Our Wild and Crazy Home Daycare

The older kids and I thought it would be fun to make Fruit Loop necklaces a few weeks ago. Like usual, I conducted the activity separately with the little guys in the morning. They were all very much into putting one Fruit Loop on their necklace. And then their work was done. Or perhaps, for them, the task just changed to the better option: snacking.

Riley and Noah took a little more time with their necklaces in the afternoon...but did devour them quite quickly after completing them. Mmmmmm....edible jewelry.

We had been waiting for some good puddles to splash in and finally got our wish one day at Lithuania Park.

Thomas and Leila in particular enjoyed stomping around in various puddles.

Oh what fun! :)

Another day, we got out the easel to paint some masterpieces.

Amadea, as usual, was the most enthused participant. She has quite the focus for a 20-month-old!

She became inspired to paint on a different surface, her arm.

It is a very deep concept, but I believe what she is saying is "I am art." Look out for her work at the AGO, in years to come. ;)

Noah opted out of this activity but princess Riley was very engrossed in her work. She is so sweet. Often, when I say, "I can't wait to hang your art work up!", she'll say, "I want to bring it to my mama." Even better.

We have been hanging out at our usual stomping grounds, Lithuania Park, on a daily basis.

Noah can now propel himself a little on the swing, which keeps him going for a long time after a big push.

Leila and Amadea are trying to master the playground, and improving every day. I wonder how many new skills they will have by the end of the summer!

A Leila sandwich hug.

Unbelievably cute. All of them.

Here are the little guys doing Play Dough together in the morning. And here they are congregating under our dining room table. 

The following photo was taken when Noah and Riley went on a play date one evening to High Park. King and Queen of cool. ;)

The little guys often come to hang out with me in the kitchen, when I am washing dishes and cleaning up after snack. Again, just so cute I couldn't not take a picture, especially with Thomas sporting a Mr. Potato Head mouth. (He is crazy about that toy, by the way!)

We brought water balloons to the park on some particularly hot days, since the wading pools aren't open yet, and at this point, the water fountains hadn't even been turned on. As you can see, the younger ones are perplexed and frightened by this activity, which for the older boys, consisted of squeezing a water balloon over one's head until it pops.

Okay, apart from her future career as an artist, I am also convinced that Amadea has a calling in the fashion world. She loves trying things on, especially shoes. All shoes.

The bigger kids always climb up the dirt hill on the way back from Lithuania Park, while the younger ones travel in the wagon. I guess Leila is becoming a big girl, because she now insists on walking home, though she needs a little help to get to the top.

Check this out. No words needed.

One morning, these crazy kids were having a ball playing with Noah's umbrella and managed not to poke each other's eyes out. I call that a successful morning!

And finally, we have the kids playing in the dirt at Noah's school. They were so quiet and focused for some time. I loved watching them so content...the whole group working side by side.

I leave you with the budding artist, and her presentation titled "Yogurt on Skin". Actually, someone noted that it may be an undiscovered beauty treatment. Either way, it's surely a revolutionary idea.

Oh - yes, let me also include a video I captured of the creative process. It is just too adorable. Plus, I just love the part near the end where Leila discovers a piece of a pita-cream cheese sandwich (apparently dropped there after our outside time about a half our earlier) in her dolly's crib. Classy. :)