Atley's Journal

Atley ate bites of whole wheat bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate sausage and hamburger pizza, on whole wheat pizza crust with tomato sauce, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, and peppers.  She also ate a serving of pineapple on the side. We were reading a Dr. Seuss book this morning and this particular book has the author's picture in the back on the inside cover.  Atley looked at that and said, "Daddy!!"  Haha!!  So maybe it's the white beard that fooled her, but personally I see no resemblance!!  :) Hudson, Atley, and Nora were waving bye at the window this morning to Nora's Daddy Ryan.  Hudson put a plate in front of his face and said, "This will scare him!"  Haha!  Then Atley had to run get a plate and do the same thing of course.  :) Atley is becoming the resident "bug person."  She picks up every and all bugs!  And she goes to the window many times in the morning and looks for bugs crawling on the w...

Atley ate whole wheat toast and most of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, whole grain tortilla, ate carrots, no potatoes, most of sweet potatoes, and she ate half of fruit salad.  At the lunch table Hudson scooted over by Atley, put his arm around her, and said to Avi (who sits across the table), "Take a picture." It was so cute and funny. Shortly  before  I took these first two pictures Nora was literally screaming mad at Atley for something that had to do with the little play house.  Atley responded so nonchalantly that Nora quickly got over it and within moments she was laughing hysterically at Atley's antics!!  And the Caregiver was just standing there observing it all and scratching his head like; "what the heck was that about!!??" Haha! It's fun and interesting to watch how Atley handles Nora - especially when Nora is so intense about something - it really helps Nora to just calm down and let it go. Well speaking of laughing ...

Atley ate about half of breakfast: whole wheat english muffin and dried plums.  For lunch she ate several bites of chicken, a large serving of brown rice, several bites of stir fry vegetables, and maybe a bite of oranges.  At the lunch table Hudson looked around at everyone and asked; "Hey Gary! When are these guys gonna go to kindergarten??" Ha!  So I asked him when he was gonna go?  He said, "When I grow up."  :) I hope all of you had a great Memorial Day weekend.  I also want to mention that Lauralea is covering for me today while I get my hearing aids adjusted at 4:15. Hudson was at the bottom of the slide while the others were sliding down and he kept asking all of them; "Do you want me to catch you!?!"  Here's a picture of Hudson "catching" Atley.  She intentionally kind of pushed forward and ended up on top of him and Believe me he wanted out from under her!!  She kind of just bowled him over.  :)  That made me laugh!! ...

Atley ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of salmon, ate whole wheat dinner roll, no green beans, and a bite of mangoes.  Lauralea said, "bye kids" at breakfast like she does just about every day.  They (Nora, Atley, Avilene, and Hudson) were all laughing and giggling, waving bye and mimicking her by chanting, "bye kids" as she was leaving.  :) This first picture made me laugh!  (As usual!  Ha!)  Nora had been standing beside Atley and by the time I got the camera she'd jumped, but Atley got distracted looking out the window.  What made me laugh is because of what distracted her!  I doubt if anyone could guess with 10 tries!  I'm sure I couldn't except I'm the one who trains them to be very vigilant and hyper sensitive about spotting the enemy -  Dandelions !!  Ha!  Atley was saying, "Dandelion, dandelion, dandelion!!"  Nice work super Scout!!  :) Here are some more pictures fr...

Atley ate half of whole wheat english muffin and maybe a bite or two of oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, large serving of elbow noodles covered with a large serving of applesauce and ate bites of her peas.  I know the kids are usually just about done eating if they start messing around at meal time.  At lunch today Atley was close to being done and she started closing her eyes saying, "nap time!" Avi and Hudson did the same.  Then Avi opens her eyes and said, "Morning time!!"  Repeat over and over.  (As you can obviously see this wasn't the first time for this game!!)  Ok kids that's hilarious, but lets go into the play room to play!!  :) This first picture is from yesterday afternoon when the kids were playing in the two tunnels we have hooked together.  I think there were two or maybe three kids inside the tunnel when I took the picture. They were having fun rolling the big balls along in front of them. ...

