Melancholy

Don't worry, this isn't a "long lasting sadness" or "gloomy, depressed" melancholy.  It's just a sad melancholy.

This morning I stared at Mr. Clark's back as he walked up our driveway towards his car.  He called back over his shoulder, "Don't worry!  I'll take care of my kids."  Then he got in the pink station wagon, that Hannah calls the Barbie car, and they left for Indiana.  My chest constricted and my heart raced and I admit, I cried a little.  I prayed all day for safe travels for my beautiful family.  It's hard not to worry when you're separated from loved ones and they're traveling for 8+ hours.

Bobby's cousin Matthew is getting married tomorrow evening and so Bobby took the older two with him for the big event.  And to visit with his family that lives in Indiana.  Amos and I stayed home for several reasons.  The first (and main reason) being that I felt like two trips in one month would be too much for our little fellow.  Second, the wedding is at 7 o'clock in the evening so I wouldn't be able to go anyway.  And third, I didn't feel like packing a baby for another trip after I just got everything washed and put away from our last trip.  I'm lazy like that.

I'm just sad to go so long without my handsome husband and sweet babies.  And I'm sad to miss Matthew's wedding.  James was my first favorite of Bobby's cousins and Matthew has been a close second.  I remember when he was little and spent an entire summer with us.  How is he old enough to get married?! 

Anyway, after I pulled myself together, Amos & I set about getting some chores done.  I changed the sheets on the kids bed, cleaned their toy boxes and finally got the home school shelves organized and their new books on them.  While I worked Amos turned in circles and made messes as soon as I got the last one cleaned.  When I was done I just sat in the floor and gazed at the clean fresh smelling room.  I was glad that the cleanness would last longer than five minutes.  Then Amos crawled over and climbed into my lap.  We sat there together for a few minutes until he became restless for his lunch.  

While Amos napped I worked on laundry and freshening up the kitchen.  It's amazing how much you can get done when there aren't little hands and feet in the way.  But then again it's amazing how long some tasks can take without my little helpers working beside me.  

While I was working Tanika (Bobby's sister-in-law) called and invited me to supper.  So we spent the evening with my father-in-law, Tommy, Tanika and Jeremy.  I was thankful that they invited me over and saved me from having to cook.  And for the company of course!

Bobby & the kids have arrived safely in Indiana and Amos is asleep.  The next few days are going to be filled with fun activities with my parents.  Then my lovelies will be home!

Not related to my post but here are some pics of our Sweet Williams that bloomed again this year w/o any care at all from me and my black thumb.

Gourment Meal

I have spent about a year or so avoiding buying Hannah an Easybake Oven.  I have too many memories of gooey gross tasting food "baked" under a tiny light bulb.  I have a very vivid memory of my niece baking a brownie, dropping it on the floor as she ran across the room and then offering it to me and Matthew (Bobby's cousin).  I sincerely hope we didn't eat that brownie but I can't remember if we did or not.

I had pretty much convinced Hannah that it is so much better to bake an actual cake or cookies.  And I mean home made cakes and cookies.  I let the kids help so they always have fun when we bake.  But as we were leaving church Sunday morning a sweet girl from the youth group approached me and said she had something for the kids in her moms car.  She had already given the kids a dollhouse and lots of other fun toys so I agreed.  Then she pulls out the Easybake Oven.  It was hers when she was a little girl and she wanted to give it to someone who would love it and enjoy it like she did.  Seriously?!!  Hannah was beyond thrilled. 

That afternoon my sister called and Hannah told her about the oven so my sister immediately goes out and buys a cake mix for her.  Geez.

So yesterday afternoon we set out to make this cake.  Just go ahead and get it over with I tell myself.  It was a double layer cake -one layer of strawberry and one layer of red velvet.  Then there are two layers of frosting -strawberry and vanilla.  The picture on the box looked pretty and delicious so I hoped ours would at least be delicious.  Hannah mixed and baked the red velvet then Sammy mixed and baked the strawberry.  Then they mixed up the frosting while the cakes cooled.  I put it all together and they threw the sprinkles on top when I finished.  

