Thankful

This Thanksgiving, we truly realized how much we had to be thankful for...

We were definitely thankful for all of the time we were able to spend with family.  We headed down to Charlotte and stayed with Gram and Gramps.  Papa and Marianne came and stayed there as well.  Then, for the big feast a large part of the Davis family stopped by including Grammy and almost all of the Davis sisters.  We were so fortunate to be able to see everyone.  While we missed the family that couldn't be there we had a great time with those who were there!  It's so nice to see the boys get to know their family, playing the drums with Papa, giggling with Grammy, blowing out candles with Spring, or wandering in the woods with Don. 

 

(Giggling with Grammy)

(Creating beautiful music with Papa)

(Cuddling with Papa and Marianne)

We were, of course, thankful for all of the delicious food.  Gram really outdid herself in making a delicious feast.  There was much turkey wrestling, but it was well worth it.  I tried my hand at bringing my family traditions to the Davis house by making the Bitler corn casserole and the Heatherly strawberry cake, in cupcake form.  They both came out pretty well and I was happy.  However, I don't think I'll have a job in the cupcake decorating industry any time soon! 

(A new twist on a delicious family favorite)

We were very thankful for some time to just relax.  While Benny made sure that we didn't get any sleep (see the previous post), we were able to relax as a whole family and see the boys enjoy themselves.  Evan had some great fun exploring the great outdoors, walking dogs, finding acorns and getting into all kinds of mischief.  Ben was a little calmer exploring the toys in the house and making google faces at anyone who could get their hands on him.  Ian and I also had a little time on our own when we got out to only our second movie in the theater since Evan was born, the newest Harry Potter.  We felt like old grumps because we just kept commenting on how expensive the sodas were and how loud it was, etc, but the movie was really good.

(Evan lets Gramps make him Thanksgiving breakfast--trail mix, shredded cheese, and Cheerios...sigh)

 (Evan walks the dogs-don't worry adults are just out of view.)

(Racing cars with Gram)

(Camping out on the coffee table)

 (Taking a break to smile at the camera)

(Showing their love)

(Watching some Thomas)

(Happy...)

(Happy Thanksgiving!)

What a great trip, and we can't wait to see more family and have more fun at Christmastime!

Chompers

When we headed down to Charlotte for Thanksgiving (more on that later), for some reason Ben could not sleep.  He was up every couple of hours screaming, his pacifier wouldn't settle him, he wouldn't eat for very long, and he was just unhappy.  We debated whether he was having a growth spurt and were discouraged that this kid seemed like he would never sleep through the night. 

A couple of exhausting days after his insomnia started, I just happened to stick my finger his mouth.  Lo and behold, there was something hard sticking up from the bottom of his gum.  There was a tooth and a clear bump for another one next to it!  So, five months before his brother's first tooth, my little six month old was getting not one tooth, but two. 

The insomnia was explained, not fixed, but at least explained.  Now, a few days later, we are still in the midst of everything.  The sleeping has improved since we've gotten back home, but the drooling and nose running are really quite exceptional. He's really cranky, which can be expected, but hopefully that will improve once the teeth get all the way through the surface. 


Ben already has such a cute gummy smile, I'm looking forward to seeing it with his new little teeth!

(Ben and his gummy smile just after the teeth were discovered)

 (If you look closely you can see the two little teeth poking up.)

Thanksgiving-Preschool Style

On Tuesday, we all headed down to Evan's preschool.  It was the last class before Thanksgiving break and they invited all of the families to come to the classroom for lunch.  We were excited to finally have the opportunity to see all the great things that Evan had been doing in preschool this year. 

Ben and I headed over after a regular day of preschool for Evan, and Daddy met us there.  We all brought a pack lunch so we could eat together.  We had a great time eating and talking with all of Evan's friends and their parents.  We saw all of the beautiful artwork that they had been making including coffee ground squirrels and night sky stamping.  After lunch, they even sang some of their favorite songs.  Actually, the teachers, Miss Elaine and Miss Carol sang and the kids watched, but they promised us that the kids usually sang when all the parents weren't there. 

It's great that Evan has the opportunity to go somewhere he likes so much to play with other kids and learn about school.  We can't wait to see what they'll be up to next!

