Piper is cleaning my windows!  Somehow the kids can get fingerprints that high, but it took both girls to reach that high.

 

(Dwayne pointed out that Piper looks chunky here.  She’s wearing a hoodie, a sweater, and then a T-shirt. She’s also just learned to braid her own hair!)

The dismount.

I had to pick her up with my finger tips and carry her to the shower. 

This kid better grow up tall, because she really wants to see things from a higher angle.  ALL the time.

 

Wesley got extra Grandma time and worked on a bunch of puzzles. Thanks, Darlene!

We had a lovely picnic, and the evidence is the blanket up in the tree. 

Silly kids….

 

I worked on cleaning up the street and Wesley did his share.  I LOVE that particular smile.

 

Oh, life looks so sweet from this angle…

…in a very Dwayne way.

We spent  the last day of mid-winter break at the cabin and brought cousin Parker with us. 

This is my favorite shot.

 

It was just me with the four kids, so I wasn’t too surprised to wake up with all five us in my bed.

 

We got lots of play time and I wrote a fantastic post about the deer and snow and park, but lost it and somehow couldn’t recover it. 

The (new) end.

I had promised Kyla for a long time we would make it back to the PSC as soon as we had a free day.  She had earned tons of quarters from chores and had been saving to buy some minerals she saw at the museum store.  Kyla had an appointment this morning, so we were able to go from there.  It was after noon, so we stopped by Trader Joe’s to buy lunch for us all and ran into a good friend, who had recently taken two kids extra into her home, just older than her first two kids. The other kids were visiting family for a few days, so Heidi was down to just two.  I had been wanting to do something for Heidi since she became a foster parent, so I begged her to let me take her kids to the PSC for the afternoon.  Seriously, five kids is not much harder than three, and most kids are easier to take places than my own progeny. 

Our goal was to see Journey to the South Pacific at the IMAX.  It was not as thrilling as the Mammals of the Ice Age, but still amazing.

 

They talked me into giving them $2 for the tornado machine.  Since all 5 fit in, it was a good deal.  All kids made it out again.

 

Fortunately, at the end of the day, I made it out, too.  Six exhausted people trudged back to the car.  I gave them lots of extra time to listen to The Frog Princess in the car as I wandered all over Seattle trying to get from the Space Needle to the freeway.  I am a perfect idiot in Seattle traffic…and that’s with a GPS!

In the four months since getting our membership, I’ve used up all our IMAX tickets.  My kids, who refuse to let us take them to see Frozen in a regular theater, will always eagerly watch a IMAX movie.  I think it’s because they all can handle violent nature shows better than fictional stories with happy endings.  Odd, but useful, since I prefer the nonfiction as well.

A rare winter day at the beach—dry, not horribly cold, with a low tide. 

All my nincompoops, ahem, children, took off their boots and socks as soon as we got off the rocks and explored their beach barefoot. 

Wesley wore his cape under his winter coat, giving him a duck butt look.

 

Piper loves to get into the clay and give herself an elephant makeover.

 

Kyla’s friend has the sense to keep her shoes on the whole time.  I love those red boots!

 

Kyla really needs nothing more than a stick to entertain herself for hours.  This time, she has a ball of clay to double the excitement.  I’m not sure what it says about her, but I like it!

 

We love our beach…and happy to be going back for hot baths.