Svea's Journal

Svea ate half of whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, bites of cauliflower, and a large serving of fruit salad. It was SO much fun to watch Svea and Linnea playing together side-by-side this morning!!  They aren't able to express how much they miss each other when absent, but boy their behavior sure expresses that!!  (Linnea was gone Monday and Tuesday).  Wow!!  They were simply joyful this morning for the first 30 minutes!!  First picture they had several dolls they were attending to!  Linnea spotted Lauralea and said, "Got a baby Lauralea!!" Next picture:  Silly girls!!  They were (gently) bonking their heads on the window and then laughing! This was after waving at Momma Molly; all the other kids left the window, but these two stayed and entertained themselves.  :) Next picture: And the fun continues!!  ...

Svea ate bites of whole wheat bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, brown rice, bites of stir fry vegetables, and half of raspberries.  I was feeding her the raspberries and she was about done.  I asked if she wanted another bite and she said, "No," shook her head no, and then took a bite.  Avilene said, "That doesn't make any sense!"  Haha!! First picture from yesterday afternoon.  Well at least one person wants to play with the Baby Toys on the blanket!!  Haha!  Second picture: Hanging out with Callahan again.  She is starting to play around him a lot more lately.  Maybe she likes it that he's starting to move around really well.  He was grabbing her finger and hanging on pretty tightly just before the second picture and she was giggling. Next picture: We played outside for awhile this morning.  Svea thinks she a "big shot" standing up on the airplane while the other kids are doing...

Svea ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of chicken, no whole wheat pita bread, half of cucumbers, bite of avocado, and ate a large serving of pears. Svea had a great morning and what can I say?!?  Here it is:  She's just such a joy to take care of and I love having her in my Program!!  :)  I had to be downtown to sign some papers at 9:00 this morning and Lauralea covered for me.  I took this first picture as soon as I got back and I was playing with her on the couch. Next picture: She was playing with her doll this morning and when she laid on the pillow I heard her say, "night night, night night."  :)  Following picture: Playing with Callahan the moment I was done feeding him.  She's checking out the flexibility in his fingers!   Last picture: We were not outside too long this morning, but I wanted to get a picture of the airplane toy in today's blog!  They were loving it and having a b...

Svea ate whole wheat cream of wheat and half of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of baked beef kabobs with meat, pineapple, zucchini, and peppers.  She ate brown rice and more pineapple on the side.  This first picture was at breakfast time.  You know you've got the cream of wheat too runny when it works good to use a straw!!  Haha!  (Actually it worked good! And much less tedious than feeding it to her with a spoon!)  It was too runny to begin with and then I used some milk to cool it off!! This next picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when the kids were playing in the tunnels.  You can see Svea is the one closest to Linnea and they were talking back and forth.  Avi, on the other hand, was very busy making sure everyone was following proper protocol!!  Haha! Next picture: The kids were lined up at the window watching a deer in a neighbor's yard across the street.  Last picture: Story and Eden, my...

Svea ate two servings of waffles and a large serving of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shepherd's pie with meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots.  She ate cherries, but no whole wheat tortillas. First picture: This is left over from yesterday afternoon outside.  Avilene was giving Svea a ride in the stroller.  What you can't see in this picture is Linnea giving Nora a ride at the same time!  haha!  Linnea might be a year younger, but Nora was thrilled to just kick back, suck her thumb, and ride up and down the sidewalk!!  :)  Avi was complaining because Linnea is not yet an experienced driver when meeting someone on the sidewalk.  "You gotta move!!"  Ha! Next picture: Svea doing one of her favorite activities!!  I was giggling about this and of course Atley wanted to impress me too!  So she put a doll blanket over her head, but she never moved.  She just stood in one place hanging on...

Svea ate two servings of French toast and ate a large serving of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate whole 30 chili with meat, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and tomato sauce.  She had no whole wheat dinner roll, and ate tropical fruit. First picture: Oh Svea, there you are with those primitive phones again!!  You keep trying to text and I keep telling you it won't work!!  Second picture: Well she found a new place and a new manner in which to read a book!  Silly girl.  I don't let the kids stand on the couch, but this was too cute to pass up.  Picture first, and THEN sit down.  It's just not safe because all the kids will do it at the same time.  And then they want to bounce as well.  uhhh...there's a mattress for that. Next picture: Svea and Linnea did lots of playing side by side and together this morning!  One of those times they were stacking blocks next to each other, but they worked on their own tower. ...

Svea ate half of whole wheat English muffin and half of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she had a couple bites of pork chop, no whole wheat toast, ate half of beets, and no applesauce. Svea had a fun morning and stayed busy with the toys and other children.  First picture: She had this doll blanket wrapped around her head, but her face was exposed and it was so cute.  Linnea was doing the same thing using some dress-up clothes.  Then Svea just wrapped it around her head and started blindly dancing about - which is what she's doing in the picture!  :) Next picture: She was headed to the mattress with her doll and that's where she'll frequently wrap up her baby.  But Atley and Avi were racing around and that looked like more fun.  Except she wasn't about to turn loose of her baby.  She eventually used the dress-up shirt she's packing to wrap her baby; instead of using a doll blanket. Last picture: Svea had been laying the doll blanket ove...

