1st Place Race!

For anyone that knows me, it is no surprise that I had absolutely nothing to do with the success of the kids Awana cars this year. I don't particularly like woodworking or the inner workings of cars or mechanical engineering all of which are helpful when trying to build the fastest car for the Grand Prix. Thankfully, Grandpa is in to all of those things and loves spending time with the kids planning, fine tuning, painting and perfecting 3 little race cars.

This year all of the their hard work paid off as all three cars won several races. And considering the many, many cars (just under 100 I think) that raced this year, that is a big accomplishment.

While all three cars did great, Bella's was the obvious winner, taking first place overall for Sparks!

A bit hard to see, but hers is the gold car in lane 1.

Bella seems happy with her odds.

Grandpa and Grandma and Elijah look on excitedly.

Bella enjoyed getting her first place trophy:)

Once all of the Sparks and TNT cars raced, Bella's car got to race the winner of TNT, Jacob Scruggs. Since we are all such good friends it was a fun competition to see who would prevail as fastest overall. As you can see Jacob's car edged out Bella's and he walked away with another trophy as well as bragging rights...at least until next year:)

It's Fun To Be A Davis!

A few weeks ago someone commented that it must be fun to be a Davis, and they were right! So here is a random sampling of some of the little things that have been going on in our world, in between all of the big things.

Jeff and I went on our first date in over a year! He whisked me off to a romantic afternoon picnic at the Van Landingham Estate. While we had hoped to picnic in the surrounding gardens, the weather was a bit to chilly for that. Instead we dined in the cozy parlor and then walked the grounds after a lovely lunch.

Our delicious spread!

Jeff reading poetry by Emily Dickinson.

Quite possibly my last relaxing moment for several weeks!

Beautiful gardens.

And after all of that wonderful food, Jeff still snuck in a trip for ice cream sundaes!

Last weekend, Noah and Calla took a cooking class in town during the Spring Fest. They took turns making homemade pasta and rolling it flat to make ravioli. Calla helped make a delicious ricotta filling and then they filled and pinched each one. The kids loved the class and Noah has a real gift for cooking, I however enjoyed sampling their creations the best!

Noah rolled out one of the longest pieces. It was so long the instructor of Tiny Chefs had to help him hold it up!

YUM!!!

I guess it is not all fun and games here in the Davis household. Bella had to see a neurologist for an EEG to rule out some serious medical conditions. We are hopeful that these will reveal nothing of concern. She sure was a trouper for the technician administering the test. After placing all of the wires, she had to be wrapped in gauze and then lay still until she fell asleep. The sleeping part came much easier than I thought, although we did have to keep her up the night before until midnight and then wake her that morning at 6am. I myself was struggling to stay awake!

Bella was such a good sport, she even seemed to enjoy getting all the attention.

AWANA award night came with much excitement as well. Calla received her TNT first book award with a beautiful etched "medal" and pin. Noah also did well finishing the year strong with a participation certificate.

While most of the week centered around the older children, Nehemiah never let an opportunity slip away unnoticed.

After dinner with friends one evening, we glanced out at the kids playing happily in the backyard, only to discover that Nehemiah decided that he would enjoy the evening sans diaper and clothing!!

Donuts for breakfast, a family favorite.

Taking a break...all of this being cute is hard work!

And finally, a typical, yes typical day at Grandma and Grandpa's which always seems to involve more activities and treats in a few hours than I can muster the energy for in a whole week! First we washed the BIG van.We had lots of great little helpers.Then a much needed Popsicle break.Followed by...baseball...tennis...and football!So what do you do after all of that? Go to the DQ of course!

And then head home for a long nap! It may be a lot of fun to be a Davis, but it is also very exhausting:)

:) :(

It has been a crazy, crazy few weeks in the Davis household, even more so than usual! As a woman not normally prone to "stressing out" I have certainly become familiar with the term this week. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff found us an awesome and much needed van. While I was hoping for a basic 12 passenger van, maybe 6 or 7 years old with less than 90K miles. God supplied us with a beautiful 2007 van with 54K and tons and tons and tons of bells and whistles. Tinted windows, custom pinstripe, DVD, CD, satellite tv and radio, navigation, backup camera, and one heck of a security system. When the poor kids get to close outside, it beeps to let them know:) That was definitely the good, the stress came when the Post Office lost our overnight express package, with our cashiers check for the cost of the van! Then shipping was backed up due to the weekend. Finally because of the fact that we bought it in FL but need to register it here, I am still dealing with getting all the paperwork together to register it in our names and finally drive it.

