ipod

i am going to start with this confession...we caved.

last night, cari went swimming with her best friend and her family. she was so excited to see her and have a chance to play together.

that left us alone with cami and so we decided to take her out.

she has been working very hard this school year and we wanted her to know that her hard work was not going unnoticed. (even though we tell her that all the time)

she loves to eat out so we took her to chilli's where she dove into a basket of baby back ribs.

afterwards, we walked into best buy and tried to play it cool. we started looking at ipod cases for fun...

 *

after christmas, every girl in her class received an ipod...but her. this is how it usually is with our children. believe it or not, they still love us. we never jump on the bandwagon for the newest gadgets...especially when it comes to buying them for children. it took forever till we were using smart phones ourselves.

this is also pretty unusual given the nature of what my husband does for a living.

anyway, she has been saving her money this year to buy herself an ipod. it only took her 3 months to save up $100. she did a few odd jobs around the house and got most of it from gifts. she finally had the guts to ask her father if he would match her $100 and he surprisingly accepted. 

*

...back to best buy, she picked out the cutest owl case while chad was secretly getting a great deal on the ipod itself. we also received a gift card that ended up paying for the case. we are suckers for a great deal.

while we were leaving the store, chad handed her the bag that had the case along with the ipod she has been wanting for so long. 

needless to say, we had to pry it out of her hands late last night just so she could get some sleep. i know she is so grateful to finally have one and we hope she will take good care of it. 

we expressed to her (for the 100th time) how proud of her we are and i'd like to think that this night will be remembered for a long. she is so special to us and very deserving of something like this. she was also given all the rules that go along with the added responsibility of having something like that.

i am personally glad that i won't be getting facetime requests from her friends anymore...it was getting pretty old. she can now keep up with her friends (along with us and her grandparents) over the summer and even get a chance to show it off a little bit next week.

tuesday is their field day and then wednesday is early dismissal after the special awards ceremony.

we are all ready for summer.

god's girls

this year i had the privilege to lead a fun girls group in my daughter's 3rd/4th grade class. we named our group, god's girls and they really are a fun group of young ladies.

we had so much fun each quarter speaking on topics regarding friendships.

i would bring them a quick teaching/encouragement and a special treat.

our last meeting was yesterday and they all really want to do it again next year.

one thing we learned is that we, as girls, love to talk and it helps to share with others things we are going through and know that other girls are going through similar situations.

i hope these girls know how special they really are and carry themselves with a little bit more confidence. confidence is such a powerful tool because it can help you overcome rejection and remain true to yourself. i hope they are a little wiser in picking their friendships and give every girl a chance. i want them to be unashamed of who they are and embrace their unique qualities and gifts. i hope they stay away from labeling each other in negative ways and always be genuine and respectful to each other.

i mostly want them to feel lovely because every girl needs to believe that they are.

weekend getaway

earlier this month, cami competed in a state competition that was held at tcu in forth worth.

she was a first place psia academic winner for our district meet which means she got to represent that district at the state competition. she participated in an event called music memory where only first place advances to state.

 (her new earrings :)

we usually tell cami to do good, but not too good as to avoid going out of town, but

she never really listens.(she is now 2 for 3) we went once before for storytelling in first grade.

 but, this trip actually came at a good time for us becoming a much needed mini family vacation.

*

after decorating the vehicle on friday, we drove to our hotel.

i had researched months ahead trying to find a hotel with an indoor pool so that the kids would get to swim no matter what the weather was like. we only found one and we were very happy with it.

 (we are always looking for ways to embarrass our kids)

 (dad putting the finishing touches)

(the girls ready for take off)

after settling in for a few minutes, we hit the downtown area at sundance square and took the kids to see the avengers opening day. this is something new for us and we joked saying we were breaking all the rules while we were out of town. we never take them or let them see pg-13 movies!

it ended up being very clean and both of the girls, especially my youngest, loved it.

we then walked around downtown and ate at savianos-italian-pizzeria. A friend told me to check out paciugo gelato and i am glad we did because it was delicious. after that, we stopped in the cupcakery for cupcakes to go. our last stop was at barnes and noble where we let the kids both pick out a book. once we got back to our hotel, we enjoyed our cupcakes and milk for the evening :)

(top floor at barnes and noble)

(ihop...there was nothing left on her plate)

the next morning, we ate at ihop and then headed over to the college campus. like most campuses, it is really beautiful. we enjoyed walking around the area and imaging what college life there would be like there.

 (she was pretty excited)

(their mascot is the horned lizard or horny toad)

 (the beautiful magnolias were everywhere)

camille's competition was at 12:30 and we arrived early for her to study a little. 

we waited outside the door with all the other anxious families and we were all relieved once they all made it out alive.

 (one of the many buildings along the campus)

 (cari's new friend...a stuffed horny toad who she now sleeps with every night!)

he walked down to the stores and restaurants and killed time while several graders went over each test. we assembled back around 4:30 to verify the tests. cami chose me to go in with her because they only would let one parent in during the verification. i noticed immediately that she had improved from her last score. i was very proud of her. the test is very difficult and she had worked diligently for many months to prepare.

  (classic davis sister pose)

 (everyone runs to this swing to get a turn)

finally they let everyone in and announced the awards.

cami received a metal for 5th place. only 6th place and up got metals and i think she was really wanting to take one home...similar to the one dad got the weekend before for his kayak race :)

(proud of herself)

we finished celebrating at a popular frozen yogurt shop called menchies and then did a little window shopping at some of our favorite stores around there including apple and anthropology.

later we spent the rest of the evening at the hotel playing at the pool and ordering room service.

iron man happened  to be on tv and it started the craze to see all the superhero movies that were on avengers.

