The arts are very fine.

I have many posts coming. Just you wait!

This semester we did some homeschool art classes at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. The instructor was this delightful diminutive French lady who was Montessori trained and who also, it came out, was educated in art at Cambridge (England, not Boston). She had such a wonderful way with kids and with art, and we really enjoyed her tutelage. We learned about Georges Braques, the watercolors of John Singer Sargent, and renaissance art.

 Here are the visuals.

Braques: (he liked collage)

 

A fountain in Venice a la John Singer Sargent: (the art teacher had to talk Harper down on this one. Harper had almost rubbed a hole in her watercolor paper with erasing.) Then, with 10 minutes left she managed this loveliness with oil pastels:

Then, a Renaissance rendering of the Blessed Mother.

 By Helena:

 

By me:

 

By Harper:

 

And by Hudson:

 

 

Mary: NINJA STYLE.

 

This week I am going to attempt to write about our glorious vacation. Also, Harper won a contest.

We had a little turtle.

His name was Timmy.

A friend in our gymnastics class found him by their neighbors' pool and gave him to us. He was a red-eared slider and very tiny--about an inch and a half in diameter. I agreed to take him because of Hudson's love of Things Turtle, and also because she offered a free tank in which to put him. The kids were in absolute raptures. We stopped at Petco on the way home to pick up a few things, and the first red (eared slider) flag was when the Petco employee, when she heard of our acquisition, said, "Oh, little red-eared sliders are REALLY high-maintenance! Are you SURE you want him?" I will admit this made me nervous.

We got Timmy home and for five days, it was great. I spent lots of time on google trying to figure out why he didn't want to eat. I also spent lots of time cleaning out his tank and making sure he got adequate sunlight. The kids spent lots of time letting him toddle and burrow around the back yard and just generally proclaiming how absolutely CUTE he was. In my google research I learned red-eared sliders have a life expectancy upwards of 25 years, so the kids were planning on introducing Timmy to their children and grandchildren. I will admit, I liked him.

Then he died.

Hudson and I were sad and weepy for a couple of days. The girls expressed some initial sorrow (but no tears, even during our Burial Service) but seemed to move on pretty quickly. Hudson seemed to feel the weight of it a little more. And I cry when anyone else is crying. Have I mentioned this before? It is my not very useful spiritual gift. I mourn with those who mourn. So I would hear him sniffling, and I would scoop him up and we would sit in the rocking chair and cry together for a few minutes and talk about how cute and sprightly and charming Timmy was.

So, it was practice grief for my kids, who have yet to experience the loss of anyone they know well. We had some interesting theological discussions. They are all of the firm position that they will be reunited with Timmy some day. May it be so.

Hudson at Seven (and a quarter): The Birthday Interview

We finally did the birthday interview today! Three months late! We did most of the usual questions, plus Hudson generated a few of his own. (denoted by a *)

1. Hudson, at what age does a person become a grown up? 18 Why do you think so? "They can get married. OR they can get a job."

2. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? "I would eat candy and play video games. Big chocolate balls and gummies. And popcorn."

3. What is something that makes our family special? "That most of us like guns?" (I don't really like guns, I remind him) "Well. We ALL like animals. All the boys like cars. All the girls like...flowers? Actually, I also like flowers."

4. Are you a good friend? "Yes. I think people like me because they like the same things I do. Like Legos. Or Ninjago."

5. How would the world be different if animals could talk? "Animals might get mad at you and hurt you. Except for harmless animals like turtles and butterflies and nonpoisonous frogs and beetles. Maybe they would tell us what they had inside of them. Like what SECRETS they have inside of them!"

6. What is the best thing about being a kid? "You get to eat ice cream and you don't have to go to work and you can play whenever you want to."  The worst thing? One of the WORST things is that you can't watch t.v. whenever you want to.

7.Where is your favorite place in the world? "Japan! Japan is GOING to be my favorite place to go, but I really like Florida. Here? To the pool?"

8. If you could give one gift to every child in the world, what would it be? "Candy! And lots of Legos."

9. What are five words that describe you? "Funny, weird-looking hair.  I need a haircut. I am small but I am also strong. I only weigh 45 pounds!"

10. If you could invent something, what would it be? "A huge robotic planet, and a huge robotic snake to guard it where robots do everything for you. Except cook. The robots are very high tech. They also have ray guns that shoot out of their eyes!"

