Our Team

Jonathan and Danie Hanson

Owners

Jonathan – Marketing / Finance / Culture Manager

Danie – Hiring / Design Manager

Danie and I have been the owners of A Child’s Life for over ten years now. We are parents of two beautiful girls, Aubrey and London. They are fiery, free-loving girls and we realize how lucky we are to have a family filled with so much love.

We recognize that many families deal with complex situations. They want to be able to rely on that critical extra support to help provide a caring and loving environment where their children can thrive. We embarked on the journey that is A Child’s Life Learning Center to give these children the opportunity to grow up in a loving and joy-filled environment like our girls have been blessed to have. We love being part of a team that makes such a difference in our children and parents’ lives. It gives us so much joy to see the love, happiness, and care shared between our staff and our families as we help to empower and prepare these children for their next stages of life.

Mindy Drewer

 Director / Coach

Mindy is the director coach here at ACLLC. She has been working in Early Childhood since September 2004. Previously she worked at ACLLC for 10 years as a Teacher and then a director and then just returned back to ACLLC in May of 2022. She really enjoys being able to watch children grow and develop. Being able to support them in their developmental process is incredibly rewarding. Her favorite time is when the kids are focused on classroom activities and you can see them working through physical and relational obstacles. Mindy has brought back a great focus on individual learning and working with their unique social, emotional, physical, and sensory needs.

Kendra Lee

Team Director

Kendra has been a part of A Child’s Life for over three years now. She has helped and been a part of every program at our center. She loves seeing children learn and grow. She gets inspiration from the look on a child’s face when they finally figure out how to do something new for the first time. Kendra is not only an incredible leader and woman, she is also a great mom. She treats each child here as if they were her own. She shows strength and wisdom that is rarely seen and is a pillar for our preschool.

Larissa de Forrest

Program Supervisor

Larissa has been working in Early Childhood Education since 2016 and prior to that she was an Au Pair and Nanny. She has been with A Child’s Life Learning Center since October 2020 and also worked in the toddler building from 2017-2018. Working with children and being a part of the development and growth that happens is one of the reasons Larissa enjoys being in early learning. Being able to not only teach but to play and create and imagine with the children in the center. She loves the ability to impact this time of their lives and see how they grow and change. Her favorite part of our day is the morning gatherings and the craft and creative time. Even on the hardest of days, the ability to be with the kids is something she looks forward to. Something Larissa uniquely brings to ACLLC is that she lived in Germany for two years and immerses the language into their daily routine. When she is not at work Larissa is devoted to being the best mom she can be to her son and daughter.

Meg Reeve 

Kitchen / Social Media Manager

Meg has been working in Early Childhood Education since 2007 across a variety of ages and classrooms. She has worked at A Child’s Life Learning Center since September 2021. Working with children is all about the ability to watch them grow and develop, even though we may never see an outcome to the things we teach them. Meg’s favorite part of the day is when she brings food into the toddler rooms because toddlers are always excited about food. Meg enjoys that she gets to feed not only the kids here but also the teachers. A few fun things about Meg are that she’s from California and has lived in Bellingham since July 2015. She’s a writer and writes for a few websites and has had an active blog since 2014.

Alexander Sokol

Kitchen Manager

Alex has been with ACLLC since June 2024. He is the cook at our center making breakfast, lunch and snack for all of our classrooms. He is excited to cook for the kids at our center because he enjoys seeing how they see the world in the ways adults can’t and he likes hearing their perspective. His favorite part of the day is getting to cook lunch!

At home he enjoys baking.

We’re glad to have Alex here at ACLLC!

Mandy Ortiz

Toddler Lead Teacher

Lavender Room T3 (ages 18 -24 months)

I have been working at A Child’s Life for three years, but I have over a decade of experience working with young children. I love helping children and especially toddlers learn and grow. I enjoy the fun I get to have with the toddlers here during dance time, but my favorite times of the day are after diapering and naps because the toddlers always get extra cuddly and loving. It’s important to me to make sure every child feels loved and cared for. I want families to know that I will do the very best I can for your children.

