Boys First Piano Recital

Though the boys have been taking lessons for a number of years, last Saturday was the boys very first piano recital.  It was held at a charming log cabin called King's Cabin.  The boys even had a dress rehearsal Friday night to get used to the Baby Grand Piano and how things were going work the following day at the recital.  As a treat we did a pre-recital celebration at Panera Bread.

I think this is most dressed up boys have been in a long time.  There were 18 students at the recital and according to their teacher our boys were the stars of the show, people were even talking about them by name afterward.  Of course to their mother and father they were awesome, we couldn't have been more proud.  However, it was the joy the boys had in performing that was most important to us.  Lucky for you we got it all on tape so enjoy!

Titus was first to perform:

Then it was Jared's turn:

Lance was the final performer of the Otto Clan:

After everyone performed there were drinks and appetizers but Titus kept performing :-)

 Miss Kathy is an awesome teacher and has a wonderful group of performers.

Major League Baseball

Lance was thrilled to finally be playing baseball again; missing the fall season was tough.  Thankfully he landed on a really good team.  Good in the important sense, good coaches and nice kids with great time spirit. Chris was also an assistant coach on Lance's team which believe it or not only led to two conflicts the whole season, where he had to choose which game to miss.

After the first game, Lance played catcher every inning of every game.  No one else wanted the job and Lance didn't want to play any other position so it was a perfect arrangement.  With all that practice it's no surprise he really improved as catcher over the season.  He had a great out a home and some other great plays but the best for him was being part of an awesome triple play.

Chris had video taped Lance batting about mid-season and worked out some tweaks in his swing.  Then, on evening of June 3rd, they went to a three hour USA baseball camp.  Here Chris was able to really study his swing, after the camp Chris made one more tweak to Lance's swing.  At the next game, Lance hit a line drive past the short stop, almost all the way to the fence. After the hit the other team mom's jokingly asked what I fed Lance that day (LOL).

The Marlins record of wins and losses doesn't really give the team the credit they deserve for really improving over the season.  Given a few more weeks and I think they could have really done well in the tournament.  As it was they fought it out to the very last play, only loosing by one run.

Our other favorite major league player had a great season as well.  Matthew's incredibly fast legs served his team splendidly in the Right Field and his team went on to win their Spring Season Tournament.

Rabbit Day Book Reviews

We finally graduated this month to being the people that bring a basket to check books out from the library.  That said I am certainly not going to review all that the boys checked out but stick to the few that stand out.


Good Master by Kate Seredy.  Kate is one of my new favorite authors.  She writes in a manner understandable but elevated; that is to say her sentences are well structured and abounding in wonderful vocabulary.  Her plots and character development are excellent as well.  This particular book is the first in a two book series.  I had Lance read this for his independent reading this month.  Lance said he loved it because it was based on the authors own life and he found it amazing that she had really gone through all that growth; "from monkey to normal country girl". The second book centers around her experiences in World War II "The Singing Tree".

Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney.  This was the second book Lance read this month for independent reading.  The story is about a boy learning to appreciate the people his community and place in the world.  I had pre-read the book and there was one chapter I made had him skip (regarding the story of the pesky girl's uncle and the ship in the glass bottle) and I penciled brackets around a section of a paragraph in another chapter talking about the nightmares the boy had from the story; to be skipped as well.  Lance liked that the book was very unpredictable and how the writer described the different characters in the book.

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.  I can't believe I never read this as a girl; I thought I'd read every book of horse fiction on the market.  It would be a nice story on its own but the fact that is based on real people and real events really brought the book alive for Jared.  This was Jared's book for independent reading this month.  The author writes in a simple manner easy for younger children to understand but certainly not dumbed down in any way.  Jared liked that end the best, that the boy did the right thing and thought of what was best for his horse.


Titus had an uncanny ability to pick really cool books randomly off the shelves of the library.  Here are our favorites illustrated books we found at library this month:

True story about how a community came together to save a baby hippo and the tortoise that adopted him.

Civil War book, safe for young children, beautifully illustrated with neat twist at the end.

Beautifully illustrated book focusing on Babe Ruth's career and skipping his poor behavior.

This is a grammar book that uses a complete story to drive home its point.  The boys and girls wanted to read this one over and over again.

Jared too this book to heart and created "Jaredstine".

Nice historical fiction, hidden message about how being queen isn't always fun.

Enoyable for parents as well, stressing the importance of not always taking life so seriously.