Happy belated birthday, Mr. M!

Mr. M is not big on birthday celebrations, especially his own. Things were pretty low key on his actual DAY (mostly so he could focus on cranking out that dissertation). This afternoon, I happened to make a chocolate zucchini bread which was very cake-like, and we all decided it was not too late to stick a candle in it and sing to our favorite man.

The zucchini bread might have been so crispy on the outside and so moist on the inside that I might have eaten half a loaf all myself and called it dinner.

Happy birthday to the best husband I ever had and my kids' favorite dad ever!

Big music day

It was a big day in the life of Erin the musician. I held my spring recital for my violin studio this afternoon at the local public library, and tonight I played in the San Antonio Symphony Pro-Am concert in which amateur and semi-professional players sit side by side with symphony members. I confess that I was stressed about both and extremely grouchy on the inside. I think I managed to only be somewhat grouchy on the outside, but at the end of the day, I feel wonderful and will remember the day as such. I only hope that my family members can remember it with the same fondness and forgive me my grouching.

The recital was a great success. I have 9 students, 2 of whom are Ethan and Scott. The actual performance time was just over 15 minutes. Short and sweet. Ordinarily, I perform something, too, but since I have been putting all my practice time into the music for tonight's symphony concert, I excused myself from performing at the recital.  Everyone did really well, and I'm so pleased with the progress my students are making.






This was the 2nd Annual Symphony Pro-Am concert. I applied late January and received notification about 3 weeks ago that I was accepted to play first violin. Our parts were emailed to us, and we received seat assignments when we reported for our first and only rehearsal (1 hour). There was a half hour break and then our performance: Liszt Les Préludes, a piece I have played twice previously at Interlochen. It's a challenging piece with lots of arpeggios, noodles, and very high notes for the first violins. They had me seated in the third stand (!!!), so I was feeling a lot of pressure, but my stand partner was very nice. I realized in the rehearsal that no one was going to yell at me or put leaves down my shirt, that I just needed to do my best and enjoy it, so I did! It turns out that my stand partner  was also at Interlochen in 1992 in WYSO! Such a small world. I am going to dig out my programs and see if I can find her name.

Announcements before rehearsal started

 Mr. M, Scott, and Ethan all came to support me and listen. Scott seemed to really like it, but perhaps it is just because it makes for good blog material. He has been posting almost every day on his own blog. (It is a private blog, so if you would like an invitation, let me know.)

Linguistic success!

Mr. M has been speaking only in Spanish to Elizabeth since December. Some days he metaphorically beats his head against the keyboard and says things like, "She will never answer me in Spanish, never, never, never!"

Last night, at our family dinner, Elizabeth came into the dining room from the kitchen. (The 7 cousins eat together in the kitchen at their own table.) "Daddy, I want more bread." He picked up a large piece of bread and broke it in half, ready to give her one of the pieces. "Dame! Dame!" she said, reaching for both. (For any non-Spanish speakers, that means "Give me!") Mr. M looked momentarily stunned, then handed her both pieces. I'm not sure who was more pleased, Elizabeth or Mr. M.

Moments from homeschool today

We have just finished our first full week of homeschool. I think I am learning as much as my 2 kids who spend the day with me, although my learning is more about myself and relationships and discipline than academic learning. Somewhat surprisingly, I feel like I get more done during the day in terms of laundry and dishes. I really like spending time with Scott. We are still settling in to our routine and making adjustments, but I think it has begun well.

Elizabeth loves to cook with me. Here she is taking a turn at rolling out pitas.

Meanwhile, Scott was working on math and snacking on grapes. He also took a turn rolling out pitas.

The one thing I do really miss is taking a nap. A whole week with only one interrupted nap (today) and it was catastrophic. Scott kindly read Elizabeth some books and helped her settle down for a nap, so I could have a nap today. Unfortunately, she woke up before I did. She changed out of her pull-up into panties, spent some time playing with water in the bathroom sink and spilling it all over the floor, and then got into my lipstick and mascara, both of which had to be thrown out. When I picked her up to clean her face, she peed on me. Not the best way to wake up from a too-short nap. I chalk it all up to motherhood and experience.

More than ever, I feel like the way I choose to spend my time is so important. Here I end this post to retire to my bed, so that tomorrow I may call upon all my coping skills and banish Monster Mom.

February update

We eat a lot of pancakes at our house. It's our go-to last minute dinner, and one of our favorite breakfasts. The kids are all (still) fascinated by the wheat grinder. I love this picture. Who knew that wheat grinders could be as captivating as a big screen?

Scott loves to help in the kitchen. Here is his first attempt at flipping the pancakes. He comes up with ideas every single day of what to do for cooking class in homeschool.

Speaking of homeschool, we have officially begun. Scott came home from school last Thursday and insisted that he was done. The last straw for him was losing 6 minutes of his recess time (which is significant, since recess is only 15 minutes long) because other kids in his class wouldn't settle down.

I was delighted to hear that he had made up his mind. I had been thinking it was such a waste for him to sit at school all day when he was capable of, and wanting to do, so much more. Scott is really a homeschool kind of kid, forever coming up with his own projects. He planned and organized a book fair last weekend, which involved writing and illustrating a bunch of books (about Harvey and Snortey, of course!), creating a money system (pig dollars), and a series of games and contests which would provide his cousins (who were to be the main book fair participants) with currency. Alas, one of the cousins scorned his efforts, turning her younger siblings against the book fair. Only his oldest cousin wanted to participate, but how can you have a contest or a game with just one person?  He was quite upset about it and determined never to plan anything fun for the cousins again.

 Ethan, on the other hand, LOVES his class and his teacher at school. He loves to be "in the system".  He has just joined the Junior Math Pentathlon, which will be meeting once a week after school. I'm grateful that both homeschool and public school are available as options.

We aren't really celebrating Valentine's Day tonight, but we did have a special table ready for the kids when they came down today. Love Crunch was our breakfast, a chocolate granola studded with chunks of dark chocolate and freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries. There was also a Valentine from Harvey and Snortey to the boys and a bag of treats from us, the parents. Those bags say "Hogs and Kisses" - here is a link to the website that gave us free printables for the bags and also to attach to the Hershey Kisses inside. It was so fun to watch Scott's face as he opened his bag.

Wishing you all a happy V-day, a happy Tuesday, and a great week!

Bowling

Elizabeth the wonder bowler!

We've been using myjobchart.com for many months to help motivate our boys to help at home. Scott recently redeemed "go bowling" with some of the points he had earned. I decided to schedule it for a Monday and call it our Family Home Evening activity.

There was a special going on at the bowling alley. For $5 per person, we got unlimited games, shoes, AND a fountain drink AND french fries or popcorn, for each of us. The kids were in heaven. I was happy, too, since it usually costs more than that just to rent shoes and a lane.  Mister M got us another 10% off with his university ID. The lanes had bumpers that went up for the kids and went down for the adults. We played a full game and then part of another game before it was time to leave.

As a bonus, the bowling alley was right next to Krispy Kreme and the hot light was on, so we popped in before heading home (because with popcorn, french fries, and fountain drinks, we still needed more junk food). I find it very restful to watch the donuts glide under the glazing waterfall.

And this summer, when it's blazing hot, we'll be going back to that bowling alley for the Monday special and the air conditioning!