wake up call?

This weekend, Sarah and the girls and I traveled to Roanoke Rapids, NC for my cousin's wedding. We were looking forward to the weekend with mixed feelings...we were excited to see my family and to see Kyla as a flower girl in the wedding, but we were nervous about traveling with Avery (eczema, food allergies, etc). The thing we were most nervous about what staying in the hotel because we hadn't done that with both girls before.

We finally arrived at the hotel Friday evening with just a little time to check in, unpack, eat a bite, and get to the rehearsal. When I checked in, I had to chuckle when the lady asked me if I needed a wake up call in the morning. Little did she know that my two little human alarm clocks hadn't let me sleep past 6:30 in over a year! Little did I know the type of wake up call I was about to receive.

The rehearsal went well, we got back to the room, and we all crashed Friday evening around 9:30. I slept great and was feeling pretty good when I heard Avery talking in her pack 'n play at the foot of our bed at about 6:15. I thought, "well...she did pretty well. She didn't wake up and she slept later than normal!" I went to get her expecting to change her diaper and put her in bed with us and hoping to get a little more sleep. But as I said, little did I know what awaited!

As I groggily walked over, with the little light available, I noticed Avery had taken her pants off. No surprise though, because she does that quite often. Then I noticed another foreign object laying in the crib...her diaper! I said playfully, "Avery, did you take your diaper off?" She just smiled at me...still no surprises.

Then I caught a whiff of a not-so-pleasant odor and at the same time noticed some other foreign objects in the crib. You guessed it. Completely unrobed and undiapered, she pooped all over the sheets! All over her blankie and her teddy bear! I was shocked and grossed out and worried that if I made a huge deal about it Kyla would wake up. What a mess!

In complete silence, I got her cleaned up and I cleaned the crib as much as I could. Then I got back in bed with Avery hoping to sleep some of the shock off...but she was awake. So I took her downstairs for breakfast so that Kyla and Sarah could sleep some more and decided to clean the rest of it later. I should have cracked a window, however, because the smell when we returned was horrendous!

Thankfully, we were able to do a quick load of laundry at my aunt's house so that Avery could get her blankie in time for nap...but the crib sheet and teddy bear were bagged up and disposed of! Oh, the adventures of parenthood!

Anyway, the wedding went well and we arrived at Sarah's parents house last night where we'll be spending the rest of the week hanging out and enjoying a little vacation within a vacation. I'll post some pictures of the wedding as soon as I can!

i <3 craigslist...

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. I love Craigslist! I was reminded of my love for it tonight when I scored a bunch of free lumber and plywood from a guy clearing out his garage! In addition to my free wood, so far to date, through Craigslist we have:

-rented an apartment
-sold a couch
-sold an entertainment center
-sold some end tables
-sold a coffee table
-bought 2 dressers
-sold one of those dressers because we didn't like it
-bought a bed
-bought a pack 'n play
-bought a high chair
-sold two kidneys (ok, that one was see who really pays attention to what I write)
-booked three weddings to photograph
-sold a desk
-bought moving blankets
-sold cloth diapers
-applied for jobs

our car...

As promised, here are a few shots of our new-to-us-FREE-car we got a few weeks ago...

The best part for me is that I now have a car that is big enough to haul the wood for my various woodworking projects!!! What a huge miracle this car has been!

Kyla's bed...almost finished

As I mentioned earlier, I am making a full size platform bed for Kyla. For Father's Day, Sarah gave me the day off yesterday and I spent the day out in the garage working on the bed. When I start a project, I've usually thought it through pretty well, but I don't really use any plans other than the ones I sketch out on paper. So far, everything has turned out pretty well even though I tend to make a few mistakes along the way, but I guess that's how I learn best. All those years of watching "This Old House" and "New Yankee Workshop" on Saturday mornings are finally paying off!

