Fall

Mostly just photos today:

 Danny's favorite part of the pumpkin patch.  (I think he looks like Aaron here!)

Davy met with a low brick wall.  As you can see, he was very pleased to be "Captain America: after the battle".

Buddies Weston and little Asher from preschool

Playing in shaving cream makes for great hair.

 Cute Davy

 Cute Danny

Fridays

Fridays are our new fun days, Davy and I are both done with preschool stuff and we can just hang out together.  We have done some fun things recently.  Last week my friend Michelle called and said it was "National Pirate Day" and we could get free Krispee Cremes if we dressed up.  15 minutes later we were pirated up and off to the store. Davy's zorro costume came in super handy.  Thanks mom.

We have also been to Grant's Farm a few times.  It is right down the block from us.  It is home to Ulysses S. Grant's little log cabin, but in actuality it is all about Budweiser Beer.  You start the tour by hopping on a tram and seeing a bizarre mix of animals ranging from long horn steer to chinese deer.  Then you can feed the aggressive goats, ride a carousel, and look at a slew of different animals.  After that you are welcome to a complimentary beer while you look at the Budweiser horses.  It is a strange, but well maintained and free place.  Davy has been talking about riding a camel every time we come.  When we near the camel line he always says, "maybe not, maybe not" and we turn around.  Today on the way he said, "I won't be afraid of those camels today.  I think I will really ride one!"  He waited by himself in line and hopped right on.  He was super proud.

And a video of Davy and the goats.

3 posts in one and the start of school

Summer was wearing a little long in our house, and this seemed to be a typical day for us.  No pants, big mess, jumping all over the house. We all started school and it is so nice to have structure in our home again.  

Davy has been so excited to start preschool.  He is going to a nearby church twice a week.  His teacher's name is Mrs. Blessing.  When I asked him if he thought his teacher would be nice he said, "of course, she has a nice name!" He loves it.

Mom made me this beehive poster when she came to visit.  Dad made me a pvc pipe flower holder.  They need to come visit again soon.

I made bees for each of the kids to fly to their beehives to start preschool.  Here are my little bees.

My little busy bees.   They are all pretty young, but so far it is working out.

Davy loves to take pictures.  I usually have to delete 200 photos every time I sync the camera, most of them are like this:

Sometimes he gets he takes nice ones...

And sometimes not so nice ones...

Stephen's schedule just changed and he has more time again.  Instead of getting home at 10:00-11:00 he is now occasionally seeing the boys.  We have even had a few weekend adventures.  Yay for autopsies!  The only downside to autopsy rotation are the blood splattered notes he brings home. (He tells me, "oh, don't worry they are in plastic"), and the "tell me how your day was" conversation is a lot more gruesome than usual.

We went to the nature preserve together, Davy loves to watch the deer and birds out the window, we even spotted a woodpecker.

 Danny communes with the fish.

 My other favorite outing was to Arizona World!  A mini-golf land dedicated to Arizona.  It is probably the least politically correct place I have ever been. Davy took the pictures.

My favorite hole was the giant red indian.  The hole is his nose.  However, it was cheap mini-golf so we might be back.  And the 30 foot rattlesnakes were pretty cool.

Summer 2013

We have been living up the summer with new friends and old.  Danny is almost walking and is a huge jokester.  He has a few tricks he pulls consistently, but his favorites are trying to put his pacifier in my unsuspecting mouth, hiding under blankets and cracking himself up, and giving love-bites and cracking up.  That last one is only hilarious to him.  He also loves to play in the fridge and crawl around the house pulling off the vent covers.  He is not satisfied until every last one is off.  

 We love the library system in the county.  They have super fun events all the time.  We end up going the the library a couple of times a week.  Davy comes home with a giant stack of books and powers through them in an afternoon.  Library days are my favorite.  We also had to move his bookcase out of his room because he was staying up until 11:00 every night looking through his books.  We wouldn't really mind but he was getting night terrors and was being really crabby in the morning.  Both the reading and the morning grumpiness might be Bailey genetics kicking in.

 Both kids had birthdays.  Davy had such a great time with new friends and old friends.  He got spoiled by everyone and ended up with a castle and a lot of super hero loot.

