The boy is charming the socks off me lately! 

His sisters have taught him to make mac-n-cheese and then recently Dwayne helped him make pancakes. Now he is fearless.

I came home today from a long day at the school and found this treat waiting for me:

Wesley had made me pancakes and set the table with all my favorite syrups, along with a fresh cup of tea.  (He knows the way to my heart is through herbal tea.) The real surprise?  He had done all the clean up, too! 

He served me on our “You Are Special” plate and made me this sign.  And then we sat down together to eat pancakes while we talked about our day. 

You are welcome, future Wesley bride! But if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep him for another decade or two.

Kyla has been on 5th grade math team during lunch this school year and the big NEMO (um, maybe National something Math Olympiad?) was finally today, 18 hours after they got home from 5th grade camp.  I’m going to give my friend, Jenny, a huge amount of credit for coaching the group for 6 months and then taking 5 4-person teams to the district event.  Kyla’s team earned a gold—everyone left with a bronze, silver, or gold medal—and I took lots of notes, as I’ll be coaching Piper’s class next year.  Go Pi!

Every 5th grader in our school district gets to go to overnight camp in the spring.  Our school shared our Wed-Fri slot with two other neighborhood schools.  Kyla’s BFF’s mom was one of the parent volunteers and someone who loves Kyla put her in the same cabin as both of them.  (That’s how I got all these pictures in real time—thanks Cris!)

Camp must be awesome—if you don’t mind the rain (and snow this year), the kids get to do amazing things: 

fire making,

archery,

and things I don’t have picture evidence of, like rock-climbing (Kyla got a gold bead for this one!), shelter-making, skits, etc.

When Kyla opened her book the first night, she found a card tucked between the pages.

Look closely!

Talent show tonight, and Wesley, along with 4 second grade friends, have been working on their…talent.  Actually, it turned out pretty well, with Wesley taking lead dancer.  Trust me, it took 30 extra years than it took Wesley to do something like this!

If you want to see the video, click here.

We try to make a little hoopla over International Pi Day each year.  Today was a day I subbed all day in a classroom that took full concentration and 6 senses, letting me be at home long enough to help with homework and program the oven to cook dinner while I was gone, then leaving the kids at home while I went to a 2.5 hour district Dyslexia Taskforce meeting.  By the time I stopped at the story to bring home a pie, they only had cherry left, making 2/5ths of the family happy.  So I also bought whipped cream and improvised:

Wesley liked his pi after all….

Little Taryn was born Feb. 23rd, and Gramma went down to Oregon to help the first week.  I was able to cancel or reschedule my family’s calendar so that I was able to join Taryn for her second week in this world!

Auntie Denise spent time teaching Amber to climb…,

and taking her on as many outings as we could fit in, including a few parks, story time at the library, the children’s museum, and the zoo.

I also think I got to witness the day she realized that Baby was staying…permanently.

But this was all preparation for Camp Denise when she gets older and can spend time at the cabin with all her other cousins, doing and eating things that we don’t have to tell Mom&Dad about.  Right, kids?  Cecily and Parker haven’t completely ratted me out yet.  Taryn, you’re up next!

[This was a fun zoo sign that applied to both lions and babies.]

My family did amazing!  I am so proud of the kids.  They got themselves up and out every day with no parent there, and took care of things in the afternoon.  Dwayne had to do homework and dinner duty all week, leaving work early each day.  I think this week apart really made us appreciate each other even more.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how independent and capable ages 8, 10, and 11 are, even if they don’t smell like yummy newborns anymore.

Oh, and here are a few more shots of the newbie, decked out in a special blanket Piper knitted for her, as well as well as the dolly Piper also designed and sewed.

Copying directly from my brother’s blog,

Taryn Mackenzie arrived to our family on Friday, February 23, 2018 at 9:21 PM.  At birth, she was 19″, 7lbs-2oz.

Welcome to the family, Little Love!  You are probably my last niece I’m going to have without a “great-“ prefacing it.

It was just lucky coincidence that our season tickets (Wednesday nights were cheapest) landed Hamilton on Valentine’s Day.  But we made the most of it!

First, we made it a full night by meeting my parents for dinner at Gordon Biersch.

Can you guess which drink is mine and which is Dwayne’s?

It’s quite the birthday for this girl—she’s listened to the soundtrack more than I have and has really been looking forward to seeing it live.

And ta-da! 

Valentine’s Day is extra special/busy around the homestead, as we have a lot of love to celebrate and throw Piper a birthday, too.

There’s always a class party, and the Room Parent got a special crown for the girl.

Unfortunately for Piper, Mama also attends the parties, so when Piper thought these, ahem, frosted cookies were appropriate birthday food, she got to take a picture and then watch Mama scrape off all the extra toppings and return naked cookies to the greedy little princess. 

Kids are excited about Piper’s new pottery wheel.