Last, but not least... the little ones Owelette and Tortoise. The first is starting the adventure of walking, the other is learning to crawl!