Day 120: Piano recital

David was in charge of the camera today, so most of our piano recital photos were taken by him.  The theme of recital was "Around the World" - the audience were all on a flight around the world experiencing all kinds of wonderful ethnic piano music. Here Anna is a flight attendant handing out the inflight snacks during the intermission - I grabbed the camera from David to get a picture of her!

Day 119: Productive day

I spent a delightful day with my lovely sewing friends and produced a table runner for our Christmas bazaar of which I am very proud.

Day 118: The art of lego

We took the kids after school to see an amazing exhibition of art work made entirely from lego. My lego-crazy sons were suitably impressed.

Day 117: Another track meet

Today's track meet was at our own high school. It was great fun to cheer on Johnny from the Broncos bleachers!

Day 116: Growing season

Our kale, arugula, spinach and lettuce is coming along nicely. We need to start thinning it out.

Day 115: Japanese Maple

This is not an especially impressive picture but Noah and I were pretty impressed with ourselves after we planted our first tree together in the front yard.

Day 114: Over the fence

We are really enjoying the blossoms on our neighbor's apple tree.

Day 113: Birthday Nature Hike

The first really warm weekend of the year and a lovely hike in a wildlife refuge after church - a great way to celebrate David's birthday.

Day 112: Early birthday celebrations

The children have been planning David's birthday for weeks and were very excited to get him a fire pit, which they felt would benefit the whole family. Tomorrow is the big day but it is going to be very busy, so David opened his gift early and we had a birthday meal today. Johnny and Daniel showed off their newly-acquired fire-building skills and we cooked hot dogs and s'mores in the fire pit in our back yard.

Day 111: Tulip Festival

Today was our annual family trip to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn. As always, it was a delightful afternoon in gorgeous surroundings.

Day 110: Dragon

Remember this? He is still drawing dragons.

Day 109: Hurdles

Johnny's second track meet was today. That's Johnny on the left, neck-and-neck with his friend, John.

Day 108: Bleeding hearts

I love this plant which grows in our front yard but today the bleeding hearts seem symbolic of how broken-hearted I feel about the education system in this country. Our school district appears to be headed for a teacher's strike next week and I am so very sad and disappointed at the way people have been treating each other at these difficult and challenging times.

Day 107: Supper

Home-made soup and home-made bread - yum!

Day 106: His first paid job

Another milestone: this spring, Johnny has taken on the lawn-mowing and strimming/weed-wacking in our yard. He has been wanting to find a way to earn money and this is a great arrangement for us - he gets paid and David and I don't have to do it any more. Having three sons surely means not having to cut one's own grass!

Day 105: More cooking over a fire

The theme of our Camp Fire trip was developing outdoor skills, so the kids learned to use penknives to whittle, to tie knots and to pace out a camp site. We also went for a beautiful hike this afternoon. The highlight for me was learning how to build a fire and cook a foil-parcel meal. Johnny and Daniel are fussy eaters but are also passionate about cooking so this was a great experience for them. Unfortunately most of our group's meals got burned and were largely inedible (lessons were learned!) - I was fortunate enough that my foil-parcel meal was cooked nearly perfectly and was absolutely delicious.

Day 104: Toasting marshmallows

I did not grow up with s'mores but have grown to appreciate them - despite detesting Hershey's chocolate. The best part for me is definitely the burnt marshmallow. Johnny, Daniel and I set out after school for a overnight camping trip with four others from our Camp Fire group - making s'mores around a fire was a great way to begin the adventure.

Day 103: Photo Finish

David and I, and Daniel, Anna and Noah, were thrilled to be present at Johnny's first track meet out in Gresham today. Johnny competed in the shot put, the 55 m hurdles and the 1500 m. This photo is at the end of the 1500 m: he had been trailing this competitor, but put on an impressive burst of speed in the last lap to end neck-and-neck with him.

Day 102: Go Broncos!

Our local high school mascot is the Bronco and this wonderful mural of the history of the relationship between humans and horses was painted on the building a few years ago. I arrived a few minutes early for a meeting here this evening and took the opportunity to get a picture.

Day 101: Weakness

This is not my only weakness, but it is certainly a big one. Good thing these are not sold all year round...

Day 100: Planting her garden

Anna has a raised bed all of her own and she decided to plant heather, pansies and some summer bulbs.

Day 99: Easter Egg Hunt

Sunshine at last and an egg hunt after church!

Day 98: Easter Fun Day

Our annual Easter Saturday Fun Day is a great occasion for the kids at our church to learn about all the events of Holy Week through some really creative activities.

Day 97: Hot Cross Buns

Here is Noah's version of the song, which he sang as we made these today: "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns. If you have no daughters, give them to YOURSELF. One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns."

Day 96: Milestone

This was a big day in our household: Noah built his first lego car BY HIMSELF, carefully following the directions in the booklet, and clearly following in the footsteps of his lego-obsessed brothers.

Day 95: Fabulous leg wear

I was not the first to take this photo - my friend Donna who is also doing a 366 photo blog, and whose children take piano lessons from the same amazing piano teacher, first spotted the potential of this under the piano shot. However, the view of Anna's colorful tights and Brooke's colorful leg warmers during the lesson today was too good to resist, so I took the photo and give Donna the credit.

Day 94: Contemplation

Noah and I met up with his good friend Greg, and Greg's mom, my good friend Audrey, for our monthly playdate today. I didn't get any pictures of actual bowling, since when I wasn't bowling myself or helping Noah, I got to hold Greg's baby brother Ryan, with whom I have a special bond. So this photo comes from the very beginning of our time together, when Noah was just thinking about the bowling to come.

Day 93: Better than a report card

We were thrilled to get this letter last month. I found it again today as I was filing papers. Johnny's report card made us very proud but this was even better...

Day 92: Palm Sunday

Holy Week is always very special and this Palm Sunday was especially meaningful for me.