Summertime at the girls' daycare is a lot of fun. Many themed activities, parties, fundraisers, etc., and a few of them are meant to be celebrated with families.

On June 29th, Abby's preschool class had a Hollywood party where the kids celebrated Lightning McQueen, the racecar from the movie 'Cars.' Parents/grandparents/friends were invited to enjoy the Derby Day party and watch a show put on by the kids.

The week ended with a school-wide field day on July 1st. All classes, including Kayleigh's toddler class, participated in outdoor activities such as spoon-egg races, potato sack races, ring tosses, frisbee tosses, beanbag tosses, and more.

I was really fortunate with my part-time work schedule to be able to attend both of the week's activities. It was such a treat to see the kids in such high spirits, the teachers so in sync with one another and coordinating all the kids' activities/events with so much enthusiasm and energy.

We truly feel blessed to have our kids in this daycare environment, where academics, social responsibility, and fun are cared about and treated as equally important.


While the teachers cleared the tables and prepared for lunch, the kids gave an encore performance of the two dances they did for Derby Day. Maybe because it was an impromptu suggestion to perform and, as a result, perhaps they felt less pressure, all the kids really got into the dances and did a better performance than they did for Derby Day.

Life Is A Highway - 2011 PS2 Field Day Performance

Car Wash - 2011 PS2 Field Day Performance

Derby Day was actually officially called the Hollywood Party. Most classes watched a movie and did a few art activities based on the movie. But Abby's preschool class took the theme to a whole new level.

The movie they watched was "Cars." So, Lightening McQueen and car races were what they built their activities off of. All week, parents signed up to bring in items for their Hollywood party - cookie decorating items, Cars themed napkins, cups, sandwich-making items, etc. The kids spent the week making racing jerseys, Lightening McQueen Derby Racecars, racing flags, signs, billboards, you name it!

At 8:45 AM on the day of the party, they began a Walk of Fame Cookie Decorating activity. At 9:45, they met outside to prepare for Derby Races. They gathered under a huge tent and the teachers led them all in singing the "Star Spangled Banner," which surprisingly all the kids knew! Then the kids divided up into teams, placed on their bike helmets, and prepared to race. The non-racers waved racing flags to cheer on their teammates.

In the end, everyone was a winner! Each kid received a gold medal - just like in the Olympics - and we gathered inside for a really cool cars-themed song and dance show put on by the kids.

Car Wash - 2011 PS2 Derby Day Original Performance

Life is a Highway - 2011 PS2 Derby Day Original Performance

After the dance show, the kids had a Build Your Own Sandwich lunch, followed by an art project, and finishing with story time and a nap!

The kids loved it, the parents were beside themselves proud of their kids (at least I was) and impressed by the teachers, and even the school owner, director, and other teachers sneaked a peek throughout the activities to see what an incredible job this class did with the Hollywood party theme.

Paul and I were really in a baking mode, so we also made treats to give away at the party. The intention was to create goody bags for each child, but after searching far and wide and getting frustrated with only finding cheap plastic toys, we decided to make cookies on a stick then decorate them. Paul was a huge help creating batch after batch of perfect chocolate chip cookies on popsicle sticks. Abby and I frosted and decorated them.

We were all really happy at how well the baked goodies turned out for the party.