Atley ate french toast and strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of paleo stew with chicken and turkey, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, green beans, and cauliflower.  She also ate crackers and tropical fruit.  At breakfast Atley ate a bite or two of strawberries and loudly exclaimed; "I like it Avi! I like it!"  Haha! Here's a picture of Atley and Avi doing some puzzles first thing this morning.  They set up camp at the entrance to the kitchen so they could watch Lauralea fixing some food.  Lauralea put on an apron and Atley said, "BIB!!"  Haha!  That's right Atley!  Atley yelled something and Lauralea said, "Ow! My ears!"  So Atley said it again, but softly!  Nice job Atley!   Speaking of talking LOUD here's another picture of Atley reading/singing this morning.  Haha!  At a high volume.  I was also sitting on the couch beside her trying to talk to someone else.  I realized I was al...

Atley ate waffle and bite of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked chicken, half of whole grain tortilla, ate a large serving of corn, and ate baked cinnamon apples. This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon when Avi and Atley were playing at the sand table. Riley is on the left with them.  You can see the sand pouring from Atley's cup into the spin wheel. Avilene and Riley had their's so full and packed around he wheel that the wheel would no longer turn. Atley played here at the table much longer than anyone else.  She was totally enjoying it for the longest time!! Atley was showing Avi (again) her heel that previously had an owie on it.  Atley was saying, "Owie, owie, owie."  Avi said, "No it's not.  You don't need to cry Atley."  However, Atley was not crying; she was just trying to show Avilene an old wound!  Haha! Here are a couple pictures from this morning.  As everyone knows Atley LOVES her songs.  Ever...

Atley ate kix cereal and bites of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of turkey burger bites of whole wheat hamburger bun, bites of lettuce and tomato, no avocado, and ate cherries.  Hudson and Nora are not here today so at breakfast I asked, "Who's  not  here today?"  (Always a tricky question for this age group!)  Avilene immediately said, "Bubba."  (He sits at the table with them.)  Yes, good answer.  Next she said, "Linnea."  She's here, but that was actually a good answer because Linnea was already taking a nap when Avi arrived so she'd not seen her.  Atley said, "Atley!!"  Nope.  You're here!  Haha!  About a minute later Avi suddenly asked, "Where's Nora?"  Alright we got it!!  :)  Atley started saying, "Nor Nor, Nor Nor."  Yup, she's gone too. We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so the girls were super busy this morning.  I've mentioned recently ho...

Atley ate french toast and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pulled pork, ate whole wheat toast, ate peas, and no watermelon. This first picture is from yesterday afternoon.  There is nothing like a Roly Poly Bug to get everyone's attention.  Riley had it in the back of a dump truck and the kids gathered around.  They love watching them roll up into a ball.  Starting at left it's Hudson, Avilene, Atley (under the sun hat), and Riley. Here are a couple pictures from this morning.  How many pictures have I posted of Atley with a mask on and you never know what is on the other side!?!  Haha!  In the 2nd picture I like how everyone is vying for attention from Linnea.  Nora, Hudson, and Atley all crowding around the baby!  This is a mild mannered baby or she'd be screaming at this point; "Give me some space!!" Someone called on the phone today and asked if we'd do pictures of appreciation for the police and vo...

Atley ate two servings of whole wheat toast and a bite of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of ground beef with marinara sauce, a large serving of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate squash, and a few nibbles of fruit salad. Atley was waiting at the window to wave bye to Hudson's Daddy Colin and she was playfully thumping her head on the window and each time saying, "Ow, Ow, Ow."  This is a frequent occurrence.  Hudson looked at her this morning and said, "That's not funny."  Haha!  Now that made me laugh!!  :)  Then the kids were also waving bye to Daddy Ryan (Nora's Daddy) at the window this morning and all 4 kids (including Nora) were chanting; "Emily's car, Emily's car, Emily's car."  Haha! They know which parent drives which car!! Then later the same 4 kids were playing with the stuffed animals and pretending the animals were their babies.  And everyone was making LOTS of "baby sounds!"  (An...

