Lovin' some Tom Sawyer

I love sharing great literature with my family. Part of the fun of reading a great book together over a few weeks is "living in it" during that time; pretending to be favorite characters, making up voices, or reminiscing over comical or poignant scenes.

This spring we read Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer as a family. It made for a lot of laughter, and also an awareness of satire and irony, which I truly appreciate in my kids! The one thing that was a mixed blessing, though, was that the mischief factor seemed to go way up during our time with Tom. For example, as I have shared before, Josiah decided one night to lock the bathroom from the inside and shut the door. It took us quite sometime to unlock the aged lock from the outside, and we asking him irritably why he did such a thing. He shrugged, of course, and said, "Seems like sumthin' Tom Sawyer would do." There were other antics involving creatures, bare feet, scaring girls, etc. Anyway, Tom was somewhat of a hero to the boy, apparently, as he lived an enviable life of adventure.

I had kind of forgotten this aspect of the book when I checked out the audio version (unabridged and dramatized!) from the library the other day. The kids started listening to it while drawing, and were once again  laughing and enjoying Tom's world. After an hour listening period today the girls came into the dining room for lunch. "Mom, do Becky Thatcher and Tom get married?" said Eva. "No, the book doesn't go that far, don't you remember?" I said. "Yes, I remember, I just thought there would be a sequel." she said. "No, there is just Huck Finn, which is not so much about Tom Sawyer." "Man, I really wish there was a sequel. He should write one." "Mark Twain?! He's been dead for many years!" At this point Josiah came into the room. "What!!" he said, looking truly alarmed. "Who's dead?!!" "The author." I said. "Mark Twain." "Oh." he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Whew! I thought you meant Tom Sawyer!" I didn't say anything- just smiled! We have never believed in Santa Claus around here, but Tom Sawyer... at that point I just couldn't break it to him! Let his literary friend live on forever.

dozens of pictures and a few jokes

Since the kids don't go to school, I try to do some "official-ish" shots of them individually each year- usually on their birthdays. This year Grammy wanted some framables, so we had a few (painfully goofy) photo sessions. The results are as follows, with some funnies thrown in. The human face is so interesting- the possibilities for expression are endless!

Eva was all dressed up to go to the space needle with Auntie Sarena and Anika. She was so joyful and excited, I think that helped in making the pictures turn out so lovely.

Love, love love that one. (above)

Eva decided yesterday that Bo needed to be more helpful, and she was going to train him to be a guide dog. After a 1/2 hour session of cutting and coloring, a paper vest was produced with the label "Guide Dog" and a graphic of a person in a wheelchair. She called the pup-o-sixty-pounds into the living room, and proceeded to attempt to cape him- twenty minutes of wrestling resulting in failure later, she walked into the kitchen muttering something like... "He's never gonna be a guide dog, that...." -rumpled paper dragging behind. Bo trotting in a little later, looking quite carefree, and still unemployed.

Nomes- a total goofball at heart. :)

This was where she wanted to sit for her photos, but the sun was too bright to turn towards me...

We don't like to waste things in our family, and the kids are always good about re-purposing... Yesterday Naomi was touching a watermelon I was about to slice for her, and she asked me quite sincerely, "Mom, can I hollow this out and use it as my bicycle helmet?"

Bubs isn't fond of photo sessions- we had to tell some pretty gross jokes to keep him around and smiling for these. The "truest" smile is the last, where he's snuggling his beloved Bo-dog.

We were in the car the other day and Bubby said, "Mom, I was thinking, and I thought of a question... Why don't Grammy and Gramps have any kids?!"

(He did figure this out correctly on his own- thankfully.)

The next question was- "Why on earth do we get mail on rainy days?"

And then today, when we got the mail together, he said- "Yay!!"

"What do you mean, 'yay'," I said, "It's just junk!"

"I know! I mean 'Yay', I can burn it!"

said the heifer to the bull...

The other day we went through the four-way stop near our neighborhood, and slowed a little, as usual, to peer at the livestock on the right. "Oooo..." said Naomi with a sly grin, "I see an udder surprise!" Goofy laughter ensues.



So that is to say, that Naomi has been just slightly fascinated with udders of late. No particular reason why, that I know of- just finds them interesting and rather funny. And that leads to last night's post-tooth-brushing conversation, which I overheard...



