Weapons

Ya just don't aways think about how the mind of a small person works...well, I don't anyway. Especially the minds of 4 & 2 year old boys in particular. They are on a never-ending quest to find usable weapons.

Here's what they found today:

I'm just guessing here, but pretty sure they could have done some real damage with these. YIKES!!

March 22- a birthday

  So today is Cayden's 7th birthday. Oh my. Doesn't seem possible- to me, he's still so small...                                                                   

(I'm not exactly sure of the date on this..it was 2006 though..making him 2 1/2 ish)

                                                        Our first cuddles

(do you ever wish you had a professional photographer to take beautiful pics of your child/children's birth(s)? ugh..mine were horrible, unflattering and embarrassing...thanks Jeff, my mother, and mother-in-law...)

Is it not pathetic that I know he was born @ 12:05 a.m. but not how much he weighed?!!

Apart from that, I remember most of the labor/delivery and the miserable week that he had to stay in the hospital for reasons still unknown and/or understood to me. (something about white blood cells..)

He had an i.v. in his head and was super banged up from a rough entry into this world. My mom dubbed him "Bruiser Bob" immediately. Poor guy.

Anyway...today, on this, the day we remember his birth, he had very humble requests.

#1-go to breakfast with his dad

#2-go to the Pizza Hut buffet

#3-buy some cool new shoes with "super-grip action for rock climbing" (i quote)

#4-have a big Mexican dinner with Grandpa & Grandma Davis

Check, check, check, and the food is a'cookin as I type.

I was surprised he didn't ask to go to Denver or up into the mountains. Silly kid.

Here's a couple of pics I managed to snap today:

                                           the aforementioned birthday shoes

hmmmm..I only just now noticed that Katy was strangely absent from these...no idea...

Bits 'n Pieces

                                               These have no rhyme or reason.
       Just random, unedited pics from my phone that I never published anywhere public.
 

Cayden- early fall '10

Coliwog in a sweet moment  

lol! Will and I bein silly  

fresh outta the tub

(he likes to wrap up in tshirts rather than towels)

Micaela and Will having fun last week  

Cool guys don't look at explosions...or wear the lenses in their sunglasses!

Kenna @ America the Beautiful Park

Katy reading the graphic novel of Coraline.

Loved it!

   

Spring Break 2011

..and not a plan has been made. Today was the first full day and what did we do?? Nothing too terribly special.

 The vehicle did not move. I got to sleep in a tad bit because I purposely let them stay up, drink caffeine, and ingest ungodly amounts of sugar last night  then made a huge breakfast of cinnamon pancakes (w/ real maple syrup mixed with melted butter- try it..you'll never eat pancakes without it!), 'Bob's Red Mill' Oat Bran Hot Cereal (w/ smashed up pecans, cream & brown sugar..yum-o!), fruit, yogurt, and juice. *It's 6:30 pm and I'm STILL full!* After what seemed like 5 years of kitchen cleaning, I had them on wall scrubbing duty of which they did a stellar job I should mention. This was followed by a big group "reading time with mommy" on my bed, with everyone (except for me of course...ew.) in their undies.

We then decided that much of the daylight had been wasted indoors so the clothes went on and into the sunlight we went. I found that my clubhouse-building skills were rusty but we successfully got one to stand up to the wind and I left them to be silly and giggly with the neighbor kids. I took the opportunity to go through some SD cards, clear out the email accounts, reply to a couple ignored Facebook messages and now here I am. Hello! ^_^

Overall (and so far) the day has been a success and that feels wonderful! I can't think of any place we could have gone or anything we could have done that would have made it any better or special.

Off to make another meal for the offspring...

Boy & Mama

                                                We are friends, my Cayden and I.

He's the most like me of the crew. I only recently realized this. He sings, he dances all the time, and has a flair for over-the-top emotions (kinda all-or-nothing tendencies). I think he would be the easiest to raise as an only-child because he's most happy off on his own, doing his own thing. I was by myself for almost 9 years and rather enjoyed it. He's polite & sweet and his teachers thus far have adored the lil guy. He's got it made.

