The Davies Family

2011-12-30T15:45:00.003-06:00

Didn't I mention a couple of posts ago that Tyler was into everything?....including our recycling bin. :)
And, he found a way to get himself out.His signature expression.Brett and Sid doing a little "tebowing".

Cutie patootie.

A friend of ours is a pilot, and he was nice enough to give us a tour of one of the C-5's on base. They are ginormous!!!

It was very cool to see! We had a great time!

And now I've caught up....happy new year everybody! :)

December Happenings...

2011-12-30T15:35:00.006-06:00

Meet the newest member of our family....Goldie Dorothy Davies, or just Goldie the Goldfish (who is actually a beta fish), arrived on Christmas morning. Thanks Santa!Looking serious on Christmas morning

As usual, T's not wanting to stay in one place for too long!

Santa's newest reindeer

We were able to visit Jeremy and Kendal the weekend before Christmas. We attended the Christmas party for my brother's youth group, and they were kind enough to let Sidney and Caleb participate in their White Elephant gift exchange. Caleb stole a meter of gumballs from Uncle J, and Sidney STOLE a 2nd place biking trophy that is almost as tall as her. :) She had her eye on that thing for quite a while. So funny!

We tried to get a good pix of the kiddos with J and K, but Ty was not having it!

Sid and Caleb singing with some carolers at the Westin.

Got to experience a little "snow".

Thanksgiving

2011-12-30T15:23:00.004-06:00

Some pictures from my mom's house at Thanksgiving....We bought a new camera while we were there, so we actually tooke quite a few pictures for once.

My studious son
Da girls (sporting cool Christmas shirts made by Aunt Laura!)

Da boys

Tyler gearing up for the cold weather...

Sidney and Kennedy

Caleb and Ansley....isn't she cute?! (and he's cute too!)

The littlest ones, Tyler and Ian....exactly one month apart in age to the day

Sing with me now..."Sisters, sisters...there were never such devoted sisters...."

What a nice pix of Sid with Uncle Chad and Aunt Betsy!

Couldn't quite get everyone smiling a real smile at the same time! :)

Starting with Halloween....

2011-12-30T15:19:00.003-06:00

Okay, here goes....I'm going to catch up now. Be prepared for lots of pictures and posts....

Our football player, Hula girl, and Spiderman on Halloween.
Sidney ran a mile long race in November. She followed a little training program where she ran a little bit each day for several weeks, so that by the time she finished her race she had run enough miles to equal a marathon. It took a little encouragement on some days, but she stuck with her commitment to run each day. Way to go Sid!Posing with Brett after the race....he ran along with her. :)

Getting ready to cross the finish line with her friend. She loved that she got a guitar trophy at the end. :)

Tyler Turned One Year Old....Two Months Ago :)

2011-12-29T20:04:00.005-06:00

Once again, I'm more than a little behind on my blog posts. My goal has been to catch up before 2012 arrives....I'm not sure that I can actually pull it off, but in honor of the fact that Tyler is 14 months old today, I thought I would at least post pictures from his first birthday--which occurred way back at the end of October. (sigh)

Tyler is our little tornado. He learned to walk around 11 months-ish, and now he half-runs/half gallops every where he goes. He does not have a slow speed. :) He's also become fond of climbing lately, and especially likes to try to get on Caleb's train table, the kids' picnic table, and the ladder for the bunk beds. Yikes! He also really loves to be chased, tackled, and tickled by his daddy and siblings. This boy keeps us on our toes!!! He says a few words, but the one he says the most is "no-no"...guess he hears that one alot! :)

He is obviously thrilled that we came into his room singing "Happy Birthday" to him that morning. :)

Sporting a cute shirt that I thought his Aunt Laura made for him, but turns out it's from Target. Haha. She did make him a Bronco shirt though that's very cute. :)

"Woo-hoo, I'm one!"

Don't you just wanna give him a big smooch?!

Learning the art of opening presents....

Caleb is showing him the ropes...

First taste test.....

Seems to meet with his standards....

Time to really dig in!

He's clearly very pleased with his first birthday cake experience!

Merry Christmas Part 2

2011-12-24T09:39:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas Part 1

2011-12-24T09:39:00.000-06:00

Merry, Merry Christmas!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Caleb

2011-10-19T20:49:00.005-05:00

I can't believe Caleb is four years old! When did our big boy get to be so old? If you ask me, time is moving way too fast!

Feeling excited and serious about being 4 years old. :)

We celebrated with a few of his buddies on Sunday at Kiddie Park, one of Caleb's favorite places.

Riding along with one of his favorite people. :)

Today I decided to put our zoo passes to good use in honor of C's special day, and spent a morning there with the boys. We actually had to wear jackets...it was great!

These were taken yesterday, but I wanted to show you the awesome Bronco shirts (and the cute boys underneath) that Aunt Laura made for the October birthday boys! Thanks Aunt Laura...you've got mad skills! :)

Highlights of the Past Month...

2011-10-19T20:31:00.010-05:00

Nana came to visit for two whole weeks while I recovered from surgery. Thank you Nana!! You're the best!
Uncle Jeremy came to hold down the fort for two days as well. As you can see, he brings out the silly in everybody. :)

Our friends Sophie and Abbey (and their parents) :) came to visit for a couple of days. Sophie and Sidney were friends in Maryland way back when they were a few months old. All four kiddos acted like long lost buddies the whole time they were together. :)

Almost every day seems to quickly turn into a crazy hair day for Sid, but a few weeks ago she had her first "official" Wacky Hair Day at school. She was quite excited about it. :)

And, we were able to visit the Pumpkin Patch as well. I can't believe I snapped such a cute little pix of Tyler. Unfortunately, getting a good one of all three of them wasn't quite as easy! :)

So Close

2011-09-29T19:07:00.004-05:00

Tyler is 11 months old today--check out what he's been working on the past week!! He's going to be walking all over this house before we know it! :)

Teeball

2011-09-11T20:34:00.004-05:00

Sidney is excited to be playing teeball for the first time ever this fall. And, she's especially glad to be on an all girls team with her friends Riley and Rachel. Her goal is to "beat those boys!", so she was a little disappointed to find out that they didn't keep score at her first game on Saturday...haha. :) She's also excited that she's number 10--Aunt Betsy's famous number for basketball and softball during her high school career. :)

Check out the funky socks these girls get to wear to signify that they're an all girl team. :)
Here is Sidney right at the beginning of the game when her team took the field. The coach's wife provided cute little ribbons so the girls could tie their sleeves up. Please notice how nice Sid looks at the point...shirt tucked in, sleeves rolled up, hat on correctly....

Now notice the change...shirt out, one sleeve unrolled, hat cocked off to the side.... You might think this was well into the game, but no, no it's not. It's about 3 minutes after I took the previous picture. Not sure what happened out there during those 3 minutes. And, I'm pretty sure she's the only one that had trouble with the sleeve roll the entire game. That's my girl! :)

Looking serious about the game! :)

Here she is up to bat for the first time....

...and ready (sort of?) to run home.

Despite the heat, Sid had a fun time at her first game...especially since it ended with a snack! :)

My Girl

2011-09-07T20:08:00.000-05:00

First grade homework began this week.....part of what Sidney has to do each night is read aloud to us for 15-20 minutes and then write a "reader response" in a notebook. There are a bunch of different sentence starters she can choose from like "I wonder..." or "This reminds me of...", but the one she chose to do tonight was "I like this book because...." Here is what she wrote:

"I like this book because it is easy to read!"

HA! At least she's honest! :)

And because I always feel the need to leave a picture when I post, here's a lovely video of her doing a little hula dancing on Saturday after she got home from a Hawaiian birthday party. :)

This Little Guy is 10 Months Old

2011-08-30T14:27:00.001-05:00

6 Years Old

2011-08-30T14:12:00.003-05:00

Sidney Joy turned six on the 19th!

For some reason, it was necessary to pose with a broom for her birthday pix....
And, this is what she did when I tried without the broom. :)

She wanted a "monkey that was a girl" birthday cake because we were going to see "The Jungle Book" at a children's theater here in town.

Look at all the air in those cheeks!

Brotherly love on her birthday

A few days after she turned six, she had her first day of first grade! She wanted to take a pix in front of our back window, so that we could see the school in the background. It didn't quite work out. :)

Ready for our first walk to school!

Waiting in the hallway outside her class

This is how Caleb and Tyler rode all the way home. :)

On The Road Again....

