southern spring

I recently came across a blog post I made after Toby was born where I commented on how difficult it was to blog with two small children.... HA!  Well, that was my truth then, and this is my truth now.  It is dang difficult to make time to blog with four small children.

I love springtime in Georgia!  It is warm and lovely.  Staying under 100 degrees so far, and I don't have much of a problem with seasonal allergies; so this is the time of year that I want to be outdoors here and just enjoy it.  Easter was a whirlwind this year as we had just returned from Utah in time to dye a few eggs, attend church, and make a semi-traditional dinner. (I did pork loin instead of a ham because we prefer it.)

For some reason, nothing I could do was going to make Amelie touch an Easter egg.  The stubborn gene is clearly expressed in everyone under this roof.

She is still a happy, smiley baby though and she is now MOBILE! I'll blog about her specifically soon, but let's just say her locomotion is very slug-like.  She likes to stand up while holding on to things too- but you have to be ready to catch her when she misjudges her ability level and suddenly lets go.  I am sad to see the baby chubbiness already starting to fade away.

We made our first trip to the lake when Rob had a work picnic there.  The kiddos dug, swam, splashed, and played.  Jakey, however, would not get in the water when I confirmed for him that fish do live in this particular lake.  I tried to explain that they would be more afraid of him than he is of them, and that they would not eat him, but it was not happening.

We went to listen to the Augusta Symphony Orchestra's 'Pops Under the Stars' and got rained on a little bit.  The rains were short-lived though, and we enjoyed the music and our little picnic dinner and some ice cream cones from Bruster's.

Sometimes you just have to give your little boys what they want.

Cuter than the original brothers, in my opinion.

We have also already finished out the school year here!  Toby is officially a preschool graduate.  I told him he needs to get a job now, and he agreed.  He suggested he babysit Amelie when I make dinner and help vacuum the house.  I'll take it!  Rob says I shouldn't tease our serious little man, but I said I will gladly pay Toby for his time.

We also had our last ballet class!  After three years of ballet, Charlotte is thinking she'd like to take a break from it and enroll in an art class next year.  I fully support this decision and am looking forward to displaying even more masterpieces next year.

Toby finished off his second year of speech therapy with Mrs. Day.  His speech has improved dramatically this year, and Toby and I both really liked his teacher.  We will miss her smiles, games, and positive encouragement.

You may remember Charlotte's felt monster she made a while back?  Well, we had also started ones for Toby and Jakey, and we finally got around to finishing those.  The yellow one is Jake's (super-tired napless boy in this photo,) and the green one is Toby's.  Charlotte made Jake's and Toby did most of his own sewing on his.  These were great little projects for learning to sew and follow a pattern, but I'm not gonna lie, I am so glad that is done with!

The grass is green!  The sky is blue!  We are really going to miss Georgia in some ways when we move back to Germany this summer!  As we begin to prepare for our next adventure, we have been talking about the friends we have made, and the reasons why we are happy to have lived here, and it is always bittersweet moving on, but we are looking forward to our return to Deutschland.

In particular, I have to take a moment to thank my GA book club ladies for their friendship, examples, support, and delicious treats.  Oh, and the books were pretty good too!  I will miss your sweet faces.

wedding weekend

A few weeks ago Amelie and I flew to PA for my nephew Allen's wedding reception.  Allen isn't a lot younger than me and he and I lived in the same house for about eight years when we were growing up, so he often seems more like a little brother to me than a nephew.  He and his wife Robin got married in Antigua and sadly we could not make the trip, so I was really happy to help out with and attend their reception.

Jen and my sister Pam have been best friends since grade school and paired up to do much of the wedding planning (under Robin's instructions of course.)  I flew in on Friday and we went directly to the venue to set up tables, put together centerpieces, and decorate.

Because of various circumstances, I spent most of my teen years with Allen tagging along. I "babysat" him daily.  I got a teeny bit of revenge on Friday by putting Allen's son Ben in charge of Amelie.  He was very conscientious about picking up toys and giving them back to her and I think he was a little alarmed to be put in charge of another person.  Unlike his daddy, Ben was born with a small amount of fear. I thought it was great!  

Pop-pop and Grandma Linda came to help decorate and hold the baby.

Amelie was generally very happy with all of the attention she received and all of the people who were willing to hold her and spoil her all weekend.

Ben came up with this plan and Allen was more than happy to wheel him around on this cart that held the folding tables.  Like father, like son?

