Peach Upside Down Cake, Birthday Party, Official Kindergartener, and King Richard's Faire!

On the plate:  Peach upside down cake

Soundtrack to cook to:  Andy Grammer's Honey I'm good is stuuuuuck in my head.  It sounds like a song I would have really loved while I was in college.  :-)

Another week, another milestone for this family!  Last week, our eldest son Alex began Kindergarten and officially entered into "big kid" territory.  I definitely had a moment (of course it was in public at an ice cream shop), where I looked at him and pictured him as the infant that we brought home from the hospital.  Then, I looked closer to find that he had grown into this handsome, intelligent, sensitive, and humorous young boy....and I began to sob like a little baby.  I couldn't believe this day had finally arrived.  Our little Monk Monk was no longer a baby.  *sniff sniff*
Before we get into the pictures from that day, here's a few that I took on the weekend before Alex started Kindergarten: 

Hey there!  From the front, you can't really tell that I'm
pregnant...eh?  :-p
Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant.

On our morning walk, I had the boys wear their hoodies
that morning because it was slightly brisk.  I couldn't
believe that in the blink of an eye, we went from 90 degree
weather to 65 degree F weather (just in the morning)!
It felt like fall already!  Here's our little Ninja Turtles
walking amongst some newly fallen leaves.  It's beginning
to feel like fall!

That morning, we took the boys to the Museum of Science to see the "Science Behind Pixar" exhibit.  (I know I posted a picture in the post before this, but forgot to include the pictures from the Pixar exhibit.)

Alex and William doing their best Buzz Lightyear impression at the museum.

Alex and William posing next to Buzz Lightyear at the exhibit.

Alex waving hello to Wall-E.

The exhibit was pretty cool and showed how the Pixar
movies go from a pencil drawing to complete animation.
Alex was having some fun designing a virtual set.

William was having some fun manipulating 3-D objects.

Here's Alex creating his own robots.

Alex enjoyed playing around with the different lighting
features.

Me with the character Edna Mode from the movie
The Incredibles.  She's my spirit animal; very sassy and loves
fashion, dahhhhling.  :-p

The boys enjoyed the exhibit and had fun seeing how some of their favorite movies went from start to finish. 
That evening, we were invited to our friends' home to celebrate the 3rd birthday of their darling daughter named Koharu.  We've known this couple since Joseph started medical school with the wife and have had lots of fun with them both before kids and now after kids.  They have two daughters that are around the same age as Alex and William. 

Since they were having us over for dinner, I decided to whip up a dessert that incorporated some of the delicious peaches that we had picked from Tougas farm.  The result was a tasty peach upside down cake.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter softened, divided
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups, sliced fresh peaches
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Here's Alex, helping me eat the peach slices that
were odd-sized or not as pretty.  He enjoyed this job a lot.

Two peaches, thinly sliced and ready to be placed
in the pan.  Make sure that they're the same thickness
and size so that they'll cook evenly.

Melt 1/4 cup butter and place it in a 9" cake pan.
I swirled the butter around to coat the pan.
Then, sprinkle some brown sugar on the butter.

*Swirl the sugar in the butter so that it dissolves.
I think that may be the reason why my peaches stuck
to the pan when I tried to flip it over at the end.

Layer the sliced peaches over the butter and brown sugar
mixture like so.  Isn't it pretty??  :-)

My sous chef slowly adding in the sugar into the mixer.
He's a great helper!

In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 stick of butter with
1/2 cup sugar until creamy and fluffy.

Then, beat in 1 egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
Stir in 1 1/4 cup of flour (I used whole wheat),
1 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup milk.

The dough is slightly sticky.
Pour the dough over the peach arrangement in the pan and
bake in a 350 degree F oven for 45-50 minutes (or until
an inserted toothpick comes out clean).

This is what it looks like when you pull it out of the oven.

This was my end result.  Definitely not the prettiest
peach upside down cake, but I guarantee it was definitely
delicious.  It's not overly sweet and is even delicious served
cold with a nice cup of coffee the next morning.

Now it's time to party!!  We packed the kiddos up along with some ice cream and the peach upside down cake, and headed over to our friends Ai-ris and Ian's house to celebrate Koharu's birthday.

They had an adorable set up for the get together.
Here's William and Yoshimi (who is Alex's age),
and Alex and Koharu, sitting at their own table
ready to have dinner together.
They were so cute!

Alex, Yoshimi, and William singing, "Happy Birthday,"
to Koharu as she got ready to blow out her candles.

