Welcome Nayelli

We all enjoyed Nayelli's company today!

And she fit right in . . . .

We went to visit Ms. Faye and her magical yard. The children were fascinated by her little bridge.

What we ate today

Lola made plenty of orange juice this morning and we had some banana, soy crisp crackers and raisins, too.

Lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, broccoli, cucumber and cherry tomatoes, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and, everyone's favorite . .. . Pirate Booty! I'll admit it, I use the pirate booty to bribe the children, "Finish your broccoli and you can have more pirate booty" If you don't know what it is - Pirate Booty is a health food version of cheetos. Yummy with no artificial ingredients. Everyone had a bowl of plain yogurt with a little maple syrup in it for dessert.

Everyone ate really well!

Windy Day

It was finally windy enough to fly our kites. They really flew and the kids ran up and down the street watching them fly and twirl.

Good Day and a New Puzzle!

I found this great puzzle at the School Supply store and put it on the shelf without saying anything. It has windows and doors with shiny locks and bolts. It didn't take long for Wyatt to find it and all three kids to get excited. It kept them busy on this rainy day.

We also practiced for the show on Thursday. What will your child be for Halloween? Nora says she is going to be a baby and Persi says a dinosaur. Wyatt says he doesn't know. Decide soon and let me know so we can practice the part of the performance when they are in their costumed character.

For snack we had Wyatt and Mommy's cinnamon toast (yum!) and fresh-squeezed orange juice that the kids helped squeeze. For lunch we had quinoa pasta Mac and Cheese, "not-dogs" (vegie hot dogs), brown rice with raisins and peas, cucumber with ranch. Everyone ate well!

What we ate today

Hurrying to finish this as the kids are waking up from nap! I can hear Nora singing in the bed and Wyatt is sitting in the chair in the kitchen barely awake. Persi is still sound asleep.

Today we had for snack: home-made by Lois apple sauce.
Lunch: We made lentil soup today! Yesterday we picked the last of the beans that dried on the vine so today we opened the pods and put the beans in the pot with onions and carrots and yummy lentil soup mix. We ate it with a dollop of plain yogurt.
We also had rice cake with peanutbutter, apple slices and ginger cookies.

Persi and Wyatt loved the soup, Nora did not - she mostly ate the rice cake and pb, apple slices and a bowl of yogurt.

Painting!

Monday morning my plan was to make fancy invitations for our upcoming party and performance.

Nora said, "Ella I NEED to paint." There went my plans.

It worked really well for the children to paint one at a time. We used a large pallet with the primary colors. I didn't say much about it, just let them experiment with mixing and putting it on the page. Later we noticed and named all the colors on each painting.

We made simple little invites and raced the cars across the kitchen floor while waiting for a turn to paint.

Little Routines

Here's the kids in the little hallway outside the bathroom after they are all clean, changed, with hands washed. They do puzzles while waiting for everyone to be finished and while I get the bathroom clean.

I'd like to have a small basket of dress-ups available as well since the big mirror is there. Anyone have hats, poncho, easy-to-put-on fun clothes?? I also need a little gate so the kids don't go running around, but stay put till we are all ready to run around.

I'm so proud of each of the kids! Oftentimes I don't need to say anything - hands are dried, go do a puzzle - sit at the table, put your napkin in your lap - etc. They are getting used to the routines of our day and are generally so cooperative.

Getting Ready for the Party!

We are getting excited about the party next week! We've been talking about costumes and have been practicing a little song and game for when we are wearing our costumes. There's growing excitement about the show the children will be performing. We are practicing the show and imagining where the parents will sit to be our audience.

It was fun to make invitations. I hope you got yours.

Here's details:

Date: Thursday, October 28th

Time: 12:15 till 12:45.

Please come on time or a little early.

Send a costume with your child - it should be comfortable to move in. No mask, please.

Wednesday, October 13

I was hoping to finish our kites today but the air was completely still. No wind at all. So we are waiting for a windy day for our kites and we hammered nails instead. There is a small stump by the slide that I drove a nail partway in and the children took turns hammering with a small hammer. Nora was the most interested in this activity and stuck with it the longest. All the kids were happy and involved at the end and we celebrated when the nail was all the way in. Persi made a connection with the drumming poem that we say "Dum Ditty." There's a part that goes: whack, whack, whack! and Persi started saying this with the hammering. It caught on and they all were taking turns hammering and saying the poem line.

We also planted and fertilized the basil by the fish pond. Those poor, dying pots of basil that I meant to plant back in the spring! I told the plants I was sorry and promised to water them and all the kids said they would help remind me. So now they feed the fish, and water the plants. They continue to really enjoy taking turns jumping on the trampoline and riding Wonder, the horse, too.

Lunch today was baby carrots and spinach with Ranch for dipping, sunflower seeds, corn tortillas with cheese, garbanzo beans, and for dessert Nora and Mommy's rice crispie treats with blueberries, nuts and chocolate-big treat! We had almond milk to drink which they all love. Everyone ate everything! Persi especially liked the tortillas, not so much on the seeds. Nora and Wyatt had 3 servings of seeds. Wyatt especially liked the beans. I served them cold, right out of the can as a finger food.

Please bring wipes next week! The seventh generation ones are nice - no chlorine or perfumes. I rinse the other kind, so any kind is fine.

Food suggestions: crackers, cheese, fruit. Don't feel you have to bring food but if you can, its appreciated.

Thanks for all the sweet support... its been a tough time as you know and I feel so lucky to count each of you as friends.

Yay! I finally got this set up!

Hello sweet families of Nora, Wyatt and Persimmon!
I hope to post here each day and let you know the things we did, how things went and what was for lunch, etc.

Right now Nora and Persi are drumming, Nora making up a story/song as she drums. "This is far away, this is far away and cozy." Persi sings back, drumming the rhythm of her words, "Wyatt comes far away. Sing about far away." Wyatt is marching in the rhythm around the room.

I'm so happy with how they play together. I still intervene as needed to model compassionate concern, or make suggestions for communicating but their need for my help is way less than when we began a little over a month ago.

For lunch today we had cucumber with ranch, turkey on wheat, cheese cubes, rice cakes with apple butter.

It was a good day!