2011-08-25T20:47:00.005-05:00

We spent some serious time on the road earlier this month. First, we hung out north of Dallas at Lake Texoma. Then, we were really crazy and headed west to check out the area we'll be moving to next summer. The crazy part was how brief our visit was compared to how long it took to drive out there and back!! I'm not sure what came over us. :)

We managed to get a little park action in while at Lake Texoma, but most of the time we were in water. It was SOOOOOOOO hot when we were there...plus, our kids love being in the water. :)

Meet Cowboy Caleb. :)

We stopped in Cheyenne, WY to say hi to our friends the Parkers. They live on a buffalo ranch....just kidding. They did take us to visit one though. :)

Tyler didn't want to be left out.

The highlight for the kiddos was definitely riding on a very slow moving train and stopping to feed the buffalo!

After Cheyenne, we went to Denver to check out neighborhoods and visit our friends the Maddrys.

Their are so many neat things to do in Colorado, but the only one we had time for was a 10 minute look at "Garden of the Gods" on our way back to Texas. But, we're making a "must-see" list for the two years that we'll be living there!

Port Aransas

2011-08-25T20:35:00.004-05:00

In July, we went to the beach with Nana, Pop Pop, Gregg, Kim, Alyssa, and Brenna. It was lots of fun and all five kiddos were good and worn out by the end of the day (and so were the adults). :)

Sunglasses and PJ's....

Pop Pop and the big girls

Tyler was a big fan of the beach :)The Fab Five: Alyssa, Brenna, Sidney, Tyler, and Caleb

What We Did This Summer....

2011-08-25T20:17:00.007-05:00

Hung out
Relaxed at the pool

Played soccer

Bathed, thank goodness...

Celebrated 4th of July festivities, even though fireworks weren't allowed this year.

And, traveled, which will come in future posts....

Fun with Hats

2011-06-26T21:24:00.002-05:00

Time to Catch Up!

2011-06-26T20:22:00.004-05:00

It's been busy around here lately! Here are a few pictures from the last month and a half or so...

Brett helped me plant some shrubs and flowers along the back of the house Mother's Day weekend....and we were still finishing things up the following week and weekend too. :) I had been wanting to do it for a long time, but kept talking myself out of it b/c I knew nothing about planting. Now I know just enough to be dangerous. :) I owe it all to my friends Maggie and Tammy, who loaned me super helpful books and answered a bunch of questions, and Brett, who did alot (or ALL) of the hard digging! Hopefully everything will survive despite this drought....argh.
Then, during Sidney's second to last week of school, our good friends the Parker's came to visit! It was mass chaos in this house with four adults and seven children ages 6 and under. :) Perhaps that is why this is the ONLY picture I have of the whole week....or perhaps it's just b/c I'm lousy at remembering to snap pictures....you decide. :) This is the big "sleepover" they had together on the P's last night here....however, as expected, Sid and Caleb ended up back in there beds before falling asleep b/c they were scared. :)

Sidney also had a ballet recital at the end of that same week. She was so excited about it!

The first weekend in June we went on our first camping trip as a family with a bunch of friends from church. Thank goodness several of them were veteran campers, and thank goodness we cheated slightly by staying in a tiny cabin with bunk bends and a window air conditioning unit...haha. :) It was a beautiful weekend to be along the Guadalupe River!

The biggest news around here is that Brett graduated from residency on June 10th! Woo hoo! He also received the Outstanding Resident Award for the Air Force and also for the Ophthalmology Department. Way to go, Brett! He's worked really hard the past four years, and now we're thankful that we can catch our breath and relax while he works as staff here for the next year. Then, this time next year we'll be off to Denver, CO where he'll complete a two year fellowship in Oculoplastics. After that, he's promised he's done "learning"--at least in official training programs--the rest of his learning will just be on the job. Don't worry, I've made him put that in writing...haha. :)

Brett with is fellow Ophthalmology graduates.

The best part about graduation was that Nana and Pop Pop came into town for a long weekend!

Then, two days later, Grandma and Grandpa C. came to visit as well!

The kiddos have been passing around a little sickness in between all the guests. It was Sid's turn last week, but hopefully now we'll all stay healthy and enjoy the rest of the summer!

So Sleepy.....

2011-06-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

Apparently, our camping trip this weekend really wore Tyler out! This is how we found him during his favorite evening activity, despite a good night's sleep and two fat naps today. :)

6 months old

2011-05-20T14:30:00.001-05:00

Hmmm...obviously, I'm a little behind since techinically Tyler will be 7 months old in a little over a week! Oh well! Our little guy is growing fast! He weighed in at his 6 month check up at 19 lbs, 3 ounces....he actually weighs MORE than Caleb did at this age, but doesn't look near as chunky b/c he's a whole inch longer (28 inches). :) Just to give you an idea of how much bigger our boys have been compared to their big sis....Sidney weighed 18 lbs, 10 oz at her one year appointment! She was quite a little squirt! :)

Ty is a busy guy these days, and much like his brother, he hasn't met a food he doesn't like (so far). He definitely rolls all over the place, and occasionally gets up on his knees and pushes his head across the floor. I have a mind to knock him over, but I won't--I'm just not ready for that kind of mobility yet--ha! His favorite activity (besides eating) is shown in the video above. He loves that jumper! It's the best. Oh, and he has 4 teeth now...2 on top and 2 on bottom....and is working on 2 more...hope they push through soon! He is a drooling machine. :)

Recipe for a Delicious Mother's Day

2011-05-12T13:16:00.000-05:00

1. Breakfast in bed served on Tyler's high chair tray

2. A HUGE box to open with the following contents: 1 peppermint, 3 gumballs, 2 moracas from the playroom, 1 drawing that said "First Place", and 1 book of coupons for things like kisses, hugs, reading books, etc. :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T14:53:00.013-05:00

So sorry about the spacing on the last post....I couldn't figure out how to fix it, but I think I figured it out for this one....sort of. :)

Yay for cameras with a timer option! :)

The first picture of them was my favorite, but I just wanted to show you that the boys matched today. It's the first time we've ever tried that. :)

Sid and Caleb waiting patiently to go out and see their Easter baskets.

Tyler hanging out with us while we colored Easter eggs.

You wouldn't know it by ANY pictures we take of Tyler, but he really is a smiley guy. He just gets so distracted by the camera whenever he sees it and all smiling comes to a screeching halt! Drooling never stops however. :)

Egg Huntin'

Hanging out with Mrs. Terry as the Easter Bunny

Recent Pictures

2011-04-24T14:26:00.007-05:00

Feeling good after eating a little rice cereal. :)

Caleb decided to rub his face across the carpet a few weeks ago, which resulted in some nice carpet burn. Sid decided to join him the next day, although hers wasn't quite as bad.

Lunch time at Sidney's first field trip with school. She was excited b/c she was in the same group as her fav pal Reilly.

Sid with her float that we made for the Fiesta parade at her school. In case you want to know, she is also holding Valentine Bear b/c he is her Easter Bunny's best friend. :)

Caleb felt it was necessary to get into full gear one day when we were throwing a football. :)

Da boys.

Caleb took this pix of Tyler and me on my birthday. He did a pretty nice job, I must say. :)

Meal Time!

2011-04-04T14:07:00.000-05:00

We finally taped Tyler eating some cereal over the weekend. I wish we would have gotten his first couple of times when he kicked his feet and grunted at us if we were too slow, but at least you can see how wide he opens that mouth! :)

Do you remember what he looks like?

2011-03-31T13:12:00.006-05:00

I won't mention specific names, but I've been getting some grief from my sisters who claim that they can't remember what Tyler looks like due to my lack of blogging :) I confess that I haven't been good about taking pictures over the last month or so--whoops--but we have taken a few over the last few days that I can share. Here's what Tyler has been up to the past couple of months: His first two teeth came in at the beginning of February--yikes! Talk about early! He's got two cute chompers now and is working on another one....which is the reason he looks extremely slobbery in most of these pictures. We're changing clothes quite a bit these days b/c the top of his shirt is constantly wet. Perhaps if that mother of his could ever remember to put a bib on him it wouldn't be a problem...seriously, I don't know what she does all day! :) Speaking of teeth, last month Caleb slipped in the bath and hit his two front ones on the edge of the tub. Poor guy! He was very swollen for a few days and looked pretty funny b/c he knocked one a little bit backwards, knocked the other a bit forewards, and chipped them a little. (And, of course, I forgot to get a picture!) The dentist was able to move them back into place a little bit, so he looks mostly back to normal now. He'll probably lose them earlier than normal, but that's okay. :) Sid's got another loose one too, and she is dying for it to fall out! :) Anyway, back to Tyler....he's now rolling both directions, and has found his feet! I love watching him chew on his toes, even though it grosses out Sidney's friend, Drew, who we carpool with to and from school...haha. :) A couple of weeks ago, he started eating rice cereal. He figured it out real fast! Trust me, if he could talk, he would have asked "Where have you been all my life?" He's a big fan of eating from a spoon. :) At his four month appt (which was last month b/c he's 5 months old now), he had grown 2 and 1/2 inches in 2 months! Yowsers! He weighed about the same that Caleb did at that age, but he's so long he doesn't have the same chunky monkey look! Well, I think that about catches you up on little T! :) Enjoy the pictures! Next time I'm make sure to have one of Sid too...I just realized she is missing from all the photos...goo! :)

Tyler's evening activity is snoozing in his swing while I get dinner on the table. :)

Check out that slobber...yuck. :)

Brett tried his hand at cutting Caleb's hair over the weekend, and did a pretty good job, I must say. And no, C is not storing nuts for the winter in his cheeks, he's just got a mouthful of apple. :)

A Fun Look Back....

