Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

Kevin started a tradition of making Peach Cobbler in a dutch oven over the campfire. Usually we do it late and Westley is in bed, but this time he got to participate. I helped him cut up all the butter (as you can see all the pads of butter in the picture, this is a very healthy dish!) and he helped pour in all the other ingredients. Then he had to wait patiently for a half hour to get some.
He hasn't had many desserts, so this was definitely a treat!

Fun in Grandpa's Wagon

We went camping with Grandma and Grandpa this weekend. Grandpa has a little red wagon he using to move things around with and take down to the sand. The boys adopted it this weekend. Especially Will who escaped from the campsite many times with it in tow. We took it on many walks, taking turns on who got to pull, and who got to ride.

 Even Mandy dog got to ride!

Teacher's Aide

Today Westley helped me grade my student's journal papers. I stamp them as part of a system to give them credit for these end of class reflection journals.
This time, Westley stamped them all for me! I can't wait until he can grade the research papers!!

Will felt a little left out, so we let him stamp his own paper too. He insisted in sitting in Westley's chair - just like Westley did

Paper Plate Skate

Westley was pretending to skate on ice a couple weeks ago and I remembered an activity that was great for that!
So simple- just two cheap paper plates and a hard floor - the dirtier the better ;)
Our kitchen floor was pretty slippery, so it really was like skating!

We continued more on our hardwood floor.
I spun Will on a paper plate like one of those sit n spin toys.

Westley thought this was super fun and requested to do it again the next day. I have a feeling it will become regular activity around our house.

Blow Painting

One of my first memories is doing blow painting at preschool. I haven't done it since. Today I did it with Westley and Will. I knew it would be too hard for Will, but he had fun joining in anyway. First we did it with tempera paint but it needed to be watered down a little more. Then we did it with water colors which worked ok too.

I read that it comes out cool if you use India Ink - don't have any of that though.

After we blew out all our air, the boys continued to enjoy just painting

Bug Hunt

I got these little bug catching kits with the container, a net and a bug picking up tweezers at the Dollar Store. Today we took them to our back yard to look for bugs. We weren't having much luck, until I moved a pot.. that was a jackpot!

Rolly pollies, little slugs, worms, ants and spiders. We just collected the first 3.

Westley was most excited about the worms, and wanted to take them out and observe them on the table, so we did.

We saw something interesting- look closely at this worm - he has a tiny baby worm on his back (it's yellowish). I've never thought about baby worms before.

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Releasing Butterflies

I was actually planning to hold onto the butterflies for another week, but Westley was insistent on letting them fly free today - so we did.
Westley helped them out of the net home and they all flew off right away!

Our butterfly experience was really neat. I highly recommend it and we will certainly do it again!

Legoland firsts

This was our first trip to Legoland since last summer. Today we renewed our annual passes.
$450 was painful to shell out, but we are already getting our money's worth with how many smiles we saw today.

This was Will's first trip as a walking toddler. Instead of just being dragged along he played in the play areas and rode a train and plane ride.

He doesn't look to happy in this picture, but he really was!

We are signing "train"

Will's first time being able to stack legos. Look what he built with just a little help from me!


Westley got to do a couple new things too. He went down the new slide and rode the horse ride

This cracks me up. This is Westley and Kevin on a ride that drops down kind of fast (it's a much smaller version of similar rides they have like this at 6 Flags and Knotts or Disneyland.)

Who's the scared one?

He wasn't really scared at all - but it sure looks like it in the picture

(you can click on pictures to view them larger)

Mommy Pedi

Westley found my nail clippers and wanted to cut my toenails while I was putting on my make up and getting ready to go teach. I was in a hurry and scared he was going to clip off the tips of my toes, but I promised him that if he was a good eater, listener, and sleeper for Grandma  then the next day he could cut my toenails and paint them.
So the next day I got the closest thing to a pedicure that I've had in a while. He helped hold the clippers while we clipped my toenails. Then he filed/buffed them and painted them.
I got just as much paint on my actual toes as on my toe nails, but he thought they looked good and I guess that's all that matters. I'm sure it will wear off my skin and luckily I had bought some natural, phthalate free nail polish.

Will was watching and jumped in to buff his toes once I was done

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cookies

This was Will's first time truly helping me cook/bake.
He must have been observing Westley all this time because he knew just what to do. He dumped in the ingredients and stirred, and even wanted to help spoon out the dough onto the cookie sheets.
He was so excited to help!

Here's the recipe

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cookies

6 tbsp butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup raisins

½ cup nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, water, and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Add raisins and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheet. Back at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Best if eaten the day they were made.

Feeding our Butterflies

4 of our 5 Chrysalides have turned into butterflies so far!
Directions say to feed them fresh flowers with a solution of a cup of water with 3 teaspoons of water and drop it like dew onto the flowers. Westley  helped dad cut some flowers and took charge of helping make the sugar water and dropping it in with the little dropper.
Look closely and you can see at least one of the butterflies!

Aqua Doodle

We have had our Aqua Doodle mat for awhile, but I just got more water pens so both boys can draw at once. This made their interest in it last much longer. Will was cute, as he scribbled, he said "W.... I..." once he gets the L down he'll be able to spell his name out loud. Westley had the new paint brush type water pen and colored in the entire mat.
Both boys did really well sharing the mat- neither getting mad at the other for being in their way or anything.

Screen Play

Will loves to close our screen door. Today while Westley was still napping we played a little one-on-one game. I love hearing him laugh hysterically - which was easily accomplished by us simply pressing our faces and hands up against the screen to each other.

Screen Kisses

One of the best joys of toddlerhood = the simple things that make them so happy.

YMCA Healthy Kids Day

Today our YMCA held a Healthy Kids Free Family Event
Westley had a great time as he jumped in the bouncer, did an obstacle course, saw a puppet show, made a fruit kabob, and played steel drums.

Will was hot tired and antsy as there wasn't as much he could do, but he did do some sponge painting with me, and a drum exercise class (where you drum on the exercise balls). That he really enjoyed and was keeping up with the older kids!

Westley's Preschool Art Show

Each year, Westley's preschool hosts an art show that displays one piece of artwork from each child, and then some artwork made by all the children on large canvasses. Those turn out really cool and they auction them off. I wish I would have taken pictures of them too,
but here is Westley with his Marble Painting.

Westley doesn't show too much interest in doing artwork at school, so this is really one of the only pieces of art he has done all year. I think there is just too much other exciting stuff going on for him!


Here is some artwork he has done at home:

last picture is the sign for "I love you" made out of toast

Butterflies @ Wild Animal Park

This morning we went to see the Butterfly Jungle exhibit at the Wild Animal Park.
I went once when I was around 12 years old and remember there being a lot more butterflies than we got to see today, but it was still a unique experience for all of us today, and helped the boys get more excited about our soon-to-be butterflies!

Vacuuming Bubbles

The best bubbles EVER are sold exclusively at Gymboree.

With their bubble wand they make the most little bubbles of any bubbles out there. They also last a long time - many will stay intact on the carpet.

This activity would probably only work with these bubbles.
They didn't really show up in the picture, but Will had a fun time popping them and vacuuming them up with his vacuum!