It's been such a long time

Now you have a Boston tune whirling through your head and that is supposed to help you forget that I have not blogged in approximately an eon. Or perhaps an epoch. I don't have much of an excuse. But I realize that when I go this long between posts I forget little things that I don't want to forget. Like the fact that Hudson's been really working on finally making the 'k' sound, instead of using the 't' sound. He's really guttural about it, like maybe he summons it from down in his bronchioles somewhere. He'll say, "Yisten, Mommy: 'cuh, cuh, cuh!" and I'll say, "That's terrific, little man! Now can you say 'cupcake'?" and he'll beam and say, "Tup-tate!"

And how one night I could hear Hudson and Harper giggling like crazy while I was putting Helena to bed and they finally came running in and said, "MOMMY. Look what we can do!" And Hudson got directly in front of Harper and she wrapped her arms around him from behind and lifted him about 3 inches off the ground. They thought this was quite a Feat. In fact, when Harper saw a 6 year old girl carrying her toddler sister at the mall today, she said, "I can pick my brother up too!" And she did. And he didn't mind. I think she only outweighs him by about 6 pounds now, so it's probably not entirely safe for either one of them. But it's almost as good as a hug, and after all this time, I'm certainly not going to deny Hudson that pleasure.

We got to take a little trip with our dear friends the Bowsers. We went to a lake house west of Austin and it was pure delight. Helena's favorite part was probably the wind chimes. I didn't get a picture, but she would reach out to clink them together and get a serene smile of bliss on her face listening to the resulting chime. Harper and her friend Estie had all sorts of fun, but Harper declared sitting in this swing that the neighbors brought over to be her Absolute Favorite Thing, though you certainly can't tell by their expressions in the picture:


Hudson had lots of fun splashing in the Llano and fishing a little with Daddy, but when I asked him on the way home what his favorite thing was, he said, without hesitation, "The Elmo computer." My kids who have, for the most part, been deprived of any toys that make any kind of electronic noise (for my sanity, not for any deep philosophical protest) are inexorably drawn to them when they encounter them elsewhere.

Speaking of Boston, he was 100% cute, 100%of the time, and he sounds like a tiny baby pterodactyl (or, as I imagine a baby pterodactyl might have sounded--that was before recorded sound, right?)

The husband and Mr. B spent some time talking pipes and tobacco and puttering around in a golf cart:

And as for me, well, there was a hammock. And temperatures were in the 70's most of the time. And I got to talk for several uninterrupted hours with a dear friend. That is a recipe for goodness.