We've Got Suction!!!!

We are so excited to announce that Adalynn can use a straw!!! Yea! It is one of those cleft things...something we didn't really expect that she would be able to do (or at least not anytime soon) but, she has surprised us. She can really use a straw. She still sounds very airy while sucking, but she can do it nonetheless.

Some of her favorites---drinkable yogurt, juice boxes, and of course...sweet tea!

We are so proud of her!!!!

random photos

Thank you Jesse for the package of goodies. The boys love their water bottles/footballs and Adalynn enjoys giving her bear hugs. We miss you and pray that you have safe travels as you get ready for your R&R. Check out Jesse's blog to hear what he has been up to at Camp Victory in Iraq.


Our book worm is loving every minute of school and is excited to be making new friends.


Adalynn--can you believe she is already 15 months old?




Camden and Adalynn love painting. Notice how Adalynn is watching Camden's every move.


Camden found the face painting kit while we were unpacking. Doesn't he make an awesome tiger?


The kids playing/exploring at the baseball field in our neighborhood sporting their Colt's jerseys. Adalynn, of course has to wear the bow and pink shoes with hers.


Colts-wear... 2008 and 2007. What a difference a year makes! Look how long Adalynn looks.




Adalynn's first bike ride in the Burley bike trailer. She and Camden enjoy riding in it together and using the trails in our neighborhood.

One Year Ago

click on the picture to enlarge

change is good

You will notice some slight changes to the site-please don't be alarmed. The list of Adalynn's Cyber Friends is gone, only to be replaced with blogs we follow-if I've missed you please let me know. Please sign in and follow our blog! With over 11,000 hits in the past year, it is hard to believe we only have 2 followers. If you don't know how, please leave me a message and I will guide you through. We've added the weather for our area as well as a daily bible verse. The bottom tickers have been updated and are current (at least until Broderick's birthday in a month). I hope to mess around a bit more and add some more cool things. Stay posted-it will continue to change.

Lord, please forgive us

You will never believe what we did on Sunday...Something I never ever imagined we would do...Something I never knew anyone would/could ever do.

We WALKED out of a church during the middle of the sermon. In our quest to find a new church home we have been visiting different churches each Sunday. This Sunday our worst fear happened. I found a church on-line in the small town we live in. It sounded great and had a blended/contemporary service that we are looking for. It has been around for hundreds of years (like our old church), so we thought it was a good choice. It wasn't. Our first sign was when we pulled into the parking lot and there were only a handful of cars. We ventured on and decided we were already there, we might at well go in. The church we attended the previous week there were so many people that no one noticed we were new. This Sunday, you could tell we were "the visitors". We walked in and asked the usher where the nursery was (the website indicated they had a nursery as well as children's programs). Well the usher said "We don't have any young children here anymore so we don't have a nursery." NOT a good sign again, but we decide to go on into the sanctuary, you really can't walk out at this point. We try to brave taking 3 kids to 'big church'.

While we were sitting there several people came over. We, being "the visitors", were the main focus. People continued to come over to us even after the service began. Finally, someone came over and told us there was a nursery downstairs so John left with Camden and Adalynn to try to get them to stay. Of course, neither of them would-which was fine since it was so dirty and nasty. Once again we have all three kids in the pew with us. Adalynn was starting to get loud, so I stepped out into the foyer. John was in the pew with Broderick and Camden kept going back and forth. He was very interested in the drinking fountain and small Dixie cups.

I was wandering around reading all the postings on various boards in the hallway while John was listening to the sermon with the boys. There was information about last year's Christmas party, the 2007 nursery schedule, and much more-more bad signs. Adalynn loved the way her voice echoed as we paced the hallways, so I stayed as far away from the sanctuary doors as possible. A few minutes later, John comes out with the boys and says lets go. At this point in time I am picturing the boys being horrible in the pew and he is just done with them and very frustrated. I am following him and urging the boys to walk quicker expecting someone to come after "the visitors" to see where they were going. Broderick keeps asking "why are we leaving" and John just tells him (and me) he'll tell us when we get to the car. I realize that we were not leaving because of their behavior.

We are finally in the safety of the van and John leans over and says, "when he (the pastor)started talking about his typewrite being possessed by demons as well as all the people he knew that were possessed, I knew we needed to leave-now how do I explain the 'demonic possession' the pastor was preaching about to Broderick?". Well, after all was said and done we just told Broderick and Camden that the pastor was talking more about the devil than about God and about how the pastor knew people and things that the devil lived in and made them bad. Broderick asked "if it is a church, then why was he talking so much about the devil and not about God?". We told Broderick "that is why we left".

