Xmas Program -- BAH HUMBUG!

This morning was Hamslice's Holiday program at school. He was excited about it when I was getting him ready for school in the morning. He saw me putting on my Christmas sweater, and he said "Make sure you wear your Finest Diamonds too!  It was cute to see how much he was anticipating the program.

However, once the program started (and he realized he had to actually perform the program instead of watching it from my lap) things changed a bit. He started out shy, then he sang part of one song. His grand finale was a scowl that would have curdled milk, after which he climbed off the back of the risers and sat backward.

So I suppose a career on Broadway is out.

Happy Hamslice

Hamslice pre-scowl

Santa's Helpers in Fed Hill

So Saturday night seems to have been the Night of 100 Santas. As we were walking with Hamslice to dinner, we saw the scene (above) in one of the bars between here and there.

Hamslice says to me "Are those Santa's Helpers?"

I said "Of course! And they're building the Naughty and Nice list RIGHT NOW"

Hamslice says, "I'm glad I was holding your hand when they saw me. That's nice, right?"

Ah. The magic of Christmas.

Hamslice Existential @ Xmas

Here we are in the midst of the second "Hamslice knows it's Christmas" year. This time around, he's become very bothered on an existential level with the amount of deception and lying taking place to create the Christmas Spirit.

For example, we all went shopping this weekend to buy gifts for each other -- Hamslice went with Dad to shop for Mom, and vice versa. He also knew we were shopping for him.

Hamslice is a pretty honest kid, so his first inclination when the three of us rejoined, was to tell us what he bought for us. When we told him he wasn't supposed to tell us, he teared up because he knew it was lying to not tell.

Furthermore, he wanted us to make sure we bought things for him. And instead of Hambone and me being forthcoming with what we bought, we said "Wait for Santa," which Hamslice knew was another lie.

I feel genuinely bad for him with all of this goofing around. I wonder if there's another way?

Merry Hamslice Christmas

This year we took Hamslice to see Santa in the Cross Street Market, as we do every year. However this time around, Hamslice had some very specific toy requests for the old man. We figure this is how he got over his Santaphobia!

About Moms

Today is the 5-year anniversary of the passing of my Mom. It makes me think a lot about her, our family, and my new family... Hamslice is five years old this year too.

And I think if he remembers anything about me after I'm gone, I'd like it to feel like this--

To Future Hamslice, Love Mom.

Happy Halloween!

Hamslice is very revved up for Halloween this year, especially since we've spent the last two days holed up in the house because of Hurricane Sandy. (The house et al. is fine, BTW)

Yesterday all the businesses were closed but the storm had moved out so we went to the movie "Hotel Transylvania" which is laugh out loud funny. After that we went to the mall, where Hamslice was able to sneak into this unmanned photo booth and we got this pic. You can tell he's in there because I told him to do it. Note the stale smile...

And this morning was his costume parade for school, so he wore his Skylander costume. Neither Hambone nor I know what a Skylander is. We suspect Hamslice doesn't either, but he liked the skeleton look and thinks the mask is pretty awesome. So there you have it. Happy Halloween Hamslice!

Fun pics from Aunt & Uncle

Hamslice got some fun mail from his aunt & uncle -- photos of their great day together this September!

Art Prize Grand Rapids

So a recap of ArtPrize is in order... The boys and I made the trek to Grand Rapids Michigan last weekend to see what all the fuss is about, and we had a really great time.

ArtPrize is a funky mix of "midwest fab" art with some highbrow classically trained art interspersed. I think the contrast and regionalism is what made it special for us. We really felt the event was true the Midwest (and we dearly love the Midwest), and that there is great art (by anyone's standard) taking place all over.

Here are some shots from ArtPrize, so you all can get the flavor...

This exhibit is of a moose with seven or so Wolves attacking it. I consider this "Taxidermy art" and I can't help but say that the taxidermy work was amazing. They all looked pretty alive to me.

Hamslice is standing here next to a tiger made of scrap wood and metal. These were very well done.

Here is an elephant made by the same artist. We really liked this exhbit

And a Rhino made of spare metal objects

This is a dragon .. a little bit of fantasy art here...

Hamslice wasn't scared of the dragon.

