Atley's Journal

Atley ate bites of oatmeal and ate dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, one nibble of green bean, and ate applesauce. These first two pictures are from yesterday during outside time.  Atley was on the big climber saying, "Hi Gary, hi Gary, hi Gary!" She was peeking at me through the upper slots and I thought it was pretty cute.  So I took the climber picture to give you some perspective. Avi and Atley had their heads buried in the pillows and couch.  I asked them what they were doing.  Avi said, "Hiding from monsters!"  Who?  Linnea?  Avi said, "No, it's a guy."  Haha!  Who?  "Mike, Mike Colin."  ......  "Ok Atley! Mike Colin is gone Atley!"  Well thank goodness!! Avi and Atley did some preschool trays and Lauralea was here monitoring it most of the time until about 10:00.  Thank you Lauralea!  Atley chose the scissor tray and Lauralea was workin...

Atley ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of hamburger and sausage pizza on whole wheat pizza crust with tomato sauce, peppers, olives, and pineapple.  She also ate pineapple on the side. This first picture is from yesterday afternoon and the kids were being silly playing on these balls!  When I took this picture Atley and Avilene had their faces buried between the balls and Avi was saying, "Gar Gar! Are you in there!?!?  Gar Gar!!!  Are you in there?!?"  Haha! This is just an FYI for everyone in the Little Treasures Family!  Nora is gone to Denver and will be back on Tuesday.  She is going to be the "Flower Girl" at her Aunt's wedding!  So we're eagerly awaiting the results of that!  :) Atley and Avi were playing some of the same games they've been playing all week and last week as well.  "Let's play jump rope!!"  (with the long apron strings)  "Going to...

Atley ate whole wheat toast and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate no pork roast, ate whole wheat tortilla, no carrots, and bites of fruit salad. First thing this morning Atley read books and did some activities in the preschool room.  First picture she's sorting those colors again. She loves that! Next picture: This is actually an apron from the dress-up clothes.  But as we all know kids can turn anything into a different toy!  (They've been doing the following for several days now!)  Avi said, "Hey Atley! You wanna jump rope!?!" haha!  It turns into some kind of a combination of jump rope, tug-a-war, follow the leader, and morphs into running from monsters as they race back-n-forth across the room!  It was very cute this morning because Linnea was laughing and squealing and trying to keep up! Here are a couple more pictures from today. I started building with the legos and soon everyone joined in.  And that was my intention - get...

Atley ate two servings of toasted whole wheat english muffin and ate dried plums for breakfast.  She asked for "more english bread."  Ha!  Avi said, "I don't have english bread, I have english muffin." For lunch she ate no chicken, a large serving of brown rice, no stir fry vegetables, and no oranges. These first two pictures are a couple of the activities that Atley wanted to do immediately after she arrived.  The book is about several road signs and she looked at that same book two or three times this morning.  (And we talked about it.)  The following picture is an activity about balance.  Atley frequently does this one when it's available. This next picture was really cute; While jumping they were signing a song that we frequently do.  The song was playing on the iPod - "B I N G O ....  and Bingo was his name."  We use the same tune for spelling each of the children's names.  Anyhow, Avi was combining the two songs and ha...

Atley ate bites of cheerios and ate banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat pita bread, no tomato, ate olives, avocado, and no watermelon. First picture: Linnea watched Atley work on a puzzle.  "Now why can't I be out there!?!"  :)  Atley also read books and worked on a couple of preschool trays with Lauralea.  (2nd Picture.)  We laminated their names and then they try to locate the right letters to make their name.  (This is a magnetic board.)   Next picture: Atley and Avi were getting ready to travel again.  (Even though they appear to be relaxing!!  Haha!!)  They were mixing their food and packing.  Avi said, "I'll mix it for you Atley!!  We're mixing our food!!  Atley! Atley!! Airplane is starting to go!! We gotta hurry!!"  :)  Yes, if the airplane is already moving you definitely need to hurry!! This last picture made me laugh.  Linnea was on the mattress and A...

Atley ate brown rice and two servings of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate salmon patty, whole wheat dinner roll, no green beans, and ate her mangoes.  At the breakfast table Atley said, "Got my suitcase Gary, go my suitcase!!"  I thought she said, "toothpaste!!"  Hahaha!!  I'm glad you told me the "suitcase" story Megan!! This first picture of Atley and Nora was taken yesterday afternoon playing outside.  As you can see they were laughing uproariously and having a grand time.  They'd lay here and say, "Time for bed!" Then, "Wake up!!"  And they'd run over to the big climber and play underneath it pretending it was their work. Here are a couple activities that Atley worked on.  Both of these require fairly close observation so she can be successful at them.  Avi was being a great cheerleader and friend.  She kept an eye on Atley and when Atley got one she'd say, "Atley did one, Atley did one!!"  :...

