3 months old and growing like a weed!

Matthew officially hit the three month mark on Saturday.  As he was sick and the big boys had their final soccer games I didn't get any pictures taken.  Smack me now.  But poor Matthew looked so pathetic with goo leaking out of his eyes and the constant runny nose and he was so miserable it really wasn't the time for a photo shoot.  So I took some pictures of him last night.  He was still feeling a little sick and was exhausted but still as sweet as can be.  The picture with the pumpkin hat was from a few days earlier.  Gotta love that smile!

I took him to the doctor on Saturday to make sure his cough wasn't settling into his lungs.  I put him on the scale while I was there:  15 lbs 2 oz.  What do I do when he hits 20 lbs at 6 months and is too big for his infant car seat???

And here are some cute pics of Sam and James and their soccer teams.  They both had a great season!

conversations with James

Most people probably don't know that James (4 years old now!) even talks because he gets so stinkin' shy in public.  But this kid doesn't stop talking when he is with me.

Last week in the car:
James:  Mom, when did the dinosaurs die?
Me:  A long, long time ago.
James:  Were there people then?
Me:  Nope.
James:  But Mama, that is just terrible!  If there were no people, who took care of the dinosaurs?

Tuesday at lunch:
Me: Sam and James, thank you for letting me take a nap.  I wasn't feeling very good this morning.
James:  You're welcome.  It was no problem.  We just played.

This morning:
Me:  James, I am going to take a shower.  Do you want to watch tv upstairs in my room or downstairs?
James:  I think I will be alright downstairs, thank you.

James really makes me laugh!

Halloween

Happy Halloween!  This year Samuel was Captain Rex from Star Wars The Clone Wars.  This is his 4th Star Wars Halloween costume.  I think we have a Star Wars Fan on our hands!

James insisted that he wanted to be Spider Man this year- until we went to Old Navy one day and he saw this dragon costume.  I thought he was going to change his mind again so I didn't get it for him.  However, two weeks later after all he did was talk about being a dragon I went back to Old Navy and they didn't have his size.  I called every Old Navy store in the Philadelphia region.  No luck.  I ended up calling my sister, Lisa, in Virginia to see if she could find one. I also had Keri, in Utah, ready to go out and find one if Lisa couldn't.  Luckily, Lisa found one and shipped it to me.  Thank heavens for sisters!

Matthew is sporting the dinosaur costume we bought for Sam when he was a baby.

Below are before and after trick-or-treating.  We wore them out!

Samuel had a Halloween parade at school.  The high school marching band (all 400 of them) set up and played in the middle of the parking lot while the kids walked around them.  It was really cool!

must be baseball season

Forget about football.  Right now in Philadelphia the Eagles are barely a second thought (sorry Brother Reid, but its true!) because the Phillies are in the World Series!  Yesterday, before game one, Phillies Phever was EVERYWHERE!  I went to John's office for lunch and as his patients came in every one of them was dressed in Phillies gear.  I sent the boys to school in their Phillies shirts.  People on the street were dressed in red and could talk about nothing else. 
And Game 1 did not disappoint!  The Phillies quite efficently handed the Yankees their hats and showed them to the door- in their own stadium!  Lee was incredible, so cool, calm and collected.  You would have thought he was out for a Sunday afternoon stroll, not pitching in the World Series.  He had amazing stats and even made a couple of defensive plays (did you see the behind-the-back catch???) effortlessly.  It was baseball at its best! 
I was raised on baseball.  My Mom loved the game when she was a kid (she even collected baseball cards) so when I was a kid and the World Series rolled around, our house became baseball central.  For dinner we spread a tablecloth on the floor in the family room in front of the tv and we ate dinner to the sounds of "STRIKE ONE"!  It was great.
Last night I sat on the sofa with my three boys and watched the first inning with them as they debated who their favorite player was.  (They both decided on Ryan Howard but I am more partial to Cliff Lee or Jason Wirth.)   It was a fun sense of deja vu and of things to come as the boys get older.  Say what you will about baseball.  It may have its problems but it is still America's favorite pasttime- at least it is in our house.

The 2nd Annual Traverso Pumpkin Party

Last weekend we held our 2nd annual pumpkin party.  We invited a combination of church and school friends.  Samuel and James were very opinionated on who they wanted at the party- if it were up to Sam we would have invited his entire school class.  =)  James just wanted his friend Gracie to come- unfortunately her mom called the morning of and had to cancel because they were sick.  James was pretty devestated but he managed to rally and enjoy the party for the most part.

As usual we had activities for the kids.  Decorating cookies:

Making bead necklaces:

And painting pumpkins.  Of course, some of the kids painted themselves more than the pumpkins.  We may have to rethink this one for next year as the pumpkin paint is not exactly washable.

And don't forget the pumpkin carving!  We had some real winners this year.

Matthew was passed around from person to person.  He was in heaven since he just loves to be the center of attention.  Of course, he got to share that title with the other little guys at the party:  Lukas and Spencer.

We hope everyone had as much fun as we did.  See you next year!

braindead

I know I haven't been great about posting lately- chock it up to exhaustion induced braindead-edness.  I shouldn't complain with Matthew sleeping through the night and all but I am TIRED!  When I finally go to bed at night I am completely dead to the world in a matter of seconds which is unheard of in my insomniac past.  I am so tired I can't even read- also highly unusual for me.
On Sunday, a particularly busy day after an incredibly busy weekend, I was attending some meetings for the Messiah and stake activities from 6-8:30pm.  I was so completely wiped out at that point that I couldn't put a coherent thought together despite my best efforts.  I am surprised that I wasn't committed for spouting jibberish.  It is really crazy.  When I get this tired it is like someone builds a literal wall inside my brain separating my thoughts and my ability to communicate.  Words and names completely escape me and forget about me trying to remember new information!  That isn't even a remote possibility.
Does anyone else ever feel this way or is this a uniquely bizarre Erin brain issue?

all shook up

Yesterday was the big four ward and one branch sacrament meeting.  We entered the building as B1, B2, P1, P4 and the Chester Branch and left the building as the Broomall Ward, P1, P4 and the Widener Branch.  Broomall 1 was basically portioned off into the other four units.  From B1 the Lower Merion school district joined P4, Haverford school district joined P1, Ridley school district including Prospect Park and areas all the way up to the airport joined the new Widener Branch, and Springfield and Marple Newtown scholl districts joined Broomall 2nd to create the new Broomall ward. 
There were also a few boundry changes in the wards that remained.  I don't have the paper that has all the zip codes of the specific changes- I'll have to ask John for that later.  But basically Lansdowne was taken from P4 and put back in P1.  There was a small city section of P1 that was put into P4.  And Broomall lost Brookhaven and Aston to the Widener Branch.
Basically all of the old, odd boundry lines were wiped clean.  The city wards were finally given the extra support from the suburbs that they have needed for so long and the Widener Branch gained enough people for them to function well. 
It is going to be a difficult transition for some- especially the teenagers from B1 who are now part of the city wards.  There were a lot of teary eyed young women yesterday.  There were also quite a few teary adults.  This kind of change is so hard, especially socially because a lot of our friendships are based on who is in our ward.  When P4 was created out of P1 four years ago I was an absolute wreck because a lot of my friends were put in P4 and I was still in P1.  I felt completely abandoned.  I wasn't, but that was how it felt.  I know some of the people who were moved into the branch and the city wards yesterday felt the same way.
Honestly, I feel that these boundry changes are inspired.  Two wards and a branch that were struggling from lack of manpower now have what they need to really thrive.  Bravo to our stake presidency for taking the steps necessary and chancing the murmurs from a few to do what is best for the stake as a whole.