Piano Recital

This weekend was Cole's 2nd piano recital. I think he felt much better than he did for his 1st one. He did a much better job too! Plus there were half as many people there. The teacher let the parents choose between 3 recital times which cut the time down dramatically

His performing class:

The last piece he played is a familiar Beethoven tune, Fur Elise. He had heard me play this a couple of times and liked the song. So he set to figuring out the notes himself. Once he found the melody, I showed him some left hand work. He performed it for his piano teacher who encouraged him to learn a little bit more, with some adjustments and then include it in his recital repertoire. Because of the "spin" he put on the song, it was listed in the recital program as:

Beethoven's Fur Elise ____________ arr. Cole Jackson

A little professional! I love to watch how he moves when he plays!

Yep, he's tacky!

Yesterday was Tacky Tuesday at Cole's school. Check him out:

Inside out, backwords, and mismatched! That's my boy!

Keeping it in the Family

Businesses that exist for the purpose of providing delicious food usually don't give out their recipes for said items. Otherwise we would make the stuff at home and not visit their establishment. That's how some businesses got started actually, keeping the recipe in the family.

My mom makes an amazing pie from a recipe her mom had. I remember falling in love with the pie as a child, the night she served it to our family and a visiting missionary family, the Foucachons. From then on I referred to it as the Foucachon Pie. Every visitor that tasted this dessert asked for the recipe, but mom just wouldn't give it out. Why? Because this pie was special! And by keeping it in the family, it stayed special. It stayed special for us kids too - she wouldn't even give it to us as grown adults!

Until now . . .

This Christmas, I opened a small box with a single piece of paper in it: the recipe for Foucachon Pie!

Yeah, it was a big deal.

We recently celebrated mom's birthday, 11 days after the actual day. So I made her a Mocha Nut Pie - with candles and everything!

Verdict: She loved it! Yea! Looks yummy, eh?

I'll be happy to share a piece with you, just not the recipe. Gotta keep it in the family, you know!

Add it to the list!

Well, it's almost Mother's Day. And I'm going to take advantage of my right as a mother to say how proud I am of my son!

Those of you who know him know that he is a boy of many talents. I've known he is smart and I've known he is naturally athletic. And I've also learned that he is a growing musician. But what I didn't know was that he can also be called an artist! Check this out:

This is a drawing of his "dream school" per an assignment in art class. He needed to use an alternate energy source so he chose water, as seen in the waterfalls on either side. I can't remember what every little thing is, but he could tell you!

Last week we received an invitation to an art awards ceremony at a studio downtown. What?? Unfortunately, it fell on a night that we had a soccer game so we could not attend. However, his bag of "goodies" was given to him at school the next day. He received a set of colored pencils, a drawing tablet, a set of notecards with various students' drawings, and this certificate:

He was so excited! And I, of course, was very proud of him!

A long time comin'

So Brice and I took the shameless mother cat to the Humane Society. And there was much rejoicing. While there we saw several other animals being surrendered - a litter of German Shepherd mix puppies, a few "Marley" dogs, a litter of kittens, and a cat bigger than Simba! We played with the dogs and smiled at the kittens while we waited for our cat to be extracted from our cage. And there was much rejoicing.

Then came a young woman with a small cardboard box in hand. Echoes of "Awe!" and "How cute!" filled the room from those who looked in. I had to see what was drawing such responses! The girl remarked, "I just found it in my house." Then I saw her - one lone dark brown puppy. I gasped and immediately asked if I could hold her. Once in my arms, the puppy laid against my chest and nuzzled into my neck. That was all it took. I looked at Brice, Brice looked at me, and we agreed. And there was much rejoicing!

Meet Daisy, our 6-week old Chocolate Lab:

We didn't tell Cole until we went to pick her up from the vet the next day. He didn't know whether we were serious or not. It took some convincing for him to finally believe that she was ours!

She's been so sweet. She sleeps a lot and is learning how to play. Of course, I'm elated, but the boys are hooked too!

We weren't sure how Macie would respond. She reacted immediately. I've never seen so many of her hairs stand on end at the same time. Even her tail was bushy! She watched from a distance as Daisy explored various rooms in the house. She still watches, but she gets much closer. Daisy, however, doesn't give her one bit of attention!

And she loves the monkey grass! She gets lost in it. We are definitely smitten!

I'm sure there will be numerous blogs and pictures of our new blessing as we train her and play with her. But for now, we'll let her keep sleeping on her monkey.

Just Another Day in Talladega

The boys were back in town to race 188 laps around Talladega Super Speedway and me and my girls were front and center! It was a great day! The weather wasn't too hot, good conversation, lots of laughs, and plenty of action on the track.

And Becky - this time I made sure I was IN the picture so you'd know for sure that I really was there!

Kittens, Kittens, and a CAT!

Once we found out there were more kittens in the crawl space, Brice set out to catch them - and to figure out how they were still getting in! He set our small trap and by the next morning, we had caught kitten #1!



We've been referring to her as Macie Jr. Within a few days, we caught kittens 2, 3, and 4! Two black and two gray - probably two males and two females. They are a handful but so cute! They know they are family and stay close together. And they love their stuffed squirrel!



The best news is that we finally caught the mom! NO MORE KITTENS!!!!!!!!

We would love to find good homes for these last precious 4. If you know anyone willing or looking, please let us know. Here are their individual pictures: