Butter Chicken, Not Butter for Bread

We started the week out with Todd's birthday.  He wanted pumpkin bread as his cake, so we made it that afternoon.  Because it was his birthday, and only for that reason, I handed him the butter to put on the bread.  He can desecrate the bread, without comment, only on his birthday.  I was slightly proud of Caroline when she asked him why he was ruining the bread by putting butter on it.  That's my girl.  

And what did we do the evening of Todd's birthday, but make another cake.  Josiah came home and wanted to make a red velvet cake for his teacher whose birthday was the following day.  We tried a new recipe (never a good idea when you're bringing it somewhere).  It said it would cook for 30 minutes.  We checked ours at 30 and it was still jiggly all over, so we cooked it for 45 minutes total. I was worried it would be dry.  Josiah tasted it in class the following day and said it was the best red velvet cake he's ever had.  He made it.  He also made the cream cheese icing which was very, very good.  

Henry had a cross country meet midweek.  Those are the hardest for the kids because they're already tired from school.  Henry paced himself with Chase again and they ran the entire race together.  Henry had another PR 26:21.  He's 6 minutes faster than his slowest race last year.  He's come a long way.  He has a few more races before the season is over.  

Caroline had a good week.  Her friend from last year came to town and the girls in her class got together.  They tried out the new Panera in town and then hung out at a friend's house.  When I picked her up, they were deep in a game of sardines outside in the dark.  They got together the following day to cheer on the JV volleyball game.  The boys were able to catch up with her brother, too.  They did one (very) short video together as we left them that night.  

Caroline was tasked at creating a flag for the country she invented.  Everything had to have meaning.  She typically does very well at working on projects early, but this was a busy week, and she started the wheel in the middle around 9pm the day before it was due.  It was a late night.  The blue represented truth, green represented agriculture, white was religion, and the wheel was black for the dark past of the people (and they got there by ship).

Henry had a good weekend.  I have had "Butter Chicken" on the menu for about six weeks now.  All the recipes I found were not super simple, so it kept getting put off.  This weekend we finally made it.  He was quite happy.  We also made naan bread to go with it.  I made the dough, but made a mess of things trying to roll out the individual breads.  I called in my backup, and Henry took over naan making and cooking.  He flipped that pan like it was nobody's business.  The dish was a hit.  We all liked it more than expected.  Henry now wants to make naan every day.  

I survived my first two parent-teacher conferences.  Since we homeschooled, I've only ever been to one (last year), so I was winging it and slightly nervous.  Fortunately, in preschool, they're easier.  

Our week ahead is not nearly as jam packed as this one was, thank goodness.  It also finishes out the first quarter of the year, which doesn't seem possible.