Special guest: ambulance drivers

We had a special visit from some of our local ambulance drivers this week! The kids were so excited to get inside the back of the ambulance and hear the loud sirens! We are so appreciative to ALL first responders that help save lives in our community!

The kids patiently waited their turns to walk through the ambulance! They were all amazed by everything inside. They even got to sit on the stretchers to get the full experience!

The drivers took some time to answer many questions from the kids. Some of the questions were hilarious. My favorite was probably from one of our 4 year olds- "Do ya'll get to ride in a rocket ship to go fast"?  LOL :)

We want to give a huge THANK YOU to our local first responders!! We appreciate all you do for this community!!! :)

Special guest: Doug the Christian magician

Last week we had a visit from Doug, The Christian Magician. The kids LOVED having him here. He had their attention the entire time, and the teachers as well. He even made a real BUNNY appear!

Mr. Doug included the children to assist in some of his magic tricks! They were so eager and excited to be a part of it! We had a MAGICAL time :)

The kids were amazed by all of the money he found in their ears! He also made many things disappear, which had the whole room surprised- our teachers included! What an exciting time we had!!

The children's favorite part was definitely when Mr. Doug turned a fabric bunny into a LIVE bunny that we all got to pet and visit with! The kids faces lit up like a Christmas tree when he pulled the bunny out of the box. It was the perfect way to end his visit! Thank you SO much Mr. Doug. We can't wait for you to come see us again :)

Another special event we had here at Holly Tree last week was the memorial celebration for Ms. Vela's grandson, Kenneth Jones. Ms. Vela has been a teacher here for 15 years and has put her heart and soul into loving and teaching the kids and families here. We were honored to host a night dedicated to her and the celebration of her grandson. 

 

Thank you to Branches for helping put together all the details of this special night! We had a balloon release in remembrance of Kenneth. It was a time dedicated to prayer as we gathered around Vela with love and support.

We have dedicated a special bench out front with Kenneth's name on it. This is something special we could do for Ms. Vela that will be a daily reminder for her how much she is loved and honored. We appreciate her and the dedication she has had to Holly Tree for the past 15 years. 

WE LOVE YOU MS. VELA!!

Employee of the Month

We appreciate and value ALL of our staff here at Holly Tree, but each month we want to recognize one employee that we see goes that extra mile.

This month we have chosen Ms. Bria as our employee of the month. Ms. Bria works hard day in and day out to make sure her class is completing all lesson plan activities and is in compliance at all times. She is a great example of what we seek in all of our staff members. Thank you, Ms. Bria for all of your hard work; it definitely shows. We appreciate all you do to make Holly Tree a great place.  

Toddler 2 LOVES Ms. Bria. She makes sure to greet every child and parent with a smile on her face. 

Every child is treated equally and with the upmost quality care with Ms. Bria. She encourages silly, teaches important developmental skills, and most importantly shows constant love to every child. 

We appreciate all you do Ms. Bria and are blessed to have you as a part of the Holly Tree family. Thank you for your continuous hard work and dedication to what you do. Creating childhood is why we are here, and Ms. Bria goes above and beyond to help make that happen.

Special Guests at Holly Tree

We have had the privilege this summer of many special guests visiting us at Holly Tree. One of our favorite guests was our sweet visit from Homestyle Bakery. They are the BEST bakery in town! Check out their website for more of their amazing creations and to support one of our favorite family owned business's. http://www.homestylebakery.com/

 Ms. Sarah came and helped our kids decorate cupcakes with sprinkles and icing! YUM!

We had so much fun acting as little bakers and getting to taste our own creations! Ms. Sarah was an excellent teacher.

Some of our sweet friends enjoying some sweet treats :)
We are so grateful to Homestyle Bakery for taking the time to come and let us experience some yummy cupcakes and develop some self help skills along the way.






Another special guest that we greatly enjoyed was Mr. Donnie Kahn, a police pilot! He showed us all of his awesome equipment and his cool uniform. We learned so much about what pilots do on a day to day basis and the kids were amazed! Check out the following website to learn more about police helicopter pilots and see some informative links and videos. http://www.policehelicopterpilot.com/

 
                         We even got to check out his helmet that he wears while flying.

Thank you Mr. Donnie for coming to visit us and teach us some cool things about police helicopters. We had a great time!!