May 2007 Archives

Myra and I hopped in the car to get donuts this morning and there was some Duran Duran playing on the radio. She asked me what song it was and I told her it was some "Eighties Music." I asked her if she knew what the 80's were, and she replied, "Oh yeah, it's a place where cool people live!" She was impressed when I told her that Mommy and I used to live in the 80's. She was a little disappointed, though, when I explained to her what the 80's really were.

Bonus quote - as I write this in the dining room, I can hear Noah sitting at the kitchen table singing "Gonna eat it. Gonna eat it. Gonna EAT IT!" to his donuts.

Today, after school, we took the kids for a short dip in the pool. The water, by the way, was freezing! When we arrived home, Noah came running around the corner ... naked ...saying those words we've been longing to hear ...

"Mommy, I need to go potty!"

And HE DID! I haven't stopped smiling yet. What a proud day in the Davis home.

Today Hannah's been feeling a little under the weather. She's been very clingy and cranky. While cuddling on the couch for a bit, Hannah started messing with my toes saying "Pretty toes!" I asked her if pretty toes would make her feel better and she shook her head yes. A coat of red polish and couple stickers (yes, I cheat) later ...

She's still a little on the clingy side but she's not fussing. I'll take it!

Here's what happens in our playroom when I spend a few minutes fixing lunch leaving the babies to entertain themselves. (For those of you that know Noah and Hannah, imagine the occasional scream thrown in.)

I don't waste my time cleaning it while the babies are running around. However, come "quiet time" ...

Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to get back to the previous. They must think it's magic.

MYRA: "Daddy, spell cup."

DADDY: "c-u-p"

MYRA: "Mommy, spell rose."

MOMMY: "r-o-s-e"

MOMMY (while picking up cards): "Myra, spell clean up."

MYRA: "kah-llll-een-up"

I found this quote in The Country Home Early Summer 2007 Catalog and thought I'd share it ....

Motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, latte in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!"

Walt's cute video of Kennedy and Angie playing ball inspired me to dig through my work computer for some projects we did in my Tech Apps class. We made these short animated gifs with GIMP and some of them turned out really great. Here is my favorite one:

Cousin Andrew visited Davis Day Care the other day and Noah actually acknowledged his existence! Not only that, he even held the baby! I think he's starting to like him.

Friday was Kindergarten Field Day at Myra's school and it looks like they had a blast. Noah got to hang out with Daddy for a while Mom took some great photos of the event. Click on the photo to view them all.

I was changing Noah's diaper the other day and had him up on his changing table. It was hot, so I turned his night-night fan and pointed it over him (and me). I took off his diaper and suddenly he starts getting upset. "Daddy! The fan is looking at my pee-pee!" I had to ask him again to verify what I thought I heard. I burst into laughter. Now Noah WANTS the fan turned onto him when I change his diaper.

Tonight I was fortunate enough to attend a private performance by one of ballet's greatest Miss Myra Lynnette. Myra began her studies at the young age of 5. Over the last couple of weeks, she's attended Barbie's School Of Ballet and quickly advanced to the top of the class. Today, she has earned a place among the best in the Ballet Palace of Fame; an honor that only 12 others have achieved. She is currently traveling throughout the house with her next performance in Playroom, TX.

Today in the car Chris was joking that policemen would only pull her over so that they could talk to a "Hawt Chick." We always pronounce it a little different in that context with a long H with an emphasized awww part. Consider that your daily lesson on the Davis dialect of the English language. Tune in tomorrow as I explain the intricacies of my use the phrase "Huh HUH huh." Anyway, Myra overheard us and said, "I know what Hawt means." I asked her to explain expecting her to tell us about temperature or spicieness. She says, "It's when a girl is cool AND pretty!" I can't argue with that. Chris is awful cool and pretty. That's my HAWT wife!

Today, after church, we hit McDonald's to treat Mom to a wonderful gourmet meal. Afterward, we let the kids play in the playground thingy and Noah climbed all the way up to the top because there was a rocket up there. Soon, we heard counting.
"1...2...3..."
We couldn't figure out what he was counting.
"4...5...6..."
What could there be up there?
"7...8...9...BLASTOFF!"
Ahhh a countdown...err, countUP. He knows they count before they shoot a rocket, but the counting DOWN part he hasn't quite figured out.

PS--NASA will tell you that reentry is the toughest part of a space flight and I'd have to agree. After Noah's "blastoff" he got spooked and wouldn't climb down. Mom had to climb up and drag him out. Happy Mother's Day!

