An Overdue List

As cute as my little banana is, I need to update.

1. I traveled to the farm earlier this week for a quick trip with just the little boys. I attended the memorial service for a friend (and close relative of my good friends from home) who died last week. The service was sweet with his mother, sister, and brother all sharing some memories. The friendly reception that followed was appropriate for Mountville, and I got to see lots of friends. And someone always remarks, "We never seem to all get together except at weddings and funerals."
2. We enjoyed curried butternut squash soup tonight--so "gish-shish-shish" as Hamilton likes to say. Claire wasn't a huge fan, but I think it was the curry that might have been offensive to her. Perhaps I overdid it.
3. Hamilton and I enjoyed our new moms and kids group at church this morning. Usually I just drop him in the nursery, but today we started a new program where we'll be doing activities together. We played with Play-Doh and mixed colors with a paintbrush. Hamilton was far more interested in mixing the paints together rather than using brush strokes to apply the paint to paper. After about 45 minutes of my staying and playing in the room with him, he was enjoying bubbles with the other kids. With no prompting, he came up behind me three different times to quickly hug my back before running back to the bubbles. It's like he was so excited that I was playing in his nursery with him, though he never said anything--just the quick touch.
4. Last week I took Collier for his six-month checkup. He's 16 pounds and over 27 inches long. He's starting to go up on all-fours and rock back and forth. He'll probably be crawling soon, though his rolling, scooting, and reaching are propelling him well for now. Sometimes it's so hard to keep him on his quilt.
5. Claire has taken to wearing Halloween-costume cat ears whenever she's not at school. If her dress code allowed it, I'm sure she'd wear the furry things during class. She's a little cat-obsessed in this season of her life.

In Mourning

Wow, what a long time since my last post. Sweet Papa Joe called thinking I might have been sick. I have many new items to post and a new layout option to check out, but I must first post about our difficult week.

Our dear Feebs left this world last Saturday, and we greatly feel her loss. Mr. Morgan and the boys went to the farm to hang out, and I went to a women's conference in Atlanta. After a tragic accident, Phoebe was laid to rest at the farm--a place she loved because she had so much freedom to roam and so many places to explore. I wanted to remember Phoebe on the blog as the sweet-natured dog that she was. Her small stature and cocked-head grin could melt any heart.

She was a constant companion to Fatty, encouraging Fatty to act years younger than her bones make her feel. A Fourth of July before we had kids to dress up, we adorned Phoebe and Fatty with festive bandanas for their necks.

Phoebe's gazelle-like bounding around the yard always made us smile. She loved to chew on her toys--and the boys'. She loved to scavenge after our meals and eat her own, though sometimes standing was just too much effort while licking her bowl clean.

And she loved freshly popped popcorn. She and Fatty were in the kitchen because of the melodious sounds of kernels popping.

She didn't mind eating her food off the floor when Hamilton helped feed her.

Phoebe had a special affinity for Mr. Morgan. Even when her bath was done, she didn't want to be far away from him.

She loved sitting in his lap.

Phoebe cozied up to anything that smelled like us--piles of laundry, the babies' Boppy, etc.

Rest in peace, dear Feebs. We'll miss you so.

Middle September

How is it the middle of September and I've posted only once this month?! Yikes, time flies. I've made a list to help organize my scattered, blog thoughts.

1. School's in full swing for both Claire and Hamilton, though it's different this year for both of them. Claire's not only at a new school, but she's also going by a new name--Elaine. She's told all her teachers to call her Elaine, but her friends from her old school still call her Claire. She insists that we still call her Claire, though sometimes Mr. Morgan jokingly calls her Elaine. So all her school papers and books come home with "Elaine Morgan" written on them to which Mr. Morgan responds, "Who's this 'Elaine' person?" At Open House, I had to introduce myself as Elaine's stepmom. For Hamilton, he's learning so many new things at school that he's able to share with me this year. Last week all I heard was "AY-bee-see" over and over, though sometimes his pronounciation of the first three letters would morph into "ay-BEE-see." I'm pretty sure he thought "ABC" was a word. This week he's saying, "Gah may pee-puhl," so I've been saying, "What did God make?" He replies, "God made people." It's an awesome truth, though I wonder how much he understands.
2. I cleaned the master bathroom yesterday.
3. While to most folks the above statement doesn't deserve its own, separate number, trust me, it does. The master bathroom took over three hours to clean; the shower alone took an hour. It was disgusting. I won't even venture a guess as to how long it had been since the last cleaning because it would be embarrassing--even for me. But the bathroom sparkles now.
4. I'm looking forward to an upcoming weekend away with some women from church. I'm happy to have enough milk stored for my trip, and I'm thankful for a husband who'll watch the kids--yes, he'll have help. I love fall getaways!
5. I wanted to post my own memorial for Sept.11, but I missed it by a few days. So here's my I-remember-exactly-where-I-was tribute. I was a 21-year-old, college senior spending the fall semester at Keene State, which was only five hours from New York City. Students at my school knew people who worked in the Towers and as first-responders. In my Tuesday-morning class, we watched The Today Show's coverage of the attacks. I watched the towers fall live on television. I heard Katie Couric's live conversation with Jim Miklaszewski at the Pentagon when he said, "I just heard something that sounded like a bomb." I had been in New Hampshire--in a new region of the country, at a new school--for about two weeks, and I felt so alone. The local paper's front page showed a picture of the burning towers in its afternoon edition, published actually on Sept. 11, 2001. In writing about the attacks, it's hard for me not to focus on how life-changing it was for me--to make the events of September 11th about me. I didn't lose anyone or even know anyone who lost anyone that day. My fellow countrymen suffered that day, and I can't memorialize the events as well as news programs. But I can remember their sacrifices, our country's loss, and our only Hope for the future.

Miss Gerry

My dear friends from home said goodbye to their grandmother yesterday. Mrs. Gerry Crisp had just celebrated her ninetieth birthday a few weeks before. Deb told me the celebration was wonderful; the daughters had outdone themselves with pictures and memorabilia displayed from each decade of her life.

Though I'm not technically part of the family, I've always felt like I was counted as an extra granddaughter. I'm welcomed at family functions, and "Miss" Gerry always greeted me with a hug around the neck and a kiss on the cheek. She often talked with me about tennis, since she knew I played and she was a fan. She always asked me about Charleston, my beloved city, for she loved the city too; but she'd lament that she didn't visit as often as she would have liked. I've always loved this picture from my wedding because it captures her loving spirit.

This past summer at Mountville's Fourth of July celebration, I saw Miss Gerry for the last time. She was so sweet to Hamilton, and he loved sitting in her lap.

We'll miss her especially at family events, though I'm thankful for the memories. May she enjoy her eternal rest with her Heavenly Father.