Our Christmas Bookmark Project!

I know there are a few of you out there who are sad that Christmas is over, so Christmas lovers, this post is for you. 

Posting projects a month or two after they happen seems to be a West Coast Nanny trend, so I figured I'd embrace it. 

This year I decided I really wanted to find a simple gift that H, L, and I could give to our friends. Something that wasn't cookies, or candy canes, or Chocolate Santas. You get where I'm going with this, right? So after a little searching, we decided on bookmarks. 

Here we have all of the supplies. (All of which were found in my home office!)

And here is H and I using the paper cutter (with caution, of course.) She loved it! 

After all that cutting, H took a break to play with some snowflake punches. 

 H and L both enjoyed adding festive stickers to each bookmark.

Finally, we placed a label on every bookmark. (I made the labels at home on my computer, and then brought them over for us to all sign) 

 And here is our final result! 

H loved handing out bookmarks to each of her friends at Preschool the day before Winter Break. I was really happy she got to learn about the gift of giving! I was also able to save a few for my "mom friends" and L gave some to her friends as well. (And a special thank you to one of my mom friends for helping me tie all the ribbons at the last minute. You are awesome!)

Best Wishes! -Nanny B

Christmas Banner Project

Last Friday was one of those sick, rainy days. Usually on those days, we would throw together a couch-bed, pop some popcorn, cover the windows and play movie theater, however this time, the girls seemed to have more energy than usual. H asked if we could do a "fun, fun, fun, project." When I told her I had an idea, she jumped up and down and said "Thank you Brooke! You are the best Brooke ever!" So of course, I had to break out the washable paint set, and make a giant Christmas Banner.

First I taped together numerous pieces of colored paper. 

Then I set out some paint, stickers, and other art supplies.

I wasn't at all surprised by L pouring out her purple paint and spreading it all over her paper.

I was however, quite surprised by how amazing H did with her pages.

So at this point L had said "Nanny, leg?" However I didn't know what she said, so I did one of those casual "Ohh, okay..." responses that you do when you have no idea what a two year old is saying. So there she is, painting her leg, since I did after-all, give her permission.

Yes, L enjoyed painting, very much.

 And here is our Christmas Banner, halfway done.

And more of L, having lots of fun.

And our final result!

I have a couple more Christmas projects to post, so I figured I'd keep this short and sweet. Hope you enjoyed it!

-Nanny B

Happy Halloween! (In December)

I know, I know, it's December. It's Christmas. It's snowman season. But I didn't want to skip out on a post about our Halloween Party back in October, so here it is! It may not have been posted in the same month it happened, but hey, at least it's still the same year, right?

It was a fairly last minute decision to have a small Halloween get together, which was basically the same as our weekly play-group, but with special music and pumpkins everywhere.

The day before Halloween, while H was at school, L (whose arm was broken at the time) helped me bake some salt dough pumpkin ornaments.

 And this is how I set up the table the next morning. I covered the table in some extra paper, and then placed a pumpkin ornament on a piece of colored paper for each of our guests. The papers were labeled (names were removed from image for privacy purposes) with each childs name, so they each got their own area to work, and the pumpkins were easier to identify after they were covered in paint.

 The kids all got to work! I know this is hard to believe, but this Halloween party, which contained 8 children, ranging from ages 2-4, all at one table, went perfectly. And when I say perfectly, I mean, no paint on the carpet, no tears shed, nothing was broken, and everyone had a great time, perfectly.

 And this is the table, and pumpkins (if you can find them buried under the paint) after the kids were done!

 And our final results. Note the West Coast Nanny pumpkin I made that morning ;)
Days later, when all the pumpkins were dry, I attached some ribbon and labels and we gave all the kids their keepsake ornaments!

So Happy Halloween, and Merry Christmas to you all!
-Nanny B

H's Birthday!

We had such a fun time celebrating H's birthday at the bowling alley! I think it's just me, but she seriously looks like she is 5 years old now. And to sum it all up, here's a quote... "I don't want to drink from that sippy cup, I'm 5 years old!" -H
We stopped at the mall before bowling, and I am in love with these closed in play areas. If we had a mall in our town, I have no doubt we would go there and play on this thing every day.

Happy Birthday Darling! Love, Nanny B<3

Happy Birthday to H!

It's almost my darling dear, H's 5th birthday and my how she has grown. When I met H, she had just turned 3, and I'll be honest, our relationship didn't have the easiest start. I spent a decent amount of time thinking (and venting to Charlotte), "I'm not so sure about this," "Toddlers are exhausting," "I don't understand 3 year olds"," No I do not want to play ponies," "maybe I should stick to babies," and "Yeah babies are definitely my thing," are just a few of the phrases than ran through my mind during the first few months. Keep in mind, H's family was my first nanny family. My first experience working with toddlers, working with babies, working with parents, in someone else's house, etc. And for this reason, among many others, they will always be held very close to my heart.

Anyways, as time went on, H and I grew closer. I began to understand her. I grew to love her. And she taught me a lot. Seriously, a lot. She taught me how loud a child can scream. She taught me how to recognize when a child is lying. She taught me the power (both positive, and negative) of the word "No". But most of all, she taught me the meaning of unconditional, popcorn-and-movie-day, jumping-in-rain-puddles, cuddling-till-you-fall-asleep, love. 

And my how I love that girl. And her wide smile. And her silliness. And her sweet voice. And her ability to care and watch over those around her. And the way she looks out for her sister. And they way she runs and jumps into my arms with so much force that she knocks the glasses of my head and breaks them in the middle of McDonald's. Yes, I love her. Always and forever. Every minute of every day of every month and year. 

Here are a couple of pictures of the treats that H and I made today for her to take to school on her birthday!:

Happy Birthday my darling dear! Nanny loves you so very much<3

Life is short...

Yesterday, I had a 10 hour day with H (age 5) and L (age 2). I watch them 10 hours a day, twice a week (Thursday and Friday). Fridays are our special day, because there is no school for H (preschool, that is) but it is not the weekend. So we decided to spend our day:
-Making peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes (which burnt...yes, every, single, one of them)
-Making cookie dough bars (which were raw because they were so thick, they refused to bake)
-We made a giant couch slide (if you haven't done this with your nanny kids, it is a must!)
-Took a break from our couch slide to run through the sprinklers, in our pajamas
-Ate popcorn...on our couch slide.
-Made the girls favorite mac&cheese, because it is nearly fool-proof, and we'd had enough cooking fails for the day
-We topped it all off with a nice long nap, followed by making brownies (for which we forgot to add the flour)

Life is short, so in the midst of surviving each day, don't forget to live. Run through the sprinklers in your pajamas, make the brownies, and let the kids take the couch apart. Make amazing memories, just don't skip nap-time. It is very important. ;)

Happy Saturday! -Nanny B

Monday....

Things that have happened so far today:

H had a meltdown because I told her not to jump to me from the couch

H spent 15 minutes screaming and crying in her room

L  started to cry because she heard her sister crying

H came out of her room and played nicely....

I spent 20 minutes trying to untangle a slinky....it is still tangled

I got a splinter in my finger

H threw a ball at me after I told her not too

H is now in her room crying

L is currently sticking her fingers under H'a bedroom door, deaperatly trying to communicate with her sister

And it's only 11....