Random picture Monday, part III

I know things tend to go off the rails when I start getting braggy about any consistency here, but look at me go! And, since I am being braggy, I have also stayed on track for an entire week of the Couch to 5K business. It really isn't so bad, probably because the most I've had to run at a stretch is 90 seconds.

One day last week, I noticed all the leaves had fallen off our little oak tree in the back yard in a single day. I went out to investigate, and they had not actually fallen off, they had been EATEN. By 4 gigantic green caterpillars. We managed to get two of them into our butterfly habitat, where they ate, rather noisily, for another two days. We are now the proud guardians of 2 polyphemus moth chrysalises! Polyphemus, as you'll remember, was the giant son of Poseidon. He was also a cyclops, which means our moths are going to have a large creepy eye looking thing on each of their wings! When we went to capture the caterpillars, I noticed a tiny, dead black snake draped on the branch next to it. That is lots of interesting nature on one tiny oak tree!

Some guys at our church are doing a prison outreach at the prison near our house (that never gets old) and asked us to make cookies. We made peanut butter, and the kids were all concerned that some of the prisoners might have peanut allergies. I assured them that for reasons I don't entirely understand, their generation seems to have a monopoly on peanut allergies, and they aren't quite old enough to be imprisoned.

 Our neighbors had a costume party on Saturday. Hobbes (she made the entire costume by herself!), a stealthy ninja, and an Incredible all had a marvelous time

Random picture Monday, part II

This is becoming a thing!

Here are three books I read this week:

1. The Trojan War by Olivia Coolidge (Harper is reading it for school)
2. His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg: Courage, Rescue, and Mystery During WWII by Louise Borden (I first learned about Wallenberg when I lived in Hungary. This is a beautiful homage, and everything a biography for kids ought to be.)
3. Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly Giff (Harper read this with her book club. It's a novel, based on real people, set during the Irish Potato Famine. It was devastating, but so wonderful. I haven't cried so much since I finished A Single Shard a few months ago.)

 Sasha kept photo bombing, so I took a few pictures of her. I have a little shadow who goes in and out with me. What can be the use of her is more than I can see.

 I don't know when this tea party happened--two years or so ago?? (this hurts my feelings) Helena went through a tea party phase, wherein every time we were home for any amount of time, a tea party was planned and executed. I loved that Hudson was always a willing participant. He's a good bear.

 One morning, Helena looked out the window, and this jeweled beauty was hanging from our little maple tree. Today, I saw that a new picture book biography of E.B. White has just been published! Title: Some Writer! A Story of E.B. White--isn't that perfect? I can't wait to read it.

Here we are in Colorado. I kind of wish we were back there right now. It is supposed to be 92 degrees here today. I started a Couch to 5K program this morning. My face got very red. I don't like to run, but the cross country team invites parents and siblings to run 5K races with them in the spring, and I decided it might be nice to at least TRY.

Random picture Monday

Last month, some friends from church had a big garage sale to raise money for their adoption. I decided to give them some of the baby things I had stored in a closet. This baby papasan held all three of my tiny babies. So, naturally, I made them all get in it and we gave it a grand send-off. This obviously a coping strategy for me, because what I really wanted to do was weep and weep and compose a Jeremiad about how quickly go the years.

We had another busy Saturday, and yet again my phone died right when I desperately needed directions. This time I actually had a charger, but the phone refused to charge. It was an utter blackout. For 40 minutes. Then finally, after I had TOTALLY lost my bearings and every last ounce of my cool, we miraculously found the park where the cross country race was held, found a parking place on a side street around a mile away, and as I was turning the car off, my phone suddenly made a little PING! and started charging. It was ridiculous. It was a test, and I failed miserably. I had to ask forgiveness from God, and Harper, and Helena. I even had a real map in the car this time, but the park was not on the map, and also I had forgotten my glasses. The husband is threatening to buy me a new phone, but I think it's not the phone, it is obviously The Ghost in the Machine. The Matrix has chosen me as Its Job.

I got a few pictures of Harper at her race. She tried a new configuration of the cooling towel this week:

On Saturday night, she had a murder mystery birthday party. Her character was Albia Tytis (that would be the Latin name for 'barn owl'), internationally renowned ornithologist and conservationist. She had a wonderful time, and I am in awe of my friend Natasha, who planned and executed such an amazing party. Although seeing these 5th grade girls all gussied up took my breath away. It was a glimpse into the not too distant future.

A few things to remember

I was getting some pictures printed off last week for my mother-in-law's birthday, and realized my memory card has thousands of pictures on it. I think I am just going to post a few random pictures. Some other things:

1. The kids and I had a really slow summer, and for the first time, I did not think this worked very well. I don't know what to do about that, I just don't want to forget.

2. We did go to see several kid movies at the theatre (a rare occurrence) and Harper enjoys this SO VERY MUCH. She has a very loud raucous laugh, and she has a ready response to silly humor. I did not really enjoy having to sit through kid movies, but watching and hearing her reactions is delightful. The other two enjoy themselves too, but their reactions are a bit more subdued. This is a random picture of her clearing the weed debris out of our poor, forsaken garden. She was covered in mud when she finished.