Anyway, I had all the wood and I quickly got to measuring, cutting, and sanding. And by the time I came in to help get the house ready for our dinner guests, I had it all framed out. I got out there in the garage again tonight after the kids were in bed and stained it. Now I just have to cut the slats and put on the clear coat and Kyla will have a bed! I guess the true test is when I get it upstairs and throw the mattress on there. If all goes well, I'll make one for us too! I designed it so it can be broken down into four pieces which is necessary because it is HEAVY! Below are a few pictures of my work in progress. I'll post the finished product soon!

This bed should be strong enough to last a long time even with all the monkeys jumping on the it!

one of the corners

ah yeah!

double ah yeah

what did we do before photoshop?

So Sarah and I shot a wedding last month (I think I posted a few shots up a few weeks ago). Anyway, I recently sent all the pictures off to the bride and groom. I sent an email to the bride this morning to ensure she received them and that she could open the files on the CDs. This is the reply I got back:

Hey Peter! We got the pics and absolutely loved them! Thank you so much for doing such a fantastic job! Yes I would love some creative ideas for the prints! Also I was wondering if you could fix one of the photos! It is the one with the girls catching the bouquet, someones breast popped out of their dress! Let me know if you can photo shop it or if their is anything I can do, because it is a great shot! Thanks again! And also thank Sarah for us!

I was shocked!!! I quickly went back to check and sure enough there in plain view was a poor bridesmaid's breast in full view. I guess I somehow missed that when I was editing! Yikes! I thought about it for a moment and decided that sure, I could fix it. But did I want to? I just couldn't bring myself to zoom in and get to work. So I did what any respectable man would do. I emailed it a friend! But relax, I emailed it to my trusted friend Veronique who happens to be a woman and happens to be a pro with photoshop. I pre-begged for forgiveness and sought her assistance. She quickly replied with grace and restored the bridesmaid's dignity with a photoshopped dress. I won't post the picture up here obviously, but I will say a big thank you to Veronique! I owe you one. I still can't keep myself from laughing about the whole thing because I keep picturing the bride and groom sitting down on the couch with a glass of wine and the laptop all excited to see their wedding pictures, and then BAM!

Here's the moral of the story: Ladies, if you're wearing a strapless dress and you know pictures will be taken, please don't jump up and reach your hands back over your head!!

confession...

My name is Peter, and I willingly shopped at Wal-Mart tonight. I know, I should be ashamed of myself, but it was just so dang convenient. That is the first time in nearly 2 years that I've spent money in a Wal-Mart and only the fourth time in a Wal-Mart store in nearly the same amount of time. I absolutely hated being in there and I seriously doubt I'll ever willingly go in again. Sorry if I offend any avid Wal-Mart regulars, I just can't do it.

yahoo vs. google

So, I've been a huge fan of google for the past few years, namely because of gmail and picasa. However, I must say that yahoo really impressed me tonight and I'm thinking I might have to switch. If you search for Peter Davis in google, my blog shows up somewhere on the 5th or 6th page behind some name-stealer who wrote a book about Hitler's mustache! However, if you conduct a similar search on yahoo, their ingenious software brings my name up on the 2nd page! Obviously, yahoo is a much smarter program. We'll just have to teach google a lesson. I'm calling on an official boycott of google until I reach the top! If you consider yourself a devoted reader of this blog, then join me in my quest to bring google down! Once they realize my profound influence on the blogosphere, they'll have to list me at the top of a Peter Davis search.*

*Mr. Google, if you're reading this, please don't delete my gmail account...I really like it.

summer day 1

I accomplished quite a bit on summer, day 1. I started the day with some quiet prayer time before everyone got up...which has to be VERY early in this house! The kids got up around 6:15 and I got them settled with breakfast. I went right to emptying the dishwasher and cleaning out the fridge. I used to be pretty grossed out by opening all of the leftovers since we're pretty bad about leaving stuff in there forever, but now that I have a compost pile, I get excited to see what I can throw in there! I've enjoyed composting and it seems like it's going pretty well. I've got it in a 5 gallon bucket and if the quality of soil is correspondent to the smell, I've got some fantastic dirt going!! And it seems to really be doing well ever since Kyla threw in the 10 worms she found a few weeks ago.