Svea ate whole wheat Chex cereal and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bite of ground beef, no whole wheat hamburger bun, half of tomatoes, bite of avocado, and bites of oranges. We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so as usual the kids were super busy and very engaged all morning.  Linnea is not here today, but I don't know if Svea even noticed!  She was a busy little girl.  First picture; Yes Svea that is actually an OLD phone.  Very old.  Haha!  That was a corded phone.  Yes, phones were attached with cords and you couldn't pack them around.   Very primitive.  :) Next picture:  All the kids love that igloo when playing with the flashlights.  What a wonderful smile Svea has; makes me smile to look at the picture!!  :)  And Svea, that flashlight has an LED light.  Don't get me started on the old-fashioned incandescent lights that we used in our homes.   Very ...

Svea ate oatmeal and half of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of tilapia, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, bites of green beans, and slightly tasted the applesauce. This first picture is leftover from yesterday afternoon.  I happened to catch all the kids that were still here hanging out on Callahan's blanket at the same time.  Not much room left for him!!  :)  If you look at this in "live mode" (I learned that term from Momma Molly!!) you'll hear Avilene saying, "What's going on?!?" She was using a "whining" voice - translation - "I'm bored!  Entertain me Gary!" Haha! I like this next picture; caught her right in the middle of stepping down while walking blind!  She never even stumbled; just kept right on motoring across the room.  She's had lots of practice!!  Ha! Nora was as impressed as me as Svea continued to go back and forth across the room.  She said, "Gary, look at Svea!"  :)...

Svea ate a couple bites of whole wheat bagel and three servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hamburger and sausage pizza with peppers, pineapple, and olives; no whole wheat pizza crust.  She also ate pineapple on the side. Lauralea made an "appearance" this morning (works from home on Thursdays) and all the kids immediately went into show-off mode!!  "Lauralea's here!!  Lauralea's here!!  All five were bouncing and jumping on the mattress; "watch me! watch me! watch me!"  It was cute because some were saying, "butt bomb" and Svea picked right up on that; "ba ba, ba ba, ba ba."  And by the way, she can do an excellent butt bomb!!  Then Svea spotted Lauralea open the stairway gate and she yelled, "BYE!!"  So cute. This first picture is left over from outside yesterday afternoon.  This is what it looks like when the neighbor kids have a pool in their yard.  It's just a blow up one, but it's pretty l...

Svea ate half of whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she didn't try the pork roast, no whole wheat tortillas, ate half of potato/sweet potato, and ate fruit salad. Here are a couple of pictures left over from yesterday afternoon.  At first glance it may not appear so, but Svea was actually doing Callahan's skull examination quite carefully.  :)  If you zoom in on the picture I think you'll agree.  And (check this out) in the ancient world this practice of "phrenology" was very "scientific!"  (humoring myself again!)  I especially like how Svea's cap is sitting on the back of her head!  Second picture: doing some sidewalk chalk.  I took this picture when she stopped at someone else's art to appear like she'd done it all!!  Ha! Next picture: Svea is surrounded by three of the dolls after breakfast.  She was covering them with the doll blankets and being a great mommy!!  Last picture: Lin...

Svea ate whole wheat English muffin and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bite of chicken, ate brown rice, bite of stir fry vegetables, and bites of oranges. First picture: When I first noticed Svea playing with the doll she was laying beside it and it was so cute.  When I was walking by to get the camera she was saying, "night night."  Of course shortly after that she was standing on the doll's head.  Haha!  (Better to experiment with the dolls than the real thing!!)  Later, she was playing with the dolls again and she was saying, "night night, night night" over and over and over. Next picture:  If you look close you'll see that Svea has a "pancake" hanging out of her mouth.  And of course that's what Callahan is reaching for!!  Svea likes the baby, but she's inclined to lean over on his belly, touch his face, or lay on him like she does with Melvin!!  Haha!!  So she hears the word "gentle" frequently and she do...

Svea ate cheerios and no banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, no whole wheat pita bread, ate half of her olives, bites of avocado, and ate most of her watermelon. We had a wonderful vacation; I took a good hike every day for 8 days straight and my favorite hikes were on the continental divide trail in different locations. We did tons of reading and played several board games and card games. There was no cell service at the Forest Service cabin or electricity so it was like the "good old days." (Haha! Actually, these are the good days! I love modern living and technology!!) Everyone was giddy and silly this morning - as it usually is coming back from several days away!  So of course there had to be a surprise bonus to the morning; A Representative from Child Care State Licensing made a surprise appearance.  :)  She had to look at the Children's files, my Policies, Master Phone List, Fire Evacuation Plan, Disaster Plan, Visually Inspect ev...

Svea ate half of whole wheat English muffin and ate oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, ate whole wheat elbow noodles, bites of peas, and no applesauce. Just in case there are some people reading the blogs that might not be aware of Little Treasures vacation days!  This will be the last blog until July 15th.  Thank you to everyone for making it possible for me to renew my energy and spirit with a few days off.  I have the best families at Little Treasures and I'm thankful for all of you.  Looking forward to hiking, reading, and relaxing for a few days!!  I love taking care of your children and enjoy it so much!!  (Oh yes, Lauralea informed me there will be cards and board games.  Haha!  I enjoy them too.) First picture: Svea likes playing with the shapes and the yellow shape-sorter buckets.  But first she had to clear the shelf!!  She put a lid on one of the yellow buckets and was putting the round sh...