Birthday Weekend

Our weekend was full of birthday fun! We all got to go to a pool party for one of Will's friends on Saturday, and then we celebrated more birthdays on Sunday. 

Henry went to a Star Wars party at the Idea Lab. The first thing they did was make Jabba the Hutt slime.

Henry knew exactly what to do

because it is just like when we make slime at home!

The kids made outer space pictures, complete with comets,

and then moved outside to make a big batch of "alien vomit." Ewww! Henry said he knew it was really just more goo.  

The big hit for the little Jedis was the obstacle course. 

Henry made his way through the asteroid field, light saber in hand. What a fun party!

When Henry and I got home, there was a cupcake from Crave waiting for me because we were celebrating my birthday a few days early as well. Will knows that I like chocolate, so he helped Gene pick out a candy bar cupcake, which we split three ways. The little guys and I thought it was delicious!

That night, we got a babysitter 

and went out to dinner with two of our favorite friends, Katy and Jaime.

After dinner at Hearsay, we saw Agatha Christie's The Hollow at the Alley Theatre. 

Cupcakes from Crave, spending time with good friends and the Alley's Summer Chills? Definitely my favorite way to celebrate my birthday!

Summer Break: Week Six

Shhh... don't tell the boys, but summer break is more than half over! Only five more weeks til school starts. How can that be? We are so enjoying our summer days. They are full and fun! Here are some of this week's highlights:

The boys played tennis at the Little Gym this week.

Even though we have many favorite recipes, I am constantly pulling out recipes from magazines that I want to try. This week, we happened to have all the ingredients on hand to make orange-ricotta pancakes, a recipe from the January issue of Better Homes and Gardens. My sleepy boy helped me, of course. The pancakes were so good! We made a huge batch and have been gobbling them up all week.

The boys took an art class with an outer space theme at the Glassell Junior School this week. They loved it and made some awesome art! We got caught in the rain walking back from class one day and had to break out the umbrellas. Check out Henry's art umbrella!

After art class on Thursday, we discovered this awesome book sculpture by Joseph Havel outside the Contemporary Arts Museum. It's called Endless and is a stack of books made from bronze and resin. Kind of reminds me of the stacks of books in our house!

Speaking of books, my big reader earned his blue ribbon for reading 50 books this summer. I think he's read closer to 70 (chapter) books by now.

We visited the MFAH for their summer art detective program again and this time made golden linguist staffs like the ones on display from Ghana. 

When Gene got home from his 6-day trip to Indonesia, the boys showed him all the space aliens and rocket ships that they made in art class.

I love that they described in great detail their outer-space worlds! 

My happy boy.  

Daddy also brought the boys some big bugs! 

Are you surprised that our bedtime books were about bugs that night? We love bugs!

 It's been another great week of summer!

Weekend Fun: the Symphony, a Sleepover, and the Zoo

The boys and I had such a fun weekend! The Houston Symphony is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and put on their first-ever free day-long music festival on Saturday. They showcased 30 different musical groups from Houston and anchored the day with Symphony performances in the morning and evening. We were only there for about three hours but it was a fabulous experience and I hope they'll do it again!

Before the family concert at 10 a.m., we listened to the Celtic band Clandestine in the front lobby. 

Then it was time for the family concert. The Houston Symphony never disappoints, and this was one phenomenal performance. The highlights were astronauts Chris Hadfield, Astros announcer Milo Hamilton, and a talented 15-year-old pianist named Patrick Pan whose hands literally flew over the keys. Will was inspired! We had great seats in the fourth row and enjoyed every minute of the hour-long concert. At one point, Henry leaned over and whispered, "This is my favorite place ever!" I am so glad my boys love music!

After the concert, the boys were starving. There were food trucks in the plaza across the street from Jones Hall, but they were in the blazing sun with very long lines, so we opted for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe instead. It was the boys' first time there and they thought it was uber-cool!

After lunch, we headed back to the front courtyard of Jones Hall. The boys were getting goofy,

but we listened to the first songs of the Joy of Djembe drum group. What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

On Saturday night, the boys decided to have a sleepover. I came upstairs to find this Boys Only sign in front of Henry's room.

Weezie blatantly disregarded it and cozied up on a pillow in the tent!

The noisy boys soon scared her off, though!

I always wonder how well the boys sleep in their sleeping bags on the floor, but everyone woke up happy and refreshed on Sunday morning.  Will snoozed til almost 8 but Henry was up before 7. He and I played a few rounds of "Tic Tac Toad" (as Junie B. Jones calls it). 

And then we were off to the zoo! 

My plan is always to get there right when they open to beat the crowds and the heat. It was quite warm, but it was overcast and I'm so glad we went. Will really wanted to see the Lego animals again! 

We explored the Children's Zoo

and rode the carousel,

 twice.  

We ended our visit in the air-conditioned reptile house, 

 where we saw lizards, snakes and alligators.  

We even said hello to this gal outside!

There's no denying that Houston is big and hot in the summer, but we feel so lucky to live in a city with so much to do and see. We had a fantastic weekend exploring two of our family's favorite Houston attractions.  

Summer Break: Week Five

Summer is speeding by! Here are a few highlights from week five:

We had movie night with popcorn. We watched Wreck It Ralph, which was great!

Henry is still playing on his box violin (violin is so much harder than piano!) but he is doing so well!

Henry likes to draw while Will has his piano lesson. When I'm not taking pictures of Henry's drawings, I look at cooking magazines for inspiration!

Will chose to do a half-day iKids camp this week. Building with Legos, computer games and playing with friends: what's not to love? Henry didn't want to do the camp this year, so he was my sidekick all week. We ran lots of errands in the rain and cleaned the house. I love my new kitchen towel from Penzey's with their slogan on the front. It's what we do in our kitchen. 

And speaking of food, we had some awesome meals this week. I didn't get a picture of our arctic char but it was out-of-this-world good. Henry and I also made carrot soup from John Segal's Carrot Soup book. You know we love finding recipes in our story books!

Gene made pizza last night. Henry jumped right in to help. He really loves being in the kitchen.

We also had a couple of playdates this week. Henry had his first kindergarten meet-up at the school Wednesday evening. He actually has a lot of friends going to his school next year, but he and Will loved running and playing and eating popsicles.  

Pearl came over one morning when Will was at camp. These two are so cute together!

And finally, we headed up to Kingwood to get figs from Gramma and Grampa's tree. 

We had to chase a couple of squirrels out, but we still got tons and tons of fruit.

We filled up one and a half colanders! 

Will doesn't like picking or eating figs but he loves playing Chutes and Ladders. 

I landed on this dunce-cap chute three times in a row. You can guess who won the game!

I know I say this every week, but we really are enjoying our summer break!