6 Boys -and- A Girl: May 2011

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Drew's 1st public piano recital

May 20th, 2011 was a very busy day for this young man.

Bright and early, we attended his 1st piano guild (2 hours away).

He performed 4 pieces by memory plus a C major scale and cadences:

*Au Clair de la Lune.................................. Folk Tune

*Grandfather's Grandfather Clock............. K. Olsen

Cuckoo....................................... German Folk Song

Trumpet Parade................................. Susan Ogilvy

Pinning - District Member

and presentation of awards

What a great group of musicians

and a fabulous teacher!

She is clearly teaching not only great technique, but also a true LOVE for music!!!

*performed in the recital.

Boys just having fun

I bet you never knew a car ride could be so entertaining.

Thanks to Sean for snapping the pics and video footage.

Thanks to the models - Drew and Ben.

Thanks to the little boys who were cheering, giggling, and laughing.
I really enjoyed being your chauffeur:)

Sean's 14th Birthday

Newborn

4 - 6 mth.

2 yr.

3 yr.

3 - 4 yr. old

Where has the time gone?

Used to be, this young man would have requested a game, toy, movie,...

not anymore:)

Ribs (spare and baby back - grilled to perfection) along with fresh corn -

awesome choice - YUMMY!

This is the "birthday cake" he selects each and every year -

Peanut Butter Pie!

Happy Birthday to you,...

Happy Birthday, Dear Sean!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

And are so proud of you!

Friday, May 13, 2011

A total boys day

What does it involve?

Non-stop action, a couple props, and loads of imagination:)

Glow sticks

They can be used a light sabers, swords.....

Water balloons

Watch out!!!

WAR!

Oh, can't forget this one - "fuel".

What is better than a picnic while watching Woody Woodpecker?

Punch balloons - you might near ear plugs for this one;)

Homemade play-doh in the color of your choice.

Shark, tiger, a horse, a man....

This recipe is the bomb

(it last forever, and has an amazing texture):

Food coloring

1 cup flour

1 T oil

1 cup water

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tarter

Cook on stove top until right form.

If you are making one color, the easiest way is to put the food coloring directly into the batch as you cook it.

However, in my case I was making a host of colors:

I made three batches

(at one time... you might want an assistant... this is a major workout),

divided it into 5 sections, placing each of these on parchment paper,

added the dye and then used the parchment paper to knead the color into the dough.

Not foolproof, but one can manage to remain mostly dye-free:)

On a side note, a day like this is guaranteed to produce happy boys and boys who will sleep well come nightfall:)

Square Foot Gardening

Aidan and I are decided to try our hands at gardening (since his older brothers are spending the summer with their grandparents in Canada).

It started with a trip to the library. We found a few books and brought them home to browse.

And then my friend suggested this book by Mel Bartholomew:

ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING

I knew instantly that this was a match.

We created a supply list, chose our vegetables, and plotted the layout - it was a lot of work, but also FUN!!!

I think as the garden begins to produce,

we are going to be so happy we chose this as our spring/summer/fall project.

Building the boxes

(2x6 boards cut in 4' lengths = 4x4 box)

Well, they are supposed to be combining the mixture of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost.

This is the way to do it;)

Filling the boxes.

Spring box containing: sugar snap peas, oregano, broccoli, cabbage, swiss chard, spinach, leaf lettuce, carrots, potatoes, onions, green onions, and pansies for color.

Slightly closer up view of the box.

(Sean deserves credit too. He helped me to mix one batch of "soil" and to fill 1 1/2 of the boxes before going to lie down - poor guy wasn't really feeling all that well).