A California Dream. . .

Jeremy and I had the rare opportunity to travel together.  Last week I got to go with him to California on a business trip.  My wonderful sister graciously agreed to watch our kids so that we could spend a few days in the warm California sun.  (and believe me, it was sunny and warm and gorgeous!)  My sister-in-law Lindsi came with because her husband was there for work too.  While Jeremy and Terry spent their days at a trade show for work Lindsi and I got pedicures, read books, took naps,  explored the trade show, and got to hang out with our guys and all of their co-workers.  In the evenings we went out to dinner and played like in the days before children.  It very fun, and very relaxing.

     I had always wanted to see a scrapbook trade show.  I could not believe how huge it was.  I still can't believe how many fun things there was to see.  I even got to see the cards I made for the Basicgrey booth.  Here are a few: 

This is a gift bag made out of the Bittersweet collection.
Marrakech is a fun line.  Especially if you like the orange and blue combo.  I know I got a little sew happy with this card, but it was a bunch of fun.
This card was made out of the Lime Rickey Collection.  It is super bright and reminds me or kids birthday parties.  Wahoo!

I wish I had taken more pictures of our trip.  We were too busy enjoying ourselves.  It was fun to travel together, even if the majority of the trip was spent in the convention center.  It was fun to interact with Jeremy's co-workers and just be free from the majority of my day to day responsibilities.  We are so lucky that Jeremy works for such a great company and with such great people.  Not to mention, it was a blast to have Terry and Lindsi with us.  It must be so much fun for brothers to work together every day.

An Entire Bottle of Soap!

I put the boys in the bath a few days ago, and this is what I found.  Ten minutes, and a whole bottle of body wash later, I found two relatively clean boys playing in a bathtub full of wonderful smelling bubbles.  May I just note that I left the brand new bottle of body wash on the opposite side of the bathroom vanity.  Leave it to my boys to take responsibility for cleaning themselves up.  They did smell great in a cucumber melon sort of way.

Snappy Dresser

Parker has taken a liking to dressing himself.  Seeing as I am not very good at getting the laundry done and put away, he does the best with what he can find.  It is amazing he can find anything because we are currently working on perfecting potty training, and we tend to go through a lot of clothes.  Here are a few of my favorite outfits that he has concocted. 

Here he is sporting his brothers fleece pajama pants, and his sweater vest (typically reserved for church.)  Look at how proud he is of all he has accomplished.  We are still working on the correct way to wear the sweater vest.  It is a little hard to decide which hole your head should go through when there are three to choose from.  All things considering, I think he improvised well.

Here is another priceless look.  With this outfit, he opted for the backwards henley and a t-shirt for pants.  Notice how he stuck both legs through the neck hole and then used a sleeve for one pant leg and the body of the shirt for the other.  Genius!  It brings all new meaning to doing the best with what you've got. 

Now, with all that said, I think I will be spending the rest of the day doing laundry.  Cute as these pictures are, I don't think Parker's fashion statements are quite main stream yet.  Memorable, yes.  Popular fashion, probably never.  (At least lets hope so.)

Teeth, or the lack thereof

Connor has reached the fun age of wiggly teeth.  He lost his first tooth near Halloween, and just lost his second tooth last week.  His teeth have grown in so quickly that we haven't even been able to get a very good picture of his toothless grin.  The gaps in his smile have already filled in with his permanent teeth.  For awhile he actually had three front teeth because one of his permanent teeth came up behind his baby tooth.  He was excited when this last tooth fell out because now I have no reason to tease him about his three front teeth.  It seems like he just cut all of those teeth.  I can't believe he is old enough to be losing them now!  

I am not above the law. . .

