January 2006 Archives

I caught Noah throwing away a couple magazines that we're not quite done reading.

Mommy (voice raised but not in anger): Hey!

Noah: Hey!

Mommy: No!

Noah: No!

Mommy: Grrr!

Noah: Grrr!

Mommy: Mama!

Noah: Daddy!

I tried.

Last Friday, I received my first "Official Jury Summons" from the State of Texas. At first I worried about what I was going to do with the babies. Then I noticed their list of qualifying exemptions. Guess what! I don't have to go to jury duty! I am exempt because I "have legal custody of a child who is under 10 years of age and this child would not have adequate supervision." I knew having kids would come in handy someday. What a relief.

Myra brought home her first report card yesterday! We sat down and read it together. Afterwards, Myra said "Mommy? Can you read it to me again?" I did. Josh and I are both extremely proud of her.

Noah was wearing his official Papa uniform today and was helping Chris out in the kitchen. Not only did he have his "Bill's Grandson" shirt on, but he was also wearing some very Papa-like wind pants that we got from Sarah. I imagine this is what Dad looked like around 58 years ago.

Watching Barney this afternoon...

Myra: "I don't like that boy in the blue shirt."

Mommy: "Why?"

Myra: "Because I can't stop thinking about him."

Who's this boy? Currently 16-year-old actor/singer Angel Velasco (Barney cast member 1997-1999). He's not bad for a first crush.

Monday morning was a normal morning in the Davis household ... until the heater broke, that is. I called accross the street to our neighbor who's son happens to be the greatest mechanic in the world. This guy has worked on my car, our lawnmower and now our heater. Unfortunately, he couldn't fix our heater but he did tell us what was wrong and what part we needed to fix it. We needed a new ignitor. Good thing Monday night wasn't that cold.

Tuesday morning, I called to a place down the road that a guy at Lowe's had mentioned. Sure enough, they had the part ... for $75! I called a few other places and, thankfully, found one that carried the part for $20. That's more like it. Yes, I had to drive to the other side of Fort Worth with two toddlers but I would do it again to save that much money. As a matter of fact, I did do it again.

After bringing the new part home, I installed it only to find it didn't work. Zachary, being the great guy that he is, came over to take another look. He said that we had the right part but the wrong voltage. I had bought a 220V instead of a 120V which meant that it would never heat up enough to ignite because our heater didn't produce enough current to heat it up enough ... I know, HUH? It was a long, cold night last night.

Luckily, I was able to take the first ignitor back this afternoon, even though it was slightly used, to exchange it. WE HAVE HEAT!

THANK YOU, ZACHARY! We owe you BIG time.

Afraid not. However, for some unknown reason, Myra and her classmates have been doing a great number of projects involving snowmen. Will it ever snow enough in Texas for the children to actually build a snowman? Will it ever snow in Texas period? (I know, it's a winter thing. You get the point though.)

While going through the many priceless works of art that Myra has created, I came accross this one that I just had to share.

Isn't it the best snowman you've ever seen? I love it!

"Daddy, why do you have big kids?" Myra asked me tonight.

"Because I'm a teacher," I told her. "I'm just like Ms Becca and Ms Danielle, but I teach kids after they get a little bigger."

"Daddy, are you a kindery-garden teacher?"

Thank God, no.

I'll see your raise...

When a good game goes bad...

Today we took a family outing to the doctor's office for Noah's 18 month check-up. The nurses are always saying "He's so big!" Josh and I always knew Noah was bigger than the average boy his age but this time, the charts confirmed just how much bigger he actually is.

At 18 months of age, Noah is just 8in and 12lbs shy of his 4yr old big sister! That's our "Little Man".

Way to grow, Brother!

I was cleaning up the yard this morning and I came across a Christmas card that had blown against the fence. I figured it was one of ours that just didn't quite make it to the curb on trash day (not that we EVER throw those out--if that offends you). Before I tossed it, I took a look inside and had a little giggle.

The message contained inside was so good, I just had to share it with you. In case you can't read it, the card says, "Have a krunk x-mas and never change and stay krunk!--Jessica"

For you guys that aren't up to date on street lingo, here's the definition of krunk according to The Source: Slang Dictionary:

krunk - adj. Wild and exhilarating. Taking it to the next level of excitement or fun. "That party last night was krunk as hell."

I learned all about this word when I was teaching at Eastern Hills and up until that last line, I was SURE that this thing had come from Leon (he's the krunkest guy I know). It turns out it must have been one of the neighbor's cards. Jessica R, if you're out there. I'd like you to know that the Davis family had a super-krunk x-mas. I hope you did, too.

So I got a GPS receiver for Christmas for the purpose of getting into Geocaching. I've done a little of it with Myra and I took Hayden and Skylor (along with Granny) while we were up in Oklahoma, but I've never taken the whole family. Today, we all loaded up in the Davis-mobile and hit the road with a palm-full of caches and a GPS to show us the way. We found three of them, with a nice long break to play on the playground at Benbrook in between. Myra was really excited to see the treasure, and Noah was just happy running around in the open spaces. Finally, we succumbed to hunger and naptime or else we might have hit a couple more hides. Chris agrees that geocaching is a lot of fun for the family and we now plan on doing it together more often. You should give it a try!

Our picture galleries will be down for the time being as we switch servers. There are some big changes in the works and I plan on re-designing the blog sometime this month. Please bear with us as we grow and change!

I don't normally talk about my fantasy football team on this blog, but I just HAD to share this one. The 7th season of the Poker Football League ended yesterday and I finished 3rd out of 10 teams which is great because it means I finished in the money for the first time since 2001! I also picked up the coveted Sucks to Be You award which goes to the team that has the best losing scores of the year. It was hotly contested right up to the end and when I fired up the 'puter this morning I was afraid to look because there was a very real possibility that I was going to slip to 4th AND lose the S2BU award. The football gods smiled on me, though, and now we're the proud recipiants of enough cash to buy dinner...at McDonalds.