11. If you could make one rule that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? "No smoking cigarettes!"

12. What is your favorite...
Color? green
Smell? Mexican food
Food? Mexican food
Book? Calvin and Hobbes Treasury
Activity? Legos
Sound? Drums
Animal? Turtles and beetles
Bird? Scarlet tanager and orange bishop

13. What does Daddy like to do? "He likes to shoot guns with his friends and me. He likes to play baseball with me. He likes to go fast in his Subaru. His favorite car is a Subaru."

14. What does Mommy like to do? "You like to read? ("What else DO you like to do?" Me: I like to paint and be outside and spend time with you and Daddy and Harper and Helena.) And you like to play the piano!"

15. What is your favorite thing to do? "Umm, my favorite thing is...playing Legos, playing video games, drumming, and Matchbox cars. No, Hotwheels maybe."

16. What do you MOST want to do? "Go to Japan!"

17. What would you like to write a book about? "About a little robot who has many adventures."

18. What's your favorite thing to wear? "My stretchy t-shirts and my stretchy shorts". (also likes to tuck his stretchy t-shirt tightly into his stretchy shorts and pull the shorts up until they are at his natural waist.) Also, my G.I. Joe costume."

19.Describe what you look like. I have sort of long curly and brown hair. I have a lost tooth.

20. What are you looking forward to this year? "Going to Florida, or Japan if we can."

*21. What is your favorite car? "I like Mustangs and Vipers and Lamborghinis and all kinds of sports cars AND muscle cars. Also Subarus."

*22. What is your favorite weapon? "Harpoons and all kinds of ray guns and machine guns. And pistols! Also rifles."

*23. What is your favorite movie or t.v. show? "Ninjago, Star Wars, and The Lego Movie."

*24. What is your favorite warrior? "Spy, army man, police, Ninja...guys like that."

I tried to remember some of topics he chose for his presentations each week for our co-op. The kids can chose anything they are interested in, and they talk about it in front of their class for three minutes. These are a few topics he chose:

 

 Scarlet tanagers, orange bishops, a short history of the Ford Mustang, Cobras (he did the snake one week, he also did the Cobra Mustang another week), Ninjas, Special Forces soldiers, sea turtles, Galapagos tortoises, the world's top ten fastest motorcycles, muscle cars (Grandfather Pate was visiting that week and really enjoyed hearing that one), the world's fastest car, and the Lego Ideas Book. He also brought his drum pad to play the first week, and he brought the djembe for the last week. His classmates thought that was nifty.

He started saying "DUDE!"a couple of months ago. I think he picked it up from the big boys at co-op. They all played "football" in the afternoons, and little as he is, he is pretty scrappy. He only weighs 43 pounds (but I looked back and that is seven pounds more than last year!) but he is quick and nimble.

He makes friends easily. He is obedient most of the time, although getting him to stop playing and get schoolwork done usually results in some scowling and complaining and arm folding and some talk of how everything is either too easy or way too hard or else maybe it all needs to be thrown in the TRASH.

He sits and reads independently without prompting throughout the day. He finished the Billy and Blaze series recently. He also likes Star Wars readers and the Calvin and Hobbes compilations we found at my parents' house that were mine many years ago. He still spends lots of time with picture books as well, which pleases me.

The drumming is really astonishing. I need to post some video. Little dude has been gotten by the rhythm, I tell you.

Today after the interview, everyone dressed up as spies. Hudson made spy cigarettes for himself and Harper with duct tape and paper. I don't know why spies don't have to follow his One Rule. Helena is wondering as well.

That is all for now. My dear little boy.

I'll never be royal.

A few years ago I bought some cookie cutters at Williams- Sonoma. They were shaped liked characters from "Cars 2" and Hudson saw them and that was all he wanted for his birthday, these wondrous cookies that looked exactly like Francesco and Finn McMissile and Lightning and Mater. So I followed the recipe on the box and rolled out the dough and maybe I actually let the kids help which made everything last so much longer, and also I am sure they have no memory of it. (jewel in my crown, right?) Then I followed the recipe for royal icing and tried to make the cookies look just like the ones on the Williams-Sonoma box. HAH. HAH. It was an unmitigated disaster. They looked like "Cars 2" characters who had dared open the Ark of the Covenant in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The kids ate them anyway and were sweet about it and said they were perfect. But it became like a vision quest for me. I discovered there is an entire world of royal icing mastery. I read blogs. I read recipes. I shuddered at the amount of food coloring involved. But then I saw things like this wondrous magnificence:It's the Twelve Days of Christmas!! With royal icing!! Inspirational? Yes! Debilitating? Certainly.
But, every few months, I try it again.

