Hudson - 7/26/2018

Hudson ate bites of breakfast: Whole wheat english muffin and oranges.  For lunch he ate ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.

When I was getting Linnea ready for nap, and afterwards as well, Hudson and Atley were singing "Good night Linnea, good night Linnea,.....it's time to nappy now!"  At a high volume!  It quickly escalated into a super competition for highest volume!  Atley can be VERY loud, but Hudson was up to the challenge!!  Ha!  So I took this picture in the middle of the concert and Hudson appears to be enjoying himself!  :)

Here are two more pictures of Hudson playing this morning.  Top picture; this is one of his favorite activities.  Accumulation of all the toys and making a big stockpile!!  It was just him and Atley so that worked fine until other children arrived.  (Maybe he's a future hoarder!!  Haha!! Just kidding!)  Then the following picture; Hudson and Nora were all over Baby Svea the moment I laid her on the floor.  They both love Linnea too, but she's becoming too mobile and Svea is a better target for now.  Ha! You should have seen Nora's reaction when Linnea grabbed one of her toys this morning!  Whoa! Nora just couldn't believe that!  Ha!

We had fun playing outside this morning and I took this picture of Hudson jumping off the climber. He basically started all of the kids (Well half of them - 3 - Ha!) jumping off of the climber (it was his idea), but as he was ready to jump (the first time) he turned to Avi and said, "You go first. "  Haha!  Good thinking Hudson!!  So she did! You can see Nora in the background keeping an eye on the activity.  That's usually her primary position and her role as well.  :)

Hudson - 7/25/2018

Hudson ate bites of french toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate "paleo stew" with ground turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower.  He also ate crackers and his tropical fruit.  Hey, I just want to give everyone a heads-up that Linnea is now 1 year old and today she gets her first Blog.  So that means I'm doing 5 Blogs and that may affect the time your Blogs are posted!  I will continue doing lots of "copy & paste" every chance I can which really cuts down on the time it takes to do the Blogs.  Like I've mentioned before the Blogs will post sometime between 12:45 - 3:00.

Was Hudson excited to see Linnea!?!  Oh man, when they walked through the door he was jumping up and down with excitement.  So very very happy!!  For some reason one of the pictures I took would not load onto this Blog, but at least I have one picture of Hudson with Linnea.  The picture that didn't post was of Hudson crawling on the floor beside Linnea going under the blue balance beam. That's one of Linnea's favorite "routes" to travel!   Hudson was like her shadow for the first hour!!  EVERYONE, including myself, was so happy to have her back in the Daycare Family!  That seemed like a long vacation!!  Ha!

Hudson was helping Nora do some puzzles.  She does pretty well putting the pieces in the puzzle, but she needs some assistance getting the puzzles out of the puzzle rack, putting them back, and choosing another one.  Hudson asked if he could help her with all of that.  He was also giving some verbal instructions as he thought necessary, i.e..."turn it around" "that one doesn't go there" and more.

After reading Stories and before we went outside we did some stickers at Art Time.  The kids were stoked to do the new stickers.  They've been looking forward to this!  We ordered them together, waited for them to arrive, opened the package together, and today was the big day.  :)

Hudson - 7/24/2018

Hudson ate half of waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate chicken, bites of whole wheat tortillas, two servings of corn, and two servings of applesauce.

Hudson was telling me ALL the details about why his Dad put Atley's swimming suit on Atley's cubby yesterday morning.  And I repeat, it was very detailed!  When he was done he said, "That was a long story!!"  LOL  That's just what I was thinking Bubba!!

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon during outside play time.  Hudson had been giving Nora rides in the wagon and she was LOVING it!  Grinning and laughing!  Then Hudson decided he needed to try to fit all 4 big balls in the wagon too.  See how close his face is to Nora's face?  He's doing some serious negotiation with bribes and threats mixed in!  As soon as he turned his back Nora pitched the balls out!  Ha!

