More Gratitude

This morning I had my home inspection from California Social Services.  After a two month delay because of state budget cuts, they finally came!  My home passed!!!  I will receive my small home daycare license next week.  I haven't posted many pictures of the rooms I use because I have been busy working on them---and cleaning them up a lot.  The kiddos make it messy real fast!  

I wanted to thank my family for helping me so much!  Dad installed the most awesome baby gates, so the babies won't hurt themselves on the small steps.  Mom helped me with tons of little ideas, and she is going to be my "substitute" when I can't watch the kiddos.  Chad helped with my lights, making our driveway safer.  Kelly helped me fix my front door's lock- I am relieved I can lock my front door- it was only broken for one day.  Larry helped with my roman shades, making it nice and cool in the playroom.   Jess and Ali have given me lots of ideas and have just been the greatest sisters.  And of course Oliver who has helped me organize a lot of things.  Thank you.

 My Playroom

 Part of the playroom and the door that leads to

the "napping room."  

 Baby Gate- thanks Dad!

 Part of the "napping room" it is also turning

into a library...

 The "napping room" is pretty small- it was hard to take a picture.

 The door that leads to the laundry room...

The laundry room...I put this picture up for

Amy...its a nice size little room!

Entrance to my daycare...the other door leads to

my little garage.

Donut Shop

This morning Oliver woke up early on his own.  Mommy promised him that we could stop at the donut shop we pass on 9th Ave. on the way to school.  The donut shop is right on the corner and looks interesting, so we wanted to stop and check it out!  Oliver was super excited- for donuts and school!  We had fun looking at all the goodies through the window.  Oliver ordered his own donut and paid for  it himself.  He is so responsible.  We shared a yummy donut hole too.  

Oliver is off with his Daddy for another long stretch.  Mommy will get to be with Oliver the last two weekends of December.  See you Friday for a bit little man.  

 

Yummy.  You can see all the donuts from Escondido Blvd.

 The donut holes were huge!

 Mommy thinks Oliver was drooling a little bit.

 Looking at the donut holes.

 Ordering and paying for his donut.

 We liked the menu.  It looks kind of old.

 So serious.

Even the bag was neat.  We like to discover new places!

Circle Stories

This morning Oliver went to preschool, he had a lot of fun at school.  He got a sticker from the teacher because he did a great job listening today.  

When he came home we read a book that Connor gave us last year.   It is a book called, If You Take A Mouse to the Movies, by Laura Numeroff.  It starts with the mouse wanting to go to the movies, so the little boy takes the mouse to the movies, then the mouse wants popcorn, so the boy gets popcorn for the mouse.  The mouse wants to use the popcorn to make a popcorn string for the Christmas tree, so they have to get a Christmas tree….each event causes a need for something else.  At the end of the story the mouse runs out of popcorn, so he asks the boy to take him to the movies again….The story could just keep going, and going, and going.  It is a fun circle story. 

The author has written many circle stories, Mommy always thinks that it would be fun to change the story at the end.  Instead of taking the mouse back to the movies to get popcorn, what if you took the mouse somewhere else….then it wouldn’t be a circle story anymore, but oh well, it might end up being an even better story.  (Sometimes, its fun to break circles or cycles.  It can reveal things that you never knew existed.)  Oliver and Mommy are going to read more of Laura Numeroff ‘s stories and think about different endings. 

Reading is fun!

Christmas themed circle story

 The mouse from the story

A fun little chart we made...when Oliver is older

we can write in the different events of the story...and

talk more about all the different things we noticed.  

Oliver with our treasures.

Monday

Mondays are sometimes hard for Oliver.  He had some temper tantrums in the morning and then bumped his forehead pretty hard.  (Mommy just wants to nurture him, figure out what is going on, and give him cuddles.)  He was all better after a bit.

We had a nice rest of the day.  He helped Mommy with the babies and he loved the Christmas tree.  We walked over to the Ferrera Winery and checked out all the decorations they had outside.  Oliver is excited because there is a Santa Mickey Mouse statue. 

In the evening he got a chance to play with Riley for a while.  He took an awesome bath and fell asleep nicely. 

 Putting up animal ornaments.  After he hung it he gave 

Mommy a sweet kiss.  (He is good at understanding 

Mommy and showing he cares about her.)

 Some animals on our tree.  Mommy didn't take out all

of her Hallmark ornaments.  We would need

a bigger tree...  We just put up the animals.

 An owl at the top of our tree.

 Oliver kept making funny faces in the mirror...raising his eyebrows...

doing weird things with his mouth and forehead.  It was funny.

 Our lobster trap and tent at the base of our tree.

Out little Christmas tree.

Cool Beans

 Our Christmas Tree skirt.  Doug at the coffee shop

let Mommy have this cool coffee bean bag--for free.  

Grammie and Grandpa gave Mommy this pretend

tree---thank you.

Tonight Mommy got the Christmas Tree ready to decorate.  Mommy took the coffee bean bag and ripped out the seams of one side.  She chose one that had a lot of writing because she thought it was cool, but she turned it to the blank side when she put it around the little tree.  Mommy can't wait to help Oliver decorate it tomorrow.

Two of our neighbors put up tons of lights and decorations this weekend.  Mommy is excited when she looks out the window, she knows Oliver will be too!  Christmas is fun!

Chocolate Cake

Today was a great Friday.  Oliver came over in the morning.  After a few little tantrums we had a nice day together.  He helped Mommy a lot with the babies.  We also had fun visiting with Mommy's chocolate cake, Amanda.  (Chocolate cakes are fun.) Her baby girl is due at the end of January.  We can't wait to meet her.  Oliver liked looking at Amanda's belly.  

Oliver is off with his Daddy now for the weekend.  See you Monday little man.

 Oliver had his jeans on this morning....didn't last long...

 Checking out the baby belly.

Some of Mommy's favorite people 

"Happy"

This morning Oliver told Mommy, “I’m happy to be going to school today.”  That made Mommy proud of her little man.  He is learning so much there!  He comes home singing the little songs, telling Mommy about the books he reads, and the things they do throughout the day.  Preschool is fun!

Today Mommy finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Paush.  He was a very optimistic man with amazing thoughts about life, love, work, and parenting.  Mommy found this quote inspiring…it is how she feels about Oliver.

“His life will be his life.  I would just urge my kids to find their way with enthusiasm and passion.”

Mommy likes that.

Oliver is off with his Daddy for his long stretch.  See you on Friday for a bit little man.

 Walking to his class this morning.

Oliver has been writing Mommy messages--he finally

understands which boards to write on.

 (Mommy is very pleased...with everything.)

 This book was awesome.  Read it!