Here's Hamslice getting into the Chinese Lantern lighting. See the lanterns behind his head?

Here's Hambone becoming one with the art. We liked this TV frame.

What's not to love about a humungous chopper? See the person in the red jacket standing next to the seat? That's how big it was.

This installation of horses made of driftwood was cool no matter where you're from.

My favorite pieces were the ones where the audience was allowed to write stuff as part of the display. This one says "I told you they all leave, Tristan. Do you believe me now?"  How awesome is that. One of the other slips of paper in this piece said "I love boobies" and had a quick sketch of boobies on it.

Ah. Another huge chopper, this one is being driven by a skeleton

Skeleton chopper from a different angle

This is a huge black bird. Not a Raven, though.

This is a giant statue of President Ford's Head. You will only see this in Michigan, I believe.

Here's a nice robot family made out of spare Harley Davidson motorcycle parts.

This is a calliope made of junkyard stuff. It played a song and everything.

This is a seal sitting on a rock, but the whole thing is made out of one piece of wood. The craftsmanship here was unbelievable. I really thought this should win the $500,000 prize.

Aaaand then here's some tattoo art. Why not.

Pumpkin Carving!

This is the first year Hamslice has been old enough to get interested in actually carving his pumpkin. In earlier years we let him color his pumpkin with markers, but this time he definitely wanted it carved.

We gave him a Sharpie marker and he drew the outline of what he wanted cut out, and then Mom did the honors.

He's so happy with his pumpkin!

MMmmmm Chocolate Lava Cake

This weekend Hamslice discovered the magic of chocolate lava cake. It's chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce inside the cake for a special surprise. Let's just say he was in hog heaven.

Hamslice's 1st Day of Big Boy School

Today was Hamslice's first day at the Park School of Baltimore. He is pretty excited and doesn't seem all that nervous. He likes the idea of carpooling for the first few days of school because it's more fun to go to school with friends, right?The bus can't run because all the streets are closed for the Grand Prix...

Here he is in the carpool car, about to head for school.

What a big smile!

Happy 5th Birthday, Hamslice

This weekend was Hamslice's fifth birthday! We went to Chincoteague Island VA to celebrate, and we had a marvelous time in spite of ourselves. Some notable experiences:

1. Hamslice was the only one to catch fish this weekend. Mom and Dad kept trying, but Hamslice was the winner.
2. Hamslice showed an UNCANNY ability to win at Crazy 8s this weekend. Seriously, he won 99% of the games, even when we didn't let him win. WHAT!
3. We went to Assateague beach to play in the water, but the waves were so HUGE that we couldn't get past our ankles. There was a rip tide warning as well, so Hamslice wore his life jacket. He was the only kid there with one on. How scary for the other parents!
4. We went for crabs on Hamslice's birthday, just as a humungous storm rolled in. In fact, it rained most of the weekend. But during our crab feast, all the power went out in the restaurant. All the other customers left because of it, but the restaurant stayed open so we finished our crabs. Just before we were done, the lights came back on. Hambone felt sorry for the waitresses and left a $30 tip.
5. Our trip home was during a rainstorm that caused major flooding, so what was normally a 3.5 hour drive turned out to be 9 hours.

Happy Birtday Hamslice!

Schooltime Jitters

Hamslice starts his new "big boy school" in less than two weeks, and we're all jittery (well, everyone but Hambone. He's status quo as always)

We all went to buy paper a few nights ago for Hambone's company, and while we were in the store, Hamslice tugged gently at my pants and said, "I think I need some school supplies." So we decided he could pick out whatever he felt he needed to be ready for school. (Our actual school shopping had taken place a few weeks ago)

After careful consideration and much browsing, he settled on these items to prepare for his big transition:

1 Pencil sharpener that looks like a giant dice
1 Batman folder
1 Pack of crayola markers, 12 colors

I was proud of his careful selections, and continue to be irrationally thrown by him leaving Montessori and going to Real School. I thought we had this covered because he's been in school since he was born, but I guess every transition happens to Mom and kid at the same level. Or maybe it's harder for Mom.

Sigh.

More Fun Letters from AB!

