About Us
HI! My name is Noella. I'd like to thank you for visiting my website and getting to know a little bit about me and my private dayhome.
I'm a mom of 4 wonderful kids, I have 3 girls and my eldest is a boy(isn't he lucky?) From the time I was expecting our 2nd child, my husband and I held firm that I would be the stay at home mom. We opened the dayhome in 1996 and it worked out so wonderfully, we haven't stopped since. I did take a period of rest for maternity leave. I'm a very much a family person, my life revolves around my husband and kids. I enjoy reading, writing, crafting, stamping, sewing and scrapbooking.
This has been a wonderful experience, and while it's hard work, and definitely not a good fit for every family, it has certainly worked for mine. I have my childcare first aid, and have taken various courses for childcare and dealing with people. I look at my dayhome as a business, a career, not "easy money" as running a dayhome is anything but easy. I put in 10 to 11 hour days 5 days a week. There are no coffee breaks, no lunch breaks, very little contact with other grown ups, all the reasons so many people have jobs...haha. But it works for us, I enjoy the comedy little people bring to my life. I love the hugs and snuggles that they give, just because. There are bad days, to be sure, but there are far more good days that make it all worthwhile.
About my family My kids are growing in to well-rounded, caring and friendly individuals. They quickly bond with the little ones in the dayhome, and are a great source of entertainment and imagination for the little ones.
After school time is always looked forward to when the "big kids" come home to get them involved in whimsical games of imagination that only another child can provide. It's never the same when I do it(I guess it's not the 'right' way..haha).
We are a very active family. We have our kids active in team sports, as we feel this is important for not only their physical well-being, but mental, being part of a team, is a great skill to learn, either as a team leader, or a team contibutor.
My son, Julian, is now in high school(where has the time gone! Moms and Dads, fair warning time flies so very fast, relish every moment) is involved in hockey since he was six and is into his 3rd year of Air Cadets. He loves both. He earns his allowance at home by helping with clean up after school, he doesn't get to see the dayhome kids all that much as he gets home from school later than the other kids, but he's great with them in the summer, he plays with them outside, helping me with swing rides, climbing the slide, chasing them playin tag. He has his red cross babysitting, so he's a great extra set of hands on field trips through the summer. He's a great teenager.
My oldest daughter, Maggie, is my little mother. From the time she was tiny, she has always ALWAYS looked out for her siblings. Teachers absolutely love her as she is kind and gentle with her friends, she's one of the first choices for the buddy programs with the kindergarten kids and grade one kids. She reads and helps them with their work. She has a very quiet confidence to her. She is my imaginative play specialist. She gets the kids so involved in games that involve nothing more than her spinning a tale of adventure for the little minds to act on. They have adventures on horseback, on a boat, in space, all within dayhome. They become pirates, ballerinas, cowboys/girls in just moments as she captivates her audience and coaxes them to imagine and play with her. Maggie is now well settled into Junior High. Involved with the school band, learning the trombone is a challenge(for mom)..lol
Maggie is a ringette goalie. She started playing in 3rd grade, she wanted to be a goalie even then. But we insisted she learn the game. Her coaches have been very impressed with her, she's coachable, and while her skill that first year wasn't strong, her knowledge and understanding was. Her next year she started playing goalie and shocked everyone. She has a natural instinct for being in net, and she loves it.
My 3rd child, Erynn, is our comedian. From birth we've called her chuckles, as she was the most serious baby we'd seen, very much mommy's little girl. Little did we know that she'd develop a very keen sense of humor and a very quick(and some times dry) wit. She reads voraciously, and loves to read outloud to the little kids in care. She's the story teller here. She can also make up a story and share it. She has done this since she was a preschooler. Erynn is a very active girl, she also plays ringette. She's a most beautiful skater, and when motivated, can do just about anything with that ring. And before we know it she'll be heading off to Junior High too!
Our baby, Kristen, is now settling into grade one....where did the time go, I'm really starting to feel OLD! She's our little princess. She's all girl. She loves dancing, and ponies, and unicorns, and she'll tell you that everytime she meets you. She's a little ray of sunshine. She is full of giggles and fun. She's starting her 4th year of dancing and is showing much promise. She has also started ringette. This is too cute to watch all these little girls developing their skating skills with braoad, sometimes toothless grins. It's a riot.
My husband, Mark, works Monday to Friday, he's gone before anyone arrives in the morning. He gets home around 4pm and has been known to stretch out on the couch and have kids pile on him as he reads a story. It's not unusual for him to have some one snuggled up to him on the couch as they wait for mommy and daddy to pick them up. He's definitely a great daddy! He's very involved with our kids sports teams, does all the out of town tournaments with them. He's just a big sweetheart. The dayhome kids have always enjoyed time with him, when he's home. He also plays hockey and ball hockey.
Last but not least is ME! I am also involved in sports. I'm team manager for Maggie's team this year, and have been manager for Erynn's team the previous 2 years. I do some volunteer work with the school, usually completed evenings, weekends and email as my daytime schedule is pretty packed with all my little munchkins. I am also in karate, and have started running and training for my first 5km race that will be on January 1, 2010. What a great way to start the year. I'm more of a solo sports person, less so with teams, but who knows, maybe one year I'll join the Ringette Shinny....(when I learn to skate..haha)
We also have a couple other family members that do need to be mentioned, of the 4 legged variety. They are very sweet little pooches. We have had them since they were little puppies, and they love children.
Bella is a schnoodle, she is a high energy pooch, and too smart for her own good kinda dog. She is very affectionate, but somewhat timid of adults. Her little "sister" is a schnau-tzu, who is Miss Mellow after the initial welcome to the house. She is very.... un-vocal, rarely barks unless she is outside, then she "chats" with the neighbors dog behind us. She loves all people and very affectionate.
I am very cautious with children and dogs, and they are kept separate, and I only have them out for supervised play. When we aren't having "puppy-time" with the kids, they are outside, kenneled or sectioned off away from the kids. They have a dog run outside so we can all enjoy the outside with no concerns for our shoes....
As a family, we're involved in all the sporting events and once warm weather hits we love the outdoors. We take advantage of warm weather for lots of outdoor fun. Too bad winter was soooo long.
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