Summer Smiles

These pictures were taken on our very first trip to the wading pool this year, which coincided with Noah's last day of school. It is so nice to watch the kids enjoy this again. Even Leila, who doesn't like to go deep, enjoys playing around with buckets, etc., near the edge of the pool.

One day, we ditched the wading pools and went all the way over to Malta Park. They have so many extra toys at this playground. There is always something that the kids can find to do.

An extra bonus on this special day was that we got to play with Oscar! (Oscar was at the daycare from about 8 months until 2 years old.) As you can see, Leila, Amadea and Oscar were all very interested in this fancy red sports car.

Tu-tus work for any kind of play, as Leila demonstrates below. And Noah is super proud (and should be!) that he can climb so high on the playground!

Here are Amadea and Leila playing peek-a-boo together at the playground.

Leila kept laughing, like it was the best game ever. She is in hysterics in the photo below. So cute!

One day, Riley brought a humongous balloon to the daycare. I have never seen a balloon this big before. Only a picture frame was broken before I restricted their play with this balloon to the hallway. Luckily it popped before anything else broke! Kids were sad. I was delighted! :)

We go to the playground every single day. Life is good.

Oh, except when we go to the big pool. Life is really, really good!

Sometimes we also have water balloons. The kids don't play catch with them, but rather hold them over their heads and squeeze them until they pop!

My mother bought these laundry hampers for Leila and Noah. Thomas and Leila found a MUCH better use for them!

Just a darned cute picture!

We continue to splash in the puddles at the bottom of Lithuania Park whenever there has been a heavy rain.

And this sweet little girl is Shivani. She is with us just for the month of August. She is a sweet, intelligent girl and we all love her already!

The two pictures below were taken during Circle Time (music time). This is one of the kids' favourite activities. Noah is acting the part of Mr. Sun (in the bottom left photo) while we sing the song.

Firefighters is probably Leila and Thomas's favourite game to play together. These two have become such good friends.

So, more about the big pool. It is as warm as a bath, so the kids love to stay in for a long period of time.

I couldn't photograph Thomas in the pool because he wants me, and only me to hold him in the pool. They all LOVE the water!

Okay, well, Leila actually would rather sit poolside and eat, most of the time. She is living a life of leisure. :)

One of Noah's school friends, Salim, who lives in the building, invited us all (along with some other friends) to a get-together party. The daycare kids all know Salim from the schoolyard (where we would pick Noah up every day) and the playground. There were decorations, dancing, organized games, an obstacle course, loot bags (with personalized homemade cards from Salim), balloons.....

...and lots and lots of food. Yulduz (Salim's mother) ordered pizzas for the kids, and made so much delicious food for the adults. She is incredible....an angel. And everybody knows it. We are so grateful to know her.

We've been taking some trips to different playgrounds besides Lithuania Park. We've visited Baird Park, Vine Parkette, Malta Park, Chelsea Park, and the following pictures were taken at Ravina Gardens.

Amadea kept putting her tummy in the water on this day. She was so proud of her bravery. So was I, as a matter of fact. I'm amazed at all the kids. They wade around in it like it's nothing, and if I keep my foot in it for more than 10 seconds it literally hurts. It is that frigid.

A common pastime at all the playgrounds is playing "restaurant". Every time I order pizza Leila reminds me that they have Mac and Cheese. I always feel pressured to change my order. :)

Thomas has me get out the dress up bin EACH and EVERY day. It's his absolute favourite. Here is Amadea trying to scare me with one of the masks from the bin. Adorable!

Noah has been away at day camp recently. When Riley is also away, and the babies are sleeping, Shivani likes to do nothing but play chess. She is getting very good! Noah came back from camp one day and caught us playing this game that he also loves. He jumped right in and played the rest of the game for me.

One day, as I was cleaning up in the kitchen after morning snack, I heard this beautiful chorus of children's voices. I looked and saw that they were also doing a beautiful thing: cleaning up. Actually, Thomas had asked for the dress-up bin (again) and I told him they would have to clean up the food bin first. I guess he got them motivated!

And...more splashing in puddles pics. Forgive me. I realize my posts hop back and forth between subjects, but my main goal is to get the multitude of photos up, and not to miss any cute ones. I just don't always have time to organize the photos by subject, and anyway, I like to keep them in order of the times they were taken.

Here are the kids being chased by a helper of mine (not in photo).

The kids have such a special bond. The video below was taken after Thomas had just gotten up from his nap. He was grumpy and sad (the kids so often wake like this, but come around after a few minutes). Here, Amadea works her magic, and cheers up Thomas in no time.


And here is another beautiful moment I have to share with you. Children laughing together. Doesn't it make you smile?


Enjoy the rest of your summer, folks! I know that we at the daycare have had a blast so far. We still have a few exciting activities planned before things change a little in September.

I just love these guys!

I leave you with one last adorable video.