Joyful Noise Day Care

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Seriously?   Did I let a whole month go by?  Thanks to all of you still reading this after such a long break.   This summer has been beautiful with lots of warm weather to send us all to the beach and lots of visitors to keep us from the tasks of our daily lives.   We still anticipate a little beach time in the near future, but the rock star parade of family and friends is coming to a halt so I'll have a bit more time here at the computer and plan to get back on task with updating and expanding.

I want to take a quick minute here to thank all those who are gifting us with the bounty of their gardens!   We are blessed with lots of good vegetable eaters here and the donations are deeply appreciated from the bottom of our hearts (and stomachs!)   Fresh vegetables and fruits are essential for our little ones and I try hard to give them local, chemical free food.   It's a great help to receive these donations and I really can't thank you all enough.   You know who you are!!!

We've had a hard week with saying good-bye to Collin and Ashlee as they head off to "big kid's school."   The lucky part is that we're sure we're going to see them again, though it will be "lots of days" before Ashlee's beautiful smile graces our house and she'll become a big, sophisticated first grader in the meantime.   Collin will be at kindergarten five full days a week thanks to Eastern school's policy (go ahead, ask me what I think of full time kindergarten....) but we'll be seeing him after school on some days and vacation times so there was no last day celebration for him yet.   We may see Ashlee again next summer and hopefully some holidays before then, but Elliott is still a jolly full-time member of the household so we can all be in a little denial about how time is passing all too quickly around our sweet little ones.

For Labor Day weekend I'm busy canning tomatoes so I'll write more tomorrow if I can but right now the water bath waits for no one!

It's still that time of year but I took a few minutes between a movie, a wedding and a birthday party to update the calendar and the recipe of the month pages.   In honor of the website's four year anniversary, this month's recipe is the first one I posted in August 2006.   So if you didn't have a chance to print it out then you can do it now.   These busy days are fun as long as we don't also try to accomplish everything that gets done during the "normal" times.   Normal?   What's that, we may ask?   You know, those days when we wonder if we'll ever get off the treadmill.   Well, here they are!   Gotta go get some sleep for the party tomorrow!   Happy August!

Whew.   It's that time of year.   You know, summer.   The time that warps and weaves with heat and people and sweat and sand and then it's all over but the pictures and the memories.   We're trying to make it last and keep up with watering the lawn and doing the laundry and caring for children while enjoying the friends and relatives all coming and going in between dodging the festivals and baptizing ourselves in the bay on a regular basis.   Life is tough.

Be patient with my weblog for a little bit longer, please.   The loving parade isn't over until September but I'll have some bits of time in there to at least update the recipe and the poem and hopefully review the books I've been reading.   The children are growing though it's hard to tell in all the dirt and sweat, but once in a while we hose them down and find them stronger, taller and wiser every day.

One important link before I go to bed!   Keira's Dad has a wonderful new venture: Nature's Treats which are the most delicious dried apples you've ever tasted, and I'm not just saying that.   Look for him at the farmer's market to get a sample and judge for yourself.   You can also find his page on Facebook.   We'll be serving these snacks at Joyful Noise once the fresh fruit has run out and we're back to winter fare.   Something delicious to look forward to!   But right now they're perfect to take to the beach or on picnics or wherever you may be going where you need portable, healthy gourmet treats.   Check them out.

We're back from vacation, rested and cheerful and ready (well, as ready as we're going to be) to get back to work.   The Tigers didn't get swept and we got to see the new Target Field in Minneapolis, we spent some quality time with my brother Joe and we experienced taking Amtrack long distance which has to be the most enjoyable form of transportation ever.   All in all one of the best vacations I've ever had.

The new recipe for July is goulash which we had here at the day care a couple of weeks ago on Aaron's special helper day.   So many of the kids loved it that I thought I should post it for you.   Also, several of the kids had never tasted goulash before and one was sure that "my Mom doesn't have goulash at her house."   So now there's no excuse for that!

With the holiday today and our birthdays coming up we have a couple of short weeks here on the calendar but then all will be back to normal until Labor Day.   As usual, we'll be taking some time off in October so keep your eyes peeled for that.   As always it will be posted on the website first to reward those clients who actually read this!

Happy Father's Day to all the men who are Fathers or Grandfathers or Great-grandfathers, either biologically or by proxy.   Happy Father's Day too to all the women who are both Mother and Father to their children for whatever reason you may find yourself in that position, and there are many.   These days that honor parenthood can often be more awkward than celebratory, more ironic than sincere.   Even those of us with much to celebrate can find it difficult to put it into a card or a gift or the span of a day.   My wish for you this weekend is that you find the spirit of the good, nurturing Father in your life, either embodied in some other person or within your own heart, and laud it with praise, gifts and the beverage of your choice in some relaxing, peaceful moments.