Maegan Dykstra

Toddler Assistant Teacher

Lavender Room T3 (ages 18 -24 months)

Maegan has been working at ACLLC since June of 2022. She enjoys working with children because they bring so many fun and different personalities. She loves being able to watch them grow and be able to learn new things. She truly enjoys all parts of the day and being a part of the routine of all the classrooms. Maegan knows that many of our one-year-old toddlers are being given in her care and up to that point have never been away from their parents. Not only does she understand this because she is a mom of littles too, but she knows what is needed for this to be a smooth transition for toddlers and parents. A fun thing to know about her is that she has been a state archery champion and has competed at nationals and worlds.

We are grateful for Maegan and the start these kids get at ACLLC in her classroom.

Tayler Zysset

Toddler Lead Teacher

Sage Green Room T2 (Ages 12-18 months)

Tayler is a support teacher who started at ACLLC in April of 2023. Tayler loves getting to be a part of this important stage of life for the kids in our center. She enjoys getting to see how they see the world and watching their imagination come out in how they play. Tayler’s favorite part of the day is just getting to watch how all the different kids in the classrooms interact with each other. When she’s not at work, she loves going on walks and bike rides! She enjoys hands-on projects and being creative and loves spending time with her own kids and being a mom.

Hailee Raymundo

Toddler Lead Teacher

Pink Room T1 (ages 2-2.5 years)

Hailee has been at ACLLC since November 2023 and she is one of our toddler teachers. Hailee has been working with kids since she was 16 and starting as a camp counselor and since then has worked with many different ages of kids. She loves being able to watch kids blossom; from learning how to walk to developing their own personalities. She is also grateful for the laughter they bring into her life. Her favorite time of day is singing songs with the kiddos!

In her spare time, she enjoys playing guitar and collecting all things pink and pretty.

Nichole Andreason

Toddler Teacher

Pink Room T1 (ages 2-2.5 years)

Alyssa Wyldoaks

Preschool Lead Teacher

Green Room #1

Alyssa started at ACLLC in March of 2023. She is one of our lead teachers for our preschool program. She has worked with all ages of children in her life. She loves being able to make connections and play whatever games they enjoy coming up with. Her favorite part of our day is mealtime. She enjoys the chance to sit down and connect with the kids and hear about their day. Alyssa loves arts and crafts and creating things that are new and exciting. She is also married and is the mom to two little boys.

Herma Prophete

Kindergarten Prep Lead Teacher

Blue Room #2

Herma has worked at A Child’s Life Learning Center since September of 2018, but she has worked in education for over 16 years and has a degree in Early Childhood Education. She loves working with children because she loves being able to use her skills to help them learn and grow. Circle Time is her favorite part of the day because the children are open about what they like and what they’re learning.  She also loves dancing with them and seeing their big smiles light up their faces as they’re having fun.

Aly Jager

Preschool Lead Teacher

Yellow Room #3

Aly has worked at A Child’s Life Learning Center and in early learning since March of 2016. She loves the ability every day to watch the little ones in her classroom discover things for the first time like it’s magic. It helps to keep her positive and grateful for the incredible world we get to live in. Every morning when she walks in the door she feels a bit like a celebrity when all the kids are excited to see her she is to see them and it gets her ready to start the day. Outside of work she enjoys art and creativity as an outlet for stress and dealing with emotions and that is also something she utilizes in her classroom. Not sure why, but her favorite number is 37; she has 12 siblings, and growing up she showed dairy cows in 4H.

Lacey Sky Binggeli

Preschool Lead Teacher

Orange room #4

Lacey is one of our support teachers here at ACLLC. Lacey enjoys all the different personalities she’s met here at the center. She loves being able to engage with the kid’s imagination and being able to just play with them! Her favorite part of the day with our kids here is outside time. She also loves cleaning and making the center look beautiful. Lacey has a son named Bentley; they love painting rocks and camping together.

We’re grateful for Lacey here at ACLLC!