Anyway, after the kitchen was settled, I got my coffee and sat down with the kids to watch Curious George...I still love that little monkey. The rest of my day consisted of finalizing my plans for building Kyla's bed, cleaning, playing with the kids, teaching Kyla to read, buying plane tickets for Sarah, shopping at Lowe's, watching clips of the Colbert Report online, watching a CRAZY thunderstorm, and napping with Avery. I'd say today was a pretty good day! Tomorrow, I have to go to the DMV...no complaints though, because I'm switching the title of our new-to-us-free-car into our names!

summertime plans...

Today began the first day of my favorite time of year...summer! The kids finished school on Friday and I had two teacher workdays on Monday and Tuesday. I drove out of the parking lot simply amazed that a whole year had gone by. This time last year, we were in the midst of packing to move cross-country, I had just finished my classes at Cal State, I was trying to find a job here in Charlotte, we were saying goodbyes to friends in LA, and we were putting the finishing touches on the closing for our house.

So, now what do I do with my free time? Summer school, you may ask? Heck no! It's not that I'm lazy and don't want to work over the summer. I usually reply to friends when they ask this question by saying, "I don't think I can handle teaching special education students during the summer who failed my special education classes during the school year. There is an end to my love and grace!" So, my plan is to do some tutoring. I have one gig lined up and I just got a call about another today. I should also be able to line up a few photography gigs before the summer is over as well.

I plan to use my time to build my photography website back up and get some advertising out there in places other than Craigslist. I also plan to build a few things in the garage. I went to Lowe's today and picked up some wood with Kyla to build a bed to hold her full-size mattress we bought two months ago that has been sitting on the floor in her room since then. My dad is also coming down to hopefully help me put some crown molding up and I'm also hoping to use the leftover ceramic tile from the kitchen to put down in the bathroom. I've also created a little reading list for myself, and Sarah and I hope to take full advantage of our Netflix account! I probably will have to spend a little time this summer preparing for the fall as well since I recently found out I'm teaching all math next year!! If you know me well, you were surprised to hear I was teaching reading. If you know me in the slightest, you're shocked to hear I'm teaching all math! It should be a fun challenge though and I've got some good ideas on how to make it fun.

But mainly, I'm really looking forward to my time with my 3 girls. Sarah and I have devised a pretty good plan for the days that includes some family prayer/Bible time in the morning followed by school time for Kyla. She's already sounding out words and writing letters and she loves working in her reading book! The other day she started adding numbers too! She figured out how to use her fingers to add numbers less than 5 together! Avery is also a little sponge and will probably learn to read by watching us teach Kyla! We plan to hit the pool, the library, and the park on a regular basis as the weather permits.

At the end of the month we're headed to my cousin's wedding where Kyla will score a hat trick for flower-girling in a wedding. Then we'll head to VA for a week. We're in the process of booking plane tickets for Sarah to spend 2 weeks in the Philippines volunteering at the maternity clinic where she hopes to study in the near future. That will be quite an adventure for us all...Sarah overseas for 2 weeks and the girls and me at home by ourselves for 2 weeks! Overall, it's shaping up to be a nice summer. Two summers ago, my mom passed away and Avery was born 2 weeks later. Last summer, we moved cross-country, bought a house, and I got a new job. So I figure we can rationalize a little R&R this summer. Being strapped for cash is a pretty big bummer at times, but sitting here on the first day of summer vacation thinking that I don't have to work tomorrow makes teaching the best job in the world!!!

a day at Virginia Tech

On Friday afternoon, Sarah's mom came down from Richmond to babysit our kids while we took a weekend away to celebrate our 7th anniversary where it all began at Virginia Tech. We had a blast walking around campus and reliving some of the best times of our lives on Saturday. We also got to take a break at one of our favorite coffee shops, Mill Mountain, in Blacksburg. We ended our day Saturday with dinner and drinks on the patio at Cabo Fish Taco and then we headed off to watch the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. We had to cut our trip a little short, though, because Sarah's mom got sick! But all in all, we had a blast and enjoyed our time away. Here are a few pictures from the trip.




