Happy kids

The beans are back!


My heart melts everytime Husband and Tinyman mow the lawn.

The Davis Bunch

Husband's parents returned from their 18 mo. mission in Malaysia this week and were greeted by all their children and grandchildren. Wednesday evening there were 31 members of the Davis clan and their spouses. Ami was so excited to see the chickens and eggs and dogs and cousins.


It was nice spending time together as a huge family. The 18 children all played easily with each other; no one was ever bored or left out.


The kids had an absolute blast! Ami adores her older girl cousins and Calvin loves running around with the boys. Anna, Cami and Lauralee came to our house the next day with 4 beloved cousins and Ami about exploded with joy.


I want to say that I feel lucky to have married into such a large, loving, supportive family...but it feels more like a blessing. Those Davises are good people.

Hurray for the public library!

As I've stated before, Ami loves books. It just amazes me that while all of her other obsessions run their course, she never tires of books. She keeps piles of them everywhere, and everytime I sit down it's always, "Mama, read."


She wants me to read her favorites over and over again until she's memorized them and reads them herself or to brother. Before getting into the car, she insists on bringing a load.


Now Calvin is starting to get in on this action.


When it's quiet (y'know too quiet, so they must be up to no good), I find them on Ami's bed softly narrating the pages.


During one of my teaching practicums, I was in a Kindergarten class and met a little red-haired girl who could read. Not one of those See Jane Run books, but A Bad Case of the Stripes; a book your average second grader would stumble over. I remember thinking, "I hope own my daughter will be this bright." She's on her way and I'd like to think I had something to do with that.

Oh, Ingrid

My best little sister's friend Ingrid came to visit last week and her birthday was yesterday but I've been very busy with cleaning for showings and an open house so that's my excuse for not posting about it until today. We had lunch (just the two of us, yay!) at a local mexican restaurant and chatted.

I adore Ingrid. She's kind, loyal, funny, smart, patient, sweet, virtuous, and beautiful. I have so many fond memories of her and take comfort in knowing she's a life-long friend. I love you, Ing!!!

I heart Craig's List

Last April or so, our clothes washer went belly up. There had been noisy warning signs of its impending demise for several months, so we weren't surprised. My Malaysian dwelling MIL gracioulsy let us borrow her immaculate, front loading beauty. Husband and I had hoped to be out of this house before she returned, but that didn't happen so we found ourselves in need of a washing machine that we may or may not have to sell in a few months when we (hopefully) move. Enter Craig's List. I had my children's beloved slide listed for $30 (we had purchased it two years earlier from CL) and a woman in Vancouver wanted to buy it. I found a washing machine on CL in the same city for the same price. So Husband loaded the plaything in the truck, drove to the 'couve and made the slide transaction, then drove across town and did the deal with the washer.

We traded this...

for that. Not bad, eh?

Momma, come fix the wall!

Ami threw a teensy little tantrum last week. In her defense, the wall had already been patched (terribly) by the previous tenants.


Look, Daddy fixed it!

Homemade treats

Everyday Ami looks forward to having a popsicle outside after nap. Well, that was getting expensive so I tried my hand at making my own out of grape juice diluted with water. She immediately rejected them so brother got doubly messy.

I'm going to have to think of a new bribe after the sun goes into hibernation. Anyone have some ideas?