2011-02-06T21:18:00.007-06:00

...at all the kiddos around 3 months of age...:)

I don't think Caleb is a fan of this outfit, but Tyler seems to like it. :)

And, some "now" pictures, of course. :)

Thanks to our hospital visit we know T is a whopping 14 and 1/2 pounds now! :)

10 Reasons Why This Past Week Was Just Weird

2011-02-06T21:14:00.002-06:00

1. Brett and I were up all night last Friday night walking, bouncing, or rocking our usually easy going and good sleeping Tyler...ear infection--yuck!

2. Temperatures were in the 70's last weekend (which Nana and PopPop really enjoyed while they were visiting)....

3. and then dropped to highs in the 30's on Tuesday and stayed there the rest of the week...

4. which resulted in a half inch of snow, a little ice, and a snow day on Friday!! :)

5. Brett traveled to St. Louis last Sunday for work and was stranded there due to Snowmegadon (tee hee) until Wednesday night.

6. He spent those days "schooling" (his exact words, guys) the Pickers in their various Settlers games.

7. Tyler and I spent Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon in the hospital due to RSV.....

8. Thankfully, Nana was here and held down the fort during all the craziness of the week.

9. Now, our boy, who was sleeping through the night quite nicely, is "stuck" on waking up somewhere during the 4am hour b/c that's roughly when his middle of the night breathing treatment occurred all week.

10. But, he's doing lots better now and busted out with this action last night....guess he was feeling energetic!! :)

Playing in the snow in South Texas......

2011-02-04T12:49:00.004-06:00

.....is alot different than playing in the snow up north.......
....but still lots of fun (at least to this three and five year old).... :)

....and the snow is apparently still fun to eat.... :)

.....and the best part is still warming up with hot chocolate afterwards!!!

Yay for a snow day!!!!!!!!! :)

This is just a cute bonus picture. :) Found it in B's Iphone downloads. Some friends of ours let us borrow this super cozy gear when we traveled to IL over the holidays... doesn't Tyler look as snug as a bug in a rug? :)

Pictures from the Last Couple of Months

2011-01-19T15:25:00.005-06:00

After this post, I'm as caught up as I'm going to get. :) Here's a few pictures of my big kiddos and a bunch of Tyler (since I basically haven't posted any of him other than his newborn photos).

Spiderman outfit with heels. Caleb's definitely making a statement. Not sure what it is, but he's definitely making one. :)
Sid looks like such a big girl to me in this picture!

She loves to help give Tyler a bottle every once in a while.

And now for all the pictures of Tyler. You can see how he's changed over the past couple of months. This was taken somewhere in the first few weeks he was home.

Decked out for Veteran's Day. :)

I think he's a month old in this one. My mind is so fuzzy. :)

Looking more alert!

I can't remember if this was taken before Christmas or after, but it was definitely taken somewhere around that time frame. :)

This was taken a couple of weeks ago. Flat Stanley wanted to get his picture taken with the little guy. :)

And the rest of these were taken today. He's two and half months old now and weighed 12 and 1/2 pounds at his 2 month checkup a couple of weeks ago.

Even though he's a super smiley guy, Sidney and I had to work hard to get some out of him today. He was a bit distracted by the camera. :)

Practicing sitting up for a few minutes. :)

Christmas Pictures

2011-01-19T09:30:00.004-06:00

Sidney looks thrilled to be taking a picture, doesn't she? :)

Alex, Tyler, and Ian...all born on the 29th (June, October, and November)

Alex is Ben's (Dave's youngest son) son. This pix was taken on December 29th. :)

The oldest cousins....KJ and Sid...2 and 1/2 months apart in age...Kennedy is older

The middles...Ansley and Caleb...4 months apart in age...Caleb is older

The babies....Tyler and Ian...1 month apart in age...Tyler is older

Kennedy and Sidney look pretty proud to be holding their baby brothers, don't they?

Snow, Snow, Snow

2011-01-18T21:17:00.002-06:00

We went to Illinois for Christmas this year and my kiddos got their wish--to see snow! It was Caleb's first time to see it, and Sid's first time to remember seeing it. :) The daddies and uncles and even Aunt Betsy took them and their cousin Kennedy out to play in it a few times. They were so excited!

Brett, Caleb, Uncle Picker, KJ, and Sid

Their lovely snowman

Look Who Came for a Visit A While Back

2011-01-18T21:01:00.003-06:00

One of the fun parts of having a new baby is being visited by family who want to come see the new little one and help us out while we adjust to having one more person in our family. :) We were blessed to have both Grandmas and an aunt and uncle come down at different times to help us out.

Nana came to visit first and helped hold down the fort when Tyler was two weeks old. Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Kendal drove over one weekend after Brett's mom left. As you can see, they had their hands full while they were here. Caleb, especially, was sad to see them go. I've never seen a kid who enjoys being tortured as much as Caleb does (I'm sure you can make a wild guess as to who was torturing him.) :)

And, last but not least, Grandma C. came to visit during the week of Thanksgiving. We were so thankful to have them all here, and trust me, they all worked hard when they visited! :)

This is soooo belated....

2011-01-17T21:01:00.012-06:00

Time to back track and catch up a little on this ole blog.....

In November, some friends of mine attended the Me Ra Koh Confidence Workshop where they learned tons of great stuff about photography. Tyler and I were able to go for a few hours during a time when they needed newborn models to photograph. It was great, other than the fact that I had to be in alot of the pictures with little T. :) The amazing photographer Me Ra Koh took a few pictures of my littlest man to demonstrate some techniques, and then the women attending the conference took a ton of pictures too. Anyway, we ended up with 80-something incredible pictures of Tyler from when he was two weeks old. I'm posting Me Ra's pictures and then my favorite pix from each one of my extremely gifted friends (and it was hard to limit it to one favorite, let me tell ya!). Then, if you really want to see all 80ish photos, just click on the top pix and it should take you to the rest. Between this conference and Rebecca and Lauren's photo shoot, we have a TON of fantastic pixes of Tyler. Hopefully these will make up for the lack of documentation from here on out. :)

Lauren's

Maggie's

Rebecca's

Holly's

...And that's what little boys are made of...

2011-01-13T12:37:00.002-06:00

This conversation occurred in the van this morning with Caleb....

"Mom, watch this!"

Index finger is then inserted into mouth and taken back out again.

"And, then I rub it on the window like this. Isn't that cool?"

Awesome, buddy. Awesome.

To Our Two Favorite Razorback Fans...

2011-01-04T23:22:00.007-06:00

In answer to your question...YES, the sweater vest was ready to handle some hog heat!! Love ya! Go Bucks!!

Merry Christmas.....

2010-12-23T20:16:00.003-06:00

Love,

Brett, Stacy, Sidney, Caleb, and Tyler

The Davies Family.mov

2010-11-10T22:26:00.001-06:00

These pictures were taken by our good friends Lauren and Rebecca. God has truly blessed these two lovely ladies with some amazing gifts, and as you can see one of these gifts involves taking awesome pictures! :) I've been so excited to share them with you, but it's taken me several days to figure out how to get this slide show on our blog (granted, I've had a few other things keeping me busy as well)... :) So, enjoy all these wonderful pictures of baby Tyler and the rest of our family....you won't see ones as good as these again (until it's time for another photo shoot with R and L, that is.) :) Thank you Rebecca and Lauren for taking the time to capture these moments for us!

Look who we brought home on Halloween...

2010-11-01T16:21:00.007-05:00

Tyler William was born on October 29th at 1:38 pm. (What can I say...we love Friday babies!) He weighed in half a pound smaller than his big brother at 8 lbs, 9 oz and is 20 inches long. :) He sure is a sweetie and is most certainly our favorite "treat" this Halloween.

Meeting big sis and big brother for the first time

Lots of kisses....

Getting ready to go home!!

Happy Halloween from Rapunzel, Super Man, and Tyler the Tiger :)

Important Message from Sidney

2010-10-23T15:06:00.003-05:00

Dear everyone,

I wanted to tell you that my tooth fell out....woo hoo!! I wanted to tell everyone who I called, but even I'll tell everyone who I didn't call too. So, I just wanted to say...my tooth fell out and that's all for today. But, my tooth really did fall out, believe me!

