December 16

Our annual Christmas dinner at Redeemer was tonight. Though we rehearsed this afternoon a Christmas song that's familiar to him, Hamilton chickened out when it came time to practice singing into a microphone on stage before the party started. He said he didn't want to sing his song in the entertainment portion of the night, so I didn't push it. He sings so sweetly at home; I was sad not to share his voice. But with all the kids on stage later in the night, he did enjoy singing "This Little Light of Mine" with his church friends. Here's a video of the last verse.

Our Birthday Boy

Yesterday our baby turned one! I've decided we can't call him "Baby" or "Baby C" anymore, since he's not a baby--and who wants that nickname anyway? Our Saturday was ordinary, but the boys did enjoy week-old birthday cake after dinner. Most of our celebrating was done last weekend when our families were in town for Collier's baptism. Of course he wore the same gown that Hamilton wore.

We shared the day with another family at church who were having their little guy baptized, too.

How special and sweet it was to have our church family praying for Collier.

Pastor Craig walked Collier up and down the aisle for the church family to get a better look.

Our families joined us for Sunday lunch, though we saved birthday cake and ice cream for after the boys' naps.

We created a cow cake for Collier using this idea.

Collier loved the ice cream and cake; I'm sure he cried when they were gone. He usually does.

The birthday boy was covered in chocolate icing.

After the sweets, Hamilton helped open Collier's gifts. Collier loved walking behind this brightly colored, wheeled toy.

Last night the boys and I had a small celebration with Hamilton's singing "Happy Birfanks" to Collier. (Mr. Morgan was driving back from a men's retreat in Atlanta; he arrived at bedtime for hugs and kisses.)

Both boys wanted more cake than they were given--even after I gave a not-normal second helping, so I could take pictures.

Hamilton's singing is hard to hear on this video unless your volume is loud. But "birfanks" is what he's singing with an "Amen" at the end. And I love how Collier is so good and quick at eating--especially delicious birthday cake!

Palm Sunday

I realize this post isn't timely; however, the pictures and video are too cute not to share. For Palm Sunday we enjoyed the children's singing at the beginning of the worship service. Hamilton and his friends headed over beforehand to practice in hopes that they'd be comfortable enough with the stage to actually sing once the pews were packed. The boys walked over hand-in-hand.

Hamilton did sing a bit during practice, though I was still skeptical of his participation during the worship service.

These three boys are such best buds; they elected to hold hands while leaving the sanctuary after practice.

I put Hamilton's little jacket on him for the singing during the service. He participated a little until he and West decided they'd better sit down for the last song.

Here's a video of their singing during practice; Hamilton didn't sing much more during the service.

Hamilton's outfit was Travis's when he was a little boy, so I wanted a shot of them together. Travis and Cheri were in town for the bridge run, so they joined us at Redeemer and I got my photo. Mom made the cute trousers and jacket so many years ago. Mr. Morgan said Hamilton looked like a Von Trapp child.

Hamilton found a yummy cupcake that the college students were giving away for donations. He quickly wolfed it down, and I had to write a check.

Hamilton loves "Mih Druid" who leads the kids in such sweet songs.

December 4

The two-year-olds joined the big kids today at church in practicing Christmas carols for the upcoming Christmas dinner. Hamilton loves hearing "Crissmiss keir-uhls," so we're singing Away in a Manger many times a day now. He and his little friend West did a lot of intense staring at the words and pictures on the poster as the bigger kids sang along. I'm hoping they'll grow bolder as we practice more, so they'll actually sing and smile at the Christmas dinner. Because of Hamilton's fondness for Christmas carols, I kept him in the service with me for the singing. He did love the songs and singing, though he prayed out loud along with the elder offering the prayer of confession. Just before the last song, I told him there was one more song before he'd go back to the nursery. He was agreeable with that arrangement, but as the song finished I hesitated in taking him out immediately. As I was trying to determine the best time to make our exit, Hamilton loudly said, "Mommy, no more song!" I took that as my cue.

Parked Cars

Hamilton loves to play the piano especially the prerecorded songs. He giggles if he particularly likes the tune. Sometimes he'll sing while he touches the keys. Either way he's looking up at the music just like Sissy does when she practices for real. Today as he was playing, his cars took a much needed break.

Where else would you park cars when you're playing the piano?

Speaking of cars, Mr. Morgan now drives a new-to-us Audi A3. He's just as giddy and excited about his new car as Hamilton is about the Matchbox variety. Mr. Morgan may have used the word "blissful" to describe his commute to Claire's school after his first day of driving. Yay!--for his getting a better car to drive, but retiring the Explorer signals the end of an era.

After my flipped-the-car-several-times wreck back in 2004, Dad helped living-single-me pick out the Explorer. When Mr. Morgan and I married, he called it "part of his dowry." It made Mr. Morgan a fan of Explorers, but lately it's been the bane of his existence. Enter the Audi A3. Our car-life is now good again.

Catch-Up List

Yes, we're still sad about Phoebe; but contrary to the blog's previous front-page post, life continues. I have much to share from the last two weeks. And I have pictures, especially for those wonderful grandparents.

