Atley's Journal

Atley ate whole wheat Chex cereal and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, most of whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, bites of avocados, and bites of oranges. This is just an FYI for whoever is picking up Atley today; Lauralea will be covering for me so I can join a friend at the Lady Griz game.  Cheers.  Thank you Lauralea.  I will probably be back by 4:30 - 5:00, but you said you were probably picking Atley up early.  Also, we want to wish all our Little Treasures families a Happy New Year.  No Blogs tomorrow, but they will resume on Wednesday.  Also, Happy New Year's Birthday tomorrow to our sweet baby Svea!!!  One Year Old tomorrow!!  I asked Avi and Atley how old Svea would be tomorrow.  Atley said, "3 in December."  Haha!  Ummm, no, that was your birthday Atley.  :) Atley was jumping around on the mattress and said, "Gary! I'm exercising with myself!"  Haha!  That's good! ...

Atley ate some oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, a large serving of whole wheat elbow noodles topped with a large serving of applesauce; she also ate ONE green bean.  (And she wanted me to know she'd done it!!)  Ha!  "I ate one Gary!!" I was gone for about an hour this morning and it was fun walking back into the daycare to hear all the squealing kids; like I'd been gone for a week!  So precious.  Do I have the most qualified "substitute" ever while I'm at appointments!?!  Haha!  Three degrees, two in Early Childhood, with the last being a Masters in Early Childhood.  She develops and teaches Early Childhood classes, 30 plus years experience at all three levels in Montana: Family Home, Group Home, and Center.  Ok, I guess you qualify and I can trust you with my kids!!  :)  (I'm just glad she doesn't charge me what she's worth!)  I so appreciate all the help and input she gladly giv...

Atley ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of hamburger & sausage pizza with whole wheat pizza crust, peppers, pineapple, olives, and tomato sauce.  She also ate a large serving of pineapple on the side. It was very sweet to have Atley back this morning.  And she jumped right in and wanted to do some "Christmas stickers" (picture) first thing.  She worked on those for quite awhile and then asked for some play dough.  (Second picture.)  She said she was making "muffins." Nora was very excited to see Atley at Little Treasures this morning.  She was grinning and giggling. It was so cute.  Nora's primary source of entertainment has returned!!  When Lauralea came upstairs Nora said, "Atley's here Lauralea!  Atley's here!!"  :)  Here are a couple pictures I took within 15 minutes of Nora's arrival.  If Nora will laugh Atley will keep performing over and over!! ...

Atley ate waffle and a few grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her chicken, no whole wheat tortillas, half of corn, and half of baked cinnamon apples.  We ate lunch early, but she was still eating when Daddy arrived.  I want to wish all of Atley's family a very Merry Christmas and have a wonderful time together.  See you when you get back to Missoula.  Alley's Blog will resume on December 27th. Atley said something very cute and smart when Daddy picked her up.  Here's what I told her earlier in the morning; "Remember!  You need to keep flapping your arms when you're flying!"  So when Daddy arrived I asked Atley; "Do you remember what I told you to do on the airplane?"  She said, "I am not a bird."  LOL!!  Great answer Atley!!  Love you! Here are some pictures from Atley's morning: The airplane was the first thing she played with this morning and she played with it several times yesterday too.  I asked her ...

Atley arrived after her dentist appointment and just ate lunch here today: Turkey burger, whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, ate most of avocado, and ate cherries.  We ate lunch early and went down for naps early because it was a tired Monday morning!  For everyone except Atley!!  She played well and was very energetic so it was obvious she was feeling much much better!  All three of the other kids were exhausted!  (Nora is out sick today.)  However, Atley went to sleep very quickly along with the rest of them.  :) We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend.  First picture: We also changed a few things, including bringing in another big box, cutting a door in it, a few windows, and putting some chairs in there with dolls sitting in the chairs.  You may also notice some picture frames in the entry room to display the kid's art work.  Everyone was busy as usual on toy exchange Monday. Here are some pictures from Atley'...

Atley ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with pasta sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, a large serving of cauliflower, and a bite of fruit salad. Atley was spinning Linnea in the chair and I like how Linnea is just focused on the toy she's playing with.  Moments earlier Atley had been talking to Linnea about "hanging on" because they were going for a "ride in the airplane!"  :)  And you never know how bumpy it might get!!  Second picture: I took this shortly after breakfast and these two girls were having a blast on the chair too. (Well at least until Atley fell off the arm of the chair!!)  But prior to that they were both laughing like crazy and squealing with delight.  I like Atley's fun-loving smile in the picutre I took this next picture while we were doing some sign language.  Atley has asked to do sign language every day this week.  Look how focused and engaged th...

Atley ate whole wheat bagel and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat pita bread, half of avocado, no cucumber, no pepper, and ate pears.  I've mentioned several times how much the kids LOVE having the slideshow at meal times with the digital frame.  Nora's Momma Emily is in two of the pictures and Nora loves it so I want to have a picture of each parent on our slide show.  :)  Atley does a running play-by-play of who is in each picture while Nora and Avi add commentary.  :) Speaking of Momma Emily yesterday we were doing some sign language and I asked Nora, "What's Emily; a girl or a boy?"  Nora said, "A boy."  Atley said, "NO!!   HE'S  a girl!!"  LOL!  One of the first things Atley asked this morning: "Can we do signs?"  So we did more sign language today and Atley is consistently nailing almost all of them.  We probably do a total of 25 different signs, including 10 different colors. ...

