Christmas

We had a quiet christmas here at home.  We had our Christmas Eve on Christmas day so Stephen could have the whole day off with the boys.  With the boy's help we made a big breakfast of biscuits, eggs, and bacon.  We had dinner with good friends and a relaxing day together.  My favorite part of Christmas Eve was Davy grabbing a dishtowel and drying dishes while I washed.  He told me "I wanted to do this as your Christmas present." He stuck it out for six or seven dishes. We talked a lot about doing service for christmas in preschool so it was fun to hear him do something weeks later spontaneously.

Danny carries this bear with him everywhere.  He loves it to bits and gives him lots of hugs. It is super cute.

The Botanical Gardens has a train show every year and the boys love to go.  They have eight or nine train sets set up with beautiful plants and trees.  We have a friend who works at the gardens who was nice enough to get us in.

 Little Danny decided Christmas Eve was the perfect time to be a restless sleeper.  He woke up six or seven times and around five I woke up stephen to take a turn.  They ended up sleeping on the floor by the Christmas tree which would have been more charming if we weren't all so sleepy.  We took turns opening stocking presents and a few gifts and stopped to have breakfast.  It was great to have a leisurely morning and the kids were really fun.  Davy was excited to give a flashlight to Stephen, penance for the dozens he has broken over the last few years.  He also loved his fireman outfit and slept in it that night.  It is ridiculously charming.

 Danny enjoying his power over the train set.

 The boys both loved this digger with a working drill.  They put it together and it instantly has some catastrophic mechanical problem and it needs to be taken apart again.  

We had a HUGE storm this last week.  It snowed all day Sunday and church was canceled.  It was so fun to stay inside together the whole day.  Stephen watched the kids and I read my book for two whole hours in the middle of the day.  It was amazing.  Monday we canceled preschool and stayed huddled together all day with a high temp of zero.  Tuesday the dishwasher froze.  Wednesday we went crazy.  Davy and I snuck out a few time to play in the snow in six degree weather.

 Danny mostly stayed by the window got cozy and watched the snow plows.

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.