Spring and Summer Fashions

One of the advantages of being on the west coast is getting a glimpse of the up and coming fashions and trends. It is always interesting to see what *new* things will be marketed this season! So, without further ado let me inform you of a few trends that I have observed this spring. You can expect these fashions to be coming to your area soon!

Fashions!
Prepare yourselves for the comeback of the... overalls! These showed a slight upwards trend last summer, but most people just looked at them with surprise and amusement. Well, they are back this year and I have actually seen several people wearing them! Both pants and shorts versions are available. Dark denim and washed out denim are options. Fortunately I have not seen any acid washed overalls yet though! :) Another shocking comeback is the jumpsuit! I can just hear you now...

*gasp* "No!" 

But yes, they really are back. They are not only in the stores but I have seen them being worn frequently, even more often than overalls. They come in all sorts of patterns and lengths. I have seen full length jumpsuits (which remind me of clown suits really!) and then the short-sleeve/shorts version. The shorter version is definitely more popular. Another, more general trend this year is the vintage styles in clothing. This seems to include lighter weight shirts with some embroidery around the necklines and hems. Horizontal stripes and polka dots are some of the more popular patterns this year in fabric this year.

Another trend I have seen this year, although not a fashion clothing trend, is a car color. Many newer cars that I am seeing driven on the roads in the greater Seattle area are a deep brown... almost burgundy color. It is actually a very rich and luxurious color. It will be interesting to see if it catches on and is added to the common color swatch for cars.


Summer Plans
The school year is over and summer has begun. I did a little re-arranging in my classroom and have put a few ideas for next year on the back burner to simmer all summer long. But for now I am just ready to rest and relax after this school year. :)

My new library area in my classroom. This is what you see now looking in at the door. I'd like to make some pillows for the floor. :)

The Seattle area summer weather is absolutely glorious. It really makes me sad that I am going to miss it! I am thankful that I had the privilege of experiencing it for four or five weeks before heading out for the summer. My main goals this summer are to visit family and work on my "current reads" shelf.

I realized that I had too many books that I have not finished yet. So this summer I'm going to try and finish most of these books. :) We'll see how far I get!

My cousin Mary flew up to Seattle and spent a few days with me there. Then we flew together back to her new home in Arizona.

Enjoying Molly Moon's ice cream in Seattle with one of my favorite people. I'm so glad Mary came to visit me in Seattle!!!

We have enjoyed a couple of days together in the dry heat of Arizona already. :) I'm hoping to avoid a sunburn while I'm here! ;-) Mary and her husband Caleb have been quite consistent in pointing out the advantages of living in Arizona. I have an inkling that they are trying to get me to move here... ;-)

This weekend I will be attending the Building Tomorrow's Church Conference here in Arizona, then I will spend another week with Mary and Caleb before flying to Indiana. I am so looking forward to being with my family! It is the hardest thing in the world to be apart from those who you love most. There is peace in knowing that you are where God has you, but peace is not necessarily synonymous with easy. In fact I rather think that "peace" and "ease" are rarely found together. In mid-August I will head back to Washington. I am planning on visiting Victoria, B.C. with a couple of other teachers from the school. This is a "just for fun" trip that I have been wanting to take since I moved here. I've heard that Victoria is both gorgeous and a darling place to visit.

Then my summer will be nearly over. I'll have about a week to unpack, deal with my car a little bit more, get together with a few people, and acclimate myself back into the Seattle weather, traffic patterns, driving times, and prepare myself for the school schedule.

Teacher work week is the last week in August and school begins September 2nd. I'm looking forward to a beautiful and refreshing summer.

Midwest Visit is Ending

Last week I enjoyed the sunshine and the beach with my family in Holland, MI. It was so good spending the week with everyone, especially my nieces and nephews! The weather was cool towards the beginning of the week but heated up as the week went on. We wrapped up the week by all coming back to Indiana for a family reunion with my mom's side of the family. And then goodbyes began. I don't like goodbyes. They are not okay with me. Sunday my parents, little brother, and I all came back to Chicago. We've been just relaxing here the past couple of days. I fly out of Chicago early tomorrow morning to head back home to Seattle.

Once I arrive in Seattle I'll be loading up my belongings and moving them into my new room with the family from the school. I have change of address cards available, so just let me know if you want one and I'll pop it in the mail to you. :) I cannot wait to get things in order and then go visit my classroom and get my hands dirty getting ready for the next school year! I have so many projects to get done and ideas to get organized!

Some pictures from the family vacation...

Cousin Huddle!

Nothing like trudging up a dune...

To run down as fast as you can!

Although they don't look like they're having that much fun! Haha ;-)

Smile guys!

Come on! It's fun! Hahaha!

Another delightful activity... playing in ice cold water!

I remember when the waves used to seem so big!

Good times!

Pure joy! 

What a handsome little man!

My parents celebrated their 38th anniversary on vacation. :)

Cousins :)

Playing with the waves

These two are awesome...

...and a little bit crazy.

My first nephew. He is getting so big! Look at all those missing teeth!

My second nephew. So blond!

My first niece... and the life of the party. :)

My third nephew. My hugger!

Second niece. It took several days but she finally became my little buddy. :)

Playing together all week long!

The rainbow bracelet loom and legos were the toys of choice this week!

There's my 6'5'' little brother! Such a handsome dude!

We're all a little bit crazy ;-)

Does a normal picture exist of this girl?

