Time to move, AGAIN!

We have had somewhat of a "rough" winter. We've been pounded with snow several times and lots of wind has caused travel issues. Needless to say, we are all restless and ready to get the heck outta the house!!!! I mean that in a literal AND figurative way :) We found out last week that we were successful in our attempt at getting the short-sale home and we will officially be moving in two weeks!!!!!! I am super excited and ready to decorate. It seems like yesterday we were moving in and getting settled into our current home. It has been a great house for us over the past four years but we are ready to move on up! I will try to post some pictures in the next few weeks of the new place. It's on a great triple culdesac lot and the boys will love the "freedom" they will get outside (right now we're on a corner and I watch them like a hawk :( ). It's very close to our current home (about two miles east) and is in an excellent Blue Valley School District. I am exited for them to grow up the way their dad did. It will be neat to see what they do with all of the opportunities they get.

Jack had his first "parent/teacher" conference last week. I now know how my parent's felt before attending mine. Even though Jack is just a preschooler, I couldn't help but feel nervous and a little uneasy. Does he respect the teacher? Is he good at following directions? Does he give the kids wedgies like he does his little brother? All of these things were crossing my mind in the hour leading up to the meeting with his teacher, Mrs. Shurling. MUCH to my happiness, as it turns out, Jack appears to be an OUTSTANDING little preschooler (sigh of relief :)) Mrs. Shurling couldn't have been happier with him, and although he does have a few "quirks" (he's very impatient and sometimes has a hard time walking in the halls), her over-all "review" of him was wonderful! She said he is a super quick learner and has a great desire to please. Our family and friends have always commented on Jack's excellent "physical" abilities, but to hear it from a preschool teacher with 10 years of experience was kind of neat! She couldn't say enough about how great he is during gym class and how "in touch" he is with his body. She said his physical ability is amazing for his age and she went on about how important it is that we take advantage of it now by having him involved in as many sports as possible. She was also impressed that his friends look to him as a leader and his abilities are a great example for them to follow. Needless to say, anyone who knows JP and I, knows that these special "abilities" did NOT come from me :)

In a nutshell, all is well. We are ready to send this crappy weather back to where it came from. The weather looks pretty great for the next 10 days, lets hope it stays that way for the big move!!

Merry Christmas!

Things are crazy around here and there has been no time to blog!!!

Jack is still enjoying preschool and just had his Christmas program last week. He did well and was very proud to be up on stage singing about Jesus and Christmas. He has begun to understand what Christmas is all about this year. Of course, like any four year old, he is also excited for presents and has a list as long as the Nile River!! Mostly Thomas accessories and cars, trucks and Nano bug gadgets. He is writing his name well and is showing lots of interest in playing the guitar, so we'll see what Santa brings this year.

Grayson is talking up a storm and really beginning to hold his own against his big brother. He has skipped right over all of those toys we tried to hand down to him and right into the Thomas Trains!! The boys fight constantly over them, which means Santa will have to bring him some of his own. I always thought it was nice to have another boy b/c he would play with the same toys as the other, however, it's turning out to be a struggle between them for those darn trains!! Oh well, at least we get our moneys worth.

We have our house on the market and have put in an offer on another. We spent two years looking and looking for the perfect place and we FINALLY found it. Only trouble is, it's a short-sale so everything depends on the bank and their acceptance of the offer. We should be hearing back in the next couple of weeks!! We are very excited and hope to be successful in our efforts to get it. It's a wonderful home on a huge triple culdesac lot. There are 4 bedrooms with two additional offices which will be nice for JP to work from home and the boys to have their own playroom. We will miss a finished basement (like we have now) but plan to finish it within a couple years. I am talking like we already got the house. . . keeping my fingers crossed. . . !!!!

Just wanting to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! To those friends and family members that we only get to see once or twice a year, I hope you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season.

No More Cribs in the Davies House!!

