Keeping Busy

We've been keeping busy this week with activities involved around our fingers and hands. December is Our Bodies month so we'll have fun discovering all the different parts of our own bodies. This is one of my favorite months because we get to do so much discovery and sensory play.

There's lots of colds going around and one case of pink eye, so it seems a snow day is just what the doctor ordered. We're looking forward to getting back into the swing of things tomorrow.

We have a new family visiting on Friday. We're looking forward to having them here. We'll keep you posted on the outcome.

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm.

Blankets and Pillows

Ahhh, what a warm and cozy week we had. Ya gotta love blankets and pillows as a theme! We did lots of snuggling and reading books, we played with the tunnel with a blanket over it, we had coloring picnics and puzzle picnics, we played in shaving cream, painted a class quilt and played with cotton balls in the sensory table. We rounded out the week with a pajama party (okay, well, ASHLEY remembered to come in her jams!! LOL) But one of the best things of the week was the continued warm weather.

We're looking forward to next week and our Thanksgiving lunch on Wednesday. We'll be sure to take and post some pictures! Have a great weekend!

Playing in the Leaves!

Terrible Blogger

Oh I've been a terrible blogger! I'll try to get some pictures posted soon. In the meantime we've been enjoying our new theme Around the House. This week was "Pets". We've had fun talking about and pretending to be different pets. We made fish bowls and also made animal shapes in playdough with cookie cutters. But I have to save, the favorite thing this week was definitely playing in the leaves! We raked a HUGE pile and had fun running through, jumping in and kicking, and throwing over our heads. We also put some at the bottom of the slides and slid through them. Oh what fun!

Fall Festival - Farm Week

We've been busy this week! Lots to do. You just can't fail when it comes to Farm Week! The kids are enjoying playing with the various farm animals, checking out the buckwheat hulls in the sensory table, singing songs, movement activities and of course, playing outside! We got to watch the neighbors trees get taken down today. The men were way up high in the trees like monkeys. It was cool! It may be a short week, but it's a busy one! :)

Buddy Walk

Please check out pictures from the Buddy Walk on Chloe's blog by clicking HERE.

We've been busy!

Making a sparkle picture.


Our handprint tree!


Finger painting.


Music time! And dancing.

Making a families collage.

Snacktime!

Peek-a-boo.

Trucks in the sandbox.

Sitting in the sandbox. hee hee

Mr. Thing 1 back from vaca!

BIG smiles!

Running on the playgroup. AAaaaahhhhhh! :)

Snacktime with Becca

First Day Successes

Chloe and Sammy in the sandbox. :)

Chloe checking out the shaving cream. NO CHLOE, DON'T EAT IT!

Caleb calling daddy and Finn getting a little drink from Ashley.

Sammy, Finn and Caleb experimenting with shaving cream.

Our First Day

What a wonderful first day!!!!!!!!!!! :) Sammy and Chloe had a great time together. They enjoyed music and movement, playing hide and seek objects in the sand pool, and doing shaving cream. Snack time and lunch were also a big hit. We were so busy we didn't even make it outside today! We're looking forward to day 2! Pictures to come!

More Cleaning Up :)

Power washing the climbers!
Ewww!
Chloe's helping.
Coming clean! WOW! That was dirty!

More work

Tonight Ashley and I power washed the outside equipment to get it all ready. I have some before, during and after pictures that I'll try to post tomorrow. It was amazing the difference. All the scrubbing in the world couldn't come close to the effect the power washer had!

Getting closer!!!!

Starting to clear out the cubbies.
Looking in from the stairs.
Book nook.
Dramatic play area with "kitchen" and "bedroom".
Block area with train set on platform. Can also be used for music and movement area.
The block area (with Geo Trax trains set up temporarily).
The table area. We still need a coffee table with no bottom shelf if anyone has one!
The shelves are stocked and organized and ready to go!

Progress!

After meeting with an accountant and lawyer we will be establishing Our Village as a corporation so that we can apply for non-profit status. This will allow us to apply for grants if any appropriate grants turn up. It's a very exciting step for us. :)

Maine is fun, but I'm itching to get back to setting up the program. Soon enough. . .

Tornado and Enrollment

That same storm that hit us produced a tornado in Shelton! Glad we just got a little rain!

I'm in Maine now but brought program stuff with me so I can continue to get ready. Ashley's going to post a new ad on craigslist on Monday and I'm going to circulate another email in hopes of recruiting a few more kids. We're filling up nicely, but still have a few spots left. We hope to have everyone enrolled before we open in September and I think we've got a good chance of accomplishing that.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Sadie, Chloe and I were riding out the nasty storm in the basement this afternoon when I went over to check our window that has had a tendency to "leak" when it really pours hard (I mean REALLY hard). Well, this was one of those times. The water started pouring in the window so I grabbed all our towels from our vacation bag and started catching the water. Then I ran out with a kid bucket and bailed out the window well that was several inches deep with water. The water had just been pouring over the gutter and down the side of the house. Good thing I was downstairs! Crisis averted. It's all cleaned up (minus some towel laundry) and I'm ready to head out on vacation. See ya'll on the flip side. :)

Welcome to our new family!

We'd like to extend a warm welcome to a delightful new boy Finn and his family. I got to meet with Finn and mom last week and they have decided to enroll for 3 days! Hooray! Ashley and I are really getting excited for the program to begin this September!

Ashley and I have been busy pulling together the administrative stuff too. Paperwork should be ready to go out once I get back from vacation. We're both eager to get back to working on the space! It's going to get worse before it gets better, but the end result will be worth the wait! :)

I attended a Birth to Three Committee meeting tonight sponsored by the CDSC (CT Down Syndrome Congress). It was an exciting meeting as we're hoping to help make some changes in the Birth to Three system here in the state. For those of you who don't know, Birth to Three is the State of CT's early intervention system. Because kids age out so quickly we feel the system/state is not being held accountable for providing what children with special needs in the state are entitled to. Although I have joined this committee through the CDSC because I have a child with Down syndrome, this has long been a mission of mine as someone in the field for many years now. I hope for once, we can really make a difference.

Some BEFORE pics

The soon-to-be mailboxes and family area.
The soon-to-be cubby area.

Looking back toward the stairs.
The soon to be table and sensory area.

Looking into the program space from the stairs.

Well, the before pics are really a-little-after,-but-still-before pics. ;)

Getting Ready

Today was a busy day arranging some things but primarily getting ready for our first visitors this week. Ashley and I laid out our plan to get ready over the next month and half. It's very exciting. I took some "before" pictures today, which I'll post in a few days. Chloe, Sadie and I are busy this week with play dates with Sam and Caleb and visits from 2 perspective families. It's so much fun getting ready for the fall!

Welcome

Welcome to the new Our Village and Ready, Set, GO! blog page! This blog is for currently enrolled parents, new parents or anyone interested in how our program is progressing. Enjoy.

Things are busy here at Our Village getting ready for the fall Ready, Set, GO! program year. We have moved out my daughter Chloe's "medical bedroom" and are working at getting the sensory/eating space floor back down. Then we have to do some BIG time switching of stuff from downstairs to up and vice versa. We've got our work cut out for us. Ashley and I are excited to get busy this week!

We've been getting lots of interest re: fall enrollment which is very exciting. Lots of 2 1/2 year old boys! Chloe's going to be one tough cookie! Any other girls out there??? ;) hee hee. I'll try post some "before" pictures, so you can see where we start from. Lots to do! :)