I took this next picture this morning right after Hudson arrived and he was reading books so Atley crawled on the couch and settled right in beside him.  Too cute.  They were looking and studying the books pretty hard - no one was saying anything, but they were certainly enjoying it!!

We ordered some stickers last week and the kids have been asking every day; "Did the stickers come yet!?  Did the stickers come yet!?"  They came today (just after we got through painting at Art Time) and the kids had fun looking at all of them and then we put some on the rod that holds our stickers.  So I'm sure we'll be doing stickers tomorrow.

Hudson - 7/23/2018

Hudson ate a large bowl of kix cereal and most of his mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch he ate ground turkey, whole wheat hamburger bun, bite of tomatoes, bite of avocados, and ate cherries.

Linnea is gonna be back on Wednesday and everyone is asking about her!!  So I'm gonna start with a photo they sent me of Linnea last night.  Lots (10 days) of celebrating birthday #1!!  I like how her plate is upside-down!!  :)  We can't wait to see you Linnea!!

Bubbaisms from this morning: "Hey Gary! What took you so long!?!"  He was the last one eating and and said, "I'm done."  I finished what I was doing in the Play Room - Probably took at least 44 seconds - and went to help him wash. "Hey Gary! What were you talking about?"  I was working, not talking Slick.  :)
Random statement. "I'm not ready for winter." LOL! Well you've got a couple of weeks to prepare.
Atley came to Daycare wearing a crown. She wore it all morning and it's still on while she's sleeping. Hudson asked, "Are you a Princess?"  Well of course the answer was "yes."  :)
So we were outside and this exchange between Avi and Hudson made me laugh.  (This is egocentrism - totally normal for age group - on steroids!)  Avi said, "Hey Bubba!  Momma's gonna pick me up and we're gonna go to Grandma's house."  Hudson said, "But can you pull me in the wagon?"  LOL!!

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and as usual the kids were engaged and busy all morning.  This next picture: Hudson (inside the "Tent") and Avi were still piling pillows and stuffed animals inside.  Outside:   This has been ongoing for several weeks, but I've not put it in the Blogs before.  There are 3 "big" bikes outside and 3 "little" bikes.  The three big ones are identical. Same colored handle grips...everything.  Believe me, different colored handle grips have caused major conflict in the past many years.  So I've had LOTS of experience in this area.  Hudson has been bickering with Avi for weeks about one of the three big bikes.  They are the SAME!  What is the difference!?!  Now I know!  Two of the bikes have "smooth" front tires, BUT the other bike has some tread (or as they call it; "stripes") left on it!  That bike is now sitting in the garage for awhile.  Whew!  We can all take a big deep breath and chill out!  :)

This last picture is silly, but it was also funny to me!!  I was showing the kids the toy shelves I'm building in the garage and they spotted my stash of popcorn!  (Some of you have a wine cellar - I have a popcorn stash!  Now you know my addiction! This is a 12.5 # bag and I buy it by the case with 4 per case.  I'll even do the math for you!  That's 50# per case.  How long does one case last?!?  That's my one secret!!)  ANYHOW, they all wanted to know; "What is that?!? What is that?!?"  So I asked them, "What is this?"  Atley said, "sack." True, but what's in the sack?  Nora said, "sack."  haha!  Hudson and Avilene both said, "I don't know!"  "I don't know."  Now they know.  Everyone now said, "I wanna eat it! I wanna eat it!!"  Me too.  :)

Hudson - 7/20/2018

Hudson ate half of oatmeal and ate baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch he ate hamburger stew with the meat, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.  He also ate whole wheat dinner roll and ate apricots.

Atley and Hudson were waving bye at Momma Maddy this morning.  Apparently you honked the horn, I didn't hear it, but they immediately started arguing;  "She honked at me!"  "She honked at me!"  Repeat that about 6 times each!  :)

Then I was teasing Hudson about wearing "mis-matched" socks!  He said, "I'm out of matching socks."  Very cool way of saying that!