Summer is winding down and the weather is cooling off. Seems like this one has really flown by... almost as fast as my little BABY boy is growing up! After weeks of him crawling in and back out of his crib, we decided that it was time for him to take over the toddler bed. In return, Jack gets the crib which turns into a footboard/headboard for a full bed. Needless to say, the transition was effortless. Gray crawls into his toddler bed with no fuss at all. Some days he even puts himself down for a nap!! I am sad to see the crib go, but am happy that Gray likes his new sleeping situation better.

As for the past couple of months, we have had a pretty action packed time!! We took a GREAT vacation to Mexico, had several weddings (one of which was in a FABULOUS home near the Plaza), been back and forth to Crete a couple of times and had a nice visit from my parents. Jack began preschool last week and is settling in well. He has some pretty BIG questions for me these days... "Who made God?" and "I remember when Gray wasn't here, how did he get here?". Aside from that, life has been pretty easy-breezy. We love the Fall and are excited to do some Halloween decorating in the next few weeks.

JP has convinced me to get rid of all of the baby stuff. We are having a garage sale next weekend. If it all sells, we'll just have to get new stuff when # 3 comes along. . .I have A LOT of convincing to do before that will become a realtiy, though :) Wish me luck :)

Summertime = Busy

Summer has been great so far!! The boys and I have spent lots of time at the park and checking out all the stuff at Deanna Rose Farmstead. It is so nice to have a facility like that for free! Jack has been bugging me about going to the pool in our subdivision for a few weeks now b/c we walk by it on our daily stroll. I am not convinced that taking two rambunctious little boys who don't know how to swim to a pool all by myself is a great idea. It was fine when it was just Jack and me, but with Gray I think we'll have to wait till daddy can come with us. In the meantime, our little pool in the backyard will have to do.

JP is heading to Chicago for the weekend to participate in some strange strong man marathon, and I plan to "deep" clean this house while he's gone; Blinds, ceiling fans, light fixtures. . . Something I try to do twice a year.

Jack will start gymnastics in a few weeks and then soccer again in the fall. He is very excited to try something new and I think gymnastics will be good for him. Gray is busy gabbing away with real words here and there, and his "own" words in between. He knows most all of his body parts and follows many simple directions. He has mastered his fork and spoon and really insists on using them.

We are looking forward to attending some friends' weddings and our upcomming trips in July and August, as well as my parents' visit here over the 4th of July! Hope everyone else is having a great summer too!!! Here are a few pictures I took of the boys at the Overland Park Arboretum:

A Quick Update

It's been a LONG while since I've had the time to blog. When the weather gets nice, the Davies clan is OUTSIDE!!! This past winter was such a long, horrid one that being in front of the computer for more than a couple of minutes at a time is difficult. Especially when we can see the sun shining and the lush green grass that we work so hard to keep tip-top :) (I should say I, not we :) the hubby hates lawn work. haha!)

The past few months have been full of new stuff. For starters, we have added a new addition to our family. He has not been completely accepted by all (JP does not consider anything under 30 lbs to be a dog), however, the rest of us LOVE LOVE LOVE him! Walter is a PooChon (Toy Poodle/Bichon) and He's the sweetest. He is non-shedding and will grow to be about 9 lbs. If you know our family, you know that we already have 2 BIG dogs. You are probably thinking OMG how could someone have 3?!?! Well, I have always been an animal lover and have also always been obsessively clean. This means that I get to do two of my favorite things ALL OF THE TIME: clean AND have lots of pets. haha!

In addition to the new puppy, we decided to paint the exterior of our home and update the ceramic tile in our master bath. We have been looking "leisurely" at homes with land (at least 3 acres) and are still looking to find the "perfect one". We will probably be here for another year and are slowly making little upgrades here and there to keep up with the rest of the competition on the housing market here. There are so many nice homes for people to choose from that we don't want to have to wait forever to sell ours when the time is right!

Over the past 3 years I have completed the landscaping around our home and have planted several trees which have grown fairly fast!! I am slightly sad this year b/c there isn't as much for me to do outside. The boys and I have planted our flower pots and filled the bird feeders (several times). I have a few Hosta's to add to my shade garden and have fully enjoyed the tulips I planted last fall. What a great way to add Spring color!!! This year the only addition we'll be making landscape wise is to add some flowering mounding plants around each of our trees to add a little color. Other than that, our house looks pretty spiffy!!!

