Come Celebrate Emily's Suzuki Book 1 Party!

I have been "teaching" Emily piano for the past year. She took piano from a Suzuki teacher in 2005 and had almost completed Book 1 when we stopped taking piano. So when I started up again, we started over and have taken a longer time because I am not as consistent as an appointed lesson. But we made it and she knows all 17 songs from memory. When the four older children finished their Suzuki Book 1, the teacher had a "Book 1 Party" and we did it at our home, the children invited any friends they wanted and I provided refreshments. They played all the songs in the book and it was a nice finale to their accomplishment.

So I have decided to have a Book 1 party for Emily on the blog to memorialize the Book 1 for all of posterity, since all of my children have accomplished this feat and I am so proud of all of them! This post will be the first 5 songs, tomorrow we will post 5 more, Friday 5 more and the last 3 we'll finish on Saturday.

The first song is called "Honeybee". Hold your applause till the end:)

The second song in the book is called "Cuckoo"

Next comes "Lightly Row"

Fourth in the book is "French Children's Song"

and finally, the last song of the day: "London Bridge"

That's it for today, check in tomorrow for the next five songs!

Taylor's Triple Terrific Tournament

Taylor loves basketball. That is the fact. As I type, he is out on the driveway shooting and dribbling a ball. Since being in Katy, he has played in the Katy Youth Basketball program for the past 7 years and loved every minute of it. This year he couldn't play because he is too old. BUT! The stake put on a nice basketball season and Taylor was able to have enough basketball to semi-satisfy him.

Our ward did well enough to make it to the finals and on the last day (Sat. 3/7) we played three games. The first game Taylor scored 23 points in a 63-52 game! That was the game against the favored stake champs; they had been undefeated up to that point. The next game Taylor couldn't be stopped. He scored 25 points swooshing about 6 3-pointers. The last minute of the game we were down by one point and then the other team got the ball and drove it down for another basket. With 14 seconds left we took the ball down, and threw it to Taylor and he shot in 3 point range and made it, to tie the game. So in overtime, we lost, but it was pretty amazing. The final game we played the same team for the championships and they won by 2 points and heavily guarded Taylor the whole game so he only made 4 points. But what a great day for Taylor! It was great to see him in his element and on fire.

The first 9-second clip shows an assist by Taylor and a pick by Spencer. Spencer played the first of 3 games, but had a party to go to for the last 2. He played a great defense! The second clip is a basket Taylor makes. He is wearing a red shirt under the black jersey and Spencer is in a turquoise shirt (for anyone who doesn't recognize them).

Welding 101: The Union of a Girl's Bike and a Weedeater Motor

Spencer has become fascinated with motors in all shapes and sizes, and motorcycles in every variety. So we sacrificed Emily's bike and our weedeater and let him be Mr. Edison for a week. He had to learn how to open up a bike chain, reverse the braking mechanism and weld. We rented a welder for a day from Lowe's. He hacksawed the pedals off the big gear and welded the motor onto the gear. It was pretty exciting, with each new obstacle and each new breakthrough, and he got it all the way put together! But he can't start the thing! He pulls the cord and the motor starts to turn, but because it's connected to the gear and rear wheel, there is too much friction and drag to get the motor to start. Uggh! He tried having Taylor spin the wheel holding the bike tire up and pulling; and he tried rolling down the driveway and yanking on the cord (now that was a funny sight!), but to no avail. So a very deformed-looking girl's bike is now gracing our garage. Don't know what the end of the story is... so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Heather!!!

When Heather was born, I made up a little song for her that goes:

Hello Heather,
How's the weather?
Let's go together
To the park!

Now she is 20 years old and I want to celebrate in this post by writing another poem to her.

Heaven sent for me to love
Everything glad in a girl
A perfect gift from above.
Time ripples fast in a swirl
Happy memories all whirl
Entwining my heart and mind
Round Heather to ever bind.