Naomi finished brushing and leaned over the wooden stool (could be a milking stool- but isn't). "Whoop!" she says, "I'm a cow! Someone's milkin' me! I'm a cow! Milk milk milk!" This accompanied by handmotions on her invisable udder, pointed toward the stool. Josiah finishes brushing too and wants to get in on this pretend... "I'm a cow too! Someone's milkin' me too!" he says.



"No, no, Bubby." Naomi says. "You're a male. You can't get milked- you've gotta get killed, and ate! You're no dairy cow... (and here she pauses to shake her head, and give him a consiliatory hug).... You, are a Steak."

brothers

Bubby loves to sing to and talk to Bo, whether they are all alone or with the whole family. I frequently overhear him singling little ditties such as, "I luv ya Mistah Bo! I luv ya Mistah Bo!" Tonight he asked me once again to please have a baby brother for him. I made some comment like, "Well at least you have Bo around?!" and, poor little guy, he went out and found his furry brother. This is what I overheard in the hallway after that:

"Bo... We're brothers! We're brothers, cuz we're so alike! We've both got just one thing on. I've got m'one thing, m'underwear, you've got yer one thing, yer coat! We're so alike, we're brothers, we're twins! Twins- we live in the same country! Our ships have the same anchors, only you don't have a ship! We're brothers, Bo! Twins!!"

a party for our Si guy

Josiah's birthday fifth birthday party was a total blast... He had such a great time running around and being crazy with his buddies- I don't think he remembered that it was his birthday party for most of the time, but he certainly enjoyed himself.

Can you guess what happened to me and my camera right after this picture?!
Fortunately it still works. I guess posing for the picture was just bothersome enough for Josiah that he had to exact a price for his trouble.

A few of the things that made Josiah's birthday party outstanding...
-a hot, super-sunny day
-the six super-soakers Grandma Flavia brought, and her willingness to play with them too!
-loads of friends, cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents
-two big sisters gung-ho to make lil' brother's birthday a hit
-two malte-poos, a pugle and a sweet chocolate lab- all under a year old and happily frisky
-a campfire for a smores buffet- try nutella or peanut butter... Yum!

Josiah was spoiled with all sorts of great gifts, including several pairs of his favorite style of shorts (long basketball) a cool Star Wars coloring book, and his own walking stick from the Cedar River. He was thrilled with every single thing he got, even though he didn't show it right away.

Timmy was the die-hard pool fan... There is no such thing as an inappropriate time, or inappropriate apparel for the pool for this guy. He's a fanatic.

Why aren't pot bellies as cute on everyone as they are on these little guys?
I was concerned that Josiah would be unhappy that his cake was unfrosted- it was a pound cake, and I made strawberry rhubarb sauce to go with it, and had some vanilla ice cream on hand too. Very good, but not as glamorous as the usual food-colored affairs. I waited for him to give a look of dismay when I brought it out, but instead he gave a little smile and said, "My very own cake!" Whew...

He seemed to like it quite a bit, actually.

I'm going to share the recipe because it was awesome... Sadly not healthy, but delicious. (If you want to find it in a better format to print, search on epicurious.com; that is where I found it.)

Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) plus additional for dusting
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (4 1/2 inches deep; not with a removable bottom) or a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt capacity)

Preparation
Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.
Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour.
Sift together sifted flour (3 cups) and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).

Beat together butter (2 sticks) and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.

Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles.

Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who helped make Josiah's celebration so memorable. As he said when he came outside early in the morning, before any guests even arrived, and saw the balloons hanging all around... "Wow!! I've never had a party like this before!"

saga de la froga

Josiah caught a frog the other day, and kept him in a plastic container (when not cuddling him) overnight.

Selfish love for froggie competed fiercely with concern for froggie's hunger in captivity, and after twenty-four hours and a lot of soul searching and potential home searching (the fountain was ruled out)... froggie was set free in our little entrance garden.

This looks like a peaceful scene, but if you could only hear the soundtrack- much sorrow and wailing from Josiah who kept a 45 minute vigil to see where froggie would go. After he went nowhere, but only rotated around a few times, Josiah was convinced that froggie would make the little garden his home, and was distracted by a large bag of pipe cleaners (thanks Aunt Leslie! :). He went on to create creatures that survive indefinitely under his care- an "old white cobra" and an orange and black fly-catcher. Not nearly so interesting as little froggie, but happily- maintenance free.