Evening of the Arts

After the recital was through, we wandered the school exploring the amazing artwork the kids had done over the year.

 
 
 
 

Evening of the Arts

This spring the boys piano recital was combined with the annual art show for an Evening of the Arts at school. They both played well - Mr. 6 played "The Haunted Mouse", a minor key piece with a surprise ending, and Mr. 8 played Bach's Minuet in G and "Sword Dance". Their playing has really improved this year and it was great to see them perform. Mr. 6 is truly a performer and grinned the whole time, gave a bow, and then charged down the aisle back to his chair. Mr. 8 was more reserved and played well but missed a note and was really disappointed. Pretty typical for those two. We're thankful for a wonderful piano teacher who is patient with the boys when it's been a long school day and piano lessons are a bit wiggly and for sharing her love of music with them.

 
 
 

Letting Zeus go

Over the weekend Mr. 8 decided it was time to let our dark-wing beetle friend join the real world. He was raised from a little meal worm in captivity so this was his first venture into the wild. There's no apple slices to eat (or actually drink according to Mr. 8) but I think he'll be happy by the strawberry plants.

 
 
 

Brothers

 
 
 

Learning to somersault

After a delicious Mother's Day breakfast out (where we were reminded of the benefit of pre-feeding our starving children), we spend some time in the yard enjoying the beautiful day. I realized Mr. 2 had done a somersault so we spent some time working on our somersault technique. After the first demonstration I realized exactly why you shouldn't do somersaults 6 months pregnant and relegated that task to the older brothers. Now he's happy to show off his new skill anywhere he can and we've had to remind him that somersaults are really only for grass and not for concrete, wood floors, on top of your brothers, etc.

 
 
 
 

Happy Mother's Day

 

Pumpkin bread

Or how to keep from eating at Coffee Central every day.

Lately I just can't seem to pack enough snacks for work. So sometime in the late afternoon with consults still to see and many notes still to write, I often find myself in our little coffeeshop for a quick snack. There's really only so many granola bars I can eat in a week and I want something quick and portable and by that time of day I've already eaten my morning snack, some yogurt, some fruit, and lunch. So tonight I decided to make pumpkin bread as my mid-afternoon snack. I've made many recipes but am always up for a new one and I would never think to actually bake anything by actually following a recipe start to finish but this is good so I wanted to remember approximately how I did it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup applesauce
1 can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place applesauce, pumpkin puree, oil, egg in a large bowl. Beat with an electronic mixer on low speed.
Add flour, oats, almond meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake until done.

An adaptation but it fits the goal of being healthy, filling, and tasty.