Arizona and Sewing Marathon

It was so fun to see so much of our family in Arizona!  Davy has asked to go to Cactus park every day since we have been back.  While we were there he found out that Papa is a toy fixer, and has thought of a few more projects for him.  My favorite is adding wings to his doggy to make him fly.  

Davy and I had fun visiting, but we missed Stephen! 

I had the week off from nannying so I took another week of vacation and got a little obsessed with sewing projects. I finally finished my cursed quilt,  I finished the top six months ago, but Davy found it and "helped" with some scissors.  I got the bug to fix it and did a lot of seam ripping, had two tantrums, and finished it up.

 I made the achievement day girls some bags for their scriptures, manual, and journal. It folds up into a purse. After three tries trying to make lined squares from fabric I gave up and bought some dinner napkins at target.  It turned out they were just the right size!

We decided to get Davy a twin bed so little brother can use the crib.  To get him interested I took him to pick out sheets. I was prepared to get cheesy toy story sheets, but he chose space sheets that are actually cute!  I decided to make a quilt to match. I used the top sheet for the back of the quilt and made up the top.  I haven't worked without a pattern before and I now realize that quilting takes a lot of math--even if it is just stripes! I finished it just in time for him to use it on his first night in the bed.  Unfortunately, this has turned into an "If you give a mouse a cookie" situation and I now want artwork and accessories to match.  However, with the bed and the crib in the same room there is not a lot of space to go crazy, so that will help curb my shopping.

The dangers of little girls

We are excited to have another little boy in our family.  Davy needs some more male influence in his playtime.  Audrey and her sister direct Davy in a variety of games: cooking, "Little House on the Prairie", and dress up.  Davy is a pretty good sport, but sometimes they disagree as to when Buzz should swoop in and destroy the game.  Look what happens when you sit down to enjoy a movie--ambushed!

 Playing Rapunzel.  They usually fight about who gets to be Rapunzel and who is Flynn Rider.

Holding hands at the magic house. 

Their other favorite activity is arguing in the car.  They follow a few consistent scripts, but my favorite is: D: "look out your window Audrey, I look out mine"
A: "It's my life Davy, it's MY LIFE!
D: "what you talking about?"
repeat two dozen times.

Thanksgiving and Christmas

I have some catching up to do!  The holidays were really busy between church, Stephen's finals, and 

nannying.  But we had tons of fun and lots of new memories.  At Thanksgiving, Stephen's cousin Parker came to visit.  We went to the Botanical gardens, the Arch and the Magic House together.  Parker even went to the very top of the Arch!  Davy was sad to see him leave, and asks to go to Parker's house frequently.  

  

Drink break at the Magic House

 To get into the Christmas mood we had a Gingerbread House party.  It was a lot of fun and the kids did surprisingly well decorating.  Davy made sure to add door knobs so the gingermen could get through.  I learned that hot glue holds houses together a lot better than frosting.

 Christmas morning--Davy contemplates his stocking orange and assortment of diggers.

 Palling around with cousins.  He asked Jason to bury his feet and Jason was very methodical.

 Digging for pirate treasure!  Davy remembers Jason really well.  Last night he prayed for mommy, daddy, underwear, and Jason.

Davy loved hanging out with his cousins.  We missed snapping a picture of him and Madeleine, we will have to visit Dallas soon! Thanks for the fun Christmas!

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.