Winter Break from Learning

It’s been a busy and exciting week. All that planning last week paid off. Today at co-op we had 7 families who came as guests to our party. 5 of those families chose to register as members. What a great way to teach the children to “socialize.”

We started off the day pretty rough. Last night we had heavy rains and flooding in our area. We had some water back up in the basement so my dh had to get the sump pump working. Then just as we are getting settled the power starts flickering on and off. Not just once but several times throughout the night. Since J still sleeps with a night light as well as a fan these events gave him much disturbance. I ended up laying down with him to try and get him settled, but the power just kept flickering and each time he got disturbed. He didn’t actually go to sleep until early in the morning when it was really time to get up. Instead of going to swim  and gym classes I opted to let him sleep for a couple extra hours. This also bought me some time to do a few errands before heading out to set up for the co-ops winter themed party.

The party was a huge success. When everyone arrived I was in the kitchen busily trying to get lunch prepped and ready. Another mom was entertaining the children with group games like, Snowman, Snowman, Frosty! (duck, duck, goose) and Head’s up Seven up and I’m sure many others. From the kitchen I heard a great deal of laughter, giggling, and squeals of delight. My heart was warmed by this beautiful noise! I relaxed and realized the kids were having a great time and that was the entire goal of the event. We ate a great lunch then let the kids make dessert, “Make Me a Snowman Cupcake” and Build a Snowman Icecream Sundae. This was hugely successful and so much fun for the kids.

Then we broke up into smaller groups. The toddlers went to one room where they did “Ice Fishing” and got a prize, and then a couple of small/easy crafts involving pasting and snacking. Not together 😉 Two different crafts. The older kids also had crafts, using a paint stick painted white they made Snow Measuring Sticks, and decorated the top part with fabric to look like a snowman. The other activity was a “Snowball Obstacle Course.”  We finished up the day with a Snowball fight. Oh yeah, Indoors! We broke up into 2 teams and quite naturally it ended up being boys against the girls. Each team got a stack of tissue paper which they raced to crumple into snowballs. Then at “Go” they began the fight. It was so very much fun to watch children between the ages of 3 and 9 gleefully throwing “snowballs” at each other. The 3 year old just kept throwing it straight up in the air and giggling as it fell back down on herself. Which was truyly too adorable for words, while the boys were sincerely trying to beat the girls at this very fun game and the girls were so determined to be the winners. In the end all of the “snowballs” ended up smack dab in the middle and all the children were declared “champions.” Oh is was a very good day.

Now I really do need to close these weary eyes and get some much needed rest. I’m plum worn out. 🙂