Eddie Technology

Chad made this movie of our pet ferret, Eddie Technology. We all love Eddie. He is a total spaz and a ton of fun to play with. A perfect Perkins pet!

(the movie is super high quality, so it may take a minute to load)

Spazzy Ferret from Chad Perkins on Vimeo.

Worth the Price of Lessons

Mikey has been wanting to learn how to play piano for, well, ever. I tried teaching him myself to save money, since his bi-weekly Tae Kwan Do lessons are far from free. But, seeing as how I myself don't know how to play piano (or read music), we didn't get very far. A couple months ago I finally broke down and signed him up for lessons with a real teacher.

Long story short, Mikey loves piano lessons. And he's taken to it like a fish to water. Saturday morning, he informed Chad & I that he had written a song for piano. We were running around trying to get ready for a ward service project, so we didn't pay much attention to the statement. Honestly, kids write "songs" for the piano all the time. They usually involve pounding two discordant keys repetitively until your eardrums feel like they are going to burst. Mikey was persistent though. He insisted that he did, in fact, write a real song for the piano. He told Chad that he would write it down for him.

At this point my interest was piqued. I watched him take out a piece of white paper, draw a music staff, and fill it with notes. It looked like a real song, but what do I know? Not much, as previously established.

Chad looked at it, carried it over to the piano, sat down, and played it. And it was a real song. Amazing. My boy is a freakin' genius.

Within seconds of discovering our child's ability to write beautiful songs, Mikey had taken Chad's spot at the piano and started playing his song himself. Chad picked up his guitar and improvised along with him. And this was the result...

Irony

Since our ward meeting time changed to 9:00am in January, I've had a hard time getting myself and the kids ready on time. We're not that late. But, we're not there to sing the opening song either. So, this week I was determined to do better. I had my singing time presentation prepared by Wednesday. That's a whole 1/2 a week early. I knew all my songs. I set my alarm for an hour earlier than usual Sunday morning. I was up, showered and ready before the kids even got up. And, I even put on "extra" makeup and curled my hair. That left me with a whole hour to feed the kids breakfast and get them ready. Cake. Before I knew it, 8:40 had rolled around and we were ready to pile into the car and get to church not late, but early. Then it happened. The "do not pass go and do not collect $200" moment. Mikey turned to me and said, "Mom! I'm going to throw up."

And there's the irony. The one Sunday I'm ready & prepared to go to church and have the best sabbath ever, I don't even leave the house. I could have been completely unprepared for primary and still in my pajamas at 8:40 am and the day would've played out exactly the same.

I'm okay with it though. Even if I never actually left the house, I know I was ready. And that's a huge accomplishment!

Yummy!

I made Coconut Pineapple Chicken for dinner last night and it was super yummy. I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys!

1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp sugar (or splenda, in my case!)
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
3 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 medium green bell peppers, julienned
1/4 cu flaked coconut, toasted

1. Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set the pineapple aside. In a large skillet, combine the cornstarch, sugar, coconut milk, lemon juice, salt and reserved juice until smooth. Bring to boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes, or until thickened.
2. Stir in the chicken, pepper, coconut and pineapple. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until the chicken is heated through.

I served it on basmati rice. It was tasty! The original recipe also called for 1 tsp. almond extract and 1/2 cup slivered almonds (toasted), but I was out of both. I thought it tasted pretty good without it though!

Chad's Movies

Chad made these movies with his seminary students. They are soooo good!!!! The kids acted super well, and Chad wrote the music for all three movies himself. Such talent!!!