Amelie was ready to party at the reception!

Allen and Robin had a cupcake tower with a cake topper depicting the bride dragging the groom out of the garage. It was very cute.

Family of the groom.

Mother son dance.

I don't think Pam or Allen cried at this point... but Allen and Robin had asked me to say the prayer before the dinner, and if you know me at all, you know I was talking through my tears, and when I went back to sit down found that I was not the only one.  (I made them all cry!) Allen definitely has had a way of learning things the hard way, and it was such a joy to celebrate a truly happy milestone with him.

It was a late night out for the baby girl, but I found a rocking chair and situated it so Lucy (my sister Melissa's mother-in-law) could rock the baby.  They both seemed to be happy with this arrangement; I know I was!  

Congratulations Allen and Robin and Ben!

We love you and wish you health, happiness, and a home full of love!

Spring break- a week in pictures

Over Spring break this year we made an all-too-brief trip to Utah to visit Rob's family and my girlfriends that live there. We fit in as much visiting and sightseeing as we could in only six days and came home exhausted and a bit sad that we didn't have more time, but so it goes.  I kept my camera ready for once, so buckle your seat belts and secure your tray tables in their upright and locked positions... this will be a whirlwind photographic flight!

Visiting with Rob's great aunt Elizabeth was our first stop the morning after we arrived, which was maybe a tactical error, as the kiddos were jet lagged and a little bit horrible while we were there.  She was very understanding though and we did get this sweet picture of Amelie and her beautiful great-great aunt.

Grandpa Anderson won Toby's immediate and lasting admiration when he asked him to help tighten some bolts.  They also played Mexican Train (dominoes), Ticket to Ride, and spent hours discussing dinosaurs and fossils.

We went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point and had a great time learning, playing, and exploring.

That is a giant sea turtle skeleton chasing Charlotte and Toby.  

"Swim away!"

We had to go have lunch at our alma mater after that, buy some new BYU swag, and teach the kids about lounging on the quad. Amelie was unimpressed, but Charlotte thinks maybe she would like to go to BYU and major in art.

Then we took advantage of the availability of free babysitting and went on our typical Utah date- dinner at an Indian restaurant followed by a drive and walk around in the mountains. 

Rob was daring enough to cross this "bridge" while I stayed safely on the bank and took his photo.

He made it to the crazy rocks on the other side and of course had to climb on them.  Though you can tell, even he is a little tense with that balancing boulder so nearby.

On Friday we invited some of my old friends and roommates, and some of Rob's cousins to join us for a picnic in the park.  Here is beautiful Anna with Rammy.  He has dimples every bit as deep as hers, which are amazing!  Also, despite having not seen each other in a looooong time, Anna and I were wearing the exact same shirt in different colors.  Too funny.

Anna (with Rammy,) Karen (with Amelie,) Me, and Alecia (with Austin.)  

I am blessed to know so many amazing women!  (Note: Karen's hair is not gray, she came directly from the school where she teaches and had been playing the part of Ilsa from Frozen for her students that morning because she is a cool teacher like that.)

Sweet Cissy and her oldest, Matt. 

Cissy and I were friends way back when we were teens!  She hasn't aged even a little bit.

You might think we were done with dinosaurs, but you'd be wrong!  The Natural History Museum at the University of Utah was hosting a special exhibit on the history of chocolate with a guided tasting, so obviously we had to go to that!  I loved the interactive exhibits for the kids like this one where Jake explored a replica of a dwelling for ancient man that had "peek-a-boo" type doors to learn more about what different parts of the space were used for.

Rob's parents, sisters Becky and Rachel, and cousin Annie and her kiddos joined us for this one and we spent like 3 1/2 hours there!  It was a great place but we didn't even go to one level at all, because by this point a few of us were starting to come down with colds and were feeling tired and achy.

We rested up and went to church on Sunday.  After that, Rob was still feeling pretty awful, so he stayed home with Charlotte and Amelie while the boys and I went to have dinner with my friend Suzanne and her family.  Connor had to go to bed early, but I did get a picture of Gracie in all of her fancy finery chilling with my boys.

I love whenever I get a chance to spend time with this girl, but it was like a speed-talking marathon as we tried to fit a few years worth of visiting into a couple of hours' time... while supervising our kids!  