Love,
Sidney

Happy Birthday....

2010-10-19T20:15:00.003-05:00

....to our big 3 year old, Caleb!!

My Baking Buddy

2010-10-19T20:09:00.004-05:00

Caleb has helped me with a little baking recently. As you can see, we make a messy partnership...

His favorite part is licking the beaters at the end, of course. My kind of kid.... :)

On a side note, he wants to name his baby brother either "Jack in the Box" or "Spiderman".

History Lesson and Zoo

2010-10-19T19:52:00.005-05:00

Here's what I learned from Sidney today...

She knows about three presidents: George Washington, Abraham Lincolnfer, and Mr. Bach. Mr. Bach was the first one and is on the wall in her music class. He played a special instrument called an accordian, which is kind of like a piano. He wrote songs and a lady came before him. Abraham Lincolnfer is on all the pennies and he wrote a special pumpkin song. He also lives the closest to us because he's just across the river (which might have been an impressive tidbit if Sid were growing up in IL like I did instead of Texas). :)

And, there you have it. I hope you feel brushed up on your American presidents. :)

Oh, and while I'm telling on Sid, she asked me the other if I had decided when our baby was going to come out. If only it were that easy..... :)

Totally unrelated...I found some snapshots from the zoo from when we went a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd post them as well....

We had to take this picture of a capybara in order to show Grandma C. and commemorate Camilla Capybara , a character in one of our favorite books, Wodney the Wat.

Way to go Caleb!!

2010-09-14T13:09:00.004-05:00

I feel like I've had alot of posts recently about ole Sidney, and thought it was time to give a shout out to her little brother. This big guy has encountered several transitions over the past few months and has done an amazing job rolling with the punches. :) Here are some of his accomplishments...

1. Potty training way back at the beginning of the summer! Figured it out in 4 days....go Caleb! And, he has somehow stayed dry at night from day one of the daytime training. I definitely didn't expect that one....maybe he's a perfectionist....

2. Moving to a big boy bed! He loves, loves, loves sleeping in the same room as Sid and being in a bunk bed. And, he loves, loves, loves to talk to her at night....still working on curbing that a little bit. :)

3. Giving up his pacis!!! This was the one I was most worried about. He only used them at bed time, but oh the love that he had for them! It took him a little while to figure out how to fall asleep without them, but he was really tough and figured it out without even crying. What a big boy!

4. Sending big sis off to school. Once again, he's surprised me and has adjusted quite well to Sid being at school all day. And, if we're being honest, he gets out of bed much faster and definitely more cheerfully than me and Sid on these early mornings. He is most definitely a "morning person" like his daddy. :) Although one morning last week when I was first waking them up, he moaned and stretched and said "Oh, that was fast." Cracked me up. :)

Well, there you have it. For the most part, he is one pretty laid back almost 3 year old (yikes!). We'll see how he does with one more big transition in 7 weeks or so, but I think he will be a fantastic big brother!

Eight days late, but she made it!

2010-09-01T19:53:00.003-05:00

If you were at our house last week (which you probably weren't b/c you didn't want to catch pneumonia), this is how you would have often found Sidney...even though she was supposed to be in school for the first time. She could generally be found sitting quietly or laying down somewhere, and every afternoon she was sacked out on our bed for a two hour nap or so. In this particular pix, she was laying on my tummy feeling her baby brother kick...but a few minutes later, she was comatose for a few hours. Poor thing...she's had a rough week and a half.

However, today she was finally healthy enough to experience her first day of kindergarten! Yay Sid!

Of course, I had to take a few pictures before we headed out the door this morning. :)
Caleb did pretty well today despite his big sis being gone. I distracted him by putting him to work dusting and vacuuming...haha. He was all for it as long as he got to spray the Pledge and push the button on the vaccuum cleaner. :) Don't worry, we played some too. :)

The first things she told me when I picked her up were that she stayed on green all day (meaning good behavior) and that she made three new friends. Oh, and her favorite part of the day was center time. :) We tried to celebrate her first day with parfaits from McDonalds, but their ice cream machine was broken. Of course, I had to dig deep and take her to Dairy Queen instead...woohoo! :) Nothing like a blizzard on a scorching hot Texas day, esp when you're 31 weeks prego. :)

This was our attempt to get a picture of the two of us at the end of the day. Sorry for the quality, I just couldn't get it quite right. If you're wondering why I look so tired, it's b/c I was up half the night fretting about today. You'd think it was my first day of school all over again! :)

Happy 5th Birthday Sidney

2010-08-24T15:03:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe, but 0ur little girl turned 5 years old last week! Over the weekend, Sid had a princess party, but on her actual birthday she got to spend some time with her buddy Drew (so that we could spare him the trauma of being surrounded by princesses). :) Here she is on her special day with her doll Marabelle (pretty sure Fancy Nancy had something to do with that name). And now with her brother who was sporting some fabulous headbands at the time!

This was Sid's first big girl party (meaning parents could drop off their little princesses for the party and not stick around). :) All the girls dressed as princesses and Sidney of course wore her favorite (and very worn) purple princess dress with pink wings.

Cinderella made an appearance at Sid's party and taught the girls about princess manners and a few other things. Here she was teaching them all how to curtsy.

Sidney dubbing her friend as "Princess Rachel of the Davies' Kingdom"

Learning to dance like the different princesses.....this one is Ariel's dance.

Happy Birthday Sid!

Fun Day

2010-08-24T14:39:00.004-05:00

Last week was supposed to be our last week before Sidney started kindergarten. Unfortunately, Sid has been sick and hasn't gotten to have her first day of school yet. Since I thought it was the last week before school, we planned a fun day with some of our friends who also have a little girl starting kindergarten. We had fun venturing downtown for the day.
The little cows at the Children's Museum...moo! The boys are the same age and Sidney and Zaida are too. And, the mommies are each expecting another one in a few months. :)

Caleb was especially excited to be on a train. We looked for Spiderman everywhere in the trees along the way, but just couldn't find him. Maybe next time!!

Wedding Day

2010-07-29T21:23:00.006-05:00

Betsy and Chad's big day....July 24, 2010....it was hard to be a mom, a bridesmaid, and a photographer, so here are the few pictures that I took plus some that mom passed on...and I never did get a pix of the married couple once they were official...whoops!!

Almost ready to head to the church...

Thanks Meg for snapping this one of our fam as we were leaving the hotel...

Caleb, Ansley, Kennedy, and Sidney

Betsy and Chad's Rehearsal Dinner

2010-07-29T21:00:00.004-05:00

And now the ones you've been waiting for....this past weekend we traveled to Northwest Arkansas for my youngest sister's wedding.

This is what the back of our van looked like...Laura looks pretty comfy right? :) We traveled for 11 and 1/2 hours like this....the ride home was a little quieter and shorter...stops don't take quite as long when you have three less people. :)
The rehearal dinner was at Chad's Grandma's house. There was yummy food, and the kiddos and daddies had a great time swimming. Sid especially enjoyed the diving board. :)

My sis Betsy, my sis-in-law Kendal, my Glov-Win sister Megan, my sis Laura, my other Glov-Win sister Mandy and me hanging out and watching the pool fun.

The happy couple

Betsy at a little gathering later that night...she and the other bridesmaids kept the two preggo sisters up until about 1 a.m....I'm still catching up...ha! :)

Betsy,her good friend and Uganda roomie Desarae, and Berta the chicken. D-rae gave Berta to Betsy and Chad in the spirit of Ugandan wedding traditions.

Are there college scholarships for hula hooping?

2010-07-29T20:23:00.004-05:00

Snapshots

2010-07-29T19:32:00.004-05:00

Here are just some fun pixes of the kiddos that Grandpa snapped while he was here... Hopefully Caleb will still like mowing the lawn when he's a teenager :)
Our little conductor discovered peanut butter and banana sandwiches thanks to Grandma

Kiddie Park

2010-07-29T19:25:00.004-05:00

While Grandma and Grandpa were here, we discovered "Kiddie Park" thanks to a birthday party. Turns out it has been around since 1925 and is the oldest kid's amusement park in the U.S. Our kids LOVED it!! Caleb especially was excited about all of the vehicles he could ride.

Let's Backtrack....

