Recital

So Sunday I played in a cello recital.  A few months ago I decided I had time and energy to take lessons and practice. I love the way my teacher kept us organized.  She placed 10 sticky notes on the floor, with our names on them, in order of our performance.  We were to place our cello by the sticky note.  It was fun to see 10 cellos all lined up.  Then right before the performance she went from cello to cello and tuned them.  I can only imagine the story behind that.  It was a lot of fun to hear each person's piece and it was nice to perform in a recital.  I haven't done that for 20 years.  The boys were quite happy to partake of the sugared refreshment afterwards.  Here I am.  Enjoy!

New news

 OMSI (a science museum) has a Lego exhibit.  It is pretty neat.  The man who creates all these sculptures used to be a lawyer.  Now he spends about 13 hours a day making his Lego creations.  Donald Trump commissioned him to do a replica of one of his buildings.  It was an amazing exhibit.  Definitely some talent there.

 Afterwards there were thousands of Legos in big tubs.  The boys spent a while creating their masterpieces.  Then we took a picture.

 And then it was Easter!  Quinn was excited to find eggs and then even more excited when he found that there was candy in the eggs.

 My partially finished chicken coop.

 And loot for all!

 The chickens are growing.  They are almost too big to bring in the house due to poop reasons.  Little chick poop is not a big deal.  Bigger chicken poop is . . . hence the tissues under each chick.

I hear cheep!

 At the beginning of March we got 6 chicks.  They were so small and weighed hardly anything.  I was sure by morning they would all be dead.

 But apparently they are hardy little things and now 3 weeks later are very much alive and thriving.  The cats weren't sure what to make of all the cheeping.  They thought it sounded like snack time.  But they have been discouraged.

 They are pretty adorable.  Both the chicks and the kids.

Ryan's new project is to build a coop in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, they enjoy their heat lamp in the large box in the garage.  And they put up with all the petting and adoration of 4 small boys.

Cross Country Skiing

 Rhed and I tried cross country skiing yesterday.  REI sponsors the event.  You can rent skis for cheap and sign up for a lesson time.  Our teacher is on the left.

 I felt more comfortable skiing on a mostly level surface.  I have tried downhill skiing and don't care for the effects of gravity on my uncoordinated body.

 After our lesson we decided to ski up to a waterfall.  It was a beautiful day and we had a good time.

My friend Andrea came with us.  It was fun to learn a new skill and spend some time in the great outdoors.

Snow Day

 The kids didn't have school today so we decided to go to Mt. Hood and play.

 It was a beautiful day.  The sky was clear, the sun was out, and we had no problem staying warm.

 For lunch we had noodles in a cup and hot chocolate.  I got to try out my  new Jet Boil stove and loved it.

 Quinn was "cool" with my sunglasses on.  He enjoyed "taking pictures" with a camera that had no memory card in it.

 Even mom got in on the fun.  Quinn is trying to give me a push.

 Ryan took Quinn down a couple of times.

 And helped push kids a few other times.

Anyone want to take the baby for a walk?

January happenings

 Rhed turned 11 at the beginning of the month.  He had a birthday party and invited a few friends over.

 He got quite a few Legos and was one happy boy.

 He requested a banana creme pie rather than cake.

 Rhed makes a bowling ball and pins out of duplos so that Quinn can bowl.

 Last week Rhed and I went snow shoeing.  REI had an outdoor workshop we attended near Mt. Hood.  It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time trying something new.

 My friend Estella came and cut our hair.  Quinn was pretty cute.

 Rhed's scout group went snow shoeing on Saturday and they invited the parents to come too if they wanted. I wanted.

 After a quarter mile we ran out of snow.  So we turned around and held a log conference to decide what to do.

 It was decided we would head back down the way we had come, and find a place to eat lunch.

 It wasn't long before someone's thoughts turned to snowballs.

 Here is Rhed with his scout leader learning to boil water in the great outdoors.

 My friend Deb with her son.

 Here is the clearing we found.

 It snowed for the couple of hours we spent in this clearing.  But it fell softly and accumulated slowly.

 This is Rhed's other leader doing her "glamour" pose.

 The ladies sat and visited for a while and the boys threw snowballs at each other.

 Then it was time to eat.

 I thought Rhed was warming his hands on his Mac and Cheese but he said he was covering his lunch so that it wouldn't snow on his food.

And by the end, 3 of the ladies had joined in the snowball fight. . . . boys vs leaders.  Not sure who won, but everyone had a great time!