Fall Fun

We had such a great time with Allison and Michael last week. It went way to fast and made me realize just how much a miss all my friends. It is so hard to make new friends as a stay at home mom and I think it is really starting to take a toll on me. We still haven't found a church, so no help there and although I have joined and been going to MOPS, I haven't really found any friends (besides you, Danielle). I loved having Allison and Michael here and was glad to have friends again. The kids had a blast with them and I think they learned a lot (probably mostly what not to do) in preparation for their new little one. Things can be a tad crazy with three kids each going their separate ways and changing emotions each minute. They didn't miss a beat though, and I think that although they were worn out from playing all the time, that they, too, had a great time.

check out the book Adalynn is trying to read to Michael!

Boy, things will be very different soon! We can't wait to meet the new baby Watson!!!!

the boys loved their gift from F.A.O Schwarz when Michael and Allison spent the day in N.Y.C!





This week has been busy too. I celebrated my 31st birthday by going on to dinner (YAY...no cooking, no dishes). I have also been working hard on my Advanced Educational Psychology class. Relearning APA style, revisiting Piaget and Vygotsky, as well as learning lots and lots about the different types of research has been very interesting. While all this has been going on, Adalynn has not been feeling well. After 3 days of being very fussy, not eating, and lots and lots of diarrhea (sorry) I took her to the doctor. At this point in time, we still aren't sure what is going on. It is a little long for it just being a stomach virus, but because she really hasn't had major stomach pains (that we know of) they really don't think it is anything else. If it doesn't go away in the next few days they will be doing some tests to see if it is a bacteria instead (think salmonella, e-coli, etc). She ate a little better this evening, but still has the nasty diarrhea-so we'll see.

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

The speech pathologist also came this week for the first time. Adalynn, of course, was a major grump, wouldn't talk at all and eventually fell asleep in my arms. This visit was mainly for paperwork and for writing goals, so Adalynn wasn't too missed. The speech pathologist did say that she was very pleased with her speech progress so far and doesn't really think that we need to meet more than once a month. Right now we are just supposed to be working on /b/ and /p/- so I guess we will be "popping lots of bubbles". Adalynn is talking more than we realize and she will try to repeat almost anything we say. Her favorite new words
-football
-Trick-or-Treat
-milk
-eat
-all done
-lego
-t.v.
-spoon

Her favorite activity is being pulled around the kitchen on a blanket by her big brother. She had so much fun! Also we have been recently noticing her eyes are changing color. They have been so blue for such a long time, we really thought that they would stay that way, but over the past few days they have definitely taken on a more hazel hue. Broderick's did the exact same thing and now his are pretty close to brown. Mine are hazel too, but more greenish. Camden has bright blue eyes and John's are blue-gray. I guess only time will tell. They are gorgeous whatever color they are!

what do you think of her eyes?

And I leave you with pumpkin carving pictures. The kids had so much fun and are excited about making roasted pumpkin seeds (google, here I come) and tomorrow night's Trick-or-Treating. I will post costume photos sometime this weekend or early next week. Until then, I hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween...don't eat too much candy!

"you want me to do what?"

Adalynn thought the pumpkins were hilarious....oh and she can say pumpkin too!

Camden chooses to just use a spoon-he "WAS NOT touching that stuff!"

check out Camden's disgusted look...he wasn't interested in cleaning out his pumpkin at all!

and the finished product!! Broderick was beside himself, Camden...well, he was still not so sure about the whole pumpkin carving experience.

Last Call!!!

Boy Scout popcorn orders are due soon, so if you haven't had a chance to get on-line to order, please do so soon. We have only heard from a few people who have ordered, so please, please, let us know when you do-so Broderick can write a thank you note.

Here is the information again.