2010-07-29T19:15:00.004-05:00

The next three posts will have pictures from my mom and Dave's visit back in June. Thanks to Dave for all the great pictures that he took (and mom took a few too). There were TONS of them, so I really narrowed them down for you. :) Princess Sidney dancing with Prince Grandpa

Riding the Caleb train/roller coaster

Grandma getting hula hoop lessons from Sid

Big News and Random Pixes

2010-07-17T15:22:00.004-05:00

Caleb is sleeping in a big boy bed!! Bunkbeds arrived on Thursday, and he and Sidney are now officially sharing a room! We were planning on making the transition after Laura and the girls left, but Caleb was just so excited about it we let him move to his new room Thursday night. So far, he's loving it and the past two nights have gone well. However, the two of them are definitely having a little too much fun chatting before they finally fall asleep...:)
Sidney in her little dance outfit...she's been dying to take ballet for about a year now, and has finally been getting to try it out this summer. :)

Our good friends and neighbors moved away not too long ago (sniff, sniff) and all the kiddos got to hang out during the loading of the moving truck. :) Don't Ethan, Emma, and Sidney look cute during their quiet time? I wasn't sure how having quiet time all together would go, but they did great while listening to some "Between the Lions" CD's.

The five of them enjoying some popsicles

We were so distraught over our friends' move that we contracted a stomach bug a few hours after they pulled out of their driveway. The kiddos and I were up all night sick and Brett was up all night taking care of us. This is Sidney the next day....she had just woken up from an hour nap and went straight to the couch, laid down on it like this, and slept for another 45 minutes. (And you all know Sid almost NEVER lays still like this during the daylight hours...) :)

Recently, I've been packing up little girl baby clothes (sniff, sniff, again). Caleb and Sid found these Halloween costumes from when Sid was 1 and 2 years old and somehow managed to stuff themselves inside. :) Seriously, Sidney wore the bumblebee costume when she was 14 months old.

While She Is Sleeping....

2010-07-17T15:04:00.004-05:00

...I will attempt to begin updating our blog. :) (The "she" is my sis by the way...here for a visit and taking her daily afternoon snooze...) Sometimes I join her, but not today. :) She and my nieces Kennedy and Ansley are here for a nice long visit before we head to my other sis's wedding later this week. Unfortunately, neither one of us are too great about snapping photos, so here are a few....(seriously, they've been here for a week now and this is all we have to show for it despite us doing lots of fun stuff! For shame!!) I still need to post pixes of my mom and Dave's visit...luckily, Dave was behind the camera so there are lots of photos to go through, but I just don't know that I"ll get to it today!

Trying out Sid and Caleb's new bunkbeds!!

Today Brett wanted a 33rd birthday challenge and decided to do a few pushups with all four kids on his back....he's got b/t 130-140 pounds on his back right now. :) The kiddos were loving it!

And then, of course, they wanted to do a push up with him on their backs. :)

Singing Sillies

2010-06-10T21:23:00.003-05:00

We were playing school the other day at our house and this was music class. We have a rockin' music class, what can I say?! :)

Some funnies....

2010-06-10T20:50:00.003-05:00

Bear with me....I need to write down some random funny things said lately by the kiddos before I forget them!! :)
At BJ and Emily's wedding.....

As parents, grandparents, and bridesmaids made their way down the aisle and things were fairly quiet, Caleb said (not in a whisper) "Where's the reindeer?" (aka ring bearer...which he knows is his job at my sister's upcoming wedding)

He also kept asking that same weekend "Where's Barney?" (b/c in the show "Barney", one of the other dinosaur's name is BJ)

Sidney came up to me the other day and said "Um, I'm going to a meeting, so I'm going to need to put on a dress." Sure enough, all her princesses and animals were in a circle in her room to have a meeting about "anything you want to talk about".

Caleb keeps asking to see "the boy" and has been wondering "when is dat boy gonna come out?"

Hmmm....I know I'm forgetting something else that Sid said...nuts, I waited too long to write them all down!

My favorite thing said this week happened to be said by Caleb again and it was "I weally wuv you mom".

Travelin' Fools

2010-06-10T20:03:00.011-05:00

The last week of May we drove up to Youngstown, Ohio and back for Brett's cousin BJ's wedding. The kids did much better than we thought they would with all that driving and we got to see friends and family that we hadn't seen in way too long!! Sidney told us that she had three favorite parts....going to Grandpa and Grandma's park, swimming in the hotel pools, and dancing at the reception with Alyssa. :) Caleb's favorite thing was swimming. :)During one of our stops along the way, Caleb got to meet his Great-Grandpa and Grandma Shuffet for the first time. (He and Sid also got to meet Grandpa's talking handkerchief whom they thought was hilarious.) :) Grandma got to read them their books before bed and as you can see they enjoyed having her read "I Stink" (Caleb's garbage truck book).

Now to wedding pictures.....This one's for those of you who have witnessed Brett's, um, enthusiam while watching an Ohio State football game. Buckeye blood runs deep. Here are the Dinsmores spelling out O-H-I-O for the camera.

Caleb is always in a sea of girls when it comes to cousins...Brenna, Alyssa, Caleb, and Sidney

The 3 big kids waiting to blow bubbles on the bride and groom

Look at all those Davies'
One of these things is not like the other....

Gregg, BJ, and Brett

Caleb giving Brenna a kiss (or is he smelling her?--I can't remember). This cracks me up b/c of how wide Brenna's eyes are....she's not too sure about this guy. :)

Sid and Alyssa ready to catch the bouquet

Sidney LOVED dancing at the reception....although most of the time her dancing wasn't this calm and usually involved twirling and jumping :)

Lots of cousins...

Sid and Emily

Catching up.....

2010-06-10T15:06:00.003-05:00

Time to play catch up on some recent happenings with our family....Here are some shots of Sidney during some fun end-of-the year activities at preschool...

Sidney with her artwork from "Museum Day". Each student had a piece of art on display. Her picture was called "Elephant on Parade". She got to participate in her own "Fiesta Parade" at school and decorated a shoebox float. Her floast was a princess float, of course, and that's Princess Bear riding on top.

Sid had a great time in the parade and Caleb was mesmorized watching it! I wish he would sit still in church as long as he did during that parade. :)

Sidney with her preschool diploma after graduationg chapel. :)

Sidney and her teacher Mrs. Mina at her end-of-the year picnic on the last day of school.

Meet the family....

2010-06-02T14:24:00.003-05:00

Brett and Stacy

Sidney

Caleb

Baby BOY Davies

Friends don't let friends....

2010-05-14T16:02:00.003-05:00

...cheer for the wrong team!!

(or freeze on a chilly day)

What did Caleb say about this desecration of his Bronco crocks? "Don't worry, mommy, it just paper."

Roddydog

2010-04-14T15:52:00.002-05:00

We spent the past weekend at Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Kendal's house. We all had a great time just hanging out and getting to visit NASA, but of course we managed to forget our camera! However, Brett used his phone to snap the picture below as evidence of an exciting new development.....
Sidney and Caleb bonded with their cousin Roddy!! For those of you who have witnessed our children (especially Sidney) around dogs, you know it is quite a feat for them to be this close to a dog without screaming! Believe it or not, they were pals with Roddy the entire weekend and often asked if they could ride him. :) Sidney apparently also learned to speak dog b/c she could often be heard saying things like "What's that boy? You want me to throw the ball? Oh, okay, here you go." :) I think Roddy was quite happy that he wasn't ostracized to the backyard the whole weekend, but he also was probably ready for his little buddies to go home on Sunday so he could get some rest. :)

Easter Fun

2010-04-14T15:35:00.005-05:00

Caleb's expression in this picture from an egg hunt at church absolutely cracks me up. I'm not sure how he feels about being in the pix with Sidney and Rachel. :)
Putting stickers on our eggs after they dried.

Lots and lots of stickers.

Caleb didn't waste any time digging into the marshmallows and candy inside his eggs. :)

Happy to be hunting.

Caleb found a nice safe spot at Amy's where he could sit away from everybody and peacefully enjoy his candy. :)

One of Caleb's favorite things to do....

2010-03-25T15:42:00.005-05:00

....running somersaults (even when not wearing a dress--ha!) :)

Off to the "Ball"

2010-03-01T12:49:00.004-06:00

During Valentine's weekend Brett and Sidney went to a Daddy/Daughter dance. She was very excited about getting to go to a "ball" with her daddy and felt very special. :)

Before
Of course, she needed to wear her princess crown, sparkly shoes, and bring her wand.

During

Brett said he spent most of the dance feeling dizzy b/c Sid pretty much wanted to spin around and around the whole time. :) What a fun date!!

Quote from...CALEB!!

2010-02-10T15:04:00.005-06:00

Said by Caleb during lunch after dropping his pretzel....

"Ayudame, my pretzel!!!"

[FYI, "ayudame" (said ah-you-duh-may) is a spanish word meaning "help me"....thank you, Dora.]

I really wish you could have heard the inflection in his voice when he said it...:)

Recent Happenings...

2010-02-10T14:37:00.004-06:00

Hmmm, it's been so long since I posted, I had to think for a few minutes about how to get my pictures in the right order. :) Just thought I'd share real quick a few pictures from the last month or so...

