Corbin starts cello lessons

We have another cello student in the Willy house! Corbin is stoked to try something new. You’re going to be great, Corbin! Also celebrating a summer of hard work and dedicated practicing with instrument size/upgrade for Quincy. She is alllllllmost ready to advance to Suzuki book 4, and fitted to a 7/8 cello. Not quite big enough for a full size, but a significant change in instrument quality, a bit bigger frame than the 3/4 cello, and a full sized bow are exciting adjustments to her sound.  🎶 🎻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 She loved showing Corbin how to sit, to to adjust the end pin, and 100 things not to do or touch.  

This will be good for them. 

Donuts

It’s been on our winter, spring, and summer bucket lists to make homemade donuts. It just hasn’t happened. I’m think maybe I am not fun enough to experiment with deep frying, yet. 

I AM fun enough to load up the fun bus for drive through donuts, though, and fortunately to this crowd, that’s basically the same thing. 

“I will get you an apple fritter! You are ruinin’ my backswing!” 

Camp Wild: Waterslide and Shortstop

It’s just a super sketchy waterslide with no rules built into a colossal hill right on the side of a highway in Missouri. There’s an awesome grumpy old man in a straw hat running a cash only operation from a makeshift hut, and if you’re shorter than the counter you get to slide for free. We call ahead to see if it’s even running. We drive almost an hour to get there. We play until our legs are too tired to climb back up the hill (or someone gets hurt), and usually still go “just one more time” one or seven more times. We we stop for gas station mile high ice cream cones at Short Stop on the way back.  It’s all very official and Summer can now come to an end

This next pic is my favorite water slide pic of all time. Delaney’s grip determination to hold Sloanie safely is everything! I love her love for my people. 

We were small in numbers with just the Shaws, Willies, and Cadence C, this year, but it was still unforgettable. Long live Camp Wild

The return of Library Day

The children’s section is mostly closed, and everyone needs to be masked up and body scanned (not really) at the entrance, but the public library is officially open. This means the Willies are back at our happy place every week for a little over an hour while the twins are in OT.  Each week, we leave with a big loaded bag of books, a couple of movies (although with covid, I think we are getting close to having watched every movie ever made throughout the history of filmmaking) and 1 board game. Sloane got to pick the game this week, so we came home with Princess candyland and it’s even more terrible than regular candyland. Thank goodness Soren and Quincy were each willing to take a shift. Spoiler: every game ends with at least one but more often two of the triplets in tears. 🤣🤣

Corbin picks up the next 39 clues book, a Who Was biography, and usually puts something on hold every week. Soren gets a magic treehouse, a book to answer one of the questions on our wonder wall, and something for Esme or Adrian (who cannot handle the library right now).  This week, the big girls found a recipe idea book for the Night Circus and have dreams of chocolate mice and Cotton Candy floats for mother daughter book club next week. 

Thanks for opening up our world, library! We ❤️ you! 

Not-Back-To-School Social [Distance]

Some of Reese’s friends came up with an idea to watch an outdoor movie as a safe friend gathering.  Hours of rain and a flash flood warning during the day and into the afternoon threatened to squash their fun, but they would not be defeated. After a 6 month separation, they pulled together a last minute bonfire on the island.

Reese, Quincy, Finley S, Cole H, Ruby M, Madi Z, Jaymen P,  Emma F, Jocelyn A, and Bradley A built a fire out of 90% lighter fluid and 10% wet logs, roasted s’mores and played corn hole out front for a couple hours and then came inside to play some board games and the Lawrence/Eggers family classic mastermind game of M&Melbow (which was a big hit). 

These are weird times. I’m grateful for that my teens have other great teens to navigate the weird with.  I’m also grateful that Reese is such a nice girl. She not only “let” her younger sister join, but made efforts to help Quincy feel included with a group of high schoolers.  I asked Reese back in December what she does that makes gatherings at our house feel like a success for her and she said “I’m inclusive.”  It’s very true, and I see it even with her very introverted personality, she understands that circle of friendship can always get bigger. Reese is great at giving everyone who wants one, a place.  I love observing her as she discovers her gift of hospitality. Everyone had a good time. 

Cheers to another year of high school!  

Lost Boys

In spite of Covid, one benefit of everyone hanging around home all spring and summer has been the countless hours the boys have spent playing outside. 

L-R (twin) Harlow M, Soren, (big) Max M, Corbin, (little) Max M, (twin) Henry M

These boys play HARD. They ride bikes up and down Primrose Lane and collect stocks and bugs and catch frogs and come in muddy and sweaty and stinky every day. They trade Pokémon cards and play catch and climb trees and do crafts and tell jokes and they occasionally do naughty things with sling shots or matches (no lie). They’re the wild and free lost boys of Primrose Lane. 

Yes Day

On Yes Day, Aaron taught the kids and I the best yoga pose. 



On Yes Day we had Lokomotion to ourselves. 

On Yes Day the kids drove go carts for the first time. 




On Yes Day, Sloane was brave and Soren was an accommodating big brother. 




On Yes Day I was stung twice by wasps while taking this photo. 


On Yes Day, we did bumper boats and Corbin soaked all of us with his stealthy shooting skills

On Yes Day, the weather was perfect and we didn’t mind getting soaked. 

On Yes Day we played two rounds of mini golf

On Yes Day, we had one last time on the track

On Yes Day, Soren must have grown 2 inches in an hour and a half because he was luckily tall enough to be offered to drive his own go kart on the family track that time, and  he was chuffed. 








On Yes Day, we handled 4 pizzas from Pieology.

On Yes Day we watched Nate Bargatze special on Netflix: The Tennessee Kid and laughed until our cheeks hurt.  “Olivia?” 


On Yes Day, all things worked together for good and a certain anxious little girl’s sleep strike ended. 

On Yes Day, we felt the end of summer creeping up on us and filled up all of the minutes left with laughter and extreme fun. And a lot of Yessssss.