Atley ate most of whole wheat bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, brown rice, most of stir fry vegetables, and ate raspberries.   I flossed my teeth at Lunch time and of course Atley said, "Frost - teeth" and Avilene said, "Frosty the Snowman."  Even Nora got in on the action;  "Frosty the Snowman, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty the Snowman."  :) Linnea was gone yesterday and the kids were happy to see her today.  Hudson was playing with her and Atley scooted in to say hi.  When I took this first picture Hudson was preparing to get between Atley and Baby Linnea.  You can see Linnea's attention is glued on Atley! Here are a couple more pictures from this morning's activities.  Atley was singing and reading stories and those books you see on the floor are the ones she's read and discarded!  When I took the picture she was singing "Bear went over the mountain, bear went over the mountain..." very ...

Atley ate most of bran cereal and most of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of chicken, ate whole wheat pita bread, no tomatoes, no cucumber, no peppers, ate olives, and ate pears. Atley did lots of puzzles like usual and reading/singing.  Avi asked if I was going to read books and I told her Atley was doing a fine job of it!  Speaking of Avi, she'd asked to do puzzles and Atley was following her through the gate.  Avi stopped and reminded Atley; "Ask Gary."  It was very cute and also helpful; to hear it from someone besides me!  That's the puzzle rule; ask first because you're leaving the room.  :) It was a pretty normal Monday with a couple exceptions.  First, Linnea is home feeling kinda low from having a cold and secondly the kids were fairly tame for a Monday!  :)  Avilene was asking, "Can we do some of those blue things Gary?"  So in the first picture the kids are doing some of those "blue things!"  2nd P...

Atley ate cream of wheat cereal and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate "baked beef kabobs" with meat, zucchini, peppers, and pineapple.  She ate a large serving of brown rice and a half serving of pineapple on the side.  Hudson had a story for everyone at Lunch time.  "A woman lived in a house and she took care of an elephant.  Then she ate it.  That's a real story."  Haha!  Thank you Hudson. These first two pictures are from yesterday afternoon.  Kenzie wanted to read to them and lined them all up for a story time.  By looking at the crowded front row, how long do you think this lasted!?  :)  You're right!  Not too long!  Especially after Hudson realized he could reach their hair with his feet!  Ha!  Shortly after this we were ready to go outside and the 2nd picture shows the kids chasing some bubbles.  You can see lots of bubbles in the picture! Atley got so excited this morning whe...

Atley ate two servings of waffle and ate some fruit salad (picking out the berries to eat - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries) for breakfast.  For lunch she ate several bites of shepherd's pie with ground beef, potatoes and sweet potatoes, carrots, and green beans.  She ate whole grain tortillas, and ate her cherries. This story is about Hudson and Avilene, but I think you'll like it!  Hudson told a story yesterday and re-told the story several times.  Well this morning Avilene told Lauralea about it!  "Hey Lauralea!  Maddy stepped in a puddle of buffalo poop!"  Hudson was not happy that Avi stole his story!  "Hey!" he said.  "That was MY story!!"  Haha!  We laughed so hard!  (I personally would like to see this story keep going!  It's too good to quit now!)  The part Avi did not tell was how it "wrecked Mom's purple shoes!"  Except Mom said they were polka-dot, not purple!  And probably even more-so...

Atley ate french toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomato, ate lettuce, bites of avocado, and bites of oranges.  So at Lunch Hudson was apparently conducting a random Infant/Toddler survey with only one question, but three options to choose from.  "Do you like Momma, Daddy, or pizza?"  The question was first directed at Avilene, but Atley and Nora wanted to participate as well.  The good news - all three answers got votes.  The bad news - the answers must remain confidential!!  :) Avi was sitting on the couch reading a selection of several books again.  Every day.  :)  And of course you have to occasionally add a little silliness right?  :)  You do if you're Atley!  And you do if you're Gary!  Maybe that's why I like Atley so much.  :)  Silliness rules!!  So in the 2nd picture Atley had stopped on her way to the gate for...