 I make the dough, I roll out the cookies. I get out my can of meringue powder. I decide I can't in good conscience use the amounts of food coloring necessary to make ladybugs or strawberries or shamrocks. I contemplate using beets or spinach instead. I reject that idea. I decide to give up when the dough sticks to the rolling pin and also the wax paper. I decide to give up again when I can't get the icing the right texture even though I watch youtube videos and read the Pioneer Woman's tutorial AGAIN.  I decide to throw everything in the TRASH when the flood icing floods all over the squeeze bottle instead of inside of it. In my head I am thinking about how I am spending all this time on something it will take about 5 seconds to eat. I think of those Buddhist monks and their sand art. I usually growl at the kids somewhere in here. Sometimes I let them ice a few of their own cookies and I am a little jealous that they just slop it on there, sling on some sprinkles, and declare it a  masterpiece.

I think I've made five attempts now, and each time I have declared THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE LAST TIME I AM DOING THIS. ENOUGH. And then I get complacent and something comes up and it seems like the perfect occasion for a cute little homemade daisy cookie, and I succumb. I guess each effort gets a little better; a little less like those "Nailed It!" pinterest fails. I made these yesterday to give to our tutors who have worked so hard to help my kids learn their memory work for Classical Conversations. (My flood icing kept overflowing its boundary. Which made me feel solidarity with the Army Corps of Engineers.)

Monday's child has blood on face, part 2

Historically, any time there has been a Major Blog Lapse it has been for Reasons Technological. Let's just blame it on that and not my General Malaise and Inability to Get Things Accomplished in a Timely Manner.

I have a computer now that will do what the ipad simply refused to do, which is let me post pictures in blogger. So the previous post will now show you the snake in all its glory, AND I can show you this treasure, taken this very night:

Hudson has had a wiggly snaggle tooth on the top for at least 3 weeks now. Every few days, the husband would give it a wiggle and deem it "not quite ready." However, we needed to exercise some caution because the last tooth that was wiggly got SWALLOWED. Hudson was eating some naan with hummus for lunch one day and he said, "Mommy. My hummus got crunchy for a minute, and now my tooth is just gone." (it is okay if this makes you feel queasy. Me too.) Anyway, the Daddy had to draft an elaborate legal document Explaining Things to the Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy responded (imprudently, in hindsight) that she could let the swallowed tooth slide JUST THIS ONE TIME. Which is why, I suppose, Hudson insisted tonight that the Daddy yank the tooth, even though it clearly was not quite ready to leave its spot. Which reminds me that the Tooth Fairy needs to go rustle up a dollar before she goes to bed.

I woke up to what can only be deemed a minor Resurrection Miracle yesterday morning. I made some hot cross buns (which were actually just some Bisquick with raisins thrown in and some icing on top because I overslept and didn't have time for yeast etc.) and this put everyone in a great mood. Harper was feeling so charitable that not only did she help Helena get dressed while I took a shower, but for the first time EVER in the five years since Helena has been alive, she condescended to MATCHING DRESSES. Behold:

 It was all Helena had dreamed it might be, and more. At this point in the day, it is clear that Harper's magnanimity has reached its peak. Incidentally, The B's gave us these lovely dresses several years ago and I noticed Helena's is a size 24 months and Harper's is a size 5T. It has been a LONG time coming.

And here we are, smiling about Jesus setting the world free. You might also notice that we are standing in a little patch of bluebonnets, which are, of course, the state flower of Texas. So our thanks also go out to those Texans who set Texas free from Mexico on this day in 1820.

 

 

 

Now that I have no excuses, the posting is going to be more frequent. I promise.

 

Monday's child has blood on face

Wow. It is 1:45 pm and we have managed to cram lots of living into this day. We started off with a major, very noisy explosion of Math Angst. There was weeping and wailing, a bit of self flagellation (metaphorical) and then I started laughing. I think I have mentioned this disorder I have that causes me to smile and laugh at totally inappropriate moments. It is most unwelcome, and never ceases to escalate an already FRAUGHT moment.