(Our little family getting ready to eat our lunch)

(Evan's class gathers for a song: Nathan, Kohen, Navya, Evan, Charlie, and Carson-and of course, Miss Carol and Miss Elaine-Not pictured: Colette, Katelyn, Pranav, and Branson)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Some smiles for everyone on Thanksgiving...Have a great day!

A Birthday for Gram

A couple of weeks ago we headed down to Charlotte Gram's birthday.  It was great to be able to spend the special day with her and enjoy the whole weekend with family.

On Saturday we headed to Portrait Innovations to get our Christmas pictures.  We had a great time, as usual, and got some fabulous pictures!  But, you'll have to wait for our Christmas cards to see the results.
While we were there we had a great birthday celebration for Gram on Saturday night.  After a delicious dinner, we continued with the traditional cake and presents.  Ian and Gramps brought out the cake and presents while everyone sang "Happy Birthday".   However, Gramps forgot to take into account how tricky it is to hold a cake in one hand and gifts in the other.  We ended up with one side of the chocolate cake decorating the wall and door.  Evan thought it was hilarious, and everyone had a good laugh.

1. "Happy Birthday to You!"

(A re-enactment of the cake disaster)

(Don't worry, we can still blow out the candles.)

(Poor cake!)

It was a great weekend, and I hope Gram had a great birthday!

Tennis Anyone?

Last weekend we did something that I've been trying to do with Evan forever!  We took him on a tennis court for the first time.  We got him some plastic tennis rackets for Christmas and he's really been enjoying hitting the beach ball back and forth with us.  I also try to point out all of the tennis players when I'm watching a tournament on TV.  He doesn't really care much about them though.  I figured that most toddlers would love the opportunity to head over to a closed in space where they could hit balls and run around. 

I tried to go the day before with one of Evan's friends and his mom, but I hadn't realized that we needed our neighborhood ID card to get in, so we just headed to the playground instead.  The next day, we put Ben in the wagon, Evan hopped on his bike, and we all headed down there again.  This time, after a great bike ride, we actually got on the courts.  We all had a great time, except for Ben who wasn't too fond of hanging around watching his brother play.  The finer points of hitting a ball back and forth to each other were lost on him, but he had a great time hitting the balls when we threw them in his direction.  He also liked watching Ian and I play.  It definitely made me want to get back on a tennis court!

I don't know, but I think we may have the next Roger Federer on our hands.  I can't wait till he's old enough to actually take lessons.

(Our little dare devil on his bike)

(Tennis buddies)

Six Month Peanut

How is it that Ben is six months old?  I say that everytime he hits a milestone, but that's because it's flying by.  Before you know it he will be headed off to college!

At six months old, Ben's personality is really starting to come out.  He is able to do more everyday and you can tell he wants to be a big boy like his brother.  He's sitting on his own for a few seconds, then he'll tip over forwards, backwards, or sideways depending on his mood.  He is really steady on his feet and can even balance a little when leaning on a chair or when I let go of him a little.  Will we have an early walker on our hands?  It took him a little while longer with rolling and tummy time, but now he is always rolling onto his tummy to look around and then back onto his back.  He's starting to see that he can get somewhere by doing that.  This makes diaper changes somewhat challenging. 

Ben loves to grab whatever is in sight and stick it in his mouth whether that be mommy's hair, a toy, or his clothing.  He is the drooliest little creature right now, partially because his tongue is perpetually sticking out of his mouth and he makes little spitting noises that his brother must have taught him.  He's really starting to focus on his toys and fuss when he drops them, especially his pacifier. 

Everyone comments that Ben is the happiest baby that they've ever seen.  He is always giving everyone his big open mouthed grin.  He grins at himself in the mirror, he grins when people look at him and make faces, the grins when Ripple puppy dances around him, and he especially grins when his brother plays with him.  He's my happy boy.

We went to the doctor for his six month check up last week.  He was pronounced in excellent baby health.  Dr. Pickens says he's right on track developmentally, and everything looks good.  He said that we should continue to introduce more solid foods and keep up with the milk feedings.  This means that I think he will be eating every second of every day.  Right now, he loves Cheerios as the previous post indicated, he can tolerate rice cereal, and is digging sweet potatoes.  It's always fun to try new foods. 

