Happy Fifth Birthday Kyla!

I can't believe that our little Kyla is 5 today! I sat down to post a few pictures from the past five years and ended up with a huge slide show! I just couldn't pick the best three or four from literally thousands of images! Here goes:

Rain drops on roses...

Whiskers on kittens. Something and something and warm woolen mittens. These are a few of my favorite things. As we hit the New Year tonight, I thought I'd wrap up the old year with a look at a few of my favorite things from 2008. It's been a wild ride, but I'll see if I can fit it into one readable blog post!

In no particular order, here are my favorite things from 2008:

1. Next Level Church - We started going to our new church this summer and have loved every minute! They are such a warm, real, and open group of people who are willing to do all they can to help. The church is also dedicated to serving and helping the poor which is something we value very highly.

2. Avery's condition - Our youngest daughter has had a horrible bout with eczema which has created a nightmare for us over the last 1.5 years since we moved to Charlotte. The good news is that ever since we started a treatment called NAET with an acupuncturist, her eczema has been improving and her demeanor has improved drastically and I realized a few months ago that I was finally able to truly enjoy getting to know my daughter. We still have our rough days, but they are fewer than last year!

3. A FREE Car!!! - Some friends gave us an awesome Volvo station wagon last spring and it has been a lifesaver! We made it through last school year (barely) with one car, but we are so blessed to have two cars now so that Sarah can take Kyla to preschool this year and she is able to take Avery to the park and run errands during the day.
4. My wife - Sarah has embarked on some new roles this year and I am super proud of her! She taught her first two series of Bradley Childbirth classes this year and did a superb job. Her students loved the classes and she got some rave reviews! She also became a doula and has been picking up business over the past few weeks. She's started a "Babies and Coffee" get-together for the new moms she works with and she's making a real difference in families' lives. She does this all while handling the stay-at-home-mom duties! Way to go Sarah!
5. Photography business - I've been so blessed this year to have been able to shoot 4 weddings and a boat load of portraits. It's been so much fun to do what I love and get paid for it. I've learned and grown so much and I look forward to what the new year holds!
6. Woodworking - I've had a chance to get out in our garage and build quite a few things this year. I've built a double bed for Kyla, some floating shelves for the living room, night stands for our bedroom, and various other projects like putting up a storm door and crown molding with my dad.
7. The kids - Sarah spent 2.5 weeks in the Philippines this summer and I had the chance to hang with the kiddos on my own for that time! It was challenging and tiring, but I feel like it just exploded my relationship with them! They continue to amaze me with their imaginations and how much they love being with each other. They are best friends and it is a blast watching them grow up although I can't believe I'll have a 5 year old soon and our youngest is now 2 1/2!
8. My Job - Teachers are complainers by nature, and I can join in with the best of them on my weaker days. The pay stinks, the kids stink after activity time, and the responsibilities get piled on higher and higher with little to no opportunity for promotion. But having said that, I love my job. I love teaching middle school. My coworkers are outstanding and my kids are well behaved (for the most part). My school has nearly every bit of technology I could think of using. And when it comes down to it, I don't have to fear losing my job in this difficult economy.

I'm sure there are many other things that I have missed here, but my coffee cup is empty and I need a refill. Plus, if I keep writing, you'll probably quit reading! Happy New Year!!!!

funny kid sayings...

On Saturday we went with the Baslers to a local church for a Walk Through Bethlehem where they had set up a replica of Bethlehem complete with animals, guards, and a live nativity scene. It was a pretty cool time (quite literally...I think it was about 40 degrees).

Two of the Roman guards approached Kyla and her best bud Ella and demanded, "Pay your taxes to Cesar." My daughter responded with, "We're both four. We go to preschool." The ensuing conversation was complete with references to Old Lady (the way she says Old Navy).

Earlier in the day, Avery made me proud by walking around saying, "Touchdown Hokies" over and over.

This morning, Avery was very quiet in the kitchen for a few minutes while I checked my email. When I asked her what she was doing, she walked over to me and said, "I got a boogie" and had her finger up in the air with a prize on the end. I walked her over to the bathroom so she could wipe it on some toilet paper. When we got close to the bathroom, she said, "Oops. I dropped it." I said, "Oh, no. We need to find it!" She replied very calmly, "It's okay, I can get another one." Too funny!


As I type, Avery is walking around singing "Diarrhea" over and over. I'm tempted to teach her to sing "Cha cha cha" after she says diarrhea like we used to do in elementary school, but I think I'll leave that one alone for now...a rare moment of parenting dicernment.

learning the art of kissing up...

