So Mark wasn’t five minutes out the door on his way to Portland when…. oops …. someone dropped the chocolate milk all over the kitchen floor. What’s a mom to do? I would be within my rights to cry. After all…. it is spilled milk.

While the boys were in Raleigh at the NC State game on Thursday night, the girls and I had a few days on our own. The girls had a great time outside and I had a few minutes to play with the camera. No fancy wardrobes… as you can see from Sophie’s attire. She’s still wearing her P.E. clothes.

Our two most recent American Art History endeavors are complete.  Here are the collages from the Edward Hicks study and the drawings of a live butterfly from the John James Audubon study.  I have to say, Audubon’s work is amazing and I can’t believe how beautiful the prints are in the collection volume we have.  Amazing!!

Edward Hicks inspired collages.

Wils hard at work.

Filling in the details.

Claire gets in on the art action.

Sam’s finished product.

… copies of which are at this moment headed to LEGO for the most recent “building challenge”.

Seen here with Gen. Grievous in hot pursuit.

“Anakin tries desperately to shake the General and continue in his quest for R2D2.”

The designer … Sam’l

Claire has decided that she likes to accessorize her outfits now.  And, so long as she has at least the purple strand of “beadies” she’s perfectly happy.  She’s REALLY giddy if she gets to wear all six at one time.  Here are a few photos of her sporting her new “jewels” around the house.  She wore them all day today, except for nap time, even when we went to the dance studio and the grocery store.

She had a blast this morning playing with Sophie’s dolls and dancing in Sophie’s room before breakfast.

Friday was “Art History” and project day.  After our lessons were done, we embarked on an art adventure.  Claire was napping, so we were able to devote a lot of time to our research and project.  Here is an interesting fact.  Did you know that the portrait of George Washington that is featured on the $1 bill was never actually completed?  Though over 70 copies by the artist and his daughter were sold during his [Gilbert Stuart’s] life, the original remained unfinished at the time of his death.  Very interesting….. Here are the fruits of our labor.

A portrait of Mr. Walker by Mrs. Walker

Self Portrait of the Artist as a Girl by Sophie Walker

Self Portrait by Wilson Walker

“Mom” by Samuel Walker

Well … You’d think we haven’t been up to much.  But that’s not true.  There is a “glitch” in the blog software that isn’t letting me upload photos right now.  Hmmm…..  So I can’t put up the photos of VBS, Pi’s Birthday, Science Experiments, Summer fun, Youth Group Service Projects…. nothin’.  I’m bummed.  Hopefully they will have this figured out soon and we’ll be off and running again.  Have a great week!!!

LOL!  This was too funny!!  Check out the Camp Canaan homepage. It currently features a video of the kids playing a game of “Skins”, or more accurately “skins vs. shirts”. Thank goodness Sophie was on the “shirts” team, otherwise this could be bad. :-0 The video is entitled “Samuel the Animal” and he seems to be enjoying himself. There are a few others on the Vimeo link, but this was too funny.

In honor of his 8th birthday, Wilson “styled” his hair and put on A LOT of Mark’s cologne. So he was ready to party!!

This was the “watermelon” ice cream cake. It was actually vanilla flavored, but it looked like a watermelon on the inside. Very Cool!!

He had a great week, and a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa. On Saturday, he went golfing with G’pa, Dad, & Uncle Al. He actually made par on the last par three hole, and managed to keep all his shots in the middle. He played the whole round of 9 with the same ball. Woo Hoo!! This is a good year to be a Wilson!!

Here are a few photos from Claire’s second birthday festivities. We didn’t do much on the 12th. We’re having our cake and presents with G’ma and G’pa on Saturday. Yeah!!! We actually celebrated Wilson’s 8th birthday today with a watermelon party. I haven’t gotten those photos uploaded yet… just a little behind.

The hands that “smooshed” the cupcakes.

“Happy Birthday to me!”

Here we go … Let’s get some cake.

Peek-a-Boo….

The dance portions of the festivities were most entertaining.