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: