July 2006 Archives

Christina is now 30 years young. I have been spending the week making old jokes, but now I'd like to be serious. It's been a wonderful 8 years with you and I think you are happier, more full of life today then I have ever seen you before. We love you soooo much. Thanks for all you do and have a happy birthday. Enjoy your day at the Nail/Spa thing-a-ma-place.

We haven't been geocaching in a while since the weather has been sizzling hot. I swear we could have fried an egg out there ... on the grass even. Today, however, the weather was perfect ... well almost. At 11:00 this morning, it was only 80 something degrees instead of the usual 100 plus. So we decided to pack up a lunch and set sail. It wasn't too hard to find this cache. Considering we had an almost five-year-old girl wearing flip-flops ... not the best the best shoes for tromping through the woods and down into dry riverbeds ... and a somewhat scared two-year-old ... he loves the outdoors but he's not used to all the trees and steep hillsides ... I think we did pretty good. Once we found the cache box and opened it up, it was all well worth it. The kids went crazy picking the perfect treasure. Once they made up their minds on which item they wanted and what they were going to trade for it, it was back up the hill and through the thick branches to the tables for sandwiches, chips and Fudge Rounds! Yum-my!

To see the pics from today's adventure, click here or visit our Photo Gallery to the left.

We shot a wedding last night that was a lot of fun. The reception was at the top of the tallest building in Los Colinas--you can see the great view in the video grab below. I got a kick out of this shot of the best man giving his toast. He was a bit inebriated and he seemed to ramble aimlessly for quite a while. You can see the DJ behind him and it's pretty easy to read his mind: "When is this guy going to shut up so I can play some music?"

I've been wanting to do some beer blogging lately but didn't feel like using Blogger anymore. Since thedavisblog.com is now blocked from school anyway, there's no reason not to fire up a beer post or two on occasion. I ran across this pic and it warmed my heart. I hope to someday have a fridge with that much choice. Click it to enlarge.

I promised Sarah I'd post the pictures we took from the Fort Worth Cats baseball game that we took Hayden and Skylor to. It slipped my mind until today. So, here you go. A little late, but they're still fun to look at. Mosey over to the Gallery and take a gander.

It's no secret that Counting Crows is my favorite band, so I was pumped about them ending their latest tour here in Dallas in September. Unfortunately, I just found out we've got a wedding to shoot that day so I won't be able to catch them. While I was digging around looking to see if there'd be another date near here, I ran across something that made me want to run down my street screaming while ripping my hair out. This abomination is a Counting Crows tribute album apparently recorded by a bunch of bluegrass banjo-pickers on crack. I dare you to scroll to the bottom and give a few of the tunes a listen. It is weird, cheesy, bizarre, and kinda fun to play Name That Tune with.

The citizens are ON PATROL! While driving to the Beer Store the other day, Chris and I couldn't stop laughing when we caught a glimpse of this vigilante keeping watch over the helpless. We got so tickled, we had to turn around and snap a pic. I can just imagine a liquor store being robbed and this valient public defender motoring after the assailant. Criminals in Fort Worth, THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!

Sooooo ... My mom emails me yesterday morning telling me that she needs current pictures of everyone to send to a family reunion with Grandma. No problem ... at least not from my end. After emailing the pictures to Uncle Bob, everything turned to complete chaos. Well, that's the way mom described it to me this morning when she called to ask about everyone's middle name and how to spell it. There's where I have the problem ...

Not to long ago, a beautiful baby girl was born. Her mom and dad decided to name her Christina Nicole ... Nichole? Not good when at almost 30, you start questioning how to spell your name. On my birth certificate it says N-I-C-O-L-E. However when applying for my social security, mom or dad put ... N-I-C-H-O-L-E. Well Mom and Dad? Which is it?

For the record, I've always gone by N-I-C-O-L-E because that is what it says on my birth certificate. Afterall, you need your birth certificate to get a social security number ... right?

I blacked out quite a bit ... (mother's maiden name, certificate number, place of birth, SSN, signature ...) ... for security.

