Mermaids and Fairies

Here are some of my favorite of Elsie's artwork from the spring. I was going to include some drawings of non-magical creatures, but there weren't any. 

One of my favorite things about Elsie's style is her infusion of curls and swirls. She even adds them when she writes his name. 

Cam doesn't draw very often, but when he does, it often borders on self-reflection. Here is a comic of his states of being. It reads: 

Hi my name is Camden

Leo don't stick your tail up

Ana!

Very scary

Camden do your home work (My dad) Ooooooo ok!

Look I am a clown

Rar!

I'm not squshed

I have a secret

I am tired of making comics

Hoshmonger Comes to Visit

Jonah has some funny nicknames for his siblings. He calls his older brother Hoshmonger Shrine. His other brothers are Tam, Nobie, and Piglet. His sisters are Sabrina, Shas, and Licker of Chesternuts. I'll have to have him explain some time. 

Anyway, Hoshmonger came to visit! Josh is a school teacher in Arizona, so he doesn't have a lot of free time to travel, so we were so happy that he decided to come see us for spring break! He doesn't have any kids of his own, but he makes up for it by being the best uncle he can be. The kids climbed all over him, pestered him, played with him and learned from him every single moment of the day, and they still couldn't get enough. He has amazing patience and really gets along well with kids... which are great traits for a teacher!

Our friends came over and Josh helped all the kids reach some amazing heights on the trampoline. 

The kids were also on spring break, so we spent much time at the beach, in Lahaina, diving, hiking and exploring the island. We all went ont he Bamboo Hike, but the little girls and I stayed back at the second waterfall so the older kids and Jonah and Josh could do the rest of the hike more quickly. While there, we carved some ginger root dolls and made them a river rock house.

After the hike, we enjoyed some of our new favorite treat, peanut butter and carrots. Mmmmm.

Unfortunately, my memory card in my camera got corrupted, so I lost the rest of the photos from Josh's stay, but I have to say that we were very sad to see him go. We tried and tried to get him to move here, but he's got a great thing going in AZ, so it was a lost cause. Hopefully we at least convinced him to visit more often!

When Josh left, we realized that in the last five months, we had had seven of Jonah's nine siblings come visit, plus his parents! It's great to live on Maui.

And just because I have no where else to post them, here is a photo from Cam's Cub Scout banquet. He was the clock in the skit. You have to love those cute Cub Scout skits. 

And here is Elsie's lovely little PlayDoh mermaid that she made me keep in a ziplock bag for a few weeks before I smashed the Doh back into the cans. Wow. She loves mermaids, doesn't she?!

Paper Masks

(Not shown: dorsal fin on back)

Every few days, Elsie surprises us by coming out of school in a new form. She is obsessed with art and drawing... and she especially loves making paper costumes in school. Sometimes she makes costumes for the other kids in her class so she doesn't have time to do it for herself. I just have to say that her teacher is a saint, giving up all the tape and straws and paper needed to fulfill Elsie's creative demands. 

I especially liked the full length mermaid costume and a giraffe costume she did, but I can't find the photos presently. For now, enjoy the dolphin (above) and the cat and bunny below. 

(not shown: fluffy tail)

(check out the claws!)

Cam has recognized Elsie's ability to communicate through art, and has taken a different approach and has been attempting to get her to understand him through drawings. The other day, during an argument in which Elsie could not understand why he wanted her to give him some privacy, he took out paper and drew four comics of how what she was doing was affecting him. The first drawing was very angry, but as he drew, he calmed down. (I'll have to find those photos, too) Not surprisingly, after she studied his drawings, she drew a comic back showing how she really just wanted to be with him because he is a fun brother. He studied her drawing, they stopped arguing, and they worked out a compromise. Good job Cam!

Here's a drawing Cam did to try and show the different emotions he faces:

And while we are on the subject of artistic expression, here was Ana's sweet Valentine's Day "Heart Attack" that she put up to surprise us for V Day. XOXO