Atley's Journal

Atley ate two large servings of cream of wheat cereal and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, brown rice, two servings of broccoli, and ate pineapple.   When Atley arrived this morning she said, "Did you know I saw a beautiful sunset this morning ?!?"  No, I wasn't' aware of that.  So we asked Alexa about it and she (Alexa) explained it simply and briefly.  :)   The sun "Rises in the east in the morning, sets in the west in the evening."  Atley may not have comprehended it yet, but going forward that's a pretty short explanation.   First picture;  I'm not real sure what they were doing with their wands, but I think it was some kind of a ritual.  Haha.  Following picture;  Would you like to guess what the girls are searching for on the mattress.  Hint; the same thing they searched for many times this morning.  I asked them; "what are you looking for?"  "Sparkles."  :)  Next picture...

Atley ate two servings of waffles and ate a large serving of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey burger, half of whole wheat tortillas, bite of sweet potatoes, and ate cherries.    First picture:  Atley was running late as she took Lexi (the dog) to the Vet with Momma Megan.  Nora was so excited to see her that she stood at the gate and jabbered while Atley ate breakfast.  "Nora, how about you go sit at the table so Atley doesn't have to keep turning around while she's eating?"  So that's when I took the picture.  Here's a bit of their conversation I heard;  Nora talked about the "storm where Aunt Allison and Ion are at."  Nora continued; "They're already out of electricity."  Atley said, "Well electricity went out one time I was eating oatmeal."  Haha.  More conversation from Nora; "Well my Grandparents are coming and they're going to stay for a long long time."  Atley said, "Did your Mom ...

Atley had two servings of French toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a bite of Whole 30 Chili with meat, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, tomato sauce, and lots of spices.  She ate half of her whole wheat dinner roll and ate tropical fruit.   I took this first picture before breakfast.  These girls have been doing so much free drawing with markers and colored pencils!!  I know I've mentioned this a lot and I post pictures of it continually, but I love it and I think it's so beneficial for them in many ways.  So here's a bonus for you all in this picture:  Zoom in on the digital frame and you can see a "selfie" Nora did probably 1 - 2 years ago.  A great shot of her nostrils!!!  Haha.  Second picture:  Here's a sample of one of Atley's pieces from today.  "Hey Gary, this is an alien."  She and Avi both did drawings of aliens.   Next picture:  Avi and Atley were loving it because they had...

I've gotten a couple of questions about Program closure dates for the Holidays ahead.  So here's a reminder of those dates:          November 26 & 27     Thanksgiving      December 24 & 25.    Christmas Also , A reminder for closure dates in  January 2021.        January 1       January 4th - 8th. Atley ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate pork roast, whole wheat toast, beets, and two servings of applesauce.    These first two pictures are left over from yesterday afternoon and were too cute not to Post.  She's staring into the mirror and she cracks me up with some of the silly things she does with her eyes.  (I always laugh so I guess you can blame me for her continuing to do it!!)  Second picture: Now this is perfect Atley being Atley!!  Probably the first time I've seen a kid at my pla...

Atley ate two servings of whole wheat Chex cereal and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hamburger, whole wheat hamburger bun, bite of avocado, no tomatoes, and ate mandarin oranges.    We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids were having fun with everything.  The first picture;  This is a new activity Lauralea found for us at a Yard Sale recently.  It's a "Tic Tac Toe" game using pictures of Elsa and Anna.  They obviously don't yet understand that game, but we'll be working on the concept.   Next picture;  This is a new puzzle we just got and these two girls were tickled to look at it.  Atley actually put it all together while Nora stood there watching  AND  holding that one piece.  When it was time to put in the final piece Nora did so and said, "There we did it."  LOL!!  Following puzzle; This one is very challenging and I pitch in to help keep them engaged and encouraged. ...

Atley ate oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, ate whole wheat elbow noodles, green beans, and applesauce.  Meal time conversation: Nora said, "Hey everybody! I can touch the ceiling!"  WHAT!!  You can touch the ceiling!?!  Everyone was so impressed and speechless!!  Then Nora said, "Yes, on my bunkbed!"  LOL!!   Then I thought you'd get a kick out of this;  Nora was passing along some insights about our President to her peers;  "Donald Trump says bad words."  Hahaha.  I've heard many things during election times!!  (Including this year!!)  I remember when Tate Templeton was about Svea's age and he said, "My name is Barack Obama and I approve of this message!"  Haha.  (That was during Obama's first run for President; now Tate has his Drivers' License.)   Next picture;  The three girls were sitting like this after Snack time and I think they were just waiting for ...

Atley ate two servings of blueberry bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hamburger and sausage pizza, with whole wheat pizza crust, tomato sauce, peppers, pineapple, and olives.  She also ate pineapple on the side.    First picture:  This was Atley's Grand entrance to Preschool today.  Come in and put the empty shapes bowl on her head and pose for the kids drawing at the table.  Haha.  Following picture:  These three girls played "sleeping" for a long time; especially Nora and Atley.  Avi is on the right, Nora on the legos table, and Atley on the left.  Miles crawled up there with Nora, but I got him down because it wasn't looking too safe.  Ha.   We started a segment today - and we're gonna do it every Thursday morning going forward - and we're calling it "Science with Lauralea."  Today Lauralea did two different "experiments" that were fun and simple and perfect for this age group.  ...