Here's another picture of the igloo!  Hudson and Avilene are inside just like every other day this week.  They probably played in there for 20 minutes or more.  It's their tent and you can see Avi's feet and some of her leg on the left side of the pillow in the entrance.  (She's laying on her tummy.)  The following picture cracked me up!   Hudson, Avi, and Atley built this wall of blocks and they were working very hard at it.  Avi said, "Look at my load Gary!"  And she was carrying a tall stack of blocks!  What are you guys building?  They all agreed they were "building a gate."  What's the gate for?  "To keep out the bed bugs!"  Haha!  And apparently it was working because I never did see any bed bugs!!  When we came back inside before lunch Avi asked, "You guys wanna hide from bed bugs again ?"  :)

We also played outside and here's Atley, Hudson, Avi on the geo-climber together.  Last picture; I don't often include pictures of the kids at meal time, so here's one from lunch!  It's a very busy time, but it's often a funny and entertaining time as well!  There are some interesting "discussions" (more like comments) that happen at meal time!!  We've all been missing Linnea this week and are looking forward to seeing her on Monday!!

Hudson - 7/19/2018

Hudson ate two servings of whole wheat toast and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch he ate two servings of pulled pork, bite of whole wheat bun, ate peas, and cantaloupe.  This next note is about Avi and Atley, but it's a typical interaction for this age group!  At breakfast Avi was telling Atley; "Get your head over your plate."  Haha!  Yes, she's heard me say that a few hundred times!!  So where was Avi's plate during these instructions to Atley?  Almost in the middle of the table.  Haha!

I took this first picture yesterday afternoon.  This is what it always looks like immediately after I lay down the blanket, lay the baby on the blanket, set the toy basket on the blanket, and then tell the kids the blanket and toy basket are for the baby!  :)  Zoom in on Nora's eyes and that tells the story; she's totally focused on the toy basket!!  And that's what the others are focused on as well.  It's the only forbidden thing in the yard and all that does is make it more desirable!!  The 2nd picture - Svea's day at Little Treasures always begins the same way; Hudson asking is he can talk to her!  :)

The kids had a fun and busy morning.  They played with puzzles, also built with the legos, did some dot painting at art time, and rode on the bikes during outside play.  Nobody has played with the legos for several days and then, when one person starts (today it was Hudson) they all start doing it!  Picture number 4:  Nora was done with dot painting first and she just stood up and started peeling her paint shirt off.  When I took the picture Hudson was pulling his paint shirt over his head, Atley was ready to peel her's off, and Avi was still thinking about it!

Hudson - 7/18/2018

Hudson ate half of whole wheat toast and maybe half of mangoes (this mango wasn't very ripe and no one was real impressed) for breakfast.  For lunch he ate a large serving of ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate squash, and ate fruit salad.  Hudson likes to pretend his milk is coffee or tea, but at breakfast Nora felt the need to enlighten him!!  "My coffee."  "Milk!!!"  "My tea."  "MILK!!"  Time to change the subject.  What'd you all do last night?  Haha!

Atley said, "Hey Gary, my nose is running!" (almost immediately afterwards) Avi said, "Hey Gary! I wanna see if the salmon is running!!"  LOL!  That made me laugh.  So I wiped Atley's nose and we checked out explore.org.  The kids are loving that site because frequently (including this morning) the fish are struggling so hard to jump up the falls and there 10 - 20 fish in the air at the same time.  We also counted 13 bears having a feast today.

First picture; Hudson was playing with these little mirrors.  One side makes things appear close and the other side makes objects appear far away.  Atley saw him doing that so she started doing it too.  I asked her who she saw and she said, "Bubba."  Ha!  Second picture; As soon as I lay Svea on the floor Hudson wants to interact with her.  And he always asks first; "Gary, can I talk to her?"  :)  Hudson will be well practiced in how to be an awesome big brother.  He and I were discussing names for little brother and I told him I like the name; "Paint Ball."  He really giggled about that.  Then he said he was going to name him Gary Sanks.  Haha.  And I giggled about that.  :)

Last picture; Hudson and Avilene (she's hidden in the igloo) like to barricade themselves inside the igloo and call it their "tent."  They play this game every day.  Hudson is usually inside too, but I got this picture while he was working on the entrance blankets and pillows.  Atley doesn't want to go inside it, she just likes to grab the pillows and blankets and cause a ruckus!!  See picture - She's just waiting for the moment when he leaves!  So she can pounce!  Ha!

