Wesley Loves Home School (if by "home school", you mean making things)

Before he could reliable build anything, he was a champion destroyer (Cousin Kara *might* fondly remember building him sand castle upon sand castle for him to kick over).  But dexterity comes eventually, and he likes to end a math lesson with manipulatives by building something with all the blocks.

Then he got it in his head to bake, and this is his carmel chocolate torte.

This is what he was super-excited about--taking his Thor hammer and retrofitting it with nerf pistols on each side.  He drew designs, tried and failed, and eventually came up with a solution to produce the Ultimate Wesley Weapon.  His enthusiasm knew no bounds as his sense of self grew.  Good Times, as witnessed by Mama.

Another Not Atypical Day

This is kinda Dwayne's fault for watching stupid cat videos with Piper.....Every. Single. Day.  One day, there was a cat that would open it's horrible mouth wide and gnaw owner's shoulder.  

And just like that, Piper was inspired.  

It's been going on for months, and Dwayne still oddly still seems more amused than annoyed.  He's why we have pets and I'm why we have children. I guess we both got what we...wanted?

This is Kyla NOT biting anyone's shoulders.  Lovely child.

Meanwhile, Wes strategically set up the sprinkler, got out his sword and fought back the water bursts coming in through the trampoline, quite heroically, I'm sure.

Piper Crafts Again: Unicorn

Piper has really taken off in her knitting and creating designs.  She has made a dragon for Wes, Easter bunnies for cousins, socks (-ish) for Kyla, and heaps of other little projects.  The latest was making a unicorn for her best friend.  

The pictures don't do it justice, but it's super soft with adorable eyes and all the important unicorn parts.  I love it!

Love in Action

I hate shopping for a new phone.  I don't know what I'm looking for, I don't know what's a good deal, or what plan I have--there's nothing about the process that excites me.  But when my current phone started lapsing too much, Dwayne and Kyla went phone hunting for me and brought me back a fresh kill.  Thanks, Loves!

Wes in his natural habitat:  pajamas, Minecraft Sword in one hand, Thor's hammer in the other, dancing to Minecraft parody music on his hoverboard.  

Need to see it to believe it?  Here's the youtube video.

May Weekend at the Cabin--Hexed*!

[*I need to point out my, ahem, clever wordplay--while "hexed" usually implies cursed, "hexa" means six, and I had 3 plus 3 kids at the cabin this weekend...usually plus one!]

When Abby joins us at the cabin, Adeline and Sam, shown here, usually tag along.  The girls have a cute way of using blankets and scarves to engineer a hammock in the back of the van for the dolls to travel in.  When they come down in the morning, the babies are dressed and ready for breakfast.

A highlight of the weekend was taking the kids down to "our" beach.  The tide was really low, making it the perfect mucky, sandy, crabby place to treasure hunt.  

The Magificent Seven, if "magnificent" meant "muddy", spread out to explore.  I'm sure Keith and Julie can guess who was ready to go back first....

Out of things to do--time to dare each other to go swimming. Make the like a sea lion and dive in!

Of course, that level of activity is exhausting to maintain. Time to watch Netflix AND play Minecraft.  If only multitasking went beyond screens....Wesley. 

It's really past time to install an outdoor shower. 

But you know what I say--fun can be measured by the height of the bathtub ring-o-grime!  This weekend scored quite high.

Did we make s'mores...and turn it into a Goldenest Marshmallow contest?  Ha!  Of course we did, and with another half dozen neighbors joining us.  Piper and Abby loved "babysitting" the 4-year-old twins next door.  

Kyla may have taken home Golden S'more Prize.

Neither the purchasing or packing of matching PJs was coordinated, but these two are clearly BFFs for a reason.

I spent the weekend, in addition to kid wrangling, finally setting up automatic watering of my wonderful garden, adding swings, and putting up the lights.  It's practically perfect! More pictures to come.  

Weekend in Oregon

We finally adventured our way across state lines to visit Taryn and Amber...and their parents, old what's-their-names.

Brian took us to their local Farmer's Market--Mama love!  I love the community it brings together.  It ended with a balloon rabbit and a push on the swings for Amber.

Piper and Amber showed how orange kinetic sand can truly go all over the place.

 That's Wes way down in the stream in the nature preserve we got to adventure in Saturday afternoon.

This is what Auntie Denise likes to do--give my nieces and nephews a chance to explore and get really dirty and wet.  "Damp" is kinda my speciality...

...and successfully passed down to my own children. 

 

The cousins quite enjoyed each other all weekend!

Further Evidence I can't take Selfies

I usually place blame for life's little failures on Wes (with some justification, let me hasten to add), but bad selfies are all on me.  So I have to publish two pix to get both Wes and Aunt Janet together!

Glass Art--School Artist in Residence

Before I switched Wes to homeschool, he was able to do a cool art project in class.  The entire elementary school, in teams of about 4 kids each, created these garden decorations.  The school is now [cheerfully] littered with them!