Easter Update

My sister and her children came for Easter. We were very happy to see them as we had not seen each other since January. We started Saturday out at the church for an Easter egg hunt. She surprised us by showing up directly at the church and the kids were very excited. I took my "easter grass" cupcakes for the snack after the hunt:



Saturday evening we colored easter eggs. Aren't they colorful?



Of course, I think their hands were as dyed as the eggs, as you can see in this photo:



Sunday morning they went on an Easter egg hunt in the yard. Here they are making the dash out of the house and some pictures of the hunt:







And here is a great photo of my beautiful niece Kristina. She was not happy about having her Easter picture taken. She just doesn't realize how beautiful she is. I cannot believe she is a teenager. It seems like only yesterday that she was born. I remember I cried when I held her the first time. She was very special to our family from the moment she was born. My mom and I did a very good job spoiling her I must say :)



Speaking of cute, is this not one of the cutest faces you have ever seen? Any suggestions on names? We can't seem to decide around here. She is often called Jesse, but I'm not sure that fits...



And here's another couple of cute faces for ya:





Here are a couple photos of the "wrestlemania" from the other night. He's a little loaded down don't ya think?

In Memory of Bear

Last night Jim came home and found Bear underneath some azalea bushes behind the house. He had passed away. Tristan and Collin cried so. I felt so bad for them. They have lost so much lately. A song called "There will be a day" by Jeremy Camp came to my mind as I cried missing our long time doggy friend and our dear friends and family that have passed away recently. Here are some of the words that bring comfort:

Troubled soul don’t lose your heart
Cause joy and peace he brings
And the beauty that’s in store
Outweighs the hurt of life’s sting

But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering

There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more
fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more,
we'll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we'll hold on to you always....

I played it for the boys last night and they really like the song too.

Revelation 21:4: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
____________________________________

Tonight we went to the pond across the street. It reminds us of our best memories with Bear. He loved going to the pond and fetching sticks. He would also chase Jim's fishing lures, and one time even swam out to Jim when he was on his float tube out on the pond. Then proceeded to jump on board with Jim. I have photos that I will have to dig up as they are hilarious. He will be missed greatly by our family. He was my protector when Jim was gone. I always felt safe knowing he would never let harm come our way. I told the boys that maybe Papa needed Bear up in heaven with him to keep him company.

The night was beautiful and reminded me that through all of the troubles we have faced, God's beauty always remains if we just stand still long enough to look. Here are some photos of our evening:




She's got some mighty big paws to fill :(
She is the newest addition to the Davis family.


I thought the sunlight shining on the dandelions looked beautiful. If you look close you can see sparkles of light above the dandelions and Jim says they are Mayflies. Who knew bugs could be so beautiful in sunlight?


I showed the boys how to blow on the dandelions. I use to love doing this as a child and they seemed to enjoy it as well:




Dalton spent the morning at the pediatrician's with Daddy. He has another bad ear infection and fell asleep shortly after we got back from our walk:



It has been a really rough week. Just before Easter the twins came down with a stomach bug. At the time, we thought it was just a 24 hour thing so when they seemed better on Saturday, we went to the Easter Egg hunt at church where Cousins surprised us by coming directly to the church. Everyone had a great time and had lots of Candy. We had a great Easter Sunday as well. It wasn't until the late hours of Sunday that the sickness decided to run rampant through the house. I was so sick Monday morning that I called Jim to come home from work as I didn't think I could handle the kids when Carolyn went visiting for the day.

The boys got it pretty bad too. Here is what you look like when you don't want to admit that the bug is kicking your tail and you are too exhausted to admit it :)



Five days later and I am still battling it. It seems to get better and then out of the blue your stomach begins hurting and you don't get too far from your bathroom for a while. Everyone in our family and Carolyn's family (except for Jim, Tina, and Abby) has gotten this nasty bug. We've been home bound for days, but have at least gotten to go outside to enjoy the nice weather for a little while. The boys found a butterfly the other day and we managed to get him on film:





I'll try to do another post in the next few days and post some pictures of our Easter activities.

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on It's Way!

Tonight we went to a local Easter egg hunt. It was cold compared to the past couple of days, but the kids were so excited, they didn't seem to mind much. Even the Easter Bunny was there:


And they are off...


When candy is involved, he has a nose like a bloodhound :)


They divided the kids up by ages which was very nice. Here's Tristan in search of Candy and Eggs:



Nathan went straight for the wrapped candy they had laying around, while Dalton preferred the eggs!



