A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices!

We still haven't finished our Jesse Tree readings, but we did manage to visit all grandparents and cousins in various cities in Texas! We were back here for Christmas morning. The kids all got a Rubik's cube and a yo-yo in their stockings, plus gum, gummies, chocolate coins, and tic-tacs. Hudson and Helena have zero self control when it comes to gum, and I think they have already chewed three entire packs each. I really stuck to "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" to guide our present-giving this year. Everyone got new socks. Harper's "want" was a Kindle, Hudson's was a very fast remote control car, and Helena got three little stuffed Audubon birds (a robin, a hummingbird, and a little chick). For books, Harper got a book detailing how to knit charming woodland creatures, Helena got a Shirley Hughes anthology (it is terrific), and Hudson got this incredible book titled Things Come Apart--the author/photographer took apart common things (a computer, a Swiss army knife, a chain saw..) then took these detailed pictures of the component parts, artfully arranged. It is terrific.

I leave you with a deluge of pictures:

 

Calvin, Hobbes, etc.

About a year and a half ago, the kids discovered a Calvin and Hobbes anthology of mine in the vast bookshelves at my parents' house. They quickly became ENAMORED of Calvin. We now have battered library copies and Half-Price books copies all over our house. They have read them all numerous times. I knew it wasn't really FOR kids, but decided to let it be a jumping off point. I have had to give them definitions of words like imbecile, lobotomy, wager, skin grafts, Ouji board, and hara-kiri (!). We have also had to have several discussions about how Calvin's Behavior is Never To Be Emulated. I think they get it, and it pleases me no end when they finally understand the subtle irony. Humor is a tricky business.

In other news, the transmission went out on our van and we had to get a new one. 95,000 plus miles of loyalty and then kerPLUNK. The new van has leather seats and the fancy doors that open by themselves. It makes me nervous. Also, the side windows open, (they didn't in the old van) and the kids find this SPECTACULAR. They are forced to find their own entertainment because, yet again, we opted out of the television in the car business. Here is a picture of the Old Faithful, just before she went away to the car dealership where old minivans go to die? Get a new transmission and live for another 200,000 miles? I hope it is the latter.

In 1997 I was teaching in Hungary, and my friend Melissa, who was teaching in Poland, called me and said she had some friends working in Israel and we should go visit them. So we did, and it was glorious. We did all sorts of magnificent things, but the most memorable was riding bikes around the Sea of Galilee. I don't remember the exact mileage, but it was far enough that I had trouble sitting down normally for a couple of days after. Anyway, I was reminded of it on Saturday. We took a family bike ride. What we intended to be a leisurely hour or so turned into a two and a half hour, FIFTEEN MILE adventure. Everyone held it together fairly well, though Helena cried through the last mile because she was flat exhausted. It was a beautiful day though, and we were never exactly LOST, just a little off target.

My friends Merry and Jane had their annual Christmas cookie party on Sunday night, which means I have been eating nothing but cookies for the past 48 hours.

Tomorrow Helena is going to be Queen Tiye for her history presentation. She was the Nubian wife of Amenhotep III, and grandmother of King Tut (but of course you knew that). We borrowed a Cleopatra costume (close enough) and she LOVES it.

Happy campers.

The First Annual Halloween Camping Adventure almost didn't happen. We planned to leave Friday afternoon, but when I called Pedernales Falls, the park ranger advised against it because, and I quote, "the incoming roads are currently covered in 6 inches of water and the rain is still coming down IN TORRENTS." Doesn't that sound like inviting conditions for tent-sleeping? Instead, we stayed one more night in our own dry beds, woke up at 4 am Saturday morning, drove through the torrential rain as it moved east, and arrived at our campsite just as the sun was coming out. The Pedernales Falls were roaring in spectacular fashion (thanks to the flash flooding), and we rode bikes, hiked, and saw SIX new birds. (Indigo bunting, black-crested titmouse, orange-crowned warbler, ladder-backed woodpecker, Bewick's wren, and a blue grosbeak!!!) The husband and Harper slept in hammocks, and I was snuggled between Hudson and Helena in the tent. One of my favorite moments was waking up in the middle of the night to find Helena's little hand resting on one of my shoulders, and Hudson's head resting on the other. Sweetness.

 

The husband, per the camping usual, did 97% of the work. Bringing 5 bikes was labor-intensive, but really worth it. I realized the term "happy camper" isn't just a general happiness to be camping, but (for me) a deliberate choice to BE happy in the midst of all the muddy, clammy, inconvenience. I really do understand why people bring RVs. But there is also something about making food on a tiny camp stove, sleeping on the ground, and that moment when I realized at 5 am that none of the flashlights in the tent work very well, it is pitch black, and one of the kids needs to go to the bathroom down the winding road, while it is drizzling, and all of the raincoats and dry shoes are in the locked van. It's this momentary extreme annoyance, but then the sun comes up and the birds really are singing, and the good seems more acutely good than it otherwise would. That is happy camping.

