Cool Cards

Today Westley needed to make cards for his teachers (tomorrow is the last day of preschool)
We used shaving cream and some drops of water color, and gently swirled the colors together. Then we pressed the paper on top, and then I wiped off all the shaving cream. It leaves a marble swirl effect of the colors stained to the paper.
They are really pretty.

Will wanted to get in on the shaving cream fun too. He painted Grandma!

Bug Wings

Today I got bug wings for the boys - bee and ladybug.
They enjoyed running around with them on - and ran faster when they saw dad coming with the bug killer spray!

Partying w/ the Playgroup

Today Westley had two early birthday celebrations. In the morning we met our playgroup friends at the park, as we do every Monday. We brought lunch and our parachute. Westley was the "parachute leader" and led us all through some parachute games and fun.
Then I tied the umbrella up to a tree and strollers to make a fort for the kids. The other kids ate their lunch under it and asked Westley to join them. He refused, and said "that's weird."
Kids are funny.

In the afternoon we went to the play structure at Boomers and ate our cupcakes. Westley had a blast.

By having a morning and afternoon party, Westley was able to see all but one of his playgroup friends!

Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes

Tomorrow we are celebrating Westley's 4th birthday with his playgroup friends that we met when Westley was 4 months old.
He was excited to make his cake - he wanted a pumpkin chocolate cake.
I have never made one of those before, but had heard of adding a can of pumpkin to a cake mix.

So we used a chocolate cake mix, can of pumpkin, 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons of oil.
They came out very moist. They weren't my favorite but Westley and all the other kids devoured them and seemed to like them a lot, so I'll call it a success!

Sofa Bed Game

Last night, cousin Scotty spent the night and slept on our sofa bed downstairs. Any time we put the couch back together the boys insist on playing this game
They will jump and sit on the couch before we get the cushions on. Then, they like us to try and put the cushion in place with them in the way. We gently push the cushion onto them questioning why the couch is so lumpy and bumpy. We also  put the cushion on them and gently sit on the top of it.

Thanks for staying with us Scotty!

I love this picture

Releasing Balloons

Today was my Grandma's Funeral. She was 94 years old and was a very special lady, loved by everyone who knew her, but especially loved by her family (which includes 13 great grand children!)

This is probably my least environmentally friendly activity, but it was therapeutic.

We wrote I love you messages on the balloons and then "sent them up to heaven" to Grandma.
There's something serene about watching the balloon float up so high until you cannot see it anymore

Washing Windows

Grandma and Grandpa's house has lots of full length mirrors that the boys have always loved dancing in front of, but today they found a new joy - spraying them with windex and wiping them with paper towels!

Explorers and Lions

This is another chasing game they played outside at Westley's school but we played it in our house.
The explorers pretend to put on their gear (boots, hats, binoculars, tool belts etc.) and set out exploring like on a jungle safari. The lions pretend to sleep until they are woken up by the explorers at which point they roar and chase after the explorers.

At home we used our real binoculars and flash lights. We pretended our stairs were a mountain to climb and found pretend animals all over the house.

The lion slept on the couch until they were woken up by the explorers at which point they roared chased and picked up the little explorers.
I enjoyed my turn as lion :)

Westley seems to really enjoy these types of games!

What Time is it Shark?

This week I spent some time in Westley's class. This is a game they play outside, and we brought it home to play too.
One person is the shark and stands across the grass or across the room.
The other players ask What time is it? The shark lists a time - say 4 o'clock. The players take 4 steps forward. This continues until the players get close to the shark. Then when the players ask What time is it? The shark yells lunch time and runs towards the players making chomping shark movements with their hands. The players scream and run away.

Will caught on fast. He wanted to be the shark. We asked him what time it is, but the only number he can hold up on his fingers is 1. So it was 1 o'clock a lot but it was super cute.

Don't Laugh Game

I was thinking Westley might be too young for this, but he wasn't.
I told Westley to look at me and not smile. I told him it was a game and he couldn't laugh - if you laugh you lose. The first time he did good. He went like 30 seconds without laughing as I made funny faces at him. After that he laughed a lot sooner. He looked so happy it definitely made me laugh.

I'm thinking we might play this on a regular basis when he wakes up from his naps because he often wakes up grouchy and it takes him about a half hour to fully get out of it.

