DELICIOUS autumn

In tribute....

5 generations

MY Great Grandma Lucente passed away earlier today. She happily lived to be 98 years old! She lives back east in Massachusetts along with my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins who have taken great care of her. The last time I was able to visit her was back in 2002. She is an amazing lady! She had the BEST memory. She met Dason twice and never forgot his name. She never confused anyone of her grand kids, great grand kids or great great grand kids. She crocheted blankets for mostly all of her grand kids, great grand kids, and even her great great Grand kids with the youngest only 2 years old. One thing I admire most about her life is that she remained positive. She never succumbed to feeling sorry for herself. This is a quality I hope to carry with me throughout my life.


She was a woman of faith and as my Mom said it, "SHE WAS A SAINT" I am thankful for the legacy she began a long time ago and that she has admirably left behind.

Swimming in the Fall ..... love our weather!

My sweet BOY........

Being 38 weeks pregnant and trying to get comfortable enough to sleep does NOT exist!

So, the other night I lay in bed attempting to fall asleep, unfortunately that was not happening. Thoughts of the days events ran through my head and I remembered one in particular. We were sitting at the table to eat dinner and Davin asked to say the prayer. He was kind of in a silly mood and so he quietly mumbled the prayer, then he Said "AMEN" really loud. I was frustrated that he would do this. I acted before thinking and I told him that we could not understand what he said. I could see how my words of criticism hurt him. I could see the happiness drain out of his face. This truly hurt me to see. Right now his speech is a constant struggle for him. I feel I am ALWAYS reminding him to fully pronounce his sounds. He tries so hard to say his words correctly. I tried to push the thought away as it was late and I needed to fall asleep. I knew what I wanted to do. I pulled myself out of my bed and went into Davins room. I needed to hold my baby and tell him how terribly sorry I was that I had hurt him the way I did. I lay next to him and woke him to tell him what I needed to say. Eventhough he was half asleep, he was smiling back at me as I tenderly spoke with him.

MOMMY LESSON: PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE. Remember to watch, think and listen with my heart not my mind. We can learn so much compassion through our little spirits that have been entrusted in our care.

Let's play catch up.....

We are getting closer to having this sweet little boy! He is a little wiggle worm already! An elbow here and there ... no big deal! All three kids love to feel my belly as he is stretching out in all directions. They are excited to meet him. We don't have a name yet... surprise, surprise. We will bring some choices to the hospital and pick one once we have met him.

Miss "Matts" started first grade and we love her teacher. She is young and has no kids. Before I met her, I wondered how good she would be at relating to kids since she did'nt have any yet. She is so much fun with the kids. LESSON: DON'T JUDGE. She loves Madison and treats her like I do and would want someone else to. We park at the school and walk up to pick her up. One day she told me as we were leaving " Mom, Ms. Annesi always gives ME a hug and no one else!" How sweet this is. Madison has already won the "Character Counts" award for RESPONSIBILITY for her class. She has been picked for the CLEANEST DESK in her class and she always has good behavior in her class. What a surprise!! She is getting more practice with reading and really liking it. We are so proud at the work she puts in to her school work and her family. She is so caring and has a good sense of right from wrong. I am so thankful to have a sweet daughter.

Mr. Davo's started another year of preschool with Ms. Jennie. He's going to school to help his speech get better. We are so proud of him for trying so hard to pronouce words. He gets so mad when we can't understand what he is saying. POOR GUY. Davin has as he would say it " a best, best, best, best, best, best, best friend". He was telling me one day when I picked him up for school that he always gives his best friend kisses on the cheek and that he does'nt like it. This friend of his has the sweetest, cutest face ... I don't blame him. He does'nt do it anymore. We had a talk. I just thought it was so sweet. He is my "lover" boy. We (Blane & Mom) pick up Davin and as soon as I sign him out to leave, he takes off running to the car racing Blane. Blane gets sooo MAD that Davin beats him. They crack me up! Davin is such a good brother. He is thoughtful and helpful. He is truly a Joy in my life.

Then there is Mr. Blane. Where do I begin. This kid is hillarious! I'm not sure if it's just the "terrific/terrible" two's or what, but he is full of life. The funniest things he is doing/ saying right now...... "OOOOOOHHHHH MMMMYYYY JOSH" ... "Dabin bad boy go to time out 2 minutes"... "Monster in there" He loves playing with legos, balls and food. He likes to sneak gum and soda that is left on the kitchen counter. I saw him drinking it from far away and yelled for him to stop and he poured it out on the floor! MOMMY LESSON.... DON'T OVERREACT! He still sneaks it , but now I calmly walk up to him, disract him while I take it away then reprimand him if needed. He thinks he's the Man OF THE HOUSE! Like rules, .... what are rules??? We love his personality! He gets to spend lots of one on one time with his Mom while the other kiddos are off at school. We have FUN!! I look at him in absolute amazement at times and at other times I look at him in absolute astonishment! I LOVE this boy.

Allen Family Reunion come and gone....

This is a much needed break for everyone. The adults just get to relax a litttle and catch up on eachothers lives a little more and the kids just run around and play in the woods and the forts. The GROWN UP boys get a kick out of shooting eachother with paint and then bragging about not getting hit by anyone. (My BOY is the biggest bragger)

My kids were being so brave with all their cousins. Usually Davin hangs with Mom,(the safe spot) but he was playing the whole time with all the kids. Then he hurt his foot and was out for the count. Madison loves hanging out with all her girl cousins. I know she looks up to them. Mr. Blane thinks he is already 5 years old. He was playing the whole time and being Mr. bossy. All of the older cousins get a kick out of him. He is such a silly boy. Grandma Sharon was yelling, "Gannon, come get your jacket on" and Blane started to copy her... it was so funny!!

One of the best parts of the trip comes when the kids crash for the night and the adults play a game together. We played Balderdash where you have to make up things and get people to vote for your answer. This was so funny! Here is an example of one.... The person's name was Samuel Bissett. Now we had to say what this guy was famous for. I totally thought "oh... the Bissel Vac"
I wrote it down totally thinking it was gonna win and found out that 3 other people put the same thing down. We were all dying laughing. My stomach hurt so much that night(I am 35 weeks prego too).

This was a fun trip!!!