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Grand Canyon 2016!

Grandma's lap is a coveted place by all her grandbabies!

My oldest sister with her girls.

Littlest brother and biggest nephew.

Steve trying to figure out this rainbow loom thing...

Sethie is determined to figure it out too!

Hmmm... better read the directions!

Aren't they just too cute???

What can be more fun than this?

Check back in a few days to see how the classroom is progressing! I can't wait to show you my new spaces... both home and school! 

The Visiting Continues

Week three is coming to a close here in the midwest. Last week my brother, his family, and I all went to Chicago and spent the week with my parents. My mom absolutely spoiled us with special treats and yummy foods. She especially spoiled Evie and me with special foods that we normally wouldn't have made for ourselves. :) Mom, Evie, the boys, and I enjoyed the Brookfield Zoo early in the week. What a ginormous zoo! Whew!

Scott posing by one of the Big Cats... although I can't seem to find the big cat in this picture!

Petting animal skulls. Sethie found these to be quite fascinating!

Ah! There's the cat!

Hungry for lunch!

Besides a visit to IKEA and Trader Joes, the rest of the week we pretty much chilled at home. The Wesner fam is a homebody family, and that is for sure! We enjoyed a couple picnics, some bike rides, and just in general hanging out. I also had time to work on some school stuff. I was able to research field trips, figure out memory work for this next year, select science and history projects, map out my lesson planner for the next year with important dates and deadlines (and you KNOW that it is color-coded ;-), and I was even able to outline my history lessons for the year. I also was able to start the big project for this next school year: researching ancient Egypt and using what I find to write up little narratives or stories to tell during history class instead of just handing out the facts. I'm hoping that this makes history class a little more interesting for both teacher and pupil this year. :)

We stopped at the beach on our way home Saturday, and then enjoyed a wonderful Lord's day at Grace Fellowship with dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. I have certainly missed fellowshipping with these dear believers this past year!

This week has been full of seeing more friends and family. It has been a good week of seeing people, and I'm so thankful for all those that I was able to see. I'm so thankful that so many were able to make time for me in their busy lives this week. :)  It was tough on my nephews though. Wednesday morning I was getting ready to go and see some more friends and little Sethie said,
"Where are you going Aunt Nettie?"
"Well, I'm going to go see some of my friends this morning. I'll be back for supper though!"
Then Sethie gave this pathetic little sigh, "Aunt Nettie, why do you always have to go see more friends?"
"Well buddy, I haven't seen these friends for a long time and I would like to spend a little time with them."
"But Aunt Nettie, I miss you too!"
"Hmmmm, what do you think I should do?"
"I think you should stay home and play legos with me!"
"Well bud, I have to go out today, but tomorrow I can spend almost all day here with you, and then Friday I will be here all day with you. Then guess what? Next week I'll be at the sleeping house (translation: the little house we rented for vacation next week) ALL week with you!" 
At this, his eyes lit up and he just squeezed me so tight I thought I was going to pop. :) I love these boys and cannot wait to be with both them and my other nephew and nieces next week! I remember being little and being so excited when aunts and uncles would come and visit but feeling sad when they had places to go and people to see and soon their time with us was up. I want to make sure that these darling kiddos know that they are dear to me and that I miss them very much!


This week I also tried my first attempt at making my own almond milk and almond flour!

A cup and a half of almonds made two of these jars of almond milk. We all sampled the first jar, then I drank a glass of it with a cookie. Mmmm! I also toasted the almond paste that was leftover after I strained the milk and made almond flour! It looks a bit clumpy in this picture, but I ran it through the blender later and it came out perfectly... just as almond flour should look! All that almond milk and almond flour for about $3.50. I'm a fan!

This morning Sethie showed me his outfit and informed me that he was a hunter! When I asked him what he was hunting he said "Deers". He went on to give me a very detailed explanation: "First I go out really quiet and find the deers, then I take my pocket knife and kill them. (he seems to have forgotten that he was holding a gun;-) Then, I will hang them upside down."

Well, the kid seems to have the basics down anyways. ;-)

I went into the boys' room this afternoon and they were playing with their legos... any guesses what is going on here??

Lego football! This is kind of like my nephews' fantasy football I guess... or  maybe playstation football... or whatever! I think it's great! You'll even notice they have stands full of people watching the game. Scott has the team on the left with the plain white helmets. Seth's team has different colored helmets. When I pointed out that some of Seth's had white helmets like Scott's they said, "Yes, but Seth's guys have designs and colors on their helmets. Scott's don't." So you see, they thought of everything! They had even designated certain players as the quarterbacks. Apparently Seth's team is a really good team, so Scott was granted an extra player. Partway through the game one of Seth's players went to sit in the stands with the fans because "he was feeling ill. But it's okay because my team (Seth's) is a really good team and can still win." I love the imagination of a child!

And finally, this morning we were enjoying a quiet morning when I remembered that I have PhotoBooth on my new macbook! So I called the boys over and we had some good laughs over the funny pictures we were taking. Evie had to come over too because, well... laughter is contagious. Seth couldn't stop laughing and Scott begged to stop because he was laughing so much that his stomach was beginning to hurt! Fun times! So I leave you with these high quality, super serious (not), and totally not embarrassing pictures. (Please don't avoid me the rest of your life after seeing these! Being an aunt does something to you ;-)

Enjoy some sunshine and a good laugh today! :)