3. This last Saturday, I had a baby shower, Harper had her first race for cross country, and Hudson had a soccer gamer--ALL IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF TOWN AT THE SAME TIME. I said yes to all the bests and put around 150 miles on the car criss-crossing the greater Houston metro area. Also my phone died right after I started off on my trek, and I did not have a functioning charger. (actually it turned out I DID have one, but did not realize it, which the husband was able to prove as soon as I arrived home). Driving to places you've never been before without your google maps is HARROWING. Anyway, Harper and I made it to the soccer game 5 minutes after it ended, and the husband and Hudson and Helena had just driven off. Which means I don't even get CREDIT.

4. Harper loves cross country. Our school lets the 5th graders run, and she is working so hard. The course on Saturday was hilly, which she was not used to, but she ran like a champ. I confess that I teared up when she loped past me with her goofy self-cooling towel wrapped around her head like Erykah Badu.

5. Hudson is also loving soccer. His team is now 0-3, and they've yet to even score a goal, but he
doesn't seem to mind.


6. Helena lost a tooth last week. She pulled it out herself one early morning before a campus day. She came into the kitchen weeping, because that is her go-to response to blood and/or unexpected events. In this picture she had lined up her babies, and they were labeled "3 months, 4 months, 5 months,6 months, 7 months,8 months."

7. I still haven't finished writing about our Colorado trip. I found this nifty picture I took of one of the many hummingbirds who loved the feeder on our porch:


8. And a few bird watercolors Harper has painted lately:

It was a good day.

We just finished up our fifth week of school, and yet it feels as though about 5 minutes have passed. I am going to document the details of yesterday, because in my brain, that will help me to stop time.

8:55-9:30--Drove Helena to her ballet class. We switched teachers this year, and it's twice as far away. However, this teacher is a mom from school who happens to be a former professional ballerina, AND all of the girls in the class are friends from school.

9:30-10:30--Helena danced, Harper worked on Latin, Hudson read Prince Caspian, and I did a little writing. I have this 5 year diary that I bought on my birthday last year, and I have mostly kept up with it.

10:30-12:30--We ran a couple of errands on the way home. I rarely go to Target anymore, and was reminded why. I was sore annoyed not being able to find things. We also ran into Joann's so Harper could get a birthday present for her friend Susannah, and some new knitting needles.

1-2:30--We ate lunch and the kids watched "Aladdin" (they'd never seen it before. I now have "A Whole New World" stuck in my head). I rested a little, and folded laundry.

2:20-4:00--Hudson's science assignment for this week was building molecules out of candy. We used Starbursts for atoms and toothpicks for bonds. It was sticky and fun. I looked up the chemical formula for TNT, and that was Hudson's piece de resistance.
Then he ate the dynamite.

Helena also made TNT,

 

and Harper made some less explosive molecules.

4-5:30--The Daddy got home, and Harper had to do HER science experiment. She had to test resting heart rate versus elevated heart rate on 3 different people, of 3 different ages, at 3 different intervals. She, Helena, and I went outside and rested and jogged in place, and rested and jogged in place, and rested and jogged in place. Helena's heart beats really fast. Mine and Harper's were almost the same.

5:30-6--Makeshift dinner. Cheese, crackers, and some apples with cookie butter. The Husband had already eaten right when he got home (he skipped lunch. COMMON OCCURENCE) and the kids all seemed indifferent and not really hungry (also COMMON OCCURENCE) Helena disappeared upstairs for an hour, and when she came down, she announced that it was time for me to go and do MY schoolwork.

6:15-7:15--She had been busy! I had to complete an entire hand-written math sheet, (in problem 1, she had spelled Lucy 'Loosy'--I fixed it, and immediately regretted not leaving it), copy a dictated spelling list, and do a Writing With Ease dictation based on a story she made up entitled Bob and His Dog. While it lacked narrative structure and any significant character development, Bob did have a high level of excitement and also silliness. I should also note, that Hobbes the parakeet was sitting on my shoulder, then my head, and also my glasses (not my favorite perching place) while I was trying to be an attentive student. A few weeks ago, we adopted 3 green parakeets from some friends. More on that in another post.

 7:30-8:15--The kids got showered and pajama-ed, and we all gathered on the couch to watch the first few minutes of the "MacGyver" reboot. Only the first few minutes because, disappointingly,  it is clearly not the fairly wholesome "MacGyver" of yore. So we went upstairs and read instead.  We finally finished Swallows and Amazons last week, and just started At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald.

It was a good day.

75, 80

My parents both had big birthdays in August. They are exceptional, and we are so thankful for their continued years with us. This lovely lady is generous, gracious, patient, and she perpetually thinks the very best of us:

This sprightly gentleman celebrated the beginning of a new decade. He's kind, steady, never fails to jog ahead to open doors for ladies, and is quick to laughter:

 

 And many more, you two!!

Back to School 2016

The summer crept and flew and just like that, we are back to routines that require Latin instead of swimming. The husband, with the help of IKEA, got our school space fighting trim. Harper got a loft bed with a desk under it, where, as was my Great Hope, she is managing to get most of her schoolwork done independently. She is back in ancient Greece, Helena is with the Angles and Saxons and Beowulf, and Hudson is revolting with the Dutch, so my brain is struggling to keep all of that straight. I just got a book yesterday that is going to help me homeschool from rest, so I am all set. Let's take a quick trip down memory lane. Here is our first year, two years ago:




Then last year:

This year, we took pictures the day before, and I did not require socks or shoes or hair tidying. It's the teeth and the legs that show the change: