CAVALCADE COUNTDOWN!

Cavalcade is coming. (March 6th) If you're wondering what that is let me share with you. It is a piano duet recital. There are about 25 pianos on the stage (At Mountain View H.S. this year) and each group performs 2 duet songs with a conductor. It is a great event. It just so happens that the guest performer this year is....Jon Schmidt. Can't wait to hear him perform. I will be in 3 groups this year playing the duet versions of his songs: Dumb Song (with Stacie) Waterfall, and All of Me. Now, I didn't count on it being a big deal. However, I do have to pay a little more attention and watch the notes, or I can take off on the original version. Pretty fun though.

I also got another piano book from David Lanz. It is a collection from 3 others books, I believe. There are 5 songs I enjoy playing daily...and sometimes more often!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Sunday, Jan. 31st was my birthday! Nice. You've probably noticed that everything seems to revolve around food here at our house, and my birthday was no exception. I ordered ebelskivers with fresh blueberries for my birthday breakfast. Delicious! Then after church we had a mexican fiesta with Mattas Salsa. Can't forget the dessert. Stacie and Ashleigh made cheesecake with a homecrust, that was Fantastic.

Some Birthday hightlights, lots of baking tools (specifically worded with DISHWASHER SAFE, that tends to be a BIG deal to some of the dishwasher helpers around here), a cute red shirt (Sometimes I borrowed Kinsie's--not any more), and Jon Schmidt CD--Bonus Tracks. By now, you know that I like his music a lot. Road trip song #4 is super to dance to, clean to, drive to etc.

Steven was having fun with the camera, and I just couldn't resist this picture of Kinsie having such a great time at my party.

Rainy Day Bread!

One thing I love is rainy days! And what isn't better than Hot bread on those kind of days! So, Steven has been on a baking kick these last few weeks. He discovered a web site with recipes using non other than whole wheat flour. So, he made this bread recipe, and it was delicious! So, tonight since it was raining all the children convinced him that he needed to make his bread. (this is a tradition here at home, making bread on rainy days) He also made "The best chocolate chip cookies ever" recipe, and "Oatmeal cookies" using whole wheat flour. They are both Winners!! We hope he keeps "practicing" on us!

Popcorn Anyone?

The other night a friend of mine dropped by unexpectantly. She had seen Stacie post pictures of her new cupcake on Facebook. She wanted to be a taster! She introduced me to this new site called Bakerella. It is a great site. There is a delicious looking recipe for Smores cupcakes that we have to try. I especially like to look at the blogs they love to visit. So, tonight, I came across this recipe Spicy Peanut Butter Popcorn. Doesn't that sound wonderful? And Guess what? It taste great too! It just has a hint of spice. (even my 4 year old didn't say anthing) I have Loved Popcorn since I was young. We would pop it every Sunday night, and eat it while we watched "Wonderful World of Disney". (aaah...yes, that dates me doesn't it?) Since then I have come to enjoy many different varieties of popcorn. You'll probably have all the ingredients for this new recipe in your pantry. Try it out, and tell me what you think? What is your favorite kind of Popcorn?!?

Spicy Peanut Butter Popcorn

Cup Cakes

For Christmas, I gave Stacie a book called 101 Gormet Cup Cakes. What a sweet idea! She has been busy making wonderful cupcakes. We (the whole fam) love'em. Here are some pictures of previous cup cake days.

Chocolate Angel

Churro

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Favorite new books

One thing I love to do in December (and October and November) is play Christmas music. It starts on Halloween day. This first book has been a favorite of mine for several years now. I love to play in it all the time, and it has arrangements of classics, and the last song "Go Tell it on the Mountain" is a little jazzy and fabulous.

This next book I just discovered a few days before Christmas. It became an instant favorite! David Lanz, Christmas Eve. Joy to the World, and The First Noel are at the Top of my list in this book, with several others coming in next. I am anxious to play some of his other music. I am sure I will like it. For Christmas I also received a lost page for Claire De Lune. I can now finish learning that wonderful tune. Those who know me, know I have been on a Jon Schmidt "kick" for a while now. At the beginning of the month, Steven and I were able to attend his Christmas Concert. It was fabulous. He is an amazing pianist. They had a big screen behind him, so you could watching his hands on the piano. Wow! Love, love, love, his music. He and the cellist played Love story meets Viva La Vida. It brought the house down. I am so anxious for him to release the piano music for his new album "Bonus Tracks" Most times when I am walking past the living room, I just have to go in a play a song or two, or three. Fun times. Cavalcade will be coming up in March. It will be a wonderful event featuring Jon Schmidt as our guest soloist! I will be playing 3 of his songs in duet form.

This next book I discovered at the scrapbook store when I was attending a class. I later found it at Costco and couldn't pass it up. Davis received it for Christmas this year, and we've had fun reading it together!