Enjoying his found treasure


Checking for the "special eggs"


If they found a note in their egg telling they had won, they won an Easter basket. One of Tristan's last eggs had a note and you would have thought that he won the lottery. He was so proud and excited. Here he and Caylee are checking out the prize:


Some of the found sugar to make them hyper loot :)


Another big attraction....The Water fountain!

Strep....Again!

I think there is an unwritten rule somewhere that says when Jim is out of town, someone must get sick or something must break. That's my theory anyhow :) About 4:30 Sat. a.m. Tristan woke up crying and pretty much did not stop until we left the house around 7:30 to get to the pediatrician's. I felt so bad for him. I had given him everything I could possibly give him to relieve his ear pain, but nothing seemed to help. I also had them do a throat culture on Collin because he had been complaining on and off about his throat and stomach hurting. Sure enough, he was positive too. I also asked them about Nathan because I was concerned he would get it again too (I was surprised they didn't suggest this) and they did an overnight throat culture on him. Just this past Monday they had looked at all the children and declared them well. $200 in co-pays later, I'm praying that this new round of antibiotics does the trick. When we got home from the Dr. Saturday (after making three different stops at pharmacies trying to find the medicine they prescribed for Collin), poor Tristan's ear looked horrible. I took a picture to share with his Daddy and I will post here, but will warn you if you have a weak stomach, be warned! His eardrum ruptured on the way home. He woke up briefly to cry now and then, but pretty much passed out on the way home. This is what his ear looked like when we got out of the van:



Tristan slept most of the day on Saturday and when he woke up, he slowly started to feel better. His other ear drum ruptured but I honestly think it brought him relief. The others were full of energy (even though they each have their own ailments) so we played and tried to enjoy the nice weather. Sunday morning the pediatrician's office called to say Nathan's culture was positive for strep (surprise surprise). They planned to call in the same medicine as they did for Collin until I told them that 3 pharmacies did not carry it yesterday and the one that did was not open on Sunday. So, they called in something different for Nate. Luckily, it was a a store that offers a drive thru which is a blessing when you have 4 small sick children with you! We had to stay home from church because Nathan was still contagious. Luckily Dalton was already on his 2nd round of antibiotics for his ear infection so they assure me he is safe.

I do feel like a nurse lately. I was a little freaked out this evening when I realized that I am only suppose to give Tristan his meds once a day, and I cannot remember but think I gave it to him twice yesterday. Jim assured me he is still alive so we shouldn't worry, but it bothered me as I try to be so careful with their meds. Three get theirs once a day now, and one twice a day. Plus Tristan is to get eardrops for his eardrums. The Davis pharmacy is open again! :)

Daddy is suppose to be home tomorrow and I know we will all be glad to see him. At least we should be healthy for Easter!

Little League times two!

This year I signed Collin (and Tristan) up to play baseball. Collin's first sport. I was a little worried that he would not want to stay with his team and would instead run out to be with Mom and Dad. I talked to him about it a few times and he assured me he wanted to play. The first time his coach called about practice, I hung up the phone and was all teary-eyed. Jim laughed at me of course. What momma doesn't get teary eyed when her wee little chicks take one little step out of the nest? When they do the first thing that means just a little independence. Something that you cannot be right by their side for. Growing up. I hate it. I cry and will do so for each of my little guys at each new milestone.


Some of my fears were put to rest last night when he had his first practice and he was amazing. He hit nearly every ball that was thrown at him (quite far I must brag say). I even found myself saying "That's my boy" since Jim wasn't there to puff up and say so :) Here are some photos of this "first":







Waiting for the cue to run to the next base




Helping the coach by handing him balls to pitch




Look at those fielding skills :)




And what were little brothers doing during this time, why getting into mischief of course. I turned around once to see Nathan at the top of the bleacher sitting area:




The funniest part of practice was when the coach was trying to teach them how to run around the bases. It looked like father Duck with his little ducklings all in tow, here are some photos to make you smile:

Day Off?