When she graduated to college, I put a slide show together of her, one picture for every year. I think one year is missed, but this is the slide show in a mini collage, plus three pictures from the last three years.

Heather, you have been a joy to raise and love. I love you!

Heather, the self portrait taker. This is a very typical, delightful picture I caught at Niagara Falls November 2006.

Heather the Beautiful! This was taken in Fort Walton Beach, Florida August 2007.

Heather and her sibs. She is sporting her stylin short haircut. Taken December 22, 2008.

Neptune Subs, aka the reason Spencer likes going sailing

So sailing is relaxing and peaceful and educational and family bonding. None of those reasons rank very high on Spencer's priority measuring stick. BUT, after a good, or cold sailing adventure, we have a TRADITION! (I love traditions, and tradition is a very Jewish thing) It's called Neptune subs. It is a little sub sandwich shop that makes really yummy sandwiches. And the boys all like getting a hot roast beef, which is loaded with the meat. So sailing is tolerated and then comes the good stuff!:) Poor Sr. D and I. We used to share a hot roast beef, but now, sniff, sniff, he gets a plain baked potato and I get a dinner salad that is iceburg lettuce and tomatoes, and a soup, which Sr. D likes to dip his potato in. But that's ok. Life is still beautiful.

Here we are inside Neptunes.

This is the outside of Neptunes. Sr. D and Emily are posing.

Now, do you see the poster above the Janis Family members? It is a poster of a partial BALD guy. They change these out every month or so. And they are all known bald guys. Sean Connery I believe was one of them one month. Here is a little closer look:

It says Bald Monday. Now you might be wondering, "What is Bald Monday?" or you might be wondering, "What am I going to fix for dinner tonight?" but I can only answer the first of the questions. Inside, they have fliers that explain what Bald Monday is and I took a picture of it for you!

The man who started the operation is bald and I guess celebrates it and it's just got character! So sailing isn't complete without a stop at Neptune Subs, if time permits!

You Are What You Eat

Once the fattening holidays were past, Damon (to be known in the blog world now as Sr. D) changed his life. He needed to get his cholesterol level down in order to get life insurance which had expired, and January came with that goal. Last spring, when Uncle Brandon's family came for a visit, Aunt Mindy brought a book that has changed the way I eat, and it is what Sr. D is now abiding by. Fastidiously! For him, it's all or nothing, baby. This book is called Original Fast Foods and it has the most understandable, make-sense education on health and body systems I've ever read. (Not that I am a doctor or scholar on the subject or anything) Anyway, I have been mostly dairy and egg free and have cut back a lot on sugar and meat this past year. I am pleased about my waistline, and a chronic infection that has plagued me for 20 years has not returned this whole year.

But when Sr. D started in, it was even more drastic. He went raw for two weeks. Nothing cooked, all vegetables and fruit, nothing else. By two weeks, he was weak and constantly hungry. Then it was our Friday night date and he was pretty depressed about where we would go to eat and so took us to Souper Salad. They had gross baked potatoes (the kind that are sticky) and he ate it dipped in a little salsa. He was so happy! It was like someone had just put a Prime Rib in front of him. He felt full for the first time in forever.

So now he is enjoying life in a new way and food as well. Let me take you to our kitchen for a very brief look at our culinary changes.

This is Sr. D making our morning fruit smoothie breakfast. (One of the wonderful changes is that he is making me meals for breakfast and lunch!) He plops an apple, banana, orange, frozen blueberries, a little water and ice, and any other fruits sitting on the counter into the blender and presses "liquefy." He pours a cup for Emily then he grabs the tub of greens and shoves a couple of handfuls into the blender to whiz it up. Yum yum! I look forward to it every morning. It's like pouring life into my system. (Spencer is our photographer here and standing taller than ever on the counter for some creative shots.:)) Cheers!