Hudson - 7/17/2018

Hudson ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate shrimp, half of brown rice, bites of stir fry vegetables, and ate raspberries.

I have to start off with a picture of Hudson and Svea looking at each other.  He asked, "Can I talk to Svea?"  I think it's cute how he always asks that question.  All the kids like to lay dress-up clothes, blankets, or whatever on the babies!  Those babies are just laying there so they must like it!!  Except now Linnea is old enough to throw the clothes off or move away!

Hudson and Atley were covered in dress-up PJ's and crawling around saying, "I spider! I spider!"  I'm not sure where that came from!  Maybe from all the bugs and spiders we've been seeing outside!  Hudson and Atley are the two most interested in the bugs!  Atley is borderline possessed with them!  Haha!!

Now that the weather is so nice we just don't do Art as often.  But the kids are always excited when we do.  We did some coloring and stickers and they had lots of fun with it.

Hudson - 7/16/2018

Hudson ate most of bran cereal and most of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch he ate chicken, whole wheat pita bread, ate olives, half of tomatoes, bites of peppers, and ate pears.

Linnea is out all week so we can't wish her Happy Birthday today!!  But we did send her a birthday greeting by text with a picture of all the kids at the breakfast table.  And Linnea's Daddy sent us a picture of Linnea and some birthday cupcakes from yesterday!!  The kids loved the picture!!

First picture; As all the parents know I had this little fish (fake) tank and the kids loved it, but the light burned out and other parts of it were broke (it was a Goodwill Special) so it went in the trash.  Hudson first, and then the rest of the kids were all asking, "Where'd the fishy go?"  My standard answer; "They all swam away!"  That seemed to satisfy everyone!  This past weekend I got a lava lamp to replace it and that's what the kids are looking at.

This next picture shows what Hudson was doing first thing this morning.  :)  The material on the back side of the pillow he's using is quite slick and the kids love using the pillows in this manner!  As you can see in the picture Hudson is pretty much off-center on the slide so he basically slid right off to the side.  :)  And the last picture was more bugs outside!  They also rode bikes and we played with bubbles.

Hudson - 7/13/2018

Hudson ate bites of cream of wheat cereal and bites of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch he ate a large serving of baked beef kabobs with meat, zucchini, peppers, and pineapple.  He ate several bites of brown rice and half of a pineapple serving on the side.

This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon shortly before pick-up time.  We were just playing with the camera and doing selfies and I love this one of Avilene and Hudson.  They both have the nicest expression!  (They were obviously watching themselves in the camera!)  Here's the funny part: I was sitting in the chair and these two were messing with the chair behind me and I just held the camera above my head and blindly took the picture.  "Hey! What are you guys doing back there!?!"(You can see the top of my head in the picture! Ha!)  I guess I should take pictures that way all the time!!  :)

We did some drawing with these sketch boards at Art time and Hudson was working on his "H" letter. I put one on the board for him and he made a real good H directly below it.  :)  He also played with Linnea this morning of course and found out she doesn't like to be barricaded in the igloo with him! Ha!  She really likes to keeping moving Bubba!!  :)

Avi, Atley, and Hudson were all playing the drums and Avi was saying; "We're having a parade!"  Then moments later Avi said, "Ok, parade's over!"  Ha!  Hudson was furious that she'd declared the parade was over!  :)  Well, you can keep on doing the parade Hudson!  His technique (see picture below) seemed a bit odd to me, but whatever works for you!!  Having the drum between your knees might work better when you're seated Hudson.  :)

Hudson - 7/12/2018

Hudson ate bites of waffle and bites of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch he ate most of Shepard's Pie with hamburger, carrots, green beans, and potatoes.  He ate whole wheat tortilla and ate his cherries.

