Out of the Mouth of Davis

 Explaining to Heidi on FaceTime that after dentist appointments I hadn’t dropped him back off at school because kindergarten was already being dismissed at this point “And then mom took Chase and Hudson back to school but not me and THAT WAS RUDE!”

“But Davis, Kindergarten was already out by then.”

“I know. That’s why it was RUDE!”

Mom? Can I play on Dad’s phone?

What did dad say?

Well…he said no. But can I please play on his phone?

I bought a tree for our backyard one day while Davis was at school. It was sitting near the driveway in it’s pot, ready to plant. Davis took one look at it and said “Did this just grow here while I was at school?”

We were babysitting his friend whose mom is pregnant and that particular day she was at the hospital trying to turn her breech baby. Davis said, so matter of factly, “Yeah, my mom already went to the hospital and had our baby. It’s just Lila.”

Then later “Hey we both have a D and a A!” (His name is Daniel)

Also he said to me this morning, while discussing his excitement about our upcoming road trip, “Mom, this will be you and Lila’s first road trip! Me and my dad and my boys have been on a road trip before!” (Meaning their overnighted in Salt Lake over the summer). I love that he thinks I’ve never been on a road trip before! (Also, Lila has been on one, and Davis has been on multiple, although his overnighted in Salt Lake might be the last one he can remember, even if it really wasn’t a roadtrip!)

Davis took this selfie himself-  I found it on my camera reel along with a bunch of photos featuring sparky and his feet.

On our trip, Lila was so picky about which movies she would watch in the car. If it wasn’t one she wanted she would SCREAM and make it so the boys couldn’t hear the movie they wanted anyway. Davis really wanted to watch the Sonic movie, so he changed the words to a familiar Daniel Tiger song and was singing to her “Lila, You got to try new movies because they might be good! Go-ooo-oood!”

The day after we got home Davis was snuggling with me first thing in the morning when he said, “Mom, can I ask you a question? While we were on the road trip, was my whole class at school without me?” (He looked sincerely worried that might be the case. He was kind of happy and a little skeptical when I explained everyone had those days off school.)

While walking around the hot pots at Yellowstone and clearly pretending he was Spider-Man, “Hey, why didn’t you pack me a costume mom?!”

While waiting outside a restaurant a man passed walking a dog, whose name was Ollie. This delighted Davis since he has two friends named Ollie. As the man walked away, Davis yelled out, “Hey! I really like your dog!”

Overheard as Ben is reading Davis stories at bedtime, 

Davis: That girl, I think her name is Peep.

Ben: It’s Bo-Peep

Davis: I’m pretty sure it’s just Peep.

After seeing the Lion King Broadway production Davis told everyone “My favorite part was when Mufasa died! That’s always my favorite part!” But when asked what his favorite song was, he’d loudly sing out “ahhhhh- zebenyaaaaaaaaaa!”

We took all the kids to “boo to the flu” at the school to get flu shots. Ben was across the empty gym with the kids, while I was finishing filling out forms. Ben was holding Davis, who was very, very nervous to get his shot. Davis said to the nurse “I’m only going to cry for a little bit!” The nurse replied that she didn’t think he’d cry at all and then did the shot super quickly. Davis looked up at me, from across the gym, with tears brimming in his eyes and a look of surprise and big smile on his face and said “I did it! On the first try!”

One day at lunch Davis was fighting with me that crackers definitely DO grow on trees and he was really made that we don’t have a cracker tree in our yard. 

Fall Break Adventure

In the seven years we’ve had kids in school, we’ve never actually gone out of town for fall break (or spring break for that matter!)- and this was finally our year! We decided to go explore Yellowstone! Hudson is in 4th grade so he gets a national parks pass. And since we were going to be in the area, we decided to add on a visit to Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. We hoped our itinerary wouldn’t be too much, or that our destinations would be too crowded (since these parks can get so packed during peak tourist season) and that the weather would still be pleasant. I’m happy to report it was a success on all accounts!

