Joy School

Kids enjoying "rest time"

I have been doing a little Joy School co-op with some friends this year.  It is great because every Wednesday I get two hours off.  Usually I tell myself I will clean the whole house while they are gone, but I always end up playing Zelda. This week it was at our house and we had a fun Thanksgiving lesson.  They made hats and "indian jewelry", and heard a few pilgrim-related stories. Davy wore a shirt for school, but took it off once the door closed as our last friend left.

Davy and Audrey have been super funny together.  They just love to argue and have pretty funny conversations.  For instance

A: Davy, you are a baby
D: No, I'm a big boy.
A: No, you are a baby and you like baby food.
D: No, I'm a BIG boy!
A: You are a BABY
D: BIG BOY!
(a small amount of violence ensued)

D: I like kitty-cats.
A: No, I like kitty-cats.

D: I like kitty-cats best.

A: No Davy, I like kitty-cats, you don't like kitty-cats.

D: I like kitty-cats.

A: No.  AAHHHH! 

Davy is pretty smart about arguing with Audrey.  He knows that if he just sticks to his line, Audrey usually gets worked up pretty quickly.  So he uses a nice, quiet voice and repeats his point until she explodes.  It makes for a great car ride.  

Cute but completely unrelated picture

Halloween

Davy loved his halloween costume this year.  He wore it for two solid weeks.  "Buzz Wightyear to the wescue!"  (Thanks Marci!)

This button makes you "fly away!"

Audrey fit into Davy's last year costume so we went to a few events as Buzz and Rex from Toy Story.

Obligatory pumpkin patch visit

Super sleepy but happy to have a pumpkin of his own.  

Here he is with his best friend Woody.  They went trick or treating two times and made sure to stick together.  

The weather has been really great recently so we have had lots of time to play outside.  Here's Davy with his best friend Weston. These two kids play so well together and hang out a lot. We just came in from the park, and Davy spotted Weston playing in his front yard.  The two ran to each other across a whole block.   (first two photos curtesy of Michelle).

How many kids can you fit on a trike?  Two happily...Weston does not look as pleased with the arrangement.  

A big part of our life revolves around this candy shop "Lolly Lolly".  Our favorite park is right next door and we always try and time our park trips so the candy shop is open (for the kids, of course). They have amazing chocolate toffees. Occasionally the candy shop is closed, which is a hard concept for Davy, and for me.  

 But most of time we get a fun treat and head back to the park to play.

New Camera!

We have had a busy month, but I haven't blogged because of our camera's demise.  It showed a lens error and after researching online I attempted to fix it.  The repair was going okay until a teeny tiny spring sprung away onto the floor.  An hour's fruitless search with magnets sealed the deal on a new camera.  I have been pretending to be sad about our old camera while happily reading reviews on a new one and it came today.

Davy has a new buddy to play with every day.  I nanny Audrey until three and take her sister to and from school.  They have been playing pretty well together with lots of cute hugs and giggles although Davy has learned a new phrase "audee bite me time out",  which he is needing less and less.  Overall he is excited to see her come in the mornings and likes having someone to pal around with.

I just finished a twin sized quilt and pretty happy with it.  Davy asks me to wrap him "like a baby" in it.

Train Museum

We have been doing lots of fun outings recently.  We went to the zoo and pet the sting rays.  Davy said, "oh, wow!"  every time we got near one.  And we went to the transportation museum, which has two dozen old trains on tracks where you can climb in and ring the bell.  Davy loved looking at each engine, but especially loved the Thomas train track in the learning center.  We spent an hour and a half moving trains around,  which is basically how we spend 90% of our time at home.  

I forgot to post this great picture of Davy and Ralph from our Christmas visit.  Davy has grown up so much since then.

I just finished another quilt and am learning a little more each time.  Hooray for youtube and their how-to videos.  I wish I had picked different colors, but will know for next time.  

 

Haircuts and Third year

Stephen just started third year (we're over half-way!) with an ob-gyn rotation.  He has some wacky stories, but seems to like it okay.  His schedule has not been too bad--yet.  The day before he started I gave Davy and him new haircuts.  I have been cutting Spo's hair for four years with nary a mistake except this one.  Half way up the back the razor shield popped off and I shaved a nice 2 inches of baldness into his head.  I cut everything else pretty short to cover up, but it was pretty noticeable for a week or two. He was really nice about it and said he had to wear a surgical cap anyways.

Davy loved his haircut because I told him it was a "buzz cut".  I also let him interpret that however he wanted.  He went from shaggy...(pictured with best bud Weston, or "wetin".)