For all the mothers everywhere ...

... we couldn't have said it any better.

Josh has one of his own to show off:

It's hard to believe, but it has been seven years since the day that Chris and I said our I Do's. I was planning on surprising Chris with these pics, but she found out about them so I guess I'll just toss them up for everyone to look at. Man was I good looking back then. Click the picture for more photos from that day.

Myra was looking through an old picture album this afternoon and came across a picture of me, Josh and Rachel (my step-sister). Since Myra doesn't get to see Rachel that often, she, of course, ask who she was. I tell you, trying to explain step-relatives to a five-year-old isn't easy. Luckily, Myra made it quite simple (kinda) in explaining how you get 'steps' in your family ...

ME: "Aunt Rachel and I have different mommies and daddies."

MYRA: "How?"

JOSH: "See, Granddaddy and Grandma used to be married."

MYRA: "But Granddaddy had that mustache and all the girls liked him?"

(Josh laughed while I tried to contain myself.)

ME: "Ummmm ... yeah."

MYRA: "And when Granddaddy shaved it off only Mimi liked him?"

ME: "Okay ... sure."

There's no need to go into details at this stage.

One upon a time, there was a beautiful, fun loving Mommy ...

As many of you know, I usually refer to Noah as "Brother Bear". I don't remember when it started or exactly how it started. It quite possibly could be the fact that he's grown so fast and he LOVES to growl or the fact that my little brother was a bear also ... "Boo Bear". Who knows. Anyway, the point is he's "Brother Bear" making Myra "Sister Bear" even though I hardly ever call her that.

What some of you may not know is that Hannah has turned into "Grace" at my house. Why? For some strange reason, trying to get her attention by simply calling "Hannah" doesn't seem to cut it. She never acknowledges me until I add the "Grace". So to make things run faster ... a little smoother, I have eliminated the "Hannah" and have just gone straight to "Grace". That's me, always looking for shortcuts.

A few days ago, I was trying to herd Hannah and Noah into the car for a string of errands. I called out "Come on, Brother Bear! Let's go!" I get him buckled in and head for Hannah. As I'm buckling her in, she tells me "Hannah Bear, Mommy! Hannah Bear!" I smiled and replied "Nah ... Gracie Bear?" She giggled while shaking her head "yes".

While driving to where ever, Gracie Bear was playing with a baby doll she had brought along for the ride. Since we were on the subject (if you can have one of those with a two-year-old) of names, I asked her what her baby's name was. She answered "Baby Brother." I said "Oh, Drew Bear?" She giggled again and held the baby up high saying excitedly, "Drew Bear, Mommy! Drew Bear!"

... And the four little bears lived happily ever after. THE END.

OK, so sometimes we forget all about the pictures that we've taken and we don't remember them until we pull the card out of the camera. That's what happened here. I found a few pictures we took on Easter Sunday. I threw them up on Flickr because it's still fun to look at them even if they are late. This one is my favorite:

As you can see, Noah was pumped and Myra was pouty. Oh well.

As some of you know, this has been a rough year for me. A couple of months ago, a very close friend of mine from Boswell killed himself. I haven't been able to bring myself to write about it until now. We were like the Two Amigos. If you saw me, Mark was probably right beside me. We had rooms beside each other, we ate together, and we even did the same things in our classes. He taught me some great teaching tricks and I taught him how to use BearShare (a fair trade if you ask me). OK, so I taught him so other computery stuff, too, but man did he love him some file-sharing. After changing schools, I tried to talk him into to joining me every time we spoke. One Saturday morning at 6:30 the phone rang and it was my old principal giving me the news. I was just as dumbfounded by it then as I am today. The funeral was incredibly sad. He left behind a live-in girlfriend and her children who had really come to be his family. He made such a positive impact on their lives. I hope they carry on.

On Thursday of last week, one of my students was hit by a car while crossing the road on his way to school. A few minutes later, I attended a meeting where they gave us the news and told us how bad it was. They were having trouble getting a hold of the parents. We were floored. My heart when out to him and his family. Later that day, he passed away at the hospital. His funeral was today. With the memory of Mark's funeral still fresh in my mind, I couldn't bring myself to attend it. Being the funeral of a child made it that much worse. I already feel guilty about it.

I've never lost a friend before. I've never lost a student before. I can't bring myself to take his name off the seating chart and every time I take roll, I have to think about his empty seat. It's a weird feeling.