Cousin Allyson came to town for a conference last month and we were blessed to be able to hang out with her for a few hours at the Riverwalk while she was here. It was so good to see her!
Just in case you were wondering, Allyson and BJ are now tied for second place in the "Who loves the Brett Davies family the most?" contest. (Grandparents and siblings are not eligible for this contest). Of course, cousin Amy is in first place because she actually MOVED here to be near us....I'm sure her job offer didn't have much to do with her decision. :)

Sidney has been introduced to the world of musicals. :) This is a pix of us before we saw "The Lion King" at the Majestic. Then, last weekend we took her to see "Beauty and the Beast" at a local high school. She LOVED it and was very excited to meet Belle who is her favorite princess!

A few weeks ago the same high school had a tea party, and the kids were able to get autographs from all the characters. This is what she wore to the party...she wanted to make sure her wings were in the picture. :)

Sidney and her friend Rachel with Belle :)

This is what Sid wore to the musical along with the wings, wand, and sparkly shoes from the previous picture. She really wanted to wear one of her princess dresses, but luckily this dress was "fancy" enough to appease her. I tried to get her to leave the wings at home, but apparently they were an important part of the ensemble. :)

Quotes from Sidney.....

2009-12-21T13:25:00.007-06:00

This one tells me she's watched "Dora's Christmas Carol" a few too many times....

"Mom, did you know that I'm not on the naughty list?"

(me: Is that because you obey mommy and daddy?)

"No! It's because I don't swipe!"

(and she said this as if I was terribly misinformed)

Then, today she wrote a letter to one of her best friends from church who recently moved away. She told me exactly what she wanted me to write with no help from me. Here it is...

Dear Ashley, You're still my best friend even when you're far away. I hope you come back someday so I can play with you. But, if you don't, I'll just play with Zaida. Love, Sidney

(I confess I may have omitted that last line from the original letter....)

Last but not least, my favorite one of the day....I was putting clean sheets on Caleb's bed this morning, when Sidney suddenly jumped out of his closet and yelled,

"Happy Holidays Mommy and Beeeerrrrrryyyy Christmas!"

Seasonal Sightings

2009-12-20T14:33:00.012-06:00

Let's go waaaayyyy back....

The chefs with our Thanksgiving bird

Our turkey carver

Drew, Sidney, and Caleb yelling "Go Daddy Go" during the Thanksgiving Pulte Bowl

Some of the daddies in action

Found Santa snorkeling at Sea World and got him on camera

At the Pipe Creek Christmas Tree Farm

Breakfast with Santa

Checking out the trains at Santa's Railroad Wonderland....guess who did NOT want to leave?

Riding the choo-choo

Took a while to actually get inside to see the Christmasie stuff at Bass Pro Shop because we had to test out all the vehicles outside first!

Photo by Sid...not too shabby :)
Photo of just the kiddos in front of the tree...not an easy task!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-26T14:16:00.004-06:00

Love,

Brett, Stacy, Sidney, Caleb, Amy, and Betsy

Nana in November

2009-11-19T15:03:00.003-06:00

Brett's mom was just here spending a few days with the kiddos and me. The vote is in and it's unanimous....going to the park with her was everybody's favorite part of the visit. :) Well, actually, when I first asked Sidney about her favorite part, she said "everything". Then, when I asked her about her very, very most favorite part she said it was going to the park and having Nana come with us to drop her off at preschool. Caleb instantly voted for the park, although I was surprised he didn't vote for McDonald's--ha! :) As you can see, they had fun at Chuck E Cheese too...

Soccer!!

2009-11-19T14:44:00.002-06:00

Sidney played (is still learning to play) soccer for the first time this fall. The season started in October and is almost at an end. The first few practices/games she came over to me about every 5-10 minutes to see if she could have a snack, drink some water, or go play on the playground. :) I can't say she loves it now, but she does enjoy it. She definitely has fun at practice, and she became a fan of the 30 minute games when she realized that each team member got a special snack and drink at the end. :) And, of course, she LOVES that her team is the "Purple Lions". Running after the ball just isn't top on her list....:)

Halloween Fun

2009-11-02T14:28:00.004-06:00

Our house is not lacking in candy thanks to several fun Halloween events!

Our Bronco football player and cheerleader at Trunk or Treat last weekend.

This past week Sidney decided she was going to be a princess instead of a cheerleader, so she raided her dress-up trunk. Here she is at her preschool's fall parade this past Friday. Once again, she collected a bag full of candy from some of the spectators. :)

Princess Sidney (or actually Princess Belle if you ask her--sorry Kennedy, I know she's not wearing the correct "Belle" dress). :) It's funny, she has several dresses to choose from, but she chose this purple one, which looks kind of ratty because she dresses up in it almost every single day!

Ready to make his rounds around the neighborhood! He received some extra candy from several neighbors who are fellow Bronco fans. :)

The trick or treating posse: 2 princesses, a Transformer, a football player, and a really cute lion. :)

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-27T21:10:00.004-05:00

We didn't make it all the way out to any big pumpkin patches this year, but we were able to go to a cute little patch here in town over the weekend....

Sid really wanted an oval pumpkin this year.

Caleb with his little pumpkin...

Sid scooped out the guts with her hands, but Caleb preferred to use the spoon. :)

Our carved pumpkin complete with the requested oval nose and happy pumpkin smile. :)

Photography by Sidney

2009-10-27T20:55:00.003-05:00

Tired of "perfect" looking photos? Want a little more pizzazz to your pictures? Perhaps you'd like to have the heads cut off of the people in your pictures or make them just a touch off-centered? Call "Photography by Sidney" today!!

You may think this picture of our pumpkin is a little too perfect. Great news....my mommy and my brother's entire bodies were supposed to be in the picture too. I think this photo of the pumpkin and just their arms has alot more character, don't you?

Call my mommy today to book me for your next event!!

This one's for you beloved Lees family....

2009-10-20T07:26:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Sweet K-Love

2009-10-19T21:30:00.004-05:00

Our little buddy turned two years old today--yikes! He is growing up so fast--I can't believe it! And, yes, his big sis still calls him K-Love, even though one of her best friends tried to convince her the other day that his name was Caleb, not K-Love. She was not convinced-ha!!:) Anyway, here are a few of Caleb's two year old favorites...

Favorite Phrases: "I do doot" aka "I'll do it"; "Eat garbage" (he constantly reviews what the garbage truck does with our trash); and "No, Deedee!"

Favorite Song: "You Never Let Go" (seriously, I hear him sing the chorus through the monitor..

Favorite Things: Elephants, babies, trains, airplanes, school buses, trucks (esp garbage trucks), and shoes (anybody's but his, that is)

Favorite People: Emma and "Deedee" (aka Sidney)

Even though he looks like he could play football already, he is still my little cuddlebug! I'm so glad he'll still snuggle with me! :)

Caught with a mouth full of cake...

Suddenly, he just can't stand the mess anymore! I wonder if his sister will ever start noticing when she's a mess?? :)

Trying out his new Hot Wheels (and Sidney's headband apparently).

Given that he can frequently be found dressed like this.....

We decided to provide him with a few more boyish choices to try out...:)

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Flying L Vacation

2009-09-29T20:42:00.008-05:00

Brett had last week off (woohoo!) and we traveled a whopping 40 minutes away to stay at a ranch in Bandera. My siblings were all able to join us for the week too which was really fun. I wish Brett and I were better about taking lots of pictures, but since we're not, we only have a few to share (in our defense our camera battery was dying). However, I'm going to try to link the first picture to Picker's pictures......SOOOOO if you're dying to see us roping fake cattle and line dancing , then click on the first pix--and if that doesn't work go the Picker's blog and click on the pix under their Sept. 28th post. (How's that for cheating?)

Highlights of the week....
1. Watching everybody try to get across the obstacle course at the water park. Kendal and I rule! :)
2. Sweating by the campfire Monday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
3. Shivering by the campfire Tuesday and Thursday nights.
4. Eating S'mores every night by the campfire and trying to keep the number of marshmallows my children ate below five.
5. Playing Settlers of Catan late into the night after the kiddos went to bed. I wish I could say I dominated, but that award goes to Kendal....
6. Watching "Twilight" for the millionth time on a rainy afternoon during naptime w/ Laura and Kendal.
7. Making a pitstop w/ L and K to see "The Time Travelers Wife" on our way to get Betsy from the airport.
8. Going to the pharmacy to pick up the antibiotics needed to knock out the tonsilitis Brett got during the second half of the week--yuck!
9. Brett beating Picker in golf (perhaps not necessarily MY highlight) and Betsy meeting her goal of getting less than double par when she played.
10. Wagon rides, ropin', and line dancin'. :)
11. Viewing fascinating artwork by various little girls in the family that were not neccessarily drawn on paper.
12. Wearing the same pair of jeans and jacket for three days straight because it was so stinkin' cold. What in the world??
13. Listening to Sid and KJ's giggles, helping Caleb "swing high", and letting Ansley sit in my lap (she is so much lighter than Caleb!) :)

Kennedy and Sidney had a slumber party every night. They usually finally conked out after 10 or 11 each night...we brought home some very tired girls. :)G.I. Joe and Pebbles

This is what Sid and Caleb wore for THREE nights in a row. Whoever heard of 60 degree weather in San Antonio in September???