I had always thought that Ben was bigger than his brother, he just seems bigger.  However, according to the statistics we have another peanut on our hands.  In fact, Ben is a pound lighter and 1 and 1/4 inches shorter than Evan was at this stage.  Keep in mind that Evan dropped dramatically in percentages from 6 months to 9 months, but I was still surprised.  I will be interested to see how they compare when Ben's 9 months old.  Regardless of how big or small he is, he is a happy healthy six month old, and I better enjoy this baby while I can because before I know it he will be all grown up!

Here are his stats:

Height: 25 inches (10th percentile)


Weight: 14 lbs, 10 oz. (10th percentile)


Head Circumference: 44 and 1/2 cm (75th percentile)

(a few days old)

(two months old)

(4 months old)

(six months old)

Cheers!

So, Baby Ben has started trying a few foods.  We have already showed you his first rice cereal experience.  He's still not too fond of it, but that might be because it tastes a little like library paste!  He's also had a few days of sweet potatoes.  Those are a little better, but he still spends most of his feedings sticking his tongue out or trying to put his hands in his mouth, not optimal for getting the sweet potatoes down.  Hopefully pears will go down better when we start them in the next few days.

While most of Ben's new culinary adventures are not meeting with much success, there is one food which he absolutely loves...Cheerios!  We set him down in the high chair and put some on his tray.  He will rake them up into his hands, but can't quite figure out how to get then in his mouth yet.  So, I have been helping him out and sticking a few in after he's been trying hard to get them.  He always opens his mouth eagerly.  He can't wait until he can actually get the Cheerios in on his own!

(Man, these Cheerios are hard to grab...)

 

(But boy, they taste good!)

Super Baby and all of his Superpowers

 

You might think this looks like a mild mannered baby just lying on the floor.  However, you would be mistaken.  Super Baby, as his shirt indicates, has many incredible baby superpowers that his parents are way too proud of!  Take a look...

He can support himself with his arms...

He can roll over...

He can sit on his own...

He can even stand with only a chair for support!

Who knows what Super Baby will be up to next!

Not a Box Convention

A couple of entries ago, I wrote about Evan and Ben's "Not-a-Boxes".  They have continued to have tons of fun playing in their Not-a-Boxes and pretending that they are countless things.  They have been race cars, fire engines, drums, caves, great hammering platforms, and much more.  We even found more empty diaper boxes and added them to the fun. 

Last week, our friends Abby, Quinn, and Jonas came over for a little play time.  We decided to have a little Not-a-Box convention.   Jonas joined in on the fun.  People were definitely right when they said that boxes are oftentimes the best toys.  Looking forward to seeing what Evan, Ben, and his friends come up with next!

(I think they were in "race cars" during this shot.)

The Final Night of Halloween

So, it's finally here...the tale of our actual Halloween night.  You didn't think it would ever actually happen, did you?

We laid low most of the day because we knew that we had Halloween celebrating to do that night.  When the afternoon rolled around we all started getting ready and getting in costume.  Even Rip put on his little pirate costume and pranced around the house.  Ian and I actually decided, for once, that we would dress up.  I pulled out my fencing gear and Ian found his old Tae Kwon Do uniform.  They might not exactly be costumes, but it was the best that we could do.  Ben again willingly put on his turtle outfit while Evan again refused poor Elmo until we were actually ready to go trick or treating.

Ian's main project while we hung around the house all day had been the creation of a dessert for our little pre-trick or treating gathering.  So, when we headed out, we also grabbed his beautiful creation, a ghost cake.  The cake was a rolled sheet cake filled with orange icing and covered with a white fondant.  It looked great, and Evan still talks about it to this day.  He helped Ian make the fondant and was very proud of it.

So, we set our Halloween candy out on the porch with a note for the trick or treaters to take one or two (yeah, right) and we were on our way.  We arrived at our friends the Offenbaker's house about 5pm to have a quick dinner to fortify ourselves for our trick or treating.  We all enjoyed a delicious feast of chili and grilled cheese sandwiches, added a few more friends to our number, and headed out.  We were quite the caravan with seven adults, four toddlers, one almost-toddler, and two babies.  The non-mobile ones rode in carriers on their parents while the toddlers had radio flier wagons to make their rides a little more enjoyable.  I never realized how much work trick or treating is for the parents.

(Ben and his girlfriend Amelia wait for the Trick or Treating to start.)

(Evan's friend Nathaniel admires his costume.)

