Cocooned no more

Hudson turned 10 on Friday. I plan to interview him this week, which I sincerely hope will help me process that he's already been alive AN ENTIRE DECADE even though it feels like he should be approximately 7 months old. That's how old he was when I started blogging.

He had an actual party last year. I just realized I never posted a picture. He wanted to play laser tag, which he'd never done before, with a few buddies.

This year, he wanted another party. Instead, he got to get up as early as he wanted and play video games. Until it was time to leave to take Helena to ballet, and then pick Harper up at her Friday forum. If you are thinking that sounds a touch LAME, well, yes, it was a little. UNTIL Helena realized that something incredible had happened. THE POLYPHEMUS MOTH HAD FINALLY EMERGED FROM ITS COCOON!! It had been 3 months, and I almost threw them away last week, assuming they were mummified. In fact, I had put the habitat outside and forgotten about it. It happened to be a really windy, wet day, and the habitat got buffeted all over the yard before I noticed it was about to blow over the fence and went out and retrieved it. All, naturally, part of the plan for Hudson to be the only 10 year old ever to be personally celebrated, on his birthday, by a moth named after a cyclops!!

Harper and I both took lots of pictures with my real camera, then I realized my phone camera actually did a better job. His antennae are spectacular:

Then, on Saturday, Hudson showed that a new decade brings even more basketball prowess. He has lots and lots of hustle, on offense and defense.

 You are my very best son, dear one.

Let's just pick up where we left off

Last week we had a school holiday on Monday, then on Wednesday there was torrential flooding and school was delayed for two hours. Today, this little lad is home with me feeling very, very puny. It's a good thing he has a loyal dog, who is always willing to spend the day napping on the couch and/or randomly sniffing your hair:


Here are the projects Harper worked on in the fall. She molded and painted some Greek pottery:

 She also used her knitting skills to create this Cell City:

 I spent a solid week of Christmas vacation making cookies. I feel like each effort gets a little better-looking, though the process itself doesn't really get any less labor intensive.

 I left our Christmas tree up until last week. Yes, it was a real tree. Yes, it was a conflagration ready to happen. If it had been artificial, it would still be up.

The Christmas presents this year were mostly Lego. Here is Harper with her beetle bug:

 My parents were here this weekend to babysit and go to Hudson's basketball game. We watched the inauguration on Friday. The kids had never seen Mrs. Trump before and had some funny commentary. Hudson: "Wait. WHY is she so young?" Harper: "WHY would he want a wife who is that much younger than he is??" They also wondered if the Trumps have dogs. They also wanted to know exactly how much money Barron has access to. My dad pointed out the Clintons to Hudson and said, "That guy there that she's married to, he has a '65 Mustang. Or at least he used to." So, based on that, Bill Clinton was a great president, as far as Hudson is concerned. I really enjoyed watching W. wrestle with his poncho. Some things are harder than being president. And Cheney in his huge hat watching the whole thing with a smug little smile. It would have been perfection if Rumsfeld had been there to give him a hand.

Hudson's basketball team is OUTSTANDING this year. It is really fun to watch them win. I screamed myself hoarse on Saturday. Once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader, apparently. I felt a very strong urge to do a herkie at one point, but refrained. Only because I hurt my knee playing tennis with Mrs. S just after Christmas. Which also means the Couch to 5K has been totally couched.

That's enough to prime the pump anyway. Here's to fewer impediments to writing!!