I didn't even cry

Alan after his first day of school.

My little boy started kindergarten today. I was afraid I would be weeping at the school, but Alan is so relaxed about these things, it was like any other day to him. He ran off to the playground with the other kids as soon as we got there. We had to track him down to get our hug and kiss. That’s our Alan.

oh. . . . Alan was most excited to tell us that the cafeteria has a stage AND a disco ball.

Kids Books

We have done a bit of driving this summer and the portable DVD player has been a life saver. But sometimes we need a little break from movies so we also listened to a lot of books on tape (or CD but I still call it books on tape). It is difficult finding chapter books that will keep 2 active 3 and 5 year old attention but we did find some. The first chapter books I read when I was a kid were the Betsy Books by Carolyn Haywood. They were written in the 1940's and they the epitome of innocence. The books kept both the kids attention and the adults. Simple innocent stories about going to school and making friends. If you have kids that are just starting to read chapter books these are great ones to start on. I plan on reading the rest of the books to Alan this year.

The other books that we listened to were not quite as innocent. In fact if you worry about you kids picking up not so great ideas, theses might not be the books for you. So why did we let Alan listen to them, you ask? Well, truthfully, John and I couldn't stop listening to them. They were way too funny! They are the Clementine Books by Sara Pennypacker. It is about a third grader named Clementine who is perhaps very innocent but is constantly getting in trouble. They are meant for a slightly older age group than the Betsy books so they didn't quite hold Hyrum's attention, but Alan enjoyed them and John and I couldn't wait to put the next one in. So if you are looking for some good books these are some great ones to get.

I've been tagged.

This is how you do it. Grab your camera and take these ten pictures: fridge, kitchen sink, laundry room, favorite room, favorite shoes, closet, toilet, what your kids are doing right now, self portrait, dream vacation. No cleaning, wiping, sweeping, or swishing allowed.



So I got home from Colorado Wednesday and sat down that evening before bed to check email and google reader to see all the blogs I missed while I was gone, and this was one of them. I took the pictures that night but was too tired to post them so I am doing it now. OK so I didn't do the assignment completely. I didn't do the toilet because well, it's a toilet, who really wants to see that. And I didn't do the laundry room because I don't have one. My washer is in the kitchen and my dryer is in the garage (house was built before there were dryers), and I didn't feel like walking out to the garage to take a picture. I also didn't do the shoes because I thought for a long time about which shoes were my favorite and I tell you the truth. I don't like any of my shoes. So here are the rest.

Not too bad. It could be worse.

This is not my favorite room, but at the moment I just wanted to go to bed.

Some produce that I should have thrown away BEFORE we left on vacation. Otherwise a little sparse.

Aren't my kids cute while they are sleeping?

My closet. Note that John is taking up more space than me.
I don't know what this building is, but it is in Germany. I was born there but have no memories of it (left when I was only a few months old). I've always wanted to go back.

This is how lovely I look after spending 13 hours in a car with 2 kids. Yes, I am wearing my robe.

So now you all are tagged but most especially those of you who have not posted to your blog in the last two weeks. Now you have something to blog about.

Family Prayer

In college I seem to remember a member of our Stake Presidency suggesting that we hold hands as roommates while we said apartment prayer. He said that it was hard to have bad feelings towards another person if you were holding hands praying. It sounded like a good idea but truthfully we never really good at the whole apartment prayer thing so we never put it into practice. Well now that I have a family I've decided that we should hold hands during family prayer, after all roommates tend to get along a little better than siblings do.

After putting this into practice in our home I have to tell you that this Stake president must have ONLY been talking about roommates. Holding hands during prayer tends to result in tears in our house. Either one kid is squeezing the other’s hand too tight, or they are elbowing each other, or, even better, they let go of Mom or Dad’s hand so they can more fully hit or tackle their sibling. On more than one occasion prayer has ended by sending both of the kids to the corner. Yes, if you want to learn about reverence during prayer look no further than the Davis family.

Why I am not completely nutso

I woke up this morning to see Alan peeking in my doorway. As soon as he saw I was awake he came in with a big smile on his face and a bowl of cheerios for me. Breakfast in Bed! I vaguely remember him yesterday saying he was going to surprise me today. It probably would have been nicer except that I had some tests being done today that I had to be fasting for (shhh . . . don't tell Alan). So John ate the bowl of cereal while Alan wasn't looking.

But that's Alan. He is always doing thoughtful things for us. Frequently John and I will find construction paper hearts on our pillows. That's just the kind of kid that he is. And thank goodness he is or I would be completely nutso by now.

Going Nutso!

In June we did 4 weeks of swim lessons everyday and a class at the community center twice a week among other things. Summer was fun. The kids aren't signed up for any of those this month because we were going to be traveling and it wouldn't be worth the money to sign them up for this stuff when we would miss so much of it.

I was wrong.

The kids are driving me nutso! They are bored and they are driving me crazy to entertain themselves. I am trying to figure out what to do tomorrow to keep them entertained. Unfortunately the kids have both lost their TV and computer privileges (due to Hyrum's new "haircut" and our new permanent decorations on our recently painted walls among other things).

If it wasn't so hot I would send them outside to clean up the back yard. I learned that if I send them out to play they are back inside in 5 minutes. If I tell them they can't come in until the yard is cleaned up (3 minutes worth of picking up their toys) they will spend hours playing outside just to avoid cleaning up. Unfortunately it's so hot out I think that would constitute as torture. I was considering taking them to a museum but Alan hurt his foot the other day (Jumping into the pool he decided to do a "trick" and slammed his foot on the side of the pool), it's not broken or anything but I think being on his feet for a while would make him start limping again. So I am begging for ideas. What am I going to do with my kids.