JP has two business trips to go on in the up-coming months--one to Boston and the other to Tempe. The boys and I will head back to Nebraska during one of them (not sure which one). JP and I are EXCITED to take our first REAL vacation since Jack was born. We are heading on an all inclusive trip to Riviera Maya in August. Should be sweet!!!

Jack is enjoying his 1 day a week preschool. His social skills have improved greatly and he's always looking forward to Tuesdays with Ms. Kyanna, and his new best friend Matthew.

Gray has been in exploration mode. He LOVES to be outside. When he's not outside, he's constantly trying to give everyone hugs. He is SOOOOO sweet natured. We are so lucky to have had such great boys!!!

Walking Boy

Such a sweet little video of my boys. As you can tell, my house is kinda crazy :0). I love every minute!! This video was made last week when he began to really "cruise". He spent a couple of months taking three or four steps here and there, but I couldn't count it as "walking" yet. Now he's really going. He is getting better by the minute, although his brother will be able to claim the prize as far as who walked first. . .he was cruisin' by 10 months.

He walks!!

Gray has officially started walking. His movement of "choice" is still crawling, however, it is mixed with standing, walking 6 or 7 steps and then "power crawling" to his final destination. It's pretty cute :). I will get a video on here soon.

On a crappier note, we are all battling the flu. Gray came down with it on Friday, then it hit Jack & JP, then finally, me. For a while there I thought I was Superwoman, but apparently not. Jack, as usual, was hit the hardest. The rest of us are up and poking around the house today. Hopefully by tomorrow, Jack will be too. Poor guy :(

A few Pictures from Christmas 09'

Merry Christmas

This year, due to the weather, Christmas was very bitter-sweet. We were unable to make it back home to NE to spend any time with my family, but plan to get there next weekend to celebrate both X-mas and the New Year. On the 23rd, JP woke me up early and wished me a Merry Christmas. I was confused. He left for work and I headed down the stairs. On the table was a huge gift box from Nordstroms!!! I opened it and found a note, along with an awesome new outfit!! He had the entire day planned!! He surprised me by taking me to the Trans Siberian Orchestra downtown, giving me a new Tiffany necklace with the boys' initials engraved on it, and an awesome dinner on the Plaza! To end the night, he took me to the Intercontinental Hotel on the Plaza!!! It was amazing. No kids for a night was such a breath of fresh air :) I did miss them though :). We spent the actual holiday at his parents house. It was a nice relaxing day. Jack had a great time opening gifts and Gray had a great time stealing them from him. I will post pictures after we celebrate the holiday with my family.

Lil' Kickers Soccer & Jack's Birthday

We celebrated Jack's third birthday with a very small party at our house. I went all-out for his 1st and 2nd birthdays and decided that this year we would keep it simple. Next year, I'm sure we'll be inviting all sorts of friends, as he will be in preschool meeting new kids in just a couple of weeks! I made the mistake (or not :)) of getting some AWESOME cupcakes from a small little cupcake boutique here in Overland Park called "Small Cakes". My family and I devoured them. Unfortunately, Jack didn't like the one he picked and only ate 1/2. There were none left to choose from after he realized he didn't like his double chocolate fudge :)!! Poor guy!! I think he forgot about it after opening his gifts, though. He is incredibily into "Thomas the Tank Engine". We got him a train table with all sorts of Track and accessories. He has been collecting the actual Thomas characters for quite some time now. It will be so nice to actually have someplace to store everything!!! Thank God for the huge drawer in the train table.