For lunch he has found some great treats. A vegetable red curry over rice. It has coconut milk, red curry paste, pineapple chunks, tomato chunks, peppers, and bamboo shoots. Ooh good! He also shoves a salad into a wheat pita pocket with a touch of balsamic vinaigrette. Pictured here is a fresh concoction he created with a sliced tomato drizzled with the vinaigrette, chopped fresh basil leaves and a bit of crumbled goat cheese. We found these crackers or flat bread that add a lot of good crunch to the meal. Sometimes we add a slice of avocado to it.


On to dinner (with snacks of nuts and fruit throughout the afternoon). This next picture is a homemade marinara sauce from the Original Fast Foods book that I made last week. It was ok. A little different. Damon liked it and I was ok with it. It had canned tomatoes, sauteed zucchini, carrots, onion, garlic all whizzed in the blender. For the kids I made meatballs that were less than desirable. I had one. So my plate is pictured.


So a couple of questions that might just come up: Results? and How are the kids eating? Well, the results are really great! Sr. D has gone in to a health clinic and had his blood drawn each week so he could see results of his sacrifice. His cholesterol has come down from 318 to 232, his triglycerides have dropped more than half. And he has lost 13 pounds since January 3, 2009. He isn't snoring like he used to and because of that, I think, he sleeps better. He has more energy throughout the day. He teaches early morning seminary and last semester his body was shutting down around 8:00 every night, including weekends. Now he is still going strong at 10:00. His clothes are starting to get baggy too. Sr. D applied for life insurance and a nurse came out to take his blood. (It took 7 pokes to finally get some! Heather can relate! Sorry Heather, that must be where you got it!:)) He is confident he will be accepted.

As to the kids. They are being educated and understand the principles taught in the book, and are eating the dinners I make. They still like and eat junk, but I think overall, they are trending towards healthier eating habits. They don't like the green smoothies, but Taylor wasn't feeling too good this morning and so asked for it. Spencer has gone off milk and loves crushed Corn Flakes and almond milk that I make (virgin; no honey or vanilla. Just soaked or unsoaked almonds and water whizzed in the blender and strained).

So there you have it. A scientific study being conducted in the Janis household with good results. This has been a rather major focus of our lives this past month and finding new and delicious recipes will be a life long pursuit.

The EXTRA LONG Christmas blog post

Well, it's been a long while and I have to post or I might never get back to it. December was a flurry of family and celebrations.

We celebrated sister Whitney's graduation. A BYU trivia game, a chocolate cake and the cougar fight song!

Then we celebrated Hanukkah. Menorahs with candles burning, potato latkes sizzling in oil, the miracle of lights story, and a dreidel game made for a magical evening.

Then came Christmas Eve and the celebration of our Savior's birth. Great actors (shepherds with fashionable towels and robes, angels with silver garland halos, Elizabeth, Mary, and Joseph who did their part to the tee, and a darling babe in the manger) great singing and an especially great spirit!

Then a fabulous Christmas morning! I have never seen so many presents! It was glorious and a bit overwhelming. But we made it through the unwrapping and enjoyed our time on the phone with missionary brother James in Cicily!

December 26th we celebrated cousin Christian's birthday. I was too wrapped up in Christian's party to remember to take pictures except when cousin Julie was deep in decorating a fuzzy wuzzy teddy bear cake! I did get Christian after his nap on Aunt Val's lap on his b-day though, and some group shots too.

December 27th was a day I had been anticipating since Damon Jr. turned 8 years old: an Eagle Court of Honor. And this was the day of all scouting days, the culmination of years and tears, a triple Eagle court. We celebrated my three sons advancement to the rank of Eagle Scout. Grandma and Grandpa Janis, Uncle Roark and Uncle Daron's families came out, and the whole kaboodle of the Scott family (minus a much missed missionary) joined us in our grand celebration. TV cameras were there and an interview after the ceremony made me a bit tongue-tied. So many hands helped set up the dining hall and prepare foil dinners, which I can't say a big enough thank you to. I wish there was room enough for the slide show of the boys growing through their scouting years to be posted here. It was shown at the ceremony. I am so proud of my boys and their accomplishment!