Weekend Stuff

Hi all....another week has begun. And tomorrow is April Fool's Day. Daniel has already told us all "Beware on April Fool's Day. My 'whoopie cushion' WILL be used." haha! If anyone is going to play jokes tomorrow it will be Dan. :)

Friday Nathan helped dissect a shark for his Biology class! He loved it...got to pop one of the eyes and bring home a shark eye lens. Such a great souvenir! :) Whatever will he do with that???

We had a nice weekend; quiet Friday night of family time. We played games with the kids which was fun! Saturday we enjoyed breakfast with our good friends, Stef and Jason and kids, here in Brentwood. Lots of fun catching up with them.

Then in the afternoon we went to Nathan's piano recital. He was chosen to play one of his piano pieces from Certificate of Merit in an Honors Recital on Saturday. He did a fine job there...he's glad it's over. :)

Now we're into another busy week...hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine (at least if you live up here in the Bay Area)!

Earthquake

Did you feel the earthquake?

Easter Eggs

We all enjoyed coloring eggs last week for Easter! My kids are so creative; they like to use markers, crayons and sometimes their HANDS to make some pretty uniqute eggs!

Lizzy was more into pastels and stickers.

Dan colored some of his eggs using markers, and enjoyed mixing the egg dye. He also used his hands more than the spoons to stir, lift his eggs out of the dye. Why use a spoon when you have all of those fingers?

Some of the finished products! Se the Spiderman egg? I believe that was Nathan's.

Pretty colors!

Just Stuff

Nothing much is new here, but it's been a while since I've posted so I figure nothing new is better than nothing at all. :)

Lizzy lost her second tooth today. It just fell out while she was eating lunch. We thought she'd swallowed it, but it was sitting on the table next to a piece of apple. She's very excited. :)

Maybe she'll lose the two, top teeth next and be Miss Snaggletooth. That's what we affectionately called all of the boys when they were losing teeth in front.

Nathan played for his Certificate of Merit Evaluation on Saturday, and did very well. One of his pieces was chosen as "excellent" to play in an Honor Recital next Saturday. Very cool!

Tim is playing in a piano competition in April; cash prizes for the winners! It's his first time, so we aren't holding our breath for a first place, but it's an honor to be chosen to play.

Dan is doing better with his school, and actually finishing before his afternoon deadline! We had a rough few weeks of LATE school days, but thankfully he's doing well for now.

We have a busy weekend coming up again, with lots of activities going on. Is it REALLY almost Easter??

A really GOOD cookie recipe!

I made these last weekend, and thought that they came out really yummy and they are easy to make! They are quite buttery, which is probably why I like them so much! :)

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

2 C flour
pinch of salt
1/2 lb butter, softened
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1/3 C sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Mix flour and salt together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix butter, sugars and vanilla with a mixer until smooth. Reduce speed and add flour in three batches, beating just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Press dough evenly in bottom of an ungreased, 9x13 cake pan. Bake until golden brown and firm, about 45 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.

Weekend

Since I am home from church with Dan this morning, I thought I'd post a quick update! Dan has been sick with a cold and although he's better today, he's still coughing.

We had a good weekend, although we had to split up a bit with Dan being sick. Friday we went to Livermore for Nathan's Biology class (where they dissected a crayfish - it was pretty cool). Friday night, Nathan went with his HS Sunday School class and spent the night at the Kemper's. Sounds like they had fun! The rest of us went to our home school group meeting where the boys learned about electricity and the girls made soap! Making soap was fun, and easier than I expected! Poor Dan had to sit in the van and watch a movie, inside the Matt's garage. He was a trooper!

Saturday, Kenny took Tim and Lizzy to Eskaton (where Kenny's Mom lives) and met up with our above mentioned home school group. Many of the kids played piano there, and a couple of them recited poems or Bible verses for the residents there. Then they passed out the pretty soaps that the girls had made the night before. Dan and I had to miss it, but Kenny said it was a really nice time. The residents there SO appreciate the kids coming in.

Meanwhile, Nathan was at our church with his HS class, painting! They painted their classroom and had fun doing that. It's exciting to know that we'll be getting new carpet in the SS classrooms at church!

Meanwhile for ME...I went to my Book Club meeting. Yes, it was one of those weekends where we had multiple activities going on. We find that as the kids get older, we get busier!! We look forward to Nathan having a driver's license in a few months! :)

And now today...the family went to church and Dan and I are going to listen to our church service online! We broadcast live on Sundays which is great if you have to stay home with a sick child!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

It's a Date!

Yesterday Kenny and I went up to Morgan Territory and walked around. It was a beautiful day, and very clear. We could see the Sierra Nevada mountain range...with the snow on it! Very pretty!

We did a "kid swap" with our friends the Matts (we watched their kids two weeks ago overnight and they kept our kids last night) so we got to have a 24 hour period together! We had a great time, although it was weird to wake up this morning and have all of the kids gone!