T is for Tahoe

This year we made goals for the summer.
Partly to keep the kids busy doing great things and also to keep from hearing the words, "I'm bored."
I have yet to hear that and we are about 5 weeks into summer.
One of the goals for the 3 big kids was to swim in Lake Tahoe.

Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to share their vacation with the kids.
This was the first year in a long time that they had their timeshare during summer so the kids could go.
They had a great idea for this trip.
They took the 3 big kids for the first 3 days so they could do some more "big kid" things.
One of which was renting bikes and going on a 10 mile bike ride in Tahoe.



After 3 days they drove all the way back down the hill and switched off kids.
They picked up the 2 little boys and back up the hill they went.



The little boys had a great time just hanging out.
I can already picture them as two old men in this same position talking about the "good old days"

One of Hudson's goals was to swim without his tubie.
I got a call one morning from him.
He was so excited.

" Mom, mom, I passed off one of my goals. I swam in the pool with no tubie. Aren't you proud?"
"Wow Hudson, that is awesome."
"Yeah - I only had on my life jacket."
{I guess that I need to be more specific next time !}

I did not have the heart to tell him that it was supposed to be with out ANYTHING to help him.
One of the first things that he did when he got home was check the box on his summer goals chart.

The Tahoe trip could not have come at a better time.
It was the week after Eliza was born and Charles had just gone back to work.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for helping the kids check off the letter T!

Baby Davis is finally here

Danee is doing well after another round of minute to win it labor (more like hour to win it, but that doesn't rhyme).  The doctor broke Danee's water at 9am and as last time the baby was out in under an hour.  There was still some excitement as Danee requested an epidural and the anesthesiologist was getting was talking to her about the epidural while she went from a 5 to a 7/8 in about 7 minutes.  The anesthesiologist ran out and a bunch of nurses and Danee's doctor ran in and about 4 minutes later Danee gave a good push and out came the baby.  Danee's doctor said her favorite part of the day was seeing the shocked look on the face of the anesthesiologist as he left Danee's room.

Another exiting story for Danee's birthing scrapbook (she doesn't really have a birthing scrapbook, that was a joke).

Eliza Juliette Davis

8lbs 1oz

19 inches

9:54 am

This is what her father refers to as her "Guitar Hero" pose.

The entire Davis Clan. 

Is it weird that when I look at this picture that it really doesn't seem like it is a lot of kids??

I am sure that is crazy. 

Or maybe it is just the pain meds talking. 

Ok, I am barely taking anything so I guess that I have to blame it on hormones.

to Walmart we must go....

So we still sit and wait for baby Davis to make an appearance.

Charles has worked from home all week since my last labor was all of 45 minutes start to finish. 

He figures that even if he is here and my water breaks he will have less than 10 minutes to get me out the door and to the hospital before the baby arrives. 

Hence the staying close to me at all times. 

It is sweet but I have to say that I have done a lot of sitting {because my feet and ankles are so swollen} and not been able to go many places. 

I was just stir crazy and we needed a serious run to Walmart before baby arrives. 

The only way that I was going to be able to survive a Walmart trip was to ride around in one of those scooters. Yep! I was that desperate to get out of the house that I was willing to subject myself to that kind of humiliation. 

Charles had the cart with Brigham as his helper and I scootered around. 

Walmart was the store of choice since our list was so big and random. It included everything from the normal milk and cheese to composition books, moisturizer, and little boy underware.

Charles insisted that Hudson needed new underware as a matter of principle more than anything else. 

He declared that it was high time I bought our 6 year old underware that was bigger than 2T. 

He was in the underware aisle when I came around the corner in my cool scooter. 

He had already chosen Spider man and had just found Toy Story 3. 

Perfect check that box. 

When we got home we gave Hudson his new packages of underware. 

He loved the Spider man.

Loved the Toy Story ones too. 

He pulled them out one by one so we could see all of them. 

First came Woody across the bum.

Next was a cast of characters that included Woody and Buzz and others. 

Then came something that we were not expecting. 

Something that brought a roar of laughter........

Come on? 

How often do you get to wear your little brother's name across your bum?

As soon as he saw them he said that these were for Rexton. 

{Rexton is actually the model in this picture}

We scream for Ice Cream

Grandma and Grandpa called us after the kids got home from their last day of school to see if we wanted to go to ice cream to celebrate. Who can turn down that offer?

Not us! 

We are trying to forget about the fact that baby Davis has not made an appearance yet. 

Grandma told the kids that they could choose 1 or 2 scoops. Now that is pretty awesome. I think that the only other time that I let the kids choose more than one scoop is when Baskin Robbins has their 31 cent scoop night once a year. 