1. My women's conference over two weeks ago was fabulous--no kids, no cooking, no chores! We heard awesome teaching, and I got to hang out with some cool chickies! We ran into lots of friends from other churches, despite nearly 2000 women in attendance. I was surprised and delighted to see my high school chum one morning at breakfast.

2. I've weaned Collier, so he's now fully drinking formula. I was eager to wean because--to me--breast-feeding gets old. I was ready to have my body (and time) back to myself. As I type, I think this all sounds selfish, but I was really ready to be finished with pumping. I weaned Hamilton between five and six months, too.

3. Hamilton does lots of new things now, like saying, "I wuv you!" He loves giving and asking for "high fives." He sings many of his familiar songs in distinguishable words and tunes; I'm really hoping for a video of his rendition of "ABC" soon.

4. We celebrated Mr. Morgan's birthday with Claire on Thursday night. She made him a brightly colored card, and because she had extra clay on hand from social studies class, created a sculpture of herself for him. What father wouldn't love a clay figurine of his daughter? Nevermind that Hamilton points and says, "poop" every time he sees it.

I thought it improved from far away. Something about the tilt of the head and ponytail, I think, is what I like.

5. My blogging has been so light this month, and my other writing is non-existent. I'm not sure why I'm feeling so uninspired these days, but not meeting with my writers' group every few weeks has not helped. Our coffee-fueled discussions helped hold me accountable to writing and blogging, inspiring me with ideas and reaffirming my purpose. Christy and Patty, I miss you! I know there were excellent reasons why we took a break from writers' group, but let's start again soon.

6. Mr. Morgan and I started a cleanse this morning. I'll probably post about our three days without solid food once we're closer to the end.

7. I found a fantastic food blog last week with delicious sounding recipes. I tried the pumpkin spice bars and cookies. The bars were delicious but crumbly because I added raisins and pecans. Sadly, I burned the cookies, but they would have been great without the scald.

Since this post is already long, I'll create another with pictures of the boys from our weekend in the mountains.

Some Cute Things

Yesterday Hamilton was singing his version of "Jees Me," and I recognized a few other words. After "Jees Me" and some humming, he clearly said, "Bible tells me so." Oh so cute! Later in the afternoon Claire heard him singing it, and she was so impressed. She tends to make a much bigger deal about things than I, so Hamilton continued to say, "Bible tells me sooo" all evening as his new default phrase. Past default phrases have included "muh hi be-ah" (more hay bales) and "Pah Joe Ten-see," which roughly translates to Papa Joe is in Tennessee. I fully expect him to continue his obsession with "Bible tells me sooo" all week at least.

During lunch I worked with Hamilton on saying his full first name, not just his Grady-given nickname of Hammie. He finally said it! Though it sounds like Hammie-ton. Then we worked on Taylor and Morgan, which he thoroughly enjoyed saying. I also repeated each sibling's full name to him; and when I said Mr. Morgan's full name, Hamilton smiled when I said "Hamilton" for his daddy's middle name. Then I asked, "Do you know Mama's full name?" He thought for a second, cut his eyes, then said, "Mama Tay-uh Mor-ghiun."

Collier tolerates all sorts of loving and hugging from Hamilton. He tolerates Hamilton's lying on top of him like he's destined to wrestle with his brother one day. Collier doesn't even cry with Hamilton's 28-pound body nearly smothering him; Collier just reaches his hands up to each side of Hamilton's face, and they look at each other. Hamilton babbles to him in his singsong voice, and Collier squeals with delight.

Claire has started writing her yet-to-be-published story again. And, her obsession with cats has reached new heights, for the main character turns into a cat in the fifth chapter. Then several days ago she told me, "I'm so jealous of my book. I wish I could turn into a cat." I'm not sure when she'll be finished with her book, but I'll be sure to post it once she's finished. She did ask me the other day--with a bit more pride than I was expecting, "Mama, have you ever written a book?" Well, no I haven't.

Hamilton Lately

Hamilton loves to help Mr. Morgan around the house and in the garage. Recently, he "helped" Mr. Morgan change the lightbulb in the oven. I loved how immediately Hamilton started doing exactly what he saw his daddy doing--hands on knees staring into the oven.

Then Mr. Morgan pointed out some things inside the oven, so Hamilton followed suit.

Two weeks ago we received a shipment in a huge box, so I saved the box for Hamilton to play inside. Over the week or so that the box sat in our downstairs, Hamilton played with the box in so many ways. Sometimes he got in the box, but other times he wanted me to pull him around while sitting in the box. At times he'd hide inside and declare it was "dark, Mommy." When West came over, they played with their toys inside the box--with way more laughing and sillyness than I thought possible.

Hamilton has always had an affinity for music and singing, and lately he's been able to ask specifically for songs he wants me to sing. "Twinkle, Mommy" means he wants me to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." "Jees Me" means he wants to hear "Jesus Loves Me." Two new favorites are "Rejoice in the Lord Always" and "This Is the Day." He clearly says, "rejoice," but "day" is the only recognizable word for the other song. While I love singing to him, he can easily get demanding, and he never tires of hearing any of these songs.

My sweet, big boy has such a full vocabulary, and he usually surprises me every day with some new word or phrase that I haven't heard from him before. Just tonight he was running around the downstairs saying, "I go so fas!" He'd laugh and laugh then take off again.