We (mostly the husband) packed up early Sunday morning and we drove an hour to hike Enchanted Rock. The smooth front face was a steep but fairly easy hike, then we headed down the boulder-strewn back, and things were a little precarious. The kids did great, even though Harper sustained several injuries necessitating the first aid kit, AND the husband had to fashion an emergency rope harness he had learned how to make on youtube when we got to a couple of granite drop offs too steep for the kids to climb down. I am proud to report that I did manage to get down without needing the emergency rope harness. However, it is 12:32 pm Monday, and I just took my FIFTH Advil of the day. The pain is ceaseless and it is everywhere.









That was Harper getting in the harness after the third bleeding injury, when she was straining to hold herself together. She is enormously tenacious as a general rule, but the granite was sharp and unyielding, and we were far from being finished. But this is what was behind me when I took this picture and I think it gave her courage. Isn't Texas grand??

October 13, 2015

A full day of homeschool. Lots of math. So much spelling. History times three. Grammar aplenty!

Also: 

9 am: electricity goes out in the entire neighborhood. No big deal. It will be back on in a little while! Everyone had breakfast. Let's try not to open the refrigerator or freezer. 

11am: electricity still off. Has time stopped with the clocks? It seems like it. 

11:20: Sasha throws up on the carpet.

11:30 am: Electricity still off. Need to check online lesson plan. Alas, no internet either. Kids getting hungry. I tell them to have pretzels and bananas because NO DO NOT OPEN THE REFRIGERATOR.

11:45 am: I walk outside to get something out of the car and there is a gigantic roach on the driveway. We have seen only 2 others during the entire 3 years we've lived here. FROM WHENCE HAST THOU COME, MOST DESPISED OF ALL CREATURES??? 

12 noon: Still no electricity. Children very grumpy, also hungry. Can't listen to Story of the World CDs as we normally do while we eat lunch obtained from the refrigerator, which we dare not open. Husband calls and suggests I go buy batteries for the CD player. That feels HARD. Instead, I read two different chapters of Story of the World aloud. Now I am grumpy, also hungry.

2:30 pm: Still no power. Two Saxon Math lessons done. One more seems IMPOSSIBLE. It is 90 degrees outside, 80 inside. Dog skulks around guiltily. Is she throwing up in secret places all over the house?

4 pm: Schoolwork still unfinished, electricity still not on. We leave to go meet husband, who has a evening event to attend, for an early dinner. To celebrate.

Because today I turn 45. It is my birthday. Wee! Which of course explains why Sasha threw up. She gave all that she could give.

The kids and I picked up an ice cream cake at Marble Slab on the way home. The electricity came back on at 5:45 pm.  We ate the ice cream cake and were glad. 

Learning to ride.

Helena warms to the inevitable. The reading is coming along nicely, and though the shoes remain untied (by her), LO, if she didn't decide to ride her bike a few weeks ago! I had sent the kids out front while I got dinner started and a few minutes later, Harper came bursting in, announcing that SHE had just taught Helena to ride her bike. Sure enough, I went outside and there she was. Perhaps if you have been paying attention, you will realize the real miracle here is that Harper had a role in this. The husband has since aired up the tires on my bike, and we are now partaking in Family Bike Rides, something that hasn't happened since Helena outgrew the little ride-on bike seat 3 years ago. It is wonderful.

 

She got this butterfly habitat for Christmas and I finally remembered to order the caterpillars. They promptly and magically wove their chrysalises, then a few days later, we all loved the brief delight of having fluttering Painted Ladies as pets. We decided to release them at our neighborhood park, and though the girls had real expectations that the butterflies would land on them and perhaps respond to some verbal commands, it only took about 5 seconds for all 8 of them to fly away.

First things

Yesterday was a gift--the magical first morning that the temperature in Houston drops below 70 and the humidity falls under 90%.

We are pretty well back in the swing of school. My throat is sore after our home days because our curriculum requires me to talk and read so much. In addition to our normal school work, I have been trying to read out loud more. We are currently finishing up The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It is a nice companion to The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt which we read earlier in the summer. Harper and I read The Good Master by Kate Seredy which I especially loved because it is set in Hungary.

Helena likes pretending she can't really read, and last night I realized that I think she is afraid I will stop reading aloud to her once she can read on her own. I assured her that wasn't the case. She has also declared she never wants to learn to ride a bike or tie her own shoes. She did get her first ever haircut the week before school started. When I asked her how she wanted it to look, she replied, "Straight and dark!" Alas, it is still curly and blonde.

Harper got her ears pierced. She chose the most expensive pair of earrings Claire's had to offer, because she liked that they were the tiniest, and also that they are REAL gold and REAL diamonds.

Hudson has been helping Daddy with the yard, and also learned a few chords on the guitar.

Back to the book learnin'

We started back to school a week ago. Even though I took our first day of school pictures on the day before the actual first day (because the lighting is terrible at 6:45 a.m.) we still had a lack of enthusiasm. Just about the picture taking, not about going back to school. We are all excited about that.

 

Enough! Harper was experiencing some Shoe Drama, which has since been resolved.

 

 I have had a much easier adjustment this year. Our school depends on parents to buy all curriculum and then get it prepared for the entire school year before the school year begins. This system is really well thought-out, but also really challenging for me. But now I have 3 huge binders bursting with all of the things we are going to learn together this year. Excelsior!