This letter from Aunt Bet has knock knock jokes in it, some puzzles, and one very lonely fish =)

Aunt and Uncle Pen Pals!

Uncle C and Aunt K came to visit last weekend, and we had a terrific time together. Hamslice really enjoyed hamming it up with his uncle, and his aunt FINALLY got to see our house 'post-construction'.

Here's a video of Hamslice reading their thank you letter to him about the visit:

Psychic Hamslice

Last night I had a dream about Hamslice, where he did something amazing (I can't remember exactly what it was, unfortunately). In my dream I was shouting about how proud I was of him. It was a very emotional moment.

At this same moment, Hamslice shouted "What? I can't hear you, Mom" from his bedroom. It was 4am. Hambone said I wasn't actually shouting.

What happened there? Coincidence? I am so freaked out.

Hoodwinking Hamslice

This falls under the category "things Mom comes up with because she's bored" and will probably embarrass Hamslice for eternity, but I can't help it.
We use Hulu for TV instead of cable, and for Hamslice's shows, I set the program to Auto play all of the episodes so we don't need to go back to the remote between programs. However, I told Hamslice that he could conjure up additional episodes using his MIIIND.
I can't believe he believes some of this stuff...

Storms on the Hill

The weather has been really humid and crazy lately, which causes these pop up storms in the evenings. Check this one out:

Pen Pals are the Best

Hamslice and AB's pen pal relationship is still going strong -- Thank you AB!!

Bears!

We went to an auction in West Michigan over the weekend, and Hambone bought two stuffed bears. He put one in his office...

Hamslice Pen Pal

Hamslice has recently become pen pals with AB. He loves getting letters, here's his latest:

This is me reading AB's letter to Hamslice

Fun Stuff Inside the Letter for our little man

Oedipus Comes for Dinner

Last night as I prepared dinner and Hambone sat at the end of the bar reading email, Hamslice started talking in some detail about how he wants the two of us to live in this house when he grows up. He kept referring to just him and me.

I asked "what about Daddy--is he going to live with us too?"

Hamslice, mortified that he was outlining his master plan right in front of his competition, clapped his hand over his mouth and bent over in embarrassment. When he recovered a bit, I asked again, "What happens to Daddy when you grow up?"

Hamslice shrugged and said, "He goes away. We don't need him anymore when I'm grown up."

I looked down the bar to Hambone, who whispered, "AVENGE ME"

How ABOUT that house in Ocean City

A few weeks ago we went to Ocean City Maryland for a quick weekend -- Hambone had a conference there, and Hamslice and I tagged along for some fun in the sun.

Long story short, we had a total blast. Hamslice is old enough now to enjoy beach combing, so we spent several hours looking for seashells and running in and out of the waves. He was able to ride his bike down the boardwalk during an early morning stroll, and we had some awesome fresh seafood.

When we returned to (stinky, trashy) Baltimore we all remarked about how much fun we had. A few days later as I was putting Hamslice down for a nap, he said to me, "Mommy, you can work while I take a nap so you can make money to buy me a beach house in Ocean City."

That boy don't miss a beat.

Hambone and Hamslice do a Duet

My two favorite guys are doing a little "improv" on the keyboard and flute

Stumbling Upon Dragons

This weekend was the kinetic sculptures parade but we accidentally missed that. What a super bummer!!!  But we went to the Federal Hill neighborhood association picnic instead, and on the way back we happened upon Matsuri restaurant's 16th anniversary celebration with real Chinese Dragons.

Hamslice was pretty spooked at first. Always the adventurer, though, he found out that if he pet their tails, the tails would wiggle and pet back. He was squealing and giggling while the person under the dragon costume flipped the tail back and forth like a happy wiggly puppy.

We love city life.

Full Circle

I remember when I was just a little girl, hanging around with Mom. She had a little habit that I don't think either of us really thought much about, but it went like this: if we were sitting quietly for a while, she'd reach out and rub my knee just for just a second to let me know she was thinking about me.

I miss that.

Without knowing it, I've been doing the same thing with Hamslice -- there's just not enough things to talk about all the time, so I just give him that little touch so he knows he's on my mind.

Yesterday he did it back to me. And it was like my Mom was there too; three generations all thinking about each other, just for a moment.

Full circle.