Her First Face...OUR PERFECT BEAUTY

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Summer Fun!!!!

LAST DAYS OF SCHOOL
Camden and Adalynn June 2010
 September 2009
(what a difference a year makes)
the boys on the first day of school (above)
and on the last day of school (below)

SCOUT GRADUATION

Broderick playing BASEBALL and Camden playing T-Ball



 ADALYNN TURNS 3



PICNICS



GEORGIA TRIP and FOURTH of JULY

NATURAL BRIDGE and CAVERNS in NATURAL BRIDGE VIRGINIA


SWIM TEAM 2010

(more swim team pictures to come as well as Camden's 6th birthday party)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Just Breathe....

Breathe.....

I honestly feel like I haven't been able to do that during the past few months. Our days have been filled with school for the boys, school for me (taking 2 classes), work for both John and I, doctor's appointments, eye appointments (uveitis is at it again), baseball, t-ball, birthday parties, finalizing our housing situation for July, and now swim practice and meets.

No wonder I haven't had time to blog.

I do try to stay up with everyone's blog, though I do admit I have been quite a slacker on commenting and you know how we LOVE comments!! So please forgive me. Maybe now that the summer has started I will have a bit more time to breathe, and blog, and comment, and....oh yeah and you can't forget pack, since we are moving in 3 weeks!

Maybe breathing can wait.

So here's the update.....

Things have been pretty normal for John. He continues to teach at the University and even taught a summer class. He had a blast coaching Camden's t-ball team and helping out as much as we could with Broderick's team. He is excited to finally be done for the summer, but is continuing his research this summer with NASA and soil moisture (or something like that). He enjoys our weekly trips to the organic farm to pick up our share of the crop. It is called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and we love it. I will definitely be posting about that with pictures of the kids picking their own produce. So far we have gotten tons of greens, fresh herbs, peas, strawberries, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, scallions, skapes (which are the tops of garlic), beets, radishes, and turnips. I am sure I have forgotten something....but all I can say is YUMMY!!!! I just made a batch of harvard beets that were delicious, if I do say so myself.

Broderick has just finished 2nd grade with a fantastic teacher. I can't believe how much he has grown and changed this year. He got a loaner hearing aide last week and we pick the real one up tomorrow. He is amazed at how much he can hear and how loud Adalynn screams and squeals. He has more than once asked me to make her be quiet. Broderick is swimming on the swim team this summer and a month ago, when practice started, he had no clue how to swim. Now he is swimming the 25 m. freestyle and backstroke at the meets and doing fairly well. I am very impressed with how quickly he has picked it up and how good he is getting. He also enjoyed baseball and thought wearing a cup was the coolest thing in the world.

Camden is so excited to finally be finished with kindergarten and now he gets to go to school with Broderick. I can't believe how much he has learned this year!!! He is also doing swim team and really coming along in his swimming, though not ready for meets yet. He loved having his daddy as his t-ball coach and is quite the baseball player. He really enjoyed the end of the season when it became coach pitch and he didn't have to use the tee anymore. It is hard to believe that he will be turning 6 in less than a month. Where has the time gone?

Adalynn, simply said, is a little princess!!! She just turned three and thinks she is the coolest thing around, carrying her little Vera Bradley purse and wearing her sparkly flip-flops. It is amazing how friendly, outgoing, and personable she is. My grandpa calls her "infectious" and it is soooo true. I don't quite know what it is about her, but she gets smiles everywhere she goes. She loves cheering her brothers on at the various sporting events and does great watching from the sidelines. It is hard to believe how far she has come in three short years. I do have to admit, that we have been cleft slackers. She has not seen a cleft team since we left GA in 2008. That will hopefully be happening soon. We just have to decide where we are going to take her. I am debating on staying local for now, and then re-evaluating when it is time for another surgery (which, according to our plastic surgeon in GA, will be in the next year or two).

As for me, I have just finished one class and another will be done in a few weeks. I have 2 left towards my masters and a few towards some director's credential that I have to get for work. And then I will be done. Maybe not forever though, I am (shhhh, don't tell John) contemplating my Ph.D. I really want to get a "real" teaching job before I go that far, but I have thought about it. Hmmmm??? Dr. and Dr. Frye....now that's a thought! My uveitis has flared up, so I have been back and forth to the eye doctor several times. I do have some permanent damage now, so my vision is pretty bad in one eye, especially in low light situations (my pupil will not dilate). It is frustrating and I really want answers, but I don't think there are any.

As you can see, we have been staying busy. I have a mere 400 photos to sort through, but promise to add them to this post when we get back from our mini-vacation. I promised an update, so I am giving you an update. Once we get back,  I will add the photos, so be sure to check back for them....those are my favorite part!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Robot Man

The last day of school is finally here and I am soooo happy. I only have a few minutes before I have to be back at work, but wanted to let you all know that an update is coming soon!!! I promise! Until then, hopefully this will make you smile and forgive me for slacking.


Friday, June 11, 2010

3 years ago.....

I really wanted to spend some time writing an awesome post for Adalynn's 3rd birthday, but considering I have to be at work in about 20 minutes and that over the next 3 days we have 3 baseball games, a House Party, an end of season baseball party, the spring carnival at school, as well as a special little girl's Princess party, that probably won't happen.

So to all of my cleft friends out there right now....you know exactly what is going through my mind. To all of the friends and family that follow our journey.....you know exactly how much this Perfect Beauty has taught you in just 3 short years. And to everyone else that happens upon our blog.....I wouldn't change a thing about our special little lady. Happy 3rd Birthday Adalynn!!!!


Many Blessings,