Ready for the memorial

We had the best dressed and best behaved children this day.  They were all such angels during a rough time.  

Aunt Jean arrives with Uncle Homer

Aunt Jean and Uncle Homer made the trip from Florida for Mom's memorial service.  She was immediately adored by three boys in particular.  They all seemed to be happy to be with one another.  

One of Granny's favorite sayings

Granny had this saying on her computer in a file labeled 'My Favorite Things'.  We printed it out, added some Granny pictures and made this collage for the refrigerator.  None of us could open the fridge the rest of the visit without tearing up.  We miss Granny so much!!!!  But this is definitely how Granny lived!!

Making Grandmother Ames fried cakes

For those of you who don't know, fried cakes are the name for Clark family doughnuts, the ones made that are very heavy and yummy and deep fried in real lard!  Potter and Granny made these a few falls ago and Potter had been asking for them the whole time we were there, so one morning, I made them for everyone.  Definitely not as good as Granny's were, but the memory was more fun than the eating anyway.

Got snow??

When we woke up on Monday morning, the day before Granny's memorial service, we were greeted with about 4-5 inches of fresh snow!!  All of us were very ill prepared, no snow boots, mittens, snow pants, etc...for the kids.  They lasted about 5 minutes until their sneakers were soaked and their hands were beet red from packing snowballs!!  Poor Mac (the little poodle) and Granddad were NOT having fun on their morning walk.  Mac was up to his belly in snow and quite drenched when they got back home.  Bad weather for a short little dog.   We all agreed, however, that Granny would have been LOVING the weather and would have been making zillions of snow angels all over Sherwood Lawn.  

Caleb loves Aunt Meredith

Caleb just loves to be with Aunt Meredith.  Actually, during the week we were all together, I think Caleb was with Meredith or Doug more than me.  I was just very happy that he seemed to get along with everyone so well.

Cookin' pictures

Dave and Doug were cooking up a storm in the kitchen, making some samosas.  The kids were playing with the extra dough and the boys were filling the dough with yummy stuff.  They did an Iron Chef simulation and made the samosas with butternut squash filling (among other ingredients) and we had lamb stew with it.  How delicious!!

Fountain at Bestor Plaza

Bestor Plaza has a wonderful fountain (drained out by this time of year) that is good for walking on, throwing coins into, and playing with the fish.   Molly, Potter, and Odin had a great time, Caleb on the other hand was having some sad times and didn't participate in any of the frivolity.  This was really the last good day of weather we had for the kids to play in, so Meredith and I made the most of it.  

Molly loves Uncle Doug

Molly enjoyed some quality time with Uncle Doug.  It was the mutual admiration society!

Odin loves Potter

Odin seemed very comfortable with our three hooligans and had a few special moments with Potter.  It is too bad that we don't live closer to them.  I'd love the cousins to have more times like these.

Cute cousins

This is what is would have been like to have twins!!  Caleb just turned 2, Odin is turning 2 in a few weeks.  They are both busy boys, but they love to play together!!

Family gathering in Chautauqua

After we left Buffalo, the entire family returned to Chautauqua to spend more than a week together eating, loving, remembering, mostly in honor of Granny.  We had fun, despite the circumstance that brought us all together taking the kids on playgrounds and just plain being together.  We planned Granny's memorial service, all of us playing a part in that service.  Here are some pictures of Potter, Molly, Caleb and Odin.  They all got along so well and immediately showed family love to one another.   It was a tearful sight for all the parents!!  The playground we first frequented in these pictures is at the Children's School on the Chautauqua grounds.  It is always a fun place to be.  

Billy bundt cakes

My dear neighbor, Bill, is famous for his bundt cakes and has recently come over to share these with our family.  It was a few days before the election, so he topped them with white frosting and red, white, and blue sprinkles.  Needless to say in our house, they didn't last much more than a couple of days.  

Halloween night

Halloween night was a big succes in our house.  Dave had to leave unexpectedly to go to Buffalo, so the kids and I scarfed down dinner of spaghetti and fruit before we headed out for some trick or treating.  We make a pilgrimage first to our old neighborhood on Paden Street for the folks there who like to see the kids all dressed up.  You'll notice better pictures of Molly and Potter and also that Caleb is now Superman.  I decided that he could wear his Superman pajamas and that would solve two problems, one of his costume and two that he would pretty much be ready to pour into bed when we got home.  What a clever Mama I am sometimes!!!  We then came back over to our street and visited the homes of our neighbors, all of whom are VERY generous with the Halloween candy!  Our immediate neighbor next door always puts out the fire pit and they hang out on the front lawn to hand out the candy.  It is the last real time that you can do that without fearing it'll be 20 below and you'll freeze.  Actually, the temperature was so mild that the kids didn't have to wear a jacket or anything else over their costumes.  It is now mid-November as I type this and given that we were out of town for over a week right after Halloween, the kids still have enough candy that it will last them most definitely until Christmas rolls around and we trade in candy corns for candy canes.  

Potter's Halloween parade

The little kids and I went to see Potter's Halloween parade at school.  Here is Potter with his teacher, Mr. Henderson, dressed up like the Joker.  Potter decided to dress up this year at a black king chess piece.  I have better pictures of his costume, so read on!!

Molly's Halloween Party at RDN

On Halloween I was asked to substitute in Molly's class, as one of the regular teachers was out with an ill child.  It was so much fun, a great day to be in her classroom, with reading the kids lots of Halloween books, getting their costumes on, and the having the celebration with all the classes in the Big Room.  Sadly, this meant that I couldn't be in Caleb's class at all, but I don't think he minded at all.  I couldn't even get him to wear a costume at school so he went as himself.  Molly, on the other hand, took great joy in dressing up as a black cat, complete with face paint.  There were so many adorable costumes, lots of pirates this year, that it was hard not to post way more pictures of the class.  Each class then headed back to their respective rooms and had lots and lots of treats and drinks!  Such a fun day at preschool!!

Loving sibs....

This makes parenting worthwhile, when you finally catch the children both smiling and having a good love on one another.  (I am sure that within minutes of this photo, chaos ensued).  But who am I to be a pessimist?? 

Jackson's Pumpkin Farm with Daddy

While I spent several days in Buffalo with Granny and Granddad at the hospital, Dave and the kids managed to find plenty of fun things to do.  They made a second trip to Jackson's to actually get a pumpkin to carve before Halloween (which at this point was about 4 days away) and to also visit the animals and play in the bounce houses one more time.  I think they succeeded in having plenty of fall fun!!

Trooper

We found out a few weeks ago that Trooper has a tumor on his spleen that surgery will almost certainly not correct, or that Trooper will be able to survive through.  We are treasuring every moment that we have with him until the day comes for us to make that very rough decision.  The children have been even more attentive to him than usual, as evidenced here by Potter sharing some laughs with him.

Clark family loss

Dave's mom, Netsy Clark, passed away on November 5th, after a short battle with cancer.  

I have many photos and memories from the past few weeks to share.  I know you'll understand my delay in getting things back up to speed.  I will have many photos to share of our family from the week that we all spent together following Mom's death.  

Please check back again soon.  Many thanks for all the prayers and support you have provided to our family over the past few months.