Today I had a "day off". Let me clarify, from my day/office job, not my other full time job of mother, housekeeper, taxi driver....That job comes with no vacation, but plenty of priceless benefits. Like when we were in the Pediatrian's office and I was fruitlessly trying to fill out paperwork that I had just filled out just 8 short days ago (because it must be filled out each visit in case the child's birthdate or something like that has changed :) I was using the office pen because I can never keep one in my purse (little hands seem to make them disappear). This office pen was not one you would ever mistakenly put in your own purse at it had a flower with a very long stem taped to the top of it. As I was trying to write while chasing/watching/entertaining 4 small children, Nathan walked up and sniffed the top of that large flower which brought a little laughter in the waiting room. Ah to be young and not realize that some flowers are not really flowers :)


Or when we were at the playground playing while waiting for Tristan to complete his Yellow belt test (Which he did my little Karate man!!). A third grade girl was explaining to her 4-5 year old sister that another boy on the play ground "had anger issues." As I was silently snickering about this, Collin walked up to me with a big grin on his face and said "Did you hear what she said about me?" I had to ask to which he replied "She says I have 10 babies." Whew, don't know where that interpretation came from but that made me laugh even more. It was even funnier later as I listened to a conversation between this same 4-5 year old and Collin. Collin had definitely met his match and I only wish I had recorded it on video for later. Who knows, maybe they will date one day as she definitely could hold her own with him ;) She was explaining to him how she did not like boys, let me clarify, how she HATED boys. They are so rude, etc. etc. He said "Well, I like Girls." "My friend Katie, she is really nice to me." (Cousin Katie :))
Collin then started to climb like a monkey on places on the play area that he shouldn't as I kept asking him to stop. She then proceeded to tell him how he needed to listen to his Mother and not disobey. I said "Wow, girls must listen better than boys.". She of course agreed with this statement and repeated this "fact" to him. It was kind of fun to have a "little mother" there, if nothing else but to watch them banter :)





We did survive our doctor's visit quite well though. Dalton still has an ear infection and has started another 10 days of antibiotics, but the other three are fine. The doctor did tell me I could throw away the amoxicillin once I shared with her that they had not been sleeping very much since they had been on it. I told her I wasn't aware that an antibiotic could cause insomnia, but if you google it, sure enough a few sites list this as well as hyperactivity as a possible side effect. It definitely affected them. Tonight they were all asleep by 9:30 which was amazing. I don't know if it was from pure exhaustion or coming off the meds, but I'm hoping their sleep schedules return to normal.





One last story for the day...Today I made a futile effort, to try to bleach the not-so-white socks of all the men in my house. Yes, if you were to look at all the socks of the male species in this house, you would not find a pristine pair among them. You might even wonder whether someone bothered to wash them. Unless someone owns stock in a sock factory and can supply me with a new supply each week, I'm afraid I'm doomed to life filled with not-so-nice socks. You see this is a Davis genetic trait. It starts with the oldest Davis male in the house who can never seem to put on one of the MANY pairs of slippers his wife has bought for this purpose when he walks outside. I feel like the sock tyrant yelling out the door for one of them to put on some shoes as they wander into our red clay yard in their socks. Sigh. I just wanted you to feel my pain. Life with this many men can be exasperating, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Dirty socks and all :)

First, my apologies to anyone who thought I'd disappeared from the "blogosphere". Life just seems to fly by sometimes. My life lesson: When you think your life has settled into a boring type of routine and you think you need some kind of change, think again! The grass always looks greener :) After traveling across country, it has taken us some time to get "back in the groove". I found myself longing for our everyday routine again!

It does seem like things have settled down some. All the kids seem to have recovered from their sickness and our followup visit with the Dr. tomorrow will confirm or deny. Three had strep throat (in addition Tristan had a double ear infection with one ear so bad they thought the eardrum would rupture) and Dalton had a bad ear infection, but no strep. Here is a photo of the "Davis Pharmacy":







And here's the "sick room"






Here are a couple of cute shots of the day. First is Nathan demonstrating the newest way to ride a scooter in case you are too tired to stand:







And here is our little rock star, Dalton:







Joy's parents had their 50th wedding anniversary and she asked me to make their cake. I still have a lot to learn about tiered cakes (special thanks to Jennifer for all her tips!), so I am never pleased with my end result. Joy was happy with it and that is all that really matters:







Jen/Jimmy: This is what Nate will look like after coming in out of the rain, notice the lovely shade of no-longer white socks? :)





Unless, you actually donned your rain boots (but forgot your pants of course):





No one freak out and put me in the parent "hall of shame" they only followed Daddy outside long enough to feed the dogs, I didn't actually let them stay outside in the rain for long! :)



I'll end today's post with some photos. I'll try to post sooner than three weeks next time :)





Stop in the name of love!





These boots were made for walking





Dalton's fashion tip of the day: Start by wearing your oldest brothers shoes, and top it off with a Dorothy the Dinosaur hat, that'll sure turn their heads!





Some Daddy snuggle time after bath: