All-County Chorus

I had the great honor on Friday night of getting to watch my 2 older daughters perform in the same concert. It was the Elementary All County Chorus. Kathleen was going from Central Elementary and since they were honoring Central Schools at this concert, they asked the Central High School Honor Chorus to perform also. (Carina is not technically part of that chorus, but she is part of the trio and another group, so she was asked to perform also). I loved hearing both Carina and Kathleen sing. It is so fun to have girls who are in the chorus'. I didn't get this opportunity when I was in school, we didn't have a chorus program.Central High School Honor Chorus

Kathleen got to watch Carina perform up close!

Kathleen singing in the All County Chorus

The All County Honor Chorus

Three Blind Mice

Carina got to perform for the Kawanis Talent Competition. Her chorus teacher, Mrs. Stamps, put together this trio of Carina, Kylie, and Rachel. They sang an a capela rendition of "Three Blind Mice". Carina sang the alto part, Kylie sang second soprano, and Rachel did the first soprano part. It was the cutest number in the competition. They didn't win, but they had a good time and had a good experience.

My little mouse!

Strawberry Jam

As readers of my blog probably noticed by now, I put a lot of picture of cooking on... So this post will be no different! I found strawberries on sale this week, so the kids helped me make strawberry jam. We made a dozen quarts of cooked strawberry jam, and a dozen pints of freezer jam. Freezer jam is our favorite jam of all, but I wanted some cooked jam to have on hand.

As I was making the jam, I contemplated that I could have bought the cooked jam for around a dollar a jar, so I was spending way more money making it than I would buying it. However, I feel very strongly about teaching my children to cook and having them help to make jam enables them to make it themselves when they grow up. The other good point about making the freezer jam, is that you can't buy it!

The kids brought some jars of jam to school and their teachers were very appreciative. One teacher even drives into the mountain every year to buy homemade strawberry jam. I felt amazed that she wouldn't just make it herself! (although the trip to the mountains must be a fun tradition)

Lest you think that I am a great jam maker, let me share how on my first batch, trying to save time, I doubled it... It boiled over on the stove and smelled so horribly. The house was full of smoke and kids fleeing with little ones in their arms... (too bad I don't have a picture of that!) Lesson learned.. DON'T DOUBLE the jam unless you have a huge pot (mine was big - 6 quarts, but not big enough). The smoke cleared and the smell evaporated and after an hour of cleaning the stove, the jam making session continued without any issues. (The pictures were taking by Kathleen and David)

Carina and Kathleen cleaning and smashing the strawberries

Measuring the strawberry pulp

Stirring the jam on the stove (not the first batch!)

Skimmed off foam - yummy

Pouring the jam into the jars before the water bath

busy, busy tooth fairy

Annie has reached an important milestone! She lost her first tooth! What an achievement! Then the toothfairy was late! Oh my! What an exciting tooth adventure this has been...

foot prints in the flour

I wanted to make some King Cake since it is Mardi Gras season. So as I was getting ready to roll out the dough, James came and tromped through my flour! I am having a hard time keeping his little feet on the floor. He prefers heights right now and I am constantly removing him from every conceivable surface!

James' footprints in the flour!

Right foot

Left foot

Happy James

But despite James' help... I succeeded in making the king cake and it was very yummy!

Callaway Gardens

Callaway Gardens was having free admission for the month of February, so we took advantage of going to see this beautiful park.

Mom and James walking over the lake

One of the biggest fascinations for the kids. The Mallard duck cleaning himself!

Family pictures on the trail

The raptor house...
One of the owls had been spooked and flew away
so we weren't able to see their raptor show.

The Butterfly Conservatory!

My little butterflies!

Annie is a great butterfly!

A tarantula in the butterfly conservatory

The cocoons were on display and you could watch them hatching!

Butterflies were flying all around this big room with friendly plants!
It was lots of fun to see them fluttering in front of your face.
Annie was a little spooked by them, but everyone else really enjoyed it.

Peter

KathleenJames playing while we relaxed in the van afterwards!
We were pretty tired after all of our hiking!

. . . James . . .

James is 15 month now. He is a very active boy and lots of fun. He has reached the climbing stage and is getting into a whole new range of things! He is definitely keeping me busy.

James in the Van

James in his Sunday clothes

James outgrowing his clothes!

Sweet James

Cool James

James scaling new heights!

Huh?

Pinewood Derby

It is that time of year again!  Pinewood Derby.  It was Peter's first Derby.  Peter and I worked on his car together.  Despite our best efforts, it didn't win..  But Peter was a trooper.  He was the most cheerful boy, full of good sportsmanship!  That makes him the biggest winner to me!  

First Place!

Wow!  David won first place at the School Science Fair!  David did a easy project.  He ground up lime and sulfer and grew grass seeds.  He measured the growth every week.  It was a fun project to do.  FYI, the grass grew best with the sulfer!  

Big Boy Jared!

For everyone who knows me, I have been talking potty training for the past 6 months with everyone.  Jared was not potty training as easily as I had hoped for.  He was the hardest child I have had so far to train. But after much time, Jared decided (finally) that he would finish potty training and mastered it in a few days.  There has been great rejoicing in our house!   It is a wonderful thing!  I am so proud of his wonderful accomplishment and recoginize that he did it.  I stood back and encouraged and cheered, but he did it.  When he decided that he wanted to be a big boy, he learned in a very short amount of time.   I spent lots of months agonizing on how I wasn't a very good mother, when it was all him.  (sounds like a lot of wasted grief, huh... oh well!)

Jared also recently had his first successful dental visit.  We have taken him twice before and it was a disaster.  The last time, we had to leave because he started screaming when we tried to put him in the dental chair and refused to open his mouth.  Carina, David, and Annie had an appointment on Monday and as Michael couldn't get off work to watch James and Jared, I brought them with me.  Jared wanted to watch Annie, so I took him back to the cleaning room.  He stood at Ivy's (the dental hygenist) elbow the entire visit.  She patiently explained to him that she was removing the sugar bugs off of Annie's teeth and showed him everything.  He asked lots of questions and enjoyed checking out the buttons that made "mr. thirsty" and the water work..  When annie was all done, he hopped up in the chair.  Luckily for us, Ivy had some time in her schedule that morning, so we had an unscheduled cleaning for Jared!  He allowed her to clean the "sugar bugs" off of his teeth and brush his top teeth.  He drank some water and let "mr. thirsty" do his job, than declared that he was done.  He even let Dr. Balega, our dentist, count his teeth.  I was so proud of him!  This was a HUGE step forward for him.   Since we had such a good experience this time, with him watching Annie, I scheduled his next cleaning appointment, right after Annie's.  I don't want to mess up a good routine!  

I know my Jared boy is growing up quickly.  I just need to be patient and let him develop on his own time schedule.