Atley ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, a large serving of brown rice, no stir fry vegetables, and ate raspberries. We had a good morning at Little Treasures: especially for a Monday!  Ha!  Actually Monday's aren't bad, they can just be a bit hectic from lots of weekend activity, maybe a different sleep schedule, and the kids adjusting to being back at Daycare.  But it sure doesn't take long for them to be right back in the routine!  And Atley had a very good morning. First picture: Atley, Nora, and Linnea were running back and forth across the room getting all the stuffed animals and lining them up on the window sill.  Linnea was very cute chugging along trying to keep pace with the the other two!  :)  Second picture: Then after "window play" the same three girls moved on to the chair.  Linnea was in the chair and the other two were pushing her as fast as they could go.  Everyone was laughing and ...

Atley ate cream of wheat cereal and most of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of baked beef kabobs with meat, peppers, and zucchini.  She ate brown rice and half of pineapple too. Hey!  There's a Birthday Girl at Little Treasures today!  Just in case any of you forgot!!  Haha! I know, I know!  I'm not funny! Linnea was on the chair of course (I say "of course" because that's her favorite spot) and Atley was pushing the chair around and around.  You'll notice Atley is looking at the ceiling and she was being silly and getting more dizzy and more dizzy as she was spinning the chair.  Haha!!  She kept saying, "I'm spinning you!!"  Picture number 2:  Atley was building an interesting structure with the legos. And she'd picked an interesting spot to work!! :)  Well the mask is back to the upside-down, backwards position!!  :) Next picture: Obviously not Atley, but it's Avi eating breakfast!  Haha! ...

Atley ate waffle and no fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of shepherd's pie with meat, green beans, carrots, and potatoes.  She ate whole wheat tortillas and she ate cherries. In the past I've remarked about Atley always wearing the masks backward and/or upside-down!  So I have to show you she got it on "correctly" this morning - first thing!  Of course it doesn't matter and it feels the same to her!!  (Which you can see that in pictures 2 and 3!)  Besides, Atley loves to make Nora laugh and backwards/upside-down is good for many laughs!!  Atley wore one of these masks most of the morning.  You can see in picture 3 she's building with some legos and she wore masks while reading and doing preschool activities as well. We read lots of books, lots of Christmas books too, sang songs, did some sign language, and the kids had their usual large dosage of jumping on the mattress!  I've said many times they never get tired ...

Atley ate bites of french toast and bites of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a bite of "whole 30 chili" with meat, sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes.  She ate whole wheat dinner roll and half of her tropical fruit. Here's a picture of Momma Megan giving a love to Nora and Linnea.  This is kind of a daily ritual with Linnea and Atley, but Nora was here early today.  Notice Atley behind her Momma; she'd just arrived, but already put on the frog suit!!  In the following picture Nora, Avi, and Atley were reading some books in the preschool room.  Nora and Atley were singing loudly, kind of their usual singing competition, but Avi just sits beside them and keeps on reading and ignoring them. Nora and Atley were wearing some masks and having a blast goofing around on the mattress.  Atley said they were "exercising!"  Well they were certainly being very active!!  They were also jumping and waving their arms and Atley said,...

Atley ate whole wheat english muffin and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pork chops, ate whole wheat toast, ate bites of (riced) beets, no sweet potatoes, and ate applesauce. This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon.  I happened to have the camera ready and I heard Atley say, "My tummy hurts."  Nora immediately asked, "Could I see it?"  As you can see in the picture the answer was obviously a resounding "yes!"  :)  I didn't even think twice about this incident until Megan called later about Atley vomiting.  Oh yes!  She said her tummy hurt!!  Thank you Atley for waiting until you got to Stacy's house!  :) This next picture was also taken yesterday afternoon.  I love several things about this picture, but primarily because it's the first group picture at the window with little Svea!!  :)  Secondly, I like how they are all spaced evenly apart!  There were five school boys ...

Atley ate cheerios and peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, half of whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, ate avocados, and no oranges. Linnea was saying, "Atley Atley Atley" even before Atley arrived.  She's got that name mastered! I tried to get Linnea to say it for Lauralea, but when I asked her, "Say Atley."  Linnea just pointed at Atley.  "She's right there!!"  Haha!   When Atley arrived Linnea packed a book over and handed it to Megan and I took this picture while they were reading.  Atley was fine with it for a couple of minutes, but eventually told Linnea; "That's my Mom!"  Haha!  You were very sweet about sharing your Momma!  Thank you Atley! Here are a couple pictures of Nora, Atley, and Avi reading some books in the Preschool area and doing some Preschool activities.  I haven't told the kids yet, but the new digital frame arrived this morning so hopefully we'll have it up and going by tomor...