Haircut

BEFORE

Well, it was time for Deacon's first haircut. I could tell because his shaggy locks were hanging over his ears and going crazy in the back. But I could also tell by the amount of times that perfect strangers made comments like "look at that head of hair that baby has." This is code for "Your child needs a haircut." This is much like when people comment on how "busy" your children are, and you know that by "busy" they are really saying "out of control." Anyway, I decided since the number of haircuts I have given in my life now equal two, I was not going to attempt Deacon's first one. As Chris was holding Deacon face down on his lap, Deacon's head secure in a hand vice, his lungs and voice working at full capacity, and the girl scissoring at Mach speed, I said, "This was so worth $8." My cheapness has its limits, and I was just grateful not to be the girl holding the scissors.

AFTER

Christmas

Santa came through for Parker.

Nothing says Christmas like sick children, crying about opening their presents. It was a great Christmas despite the fact that everyone was infected with something. (Or multiple somethings.) The past week I have spent $75 in co-pays and $100 in medicine to relieve the following: cold, bronchitis, sinus infection, pink eye, stomach flu, and ear infection. Here's to wishing myself, and those that our family infected over the holidays, HEALTH and happiness in the coming year.

Santa

Saturday was our ward's Christmas party. The highlight of the evening was the arrival of Santa at the end of the party. Well, the highlight for Parker anyway. McKay fell asleep waiting in the 45 minute line for Santa. Deacon was screaming because he was tired and hungry. And I was just annoyed to be standing in such a long line.

Now Parker had been asking Santa to bring him a real BYU football helmet. I found BYU football helmets. They were all $100-$200. So I told Parker, "I don't think Santa can find a BYU helmet. Maybe you should ask for something else." To which he replied, "Santa can make it in his toy shop. He's always given me what I want before." Desperate, I spent hours searching ebay and every other place I could think of, all the while trying to convince Parker he wanted something other than a football helmet for Christmas.

Then amazingly I found a brand new plain white football helmet on Amazon and BYU football helmet decals on ebay. I was giddy! I tried explaining my great find to Chris. "I got it for half the price, plus free shipping, plus if I sign up for this Amazon thing I get $30 off--why are you not excited?!?" He got in trouble for not being appropriately enthusiastic at my great deal.

So standing in line with Parker, I was thinking how excited he's going to be on Christmas. "What are you going to ask Santa for?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said, "maybe a skateboard."

"What?!? I thought you wanted a BYU football helmet."

"Yeah, but you told me it cost too much money for Santa."

"Remember Santa can make it in his toy shop."

"You told me he could only make toys that you can find in a store."

"I lied! This is the real Santa. He can do anything!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

He asked Santa for the helmet, but he seemed very unconvinced.

Zoo Day

Last Saturday was Paws-n-Claus at the zoo. This meant two things-Santa and free admission.

You can see only cheap people go the zoo in December, as it was pretty cold.

Parker was very adamant on his outfit choice. He wanted to dress like a zoologist. Apparently zoologists wear jellybean gardening gloves.


McKay started out being grumpy because she was cold and sleepy. But she finally came out of her shell.

I feel that this series of pictures of the kids playing on the Komodo dragon statue deserves a truly clever caption, but alas I'm striking out.

Manners

We've been working on teaching our kids table manners. This week we have been concentrating on asking to be excused when finished with dinner. Today we were almost done with sacrament meeting when McKay, who had been sitting amazingly well on her chair, turned to me and asked, "May I please be excused?"

Childlike

Today McKay helped me make cookies. Our stake participates in a program that makes cookies for inmates for Christmas presents, so I was making cookies for that. I put some of the cookies on a plate, and told McKay she couldn't eat those ones because we were giving them away.

"To who?" she asked. Unsure if she would understand I said, "To people in jail." "Oh," she said. Then when I went to move the plate she said, "Is it time to give the bad guys our cookies? Because I can be nice to bad guys, too."

To me that is the definition of being childlike.

