HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Since I am off on vacation for the next 9 days, WOOHOOO!! I thought I would post a couple fun shots I have been playing around with! I hope you all have a safe and happy Canada Day! See you when we get back! Can you tell I found a new "toy" in my computer program?!

The Firehall....almost anyhow

We have been so frustrated the last year in trying to plan some fun activities to do with the kids! Well we found out that we can not take the kids to the police station or any fire halls, as their insurance doesn't allow tours of kids unless they are 5 or older. Well our resourceful assistant Steve who coaches baseball, was talking to another coach who low and behold is a fire fighter and was able to arrange a visit! We were so excited! The whole its who you know type deal! The kids were all excited! I was excited to see their faces. when we got to the fire hall though, we were sad to find out that they were out fighting a fire. We were told we could try back after lunch, but that's when the kids nap. So hopefully we can arrange something another time. To make up for it, we took the kids to the Saturn park nearby. Then had fun, and of course all that running around helped them sleep really well during nap time.

Kindergarten Graduation

Every year, we have friends that are getting bigger and moving up and onwards. Our friend M, has completed kindergarten and so we had a little graduation for her. She will be going to school full time in September. M has been with Krafts & Kids since we opened almost 4 years ago. Its sad and exciting at the same time to see her growing up! Here are some pictures of our graduation ceremony!

First Visits

When a new child comes to Krafts & Kids, most often the parent, and myself, like to have the child come for a visit. A's little brother G came for two visits this week. We were a bit concerned as when A started it was a long two months plus of crying and clinging. I am happy to say that although G did cry, over all he did extremely well. We look forward to having him twice a week on a regular basis. Here are some pictures from his first couple of days
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OH CANADA!!

What a fun week this is going to be! We are celebrating CANADA! quite appropriate since Canada is only a few short days away. I try to be a proud Canadian and be patriotic, but I find that Canadians are quite subtle in their pride. What better way to remedy that, then to teach children from a young age, how great it is to live here. So we dedicate a week to just that.
Today we focused on our National Anthem, which I can admit I sometimes find myself forgetting the words to.... tisk tisk on me! The kids are great troupers though! Steven worked hard with them practicing so they could show me what they learnt! And then, one of my favorite Canada Day crafts, hand print flags! We do it every year so I am sure some of the older kids and perhaps even the parents get sick of seeing them, but I think they are worth it! Have a look!

Reminiscing

As you can probably tell, I am a HUGE picture taker, especially with the daycare and the kids. They grow to be part of our family, and are very special to me. As they get older, they go to school and they leave us, which is always very sad. But I like to get pictures together, to remember the time they were here. While I was getting some pictures ready to upload to get developed, I started coming across pictures of some of the kids way back when they started. I thought it would be fun to post a few, then and now photos. A few of the kids just started a few months ago, so I dont really have comparison photos yet, but I certainly will soon enough! It brings a tear to my eye to see how much the kids have grown! I certainly feel very lucky to be able to be a witness to it!

The Weekend! WOOHOO!

Not that I don't love the kids and my job, but by the time Friday comes, I am quite ready for them to all go home and I can have a break! I have been somewhat under the weather most of this week, so Steven was kind enough to let me relax Friday and he took the kids outside. We have a sandbox, toys, little tykes climber etc. It was the first time in awhile we made it out back. I hope we have way more nice sunny days to enjoy outside.
I was going to post a picture of the playroom as it looks come Friday afternoon, but my battery died. So instead, I will post pictures of our puppy Phoebe and when we took the kids to the splash pad last week. We plan on going once a week in the summer! Its fun, and you don't have to worry about drowning and floatation devises etc. We might even try to hit every one this summer, just for something different.
This weekend I will be getting ready for my holidays, yup 5 more working days. SOOOOO excited!!
I was asked if a day is ever normal for me, and the answer in reality is no, but some days are definitely more "stressful" than others.
So here are some pictures. Notice the rainbow in the first one? Thanks for reading!

Swans Hiss, Who Knew!