(The adults and their carriers-Hilary and Amelia, Ian and Ben, and Jason and Jonas)

(The Offenbakers-Abby, Jason, Quinn, and Jonas)

(Our happy family)

(The caravan heads out.)

I also didn't realize how many rules there were to trick or treating.  We would lead the boys up to the door reminding them of the many things they had to do..."Knock on the door"..."Hold the pumpkin for your candy" ..."don't climb in their plants"..."don't touch the decorations"..."say trick or treat"..."just take one piece"..."don't actually go in their house"..."say thank you"...It's a lot to remember!

(Carson and Evan enjoy their sweet ride.)

(The boys Trick or Treat around the neighborhood.)

After a few houses, the boys had figured it out though.  However, it was a lot of chaos and one by one, the two year olds wore out.  As the night wore on, the boys would each meltdown and head home and our little group would get progressively smaller. Finally, it was Ben's turn to meltdown, and we headed home with a grumpy Ben, a happy Evan, and a pumpkin full of candy.

We also headed home without my camera.  Apparently, I had set it in my fencing mask in a wagon and it was dropped out onto the side of the road in the middle of our journey.  For a few days it was lost, and I didn't know what to do with myself because we all know how much I like to take pictures.  However, someone found it and sent a note out to the neighborhood e-mail list searching for the owner.  It's amazing how much you can find out about a person from their camera.  They knew that we had two boys, had been to the state fair, we were Duke fans, and we had a son named Evan.  It was clear that it was our camera.  I'm definitely glad it was found.

So, it was an eventful and fun evening and a great finale to all of our Halloween festivities.  I need the next 12 months to rest up for another exciting Halloween next year!

Preschool and Pumpkins-Halloween Part 2

So, the Halloween narration continues, and we're still not even to the big night.  I told you we celebrated Halloween for a LONG time!

On Friday, Evan had his Halloween celebration at preschool.  They were going to have a parade in their costumes, get some Halloween goodies, and do some candy corn crafts.  So, we showed up at preschool on Friday morning.  I asked Evan if he wanted to wear his Elmo costume, both before we got in the car and once we got there.  Of course, he flat out refused both times.  I shoved the Elmo costume in his preschool bag and we headed on in anyway, surrounded by all of the other little preschoolers dressed as fairies, superheroes, and all other manner of costumes. 

We arrived at the doorway of Ms. Elaine and Ms. Carol's classroom, and I discovered that we were also supposed to bring in treats for all of the preschoolers to receive as they paraded around the school.  It was optional, of course, but as I left my perfectly happy, not in costume toddler in his classroom, I felt like the worst mother ever.  Not only could I not get my child in his costume, but I forgot to bring in the treats!  When I was a teacher, I always wondered why the parents of my students could not manage to return the permission slips on time or remember when it was PJ day at school or some other special day that we had told them about.  Now, I can completely see how that can happen, and I'm sure it will happen to me countless more times before Evan and Ben's school careers are over.

I moaned and groaned to my mother and to my friend Hilary all morning.  Then, when it came time to pick up Evan from school, a happy toddler with a bag full of goodies and candy corn crafts greeted me.  I asked the teachers how it went, and unbelievably, they told me that Evan was happy to put his costume on when the time came.  I think I should shop worrying about thing so much!

The next step in our Halloween journey was several days later.  We had purchased three large pumpkins, received one small one at preschool, and bought one to keep Evan happy in the grocery store.  So, we had five pumpkins in total, and they all needed decorating.  So, on Saturday afternoon before Halloween, we got to it.  We all sat on the front steps, and laid out our newspapers and pumpkins.  We started cleaning them out.  While Evan wanted nothing to do with actually touching the pumpkin guts, Ben was quite interested in examining them.  Evan, on the other hand, was quite interested in the carving knives, which he was not allowed to touch nearly as much as he would have liked.

Finally we compromised and each had a very important job in the pumpkin carving process.  Ian was the actual carver and I was the designer, while we both shared the gutting.  Evan was decorator of the small pumpkins with a marker, and Ben was examiner of the pumpkin guts.  In the end, we had five beautiful pumpkins adorning our front porch for the three-or-so trick or treaters that wandered by. 

Next in our Halloween odyssey, the Halloween gathering and trick or treating...stay tuned!

(My boys carving the pumpkins)

(Ian shows Evan the ropes.)

(Ben examines the guts, and maybe tastes them a little bit.)

(What do you think?)