Phone Calls

While talking to my sister, Riki, on the phone today, I overheard her say, "Bailey, why are you microwaving a pickle?" This reminded me of other great phone calls with Riki. Once I heard her say, "Bridger, don't eat it. Don't eat it." Followed by crying and, "I've got to go. Bridger just ate an onion." Which reminded me of the time I was talking to her and I said, "McKay,get your foot out of the frosting!" This was followed by, "I've got to go. McKay's walking on the couch with a frosting foot." Apparently, we tend to ignore our children when we talk on the phone. This must lead to their weird usage of food...

Almost Twins

My sister, Emily, came up to Idaho for Thanksgiving. Though she is six years younger than me, apparently we look more alike than I thought. McKay came up to me and asked, "Are you mommy or Emily?"

Overheard

Driving Parker home from school, I overheard this conversation.

Parker: "McKay, I know we tell you that your kitty is a girl, but it's not. It's a boy. Mommy doesn't want any baby kittens, so all of your kittens will always be boys. And do you know why that is? Because sometimes life just sucks."

I can't wait until he finds out about Santa Claus.

Twilight

First of all, I would like to say this picture has nothing to do with the rest of my post. It is just a picture of our house for those who have been asking to see it.

So I can finally get back to blogging, as, (Hallelujah!), the talk I have been spending all week writing is done. I gave it in church today, and one little line in it happened to mention something about me reading the Twilight series. Yes, I tied it in so it was gospel related. Weirdly enough you can talk about anything in church, even vampires and werewolves, if you can make a great metaphor. ANYWAY, afterwards, about everyone had to come up and talk to me about Twilight. I tell you one sentence in the whole talk mentioned these books. Forget all the great gospel insights I brought up, I will forever be labeled "that new girl who talked about Twilight over the pulpit."

So speaking of Twilight, the movie came out. For some reason, people who knew I had read these books, but had not personally read them themselves, wondered if I was going to see the movie. This includes Parker's first grade teacher. I went in on Friday to be art mom. "Are you going to see the Twilight movie?" she asked. "When I heard it was coming out, I thought of you." What?!? And she's not the only person to have said this to me. Vampires. My name is associated with vampires. I could be a Catch phrase question. At the clue, "Kodie Davis," everyone would shout "Vampires." I have no idea why.

So, yes, of course I saw the movie on Friday. I dragged Chris to it. (He swore he would not see it with me.) The best part was when Edward came on screen for the first time and all the girls screamed. Chris exclaimed, "What kind of chic flick did you drag me to? Am I the only guy here?" He had to look around the theater to make sure he wasn't. It was great.

Adventures in the Dark

Yesterday was McKay's third birthday. A nonstop day of fun, she was literally begging for bed by dinner time. Putting her down at 6:30 for the night was no problem. However, she was well rested at three a.m. when she came crawling into bed to ask me if she could play with her balloons and new toys. I told her it was nighttime, put her back in bed, and went to sleep. Twenty minutes later she was waking me up again, asking to play with her new toys and balloons. This time I put her back to bed and got up to feed Deacon. And yes, five minutes later, my little ghost of birthday past was back. This time she had something new to tell me--"I peed in my jammies." Not wanting to wake Deacon, I told her to go tell daddy to help her. And once AGAIN, she was back. "Did you tell, daddy?" I asked. "Yes," she said, "he just laid there." By the time she was FINALLY changed and asleep for good it was 4:30. I moved to the couch with Deacon for the rest of the night. But just a short two hours later, a wet sensation woke me. Deacon's diaper had leaked, and my couch and I were soaked. Talk about irony! All of my stresses over McKay, and Deacon would be the one to christen the couches. Now that the new house smell has been replaced with the faint odor of urine, life is normal, and I am ready to go back to being a relaxed mom. Well, relaxed for me anyway.

Potty-Training Update

So I have repeatedly been asked--how is potty-training going? O.k. actually only my mom and sister asked. But as it is an extremely exciting topic, I'm sure everyone is wondering. The good news--my couches have remained dry. The bad news--my carpet and Deacon are another story. We've had a few accidents here and there, but for the most part things have been going good. That is until this morning. McKay was sitting on her potty watching t.v., and I was upstairs getting ready. I came to check on her, and I found Deacon playing on the ground delighted. He was flapping his arms and legs like he was swimming. Then I noticed he was wet. He WAS swimming. He was swimming in McKay's pee. The potty chair was overturned, the potty-training candy was in the potty (weirdly and disgustingly enough), and Deacon was doing the breaststroke on my soggy carpet. I questioned McKay in depth, and I came to this conclusion--I have absolutely no idea what happened. Ahh, the joys of potty-training.