I really enjoy when the weather gets nicer and we can get outside more often. Unfortunately there are usually so many smog and humidex days that sometimes they feel few and far between. Today being a gorgeous day, Steven and I decided we should do something fun with the kids. I had mentioned that in the summer I wouldn't mind taking the kids to Stratford to feed the swans (I remember doing this when I was younger and loving it) Sometimes the same old field trips lose their excitement and I was looking for something different. So once all the kids had arrived we decided to pile in the van and head off! We wouldn't tell the kids where we were going so the entire way there (about 40 mins) we hear "where we going Cindy?" "where we going Steven!" so when we park and head towards the mallard ducks, swans and whatever other kinds of birds were there, the kids were quite excited. I had read online you can buy swan food somewhere, but wasn't sure where. we had some extra Tim Horton's White Chocolate macadamia nut cookies so we broke them up to feed them. BIG MISTAKE! Once you start feeding them, they SWARM you. And I dunno why, but my memory always had this as a pleasant experience. These swans are HUGE! Taller than our double stroller. Imagine yourself 3.5 feet tall with this big white animal coming at you! Yup you guessed it, the kids freaked out. Steven had to carry two away, and I kept the babies with me. The babies are fearless and E even got nibbled, thankfully no pain involved. The kids were ready to leave, but I just HAD to get some pictures, lol I am so mean! All in all I think it was quite exciting for the kids to see these big birds up close, but probably wont want to do it again any time soon. Here are some pictures of us first coming to the birds:

Then of course once the novelty wore off, the older kids went over to sit on top of a picnic table near by. The fearless babies decided to try to get closer. This is when we discovered that when swans don't want you bugging them, they HISS!! yes actually hiss! I would have sworn there was a cat nearby! That kind of meant the end of Swan visitation for the day.

So after we left there, we decided to stop in at the Pork Congress Event going on at the Stratford Fair Grounds. Again childhood memories told me there were baby pigs the kids might enjoy seeing, guess I was on an animal hunt today. Turns out they don't do that anymore. I had also entered a cross stitch picture I worked two years on into the event and wanted to see how I did (second prize not too shabby, even though the first place pic was the same picture!) Anyhow when we got there, the kids kept saying "can we go see the train, can we go see the train" I had no idea what they were talking about, until I saw this HUGE tractor. The wagons behind it had narrow stacks that I am guessing the kids determined were smoke stacks from trains. Anyhow, as you are probably guessing, I never miss a photo op. So here are the kids with Steven. yes the tire was so big, the kids are sitting INSIDE the wheel! Very Cool!


And of course I had to try to get a nice group shot (they are always so cute for scrap booking) Where we were parked was a nice flower bed, and we only trampled one plant so we were rockin'! I plan on sending this photo with thank you notes from the kids, to the three families that returned the helium balloons we sent out back in April! Think its a good shot?

It was a very long exhausting day, but the kids had fun, and we enjoyed the nice weather, so that is what matters. Now I am ready for a nice "normal" day tomorrow! *cross your fingers for me* :)

Strawberries, strawberries and more strawberries! YUM!

Today was such a nice change from yesterday. The kids were much calmer, but very excitted. Not only did we finally get in our new daycare t-shirts and hats;


Which are way too cute BTW. But we also went STRAWBERRY PICKING! This is a trip that many of the kids look forward to every year. We went to a new place this year, Heeman, and although they have a reputation for not liking children coming, we had a good time. Here are some pictures of all the fun!

One thing I absolutely LOVE about the kids and the families I have in my care, is that when a call for help is sent out, there is always someone who answers. Although strawberry picking is so much fun, it is also tricky. You are bent down to pick the berries, and trying to keep all the kids together, not trampling the plants, not eating EVERY berry they find etc. This year we had two parents help out. THANKS SO MUCH K and S!! it makes the trip that much better!


S even stayed at the daycare for a bit to make strawberry jam with the kids. They had a great time!

Here is a group picture of us all. I love getting group pictures, but its always so impossible! This one turned out pretty darn good!


And now that I sit here and think about it, I haven't had a single strawberry all day. Think I will go do that now! Thanks for reading!