Nora and Hudson were waving bye to Daddy Ryan at the window and Nora was mimicking everything Hudson was saying; "That Emily's car."  "That Emily's car."  "Bye bye Ryan."  "Bye bye Ryan."  Haha!  Sorry, but I always think it's cute when the kids use their parent's actually name!  It sounds adorable!

When we were playing outside this morning one of the dump truck drivers saw the kids watching from the fence and honked his horn at them.  Thank you driver!  The kids loved it.  Hudson said, "He honked at us!"

I have to include a daily picture of Hudson and Linnea together!  He stays very close to her for at least 15 - 20 minutes first thing in the morning - every morning!  Shortly after this he saw me using my pliers for something so he had to tell me a "fish" story.  :)  "Nora's fish took Nora's fake fish.  My Dad told Nora's Dad to go get the pliers."  The end.

In the next picture the kids were watching the neighbors prepare their motor home for some camping. That took almost 3 hours so it was lots of entertainment.  The kids especially liked watching them tie down their two canoes on top of the motorhome.  "Be careful!!"  The last picture; The kids were inspecting a roly poly bug and I guarantee if there is a bug being inspected Atley and Hudson will be in the middle of it all!  :)

Hudson - 7/11/2018

Hudson ate two servings of french toast and bites of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate half of "whole 30" chili with meat, tomato sauce, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, and spices.  He also  ate whole wheat dinner roll and most of tropical fruit.

We rarely have any kind of "screen time" at Little Treasures, but the one exception is for "explore.org" and in July and August (the best months) we sometimes watch the big Alaskan Brown (Grizzly) bears feeding on salmon at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park.  We watched yesterday for the first time this year and the kids - especially Hudson - liked it almost as much as I did!  :)  (They were asking again today, but we didn't take the time for it.)  Yesterday we were counting up to 15 salmon jumping in the air at the same time trying to make it up the Falls and the bears were having lots of easy meals.

Avi and Hudson were running to the mirror being silly and looking at their teeth.  Then of course they wanted to look at my teeth; "Gary, can we see your golden teeth!?!"  Haha!  Yup!  We also played outside this morning and Avi and Hudson were stretching up and putting the little balls in the basket.

I took this first picture shortly after Hudson arrived and he wanted to play with Linnea before doing anything else!  Linnea is so congenial.  She loves the attention from all the kids and her picture is frequently in everyone's Blog!  :)

I love what the kids were doing in the last picture!!  They'd been watching the dump trucks and if you look close at the dump truck picture you'll see the "cones" blocking the road.  (Just to the left of the dump bed.)  They all started grabbing blocks and Avi said, "We're doing cones today Gary!!"  Then Hudson said, "We're blocking off the road!!"  I love that!  They understood that part of the work and acted it out in their own way.

Hudson - 7/10/2018

Hudson ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate half of pork chops, ate whole wheat toast, bite of potatoes, most of sweet potatoes, and ate a large serving of applesauce.

Story behind the basketball in the first picture!  I mounted it just out of reach, but it gives the kids something to jump toward!  Lauralea and I are big Lady Griz fans and this is an autographed ball from 1998 that a friend gave to us a few days ago.  Hudson and Avi were both jumping and trying to touch it and Hudson said, "I almost tried to touch it!"  :)

You can see Hudson standing on the slide in the next picture.  Moments before this it was steps instead of the slide!  Hudson asked if he could turn them over and he followed my instructions and got the job done.  (You have to lift in a certain spot and then flop it end-for-end!)  He was SO proud of himself.  He strutted off saying, "I'm really strong!"  :)

We played with the wooden blocks on the patio and Hudson was enjoying it a lot.  Actually he was the one who initially asked if we could play with the blocks.