Then we got out the spoons and gave it a taste.  To my surprise it wasn't awful.  It's certainly not the delectable treats we whip up now and then but it didn't taste like dirt either.  The kids loved it.  They ate all but one bite -which they saved for Bobby (per my suggestion.)  Wasn't that sweet of them?  

That being said, hopefully it'll be a while before we easy bake again!

Panama City in Pictures

10 Months

Mr. Amos James is now 10 months old.  In our excitement and travel prep I forgot to post about him.

I love when my babies get to this age.  Their little personalities shine through more and more.  Amos loves to be tossed around in the air and hang upside down by his feet.  When he sleeps he pulls his snuggle blanket either over his face or right beside his cheek.  The kids and I enjoy reading to him and his favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Busy Spider.  He gets so excited when we open Brown Bear and loves to turn the pages as we read.  

Food wise he's starting to try and eat more table foods.  While at Cracker Barrel the other day he reached over and grabbed a piece of cornbread and ate over half of it.  He's going to be a bread eater just like his Mommy.

He laughs so easily and is very ticklish.  All it takes is Sammy or Hannah walking up to him and he'll start cackling.  I can't believe how laid back he is. 

He still hates rolling on the floor but will roll all over the bed.  He easily transitions from sitting to his belly.  And recently he has started getting the hang of sitting up from a prone position.  He has pulled up to a standing position in his crib and is almost able to while beside the couch or a chair.  Amos is still scooting around on his booty and gets where he wants to be quickly. 

Right now he is loving the pool but hating the sand.  He drew his feet up nearly to his chest when I tried to stand him in the ocean and cried when we sat him in the sand.  He spent our morning on the beach sitting on his blanket with his feet up like the sand might crawl onto the towel and get him.  He was clearly disgusted by it.  However he does love the wind in his hair!

He is such a cute little sweetheart.  It's hard to believe there was a time when we didn't have children because now I can't imagine my life without them.

This & That

It's Spring!  Or it's supposed to be spring but our weather is extremely tempramental at the moment.  After a rather sickly winter I'm more than ready for some sunshine and warmth.  Instead we've had rain and chilly dampness.

I was still able to capture a few shots of my azaleas and my Dads cherry blossom tree. 

Other changes include Amos gaining two teeth (in February) and Hannah losing two teeth (to make a total of four.)  She's so adorable missing that top front tooth and the other one is loose and will come out in a week or two.

Hannah & her cute little doll Allison have matching pajamas.  Now Sammy loves when he and Amos have matching pj's.  I don't mind.  They're super cute!

Last month (I'm a slacker I know) we celebrated 36 years of my wonderful Mr. Clark.  We had a quiet celebration at home.  I cooked his favorite meal and the kids baked his favorite cake.  Bobby's dad surprised us by joining us for supper. 

A few months ago Hannah attended the American Girl Doll club at the local public library.  They learned about Felicity Merriman which thrilled Hannah.  She'll be reading some of Felicity's books next year when we learn about the Colonial time period.  Each class the girls had snacks, watched some of Felicity's movie and then made a craft (a fan, a mob hat and sugar cubes.)  The last class was a tea party held at the Walhalla Auditorium.  The girls enjoyed tea & snacks, played a Bingo game for prizes and then learned some Colonial dances.  It was so much fun and the girls were so cute!

There's more.  There's always more.  But that will have to be all for now. 

{little artist}

Hannah loves art.  Loves it.  Her curriculum came with an art program but I'm waiting until summer to start it because I felt that we could relax and enjoy it more after we've completed everything else.  

She is constantly drawing, painting, cutting and coloring.  So one day last month I printed a copy of Kandinsky's 'Centric Circles' for her to try.  Hannah enjoyed this immensely.  She spent an entire afternoon drawing and painting her circles.  She was so patient and careful.  We didn't hear a peep out of her until she was finished.  Even though this is certainly an easy one to copy I still think she did a pretty good job.  

My Boys