He has lots of quirks and does things that make me want to rip my eyeballs out but man, am I proud of him. He always gets recognized for good behavior and excellent grades. He recently got the lead part in the school play. Wow! In first grade, I was a quiet little mouse- you woulda' never seen me trying out for something like that. I'm excited to see what the future holds for him. He'll be a good husband. I can tell...he loves his mama so much....*gleam*            (NOTE: he took the pictures on the webcam. not too shabby)

cousin lovin'

Little Will was over for a few hours the other day and I realized I didn't have any pics of Cayden holding him.

I tell ya, it is h.a.r.d. getting that child to hold still for 3 seconds.

These are the best two out of about a million.

Cute.

2010..not spectacular

 I thought I'd attempt a year in review,  then I started thinking about things that happened last year and I drew a blank. Was 2010 really that uneventful? Yes. It was. We didn't take any cool trips. Actually, we didn't take any trips that I can remember, other than to Kansas to see the fam. That's always nice but I never get to see everyone I intend to and then the drive home is disappointing and full of "dang it..why didn't I go see her" moments (and EXTREMELY boring..ugh.).

I'm not complaining though; it may not have been an action-packed year but there's always plenty going on around here. I get so wrapped up in our day-to-day stuff that I don't realize, or maybe notice, the cool little things that we experience. Perhaps they aren't blog-worthy but in 2011 I'm going to attempt to bring more of that here. If nothing else, the kiddos will appreciate it.

Sooo...there were a few things that were momentous.
1) We found out our crazy Polish landlady decided she didn't want to renew our lease and gave us a month and a half to find somewhere else to live (and we later would find out she would decide not to give us our deposit back too..but I'm not bitter..nuh-uh..). So we traded in our spacious 3 level duplex on the Westside with THE most incredible view ever & a park across the street for a dinky, 1 bathroom, cramped duplex on the southside with no view (other than the hills behind us. yippy.), no park and my parents no longer 10 blocks away. The kids had to switch schools..again. BUT, it was a blessing in disguise. The money we are saving with lower rent and much smaller bills has been a breath of fresh air. Our landlord is great and not naggy and nit-picky like 'ole whats-er-face. The folks that moved into the other side of the duplex are seriously the coolest neighbors ever. I just love 'em to death!! We're very happy over here by the army base..faaaaar away from everything else. lol

2) Due to the move, we sadly had to get rid of our lab-mutt, Biskit. The kids, especially Katy, were devastated. We drug her up here from Texas and she brought as much joy as frustration. She had sooooo much stinkin' energy- never seen a dog like her. She loved the kids like they were hers. She played favorites though. It was quite clear that Katy was her #1.

She thought she could take on any creature she encountered. This deer was one of a small herd grazing on the hill behind our old place. Biskit was tormenting them and this guy/gal decided it was going to protect the fam. She nearly got kicked in the face that day. Dumb dog. She chased down foxes, coyote, skunks, whatever wandered near enough. I do miss her silly antics.

Clearly there was a bond. Very cute. 

She appears to be protective (which she was) but this pic shows one of her favorite things to do: watch the dogs running around the park across the street. If she was out on the front deck, she'd jump off of it (a good 10 feet down) and join them.

3) My little brother, Jordan became a dad on Sept. 22nd. Wow!!

William Gage was born at home, au naturale by mommy, Kari. He was/is the most beautiful baby!! I love him so stinkin' much. When he's around, I take a bazillion pics and videos. lol

I wish I had a pic handy of me holding Jordan when he was born for perspective but I'm not quite sure where one would be located at this moment. I still find it hard to believe he's a dad. My dorky little brother. So strange....

Whelp, I really can't think of much else that's interesting enough to gab on and on about. Everyone got a year older. The kids did great in school and made me super proud. Our mini-van finally started giving us problems after 4 years of awesomeness. Jeff bought and sold a "lemon" that I told him was a lemon but he wouldn't listen to me cuz he wanted it and then felt like a dummy when he sold it to a junkyard for $800 less than he paid  for it. We had Thanksgiving at our house and I wish I had a picture of how ridiculously cramped it was!  2 full size tables, end to end and it was barely enough room for all 15 of us. Christmas was wonderfully quiet and calm as my parents & sisters went to Kansas.

I can't believe it's already almost February of 2011. I anticipate this year being much more interesting and jam-packed with bloggable moments. We've already had a birth in the family this month and getting ready to take a trip in 2 weeks so I think we've started it off better already!!