{this year at 31 cent scoop night each of my big kids got a triple scoop. I am sure glad that I only paid 93 cents for the whole cone because they chose NASTY flavors like Rainbow Nerd Sherbet}

My kids surprise me with the flavors that they choose. All big kids picked sorbets and sherbets. 

Where is the chocolate? Are you really my children?

Emmelyne did her usual trick of dropping her double scoop cone on the ground.That would be the second time in a row that happened. 

Rexton was happy with a plain "A- nilla" cone

He likes to leave the first letter off of words.

Here is the whole gang minus mom. 

I was able to have an exemption from being in the picture since today was my due date and I should not have to have my picture taken until there is a baby in my arms. 

I was exempt from the picture but NOT from eating yummy ice cream.

{note Emmelyne's boots with her shorts. She is a boot lovin girl. I will turn around many times during the summer and find her playing outside in her boots and shorts when putting flip flops on would have been much easier and COOLER. Funny girl.}

Thanks Different Grandma and Different Grandpa!

Last day of school

The kids let me snap a quick picture before heading out the door for the last day of school. I can not believe that next year we will have a 1st grader, a 4th grader, a 6th grader, and an 8th grader. This will be the only year EVER that I will have all of the kids at the same school, starting at the same time and ending at the same time. I promise to enjoy the simplicity that it should bring. We have many fun things planned for the summer, many challenges planned with some tough summer goals that each of the kids have set, and some growing experiences planned....like a baby to arrive at any given moment.

It is amazing to look back on the pictures from the first day of school and see how much they have changed. Hudson grew 3 shoe sizes, Emmelyne's hair is much shorter, Brooklyn's is much longer, and Brigham has leaned out even more. Rexton just always wants to be in the middle of the mix even though he was not even dressed yet. He is still in his favorite Lightning McQueen pajamas. Hudson asked if he could do "crazy Calvin hair" for the last day of school. Sure - why not?!

Father's Day in May

I had a brilliant idea this year. 

We celebrated Father's Day for Charles a few weeks early. 

I looked at the calender and realized that Father's Day was going to come just a few short days after Baby Davis is due. 

I do not think that I will be up for giving Charles the proper celebration that he deserves.

Trust me - he deserves it. 

So just 2 weeks after Mother's Day I found myself returning the favor to him and honoring him as the father of  our children {and soon to be children}

He actually picked out his own gift this year {very sneakily}since I am not quite sure what to get him when it comes to the bike equipment. 

He got some new toe cover thingers to keep him warm in winter.

We had to have one surprise gift so he also got a new {much needed} wallet.

The last one went thru the wash along with his cell phone and has never been the same since.

Hudson loves to wrap things and give presents. 

All on his own he wrapped up some "gifts" for dad.

One from him.

One from Hobbes.

From Him - Charles' library book that he was in the middle of reading

From Hobbes - a can of tuna of course {what else would a tiger give? duh.}

He gave all of us quite a good laugh.

Matching sonograms

Charles has never been one to "one up me".

This week was the exception. 

I will leave out the gorry details because that is his story to tell if he wants.

Let's just say that he got out of a whole Saturday's worth of work because he was laid out on the couch.

Let's just say that he did not really move for a good almost 24 hours.

Let's just say that he still got dressed for church and taught Gospel Doctrine.

Let's just say that despite his wife telling him that he was starting to look yellow he dismissed the comment and said that it was just the yellow tie that he was wearing.

Let's just say that the next morning he tried to ride his bike into work until his wife put a stop to that.

Let's just say that when he called the doctor to make an appointment for himself that he thought being seen in 5 days would be ok.

Here is the rest of the story {the Cliff Note version}

Danee has sonogram Monday morning to check on baby's size.

Calls Charles to tell him how it went.

Charles is feeling terrible at work and leaves to come home.

Danee calls doctor to explain how sick Charles really is. 

Gets an appointment for him within the hour.

Nurse takes one look at him and sends us to the ER.

Chuck and I wait in ER with Charles for about 9 hours until he is finally admitted.

{during which time he had a sonogram too}

Tuesday afternoon Charles has his gallbladder removed.

Wednesday evening we are discharged from the hospital.

We are grateful for good nurses and doctors who took care of us.

{By us I do mean me also - the nurses would bring me juice with hospital ice and graham crackers and make sure the my 8 1/2 month pregnant body was comfortable during our stay}

It was a little scary to see my big strong husband in a hospital bed and in so much pain. 

I was glad that our kids were well taken care of so I could be there to help him.

Let's not do that again.