Lately: February Celebrations and More

Life lately has been very full! The kids are busy with school work and activities and we're spending lots of time with family, but our weekends have been quieter. Rainy gray days = perfect for staying inside.  

Here's a peek at some of what we've been up to lately:

The boys put on their Patriots caps (thanks to Aunt Rosemary) for the Super Bowl. Too bad it didn't help them win!

Henry made two cars for the annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.

Neither of his cars won anything, but he enjoyed working with Gene to build the cars.

I snapped this photo of the boys with one of Ruby's toys. Ruby usually rips her toys to pieces immediately, but this one (Monsieur Acorn) stayed intact for months -- which was ironic because there was a hidden "sad" acorn inside the outer shell!

Playing Dungeons and Dragons by candlelight.

Henry loves grapefruit, so we usually come home with a bag from the farmers market. We love citrus season!

More food: we had a simple Valentine's breakfast of heart-shaped cinnamon toast with red strawberries. I even managed to find my Valentine's decorations (all two pieces) just in time!

The school libraries have been keeping me busy as well. My friend Gwendolyn and I made a door sign for our school librarian for teacher appreciation week.

Our school also had its first author visit. John David Anderson, author of eight middle grade novels, came to talk about his newest book, Granted. He was so funny and the kids roared with laughter. Author visits are my favorite!

I spend a lot of time in the library, but I'm not always there when Henry's class comes in. A couple of weeks ago, I was covering for a volunteer during Henry's library ancillary, so I snapped a bunch of photos for his class Shutterfly album.

Nana's birthday is this week, but we were over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and celebrated early with brownies. 

We had a bunch of outtakes trying to get one good shot -- Henry is laughing that the candle blew out.

Happy early birthday, Nana!!

Will had a birthday party to attend out near Nana and Pop's last weekend, so the rest of us spend a few hours hanging out and enjoying a couple of hours of sun and blue skies!

We celebrated Will's half birthday with my parents twice -- once with leftover cake

and once with presents!

March and its many birthday celebrations will be here before we know it!

Lately: Artichokes, Grilling, and a Piano Recital

Lately, we have been busy with end-of-year festivities and enjoying our beautiful spring weather.  Here are some photos from last week.

I found artichokes at the farmers market and brought home four for the boys to try! I grew up eating artichokes as my hometown was about an hour from Castroville,California, the Artichoke Center of the World. My parents always steamed the artichokes and then we dipped the leaves in mayo and scraped off the flesh with our teeth, so that's exactly how I prepared them.

Henry is my adventuresome eater and was excited to try a new food.  

Yum! At first, Henry was the only one brave enough to try them but then Gene grabbed one and finally Will did too. They all agreed that fresh artichokes were delicious!

In other news, Gene finally upgraded his grill. He had been eyeing the Big Green Egg and other ceramic grills for awhile and finally bit the bullet and bought a Kamado Joe. It arrived last Thursday and you would have thought it was Christmas morning around here! 

You know he had to try it out right away!

So far, Gene has grilled sausages, burgers and pizza! I foresee many a summer evening spent eating grilled dinners outside.  

And finally, all our activities are winding down as the school year draws to a close. Will's last Cub Scout Pack meeting was last Thursday. He had already earned his Wolf badge, but he got another belt loop and two more arrow points. He has worked so hard this year.

The boys had their first piano recital on Sunday afternoon! Will has been taking lessons for just over a year and Henry has only been playing piano for two months, so this was their first recital.

Henry was the youngest student and played "Robin Hood" from his beginning piano book. He did a really good job!

Will has been practicing his recital piece for months. It was called "Toy Town" by Nancy Farber and was a challenging piece but he performed it absolutely beautifully for the recital. We were so proud of him!

Group bow -- their teacher is in the back.

With only five more days of school left, we are all looking forward to summer fun!