 All of a sudden this little boy looks so grown up.  I can't believe he is four!

 We live so much closer to the cool kid museums and have enjoyed our membership.

 This little boy had a first birthday and enjoyed yummy cupcakes.

 We had a great time at a fourth of July Parade.  Danny loved the flag and carried it everywhere for four days.

House and graduation

Goodbye med school, hello Residency. It's a little sad to see our student years behind us; they have been so fun.  But, I've heard income is nice too. I am also blocking out every person who jokes that I will never see my husband again after he starts residency. Congrats Stephen!

We also moved to our first house.  We decided to buy and only looked for three days for a place to live.  We saw this house for an hour in the middle of winter.  Moving in at the end of spring with everything green and gorgeous has been so fun. It has turned out to be beautiful neighborhood and a great home. 

 

Moving day tired everyone out.  Stephen and I walked around with weak and useless arms the next day.  Seriously--making toast was a struggle.  But then we recovered and set everything up in a flurry.  Thanks to Marci and Ralph-we couldn't have moved without your help with the kiddos.  

 I asked Davy to take a picture of me and Steve and the house--the grass is nice too. 

The backyard is patrolled and enjoyed by Superman.  The yard has been our favorite part.  It is so nice to just hear the birds chirping with no traffic sounds.  We also like that homeless men no longer pee in our backyard--a major issue at our apartment. 

House tour:

Epic Road Trip 2013

8 weeks, 4,340 miles, and 50 hours in the car with two kids.  Whew!  We had a blast in Arizona and Colorado visiting family and old friends.  We learned that hotels are absolutely no fun with two children but setting up a tent in the room can help.  Our first hotel night Davy was doing somersaults on his bed until midnight.  At about 3 in the morning I woke up to a huge THWUMP...which turned out to be Davy's limp body hitting the floor. Amazingly, he slept through the four foot drop but was relegated to the floor after that. The kids did great in the car and we arrived most everywhere still happy and sane. Colorado is beautiful!  We stopped there for just a few days to break up our trip and visit with Alex and Catherine.  Madeleine and Davy were instant best buds and they pretty much just played in their "secret hideout" (the spare room) and jumped around together.  We went on a couple of great hikes and ran around Alex's cool development every morning.  We saw elk tracks, coyotes, and tons of canadian geese.  Super fun!

 We stayed in Arizona and bummed by the pool, went for late night bike rides, and basically just partied for five weeks.  It was so fun to visit with mom and dad, and we got to see a lot of Dad's siblings as they came down to see Grandma and Grandpa Bailey.  I am so glad we got to spend some good time with them this trip.  Marci came by and played a lot of stomp rocket with the boys and we had amazing dinners at her house every Saturday and Sunday.  Congrats to Parker too--he became a deacon while we were there.  Danny was certainly ready to party.

Grandma Marci and the boys

 Claire came to visit with her cute boys.  These three formed a posse and ran around together for a couple of days.  I love that the cousins seem to have an instant bond--they can just tell they are meant to be friends.  Davy was so impressed that Jason is four and was ready to do whatever he suggested.

 Davy loves to be a big brother.  Danny just watches him all day long--it makes it so much easier and more fun for me.

 Davy went on his very first camping trip with Grandpa Ralph and Stephen.  They set up camp, ate smores, and at 8:30 Davy decided it was time to go to sleep.  I think sheer excitement about the trip tired him out.  Around 1:00 AM he woke up ready to go fishing.  Stephen spent an hour explaining that they were not about to go night fishing and why don't you lie back down.

 We spent a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa Bailey.  It was so fun to see them and see Grandpa improve while we visited.

 Dad let Davy "help" plant flowers and work in the garden and Mom let him "help" play free cell pretty often.  He was one happy camper.

It was so fun to go to church with Grandpa Ralph.  

 Davy and Madeleine read books together every night.  I caught Madeleine reading books to Davy a couple of times during our visit--what a sweet girl!

 Catherine and Danny.

 Using binoculars and magnifying glasses on our hike.  Thanks Alex for carefully showing them how to create a fire with their magnifying glasses--a skill every three year old should possess.

 Run Danny!

 It is so nice to be home but the whirl-wind continues!  This week Stephen graduates, family visits, and we will move into our first home (Yay!)