We left Thursday for Jackson Hole- which I haven’t visited since I was 11 and Ben and the kids had never been! I was surprised how much we loved it- the charm of the town and the absolute stunning beauty of nature surrounding us! The drive was incredible with fall leaves in full color. We went straight to Jenny Lake and spent almost an hour playing on the lake shore- skipping rocks, throwing rocks, building towers of rocks. The sun was shining, no one else was around, the Tetons were magnificent and the fall leaves were brilliant. It was the happiest, most peaceful little memory!

 

After our time in the park, we headed back into Jackson Hole for dinner and some more exploring the town. I made us get a family picture at the iconic antler arch, which weirdly Ben had never seen or heard of, and seemed doubtful but I promised him it’s a thing.

Our first day was such a success! There were a few toddler meltdowns in the car, but otherwise it was so smooth! I felt energized and encouraged that this trip was going to be awesome! (Spoiler alert- it was!)

The next morning we took off for Yellowstone! When we initially planned the trip, in my mind I thought we’d been there pretty recently. But upon further thought I realized it’s been 6 years since we’d been! I was pregnant with Davis last time! We spent two days exploring all the hot pots, geysers and waterfalls. It was so beautiful in the park and the crowds were incredibly low. We really hit the jackpot!

Davis was not into the stinky smell of the hot pots- the big kids were fascinated by them! 

To make our road trip smoother, I planned for awards for each day. One award to the kid who kept their seat in the car the cleanest (this worked so well- we had a very organized car the whole trip without any nagging from us!). One award to the kid with the best attitude all day (Each boy won this once- and we had really great attitudes all around!) And then they could all win the “no whining” award for any kid who did ZERO whining all day. I had treats for each award and this system went incredibly well. The boys were so excited to find out who won each night!

Our hotel in West Yellowstone was definitely older. “Rustic” as Hudson would later claim. But it was clean and totally worked for us. It had an indoor pool and hot tub that we used both afternoons we were there. We had fun eating out at restaurants every night (a real rarity for our kids who totally loved it). And of course, wherever we go Ben always likes to find the best ice cream shops. 

Davis loved ordering root beer everywhere we went. “Black rootbeer” as he always calls it. This night as he was drinking he was saying “I LOVE kid caffeine!”

This trip was such a fun time as a family! We had so much great quality time with the kids and actually came home feeling calm and just a normal amount of exhausted, which was a big win for us as parents! Our kids are such great little travelers- they love every part of the adventure, from hotels, to restaurants, to animals and scenery and historical significance. I love traveling with this little crew!

September Stuff

 

We got Heidi home for a couple of days right at the first of September and had a lovely time with her. Lila especially bonded with her this trip (which may have been helped along by the fact that Heidi brought lots of make up for her to play with). Everywhere Heidi went, Lila was close behind! We did sneak away one day to get pedicures and lunch.

We did a fun Labor Day swim and BBQ night. These cousins all bonded so much at the pool this summer- it was one of the best parts of the whole summer for all of us!

Our peach largely froze this year, but we did get a good handful. I made a few batches of jam, some delicious peach crisp and then we ate a lot of them fresh. Whenever I’m in the kitchen, my little assistant is right there alongside! 

Double-decker cozy-couping became the favorite game for these two. Almost every day when Davis gets home from kindergarten they do this (notice the different outfits, all on different days). Lila usually hates to share her car, but this is an acceptable option to both of them!

After his initial rocky start, Hudson settled into a great groove with school. He took this selfie and thought it was hilarious. His homework isn’t much, but it is mostly stuff for me to do with him (study spelling and vocabulary, timing reading fluency and quizzing math facts). I’m loving it. He’s happy to do it with me. All the other kids tend to demand more attention than Hudson does, and sometimes I feel like he falls through the cracks a little. I like having this homework time together to spend time with this sweet boy! He’s also finally really gotten into reading! He has to read for 30 minutes every night but usually ends up reading more than an hour. It’s paying off too- his reading scores are awesome. He also qualified to do DEEP (the school enrichment program for smart kids) again this year.

It’s hard to tell, but this photo is Chase being the sweetest big brother. He’s letting Lila paint his nails. She likes to pretend to paint the boys nails with her lip gloss (then it easily just washes off). She even goes and gets her hair dryer to dry them like I do with her. Chase was so darling letting her do it with him!

