Auntie Harmony comes to Texas

A few weeks back Harmony was telling me about how she was excited to visit New Orleans with her hubby, joining him for a business trip. Ready to jump on any opportunity to get my family to come visit me, I told her that we were only 5 hours away from there so if she was going to be that close, she'd better come for a visit. I knew it was a long-shot, but it worked! She was able to change her ticket and came to see us for 5 days before renting a car and driving to meet her hubby in the Big Easy. And, her visit coincided with the week my mom was here.

While I picked Mom up from the airport on Sunday, Harmony made the most delicious Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner. I can't wait to have it again!

We took Harmony and Mom to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory tour that I've posted about before...

Davey and Harmony ready for some creamy fun!

My mom found this adorable onesie in the gift shop.

Charlie's got all the sweetness the creamery needs! :)

The cutest part!

Riding the Blue Bell Bull

We couldn't miss out on heading to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo - the biggest in the world! We had beautiful weather and a great time at all the displays for kids.

This bunny pounced right at Davey!

If you look closely you can see him jumping out of the hand.

Davey focusing to keep the tractor in line (they had a 

tv screen in there so the kids really felt like they were driving!).

His first pony ride.

Hanging out with Grandma.

They had the cutest display for kids called Fun on the Farm. They got an apron and a basket and had to go around to different barns and work on the farm. Davey got to...

feed the chickens and collect an egg

plant a tomato seed and pick one

milk a cow

pick a peach from a tree

and grab an ear of corn.

Then he brought all his goods to the market and sold them for a dollar, which he brought to the country store and bought a box of raisins. He had so much fun!

Harmony also spent a bunch of time just lovin' on her nephews...

Tender moments.

Auntie Harmony and Davey have a special connection. It must come from the time they spent together last summer when we stayed with Harmony & Jared to attend a wedding. She is such a fun playmate for him - and me :) ! We're so glad you came and can't wait to see you again in a couple months!

Movie Night

We had our first movie night with Davey and it was so fun! Aunt Katie and Uncle Bryan gave him Lightning McQueen and Mack the truck when the were here and he loved playing with him so we thought we'd rent Cars so Davey could watch the story they go with. Davey loved having his own individual bag of popcorn, staying up late and the movie of course!

His morning routine always includes asking to watch his train show but this morning he corrected himself and asked to watch the movie again. I indulged him and let him watch it all the way through again. It's really only the second full-length film he's seen (Finding Nemo is the other one). I'm looking forward to our first experience in the movie theater now!

Progress

Sorry for the see-food picture, but I am very happy to report that Davey's eating horizons have expanded greatly as of late. We can get him to try most things that we are eating for dinner, pretty much only with the exception of lettuce (we just group the other salad toppings on his plate for him) and sandwiches other than PB&J. I was so surprised the other day when Dave offered him a bite of green pepper the other day and he not only tried it without complaint but also asked for more. Hooray!

A Nice Long Weekend

Not only did we have a nice day when Charlie was blessed, but we had a nice, extended weekend. Dave's family all arrived on the Friday before and my mom (who had come the previous Sunday) was kind enough to go stay in a hotel (though no one thought she needed to!) so that we could have a nice visit with them before things got so busy. We had a nice dinner at home on Friday night and went out for dessert. Saturday the guys (including my dad who arrived Friday night) enjoyed putzing around the house and installed a ceiling fan for us and fixed our broken dining chairs (yea!) while the girls went shopping. Then we joined up for some good Texas road-house barbecue at the Swinging Door. It was great to spend time with all of Dave's family together and my parents. Davey especially loved all the attention!

The Adams all left Sunday afternoon and my parents stayed until Tuesday so we got to spend some rare time with Grandpa Paulson, too. 

Monday we played tourist and went to explore Galveston Island and the Kemah boardwalk that I'd been wanting to see since we moved here. Too bad we didn't get to see Galveston before the storm; there was still a lot of damage evident and it was crazy to see boats just randomly sitting around on the ground that had been washed ashore.

