Summer Time

... and the livin' is easy.

Now that VBS is over we haven't had much of a schedule.  We've just been sleeping late, occasionally heading to the lake with friends and having fun.  The only thing that we have going on is Hannah's weekly drama class which will end with a production on the 13th.  It's going to be cute. 

Here are a few pics of what we've been up to lately.

-- We've been swimming at OSP with friends we made during Upward.  Rhett was on Sammy's basketball team and I went to school with his aunt and one of his uncles.

--Our local Frozen Yogurt store has been hosting free outdoor movies bi-monthly.  They have balloon animals, bounce houses, pizza, popcorn, frozen yogurt of course and much more.  All you have to do is show up with blankets & camping chairs and just enjoy the fun.
We've been with some friends from church.

 My Mom & Amos

 Austin (above) and Logan (below) are brothers.  They are such sweet sweet boys too.  Logan & Sammy have been having a blast together this summer.

 Nathaniel "loves" Hannah.  Do you remember those days of kindergarten love?

--Hannah made a little friend during Upward.  Madison & her Dad have also been coming to BLBC too.  This past weekend was Madison's birthday party and it was so much fun.  I wish I had taken more (and better) pictures.  Madison's two aunts hosted her party and made it so formal and fancy.  Hannah has still been talking about it.

 Madison is the cutie pie in the middle.

 Apparently Hannah was too busy with the blower to take a decent picture.

 We bought Madison a Madame Alexander doll for her birthday.  She & Hannah are so excited to have twin dolls.

Today it's rainy so we've popped popcorn and are having a "movie theater."  Oh and making home made chocolate chip cookies.  Delicious!

Our Life in Pictures

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-- AWANA --

I taught the T&T's - here are two of the four girls in my group.

 Sammy was in the Cubbies class with Ms. Andrea and Miss Robin.

  

Hannah was in Sparks with Miss Diann, Ms. Nancy and Mr. Nate (obviously not pictured.)

And Amos was the only one in Puggles with Ms. Betty.

-- VBS --

The kids & I just love Ms. Betty.  She normally watches Amos in the nursery during service.  She's the only one he reaches for at church.

Sammy & Summer

 Hannah S. - Summer M. - Sammy - Madison B. - and Addie D.

 I was the craft coordinator for VBS and lovely Ms. Grace was one of my helpers.

-- Amos --

Amos loves crawling over to the key board and patting the keys.  Sometimes he "dances' while he "plays."

 This is the way Amos crawls.  He keeps that right leg over to the side.

And last of all, Hannah and Sammy love swimming at South Cove with the Underwood boys.

Saturday

Yesterday Amos & I went to lunch with my parents and then we went shopping.  About 6 o'clock my Mom came over for a "sleepover."  I had rented 'Anna Karenina' and we ate popcorn and chocolate chip cookies while we watched it.  Don't watch it.  Kiera Knightly is so annoying as Anna Karenina and the book is waaayyy better.  Trust me.

This morning Amos & I went with my Dad to the Mountain City Flea Market.  We had lunch and spent the morning shopping.  I bought some herbs so I can make my own Calendula salve.  After we returned I took Amos home for a quick "nap" (Amos spent the entire time bouncing around in his crib.)  Then we went back to my parents for supper.

Today was such a relaxing day.  It's been interesting and fun having time to myself as well as one-on-one time with Amos.  Still it's been weird not having Hannah & Samuel with me.  I keep thinking that I need to get home to cook supper or that I need to go check on the kids.  I'll be so happy to see them tomorrow.  And my dear Mr. Clark too.

The Chauga River near my parents house.

Amos is tuckered after a day of shopping and basically no nap.

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