Fall Fun

This weekend was a nice break from the reality of life. We all played like kids and forgot about the outside world. Saturday we went to the Durham fair. I wish I wasn't getting so lazy about carrying my camera around; we really need to get a pocket camera. Anyway, boy did the kids have fun. We spent a small fortune on rides,admission and food (probably $60) but those smiles were priceless. Maria is getting more brave about going on rides alone yippee! And Matthew doesn't seem to be bothered so much of loud noises and that crowd sound. He went on teh train track ride, the firetrucks and the huge banana slide with Todd. He went in a bouncy house that had a climbing wall and a huge slide down which he loved too. That was the first thing we went on and he kept wanting to go back, all protests with tears. But we fed him and he seemed much more balanced and we went on the rides after that. there was also lots of animals to pet and see which they enjoyed. There was this big sheep that was sticking out its tongue and then baa-ing really loudly, full belly laughs from the kids. We ended the night with listening to a band, 38 Special, and pony rides. Todd as usual was a huge help!! Sunday we went apple picking. A small hay ride out to the trees. We pciked Cortlands for Todd and Macouhns for me :D. Matthew started just picking up all the apples off the ground and throwing them in our bucket, so Todd decided that the best place for himmwas his shoulders. The look of Todd's face everytime Matthew grabbed a cluster of apples off the tree right above Todd was priceless. Maria took the job very seriously and taste tested many apples along the way LOL. After picking we went to the little store and bought cider donuts-YUM! I hope these are things the kids remember for a long time to come.
SChool for all three of us is going ok. Maria's teacher called me yesterday to tell me that she was caught stealing again from the classroom. I just don't know what to do!! I made her write a letter to Mrs Tanner and told her if she was caught again that she would have to start losing priveledges in school like recess. Matthew loves all his teachers, knows all their names which tells me they are all pretty involved with him, what a great feeling. In Bristol he only knew Mrs Mancini's name, and he's been attending Colchester a shorter amount of time than he was in BRistol. He sings lots of songs from school and the basic concept they're teaching right now is same and different. My school is jugging along. Boy do I hate math! The other class is lots of reading and stress related to my paper I have to write and the presentation. The midterm will be assigned next week.

the baby is doing well as far as we know. It feels odd to not have seen it aside from the last time as a blob at 8 weeks. I could not afford to do the triple screen test, $361. as I had to take the prenatal panel blood test at $369. This baby has cost me $4000. so far, the cost of a healthy baby is afterall, not priceless, but a prayer we pray every night that is answered. teh ehart rate looms around 140, could be boy or girl. I am still trying to figure out exactly what gencer I want, doesn't every one want one or the other, but I just can't decide, healthy is my biggest worry and weighs heavy on my mind. We find out onthe 16th who is really in there.