Sarah standing in front of her old apartment building

Me standing in front of my old apartment buildingSarah and I sitting on the bench at the Duck Pond where I proposed!

Sarah pointing to her 12th floor room in Slusher Tower

it wasn't me...

It seems that part Universal Studios in LA is on fire! I know that some of you may assume that I had something to do with it given my history of fires and movie studios...but I promise I have not been near Los Angeles since Thanksgiving!

For those of you unfamiliar with my story, let me share. In September 2006, with some help from my friend Ben who worked for Sony, I landed the biggest photo gig I've ever had. Along with several friends, I photographed Sony Electronics' Global Marketing Division conference at the Sony studios near our house in Culver City. All the big wigs from around the world were in town and my job was to document the conference with group photos, candids, and pictures of worldwide execs with the CEO and President of Sony Electronics.

At any rate, on the first day, we were setting up our rented lighting equipment in a theater in the middle of the studio backlot when I started to smell something burning. I sniffed around, but didn't see anything and quickly dismissed it because there was so much other electronic equipment in use. When I came back into the room, I looked down at one of the power supplies for our lights and saw a six-inch flame shooting out of the side and coming within six inches of the large curtain surrounding the movie screen!

I quickly unplugged the power supply and the flame disappeared. But much to my chagrin, one of Sony's techs came down to investigate the smell. He and I quickly ran the power supply outside before any alarms sounded. My heart was in my throat by then because we were running a tight schedule and had to get the lighting setup (and we were now down one light). I was also nervous about leaving a piece of rented equipment on the curb out back, especially since it was a mysterious little grey box with buttons and knobs! So I stuck my business card on it for any inquiring minds and ran back in to finish setting up.

After a few minutes, I got a chance to meet the nice gentlemen from the Culver City Fire Department who were called by someone who had smelled the smoke. Thankfully, they weren't rushing in with hoses and hard hats, but they just came to investigate. They were very nice! Then I got to meet the fine gentlemen of the Sony Security Department who wanted to file a report. After all was said and done, I was a nervous wreck and had earned the nickname "Smokey Pete" from the Sony techs who witnessed the whole thing. We got the burned out power supply replaced that night and the shoot was flawless over the following two days. But just to reiterate my point, I had nothing to do with this Universal fire!

a free car?!?!?!

On Friday, Sarah called me on my cell phone at work. Typically, she only calls me when something is wrong because I usually can't talk during the day and I don't get great reception in the middle of the farmland where I teach. It had also been a difficult week with Avery, so I could only imagine what she was calling about. At any rate, this phone call brought great news! Some friends of ours at church had called her and offered us a free car! That's right, I said FREE!

When we lived in LA, we got by on one car pretty well since Sarah could walk with the girls to several parks, the library, coffee shops, and stores. Our double jogging stroller was our second car! But here, she can't really easily walk anywhere except a small park in our neighborhood and some of our friends' houses. We've managed this school year to get by with one car, but it has been difficult especially when Sarah would have to spend 2 hours of her day dropping me off and work and picking me up so that she could take the girls somewhere! She's been a real trooper this year.

So back to the free part. I just got off the phone with our friend, and we should be getting our 1998 Volvo Station Wagon with only 70,000 miles on it sometime tonight or tomorrow! We just have to pay to transfer the title and such! God is so good in his provision! There is no way we could have afforded another car and we had actually prayed for a free car recently because we knew next school year would be an even greater challenge with one car since we hope to enroll Kyla in Preschool. We've seen God do some pretty wild things and provide in some extremely creative ways. I guess we'll have to put this somewhere towards the top of that list!!! The more He does things like this, the stronger our faith becomes that He will always meet our needs. I'll post some pictures when we get it.