We then went out to lunch and shopping for a little bit and nothing more was said about the experience. We thought we were safe and that the boys would just let it pass. That was until this morning. When I left the house to take Broderick to school, a train was stopped on the road we usually take. I used the handy GPS and went a different way and while we were driving Broderick says "maybe the devil got inside the train and wanted to make all these kids late for school". UGH!!!

Any suggestions? What do I do now? I hate that we even had to experience this. To our friends at Mars Hill: Please thank the Lord daily for giving you such a great place to worship. To everyone: HELP us in our quest to find a new church by praying that we will be successful. It definitely hasn't fallen into our laps like Mars Hill did.

First Week of First Grade (and my sanity has returned)

Well, the first week of first grade is over and done with and both Broderick and I are much happier people. He is excited about making friends and really seems to enjoy his classroom. Camden, Adalynn and I have enjoyed our quiet days. Without Broderick here, there is drastically less fighting, arguing, and unrest. He and Camden were getting very tired of each other towards the end and Broderick was more than ready for school to start. He is still very nervous about riding the bus, so as of now I am taking him each morning and picking him up. It isn't bad though because he doesn't have to be there until 8:45ish and he gets out at 3:30. Camden, Adalynn, and I have been running errands, finishing the final unpacking/decorating while Broderick is gone.

Above is the Night Before First Grade photo and below is on the morning of.

Can you believe the difference in how grown up he looks? The orange shirt photo is the first day of kindergarten. The green is the first day of first grade.

Can't leave Camden out! Here are the boys on Broderick's first day.

He looked so grown up on the first day, but his reaction when we got to the school made me realize that he is still just a baby. He was so scared (you can tell by his expression in one of the photos). But by the afternoon you can tell he felt much better about the whole thing and was very excited to tell me all about his day. I am a little nervous about how/what he is going to do though, once they really get busy. I know it will work out, but with me not being there...well, it worries me. We got a letter from the teacher that they would be "learning to read" this year. Oh no!!! What happens with Broderick while everyone else learns to read? I am sure she will soon find out what an amazing reader he is. Let the enrichment begin!

Here Broderick is before school starts---scared to death!

First day down, lots more to go. Boy is he ever happier though.

On Labor Day, before school started for Broderick, we went to Easton, PA. It was only about a 50 minute drive and very worth it-right on the PA/NJ line. We went to the Crayola Factory and the Canal Museum. We also enjoyed a horse drawn tour around the town of Easton. The boys had a blast at the Crayola Factory and the Canal Museum was very hands-on. Adalynn even enjoyed the day. We had a great time and it was a great official ending to our summer.

Here we are at the Crayola Factory. The kids loved the huge side walk that they could write on and who can go wrong with a huge table of Lincoln Logs.

These pictures are from the carraige ride. Adalynn loved the "big doggies" and feeling the wind on her face. Check out the beautiful smile!

Over the past week, I have also finished the boys' room. We got most everything on the walls and rearranged. Since the bedrooms have no overhead lighting the switch on the wall controls an outlet. We had to make sure we could plug a lamp into the outlet so we weren't forever flipping the switch to nothing. This meant moving things around until a bed wasn't covering that particular outlet. There is also a photo of the upstairs hallway/laundry area. The doors to the right house the washer and dryer. The two doors on the left are the kids' bathroom and a linen closet. Obviously Broderick/Camden's and Adalynn's room are straight ahead. The photo is taken standing in the master bedroom doorway.

Another exciting thing that has happened this week is that the dissertation thing is forever OVER!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! John made all of his corrections after defending right before we left GA and now officially has all of his signatures. He is done. We are so glad that is finally over. I can say it was one of the hardest things "we've" ever done. We plan on traveling back to GA in December so John can officially graduate and become Dr. Frye. Wow! I am married to a Dr. :) Aren't you all jealous????

One last note, please say a prayer for my buddy Ryan back in Georgia. He has been fighting a relapse of neuroblastoma for the past year and a half and his counts just aren't rebounding like they should/they want them to. This rebound determines his course of treatment and he needs lots of prayers that he can make it to New York to finish the treatment he has already started.

Love you all!!! Can't wait to see some of you soon.