The kiddos digging into the delicious lavender flavored
checkered cake and ice cream.

Here's Ai-ris serving the kiddos some ice cream.

We had a lovely evening celebrating Koharu's birthday and enjoyed catching up with our friends.

The next morning, I was really craving some dim sum, so we took the boys to China town to have dim sum for lunch that afternoon.

William and Alex digging into some dim sum
while we had lunch in China town.
Alex was SUPER enthusiastic about the lunch and
William was only somewhat enthused.

Alex woke up as a kindergartner this morning!

He read a note that his Daddy left him.  We're so proud of him.

Our big boy on his first day of Kindergarten!
September 8, 2015
"When I grow up, I want to be a doctor!"

William was so excited for his big brother!

We're so lucky that Alex's school is just right around
the corner from our house.  Here's the boys holding hands
as we walked Alex to school that morning.

Walking to school on his first day of Kindergarten.

Alex and William in front of the entrance to the school.

The big guy, putting away his backpack in his cubby.

Alex, already hard at work, drawing a self-portrait
on his first day of school.

Alex was so excited and had a fantastic first day of school!  We were so happy that he had such a great experience and look forward to a successful school year.

Our dapper pooch Oscar, sporting a tuxedo harness
that Joseph ordered from Amazon.  :-p

Ooooh!!  I bought a loaf of cinnamon bread from Tougas Farm!
I sliced it into 1" thick pieces and dunked them into
a mixture of eggs and milk (no seasoning required).
VOILA!  Instant cinnamon french toast that took me
absolutely no time to make.  So delicious!!

That next day, Alex did not have school, so I asked him where he wanted to go on his day off.  He said that he wanted to go to the Children's Museum.  So, we had breakfast, walked Oscar, and were on our way to the museum.

While we were walking to the museum, we noticed
that someone had used Legos to fill in a hole in a brick
wall.  When the boys saw the Legos, they had to
examine it up close.  How cool!

The boys using their arm power to make the wheels move.

Our little monkeys love to climb!

They had fun shooting hoops for a little bit.

William looooooves splashing around at the water
table and does not mind at all that he gets wet.

That next morning, Alex went to Kindergarten, and William joined me for a little breakfast at one of our favorite spots in Brookline called Rifrullo.

William enjoyed his vegan chocolate cake that morning.
It was surprisingly very moist and delicious.

Last weekend, since Joseph had it off, we decided to take the boys to King Richard's Faire in Carver, MA.  It takes about an hour to get there, and we had so much fun when we went last year, that we just had to take the boys this year.

Alex and Joseph, ready to head into the Renaissance fair.

Joseph holding up William, so that he could watch
Alex ride one of the rides.

Alex loves riding rides.

William and Alex riding on the man-powered swan swing.

The boys loved riding the swing.

Here's the boys on a pirate ship where they had to
pull down on ropes to make the ship move.
Joseph and I were pretty impressed that the boys
were able to coordinate this ride by themselves.

Alex and William on the pirate ship ride.

Now it's time to dig in!!  Joseph enjoyed a turkey leg
while the boys indulged in some sausage with peppers and
onions.  I love fair food!

After lunch, we made our way over to the knight competition.  The boys enjoyed watching the knights joust and do all sorts of fun challenges while riding their horses.  They especially loved it when the knights battled one another.

William and Alex cheering on "Sir Joseph."

Afterwards, we walked around for a bit.

Here's Alex waving hello to the Queen and King Richard.

Alex was mostly excited to see "Sir Joseph" again.

The boys sliding down the slide after going through
a maze together.

After going through it once, they both immediately wanted to do it again!

The boys, getting ready to go down the slide once more.

Alex went first.

Then William decided to lay down.

Check out our goofy guy.  :-p

He loved it.

After that, we watched a magic show and one of the
participants got a balloon animal.  Then that child
gave their balloon animal to Alex.  How sweet!
Here's Alex playing with the balloon animal in a
small castle at the fair.

Peek-a-boo!

Me, William, and Alex saying, "Good bye!," to
King Richard's Faire.  'Til next year!

Another great week in the Franses household.  We had lots of fun, ate yummy food, and had some quality time together. 
I can't believe I kept my cool on Alex's first day of Kindergarten (I only just lost it the day before).  Our kiddos are growing up so fast and I can't believe that baby girl joins our family in 3-4 weeks!!  This pregnancy has gone by quickly.  We're going to try our best to get in as many family fun outings as possible before her grand arrival.
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki