Easter 2008...and 2006...and 2007

Easter 2008

Just a quick post to share this year's Easter picture with you. I am also posting last years (I am not sure why we don't have a family one from last year) and a photo from two years ago-my, how we all have changed. Enjoy!! I hope you all had a great Easter 2008.

Easter 2007

Easter 2006

Happy Easter and Great News!!!!

To start off, we want to share some great news....John verbally accepted a position at Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania-we are still waiting for the written contract. He will be an Assistant Professor and will teach physical geography, meteorology, and climate classes. He is excited to say the least. Broderick's first thought was that two of his favorite book characters live in PA (Jack and Annie from Magic Tree House books) and Camden was concerned about whether or not mommy and Adalynn would be coming with us. Adalynn could care less, but we are looking into our options as far as staying with her "team" here or finding a new one closer to Kutztown. John was offered two different positions (both at schools in PA) but this one seemed to fit him-and us- a lot better. Classes start late August, so we plan on moving sometime over the summer. We hope to visit the area sometime over the summer to find somewhere to live and look at schools. I am trying to figure out how my teaching license will transfer and beginning to look for openings at schools there (which are few to none). I have joked with John, that maybe I will go back to school for the next 5-10 years !!??!! :) I am very proud of what he has accomplished. Getting a PH.D. is hard work and having a wife and three kids while doing it makes it twice as hard. I don't think I would be able to do it, so the school comment for me is a joke.





If you are wondering where Kutztown is, it is in eastern Pennsylvania, 45 minutes north of Philadelphia. New York City and Washington D.C. are just a few hours away. It is in "Amish Country" and we are already looking forward to finding some farmer's markets and visiting places like Hershey's Park, Gettysburg, and of course D.C. and N.Y.C. The only sad thing about it is that we are no closer to 'home', than GA is to 'home'. Now we just have a new place for families to visit with new sights to see.

The weather here has been gorgeous for this Easter weekend (though John did mention that it was supposed to snow in PA). We enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt after Broderick's Saturday morning soccer practice. Broderick, Camden, and Adalynn were all in different age groups and this year the organizers decided that all groups would go at once (in previous years they started each group separately at different times). This made things crazy as we decided who was going to get the camera and we couldn't let Adalynn sit down and get eggs at all. Her Easter Hunt picture is from the hunt we had at church last Sunday night...greener grass and a little cooler weather. I will take lots of pictures tomorrow of the beautiful babies in their Easter outfits and hopefully we will get a family picture too.

Speaking of last Sunday night and more great news...Broderick, Camden, Adalynn and I all went to the Living Lord's Supper at church (where daddy played an apostle). Several members of the church acted out the Last Supper with music and commentary from the pastor. Well, Broderick has started asking questions. We have spoken with the youth pastor and he is going to come over sometime in the next few weeks to chat with Broderick and see where he is in his understanding of everything. This is so exciting to see things beginning to click as he starts to understand all that Jesus did for us. This being said, we wish each and every one of you a Blessed Easter Day!! Christ has risen!!!!!!

9 month Check-Up

Adalynn was excited about her 9 month check-up...NO SHOTS!!! She stayed right on her little curve on the growth chart. She hovers around the 25% in weight (now at 16 lbs 14 oz) and the 75% in length (now 28 inches). Her pediatrician was excited about her development. Crawling, standing, and cruising are all right on track. Although mommy and daddy are a little concerned with her attempts at making various sounds, the doctor said she is still doing fine. Adalynn easily says mamamammamamam and yayayayayayaya, but we still don't have babbabababababa or dadadadadadadada. I guess we'll just wait and see. He did say he will be a little quicker to refer her to speech therapy, but as of right now-there is nothing to worry about. She did have some fluid in her ears, despite the tubes. He told us to start putting the antibiotic drop in, just to be safe. I guess, this is her first "ear infection". This could explain the fussiness and sleeplessness over the past few nights. Hopefully the drops will help and she will start sleeping better. She ends up moaning and groaning all night long and nobody gets any sleep unless John takes her downstairs. I say John, because his schedule is a lot more flexible than mine and I am up at 5:15 every morning in order to pump and get ready for school.

Some exciting news on the job search is that John has been offered positions at two different universities. We are still discussing all of our options and trying to decide what will be best for our family and our future, but it appears as though he will accept one of them and we will be moving. YAY....I think. We'll keep you posted-we should have a final decision in the next few weeks.

Adalynn is getting better and better at feeding herself, not only her bottle but at meal times too! Her diet consists of more and more table food (which is great, since she fights us when we try to feed her baby food). I guess baby food is harder for her to eat because she ends up with most of it in her nose and then she just gets mad. Table food, being more solid, is easily swallowed and stays down. Some of her favorite foods are diced carrots, peas, green beans, Gerber puffs, peeled grapes (yes, it is possible to peel and quarter a grape), strawberries, frozen waffles, black beans, flour tortilla, mashed potatoes (with gravy, of course), rice, and pasta. We are trying new foods all the time. She has tried a tiny bite of meat loaf, chicken, and meatballs but meats are a little harder for her to mash. She does have 5 teeth now (4 appear to be in the correct location in her mouth-only that first tooth is 'off'). Tonight, I leave you with Adalynn's first experience with pasta and marinara.

and for those of you that voted. Most everyone got it on the nose.

#1 Camden, #2 Adalynn, and #3 Broderick. Don't they each look so different, yet so much alike?

Guess Who....

Here are the photos I mentioned last post of Broderick and Adalynn. Broderick was 2 1/2 months old and Adalynn was 8 1/2 months old when the pictures were taken...it is the EXACT same outfit.

Also, here are the three of them within a month a part from each other. Play GUESS THE BABY...leave us a comment in the daily chat making your guess. As you can tell, they all look very similar, yet still each their own. Good luck.

Remodeling....and growing up

Well, I guess Camden decided that it was time for the shell border in the half bath to go. I noticed one morning that part of it was picked at a little bit, but didn't think anything of it. The next day, a larger chunk was peeled off...a few days later a 8-12 inch section was gone. UGH!!! Camden finished the job Friday night and was quite proud of his work. I do have to admit, that once I got it up, it was kind of ugly and really crooked. I didn't even have enough to go all the way around the room. Plus, it was on clearance and only $0.50 at Lowe's-so I wasn't really invested in it. We did have to go buy spray to remove the rest of it since he just peeled off the top layer and and the underneath paper stayed put.

Adalynn is growing up so fast. I can't believe she will be 9 months old this week. John is going to take her to her 9 month well-baby check this week. I feel like she has gained a couple of pounds, but she is still so tiny. This is evidenced by her wearing some of the pajamas Broderick wore at 2 mos old (and he was busting at the seams). I hope to get his picture in them scanned in the next couple of days to show you all the comparison. It is hilarious! It also makes us realize just how much she looks like Broderick, when all along we thought she was Camden's mirror image. I'll try to find a picture of Camden at the same age and let you all vote.

-----new skills for Adalynn....pulling up on everything (including the coffee table)





....starting to cruise





....eating lots of "real" food





....holding her own bottle











Hope everyone has a great week. I will post her 9 month stats as well as the photos of each of them and let you vote.

Happy March!!!

With Broderick's memorization of bible verses (including a portion of this one) for Team Kid at church, I am going to attempt to memorize the rest:
Psalm 139:13-16
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."