Monday was our last day in Utah.  We had planned to see more of Karen, but she was sick.  And I also had hoped to see my friend Sarah, but circumstances prevented that from happening as well.  Rob's sister and her family live about 100 miles away and had just had a new baby, but we couldn't seem to fit a visit there in to our schedule either. So we talked Grandma into visiting Temple Square with us.

Oh, and one more museum.  The Church History Museum has a fun exhibit about the pioneers, so we made a quick visit there and let the boys use their muscles pulling a handcart.

Then we visited the Conference Center which was completed in 2000.  This place seats 27,000, if I remember correctly, and there are extensive rooftop gardens and beautiful original pieces of artwork.  We enjoyed our brief tour.

This is the view of the Salt Lake Temple from the roof of the Conference Center.  We had such a nice visit, and only wish that we could have seen more people and spent more time with those that we did see.  We came home quite worn out and a bit under the weather, but we are sure to all be well again in time for Easter.  Thank you to Rob's Mom and Dad for hosting us and feeding us such yummy food! We are so glad we were able to make the trip and spend time with you.

"It's not fair to me, Mom."

I have done blog posts focused on three of the kids in the past month, and I can't leave out my little Bear. I hear "It's not fair to me, Mom" at least once a day from this guy lately.  We even had a family night lesson and discussion about what "fairness" means.*  He wants so very, very much to keep up with Charlotte and Toby and he does not understand that being 2 1/2 is not the same as being 5 or 7.  It doesn't help that people who meet Jakey for the first time assume he is at least 4 years old.  He speaks very clearly and has a HUGE vocabulary for such a young person, and he is the size of many 4 year olds.  But there is only so much a little guy can do.

Jacob has been trying to give up his afternoon nap.  The result is that he is now falling asleep wherever he is when he reaches the point of exhaustion.  Of course, he makes himself as comfortable as possible first.

Sometimes he just can't fight any longer though, and we have to keep a much closer eye on him during bath time these days.

I try to do things with Jakey one-on-one when Toby and Charlotte are at school and Amelie is napping.  Sometimes we play a game or play catch or read books. One day last week I taught him how to paint with watercolors and this was his very first painting.  He did a great job!

I hope that Jake knows what an important part of our family he is and I hope he doesn't rush to grow up too fast!  He doesn't even like me to call him my little bear right now... he corrects me and says, "I not bear, I big brother now." I love Jake's determination and his gentleness with smaller children and babies.  He is tender-hearted and tough at the same time.  I predict he'll be a champion for fairness and sticking up for the little guy whenever he gets the chance.  

But he will always be my little bear.

*For those who are curious, we illustrated the principle this way... I asked if I filled identical sized baskets with toys for each kid, would that be fair?  They said yes.  So I filled one for Charlotte with all of her Barbies and their gear, and one for Amelie with one stuffed animal.  The kids said it wasn't fair.  Charlotte had lots and Amelie had one.  

So I took everything out of Charlotte's basket except one Barbie shoe.  (Exaggeration helps in these lessons.) Now was it fair?  They each have one.  They about had a cow then, yelling "no! that's not fair!" 

"What if they each have only a Barbie?"  "Amelie is too little to play Barbies!" 

The point?  Fairness does NOT mean that everyone has the same. Every person is unique and has unique needs and desires.  Fairness, in regards to our family anyway, means that everyone has what they need and that their wants are provided for as thoughtfully and equitably as possible within our means.

ballet angel

This past week was all about the Columbia County Ballet's production of The Roar of Love!  You may remember that Charlotte was a Pony in this production (that tells the story of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) last year.  This year she was an Angel.  The Angels and Stars come on stage to celebrate after Aslan comes back to life.

We had two rehearsals downtown in Augusta this week and then the BIG SHOW was this afternoon.  Charlotte, of course, did fantastic.  I am also proud of myself for conquering my fear of the "ballet bun" and for volunteering as a stage mom and helping to get the Stars and Angels dressed, on stage, off stage, and undressed today.  35 little girls!!!  Whoo, it was loud in that dressing room, and I am tuckered out!  Now here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Outside the theatre, just before spacing rehearsal.

Dress rehearsal. Check out that extension! 

(And notice the bun is staying put as well.)

Charlotte was at the front of a line of girls and was worried about remembering all of the cues and hitting the marks on the stage, but she did really well in the performance.

So sweet... and serious.

Happy ballerina after the performance!

With her best ballet buddies, Adair and Skyler.  

These three girls have been in the same ballet class for three years now and get along so great.