So either Kyla is the absolutely sweetest little girl in the world, or she is perfecting her flattery techniques. Case in point:

The two times of the day when I typically get the most frustrated with the kids are meal time and bedtime (I'm sure every parent can identify). For some reason, Kyla enjoys getting down from her chair and moving to different chairs throughout the meal. That's no big deal except she has spilled her food on the floor several times while scooting around. Well it happened a few nights ago while I was outside watering the flowers. Kyla came out and told me she spilled her yogurt. I had originally gone outside for a little break from the craziness inside, so I didn't really react. I just said, "Sorry about that." She came back in and actually cleaned most of it up. When I came back in, I asked her, "How did you spill your yogurt?" I was totally expecting to hear a story about moving her bowl and I was preparing lecture 153 entitled, "How many times have I told you not to move your food around the table?" She looked up at me with her baby blues and replied in a sweet voice, "I bumped it with my elbow because I was getting down to come give you a hug and tell you I love you." Desire to give lecture: dead.

Then tonight, I had put the kids down (Sarah wasn't home) and had settled down to watch a little TV and enjoy a nice snack of chips and salsa. About a half hour later, Kyla came walking in the room (she totally slid under the Daddy Radar which can usually detect the slightest movement upstairs). Thankfully, I wasn't too frustrated at that point, so I calmly told her she needed to get in bed. She said, "Here are some flowers that were in my kids' Bible." She handed me some pressed petals that we found in an old Children's Bible that she keeps in her room. I said, "thanks, but you need to get in bed now and don't get out again." She replied as she left the room, "Ok, but I was just trying to learn about Jesus dying on the cross." How can I get upset at that???

She's totally undermining every possible moment for me to lecture her. Where is the fun in that?

our little artists...

Megan and Patrick gave us a great gift! They had tickets to Carowinds that they couldn't use (something about roller coasters being bad for babies in utero). So Megan came over this afternoon to watch our kids so Sarah and I could have a fun date at the park! We had a blast running around the park hitting all the roller coasters (we haven't been to an amusement park in about 5 or 6 years)!

I called Megan at some point in the evening to see how things were going and I got the "well, things are going okay..." response meaning not good. Evidently, the girls went upstairs to play (which they play by themselves fantastically upstairs) while Megan was cooking dinner. Well, Kyla has recently discovered that the top of my dresser is easily accessible with the help of a chair or stool. And evidently, Sarah had found some lipstick earlier in the day and placed it on my dresser...and you can guess the rest.

They ran into our bathroom with the lipstick and proceeded to smear it all over their faces and hands and then wipe their hands all over the cabinets, door, towel, and WALLS! Megan said she was in shock when she discovered it and did a great job cleaning the cabinets with our weak, hippie, no-chemical cleaners! It's crazy because they've never come close to doing something like that before, but I guess there's a first time for everything!

Here are some pictures of the door and wall (which I was able to get the door totally clean and the wall at least doesn't look like it's covered with bloody handprints). Good times.

my kid's a genius...

Both our girls love the computer (they should with as much as mom and dad are on it)...they enjoy youtube just as much as the next kid, but I'm pretty sure they're going to become computer whizzes before too long. Today, Avery said to me "I gonna check my emul" and proceeded over to the desk, climbed in the chair and began typing away. I let her go to town and didn't want to interrupt. I figured she wouldn't cause too much damage.

When I sat back down at the computer this evening, I realized a google search was up that I certainly hadn't started. I rarely use Internet Explorer anymore, but it seems that Avery had opened up IE to google and had searched "bb v vb u." Now, at first glance that might seem like a 2 year old pounding away at the keys....but wait till you read what results popped up from her search:

SkyscraperCity - BB Code List

C ALGORITHM 632 COLLECTED ALGORITHMS FROM ACM. C ALGORITHM ...

JSTOR: Pseudo Lattice Properties of the Star-Orthogonal Partial ...

The ultimate Greek mp3 Forums - vB Code List

My kid is a stinking genius!!!

what the kids are saying...

I'm trying my best to keep track of the funny things the kids are saying because they are cracking me up constantly. Here are a few quotes from different parts of the past week:

While I was getting Avery dressed one morning, I offered a skirt to her and she replied, "No, achuawy, dis one doesn’t fits me."

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Kyla to me while using my hand to put shaving cream on my face: “Silly Daddy, you supposed to use your Mr. Shave (read: razor) on your face, not your hand.”

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One evening while I was getting Avery ready for bed I told her she was cute. She shoved her hands into her diaper and got a sheepish grin on her face and said, “I so preshush.”

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While the girls were coloring, Kyla said, “Avery, when I get older I can pick up a house.”

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Me: “Avery do you need a new diaper?”

Avery: “No. I fine.”

And here's a picture of the girls talking to their mommy on Google Talk:

Can I...?