Evelyn Capps

Preschool Teacher

Orange Room #4

Evelyn has been with us at ACLLC since January of 2023. She is one of our support teachers. Evelyn comes to us all the way from Massachusetts. She is a traveler and has lived in both Guatemala and Ethiopia. She enjoys working with our kids at ACLLC because of their love for life and watching how they enjoy and investigate the people and the things around them! Her favorite parts of our day here are getting to do art with the kids in the classrooms and seeing how creative and silly they can be with what they create. She enjoys reading books in the library area and seeing how kids start to develop and grow in their learning! In her spare time, she loves to bike, hike, swim, read, organize, and spend time with the people she loves.

Carol Hofbauer

Kindergarten Prep Lead Teacher

Gold Room #5

I have been a teacher at A Child’s Life for over three years and I am currently continuing my education. I love seeing the children progress and grow throughout our programs. My favorite times of the day are table time and art time. I like being the one my friends can rely on for support through tough times by giving them words of love and encouragement.

Miranda VanZanten

Teacher Support

Miranda has been working in Early Childhood Education and at A Child’s Life Learning Center since May 2016. She likes working with children because she is happy to come to work and be with the kids in their class. Her favorite part of our day is coming in at the beginning of her day and seeing all the kids and their smiles. Miranda’s incredibly kind and sweet nature allows all of the children to feel safe and loved.

Kate Turner

Teacher Support

We are so excited to have Kate back at ACLLC. Kate worked with us here in many different roles from 2009-2018 and came back on staff in the summer of 2022 to be a support teacher and an amazing wealth of knowledge for our team. She is usually who you can find in the big room most times of the day, stepping into different classrooms to help. Kate has worked in early learning for 13 years, and her favorite parts about working with kids are their sense of humor and getting to experience their ability to find joy in things that we, as adults, might see as mundane. Her favorite parts of our day here are any moments she gets to see the light bulb click in a child’s head when they figure out something new and watch what they create from their own imagination. A fun thing to know about Kate is that she was born and raised in England, and she is the mom of two boys.

Gabby Meyers

Teacher Support

Gabby is one of our preschool program teachers here at ACLLC. She started with us in January of 2023. Gabby is excited to join our team and work with our kids here at A Child’s Life because every day working with them is a different adventure. Her favorite part of the day here is the beginning when she first gets here. She loves being able to greet and say hi to all the kids and staff and start her day! When she is not at ACLLC she loves to scrapbook and paint, paddleboard, and spend time with her cat meatloaf.

Karen Slininger

Teacher Support

Karen has been with us at ACLLC since January 2024. She is a support teacher that works in all of our classrooms. Karen loves being able to read with the kids and enjoys listening to them tell their own stories! Her favorite part of the day is being outside and playing with everyone. Outside of work she enjoys reading, writing, playing with her cat, and spending time with her friends.

Delaney Livingston

Teacher Support

Delaney is one of our support teachers at ACLLC. Delaney has really enjoyed the ability to day by day see how kids can change and develop. She loves seeing how each day, there is something new that they have learned or realized. Her favorite part of the day here is snack time because she gets to chat with the kids, play music, and dance! A fun fact about Delaney is that she grew up in Beirut, Lebanon with her parents, who were international teachers.

We are excited for all Delaney brings to ACLLC.

Samantha Neary

Teacher Support

Samantha has been working at ACLLC since October of 2023. She is one of our support teachers. She enjoys working with children because they are so fun, loving, and free. Samantha thinks that you can learn something from children each day if you just pay attention. She likes getting to be with the kids outside and seeing what they find and create. Fall and winter are her favorite times to be outside and outside of work she loves getting to spend time with her family and explore new places.

Morgan Walker

Teacher Support

Morgan is one of our support teachers here at ACLLC. Morgan has worked in childcare for over 8 years, including nannying and working as a camp counselor. She also volunteers in an elementary school circus sports program! Morgan enjoys watching the creativity in the kids blossom and appreciates their ability to learn and embrace new concepts and people. She’s a morning person who loves being able to greet our kids every day and help them start their day on the right foot.