Ben and I are starting to run out of steam and looking forward to taking a week off to recharge our batteries.   Nothing personal; we love the kids!   But I'm sure you can imagine how we need a break every now and then.   People often ask me if we take the summer off, or if we have less children in the summer.   On the contrary!   We work harder in the summer because all those kids are out of school and need someplace to go!   We're so happy to have Ashlee back every day of the week since she graduated from kindergarten, and Will has been making an occasional appearance lately too!   When the alumni come back from being away they're like rock stars here: the little ones follow them around hanging on their every word.   I think it's good for them after being the little fish in the big pond to be the big fish in the little pond for a change, and the young ones benefit so much from having their long lost older friends return with tales and attitudes from the big, wide wonderful world out there.

The weather continues to play havoc with our wardrobes around here and my advice is still to dress for everything.   Now that the children have had a taste of going barefoot, some of them will slip off their shoes the minute they get out the door, but please still bring footwear in case we have a rare opportunity to go for a walk, or if they injure the bottom of their foot.

I'll be putting in the book orders tomorrow but I'm not sure if they'll arrive before we have our week off.   We won't have another one now until (sniff) September when school starts and Ashlee will start (gasp) first grade and Collin goes to (choke) kindergarten.   Let's get ready to enjoy every fleeting moment of summer, officially starting on Monday, while it's here.

June!   The month that baby Maddie turns one year old, the month we celebrate Fathers and those who are like Fathers to us, the month that school gets out and our thoughts turn to baseball and beaches and barbecues!   Are you ready?

First things first: McDonald's has recalled their Shrek glasses that they've been giving away, so if you have one, destroy it or return it but DO NOT drink from it!

The weather has been playing all kinds of tricks on us; blazing hot one day, chilly and damp the next.   Don't be reluctant to send all manner of clothing with the children if you don't have time to watch the latest weather report.   The cubbies are handy places to store an extra sweatshirt and a swimsuit for the sprinkler and then we're ready for anything.   Bare feet or sandals are pretty much appropriate every day now that the ground has warmed, though some people have discovered that they can run faster with their tennis shoes on.   Please realize that they're not just being obstinate when they insist on a certain type of footwear.   They have very individual needs for the work that they do in the back yard and soon learn that it's no fun to struggle and trip when trying to keep up with the others escaping from the tigers or climbing up in the trees.

This weekend brought some sad news as our favorite restaurant, Mustard's, was forced to close.   It's a rare business that can create a sense of family and warmth the way they did at this place and down town Traverse City is a poorer place for their departure.   We wish them all the best in whatever ventures they take up now, and selfishly hope that they'll reopen some place near here once they take a break and regroup.

Well, as soon as I say the month looks peaceful, I've jinxed it!   Some sort of weird intestinal bug has been weaving its way in and out of the daycare for the past few weeks, doing its best to sabotage Mother's Day, the NMC barbecue and our general enjoyment of spring.   Today it caught up with me at last, but I'm happy to report that I was prepared to take it easy this weekend anyway and had lots of sedentary jobs on my to-do list (like catching up the weblog...)   Still, I somewhat resent my body forcing me to slow down rather than it being a deliberate choice, but I guess illness is never convenient.

Thanks to those who ordered from Scholastic this past month; the books should be here this week.   We have one more order before summer vacation for those who want to get some summer reading or birthday gifts.   Look for them soon.

The weather is all over the place lately and the best strategy is to send a light jacket or sweatshirt just in case the prognosticators are wrong when they predict warm and sun, or right when they predict cloudy and chilly.   This next week looks to be hot, but we'll see...

Well, I know this is short, but I've got some rest and recuperation to attend to if I'm going to be back on duty by Monday.   May we all enjoy this last week of tourist free life: be sure to get to your local farmer's market to take in the amazing bounty that we have around us.   Live to the fullest!

Glorious May!   We had a wonderful trip down to Ohio to visit Ben's great uncle and his family.   Now we come back to find May on our doorstep with lilacs, butterflies and bare feet in the back yard.   Yippee!

This looks to be a fairly peaceful month around here; no birthdays, no festivals and no holidays until Memorial Day, the very last day of the month.   It's possible that I'll have a funeral down state to attend in the near future, but the day care won't close for that; I'll just get someone to cover for me or I won't go.   The biggest news lately is that I finally got a freezer for the garage.   I know that doesn't seem very exciting, but it will make purchasing and preparing food easier and more economical for me and sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best!

I've posted a new recipe for the month and updated the calendar.   I realize that some parts of the website are woefully out of date but that's what happens when there's so much life to live.   When a website is what you do in your spare time and spare time is so precious, we have to put up with some pages with cobwebs on them.   I promise that when I retire the website will grow and grow and grow.   But for my current clients, don't worry, that won't be any time soon!