Lately: School Projects and More

The month of April has been full of school projects, home projects and enjoying Houston's beautiful spring weather. Here are photos of some of our activities this month:

Will worked really hard on his Animal Habitats project! He chose to learn about the komodo dragon, and had to make this tripanel display, write a five-paragraph essay, create a diorama and present to the class! Parents were invited to the cafeteria one morning to check out all the kids' hard work.

While Will was working on his big school project, Henry also had several projects, including his state project on Maine, his pursuit of passion project (Henry's passion was hiking and exploring nature!) and this star student project. We had to make a poster (he cut the pictures and I glued them on) and bring in a favorite book and toy. He chose All the Water in the World for his book and Magformers for his toy.

This month has been a busy one at school, and it was busy on the home front as well. Our biggest project was finally replacing our 24-year-old roof. We knew it was nearing the end of its life when we bought the house, but we managed to get three extra years out of it. This year, though, the roofing company said there was nothing more they could do to fix it, so we got a new roof instead and it looks great! It was loud and messy around here for two days and I only managed to snap a couple of photos of a roofer's shadow. He was up on our roof and cast a shadow on the neighbor's house.

Will's first communion is coming up in two weeks, so Gene and Will went shopping for Will's first suit. So big!

Our backyard is absolutely lovely in the evenings, so we eat dinner outside often. 

Local food! Roasted carrots and Brussels, green salad, and polenta rounds topped with carrot-top pesto, sundried tomatoes and Parm, with a Shiner Farmhouse Ale on the side.

Gene came home last Friday night in time to join us for dinner outside. We were just sitting and chatting when this butterfly landed on his head and stayed there for a good five minutes or so. 

After a busy day at work and school, the boys love to wind down with one of Gene's famous Captain Silly Beard stories. He's been telling them for years and they focus on Captain Silly Beard, the silliest captain to ever sail the Silly Seas. His ship, the Slippery Seal, only sails backwards and Captain Silly Beard's beard grows in as different kinds of food. The stories are always silly and creative and laughter-inducing. This is Henry's illustration of the story of the search for the 8th mate, who had been missing for years; Captain Silly Beard (CS) finally found him sleeping at the bottom of the ship.

April has been busy but it's been a whole lot of fun too!

Lately: Soccer, Cub Scouts, Books and the Wienermobile

The last week has been one of those crazy weeks full of non-stop activities. It started with a full weekend: Katy Prairie Ranch Roundup, three birthday parties, two soccer games, friends visiting from Germany and major school projects for both boys! We barely had time to breathe. This week has been equally busy with soccer practice, continuing ed classes at Rice (drawing for Gene, photography for me, and a Magritte class for my mom and me!), piano, projects, field trips for both boys, and Cub Scouts. Needless to say, we are all looking forward to a bit of downtime this weekend.

Much of Henry's soccer season has been rained out, but I was finally able to snap some pictures at his Sunday afternoon game.  

This boy loves soccer.

Getting goofy.

Gene was out of town for a couple of days this week. Normally, he takes Will to Cub Scouts and I stay home with Henry, but instead I got to take both boys. Fortunately, we are nearing the end of the year and our den leader had a fun evening planned.  

We visited the Bellaire trolley to complete our "visit a historic site" requirement. We also learned all about trolleys in Houston!

Henry mostly loved running around and playing with a friend. After the den meeting, we had a pizza party at Fuzzy's because our den was the top-popcorn-selling den in the pack. 

And here are a few more pictures I found on various cameras: 

Henry loves his new Maps book from Aunt Amber.

Henry is such a reader -- Captain Underpants is a current favorite. I caught him up well before dawn one morning reading!

Henry had his six-year-old check-up this week. The doctor said he's perfect! Henry was mostly just excited to miss some school and have special lunch with Mommy.

And finally, just for fun, we were driving right behind the Wienermobile last Sunday in our neighborhood.

So fun!

Despite our busy-ness, we've really enjoyed all our activities, with the exception perhaps of those school projects. Here's hoping this weekend is just as fun, if perhaps a touch less frantic!