Kyla is a sensitive, empathetic child.  Squared.  In a household that doesn’t really value feelings.

Today, as part of her review of multiplication facts (and let the record state that she loathes her 4s), we looked at how:

even * even = even

even * odd = even

odd * odd = odd

One can do the math and see that 75% of products are even numbers.  Kyla, seriously, choked up with tears threatening to spill, her voice quivering, “But that’s not fair!  There should be an equal number of odds and evens.”  (And there is, if one looks at all numbers, but not multiplication products.) “Why don’t odd numbers get to have the same as evens?  I feel bad for the odd numbers.”

Again, seriously?!?!

I’m going to try to toughen her up a bit by showing her there are more red apples than yellow ones, more orange carrots than yellow, and more gray hair than not…in Dwayne’s goatee. 

I have to brag about the best trick of the day.  I did put up Piper’s sign across our bedroom door and put them to bed with many, many warnings about letting Mama sleep in the morning.  And about 10am, I crawled out of bed to quiet house, and immediately told to go back to bed by Piper.  She was making me and Dwayne breakfast in bed.

It was almost 11 o’clock before we got it, but I was so impressed!  Look at the perfection of this omelet—all my favorites, with fresh tomatoes, spinach, cheese, and of course, fresh-from-the-chicken Harvey eggs!

The rest of the day didn’t pass quite as pleasantly, but here are my little monsters dressed to scare!

Kyla is a fairy queen.

Piper as Hermione.

And Wesley began as a Wizard Puppy and ended with this:

 

“LEVE ME OLOne”

Piper-to-English Translation:  “Leave Me Alone”

There’s two days a year that I have a love-hate relationship with: Valentines and Halloween.  This year, though, I made a very deliberate decision to not be a room parent so I’m not in charge of the classroom parties for either of those.  Good thing, too.

As I walked out of the office towards Wesley’s classroom, dressed as a duck with my vomiting pumpkin trick in my bag, Wesley was walking toward the office with another mom.  He had just thrown up all over the foyer, in front of three classrooms of parents waiting for their child’s parties.  I gave him to the nurse to clean up, while I acknowledged the irony, gave the pumpkin over the Kindergarten parents, gathered all his stuff, and took him home, where he took a bath and felt perfectly fine the rest of the day.  Kyla walked off in a huff at home because I was spending more time with the sick child at first than I was with her.  (You know, the home-schooled child that gets more time with me than the other two combined?) 

I was also signed up to help at Piper’s class party, and Kyla was coming with me because she wanted to have a Halloween party, too, but only if I could get Grandma to watch Wesley.  There may have been 5 frantic phone calls and a couple of emails before she called back and said she could come over. 

Piper had a great party, Kyla hung out with some 3 graders and said she had a terrible time and blamed me, somehow.  With Wesley getting asthma attacks at approximately 1am for about half the week, I was a little tired by the end of Friday.  I quickly succumbed to temptation and ordered pizza from Garlic Jim’s.  After Piper’s hour long tantrum about her math homework, I was able to go pick up the pizza. 

Somehow, one of the cats got in the car and was taking a long nap when he figured out the car was moving.  It was too late to go back, so I had a very upset cat, uncaged, in the car for the entire round trip, the meows only broken by a call from the children all blaming each other for outrageous insults and physical violence while proactively claiming complete innocence.  I still haven’t sorted it all out, but I might have mentioned that I hadn’t bought Garlic Jim’s pizza since August, and if they ever want to have GJ’s again, it would be wise for them not to kill each other while I am getting it for them. 

And Piper had holed herself up in her room, using the sign as a paper barricade.  I think I’m going to put it over my bedroom door tonight before going to bed.

 

But Dwayne earned 3 marbles tonight for coming home before 6:30, something that happens about a handful of times a year.  He knocked on the door at 6:15, and actually made me jump.  Since the kids earn 3 marbles in the morning if they do all their morning chores and are completely ready for school 5 minutes early, Dwayne decided he should earn the same in the evening.  If he keeps this on-time-or-early thing going, he might get more than marbles….

And it doesn’t fall down.  He makes it a few hours before he has to sleep on a flat surface—but I’m really impressed!  Beats the forts he builds everywhere else!

Our library does an evening story time followed by craft time.  The kids made monster feet.  Wesley is so monstrous, apparently, he doesn’t need to wear his. Regardless, I was charmed.

We had done a pumpkin patch earlier this month, but it was too early to buy a pumpkin.  And, I found out from my progeny, it is sacrilegious to buy pumpkins at a grocery store.  So we headed out to our favorite farm to spend the afternoon and some money…with some of our favorite friends, Aubrey and Jen.

Cider donuts, a jumping blob, baby animals, corn kernel playrooms, gunny sack slides, and a really cool corn maze in a respectable replica of Washington State—it was a busy afternoon!

Do you love the winter hats and bare feet?

The corn maze had all sorts of secret treasures disguised as state geography trivia.  This is my favorite.

 

Wesley, Westin, and Piper heard me say “leaf pile” and ran outside to keep Dwayne from blowing off all the leaves before getting some good play time in.

 

Pure joy!

Before Dwayne and the Shultz family came to join us on the island, the kids and I had a new adventure!

We discovered the Pacific Rim Center in Coupeville and joined an Audubon society walk.  [Fun fact: South Whidbey Island gets about 36 inches of rain annually, but Coupeville, right smack in the middle of Whidbey, gets only 18-20!]  It was 3 hours of slightly trying to be interested in native prairie grasses and birds I couldn’t see, but we found some new trails to explore further on another day.

Kyla walked right along with the guide and asked, in a conservative estimation, about a thousand questions.

The hallowed native prairie grasses.  It’s dull yet important work. 

The forest trails were more interesting—we had a lot more fun once we left the guided tour.  It can take avid bird-watchers several hours to walk a mile or two, I’ve learned.  I don’t do that pace, even with kids.

I love, love, love the Bayview Farmer’s Market (May-October, Saturdays 10-2).  We met Daddy and friends there for Filipino and African food and lots of shopping. 

Piper was most excited about the grasshoppers she was catching.

Wesley just strikes a pose.

But Evelyn found poppies in October!

And then, because Jeremy hasn’t been to the cabin before, we had to try to kill him by taking him down to the beach—at high tide in the fog.  You’re welcome, J!

They were on their way to Hawaii in their boat last time I checked. 

Cool shot, huh? 

Great weekend, M&J!  Next time, maybe the kids will sleep. 

[Ha!  It’s been three years and our kids haven’t really learned to sleep well at the cabin.  But they don’t really sleep well at home, either, so I can’t judge.]

….from our front porch.  Love this place!