We did finally manage to neutralize the situation (with the help of Daddy on the phone) and things quieted down. Next, a large spider was reported in Helena's room, underneath a tutu. Then, while Helena and I were in the middle of her reading lesson, Hudson was doing some sort of joy celebration upon discovering I bought yogurt yesterday (ah, the simple pleasure of flavored Greek yogurt) and he flipped himself over a chair and face planted on the large djembe we have in our living room. There was an impressive amount of blood (though not, thankfully, on the borrowed and very expensive djembe) which caused Bleeding Angst. There was weeping and wailing, and then I started laughing. Again. (Why yes, I do think my children will be emotionally scarred by this behavior.)  I managed to stop laughing, we got the bleeding stopped, then Hudson sat in my lap for a nice long while until he finally decided that maybe he might be able to eat some blueberry yogurt. Helena then stated that she wished she had a bloody lip so she could sit in my lap.

A few minutes later, I was trying to get some clothes folded, and this announcement: "MOMMY!! A SNAKE!! ON THE PATIO!! "(Davene, you might want to stop reading for a minute) and I went outside to find all three kids hunched over this:

There were ecstatic utterances of "can we keep him?" and "Let's go buy him a cage this minute!" And not a single question of "might he be poisonous?" I told them to stand back, and went inside to consult Google. Only my iPad wouldn't work. Of course not. So, again, I called the husband and he disregards Occam's Razor, Herpetology Edition (think ribbon snake, not rattler) and immediately assumes this must be a baby rattlesnake, or possibly a water moccasin, or maybe even a copperhead. I am not particularly frightened around snakes, which I concede is ridiculous considering the completely irrational fear I have of roaches.  I thought it was endearing how he seemed to be using the hose as a sort of surrogate mommy. Anyway, I managed to put a plastic cover over it, came inside to restart the iPad, and finally ascertained that we probably have a common Texas Brown Snake, approximately 10 inches long.

And that, hopefully, ends today's exciting events. I think I might go have a short nap.

Hudson has been seven for almost one month.

I don't have a good excuse. Let us just resume as normal.
We've had some impressive goings on here. Hudson has lost two entire teeth (his first). and he turned SEVEN.He was seven MONTHS old when I started the blog, and he is now seven entire YEARS old. I have yet to do his birthday interview, but here are a couple of sample conversations I have had with him recently:

(On our way from dropping Harper off at a birthday party held at a place named Sweet and Sassy, wherein the little girls get their nails painted and their hair braided and sprayed with glitter hairspray. Not, incidentally, Harper's preferred environs, as you might imagine. She put on a brave, lipglossed face because she loves the birthday girl.)

Hudson: "Why is that place called "Sweet and Sassy"? What does "sassy" even mean?"
Me: "Well, I think it means kind of cute and energetic and spunky?"
Hudson: "What if they had named it "Sweet and Zombie Apocalypse"?"
Me: "I think that would service an entirely different demographic."
Hudson: "I would have my party there."

Then today on our way home from our co-op, this:

Hudson: "Did slaves get paid?"
Me: "No, that is essentially what slavery is: being forced to work for no pay."
Hudson: "But did they ever ENJOY cooking?"
Me: "Well, even if they enjoyed their work, they still wanted to be paid a fair wage for what they were doing. Incidentally, slavery is not, unfortunately, just in the past. but we can talk about that more later."
(Fairly long silence) then
Hudson: "So, you cook for us every day. And you don't get paid. Are you a slave?"

I was fairly impressed that he was generous enough to consider  the food preparation that I do "cooking." Also I wondered if he is too young to see "Twelve Years a Slave." Then I realize that I am likely too young to see " Twelve Years a Slave" considering I still have not fully recovered from watching Ferris Bueller whip Denzel Washington in "Glory" which I saw circa 1990.

Anyway, he is a delight, that boy. He is slow as a tortoise if I want him to hurry. He is extremely fast when he is running or zipping around on his bike and scooter. He wishes he never had to brush his teeth. He loves Mustangs very much and he lobs questions like, "Okay, which one is faster, a Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500, or a Lamborghini?" at me several times during every single car ride. I usually answer, "I don't know, but that would be a fun race to watch!" To which he responds, "I need you to look that up for me on your iPad the minute we get home. I want a real answer." I am back on the blog wagon now. More to come.