So I just glanced at my blog (I don't actually look at it often) and realized that it's getting pretty heavy! If you know me well, you know I'm always the guy that has to provide comic relief in tense situations. Maybe nobody else feels the tension, but I do! We need something fun.

So here goes the first thing that pops into my head after being up since 5am! The latest funny thing that Avery (our just-turned-2 year old) has been doing is asking "Can I [insert action here]?" She has such a mature voice when she asks and it cracks us up all the time. Today, I told her that I was taking Kyla and Avery to Target and Trader Joe's. She was sitting on my lap and very matter-of-factly looked up at me and said as clear as possible, "Can I drive?" Yikes! She's been 2 for a week and she's already asking to drive. Kids these days!

see, she can cry!

For Avery's entire two years on this planet, no one has truly believed that our daughter can cry. When we have babysitters or when we leave her in the nursery, she is calm and quiet...the perfect child. And don't get me wrong, she is a great kid. She is very sweet and has a charming disposition...most of the time. However, when we get her home, she can sometimes turn into a real stubborn (and loud) child! Since no one ever believes me, I recorded her cry the other night at around midnight when she was throwing a temper tantrum because she was ready to wake up. There's no picture because it was dark, but turn up the volume, kick back and enjoy!

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!

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!!!

rainbow...

Last night, around 30 minutes after we had put Kyla down for bed, we heard her feet hit the floor above us as she tore out of her bedroom and into the hall. We both jumped, knowing for sure that she was showing some kind of disobedience by getting out of bed and also because she tends to wake Avery up when she makes that much noise. At any rate, when she hit the top of the stairs, we could hear the sheer excitement in her voice. She shouted with glee that she looked out of her window and there was a rainbow!!

I ran upstairs to check it out because I had just stepped out of our front door to see if I could find one because we had some very crazy storms blow through and the sun was coming back out in time for sunset. I pulled up the blinds in Kyla's room which faces the back of our house and revealed this beautiful, full rainbow. It has been quite some time since I've seen a rainbow, and I can't remember ever seeing one so complete. It was even a double rainbow for a while.

So when Sarah reached Kyla's room, I grabbed my camera and headed outside. I learned something important. Shooting rainbows is difficult! Especially, when you're standing in the rain trying to keep your camera dry. So hats off to all the good rainbow photogs! Here are two of the shots I got.

bricks and noses...

We all learned a valuable lesson Saturday evening...bricks and noses don't mix. To all the kids reading this at home, don't forget this lesson and you'll go far in life.

We went to an outdoor concert Saturday evening with Megan, Patrick, Stacey, and Matt and our six kids. Avery loves steps and refuses to get help going up and down. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and took a nose dive! She's fine now, but she was pretty pitiful that evening especially with the puffy upper lip! Below is a bonus picture of Kyla for equality!

a Richmond visit...

We got back last night from a 4 day weekend in Richmond. We haven't made many trips up there since we moved here 10 months ago, mostly because it's pretty difficult to make a 6 hour road trip with the kids. They did pretty well in the car this time and they always love hanging out at Gaga and Papa's (Sarah's parents) house.

On Friday night, we also had the opportunity to meet our niece Elizabeth! The girls had fun playing with our nephews Micah and Jonah too.





































Kyla and Micah worked out some pretty good dance moves!











(Jonah, Avery, Micah, Kyla and Elizabeth.)

Then, on Saturday night, Sarah and I parted ways and went out with our respective dads. Sarah accompanied her dad to her sister Charlotte's opera. Charlotte plays violin in the VCU symphony.

I went with my dad to the school where my mom used to work as an administrator. They have set up the Beth Davis Memorial Scholarship Fund there and were holding an entertainment gala to raise money for the fund. It was a great night of entertainment by students and members of local dance companies, musical groups, and play houses. But most importantly, it was warming to hear great things being spoken of my mom! It was especially encouraging to meet new people who were touched by my mom's life. She was truly a special lady!

on becoming best friends...

I've witnessed people becoming good friends over time before, but not quite like this. Our two daughters, Kyla (4 years old) and Avery (she'll be 2 in July), are slowly becoming inseparable. Avery is getting old enough to play with Kyla and Kyla is beginning to enjoy having someone to role play with. Avery is also ready and willing to do and say whatever big sis desires.If Kyla tells a neighbor that she's four, Avery does the same and tries her best to hold up four fingers. If Kyla wants Avery to knock on her imaginary door and come over to her imaginary house for a visit, Avery gladly obliges.

Of course, they do have their moments of friction, especially now that Avery has learned the word "mine" and "my." They argue over whose baby it is, whose turn it is, or whose hairbrush it is. We try to remind them that everything we have really belongs to God, but then it becomes a match of who can shout "It's God's baby!" the loudest!