Caleb and his friend Jellybean the pony

Are you loving the headband in Sidney's pony-tailed hair?

KJ Pizzle liked Jellybean too

KJ and Sid with Jer and Kendal. As usual, they loved being tortured by Jeremy, and Kendal became their favorite patient in many rounds of playing "doctor".

Pre-Game Cheer

2009-09-12T16:49:00.004-05:00

Just passing on a little Buckeye spirit before the game tonight....

Translation (in case you don't speak Caleb): "Go Buckeyes. See, see see." (request to see the video pix I just took) :)

Last But Not Least...

2009-09-01T22:43:00.005-05:00

We spent last week in Maryland! Brett had to go to a conference for part of the time, but the kiddos and I had nothing but fun.... Sidney, Caleb, and Alyssa clearly enjoying ice cream cake...

Gregg, Kim, and Baby Girl cousin due in a few more months...Caleb is the only boy cousin on both sides of the family so far...my brother will have to give him a few pointers on how to cope. :)
Feelin' the love....

Mesmerized by the elephants (aka "eh-ants") at the Washington Zoo...Caleb talked about them all week!

Enjoying our lunch...

Experiencing bathtime with the jets on...

We were so excited to be able to get together with some of our old friends from church.

Look at all these kiddos...and we were all in a Life Group together...

Sidney's Fourth Birthday

2009-09-01T22:16:00.006-05:00

I didn't even post on Sidney's birthday...argh. Here are pictures from her party...thanks to the ladies who helped me stay sane during it and to the ones who took most of these pictures...

Before the party, I found Caleb in the kitchen sneaking a cupcake, so I moved him to his booster seat to contain the mess. :)
Sidney wanted a Dora cake this year.

Elizabeth and Adia enjoying lunch.

Two Lukes...the first one is going to be an offensive lineman someday with Caleb.

Lunchtime...

Sid and Rachel

Ethan and Rylie

Too cute!

I'm not going to embarrass myself by trying to correctly identify this Mad Twink ...

Sidney's favorite part...pinata busting time...not an easy job with a whiffle bat. :)

These tired and sweaty girls look pleased to be stuffed full of candy and cake.

Midwest Visit, Part Deux

2009-09-01T21:54:00.004-05:00

After our week in E.P., we drove to St. Louis with the Picker ladies and spent a week at their house. Betsy joined us for a few days and then headed back to Arkansas...something about needing a little peace and quiet...:)

Sid and KJ desperately wanted to have a slumber party in Kennedy's room....but Sid chickened out when she realized she was actually supposed to go to sleep in there with me in the far away land of the basement. :)

Enjoying the breeze while riding the train at Grant's Farm

Caleb and Ansley want out of those strollers!

Sidney was excited to have wavy hair one morning after sleepin in a braid.

The Pickers hooked us up with some free tickets to Six Flags. This is just one of the many kiddo rides the girls got to enjoy.

I included this pix to demonstrate the sad faces we were starting to see alot...the girls love each other, but were starting to need a some time away by the second week of living together. :)

Even Ansley and Caleb got to get out of their strollers and ride some rides...I just don't have any pictures of it! :)

Midwest Visit, Part 1

2009-09-01T21:33:00.006-05:00

At the end of July, the kids and I spent a week in East Peoria since Brett was going to be spending a lot of time at the hospital. My sisters and my nieces joined us for the week too, so Mom and Dave had a very full house!

Flower power...Sidney, Ansley, and Kennedy
Mom, Ans, and Betsy swinging away..it was not 2000 degrees in IL

Ansley the sun, Sid the pig, KJ the cow, and Caleb the sheep

I've decided it would be better to not call my mom a cow or my sister a pig, so can you

tell who's who? Bruiser with his dainty cousin Aunt Laura french braided the girls' hair to go with the matching dresses...I'm going to have to see if I have retained my braiding skills or if they left with geometry...

Grandpa and Caleb mowing the lawn

Fun Times

2009-07-25T15:07:00.007-05:00

I realize that it's terribly shameful that I have not updated this little ole blog since July 15th! It is September 1st after all--very sad indeed! But, in my defense, we've had a very busy summer with the last month or so being especially crazy. I'm going to try to start catching up now, so get ready for lots of pictures...but probably not lots of commentary since I'm so far behind...sorry! (shocking, I know, since I'm such a chatterbox-ha!) :)

Brett turned 32 way back on July 17th. :) Sid and I planned to make him a heart cake to show him how much we loved him, but we unfortunately discovered that my geometry skills are a little rusty. Luckily, my crafty cousin Amy was visiting...she performed a little surgery, and saved the day! :)
Nana and Popop came to town a couple of days later. They gave Sidney a princess bike as an early birthday present. She practiced riding with Nana even though it was 2000 degrees outside. :)

She also picked out a purple piggy bank (aka piggy). She adores this pig and carries him all over the house.

Riding a boat at the Riverwalk. Clearly, it's 2000 degrees again.

Cheese!!

Bilingual Children??

2009-07-15T13:44:00.003-05:00

Caleb has alot to say, and he says many words that we understand...and also quite a few that we can't. Today in the car was one of those times when I just couldn't understand him and he was getting very frustrated...but Sid stepped in and helped me out...

Caleb: oh-ee-oh-ee (he was saying this over and over really fast and I still have no idea what it means....definitely not anything I had to offer--drink, goldfish, or paci--and didn't seem to be anything around us)

Me: I'm sorry, buddy, I just don't understand what you're saying.

Sidney: Mommy, he's saying "paci" in Spanish.

Ooooooohhhhh....right, right, right. Thank goodness she cleared that up for me. :)

From Sidney

2009-07-14T07:20:00.002-05:00

Sung by Sidney yesterday...

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb,
Lisa was white as snow.

Said by her after the song....

"Mom, who's Lisa?" :)

Tub-do's

2009-07-09T14:46:00.003-05:00

Fourth of July

2009-07-05T15:53:00.010-05:00

Brett was up at Fort Hood for a few days this week, so it's been especially nice to have him home for a four day weekend! Friday night we went to Sea World to watch fireworks. Caleb cooperated quite nicely by taking a FOUR HOUR nap (of course, we did wear him out at the pool that morning) Even Sidney fell asleep during rest time, so they both did pretty well staying up until 10:00. We weren't sure what Caleb would think of the fireworks, but he was a fan of the "boom-booms" and wasn't scared at all. (sorry we forgot to take our camera...)

Last night, we went to the circus at the Alamodome (the first one Sid, Caleb, and I had ever been to). Sid and Caleb liked any of the acts with animals, but kind of lost interest in the second half until the trapeze artists came out near the end. It was a good time, topped off with an excellent dinner at Five Guys-yeah!! We (esp B) have been missing that place, and were quite happy to eat their yummy burgers after a two year break. :) (Thanks for the tip Lauren and Rebecca!)

Happy to be at the circus
Are these the kittens you found in your yard Rebecca?

Sidney is just quite determined to show us the yogurt raisins in her mouth :)
Our friends that came with us...tee hee...Always silly

Celebrating a Little Early

2009-07-05T15:45:00.012-05:00

Since they're teachers, my mom and Dave always visit us in the summer (poor folks always have to deal with this crazy heat!). When they visited us for the first time down here two years ago, they decided to give Sidney her birthday presents early since they wouldn't be here on her actual birthday. Then, they decided that it would be more fun to actually have a little party, so they wrapped the gifts and bought a little personal sized chocolate cake for Sid to enjoy. Well, this little early birthday celebration has ended up becoming a tradition each time they visit, and this year Caleb joined in on the fun as well. As you can see, it sure is a nice treat for them to celebrate their birthdays two and four months early!!

Getting to open some early birthday presents

Caleb's newest love..."choo-choo's"!

Appropriate cupcakes for each....white frosting for Caleb and chocolate frosting for Sid

Digging in!

Diagnosis deeelicious!!