Beach Clean Up

Saturday night brought a very high tide, which in turn brought a lot of trash to the beautiful beach. Aunt Angie led us on our own Beach Clean Up. We walked the whole beach of the campground picking up bottles, caps, other trash, and a few washed up sandals.
Westley did a great job!

The Ocean Institute

Saturday we took the boys to the Ocean Institute which is a little education center type of museum/aquarium in the Dana Point Harbor.

It would probably be better to take a 9 year old who is really into ocean science, but we still had fun.
The boys got to touch live sea stars and sea cucumbers, see jellyfish, an octopus and fish, and listen in shells.

 If they were more trustworthy around scalpels, they could have joined in the 10:30am activity- dissecting a squid - just like it's done in 8th grade science class!

First time Fishing

Westley went fishing for his first time with Uncle Rick and Dad. We all thought he would be bored and over it within 20 minutes. We were wrong, he loved it and even after a couple hours didn't want to stop.
Grandma, Will and I made it just in time to see them catch his first fish!

The next day Westley got to go out fishing on a kayak in the harbor (of Dana Point). It was cold, I thought he would surely want to come back right away. 2 hours later he was trying to push the Kayak back in the water when Kevin was pulling it up on the sand.

He later told me he wants a kayak for his birthday.

Sand Sifting

This weekend we went camping at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA
Check out the view from our campsite!

It was like a gigantic sandbox for the boys.

There were some little rocks and a few little shells in the sand. I showed the boys how they could use one of our sifter toys to sift them up. Then fill a bucket with just rocks

London Bridges Falling Down

Westley plays London Bridges at school and was very excited to show us how to do it at home.
I wish I got a picture of Westley leading will under the "bridge" as he taught Will how to do it. It was so cute! I was the bridge though and had no free hands!
We played this until we were too dizzy to continue!

A Monster's House

We have this really big box we enjoyed playing in today. First we started just hiding and hanging out inside. Then I asked the boys if they wanted to paint it and they jumped to the opportunity. Westley pretended it was a monster's house. We painted a green and yellow monster on the side. We still need to put on some big red googly eyes I have waiting!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was filled with fun and special moments.
We spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Hemet. Westley and Will had a great time playing outside with their cousins, and meeting Grandma's four 4-week-old kittens.

Here's a photo of the present Westley and Will make Grandma for Mother's Day (they made two together - the other for Grandma Kathy) It is canvas article made with acrylic (permanent -yikes!) paint. The trick is to do one color at a time, letting it dry before a new color is added, otherwise it would have just been all brown) So this project was actually  a work in progress for a few days.





Here's a nice photo of the boys with their Grandma's

Best wishes and prayers to Great Grandma Franke who had to spend Mother's Day and her Birthday in the hospital.

Rolling Rainbow

We got a mailing tube in the mail - and Aunt Lisa and baby Drew were over, so we made Drew a tube of wiffle balls. We were meaning to give him one of these for his birthday, but were late on that.
But I had the balls for it. So we filled it up and showed him how to do it. Westley shook the balls in the tube to make it rumble, then we said One, Two, Three... Rolling Rainbow! And let all the balls pour out bouncing and rolling all over the floor. Westley, Will, Drew, and even Casey dog scavenged the floor to pick up all the balls and put them back in the tube as I sang (to the tune of Here We Go Round the Mullberry Bush) Let's put all the balls away the balls away the balls away. Let'ss put all the balls away so we can do it again.
We did it again, and again, and again!

Westley did such a good job helping the "babies" do this!

Water, Soap & Paint

Westley insisted this morning that we fill a bucket with water, soap and 2 colors of paint ... like he did at school. Kevin and I didn't see the excitement of this and tried to talk him out of it, but he was insistent. So Kevin helped Westley get a little white bucket out. They filled it with water and a little dish soap, and then we added blue watercolor and then yellow watercolor. Westley knows that this makes green and it did. He thoroughly enjoyed stirring in the colors - so did Will as then they fought for turns. We talked about how the foam was light green and the water below was dark green, but besides that, that's all there was to it.
I asked Westley what he thought it would look like later. He said he didn't know, but was very excited to check back a few hours later. There was only a little  foam and it was white and the water below was dark green.

Still surprises me how sometimes the most simple activities are Westley's favorites!

Westley's counting to Will 1, 2, 3 and then it is his turn to stir again