Good

Better

Best

In case you couldn't tell. That last pic is my new classroom....er.. computer lab. Yay me!

I finally got around to posting an album of Noah's Birthday pictures. We had a great time. Almost all of the cousins were there and they really made it a blast. Hayden and Skylor put on a fireworks show that gave Stroud FD a run for their money and Myra really liked playing with the sparklers. Christina FINALLY (after nearly 30 years) bought her first fireworks and I think even she enjoyed lighting a firecracker or two. Noah shot a Roman Candle and you could see how proud he was. The cake was yummy, all of the presents were perfect and best of all, it was so much fun to see everybody again. Thanks for making his number 2 party a success! You can check out the pictures here.

About four years ago, my school district paid for me to get my Tech Apps certification. It cost them more than a thousand bucks and it was intended that I would begin teaching computer classes for my High School. Those classes never opened up for me (mainly because of the need for certified math teachers) so I kind of thought that my hours spent at good ole Weatherford College were a waste of time. This summer, after accepting a new position over at Saginaw High, a tech job finally opened up. The first time I was offered, I turned it down because I felt bad about leaving Saginaw without a math teacher, but after pushing and prodding from a bunch of different directions, I decided to take it. So, next year, instead of being the newest Algebra I teacher at Saginaw High, I'll be the newest computer teacher at Highland Middle School.

The good news is that it is working for a principal that I really like, I'll get to carpool with Uncle Ricky, and it is teaching computer courses--something I've wanted to dofor a while. The bad news is that it is MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS. I've never taught below the ninth grade and I think it will be a bit of an adjustment for me. Ricky says it'll be no sweat. I hope he's right. I'm going to go check out my new lab on Monday. I think I'll take the camera so I can show it off to you guys.

I ran across these photos from last month that I thought I just had to post. They are pics of the Lean Mean Cleaning Team in action. We adhere to very strict rules when representing the team.

1. You must wear a hat
2. You must make scary faces
3. You must be mad at dirt

I made a little gallery of them here.

When I was growing up, I heard "She's just growing like a weed" everytime I saw someone I hadn't seen in about a month or longer. Well, now that I'm all grown up, that phrase is a thing of the past ... or so I thought.

We took Noah in for his two year check-up this morning. The doctor was still somewhat amazed by how big Noah is ... "My boys are 2 and a half and they're only 26 pounds." On the way out the door, I stopped to schedule Myra's 5 year check-up and to chat for a bit with the receptionist. She's the one that always pulls her son's file to compare Noah's stats with his. So, she pulled the file and asked "Now, how big is Noah?" I told her "Just over three feet and 36 pounds." She looked at me and said "He's growing like a weed!" She's right.

Two years ago today is a day I'll never forget. Chris was in labor for a really long time with this guy. On the 3rd, Chris was having contractions every five minutes so we loaded up for the hospital. We all thought Noah would be born on Uncle Nate's birthday. After a VERY long night, the contractions came and went but nothing else happened. Finally they spaced out a bit and they sent us home. I remember the nurse that watched over us that night was very mean and I was secretly happy that she wouldn't get the satisfaction of delivering my son. We came back to the hospital early on the afternoon of the 4th. We were ecstatic when they told us that they were admitting Chris and she wasn't going home until Noah was born. This time, things went a lot smoother (and we had nicer nurses, too) and that evening they gave me my little boy. He was beautiful. He was sticking out his bottom lip and crying, but the second I looked at his face I could tell he looked just like me. Suddenly, I was extremely proud! The nurses were cleaning him up and they could tell I wanted to grab him but I kept my hands to myself and finally one of the nurses said, "Go ahead and touch him. He's YOURS!" He was wailing from all the mean things that nurses do to newborn babies but as soon as they handed him to me, he calmed down instantly. I wanted to hold him forever but I decided to share him with Chris and Myra. About an hour later, I walked out on the hospital's balcony and watched the fireworks. I'm glad I did. Every time I see fireworks, I can't help but think of this wonderful day. Happy Birthday Little Man.