Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was very nice for us this year and it was the first time we hosted family at our house for the actual day. We were fortunate to have Dave's parents and older sister, Carrie, come stay with us from Wed - Sun. We had a really nice time with them.

Dinner was ready right after naptime, so we indulged ourselves and let Davey sleep through the meal, but not before he had is own turkey feast. I had promised him that on Thanksgiving Day he could eat one of the turkeys he had made the prior week... 

I couldn't get him to look up for a picture the entire time he was eating it!!

The meal was delicious (if I do say so myself!), though once we got started I forgot to get a pic of the spread...

The table. 

I think this was the first time I had used my china since last Thanksgiving! Oops!

Davey had an absolute blast the whole time with all the attention he received from everyone. He is such a people-person and remembers the names of everyone he meets. He knows the names of the siblings and mothers of each of his little friends. He keeps talking about our friend JP, one of the guys who came into town for Dave's guy's weekend a couple weeks back and Davey only saw him for a couple hours. Yesterday we attended Dave's company's holiday party and once the babysitter arrived, he would barely take his attention away for a minute to say goodbye to us. Certainly no tears!

Davey and Aunt "Ki-ki." 

He loves his new New York sweatshirt! Thanks Ki-ki!

Carrie lived in Dallas for several years and was ready for a new set of cowgirl boots, so some of our Black Friday shopping (I went shopping all day with the girls while the guys hung with Davey! :) time was spent at Cavender's Boot City looking for some swanky boots for Carrie. Grandma Adams saw the little kids' boots and couldn't resist putting together Davey's full cowboy look (complete with a toy pony to ride)! 

Though he wasn't in the right mood when we tried it all on him... the hat made him most upset.

"Hold you, Mommy!"

We ended up exchanging them for a bigger size a couple days later; he wore the new pair out of the store and has worn no other shoes since then, except that I was able to convince him not to wear them to church this morning. But the minute we got back he had them on.

Not exactly the right cowboy look, but he likes it!

We had to laugh at the twins who didn't care enough that they were wearing the same thing to change..

Like father, like son!

Thanks for the great visit and come back again soon!

I Just Can't Resist...

... sharing a picture so sweet.

Houston Zoo

Like most kids, Davey absolutely loves zoos. We had been trying to get to the Houston zoo for a couple months and finally made it happen about two weeks ago. Our friend Haley Brown was a great tour guide and playmate for Davey. (Thank you!) It was such a beautiful day.

The tunnel through the aquarium was so cool!

Davey turned into a rodent!

Two little chicks chillin' in the nest.

Not real great for a photo op but Davey just had to sit on the zebra.

The petting zoo was so fun, with brushes to use on the animals.

The coolest thing we saw was the monkeys. Take a listen!

Most days since then Davey has asked to go to the zoo. So we'll have to be heading back soon!

Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Davey Adams is saying his prayers.

Dave came across this poem by A. A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh) and has wanted to stencil the first stanza as a border around Davey's ceiling, adapting it with Davey's name. It is a very sweet poem indeed, and an appropriate title for this post.

About a week ago, Davey uttered his first prayer all on his own (without any prompting, except to end it). Here's how it went: "Heavenly Father...(pause)... grateful... blessings... bless Aunt Katie... bless Uncle Bryan... bless Uncle Katie... Amen!" The picture of Dave's sister Katie and her new husband Bryan that is posted (along with other pictures of friends and family) on a board in his room, had kept falling down (since he kept pulling out the pin) and he had been concerned for them all week. It was all he could think about and apparently it was time to ask for some more help for them.

A couple days later we were eating some oatmeal for breakfast together and he offered his next unassisted prayer: "Heavenly Father... grateful food... grateful oatmeal... grateful Grama Pau-son... pee-pee, pee-pee, pee-pee!... bless pee-pee... Amen!" He must have needed to use the restroom but then realized he was still praying. It was so cute!

You Know Who You Are

A friend of mine posted this link on her blog and I'm posting for the enjoyment for a certain couple people I know, who will remain unnamed.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/07/lost-in-translation.html

The comments are part of the entertainment.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!!

My new friend, Amy, seems to always be doing the cutest little crafts and activities with her daughter, Lauren, who is Davey's age. I have been trying to be inspired by her to broaden the range of activities I do with Davey, so when I saw the cute little turkeys they had made out of cookies and candy, I thought this would be right up our alley. We invited our neighbors, Shawn, Charlotte and Mackenzie, to join us this afternoon.

Trying to figure out how to get it all to stick together right!

Davey wouldn't stop gob- gob- gobbling up the M&Ms!

Davey and Mackenzie proud of their finished products.

This turkey won't last until Thanksgiving!

Dave and His Boy Band

Dave was in California almost all of this past week. Davey was well-behaved and I slept better than the last time he was gone (for some reason I get really spooked being in this house alone; I think it's partly the responsibility I feel for Davey if something happened and partly that we live out on the edge of civilization here and it would be an easy getaway for burglars -- silly, I know, but it's hard to convince myself out of being scared) so I wasn't quite as exhausted as last time, but it was bad timing that after a week of doing it all myself that a bunch of Dave's buddies from MI were getting together for a guy's weekend of sorts.