Our Anniversary Trip

2009-07-05T15:06:00.017-05:00

About 2 weeks ago (has it been that long ago already?), Brett and I left on a trip to celebrate our 10th anniversary. My mom and step-dad Dave came down to take care of Sidney and Caleb, while Brett and I spent some time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was the first time we'd been away from them for several days at at time, so I was a little nervous and sad and excited all at the same time...but I knew they were in good hands. :) We had a great time and so did they!! Dave did a great job of documenting their week while we were gone, so here are a couple of pictures from our week and a BUNCH of pictures of Sid and Caleb's week. (Warning...if you're friends with Dave on Facebook, you've probably already seen these...don't feel obligated to look now.) :)

We definitely enjoyed the beach

Playing dress-up with Grandma

Enjoying the sandbox

Stealing kisses

I just like this one...:)

Hamming it up for the camera

Tough girl...

Enjoying parfaits

Playing with blocks

More photo time at Chuck E Cheese

Catching (and wearing) balloons with their Elefun nets

Enjoying several pizza dinners

Talking with mommy and daddy

Popcorn time

Sid had fun at VBS during the mornings

Practicing Tai-Chi

Buddies...

2009-06-18T15:06:00.003-05:00

Playing with friends Griffin, Rachel, and Emma.

Hmmm...is there any room to actually PLAY in the sand here?
Enjoying a little show with Ethan and Emma before night-night time....

Snack time with Drew and Luke!

Sidney loves to play school with her brother, which mostly involves running around the house while wearing their backpacks. :)

Happy 10th!!

2009-06-05T07:09:00.005-05:00

Today, Brett and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary! Wow!! It really doesn't feel like it's been that long!! I wish I had a current picture of the two of us to post, but I don't, so pictures of us walking up the aisle as a newly married couple and of us on our honeymoon will have to do. :)

In honor of our special day, I'm going to tell a story about our first date that a friend of mine has been after me to post. :) Our first date was at the beginning of spring semester our freshman year. Neither of us had a car, so we just stayed around campus. First, we went to the campus movie,"The Big Green". (I should point out that we both happened to have the season pass type thingy for the campus movies, so we both got in for free.) After that we walked over to the student center and Brett asked me if I wanted to get some ice cream. (to which, of course, I replied "yes"--I'm not one to turn down ice cream.) So, we got our ice cream and Brett led the way through the line, but only paid for his ice cream! :) Goo!! I remember being so relieved that I had my ID on me so that I could use my DCB to pay for my dessert. Funny, I have no memory of being offended or anything like that, and he must have been pretty charming that night b/c obviously I kept going out with him despite the fact that he had a totally free date with me. :) And, don't worry, he has totally redeemed himself by taking me to Dairy Queen many times since then simply b/c it's my fav...even though it's not his. :) Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

In all seriousness, I am so thankful and happy that I married my best friend ten years ago today!

Pretty Picture

2009-06-01T21:49:00.003-05:00

We took the kiddos to Chuck E. Cheese last week when Brett had a few days off. Sidney found the photo booth, and got lots of pictures taken (without any tokens we discovered--machine malfunction, I guess.) :) Anyway, I thought this picture of Sidney and her daddy was sweet. Who knew Chuck was such a great artist? :)

MDO program

2009-05-16T14:51:00.011-05:00

Sidney went to Mother's Day Out one day a week this past year. She has loved going each week, and tells me her favorite parts of each day are eating a snack, eating lunch, and music. And, she has loved her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lori. This morning they had a little end of the year program that was pretty cute, and we thought you grandparents and aunts and uncles might enjoy a few short videos of Sid singing and dancing with her class. The first two are of all the students singing together a couple of their circle time songs. (She's in a purple dress.) The last one is her class singing/dancing to "Mover Music". They're supposed to follow the directions of the song which tells them to jump around, get down, turn around, etc.

This and That

2009-05-16T14:48:00.002-05:00

Inside a fort we made one day when we were quarantined to the house due to pink eye! :)
Always having fun in the pool!

All About My Mommy

2009-05-16T14:27:00.003-05:00

Sidney gave me a Mother's Day card entitled "All About My Mommy". Her teachers at MDO asked her questions and she filled in the blank...

My mom has brown hair and green eyes.

She is 4 feet tall and weighs 5 pounds. (YES!)

My mom's favorite TV show is American Idol. (She doesn't know about Lost and 24) :)

My mom is very smart. She knows all about me.

My mom is happy when draw a picture.

It really bothers my mom when things don't go right. (Her teachers said that no matter how they asked it, she told them that nothing bothers me. So, they said "maybe it bothers her when things don't go right" and Sid said "yes". Two different thoughts crossed my mind on this one..."Yay, she's forgotten all those times when I'm not so patient and don't react like I should" and "Crud, nothing we're teaching her is sticking." Hmmm....

My mom likes to play with me.

My mom likes to eat pizza. (Sid's fav food) :)

If my mom could have one wish come true, it would be for me to sleep in my bed. (Where did this come from? She DOES sleep in her own bed!) :)

My mom is special because she does things for me!

18 months old

2009-05-16T13:42:00.009-05:00

I can't believe our little buddy is already a year and a half! My how time flies! He's actually alot closer to 19 months than 18 months, but that's okay. :) I haven't posted on our big boy in a while, and thought it was time. And, he is certainly still a big boy! He had his 18 month check up this week and weighed in at 30 lbs, 14 oz. :) About a month ago Sid was almost 31 lbs., so I guess he's finally caught up with her. :) He's gotten taller too, I just can't remember those stats at the moment. :)

Caleb is still a very easy going little/big fella most of the time. He's got lots of energy, and runs more often than he walks. He likes to climb now too, and we're constantly helping him remember to stay off our coffee table. :) And, just when I was starting to worry that perhaps he wasn't saying enough words, his language exploded. He's definitely saying new words every day now, and his current favorites are "waffle" (wa-wa)", "school bus" (bu-bu), "basketball" (ball-ball-ball), and "yeah!". :) His daddy's favorite is "Go Buckeyes", which sounds like ga-ga-ga....but it's most definitely what he's saying--he's got the little arm pump to go with it. :) Of course, quite often we have no clue what Caleb's trying to tell us, but when we finally figure it out he either claps, stomps his feet, or does a little dance. :) It's pretty funny. We've also discovered that Caleb loves babies. :) Several of our friends have had babies over the past few months, and Caleb is fascinated with them (as long as I'm not holding one). Yesterday, we had two babies over here, and he laid down next to one who was on the floor and patted and talked to her...and occasionally tried to poke her eyes out, although her mom and I tried to be on top of that one! :)

Here are some of Caleb's favorites....

Fav things: all types of balls and anything on wheels, esp. big trucks, buses, and tractors (car rides are so exciting for him right now); blocks

Fav activities: reading books; playing in water--bath, sprinkler, pool; putting on and walking around in anybody's shoes; lining up his cars in a very straight line; swinging; playing outside (even when Sid and I are dying to go in b/c it's so hot); playing with Sidney :)

Fav songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy and You Know It, the backpack song from Dora (he just busts out with that one occasionally)

Fav foods: blueberries, strawberries, POPSICLES, pretzels, poppyseed chicken, hashbrown casserole, watermelon...

Fav books: Little People Farm Book, Bye-Bye Big Bad Bullybug, Time for Bed, If you See a Mouse, If You See a Tiger, his tractor book

Art Project

2009-04-23T21:45:00.003-05:00

Look what our daughter did today....at least it was with a dry erase marker!!

Just Because

2009-04-20T21:57:00.003-05:00

I ran across this picture that was clearly taken pretty recently, but I have no memory of taking it...maybe it was taken by Brett? :) Anyway, I just thought it was a cute one of my little wrestlers and decided to post it. I also thought I'd share with you a funny story about Sidney...

We've been talking with her quite a bit lately about telling the truth versus lying and what that means, etc. Earlier today, she left to use the potty and when she came back, I went through the checklist with her (you know, did you flush, did you wash, etc.). The last thing I asked her was if she stopped up the sink drain (she likes to stop it up and fill the sink w/ soapy water AND she had gotten in trouble for this once today already). She looked at me for a second and then said "I'll be right back, and then I can tell you the truth."

Oh, that girl cracks me up (very quietly, of course)! At least now we know she's getting the concept!

More Easter Fun

2009-04-19T20:41:00.004-05:00

Here are a few shots of the kids dying Easter eggs. Sid wanted to dip every egg in every color which made for some funky colored eggs. :)

Decorating them with stickers after they dried.
The Joyful one showing off her PURPLE egg!!

The boys looking cute. :)

Checking out their baskets Easter morning. Do you like my outfit? I was cold when I first got up, so I kept on my pj pants for a while. Luckily I remembered to remove them for church. :)

Sidney was excited about the purple flowers on her Easter dress.

My goodness it was impossible to get a picture of this child with his basket...I eventually gave up! :)

This was the closest we came to a family picture. I can't believe we actually have happy faces in this one...the kids must have melted down right after Brett snapped it!