Hudson - 7/9/2018

Hudson ate several bites of whole grain chex cereal and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch he ate ground beef, whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, no avocado, and ate most of his oranges.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so everything was different and the kids were very engaged all morning.  In this first picture Hudson and Linnea were "sharing" a drum; Linnea doing it the "old-fashioned" way and Hudson using fancy sticks!  :)  And he managed NOT to hit her fingers!!

Hudson and Avi were playing hard, Atley hadn't arrived yet, and Nora was basically just circling around the two "older" kids.  The picture below actually captures this pretty well.  The two on the couch are wearing PJ's from the dress-up clothes and Nora initially wanted some on, but that idea changed quickly!  Hudson was reading the book aloud and Nora couldn't resist getting closer and closer.

Hey, I don't know if it was just a coincidence or what, but Hudson and Avilene played together awesomely this morning!!  It was SO nice and enjoyable!!  So maybe you all need to get together every Sunday evening until further notice!  :)  In the picture below they'd piled toys on the chair and then were spinning it as fast as they could go.  Then they'd intentionally fall down and say, "I'm ok!" Repeat!  Over and over!

In the last picture I got these paint/art board that have hooks so I can hang them wherever I want.  So we were experimenting with outside art and markers.  I'm sure you noticed the PJ's are still on!  Haha!  "Hey Gary!  Can we wear these outside!?"  Sure!!  :)

Hudson - 7/6/2018

Hudson ate bites of oatmeal and most of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles covered with lots of applesauce, and ate green beans.  So the breakfast conversation pretty much centered around something that happened at the kiddie pool at the Country Club yesterday.  Apparently there was a pooping incident and it had to be drained.  Avi REALLY wanted the guilty culprit's identity!!!  She repeatedly (like 5 or 6 times) asked, "Who pooped in the pool!?!"  Hudson said, "I don't know them."  :)

Hudson asked me, "Gary, have you ever heard the story about the 3 Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf?"  Tell me about it Bubba.  (Notice I didn't answer his question.  Ha.)  He said, "Well the wolf blew their house down!"  Oh my!  Then what happened?!?  He said, "Well, they were as dead as a door knob." Haha!  I guess that was the condensed version!  Short and sweet...well at least short.  :)

This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon.  For those who haven't seen Hudson's new shirt (at least I'm assuming this is a new one - first time I saw it) that's the attached hood he has over Linnea's head.  Ha!  It's a fairly large hood, but it works well for this game!

Avi and Hudson were playing in the igloo and I took this next picture when Hudson was asking Avilene to put all the pillows and stuffed animals in there around him.  Moments later Hudson wanted Avi to do another game and he said, "You're the babysitter" and gave her a little stuffed bear.  She was engaged in something else and pitched the bear off to the side!  Hudson said, "If you throw the baby it dad gonna come roar at you!!"  LOL!!  That made me roar with laughter!

We played outside this morning and the temperature was perfect!  I took this picture of Hudson playing a game with the bikes that he's been playing frequently during outside time.  He intentionally has his wheel hooked around the wheel of the other bike.  He's being a "tow truck."  :)

Hudson - 7/5/2018

I think Hudson arrived about 10:30 so his Blog is gonna be a bit short today!  For lunch he ate his hamburger and sausage pizza with whole wheat pizza crust, tomato sauce, peppers, olives, and pineapple.  He also had pineapple on the side and ate several bites of it too.

By the way, He did just fine without his binkie at nap time and actually went to sleep fairly quick.

I took this first picture of Hudson as he was talking to Svea and watching her roll over.  He said, "Hey Gary!  She's on her tummy."  Yup, she's doing that all the time now.

Hudson had a sticker on his shirt from the Dr's office and Atley said, "That a sticker!"  Hudson said, "No! just garbage!"  Haha! So Atley repeated; "That a sticker!" Same answer; "No! Just garbage!"  Three or four times back-n-forth and Atley finally said, "Just garbage."  Ha!  Hudson said, "Yes! Just garbage!"  He was pretty pleased with himself that he had convinced her it was garbage.  Goofy kids.