It was a beautiful day (we had had cold, rainy weather the 4 days previous) and there were even people swimming in the ocean. Though I couldn't tell you how the water was... I stayed in the car feeding Charlie the whole time they were at the beach :(

On the beach at Galveston

One of the hotels that's back up and running.

Next we drove to Kemah and had a tasty lunch at the Caddilac. The Kemah boardwalk was a pretty fun place with a few nice restaurants with beautiful views of the bay, some carnival rides, and, best of all, a train.

The bay. It was so refreshing to breathe the ocean air again.

I miss the beach in California.

Davey looking cool in his new shades.

We're ready to ride!

Charlie was so smiley that Grandma couldn't resist staying 

behind so she could spend time enjoying him.

(Notice my new double stroller in this pic. 

I was so excited to finally get it and I love it!)

Davey loved his ride on "Thomas"

Shortly after this picture was taken, Dave tripped over a curb

and took an amazingly graceful fall in which Davey stayed

safely on his shoulders!

Dave enjoying time with his boys.

It was so nice spending time with you, Mom and Dad! Thanks so much for coming!

Charlie Says...

"Charlie says, Love my brother, Davey.

Charlie says, Love my brother, Davey.

Love my brother Davey 'cuz Davey's good!"

Dave adapted the old commercial for good 'n plenty (did you recognize it?) into a little song to help Davey still feel important when we brought Charlie home from the hospital.

And Charlie definitely loves Davey. Check out these cute pics and video!

Dinos and Donuts

Some of the moms in Davey's playgroup and I have been doing a sort of mini-preschool for the kids. They meet for about 45 minutes each Wed morning and we take turns hosting. Each week's theme is based on a letter of the alphabet. We had the letter D and chose dinosaurs as our theme. We talked about the attributes of dinosaurs (long tails, spikes, long neck, etc.), sang a cute song to the tune of I'm a little tea-pot, read Danny and the Dinosaur, matched dinosaurs on a page, traced the letter D and finally made a lowercase d out of some licorice and a donut. 

Davey and his d (though they all look like b's in the pics)

Lauren

Lulu (Lauren)

Sammy

I thought it might be stressful to do, but I found it to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to our next turn to host!

A Visit from Aunt Lacey!

We were so lucky to get a visit from my littlest sis, Lacey! She made a long weekend for herself and took a break from her studies at BYU to come hang out with us from Thu. through Mon. night.

Her first order of business: give Davey what she called a "faux-hawk". I've never been a fan of this hairstyle for boys (I just don't get why people think it's cute, especially on babies), so since the styling product she used wasn't very strong and his hair was pretty long for it, I was (not-so-secretely) happy when it fell soon after. :)

Lacey and her little creation.

The first day was fun-filled with a grocery shopping trip to Wal-Mart (woo-hoo) and then Lacey took Davey to Target to let him choose a toy. He ended up coming home with Little Debbie Easter Cakes instead... Meanwhile I spent time finishing clearing out Charlie's room so we could move Davey's bedroom furniture in there to make room for his new beds that came the next day. It was nice to have the help and Davey enjoyed the time with his auntie.

Davey and Lacey having some fun with the camera...

Lacey enjoyed spending time with Charlie, too.

Saturday Lacey and I got to have some girl time and did some shopping at the local outlet mall. It was fun to do some looking for me after so long, but I still ended up buying only things for the kids! The story of a mom's life I guess.

Sunday was pretty low-key with church and hanging out at home.

And Monday we had a fun time at the zoo! I finally broke down and decided to become a member.

Davey loves checking out the tropical fish and pointing

out the Nemo and Dori look-alikes.

His favorite display is still the giraffes, though...

And we got to see the 3 week old baby giraffe! So cute!

You kind of have to look closely to see it in the pic.

So big and so little at the same time!