Atley ate whole wheat toast and ate her grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, whole wheat tortillas, one bite of carrot, and ate fruit salad.  First picture:  I chose a small piece of Atley's picture to focus on, but I thought it was pretty good.  This is a bird, with a hat, and some "stinky" stuff on it's wing that it's using to spray people.  Haha.  Following picture: Hard at work with more art work this morning.  Svea is starting to join them more and more doing some art.  Svea said, "Hey guys, my picture is SO beautiful."  :) Next picture:  The three big girls - and Cal - were at the window waving at the garbage worker.  The kids love watching the garbage trucks, but it's not as fun now that there is only the driver in the truck.  Before there was at least one worker and usually two and they'd frequently notice the kids and wave at them.  Now the company just uses the driver and the automatic arms lift a...

Atley ate whole wheat English muffin and one dried plum for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two bites of chicken with stir fry vegetables, all of her brown rice, and ate mandarin oranges.  As I was setting down the Lunch plates Atley was proclaiming "stir fry is SO healthy and good for us!!"  (Well at least she had two bites!!)  Haha.  Their breakfast conversation was ALL about healthy foods and they offered many numerous and humorous insights!! Nora had the best one in my opinion;  "If you don't eat healthy foods your body will NEVER grow again."  First picture:  Nora was playing with the tray of magnets when Atley arrived.  So Atley just went in and joined her.  Atley was taking some of the magnets, putting them behind her back and saying, "It's magic." Haha.  And her hands were empty.  I thought it was a good trick Atley.  Nora wasn't as impressed.  Ha. More pictures from Atley's morning.  The four oldest kids w...

Atley ate brown rice and two servings of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her meatloaf, bites of whole wheat dinner roll, ate riced cauliflower, and ate her mangoes.    First picture:  I want to make a few comments about all the "free drawing" the three big girls have been doing.  I want to remind ALL of us (including myself) of a few of the benefits the girls are getting from doing this.  One thing that kind of amazes me is the fact that the more I offer it, the more they do!  I think yesterday Atley took home over 20 sheets of paper.  Sometimes we may think in terms of "wasted paper" (please recycle), but the process is what is important and they are learning SO much from this.  I believe it expands their minds and strengthens their cognitive development.  The creativity is pretty obvious, but there is also "problem solving" for example.  "How do I draw this to make it look the way I want to?"  They are learn...

Atley ate whole wheat cinnamon/raisin muffin and ate mandarin oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate salmon, two servings of whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and two servings of applesauce.   Atley was trying to get Miles to move out of the the gate so she could shut it.  Atley said, "Hey Dude! Move!"  She was getting more frustrated and said, "Dude!  DUDE!!  MOVE!!"  Haha.  Ask Gary for help and I'll move him for you.  "Ok, help me Gary!!"  :) This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon and I really think Atley would have went to sleep if we'd left her alone!!  This was after snack and we were getting toys picked up for going outside.  She was enjoying the new little piece of rug we put in the corner.  She said, "This makes me go to sleep."  Second picture:  I was impressed with the detail in Atley's airplane picture.  Good job Atley. Next picture:  All four girls in the cozy corner. ...

Atley ate two servings of French toast and two servings of watermelon for breakfast.  For lunch she ate Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes.  She ate saltines, and tropical fruit.   It was so nice to see Atley after she'd been gone a few days and she was happy to see all her friends.  When Atley saw Nora those two gave each other the sweetest greeting and then Nora went to the mirror to start dancing and Atley went back to doing her art project.  This first picture - When Atley saw the new art stuff available she said, "I just love this stuff!!"  It was pretty cute watching Atley and Nora reconnect; and interesting.  They were both so happy, but it was interesting how they both just did their own thing. Next picture: Avi in the bottom of the picture, Nora top left, Atley in the middle, and Svea top right.  Nora said, "I just love slumber parties."  Svea was yelling at them to ...

Atley ate whole wheat toast and mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch: So I forgot to make the whole wheat spaghetti noodles before lunch - dang it - so we'll have those noodles tomorrow and we had tomorrow's bread today.  And it was whole wheat bread and I toasted it.  Haha.  They all like toast so it's not a big deal.  As long as the Food Monitor (or Lauralea) doesn't find out I served the same thing twice in the same day and scold me!!  Haha.  Atley ate ground beef with marinara sauce, ate whole wheat toast, cauliflower, and two servings of fruit salad.   Atley asked me the sweetest question;  "Gary, do you miss Gideon?"  Yes I sure do.  She said, "But you have us here."  That was very sweet.  And I love having all you kids here Atley, but I still like it when Gideon's here too!!  His Mom said he can't come and stay with me.  Not yet anyhow.  Haha.   Have fun on your trip Atley and mostly have a blast wi...