Svea's Journal

Svea ate two servings of toasted whole wheat English muffin and ate her dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate most of her chicken, bites of whole wheat elbow noodles, a few green beans, and ate her mandarin oranges. These first two pictures are left over from yesterday afternoon. I was getting a kick out of Nora and Svea playing, laughing, wrestling, and seemingly having a great time!! It was very fun and adorable. Second picture - We did some painting and the kids laid out their art on the front lawn for the sun to dry. And we forgot to retrieve it before they all left. Svea was fetching one of Avi's pieces from across the lawn. Next picture; Svea was still eating/finishing her breakfast when Miles brought over an activity from this toy exchange. He likes the battery-powered drill and knows how to put the bolts in and reverse them out. Svea was keeping a close eye on him and asking him questions. In the following picture Svea was doing a beading activity. Last picture; Goin...

As y'all know Svea arrived late - about 10:00, but they still wanted something to eat. Well it's only 1.5 hours until Lunch so you can have a bowl of kix cereal and that's what she did. For lunch she ate most of her ground meat topped with avocado, ate whole wheat pita bread, olives, and strawberries. She had to put all the olives on her fingers and I took a picture for her. Svea was telling me a story about an animal, but couldn't remember the name of the animal. She said, "The guy that puts a ball on his nose." Haha. Cracked me up. However, it was obviously a good clue. "I'll bet that's a seal!" :) Nora arrived from Whitefish in time for Lunch and Svea is having fun playing with her now. Miles went home with his Parents so it's just the 3 girls here today. Svea spent most of the 1.5 hours until Lunch working on coloring the paper you see in the next two pictures. Actually these are two different pictures, but you get the idea.

Svea ate toasted whole wheat English muffin and three servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast. For lunch she ate half of her ground beef, no whole wheat elbow noodles, no peas, and ate bites of applesauce. First picture: Svea is just getting started on coloring this picture, but she was actually too busy watching Nora color and studying Nora's picture. Then, just as I was taking the picture, Svea's marker rolled off the table and Svea managed to catch it before it hit the floor. She's explaining to Nora how such an amazing feat is even possible!! Haha! Nice catch Svea. Next picture: The girls are watching a "Chicken Dance" video and dancing/singing along with it. The boys, meanwhile, are marching to their own drum and Miles is chanting, "I fart, Pee Yew! I fart, Pee Yew! I fart, Pee Yew!!" And that's pretty much how classy us males are - speaking generally of course!! Except for Me and the Daycare Dads!! Haha. Last picture: More dancing!! This tim...

Svea ate French toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast. For lunch she ate most of her Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and sweet potatoes. She ate two servings of saltines, and ate mangoes. (Without the pineapple added.) First THREE pictures: Well as ya'll know by now the kids have been going nuts with the Art Projects lately. BUT they LOVE doing the Art so much and it's all fine with me. Keeps them super busy and happy. However, it makes it more challenging to find some variety for the Blogs!! Ha. I like how in the first and third pictures Svea is really piling on the glue. You can never get too much glue!! haha. Middle picture: The older kids have been doing LOTS of art lately and subsequently Miles has showed a renewed interest in more art as well and that's been fun for him too. Next picture; Svea asked for a string to fly her kite. Cal had a string/"leash" for his dog and they wanted to...

Svea ate waffle and two large servings of grapes - LOVE those Candy Snaps - for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken, two servings of whole wheat tortillas, ate corn, and ate her apple pieces.  This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon and Svea had a leash leading Atley around. So I naturally assumed Atley was her puppy. "Is she your puppy?" Svea answered, "No, she's actually a lizard." Haha. (That wasn't my second guess either!! Ha!) Wow, we got all 6 kids here today!! That's been kind of a rarity this summer. But it's been a fun morning and everyone has done well with minimal outbursts. Haha. Next picture: Cal and Atley looking at some of Svea's goodies that she brought. They've all enjoyed Svea's goodie bags!! Following picture: Kids busy at Art Table before breakfast. I intentionally took the picture to include all 6 kids, but I'll let you find them. :) More from Svea's morning. In the next picture she and Nora ...