To Grown-Up-Boy.
Here he is counting, "Two, One!" while convincingly pretending to leap but really just stepping off.

He let this little girl ride on his trike and gave her a flower sans prompting.  He's one smart boy.

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Step 1 Vacation

We just returned to St. Louis after two mostly glorious months in Arizona and California.  We came back to a clean house and a burglarized car.  It looks like someone crawled under Stephen's car and sawed off 500 dollars in pipes, but it could have been worse.  My car was at a friends house which probably saved it from the same treatment.  

However, our trip was fantastic and Step 1 is finally behind us.  Stephen was really boring so I spent a great week up in California with Claire and her boys.  It was so fun watching Davy and Jason play.  Davy learned about the movie cars and has faithfully pointed out merchandise since our visit.  We went to the beach together and got some great pictures.  

Davy also turned two while we were there.  He had a practice session opening gifts with Grandpa a few days before hand so he knew the drill pretty well.  He said, "Oh, Wow!" to every gift, even before they are clearly identified.  For his present from us I left a trail of buzz-lightyear foot prints through the house leading to a hidden present.  He unwrapped the bottom of the buzz and began yelling "Buzz!  Buzz! Buzz!"  It was fun to see him so excited.  He also got  a fun "Cars" tricycle from his Grandma Olsen that he plays with constantly.  

We had a good time playing with family.  He hero-worshipped his older cousin Parker and followed him  everywhere.  They had a lot of light saber attacks and lots of playing in the pool.  

 He played a lot with Mom and Dad's cute kitties.  He was about fifty percent sweet with them and fifty percent tail-pulling, kitty-squeezing, leg-grabbing terrible.

 We also met with Whitni's little girl Aiden.  They had a great time playing together. I think Davy got her number.

Grandma Olsen and Davy at Railroad Park

 Dad holding Davy and juggling a cat on his foot.

 Mom and I in our matching shirts.

 Another at Railroad park with a pirate smile from Davy.

 Fireworks in the nude.

For our anniversary we stayed two nights at the Westin.  Marci was kind enough to watch Davy and so we had two lovely days by the pool eating chocolates.  Maybe we can make that an annual thing--or monthly.  Thanks for having us to stay in Arizona, we can't wait to come back.  

Easter Stitches

This is Davy at a neighbor's Easter Egg hunt.

He caught on pretty quickly and we had to discreetly toss a few back on the ground for the other kids.

Two days later  he tripped on his sandal at the zoo and fell straight into a bench.  There was lots of blood and lots of tears (both of us) but he really did remarkably well.  He ended up with three stitches, a chipped tooth, and a puffy lip.

I am amazed how quickly he healed.  We spent 3 days in a Buzz Lightyear marathon, but by the following Saturday he was ready for Easter Egg Hunt number two.

I was also astonished this week by his secret vocabulary.  We were outside our favorite little candy shop and I was explaining that it was closed.  He said, "locked!"  "keys!" and then tried to fit my car keys into the door.  After two weeks of hearing "No" exclusively, this was a nice change.  Apparently with enough motivation, he can speak pretty well.

Spring!

St. Louis is pretty crazy.  This was monday....



















And Today...

We had a great general conference weekend.  Stephen and I  Davy played with blocks and had a good time building forts  (while reverently listening.)  We went to the park three times today: before, between, and after conference.  It was so nice to soak up some sun.  David is super funny these days.  He sat in these flowers and had them kiss him on the cheek.

He also watched conference next to this baby doll.  We bought it for the little girl we sometimes watch and Davy loves it.  He wrapped it in the blanket and was talking to her.  So cute.  But he is still a boy so after that he threw it on the ground and sprayed it relentlessly with a spray bottle.

A few more from our fun day at the park.

st. patty's and sewing

Apparently, St. Patrick's Day is a really big deal here.  They had like three parades and everyone on our block got drunk.  We abstained from the drinking but did go to a parade.  Davy had a good time watching the fire trucks go by and learned to put his hands in the air so the people in the parade would throw him beads.  Several times since I have yelled beads at him and he puts his hands up.  

We had a nice day at the botanical gardens this week.  We spent a lot of time chasing birds and checking out every light post in the place.  He saw these sheep again for the first time in six months yelled, "Sheep!" and gave each one a kiss on the nose.  

At home he spends a lot of time playing with the farm set on his car blanket.  

He also takes my Dr. Pepper out of the box and puts it into the fridge for me.  He watches everything Stephen and I do, so we have to be really careful.  He knows where we stash the cookies, where we hide his milk while setting it out for bedtime, and if one of us is missing, he knows we are probably in the office checking the computer.