1. Go to the website http://www.orderpopcorn.com
2. Where it says "Enter Order Key" enter the following code: TEQN2ZC
3. Look at the products. You can use the drop down menus. WARNING: If you click on the caramel corn on the bottom of the page, it lists the price of a WHOLE case. Be sure to use the tabs to choose individual items.
4. Place your order-it will tell you the estimated shipping costs once you go to "your cart".
5. Send me an email/note letting me know you ordered so Broderick can write you a thank you note.


Thanks again for supporting him and the Scouts. He loves it so far!

Also....I have been tagged, so here it is:


#1- I love lemons, yes real lemons (and so do the three kiddos). They are best cut into slices with salt. Or while at home I will often just slice them in half, squeeze all the juice out-into my mouth of course, and then eat the innards. Yummy!!!
#2-I married my high school sweetheart. You won't believe it, but we met at band camp! Of all places!!!! I was only 13 and he was 16. Here we are 17 years later, 3 kids, and on our 3rd state. Who knew?
#3-Obviously, since I met my husband at band camp, I am a band geek. Yes, me! I played clarinet since 6th grade and loved every minute of it. We had the best band director ever, who was one of the many great teachers who fueled my desire to teach.
#4-I have a tattoo and my belly button pierced! I am one cool mom. I do need to have the tattoo updated with Adalynn's initial soon though-I have stacked baby blocks with a B and C...now just need the A.
#5-I love to read and often have to force myself to put down my book. I only read at night before bed, but sometimes when the clock says 12:30 a.m., I have to make myself go to sleep. New favorite author--Robin Jones Gunn!
#6-I enjoy painting and doing crafts. I even sew! I wish I spent more time doing all of them, but being a mom to three young ones, that rarely happens. When I do have time, I LOVE it!!!
#7-I can be a bit anal (as my husband fondly calls me). I want all my labels facing out in the pantry (and of course everything is sorted nicely). When I was still teaching, all my chairs had to match, the desks had to be the same height, and EVERYTHING had to be organized. Even my closet is mostly organized by color and type of garmet. I admit, I can be disorganized, but I strive to be super organized and it really bothers me when things are not.

Now I tag you!!! Yes, you---those who check this blog on a regular basis and have their own blogs. That would be....
1-http://jacksonjordan.blogspot.com
2-http://mimidawk.blogspot.com/
3-http://rachelsjourney.blogspot.com/
4-http://molseefam.blogspot.com/
5-http://molseefam.blogspot.com/
6-http://beanspeak2.blogspot.com/
7-http://hercfamily.blogspot.com/


I can't wait to read a little more about you!

overdue update

First off, things have been very crazy here over the past few weeks. With so many events I am going to upload the images in the smallest form. You can click on them to enlarge.


Last weekend...

Last weekend after the enjoying the freezing cold hockey game-despite the warm weather outside, we enjoyed another day of beautiful weather at the pumpkin patch/apple orchard. The kids loved picking apples and pears and were more than excited to choose their own pumpkin. Adalynn enjoyed her first whole apple-peel and all! The gnats/fruit flies were horrible or we would have probably stayed longer, but we still had a great time.



couldn't help but put the kids in this great photo op

Broderick was determined to find the perfect apple..."the redder, the better" he kept saying (what we taught him over the summer when we picked strawberries).

at 70+/- lbs, this didn't last long.

and Camden found it...the perfect apple!

the pears were all way too high. I think we only ended up picking 6.

Very happy girl!

Yum!!!!!!

She's in love!!!

her very first pumpkin...happy as long as the apple remained in her hand.

I am soooo happy!!!!

couldn't wait until we got home....had to enjoy it in the van.

loving the apple!!!

Throughout the week...

Broderick celebrated his 7th birthday on Thursday. I can't believe how quickly he has grown up. Just look at him 7 years ago...and now. He is close to 70 lbs (if not over), wears one size smaller than I do in shoes and is about 4 and 1/2 feet tall (almost too tall for the play area at Chick-Fil-A-which we discovered this evening). He wears mostly size 10 clothes. I will let you all know his exact stats once we go to his well-check towards the end of the month.

