Thomas Graduates Daycare

As per Thomas's request, we invited Riley over for a play date this week. She is pure loveliness. When she was delivered to the daycare after school, along with Noah, she walked up to Thomas, rubbed his back, and said in the sweetest voice, "So Thomas, I hear it's your last week at the daycare...." :) The kids all cuddled up to her on the couch (well not the babies) while she read to them. We are so lucky she will be spending more time with us again in the summer!

We played with foam this week! We've seen tubs of shaving cream at drop-in centres, and Thomas loves it, so we thought we'd try it too. Well, we cheated actually, and bought kids spray foam. Thomas loved it all over again.

Marcus loved it too.

Amadea wasn't too sure at first.

And Leila loves anything purple. (Oh and Maryam completely ignored this activity. She had other ideas. :)

Our activity attracted a few other kids from the park. Actually, we are making lots of friends lately!

Amadea was very much into painting my legs. She has always been such a creative artist. ;)

Yesterday was Thomas's last day at the daycare. I can't believe it's been almost 3 years since he started! I will miss his exuberant personality; he has such a special place in my heart. At the same time, I know that he is more than ready for kindergarten. I am excited for him to learn, grow, and make tons of friends. I also know that he will be back for visits and I can't wait to hear about his adventures at school!

We celebrated his graduation by playing with punching balloons. Maryam was into them at first, but as you can see in these photos, she'd rather just hang out near the music source. ;)

Well hello little guy!! Marcus was right in there.

I got creative with this photo. I took it as I was giving Thomas a big push on the swing. I'm so glad I did! O.M.G. What. A. Sweetheart.

I also bought pirate eye patches for Tom's last day. I had told him earlier in the week that I had gotten them, and he got this sad, concerned look and said, with such innocence, "....but....you didn't get pirate hats or pirate beards?...You only got pirate patches?" I love how kids speak their true feelings. He was unbelievably adorable. So anyway, Thomas decided the patch looked great with a firefighter's outfit. I would have to agree!

My helper offered to take a group photo. Of course, with 5 kids, this is as good as we can get with a group shot.

Oh, AND we had ice cream cones with sprinkles at lunch!

I leave you with a picture of two adorable children in a toy bin, AND some exciting news: Amadea now has a little baby brother! He was born yesterday (Friday) evening, and is happy and healthy.  I know Amadea will be the best big sister. She is already a big help with the babies at the daycare. Congratulations to the family! And we can't wait to meet him!!

Puddle Play

We finally got a chance to get muddy and wet this week! Often, the puddles dry up before we go out, or it is too cold of a day to play in the rain. But on Monday it was warm and rainy, and perfect!

We brought out bath toys (including rubber duckies) and little plastic aquatic creatures, including of course, fish.

We all (yes, even me) had our rain coats AND our rain pants on. Marcus's rain suit (which doubles as a Hazmat suit) didn't do much to keep him dry. I guess there's only so much a rain suit can do when you are literally sitting in a puddle. :)

But like I say, it was warm, and we were able to come right in afterwards and change into some nice dry clothes. The kids had a blast!

I encouraged the kids to play in the muck, and succeeded in interesting Tom!

It was a big clean up, but well worth it! I'm a big promoter of playing in the dirt, muck, or in puddles, as long as the water hasn't been sitting more than a day. The dirtier the better! Dirt is VERY good for kids. Get the word out! ;) See past post here.

I love these pictures of beautiful little Dea in her red rain pants!

Forgot to post this pic from last Friday, when I panted Tom as Spider Man!

We went for a walk this week and passed by this swing. The kids have swung on it before. It is a tree swing on a boulevard on High Park Avenue. I think it's fantastic that someone put it there. Community service! 

My silly girl, making silly faces. :)

And here are the babies playing in the dirt in a more conventional way. ;) It's all good!