Cousins Tristin & Wyatt came down with my parents to celebrate Jack's birthday

Jack began Micro-Soccer a few weeks ago. He is very much enjoying it!!! It allows him to interact with lots of new kids and most importantly, run off some energy!! In his class, they are really just letting the kids get a feel for being on the soccer field. They play games and get to watch the big kids play actual games. It is a great experience for him and we will continue to keep moving him up in classes as he progresses. He is REALLY fast!! :)

Halloween 2009

Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Jack's first Halloween in his super-cute puppy costume. It is hard to believe that this was his third! Not to mention that Baby Gray was in my tummy last year at this time! This year was a great Halloween. The weekend prior, we went back to Crete to celebrate with my family. They threw a party in their barn with lots of kids, food and drink. We spent the actual holiday at my inlaws, helping to hand-out candy and taking Jack around to a few houses in their neighborhood. He seemed to really "get into" his costume this year. We heard lots of "ahoy mateys" and "shiver me timbers". Infact, we are still hearing them today :)

On a side note, Gray is cutting his first two teeth. He has been very similar to his brother during his teething process. He's all stuffed up, running a low fever, and is not the happiest camper. I know the Dr's say that teething does not cause such symptoms, but I think they're WRONG!!! Every time Jack has cut teeth he has felt under-the-weather, including his most recent molars that came in about a month ago.

The Lion and the Pirate

Ahoy Mateys!

hmmm. . .not too sure

Yuck MOM!!

All the kids at my parents barn party

Kansas City Pumpkin Patch

We went to the KC pumpkin patch this weekend with JP's family. The place was awesome!! Sooo many things to do there. I haven't seen one quite this big. It takes almost two hours just to get thru the corn maze. We chose a chilly day to go, so we didn't get thru all of the activities, but were able to do many. Jack's favorite part was the petting zoo. Gray spent most of his time being bundled up in mom's arms. Temps were in the 40's. BURRRRRR!

Lots of things

The boys and I took a trip home a little over a week ago. We had a great time with with family and friends. I got to spend some time with Crystal and meet Brayden for the first time. He is a doll! We also spent lots of time with my parents. Jack's favorite part about going home is spending time with his friend Camden and his cousins Tristin and Wyatt!

With Cousins Tristin and Wyatt

Jack and Camden
Baby Brayden Kent Sept. 09Gray Likes to stand now. He is beginning to let go and just "plop" on his butt. His big brother walked at 10 months. I am guessing he may be about the same. I am enjoying my time with him now. Once they start walking, they just want to explore rather than hang out in mommy's arms :(

Potty Trained!

Jack has been working very hard to grasp potty training, and --I THINK-- he's finally got it!!! It's been 6 days since he's worn a diaper and he is actively going on the potty himself--even in the midst of his all important choo choo train play time! This is a very important step towards him beginning pre-school. He has been talking about starting school for a few months now, and now that he is potty trained, we can get him enrolled just after he turns three in November. Being a mommy has been the most incredible experience of my life, however, potty training has by far been my least favorite part. I am so glad that he has caught on. One down, one to go!!!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Unfortunately, for the boys, I LOVE to take pictures!! Sooooo they get their pics taken A LOT! Here are a few shots from this afternoon. Some of which Jack was not so happy to participate in :). Especially the one where he is getting chewed on. . .

JP's Triathlon & Grayson crawling

JP completed his first full triathlon this morning! He did a great job, finishing well under his goal time. We are all VERY proud of him!!!


Also, Grayson has been crawling on and off for a few weeks now. Thought I'd put a couple shots on of him doing it. Soooo cute!

NEW ROOMS!

When we found out we were pregnant with Grayson, we initially planned to let the boys share a room. Over the past six months, we came to the conclusion that it would be best to separate them. Grayson still does not sleep thru the night. If he is anything like his brother, he won't for quite some time. To make it special for Jack (since he is the one who had to move rooms) we let him paint his bed. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was all one color; just the plain oak color you see on the outer edges. I think it turned out great! And so does he :). There are a couple of other quick shots of the finished room. . . along with one side of Gray's room.

Johnson County Fair

The Johnson County Fair was two weekends ago. JP's business was asked to participate in the parade. We had a great time riding and waving in Grandma and Grandpa's TT while JP and grandma handed out candy to the crowd!

NEW!!

I am new to the blog world. More to come. . . Just figuring out how to post/create our page for now!!!