The giraffe in the background (look through the glass)

is so tall I think I could stand upright under its belly!

The tallest one actually came out of hiding today, so we

had fun checking it out. So tall!!

Davey was so enthralled he wouldn't turn his head

for a picture.

The mandrill is another favorite of ours.

When I was uploading this picture, Davey was looking over my shoulder and asked, "What's that mommy?" As I tried to remember what it was called, Davey answered his own question correctly. I was amazed!

Charlie was happy in his car seat the whole morning,

sleeping most of the time.

Chubby cheeks!

We ended the visit by taking her by the water wall and a quick dinner at Lupe Tortilla.

This is one of my favorite things to see in Houston.

It's always impressive.

Thanks for coming, Lacey! We had so much fun and miss you already!

New Beds for Everyone!

When we moved into our new home, I told Dave that in order for him to sleep in the bed with this pregnant lady, we were going to have to get a bigger bed. There just wasn't room for me, my large pregnant belly, mr. body pillow, and Dave. So we bought a king size bed pretty quickly (thanks to some help from my in-laws - thank you!!) but were sleeping with flat sheets from our queen for a long time. We just couldn't agree on a new bedding set. I wanted something relaxing feeling and Dave wanted bright, cheery colors. So we went without for a long time. I am happy to report, though, that one day while not looking for bedding at all, I stumbled upon a set that was a great deal and I thought would satisfy both of us (since I told Dave he no longer had a say in the matter :). We finally have a nice, pretty room. And thanks to my mom for the gift of the pretty pictures above the bed!

And we aren't the only ones with a new bed...

Dave's parents surprised us with a gift of bunk beds and a dresser for the boys! They were a little nervous since they picked them out and ordered them without input from us, but we love them! It was such a generous and thoughtful gift.

The beds won't be bunked for a while yet (Davey needs to be older), but Davey is so excited and doing so well sleeping in his big boy bed.

I love the blue color of the beds. So perfect for 

a pair of boys!

The room is in desperate need of some decorating, but that always takes me a long time.... I'm not good at picking out patterns, colors, themes... anything to do with decor! But I am feeling more inspired about it now with these fun beds so hopefully we'll get it together soon. In the mean time, we have some adorable handmade bedspreads from when Dave was a child.

Davey laying in his new bed for the first time.

What a big boy he is getting to be!

Trains are making for a great bribe these days, so I had Dave take him to Toys R Us to pick out a train that would be his as long as he stayed in his bed. He chose and engine named Duncan.

As the delivery men put the beds together, Davey ran around the house, skipping and jumping, so excited about his new bed. I wasn't sure if that would translate into wanting to actually sleep in it that night, but at least it gave me hope. As I put him to bed, he started complaining and asking to go downstairs, which he rarely does. Eventually I got him to settle into bed after going back and forth between the new one and his old crib, mostly expecting him to want to sleep in his crib, but he really wanted the bed, so that is where he ended up. And he did great; stayed in the bed all night and stayed in it in the morning and called for us to come get him!

With Duncan; all ready to sleep.

What a big boy!

The next day he took his nap in his bed just fine and has done well ever since. He used to take all kinds of toys to bed with him and often play for a while before falling off to sleep; now he may take one train but he falls right asleep, staying on the pillow and under the covers!

A New 'Do

Dave has been dying to take Davey for his first "real" haircut (Dave doesn't count ones given at home) and he finally got to take him last week. I have some really nice clippers that I think I'm going to have to exchange when we head back to MI this summer. I can't give Davey a decent haircut with them because they are always pulling his hair and hurting him in the process. The only thing I could think of is that it needed to be oiled, but that hasn't helped.

Dave took him to Great Clips and paid an outrageous $16 for a child haircut, so I'm hoping I can get these clippers working well soon so I don't have to pay that again.

Davey apparently held perfectly still for the 

stylist. If only he'd do that for me!

If you look closely you can see not only 

his comatose look but also how badly

he needed this haircut!