Yes, it is a Ford and despite that fact, we still love it!Although you can't tell, our minivan is actually parked on the other side of this one! How is that for big:)

Also, last week I had to take my Gestational Diabetes screening (1-hour) test to see if I would need the more involved diagnostic (3-hour) test. Of course I failed! No real surprise there, I haven't passed it since Noah. After a worrisome weekend, I took the 3-hour test and failed again. I know that I look at this as a negative because of the crappy diet (basically less than 100 carbs a day) and the countless extra appointments. But I know in my heart that God has a better plan for me from this experience, like a healthier pregnancy and better nutritional guidelines to live by. Still, hard to swallow, pardon the pun. The Awana Grand Prix was also a highlight of the last few weeks. Definitely a happy night. While Noah's car got second twice, Calla's went on to win 3rd over all the TNT cars! She was ecstatic and while the night ran late, we left just after 9:15, Grandma and Grandpa (the brains and brawn behind the winning car) definitely seemed to enjoy themselves. Calla's final race to determine place. And while it seems that some things took much longer than necessary or didn't work out in my favor I know that God has a plan and I have been clinging to His word this week. "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

May Day through Memorial Day (A Pictorial Guide)

Although it is no excuse, our laptop battery went dead two weeks ago and we just got the replacement this week. Sadly, that is the main reason I haven't blogged, no wireless access! If I wanted to get a post out, I would have had to sit at a desk and type without the ability to move around, gasp! It is like when your cordless phone goes out and you have to use a corded phone...it is just primitive.

With so much ground to cover, I am going to go with the old adage "a picture is worth a 1000 words". So here goes a lot of pictures with few words, probably in random order.

Each year my parents compete in the Uwharrie Senior Games (aka the Senior Olympics) and this year was no exception. After a week of events ranging from Bocce Ball to Shot Put, the final medal count was, Grandma - 17 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze (in 19 events) and Grandpa - 3 gold and 2 silver (in 5 events).

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is strawberry picking. There is something about picking the fruit yourself that makes it just a little more special. In Micah's case, eating them right off the vine was what made it special to him:)

Our big project this year...swingset addition. The race for who can get their shoes on the fastest and therefore get a swing first is over! Jeff and Steve added two swings and a trapeze bar to our existing swingset giving everyone, even Nehemiah, a place to play.

Every few months, Harris Teeter (the local grocery store) runs a really good coupon special. This particular week it was Super Doubles (where they double all coupons up to $2.00) Total cost for all above items = $9.46. Now that is a deal!

Ahh, the end of another AWANA year. Calla completed all three Sparks books and received her Sparkie plaque. Noah finished his first book and got a green ribbon. A friend of ours had a Fireman themed birthday party with real firemen. The local fire department came with the firetruck and let the kids climb through it, spray water from a tank and just be little firefighters. They even gave a little fire safety speech. As a bonus, our hostess Nikki baked brownies for the firemen before they left. I think everyone really enjoyed the day.If you look closely you can see the fireman in the middle holding Nehemiah and in front of him is Nathan the birthday boy. Here are a few random shots from the Waxhaw SpringFest, Calla with her balloon parrot (which by the way, really stuck to Calla's shirt) and Noah with his sword. In the other hand, they are holding a sheet with their names written in hieroglyphics from the JAARS organization (a ministry that translates bibles into other languages).

Princess Bella

Goofy Micah enjoying the sunshine.

Sweet little Nehemiah showing off his two new teeth. At 8 months he is army crawling (no knees) and babbling and eating lots and lots of different foods. He laughs at his silly brothers and loves listening to his sisters read to him. He is our cute, chubby little baby "Baldy".

Me, holding our friends newest little one, sweet baby Ava. At 2 months old, she already has twice as much hair as Nemi.In an effort to give our children every great childhood experience possible, we decided it was time for a campout. While the big kids have camped in a tent in the back yard, none of the kids have been to a campsite with a bonfire and an outhouse. Now with five children, I know my limitations and camping with no children under perfect conditions is pushing it. I love cooking over an open flame and communing with nature as much as the next city girl, but I draw the line at using leaves as toilet paper and sharing my sleeping bag with mosquitoes. But when some friends invited us to campout without the actual "camping out" I was in.

Basically, we went to the state park around dinner time and let the kids play at the lake, have a water gun fight, swing in hammocks, cook hot dogs and smores over the bonfire and sing corny songs all before it got really late. Then we packed up our sleepy children and headed home, where I bathed them in a warm tub and tucked them into their soft beds in their air conditioned rooms...they will thank me when they're older!

The boys had fun playing in the hammocks while the girls giggled while they "slept".SMORES - the best part of camping out. Daddy helping Micah roast his marshmallows.Hmmm, hope you wanted those well done!

Finally, Memorial Day, wow something current. The kids have been looking forward to a holiday picnic with another family from church, the Walfords. We spent most of the weekend manicuring the backyard and finishing small projects so that we could fully enjoy it on Monday. With lots of kid friendly yard games and hot dogs to grill, it was shaping up to be a great picnic. Then the rain came...and came...and came. Our hope for an outdoor party was completely and utterly gone. So what do you do inside with 4 adults and 11 children (did I forget to mention that the Walfords have 6 children)? You improvise!We played lots of Wii. The boys really got into it, and I mean all the boys! Ginger Walford, mother extraordinaire, had the brilliant idea to stop and get a few packs of Silly Bandz for the kids to trade while we waited out the rain. That kept even the littlest ones busy for quite some time.

Finally after lunch, dessert and snacks we all settled down for a quick picture. From oldest to youngest, and left to right, William, Elizabeth, Calla, Andrew, Noah, Christopher, Bella (hiding), Carolina, Micah, Peter and Nehemiah.

I think this month we hit all the major summer events, campout, picnic, strawberry picking, beach trip (previous post), street fair.... Hmmm it seems like I am missing something, oh yeah, school is out next week and then the fun will really begin. Let's hope I can get the pictures up before July. Fingers crossed!!