 (they had a blast at the pool)

 (room service was much needed after a long day)

we checked out on sunday morning and had our very first einstein bagels...hopefully not our last! it was good to be home again, but that weekend in fort worth will be a sweet memory for a long time.

i think it is important for families to go away together at least once a year. it really doesn't matter what you do and you certainly don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great time together. i think our most precious memories as a family are in the "in-between times." it is also nice for chad and i to take a break from our everyday responsibility and just enjoy each others company.

summer is right around the corner and i am looking forward to another weekend getaway with this special crew.

the adventures of chad davis...

my husband and his younger brother are pretty close.

i have known them both since i was 11 years old and they always did everything together.

now that they are both adults and have families of their own, they don't see each other as often.

last month, they both entered in a kayak race...at the last minute. 

this was his brother's idea.

chad, my husband, has only been in a kayak once before and it ended very badly for him and his cell phone. 

he happened to be in the river with his brother, patrick, who also had a similar incident with him and his phone.

i figured the race would be pretty interesting for these two.

*

hearing the whole race story from my husband's perspective 

ends up sounding a lot like 'the hunger games trilogy"...

(their dad's finger is in the right corner...first time taking a photo with an iphone :)

he started out with a bad launch filling his kayak with gallons of water and being the last one to paddle off.

one team got invaded with daddy long-legs and chad witnessed them both beating the spiders in their boat violently with their paddles.

patrick watched a snake crawl on a lady's kayak and saw her cussing and swatting it with her paddle.

pat also ended up falling out of his kayak right into a dirty patch of river water. 

(chad crossing the finish line)

it was all very dramatic, to say the least :)

(cari and cami watching during the awards)

chad thought he did terrible because he never did catch up to his brother after his bad start.

he now claims he is the older and apparently slower brother :)

when they called out the winners they were both surprised to learn how great they did!

chad ended up with the 3rd place metal and pat with the 2nd.

it was fun to see them be like kids again.

proud of you chad...here is to many more adventures with your brother :)

side note: his shirt says, "what? i can't hear you over my awesomeness"

this is a shirt my mom gave him and one his girls love

how i spent mother's day weekend...

mother's day weekend...

thursday

*

my children performed in their annual spring concert. this is always very entertaining.

(cami-"rockstar", cari-"video game player")

(the whole elementry)



friday

*

chad and i went to see a movie. it was a much needed date. we say "the lucky one" and i love it!

 i'm so glad i didn't read it because i probably wouldn't have liked it as much ;)

saturday

*

we went to see cami, my oldest daughter, play volleyball. she had spent the night with a friend and struggled with a stomach ache that night. (which was odd) chad's mom, sister, & her daughter came to the game as well. his sister lives out of town so it is always nice to spend time with them, but after the game i took cami home to rest. that evening we ate at jonny carino's and had a great evening together.

(kim - mom-in-love, me, & sally - sister-in-love)

cari, my neice - chloe, cami (cousins)

sunday

*

my oldest daughter threw up around 6am. it must have been a stomach bug! she fought another stomach ache all night long. chad and i had already volunteered to participate in a special mother's day performance for both of our church locations, lockhart & austin. we had spent weeks practicing and there was no one else who could take our place. we knew...the show must go on. we didn't have anyone to take care of cami and i was not about to ask any mom on mother's day to take care of my sick child. i also was struggling with the guilt of dragging her around all morning.

here is the video of the mommy's rhapsody we were in

we ended up surviving the morning just fine. i put cami in a dark room and cuddled her up with her pillow and blanket and checked on her in between practicing and mic checks. we had a bucket ready and cold rags on her head. by the time we had to leave and head to austin she was already feeling better. we usually eat out on mother's day, but after austin's performance we headed straight home and rested for the remainder of the day.

i even got a foot message from one of the sweetest kids i know.

cari + lotion= slippery ;)

one thing i have learned from being a mother is nothing typically goes as planned and you have to be ready for anything. being a mother has changed me forever and i am so grateful to mother my two precious children.

 i spent my mother's day...well, being a typical mother. (take a deep breath) "running around with my head cut off while tackling way too many things and putting others first but still feeling guilty for things i couldn't control but working things out in the end..." (phew)

happy mother's day to all the hard working mothers out there...i don't know how we do it sometimes ;)



what made my mother's day...last month :)

cami has had some friendship troubles this past month 

which lead to many heart to heart talks between the two of us.

 

as we were swinging together on the front porch, i told her that if i was a 9-year-old girl in her class i would love to be her friend. i went over all the things we could do together and expressed to her how special she really is.

 

she quickly responded...

 

"mom, i'm glad that you are my mom and not just a friend because we get to spend even more time together and we get to go home together everyday."

 

so, from my baby's mouth...a mom is way better than any friend.

 

happy mother's day to all the mothers out there!

 

 

you'll never know dear how much i love you...

my grandmother would sing this song to me all the time when i was a little girl. 

i am now teaching my girls this precious song in hopes of creating a special memory for them as well.

whenever i read this or hear the song it reminds me of being a little girl 

and feeling so adored by my sweet grandmother.

love you grandmommy! happy early mother's day

love,

your sunshine ;)