Initially Davis hated having to write his name, but pretty quickly it started to get easier and then he didn’t mind so much. He actually feels so big to be doing his homework alongside his big brothers!

The big kids have blown me away with what good students they are! They are responsible about school work and seem very devoted to their studies! I hope they always stay this way.

Davis’s little soccer team is the cutest! He kicks the ball a lot, not always even the right direction and I’m not sure he even cares. He’s having fun which is what really matters anyway!

I love the creative play Hudson, Davis and their buddy Will are always doing! This day was Harry Potter play and it lasted for well over an hour! Sometimes Will feels like basically a member of the family he’s over so much. He even told me “You guys are kind of like my cousins, like best friend cousins!”

 Hudson got his green belt at karate!

Chase had so many opportunities to do fun outings with friends this summer. Some of them were friends treating him to fun things like Cherry Hill and Boondocks and some of it was him using his lawn mowing money to go out to lunch with friends (riding their bikes). Hudson was feeling a little jealous of all the cool things Chase got to do. And while we explained part of it came with Chase’s age and level of independence, we also wanted Hudson to get to have a little more fun. So I told him he could invite a friend and I’d take them out for a night of fun! He invited Hyrum (who is the sweetest boy ever) and I took them to Boondocks to do go karts and arcade games and then to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. It was such a fun night and I loved being out with these darling boys!

Poor Lila got hit with another bug and spent two days throwing up! It was awful. Except that she was so snuggly and snuggling with my baby is always a treat.

The boys all unintentionally matched this particular day. What I love most about this photo is just how delighted Davis is to be between “his boys”. He loves these guys so much and they are so sweet to him. I love watching their relationship grow. 

Gosh, sending my big 6th grader out the door is wild. He’s almost as tall as me. He’s so independent about getting all ready and all his jobs done in the morning. He’s just awesome. September brought us new piano teachers for both boys! Our beloved teacher Jodi moved this summer, so we haven’t had a teacher since May. The boys have been awesome to keep practice and learning all summer, but it was definitely time for some direction and a teacher! I thought I had one teacher arranged, and then her schedule changed and she was no longer going to teach. So I found another one- Connie Johnson- and started both boys with her at the first of the school year. After two lessons she called me to tell me she didn’t think she could teach Chase. He’s just too advanced and she was worried she’d hold him back. So I began looking for another teacher for him, and I think we’ve found the right one! He started with Brenda Peters at the end of the month. I’m hoping she’ll keep him moving along and enjoying the piano! Hudson really likes Connie Johnson, and she is closer and much cheaper, so we are keeping him with her for now. So piano isn’t as smooth and easy as it was when both kids were with Jodi, but I think we are ending up in a great spot for both boys. 

Davis cracks me up because he was so excited about this gray jacket. He bought it on his back to school shopping date with Nana and she was surprised because he was so excited about it then! It’s just a plain gray jacket. Then some cool rainy days came and he got to wear it to school and he was so excited about it again. It’s the simple things I guess! 

Queen Elizabeth passed away in September which made me so nostalgic for London. I really wish I could visit London every year, I love that place so much! So I did the next best thing- invited some friends over and we had High Tea! It was lovely! I pulled out my fine china, used the tea cups for the first time, and made British scones. I bought eclairs, and my friends brought cucumber sandwiches and tea and we had a really lovely little tea party complete with deep discussions about life and friendship and the eternities.

September was so hot- like the hottest on record in Utah ever! But towards the end of the month we got some nice rainstorms and it started to cool down. We love spending our evenings outside together when it’s just so comfortably pleasant!

Hudson, just sweetly doing his homework. I love the way he talks my ear off while he works on his stuff. 

Chase started doing an extra 15 minutes of practicing after school (in addition to his morning 30) and it was a really good thing for him. He doesn’t usually have homework, but needed a way to transition from school to going straight out to play with friends. This is a good compromise. Plus- I’m often working out during his morning practice sessions and thus don’t get to hear his songs. This way I get to hear them!

The littles and I took birthday presents to Will and Anna one night and stayed WAY longer than planned because the kids were having so much fun. Like so much fun we didn’t even see them! I love seeing these cute cousins connect. 

Sometimes (like  all the time) Davis is so cute I think I might eat him…