Friday night was a Bond movie, a late dinner and a very late bedtime. Luckily Dave joined up after the movie so we were able to see him for a couple hours before he disappeared again. Saturday the guys wanted a "real" Texas experience (two came in from CA and MD) so they went gun shooting and horseback riding (which they came to regret). The day ended with some good Texas barbecue at our house (good because I didn't have to cook it and it was tasty).

Haley and Chris brought their Wii so the rest of the night was filled with rocking out playing Guitar Hero.

Concentrating so as not to get boo'd off the stage yet again!

The Boy Band: Adam, Nathan, JP, Dave and Chris

Is this the first album cover?

Luckily I wasn't the only girl that evening; since Chris and Adam live here in Houston, their wives came along. The guys mostly dominated the instruments, though, so we had some fun pampering ourselves...

Haylee, Rebecca and I getting ready for pedicures. 

My feet are always in need of some TLC!!

I'm glad Dave had fun with his buddies, but I must say we missed him!

Life: Narrated

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live your life with narration? What would you/the narrator say? Well, Davey is attempting the experiment.

Last night Davey and I were lucky to be able to have dinner with my dad who was in town for a meeting (Dave is in CA). As Davey chatted and blabbed away, my dad commented on how Davey has always been doing that. We recalled a car trip to visit my brother, Colter, last year at this time when Ben (14 at the time) was driven by Davey's constant "Da, da, da, da, da, ..." to exclaim, "I'm going to lose my hearing!!" The 4 hour car trip from Detroit to Cincinnati was filled with nothing but the refrain (not even punctuated by a nap).

My interpretation of the crabbiness that enveloped the first 18 or so months of Davey's life is his incessant desire to express himself. The larger his vocabulary becomes, the happier his countenance becomes. Yesterday we were in the car for almost two hours (bad traffic and heavy rain) to meet for dinner and Davey was delightful all the way. He jabbered and we sang songs and laughed at being silly.

Sometimes, and not infrequently, I do get tired of the constant talking... "Davey wake up, Davey downstairs, Davey eat yogurt, ..." and so on. Each thing he does and sees is presented for my returned commentary. I have to acknowledge the things he says or they are repeated over and over. I have been known to, on occasion, turn the car radio up loud enough that I can't hear him.

But these days I'm mostly enjoying it. I feel blessed to have my life filled with such sweetness. Here are some of the things I don't want to forget:

• The way Davey runs around the house yelling, "Honey, slow down!!!" This started a few months ago when Davey heard me ask Dave to do just that in the car. 
• The sound of Davey's, "We park. We park. We fit. We fit." as we pull into the garage or a parking space between two other cars. As he says, "We fit." he strains his voice as if we have to try really hard to make sure it happens.
• The happiness he projects onto the objects in his life, always going around saying, "Thomas (the Train) happy. James happy. Witchy-poo (the large cackling witch doll we had out for Halloween) happy." And whenever he laughs, he says, "Davey funny."
• The inflection in his voice as he proclaims, "Davey so handsome!" each time we comb his hair.

I guess feeling this contented with my life means that it is definitely time to move on to the next challenge. And just in time: only two more months until he arrives!

Congratulations and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Dave!! We celebrated with our friends Chris and Haylee by going to a cool Italian restaurant in "The Village" with Texas Sheet Cake for dessert. Mmmm... if any of you would like a good recipe for it, my mom's is amazing. That evening was also the night of celebration  and indulgence after 40 days of dieting in which Dave lost 18 pounds! Dave and Chris had a little competition going and Dave beat him out by a few pounds, so Chris has to listen to Dave's conservative radio pics for the next 40 days. Great job Dave!

Ghosts and Goblins

Actually, more like a couple ladybugs, some princesses and a train conductor...

Our Halloween fun began with a Halloween Party at the park with our 2 year old playgroup. It was a beautiful day and we had fun making faces for jack-o-lanterns and lollipop ghosts, eating cupcakes (certainly Davey's favorite part), and seeing all the cute little munchkins all dressed up!

It was a pretty easy decision to have Davey be a train conductor for Halloween with his love of trains. It amazes me how he can tell the difference between the cars and remembers dozens of their names.

Having fun with his buddies.

Davey and his pals. There is just one scary costume in the bunch. Can you find the mummy?

It was very much on purpose that I never mentioned the trick-or-treating part of Halloween to Davey until the day of. Once Dave explained it to him, his eyes lit up and he came to me to practice and was quite pleased with the result! You can imagine that he loved Halloween and had no problems catching on to running up to doors and yelling "trick-or-treat"!

All aboard!! Davey had fun learning how to blow his train whistle.

A very happy boy enjoying the fruit, or sucker, of his labor.

Amazingly, he didn't beg for candy while we were out and collected quite a bit of loot -- that Thomas pail was full! When he returned home, though, he knew exactly what he wanted to dive into!