Lookin' Good!

Our new shirts came in!!! We are so excited to give the children each their own Natalie & Sarah's Learning Center t-shirts!! They look great! We will be ordering adult sized shirts soon, so if anyone would like one, just let us know!! They are $9.50 for short-sleeved and $12 for long-sleeved t-shirts.

Who Should We Be Today?!!

We received many wonderful gifts for Christmas, and the children have greatly enjoyed playing with them this week! I just have to share that the dress-up clothes by Melissa & Doug are adorable!!! See for yourself....

Merry Christmas to all of our

families and friends!

Merry Christmas to All!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!!

The children really had a great time at their Christmas party!! And a huge THANK YOU to all of our families for more gifts than we could ever have imagined. Thank you for all of your support!! =)

Merry Christmas!!

Ho ho ho...

The children cannot wait for Christmas!! The excitement is contagious! Today we had fewer children than normal (which happens around the holidays), but we had a blast making cut out cookies and decorating ornaments and stockings!!

 Craft Time (2 day process)

Positions Open!!

 We have two spots available for children 2-years-old or older!! 

We have a full-time position (Mon - Fri) and a part-time position (Mon, Wed, Fri). Sign-up by January 3rd and your 1st week of care will be 1/2 price!!

Please let us know if you are interested. 515-450-5418.

What else do we do??

When downloading pictures onto the computer, I found some from the past two weeks that I had forgotten to share!! We do engage the kids in other activities besides crafts and baking!! =) Here is a sampling of some of our other activities!!

Easel Painting!!!



Dressing Up and Dancing!!

Gross Motor Obstacle Courses!!

Playing with friends! (and eating toys)!

Our festive week!

We have been slow in our Christmas craft production this week, but we have colored Elmo wreaths, free drew what we would like Santa to bring us for Christmas, and made Santa masks (thanks Kelly for the idea)! Oh yea...we also made granola!!

 They are very serious about their art work!

Making granola!

 After our week of baking, they are experts in the kitchen!

Working hard!

"Ho, ho, ho"

the Holiday Season

We are getting into the Holiday Spirit around here! The children really enjoyed learning about Hanukkah last week. They say "menorah" and "dreidel" so cute! This week and next we will be talking about Christmas followed by Kwanzaa and the New Year. It is really an exciting time to spend with children (especially now that the 2-year-olds are really starting to grasp what the holiday means)!

For our Christmas theme, we will be making ornaments and other crafts as well as baking treats and decorating the center. I will post pictures as our activities occur!! Happy Holidays everyone!

Turtle Bread

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 package quick-acting active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 egg
2 raisins

1. Mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

2. Heat water, milk, and margarine to 125 degrees to 130 degrees; stir into yeast mixture. Stir in egg. Stir in enough of remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.

3. Sprinkle a surface lightly with flour. Turn the dough onto the surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

4. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Shape a 2 inch ball for the head. Shape 4 walnut sized balls for feet. Shape 1 walnut sized piece of dough for the tail. Shape remaining dough into a ball for body; place on cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Attach head, feet and tail by placing 1 end of each under edge of body to secure. Press raisins into head for eyes. cover and let rise 20 minutes.

5. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Make crisscross cuts in body, 1/4 inch deep, to look like a turtle's shell. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Makes 1 turtle bread.

Maple Cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup soft light brown sugar
7/8 cup self-rising flour
2 medium eggs
6 tablespoons maple syrup

Buttercream Frosting:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until they are light and fluffy. Sift in the flour.

2. Beat the eggs in a cup. Add them to the bowl, with the maple syrup. Stir until everything is well mixed.

3. Put a paper case in each hole in the muffin tray. Use a small spoon to divide the mixture between the paper cases. Bake for 12-15 minutes until risen and firm.

4, Leave in the tray for a few minutes. Lift each one onto a wire rack to cool. Make the buttercream frosting.

5. Beat the butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together in a bowl until smooth. Spread some over each cake, when it is cool.

Quite the Bakers

Last week's baking theme was a HUGE success! I posted pictures from Monday and Tuesday's adventures of making Elephant Ears and Cookies. On Thursday and Friday we made Maple Cupcakes and Turtle Bread. The Maple Cupcakes are interesting. They tasted like french toast! The children LOVED the bread turtles so much that they didn't want to eat them! Here are some pictures from cupcakes and bread making!

 Yes, we added sprinkles to our maple cupcakes! =)

 Yum!!

 Mixing while posing!

 Add the milk

 And knead the dough!

They loved this part!

They kept wanting to pet the turtle!

The Turtle Bread (it was cuter in person)

 They got to try banana bread as well (but we ran out of time for them to make it)!