Here are a few pictures of the girls splashing in the puddles today after the rain:

a day off...

For those of you who don't know, our youngest daughter Avery (20 months) has been battling with severe eczema since the summer. She is allergic to milk, eggs, and nuts, she has digestive issues, and she hasn't gained much weight at all since she was about 8 months old - she's only weighing in at 20 lbs or so.

At any rate, her eczema had pretty much cleared up over the past few months and we thought we were ready to start moving on...I don't think anyone can fathom the stress that goes along with a baby with severe eczema until they've lived through it. It doesn't sound that rough, but it has beat us up pretty bad as we've watched our little girl miserably scratch her arms and legs until they bleed and we've listened to her cry inconsolably and we've watched Kyla sit on the floor with her fingers in her ears so that she won't have to listen to her sister cry. I know some people have it pretty rough with kids that have life-threatening ailments, and believe me, not a day goes by that we don't give thanks that we're not dealing with that. However, this has been the reality we've lived in.

So, I'm not trying to complain or throw a pity party. I started this post just letting you know that I took today off of work. But then I felt the need to explain why.

Anyway, so Avery's eczema flared back up again on her arms, legs, and ankles and even a little on her neck this time. She had bronchitis a while back and is getting a few new teeth - and we're learning that stuff like that will make it flair up again. The past two days were a nightmare for Sarah - Avery pretty much cried all day long unless she was being held. And of course, with a four-year-old at home, Sarah has a few more things to do than sit around and hold Avery.

So, I took today off to give Sarah a break and to spend some time with the kiddos. Sarah got to take Kyla out for some much-needed mom/daughter time and they headed to a friend's house from church who has a beautiful garden where they had a tea party and ate muffins. I stayed home with Avery, who seems to be doing much better now that her teeth don't hurt as much. It was pretty hilarious because she was falling asleep on my lap while I was reading on the computer about planting a vegetable garden (future posts on that to come) so I laid her down on the couch.

Now, mind you, this is the child who required a pitch-black room with zero noise to fall asleep for the first 18 months of her life. Not today! Two hours before her nap time, she conked out on the couch in broad daylight while I talked on the phone and went through a ton of papers! Anyway, the rest of my day included a trip to the park, hiding Easter eggs in the backyard, cooking chicken chili, baths for the girls, and bedtimes. Now, I just realized that I'm 12 minutes late for American Idol! Gotta go make sure Dave Cooke and Carly make it through...

resurrecting G.I. Joe...

When my dad cleared out the attic of our family's house in Richmond before he sold it, he discovered boxes and boxes of my old G.I. Joe men, guns, backpacks, rockets, trucks, tanks, helicopters, and the like. He packed it up and brought it down to us when we moved to Charlotte. The original plan was to put it up for sale on Ebay, but Kyla and Avery had different plans! When they discovered them, you would have thought we had spent a million dollars on the latest, greatest toys. It was far more valuable for them to play with than the 30 bucks or so I might have made on the stuff on Ebay. The funniest thing, I think, is that Kyla thinks the bigger guns are fishing poles. We haven't really explained guns and war and such yet! Maybe when she turns 4. :)

it's a beautiful day!

We had to get the kids outside today because it was so beautiful. The sky was blue, the air was fresh, and best of all, it wasn't cold! Kyla had a blast riding her princess bike she got for Christmas and Avery loves ringing the bell on her hand-me-down tricycle from Kyla! Kyla has gotten pretty good at riding. She finally mastered the art of the brakes and doesn't have to slam her feet to the ground to stop. She still has a hard time remembering to look where she's going because she likes to watch the scenery pass by!

my new niece

Matt and Doverly, my slightly elder brother and sis-n-law, recently had their third baby...my first niece! Elizabeth Abigail Davis. Sure, I love having three nephews, but being a father of two girls, I must say I'm stoked about having a niece. I haven't gotten a chance to meet her yet because she's six hours away, but hopefully we'll get up there soon! Thankfully, Matt has sent us some great pics to enjoy.

FDA declares kid's cold medicine unsafe!

The FDA has now said cold medicine for kids under the age of 2 is unsafe. Here's an excerpt from an article on cnn.com.

"Parents should not give sniffling babies and toddlers over-the-counter cough and cold medicines -- they're too risky for tots so small, the government will declare Thursday.

The Food and Drug Administration still hasn't decided if the remedies are appropriate for older children to continue using, officials told The Associated Press.

Expect a decision on that by spring, the deadline necessary to notify manufacturers before they begin production for next fall's cold season.

For now, the FDA is issuing a public health advisory on Thursday to warn parents to avoid these drugs for children under age 2 "because serious and potentially life-threatening side effects can occur."