Piper and I love her hair.  She comes up with extravagant hairstyles and either does them herself, or explains to me what to do. 

She calls this one “cutie” (did herself).  I call it cutie, too!

 

This one is “curly cutie” and I’ve done this one for her three days in a row!

 

I like how she accessorizes!

I was working alone with Kyla when my other cubs found me vulnerable to attack.  Or snuggling.  Either way, I get a back ache!

A day off?  Grab some extra kids and go to the zoo all day!

Piper brought a friend,

 

…as did Kyla.

 

Wesley is simultaneously friend and baby to all the girls.

 

As usual, we spent more time playing than seeing animals.  They were all a bit tired after 5 hours!

 

 

Classic “I’m not getting my way and I’m not pleased with any of you” Piper.

 

Classic “This is how I do it” Wesley.

No bears, but I caught this wildlife on the camera!

I’m a bit proud of “doing” all of Wesley’s birthday all in one day, and actually on his birthday.  We had the family over for hamburgers and cake after a relaxing afternoon playing with his “his” Parker after the snowball party.

Wesley, we drive each other crazy and I love you desperately.  You are a force of nature and you really are super-duper.

 

We all love this guy, even though he really can’t be found in his own bed at 2am.

Wesley is officially 4 years old and so far, it’s going pretty well.  It’s still a struggle to convince him to at least wear underwear, and to sleep all night in his own bed, but tantrums are way down.

To celebrate, he had four friends over for this 4th.  We had an indoor snowball fight the grown-ups pretended to have fun pelting each other.  It was really just for the kids. Yep.

 

Everyone knows that dragons and superheroes are extra good at snowball fights.

 

And never turn your back on a fairy princess! 

 

Uh, oh.  How did those two conquer the fortress?

 

Piper is driving the get-away car…with a special passenger!

 

Looks like we had a change of plans..and drivers!

 

Who are those masked mauraders? They look really cool. 

 

Remember, this is strictly for the kids.

 

For lunch, we spiked the hotdogs. 

 

My kids can’t eat an apple without smearing their faces, so cupcakes present extra delight.

 

 

 

And, clearly, Cecily didn’t read my blogpost about choosing the table over my children.  Luckily, she’s cute enough to do this with impunity.  Once.

 

Well, Happy Birthday, Son!  It’s been a perfect party.

Less than 48 hours until Sherlock!  I welcomed back Downton a few weeks ago, but I would choose Sherlock any day.

For fellow fans—did you see the mini-episode setting up Season 3?  It’s only 7 minutes long, and worth watching twice.

 

Many happy returns!

Wesley, as the youngest, does get dragged around on behind the Mama Engine sometimes.  Today, we were at school early to do a photographic project with the kindergartners, before volunteering in the library, then off to Kyla’s classroom to read during lunch before picking Piper up at the end of her half day. 

He may have gotten a little bored standing around in the cold this morning as I worked on getting good pictures of other students.  He may have actually wandered so far off (yes, without me noticing) that someone brought him back saying he was all the way in the parking lot, which for us, is a good chunk towards home.  Luckily, he curled up into himself and just looked photogenic the rest of the shoot.  And since I lost my camera weeks ago, it was nice to get a non-fuzzy shot of him.

This what we got of Piper today:

I’ll show you the whole project when it’s done!

I will have to tease my in-laws for a moment, because after a week’s visit, they left this morning. And the sun shone and the skies were blue….for the first time in over a week.  My poor MIL, who has spent most of her life in southern California and Brasil, was a tiny bit cold the whole time.  That is, she was only a tiny bit cold while wearing three regular layers and a bathrobe over those layers.  Perhaps I do need to turn my heat up when we have guests…

But a warmish, sunny afternoon in mid-January!?!  You bet the kids and I were outside.  I dug out half of the worm bin and Kyla loaded up her garden with worm castings.  Piper took out tupperware, cut holes with a sharp knife in the lid, sliced carrots (“with a sharp knife, Mama, and I used a cutting board!”  “That’s nice, honey, now I don’t have to choose between you or my table.”) and made a new cozy home for the chosen worms outside our front door.  Yes, our worm bin is also right outside our front door, but Piper’s worms are special worms.  She sorted through many worms to find the smallest and cutest, and then ran a petting farm for her siblings with lots of rules about putting tired worms down and gently picking up a new worm.  Wesley fell in line with Piper and marveled over cute worms before going inside, cutting up carrots for the worms without washing his hands or using a cutting board.   Gross, yes, and it makes the kitchen table’s argument stronger for being the one I keep.  Sorry, Wes.

Further farm news: Immediately after confirming an, ahem, altering appointment for both kittens this morning, odd sounds came from down the hallway.   I fear Rosie has been violated.  They are not even 5 months old, so I hoped getting them taken care of before the end of the month would be fine.  I just became a really strong advocate for pro-choice, because you know what I choose?  Nope, it’s not more kittens.  And, yes, Rosie and Timmy are siblings.

A few weeks ago, Kyla asked enough questions that she now knows quite a bit about sex and mating, so she was quite interested in seeing a live demonstration today.  However, I had to tell her that the kittens needed a little time apart from each other instead.  Yeah, like quiet time.

I try to call our place an estate, but that might be just an uppity way to say I’m raising my kids in a barn. 

We had a dinner guest last Sunday, so Piper and Wes gave him their royal treatment.

Blinding

 

Strangling

 

Tickling?

 

And who gets all this special attention?  Papa Jim, of course!

 

Jim knows to come over on Sunday evenings because that’s when Dwayne’s in charge of dinner.  We’d go broke if he cooked every night, but wow!  My man can cook!

 

And Wesley must be getting less critical of who he gropes.  He alternated putting his hand then his head under Dwayne’s shirt.  Yep, Babe, I feel your pain.  Do you feel mine?

 

And poor Timmy got to go for a car ride courtesy of Piper Taxi.  Whether he wanted to or not, it appears. 

i