Harper is ELEVEN.

On May 25 ELEVEN years ago, I was five days overdue with my first baby. I had just finished up a year of teaching at M.D. Anderson, where I taught students with cancer who were hospitalized for an extended time. The husband had just finished his finals for his first year of law school. In a week, we would celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We had known each other for only eighteen months. We were excited about life in general, and especially about the one we were about to welcome. I wondered if labor would ever start. Then it did. I really don't remember much. I know that it doesn't feel like it is even possible that ELEVEN YEARS have passed. And yet, here we are. She is such an interesting, quirky, amazing, little human, and I get to be her mother. Tuesday night when I went to tuck her in, she had just put down her book (The Incredible Invention of Hugo Cabret) and was arranging every stuffed animal she owns on her bed. She carefully tucked her baby bald eagle into his little sleeping bag with all of HIS stuffed animals, and told me she would wake me and the Daddy up promptly at seven so she could open her gifts. She had written out a VERY specific list around three months ago. She got a James Avery birthstone ring (grandparents P), a Kindle cover (grandmother M), diving flippers and new goggles (Helena), a perplexus ball (Hudson), an arrangement of fresh flowers (Hudson and Helena), some Haribo gummies (Hudson and Helena), and a light up jellyfish lamp, some magnetic goo, and an egg splat ball from us.



That picture with the stuffed pumpkin on her head? Yes, she still sleeps with her beloved dough-gi-die. She actually managed to wrestle it on the other day (it is a size 2T) but sadly, I didn't get a picture.

Last day of school 2015

I just realized I didn't do a post to mark the last day of school last year. And now this year is over. Pretend with me for a moment that it is May of 2015:

 Harper painted an owl and a house finch for her beloved Ms.P. She was also, when I went to pick her up, reading Calvin and Hobbes to a rapt audience.

Hudson also painted an owl for his dear Mrs. C:

 
Helena painted this caterpillar and butterfly for the sweetest kindergarten teacher I have ever met, Mrs. M:

 Now that summer is actually here, I plan to write more. Off to a good start!

We'll always have Narnia.

"It must be a dream, it must, it must" said Jill to herself. "I'll wake up in a moment." But it wasn't, and she didn't."   (The Silver Chair)

The headmaster of our school reads The Chronicles of Narnia out loud to the students at lunchtime. They are finishing up The Silver Chair, and today the kids got to dress up as their favorite character. Helena chose Jill, Hudson is Prince Caspian, and Harper is Glimfeather the Owl.

Next year they will hear The Last Battle. Because sometimes art imitates life. The beauty of the classical education is that we get daily reminders that there really is nothing new under the sun. We will comb our hair at Thermopylae (C.S. Lewis yet again) and find joy in our realm of influence. We will fashion chainmail out of tinfoil, and pray that we won't need the real thing (Hudson really wants the real thing).

We went to the beach! Twice!

Way yonder back in May of two thousand and fourteen, we drove to Seagrove Beach, Florida, and rented a house near the beach. We liked it so much that we rented the exact house again this year for spring break, which happened to coincide with the husband's FORTIETH birthday. Both times, we drove to my parents' house, which is on the way. We dropped off the dog and spent the night, and then we got up at 4 in the A.M.  (and this year it happened to be on the Sunday of Day Light Saving Time, so THREE in the A.M.!!!!!!) and drove across Louisiana, Mississippi, a tiny bit of Alabama, and into the panhandle of Florida. It takes around 11 hours. This year we listened to The Black Stallion. I think it was My Father's Dragon in 2014. It was a little chillier going in March instead of May, but the kids didn't seem to mind. We spent most mornings, and some afternoons, on the beach. We ate in twice a day, and ate out once a day, rode in the golf cart at BREAKNECK SPEED to the nearby Seaside shops (Sundog Books!) and generally relaxed. I had checked out a stack of never-seen-by-us movies from the library in case of rain, and we did end up needing them a couple of days. We watched "My Neighbor Totoro" (love!), "Pollyanna," "Finding Nemo," (They were FANS.), "Sleeping Beauty," and "Hugo," (weird, but beautiful!). Oh, and the girls and I watched the Gwyneth Paltrow "Emma" which happened to be on t.v. one evening. (Hudson chose to play FIFA soccer on the Playstation instead of joining us. WHO can account for taste??) I had to pause it about every two minutes to explain the vagaries of British social structure to Helena, but it was still delightful.

 Here are some pictures. First, 2014. We celebrated Harper's 9th birthday while we were there:

 Oops! I see that my chin is being sun-exposed! DANGER! (Love, The Covered-Up Family)

Compare/Contrast with March 2016. The husband spent MANY hours throwing the Frisbee with Hudson. We took miles of walks along the beach and came home with a large bag of sand dollar pieces. The Destin-area beaches are not known for their shells, but it is still fun to search. I didn't read as much this trip as I did last time, and I am not sure why. Though I did buy a pair of reading sunglasses at Sundog Books that I will be thankful for all summer long. The kids got some "mad money" to spend this time and they bought snowcones and ice cream and Silly Putty.

The years really are like sand through the hour glass, aren't they?

Helena Jane is SEVEN: the interview

1. Helena, at what age does a person become a grown-up? "Twentysomething."

2. If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? "Go to the beach! Actually, maybe a battle. So you could kill bad guys without them seeing you."

3. What is something that makes our family special? "We get to go on vacation. We go on family bike rides."

4. Are you a good friend? "Yes: I have Georgia, Adelaide, Robin, Hannah.."

5. How would the world be different if animals could talk? "You could talk TO them. Talk about food!"

6. What is the best thing about being a kid? "We get to go to school. We don't have to do as much work. We get to play a lot, ride bikes, ride scooters.." The worst thing? "You have to pick up!"

7. Where is your favorite place in the world?  "Russia! Because it is so big. And ballet dancers."

8. If you could give one gift to every child in the world, what would it be? "Food and water. A doll and a truck."

9. What are five words that describe you? "Nice, kind, ticklish, silly, generous."

10. If you could invent something, what would it be? "A jet pack that could go around the world infinity times!!"

11. If you could make one rule that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? "Don't sin. Don't fight. Don't have battles."

12. What is your favorite...
Color? Green and blue
Smell? Lavender and peppermint
Food? Pasta!
Book? Five Children and It and the Peedie books
Activity? swimming and playing outside
Sound? The dog barking!
Animal? horse
Bird? hummingbird

13. What does Daddy like to do? "Bike riding. That's pretty much all. And eat out with us."

14. What does Mommy like to do? "Go to church. Go to the Arboretum and watch birds."

15. What makes you special? "My hair! Everybody says that!"

16. What so you most want to do? "Go to the ballet tomorrow and eat out with you." (We went to see Houston Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty" and ate at Cheesecake Factory. Magical all around.)

17. What would you like to write a book about? "If I got a bird and I would write about my bird and me."

18. What is your favorite thing to wear? "Dresses."

19. Describe what you look like. "Curly hair, round face, little. I eat more than my brother. Almost weigh more!! Arched feet."

20. What are you looking forward to this year? "Going to Florida. Also, that I can carry my knife around."

21. What is your favorite song? "Fox Went Out On a Chilly Night" (the Nickel Creek version)

22. What are some things you accomplished as a six year old? "I learned to ride my bike, do ballet, and read!"

23. What is your favorite part of school? "Lunch, history, and P.E."