Svea ate two servings of kix cereal and no fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground turkey topped with avocado, bites of whole wheat hamburger bun, ate tomatoes, and two servings of cherries. First picture: The other kids were doing art and Svea was still working on her second serving of kix cereal. She's frequently the last one eating, but she started late this morning too. The others were doing art making flowers and Svea held up her spoon and said, "I got a flower." Yes you do and I like your flower. Next picture: She complained briefly about not feeling well and laid on the couch for just a few minutes. So I had to take a picture of the little cutie. Following picture - She did some coloring and was pretty proud of the beautiful butterfly she colored.  Next picture: Svea had just started her Art picture and asked me; "Do you know what I'm making?" "Uhhhhmmmm...no." And the second picture is the answer. She said, "It's get...

Svea ate half of her cream of wheat cereal and ate half of her grapes for breakfast. For lunch she again ate half of everything! Which I thought was awesome becasue she rarely eats any kind of stew. Hamburger stew with meat, potatoes, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes. Whole wheat dinner roll, and fruit cocktail. As you already know - haha - we've been doing lots of making paper airplanes and following lots of origami videos for kids on YouTube. Today Avi and Atley each made an airplane and they actually flew quite well. I'm not sure how the chanting started, but the first thing I heard was Cal and Svea chanting; "Atley's is better! Atley's is better!" Over and over and over. As you probably assume that caused an uproar from Avi and led to general pandemonium. Haha. First picture: Svea and I were watching Cal doing aggressive "face-plants" onto the mattress and they were cracking us up. Then he got on the blue balance beam and started going face-fir...

Svea ate half of her French toast casserole and a bite of dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate pulled pork, whole wheat toast, peas, and three servings of mandarin oranges. First picture: The kids were having fun with these cups, cutting up lots of beads, filling the cups, taping the top shut, and calling them "shakers." I put scotch tape on the top of Cal's cup - he didn't have very many beads in his - and they all stuck to the tape and wouldn't shake. Haha.  Next picture: Primping and Posing in front of the mirror is serious business and hard work. Look at her face; it takes concentration to study the poses. Haha. She had on her necklace and added some tape to the front of her dress to complete the desired look. :) Next two pictures: "Making Origami Dogs and Dog Bones." I guess there's not a picture of the dog bones, because we did those last. Anyhow, this was similar to yesterday; I did the work and Svea sucked her thumb and watched. Excep...

Svea ate whole wheat toast and mangoes for breakfast. For lunch she ate a bite of ground beef with marinara sauce on top of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, no green beans, and ate her fruit salad. This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when Lauralea watched the kids for a few minutes while I got Tate set up to mow the lawn. The kids thought it was funny because Lauralea was using her hair for their mustaches. And Lauralea was saying, "Hello Everybody!! I'm Gary."  "Hello Everybody!! I'm Gary!! :) Next picture: The girls were doing "origami for children" and were following an instructional video folding paper into butterflies. I was helping Svea do her's - well I guess I pretty much did most of it. Haha. She actually left after about 2 minutes of it, but it was only a 3 + minutes video. Following picture: She was very interested in decorating and coloring her butterfly however and here's a picture of the result. Last picture: Sve...

Svea ate half of her blueberry bagel serving and three large servings of grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate bite of shrimp, ate brown rice covered in berry juice, no broccoli, and bites of mixed berries. All 6 kids LOVED the "Candy Snap" grapes from Costco. They - with me having a few handfuls - ate a 3 pound container of grapes for breakfast!!! :) Those grapes are SO sweet! This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon. I just thought it was funny how "busy" the table looks. SO much stuff!! Svea is doing some gluing and you can see a white line of glue on the table a few inches in front of where she's gluing now. Overflow. Ha. Second picture: Today, more of the same!! This picture is right after breakfast and Svea primarily spent most of the morning at the Art Table!! She was laughing and talking with Nora who was also busy doing Art. Third picture: Did I mention she primarily spent the morning doing Art. :) Next picture; I get such a kick out o...

Svea ate corn chex cereal and most of her raisins for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken topped with avocado, ate three servings of warm and buttered whole wheat pita bread, ate cucumbers, and pears. First picture: We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange including all the Preschool Activities this weekend. Svea was enjoying going through lots of different ones. This is one that she enjoys doing and you can see what the patterns say on the table. "Girls Rule" and "Boys Rock." She was working on this and said, "I haven't seen you for a long time Gary." It was in a super sweet voice and so cute. (I guess yesterday at her house didn't count! Haha.) More activities: Svea was having fun with the Mr Potato Heads and dressing them up. In the following picture she was practicing her small motor skills using the tweezers to pick up the little colored pompoms. As we know her small motor skills are "top notch!!" That's the same as "Top She...