Game on

This is apparently what smack talk looks like when you're seven. We're so proud.

This?

This is not an excellent start to the week. 

Andrew asked me if I said a bad word to the man who did this to my car bright and early this morning and I have to brag and say that I did not, which is pretty remarkable.

The world is all about balance, though, and to balance this out? Thomas learned to tango at school today and he likes to practice. With me. In our kitchen.  A little tango with your best boy can make everything better.

Homeschooling

Is there anything more boring to blog about - or talk about, for that matter - than the weather? No? I agree. You've been warned.

We enjoyed a beautiful, warm fall here in hondoland and didn't see more than a trace of snow until early-January. That's why the successive storms that have each dropped 6+ inches as they blazed through town in recent weeks have been a bit of a shock to the system.

Thanks to snow days, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and strep throat Andrew has only been to school about twice in the last two weeks. That time away from the books has been well-spent, though, and not without its lessons.

We've had engineering and science lessons while shoveling and building snow forts.

Snow = heavier than it looks

Constructing arches of heavy snow = more cooperation and forethought than comes naturally

We've also had some photography lessons. By "lessons," I mean Thomas has tormented us with his Fisher-Price camera and Andrew has helped himself to our camera off the kitchen counter. Andrew's not bad, really, and he's not afraid to take, oh 1,000 or so shots to get a few good ones. 



"Amaryllis in winter"



"Madeline VERY CLOSE to lens"

Currently they are experimenting with free enterprise. They have carefully chosen some of their most prized possessions and arranged them artfully on Andrew's bed, which has become the Fruit of the Loom Shopping Center.  For real. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. It reminds me of the restaurant my sister and I used to pretend to own. We called it the Garden Culvert. Catchy, you have to admit.


Anyway, Mark and I have both been invited upstairs to purchase goods from the store and for the bargain basement price of $2.20 I am now the proud owner of a still life drawing and a small plastic lizard. I believe Mark has just purchased two books and a small rubber ball from the store for only $1. If you forget about the part where we initially purchased all of their inventory, I feel like we really did get some good deals.

Good signage is a must

Impressive display of merchandise

We've got the Jayhawks and Longhorns on tap next. That's when we practice good sportsmanship and volume control. The lessons never end!

You win some, you lose some

Some days are better than others. Today was good if you're a small hondo. It was the second snow day in a row and it involved nothing but fun...until it wasn't fun anymore.  Let this serve as a reminder of why purposely spinning around until you make yourself so dizzy that you fall over is not really such a hot idea.

It looks worse in real life but he seems to be rallying and no teeth appear to be loose.  However, the score remains COFFEE TABLE, 1 - THOMAS, 0. The irony of the fact that he's wearing pajamas that say, "Saving the World Before Bedtime" and that he's using "Mr. Happy" on his lip are fortunately lost on him.

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

This is going to be a catch-all post. Just bear with me here. I promise to do better work next week when I'm no longer on vacation. So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We here at House of Hondo have done the holidays up right this year. Santa Claus found us and was very generous, we've spent great time with friends and family and we've eaten gluttonously. I think that's all that any of us had on our Christmas lists.

Madden football. We've spent  HOURS pretending to know how to play this game this week.

We've really outdone ourselves in the last week doing, well, basically nothing.  And? It's been heavenly. We dressed for church on Christmas Eve and since then...not so much. 

We've eaten lunch in pajamas, we've played with new toys for hours on end, we've gone days at a time without leaving the house and I think it's safe to say we've loved nearly every minute of that. In fact, I think we needed it.

They reported that they were getting dressed for work. Thomas was supposed to be Mark
and Andrew was supposed to be dressed as me, which apparently means
he thinks I'm an enthusiastic Jayhawk fan who robs banks.

All of this together-time has provided the opportunity to overhear dozens of little conversational gems.  Some of my favorites follow:

• "We are kids and we need for the grownups to give us a little piece of quiet around here." - Thomas, at Christmas Dinner in Kansas City while concentrating on a pretzel decorating project.

•  "Can someone cut my donut in half, please? But, I want Dad to do it really because he cuts bigger halves than you do, Mom." - Thomas, in reference to the daily donut that Dad has been delivering from the grocery store.
• "Thomas, put on your coat. We're going to walk to the mailbox." - Me, just being a nagging mom.  "NO! I don't need a coat. It's HAPPY! NEW! YEAR! and that means I'll be warm no matter what!"
• "Wyatt, it looks like we'll just have to play baseball in the basement. I guess you should just cross your arms that we don't break anything!" - Thomas to his cousin after Mark declined to take them in the backyard to play baseball in the dark.

Tomorrow brings one more celebration where we'll exchange gifts with my sister's family. They arrived tonight with a large U-Haul, which Thomas initially hoped might be full of presents. I assured him that it's just all their worldly posessions instead, which is much more exciting because it marks the beginning of their year in Kansas. If that isn't a great start to a new year for us, then I don't know what is.

That brings me to resolutions. Last year I made a bunch. This year's list is shorter. In 2011, I resolve to exhibit more grace and more patience - with my kids, with my husband and with my family and friends.

Madeline after her visit yesterday to Pawsh Wash

I even resolve to be more patient with our stinky dog. Everyone deserves a fresh start at this time of year.  Happy 2011!