Atley ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and no oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, a large serving of whole wheat elbow noodles smothered by a large serving of applesauce, and she ate a couple of peas. We were reading a story about trains so I asked the kids; "Who has rode a train before?"  Avi, Atley, Nora all said, "Me, me, me" pointing at themselves.  Haha!  So I inquired some more; "Who has been on a Submarine?"  "Me, me, me!"  Rocket ship?  Stealth bomber!?  Ocean Liner?!?  Wagon pulled by Mules?!?  Same answer every time!!  "Me, me, me!!!"  Wow!  Impressive!!  Hahaha!! Nora found one of Linnea's socks she'd lost.  Nora brought it to me saying, "Here Gary, here."  I told her thank you and good job.  Atley obviously heard that conversation and went over to Linnea, jerked off her other sock and brought it to me!  I guess she wanted to hear some positive words too! ...

Atley ate two servings of french toast and ate two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of paleo stew with meat, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and green beans.  She also ate saltines and most of tropical fruit. Lauralea helped get Atley set up with one of the preschool trays and Atley was very successful at matching these letters.  This was basically the only tray she worked on; which was just fine.  It's her choice. Next picture: I asked Atley what they were doing and she said, "hiding."  (I think their wild spinning and getting dizzy is what led to them laying on the ground!)  This picture doesn't really show it, but the three older girls had their heads covered with doll blankets.  Immediately before I took the picture Linnea had crawled over and lifted the blanket off Atley's face.  Haha!  "What are you doing under here!?!"  They were also spinning in circles, going to the airport in an airp...

Atley ate two servings of waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, bites of whole wheat tortilla, ate corn, and no baked cinnamon apples. This first picture is from yesterday afternoon when Avi, Atley, and Nora were playing with the big balls in the yard and having a blast. (I'm making that assumption from all the squealing, giggling, and laughing.) They were diving on the balls belly-first and rolling around before falling off. I've mentioned here before that State Childcare Licensing is requiring a formal emergency preparedness plan, plus some drills, which of course includes fire-drills.   We've always done fire-drills, but lately my fire-drills have looked more like this: "Ok everyone, in case of a fire emergency just do what I say!!"  So Lauralea helped me this morning and was prepping Avi, Atley, and Nora as I took the picture while getting the two babies ready to go. Lauralea also spent time doing some preschool...

Atley ate half of kix cereal and bite of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey burger, whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, ate avocado, and cherries.  Avi heard me ask Atley if she'd had a bite of tomatoes and she started saying, "Eat your tomatoes Atley, eat your tomatoes."  Hey Avi, have you had a bite of your tomatoes yet?  "No."  Busted!!  :)  (Neither of them like tomatoes!) We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and as always the kids are very busy on Monday morning toy exchange!  (The Preschool books and activities are included in the toy exchange as well.)  This first picture is Atley looking at the books and that was the first choice she made this morning.  She was here for a substantial amount of time by herself so she got some one-on-one attention from Lauralea and Gary working on preschool trays that you see in pictures one and two.  (The box in the 3rd picture probably looks familiar t...

Atley ate a large serving of oatmeal and a bite of baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hamburger stew with meat, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.  She ate whole wheat dinner roll and her apricots. This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when Atley was pulling Nora in the wagon.  These two were having lots of fun together; everyone else had already left.  Shortly before I took this picture Atley was in the wagon and Nora was trying to pull her - well actually she was trying to push the wagon and it wasn't working too well.  Anyhow they were laughing and giggling and Nora was doing her deep belly laughs.  I just love that!! First picture from this morning: I was pretending to sit on Atley and she's laying on my spot trying to coax me into "sitting" on her again.  :)  "Do it again Gary!  Do it again!  Following picture: All five girls playing on or beside the mattress.  I...

Atley ate french toast and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with marinara sauce, ate whole wheat spaghetti noodles, squash and most of fruit salad.  At lunch Atley said, "Linnea's making a mess!!"  Yup, that's pretty much how most meals look around her highchair!!  However Atley, you also have some issues; there is a strand of spaghetti hanging from your hair!! :) First picture: I like how Atley, Avi, and Nora were all huddled fairly close together reading their books.  Here's what you can't determine from the picture, BUT you can probably guess: Atley was singing "Wheels on the Bus" at top volume and her top volume is LOUD!!  The other two girls never noticed or flinched!  Totally normal to them.  :)  (That song has been her favorite lately!)  The second picture is of the girls doing some various activities. Next picture - Atley was playing with the tinker toys again and she likes messing with these. ...

Atley ate whole wheat toast and mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pulled pork, whole wheat roll, ate a large serving of peas, and no watermelon. Yesterday afternoon we were outside and I was feeding Svea on the patio.  I spotted a big spider sprinting across the concrete and I was surprised by how fast it was going.  I said (just aloud to no one in particular), "Look at that sucker go!!"  Atley said, "Where'd that sucker go!?!"  Haha! Yesterday Nora was reading (and singing) with the book; "Teddy Bear Teddy Bear, turn around, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear touch the ground...."   Except  she kept saying, "Happy Bear, Happy Bear.."  And Atley kept yelling, "Teddy Bear!!"  And Nora would yell, "NO! Happy Bear!"  This happened several times and it was bugging Atley that Nora wouldn't sing it with the right words.  I began to wonder if Nora really thought that's the actual words.  Fast forward to this morning: Nora ...