I believe in rules and laws that keep us safe and organized.  I try my best not to speed or run red lights, and I definitely don't try to drive against the flow of traffic.  Then why, why can I not follow the very rules I created in my home?  This picture was taken after I took a very delicious plate of spaghetti upstairs to my bed room to enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet during lunch.  I know that Jeremy and I have clearly stated to the kids that we do not allow food or drink off of the tile in the kitchen/dining room area, but that doesn't apply to the Mom.  Right?  WRONG!!!!  This is just one of the lovely stains I got to clean up after dropping my plate of spaghetti at the top of the stairs.  Sauce and noodles (not to mention my plate) bounced from one stair to the next all the way down  the bottom.  I guess it doesn't matter how old I get, I will always be trying to learn the basics. 

Just a side note. . . I did get all of the spaghetti sauce out of the carpet.  Thank Heavens for carpet cleaners!

One more makes 5. . .

Yes, it is true.  We are expecting.  I know, I know, it's like a miracle.  Pretty scared about having more children than hands, but we are very excited for this new addition which should be arriving around July 22nd.  Jeremy can't wait to have a new little one around the house and the boys couldn't be happier.  (Although they can't decide what would be cooler, a little brother or a little sister.)

This time around, my pregnancy has been very different.  I know I have had it terribly easy in the past, but this pregnancy has been a whole different story.  I haven't done much besides fix meals and sit on the couch in fetal position for weeks now.  I am getting tired of feeling crummy and exhausted.  I hope that these things subside in the next few weeks as I enter my second trimester. We added a new widget so that you can follow our progress.  I am already tired seeing that there are 200 days to go, but, take hope in the fact that the last 12 weeks have flown by.  Wish me luck!  (I think I am gonna need it.)

Holiday Highlights

We have had a wonderful holiday season.

It has been filled with fun, family, good food, great gifts and

a wonderful gratitude for the Savior and the many ways our lives are blessed.

Here are a few of our holiday "highlights."

The demise of our gingerbread dream house came

swiftly one afternoon before Christmas.

I believe the culprit was a small boy with a very sweet tooth.

Hmmmm?

Parker was immediately distraught.

Even more so, when he found out that this was something even his Dad couldn't fix.

Connor and Parker loved being a part of acting out the

Christmas Story at the Davis Family Party.

Two cousins couldn't make it so their parts got changed at the last minute.

Connor played the part of Joseph and

Parker got to be a shepherd (or leopard if you prefer.)

Parker took fully liberties with his acting debut.

He creatively added this scene, which I have entitled "Death of a Shepherd."

He also added a final line to the conclusion of the production,

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the STAR!"

He said as he gestured to Emma who played the star of Bethlehem

Here is a view of the overall production.

It was a bit crazy, but all of the kids did a great job.

Connor was so concerned about getting his part just right.

He did a great job as Joseph.

We received some great gifts this year.  Connor got his own set of golf clubs.

Parker even got his own (gently used) putter and driver.

Connor will tell you his favorite gift is the quilt his Great Grandma O. made him.

Parker claims his new razor scooter as his highlight of Christmas.

They made out like bandits with their other treasures such as their playdoh, moon sand, hot wheels cars, squish-a-bellies, lego star wars game, and game controllers. 

Jeremy got a new DeWalt drill and new drill bits and extras to go with it.

Now he really can fix anything.  Jeremy and the boys got me shelves

for my food storage.  They were even able to put them up and organize

all of the food storage on them.  It is so nice to be able to walk downstairs and get what I want off of a shelf instead of rifling through boxes.  

In the afternoon the Boys got to "rock out" with Uncle Terry.

They enjoyed breaking in Uncle Terry's AC/DC version of Rock Band.

They absolutely love it when they get to "rock out."

Parker even took a turn at the microphone.

He loved being able to sing at the top of his lungs.

(You still couldn't hear him over the music, but that is part of the fun.)

Parker has since had this conversation with me:

"Mom, AC/DC rocks.

It is Dad and Connor's favorite band.

It is way fun to rock and roll with Uncle Terry."

"It rocks!"  Has become his new catch phrase.

So, for those about to rock, we salute you.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas too!