Park Day

Yesterday Parker didn't have school, so I picked up my nephew, Heath, and we went to the park. This consisted of Parker and Heath running around like crazed madmen with McKay following behind, holding her dolly, calling, "Wait for me and my daughter!"

I did overhear the following comments:
Parker: "I smell girl."

Heath: "Do you know where the Boogie Man lives?"
Parker: "Uranus?"
Heath: "No, church."

Haircut

Since moving to Meridian I have been in search of a place that gives good cheap haircuts for Parker. I have struck out. The last place I went, Parker didn't like the woman, because she kept "breathing on him." I decided I could solve this dilemma and save money by cutting Parker's hair myself.

Those of you who know me are probably questioning this strategy. I cannot cut a piece of paper straight, even with the aid of a paper cutter, so why I thought I could cut hair is a little beyond me. But my sense of cheapness overcame my sense of reason, and I decided to try yesterday.

Minus one bald patch (Who knew the over the ear clipper attachment would cut hair so short?) he turned out o.k. looking. Alright, he looks like a kid whose mother cut his hair.



He wouldn't let me take a picture of his bald spot, or really any picture at all that didn't involve him being a Jedi.

But the point is this--I have learned a valuable lesson. And that lesson is--sanity cannot be bought. No amount of money saved is worth trying to cut the hair of a wiggly, screaming, freaking-out six year old boy all without swearing or spanking.

So I have decided to put my clippers to good use. Chris's hair. He keeps putting me off on that one, but he will cave eventually......And then who will freak out more Chris or Parker?

A Brave New Day

Today is a big day in the Davis house. We are attempting a Pull-up free day. In other words, today is the day McKay is officially moving into the world of Hello Kitty panties. I'm sure the benefits of having a child potty-trained by her mother, rather than a college roommate (possible back-up plan) will outweigh the panic attack I am having today over letting my daughter in the vicinity of my new couches. Serenity now.

Tagged

My wonderful friend Shirley tagged me with one of those lists you fill out about yourself. I refrain from completing them out of principle. The principle being I am boring. However, this tag asked you to list seven things that attracted you to your husband. Chris has, therefore, been bugging me to complete the tag. He even went so far as to instant message me a list of potential ideas. I believe the list went as follows:

1. Amazing biceps
2. Stellar good looks
3. Witty sense of humor
4. I can't remember the rest of the list, but it was good.

A picture is worth a thousand words.



I think that pretty much sums up the rest of the list. I love you, honey.

Halloween

It's impossible to get all three kids happy, smiling, and looking at the camera.


But I can usually get one of them to.

Brothers

I was shampooing McKay's hair, when I heard Deacon wake up from his nap screaming. Soon Parker asks, "Do you want me to take care of him Mom?" Having no idea what this meant, I said, "Sure." This is what I discovered.

The Destroying Angel

McKay got into the flour today. Again. The second time this week. This time it was whole wheat. Last time it was white flour, so she's diversifying her messes. I went to get my camera to take a picture, when I thought, wait don't I have a picture of her playing in the flour?

This was her getting into the flour last month. I looked through her pictures, and I realized I have documented her mess making since her first messy bites of rice cereal.

We gave her the nickname "The Angel of Destruction" when she was one.

Last week, she got into the flour twice--one time filling my dishwasher with it, poured her yogurt on the floor and finger painted in it, and wrote on the computer monitor. This child will be three next month. When will the insanity end?

I called Poison Control last month because she was licking the paintbrush containing Thompson's Water Seal, not only once, but repeatedly. (Could it really taste that good?) The girl I spoke to wanted to know how old she was. I responded, "Old enough to know better!"