Also this week...

Adalynn was evaluated by the Early Intervention team. 3 very nice ladies came out and played with her for about an hour. She is right on track in every area. Even speech was considered normal. That means, that technically she doesn't qualify for services, but because of the cleft lip and palate, she automatically qualifies for speech. I am waiting for a phone call to make the schedule of when they will come to our house for the therapy for FREE!!! Yes, the Early Intervention here is FREE. I will update everyone once we start down that road.

This weekend..

We went to the Candy Carnival that was put on by a local church on Saturday morning, despite the much cooler weather. Adalynn is having major allergy issues and didn't feel the best, but the boys had a good time. The wind was crazy which made it feel much colder than it was-but as long as we stayed in the sun we were fine.

not feeling well at all...eyes were draining a lot, nose running....YUCKY!!! Thank goodness for Zyrtec, she is much better now!

glad to have big brothers

toss the ring game

the kiddos with mommy (here Ms. Allison...this one's for you)

another pic of mommy (with Adalynn) ....especially for Ms. Allison

such a happy baby (despite not feeling the best)

Camden was very proud of the huge leaf he found. What a different fall we are experiencing compared to GA.



Broderick had a blast at his Star Wars party. Mommy and Daddy (as well as Adalynn) were very overwhelmed. 10 boys + light sabers = MAJOR CRAZINESS!!!! We played "Guess the Star Wars Character", had a scavenger hunt (dressed as Storm Troopers), made Light Sabers, and ate Yoda cupcakes and R2D2 cake. Despite the craziness, it was fun though and we were very happy that Broderick had made so many friends at his new school so quickly.

Broderick with Morris the Moose and his massive pile of presents

blowing out the crazy candles that mommy bought-I didn't think they would ever stop relighting.

the Yoda cupcakes, that closely resembled Oscar the Grouch

reading the first clue of the scavenger hunt.

The Yoda cupcake with the R2D2 cake. Broderick was so happy with how it turned out-even though I wasn't. He even said "mommy, you should go on Ace of Cakes"!! What an awesome compliment...they do say love is blind.

More fun...

We also went to a Halloween parade in a nearby town. The boys loved watching the racers run by in full costumes before the parade started. Adalynn discovered stars while we were out and learned a new word! She also was very interested in the bands and the many floats that went by. She finally crashed towards the end of the parade. I guess going the Candy Carnival, a Star Wars Party, Skyping with Heather, and a then a parade can wear a girl out.

watching the parade

discovering stars

watching the costumed runners run by

Speaking of Skype...we have just discovered it and love it. It was great actually seeing Heather's face as we talked to her on the phone. The boys had a blast showing her their light sabers and Morris the pet Moose that Broderick got to bring home from his classroom. Let me know if you are interested in Skyping...it was so much fun! We hope to start talking to more people this way.

skyping with Heather

Other news...

We also were very excited to pick up our friends Allison and Michael from the airport. They are staying with us through Thursday while they are on fall break from school. We are so happy that they are here visiting. I know I won't want to say good-bye again on Thursday.

I started grad school this week. I know....CRAZY!! I am taking on-line classes through the University of Scranton, which is just about an hour from here. I am excited about it and hope to finish by May 2010-right at a year and a half. Who knows, maybe I will get my doctorate too!

Broderick and Adalynn had ENT appointments. It appears as though both of Broderick's tubes are gone. His hearing is okay in his right ear, but really bad in his left. They put him on a nasal spray hoping that it will help with some of the drainage. If this doesn't work, then it looks like he'll get tubes for the 3rd time. Adalynn's tubes look great. Her right ear is also fine, but she failed her hearing test in her left ear. They will monitor both of them. What's the weirdest, is that my right ear hears drastically better than my left...maybe a genetic thing. We'll see.

Thanks for checking in on us. Let me know you were here by leaving us a comment or posting on the daily chat. Sorry this was a book this time!