The Republican Candidate Paid us a Visit

Parker's Republican candidate girlfriend, Sydney, came up yesterday. It was like we still lived around the corner from the Torgersens with our children running and playing and screaming throughout the house. It was great fun. All the rest of you should come visit us! :)

Sydney has also found a replacement boyfriend in Parker's absence, a boy named Danny. Parker's parting comments were to Sydney's brother, Matthew. "Matthew, tell Danny that he's only the Republican candidate!"

Parker's Girlfriends

Parker has a new girlfriend. She lives across the street. He introduced her to me by saying, "Mom this is my new girlfriend, McKenna." She seemed o.k. with the label. He also has a Utah girlfriend, Sydney. He explained the McKenna/Sydney thing to me like this: "Sydney is my Utah girlfriend. She is like the Republican candidate. McKenna is my Idaho girlfriend. She is like the Democratic candidate. When I grow up I will have to pick which candidate to marry."

McKenna was over playing yesterday, and Parker said, "Tomorrow you can meet my other girlfriend, Sydney. She's coming to visit." I was thinking, Parker, my son, you have a lot to learn about women.

A Monumental Day

The above picture is of a garage. Not just any garage, but my garage. And yes, amazingly there is a van parked in it. Yesterday Chris cleaned out enough of the garage that we could park our van inside. Now, you may think haven't they lived in there new house for like two months? Aren't they unpacked YET? The answers are yes and no.

After about the first month of living here, I realized that everything essential to life was basically unpacked and everything left living in the garage was just the accumulated garbage of 7 1/2 years of married life. I had the very good idea of just taking the boxes unopened to the D.I. Then I figured we quite literally wouldn't know what we were missing, and my life would be less cluttered. Anyone who knows my husband realizes that he would never go for this plan in one million years. So I gave up on cleaning out the garage, and he has methodically been going at it one box at a time for the past two months. Now that he has brought out of the boxes such important things as Chewie's doggie backpack and our family's collection of sock puppets, our house truly feels like home. But enough of that on to the monumental day--today.

Today I backed a vehicle out of a garage for the first time in my LIFE! Yes, I grew up in a home with a carport, lived in a home with a carport, and for the first time in 28 years now live with a garage. When I took the kids out to the van this morning, McKay said, "Mommy, the garage is scary." And yes it was. I was a little worried about taking off my side mirror backing up. Chris has told me no less then 417 times, that he believes I'm going to do this, which makes me slightly paranoid. But to be truly honest, my biggest fear is that I will forget I am in a garage and not a carport and back out without opening the garage door. But it was an amazing experience, and I have now successfully driven out of and into a garage all before I turned 30.

O.K. Already

I was getting pressure to start a blog. I really didn't want to blog, because then I would have to have something to blog about. I could think of nothing more depressing than sitting down at the computer and realizing I had absolutely nothing to say except that McKay went pee-pee in her potty. (Yes, she did five minutes ago. She's sitting bare-bottomed in front of the t.v. right now eating her potty-training candy.) I'm just excited that we moved this year. It gives me something to write in the Christmas newsletter.

Anyway, Chris started this blog for me, which took the pressure off of me to create one, but then gave me new pressure to actually put something on the blog. So I decided to show off my new house. I took pictures of the library/bonus room/family room upstairs because it is my favorite room in the house, and also because it is the only room clean currently. Maybe as I clean other rooms in the house, I will add more pictures.

Also I had to take a picture of Deacon while I was at it, because 1.) He is so stinking cute, and 2.) Many do not realize what a chunky monkey he truly is. In case you were wondering he weighed in at twenty pounds even at his six month appointment two weeks. That is what the average one year old weighs.

Now the blogging pressure is off, and I can get back to my truly exciting life of potty-training and sweeping ant-encrusted Cheerios off my kitchen floor....

Best Husband

I have the best husband in the world! He was so considerate to make this super cute blog for me. He is the best.

I am totally not going to get mad at him for doing this because he is sooo thoughtful. And I can change everything about this site until I REALLY love it!

Now I don’t have to ask him to post things for me or tell him that my friends want to see more pictures of our kids on his blog.

This is the greatest!