Learning to Ice Skate

Our first ice skating experience and even though the little one got frustrated, we all had fun. Caroline enjoyed just watching her daddy and the other kids. I think this helped her confidence and she would give it a try. Steve was a natural on the ice and now has the urge to play ice hockey again. It's nice we have a rink somewhat closer. A 30 minute drive for us is nothing. lol.
I'm sure we'll go back.

Happy New Year 2008

Wishing all our family and friends a blessed 2008! We thank God for the people in our life. Peace and God bless.

Merry Christmas 2007

Just another day in the Davis house. I say that not to put down Christmas and what it might signify in your family, but for me the 'meaning' has really changed. This change is very liberating.

I was taught that we celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas and the tree and lights all had some significance. I decided to do some reading..well after God got me to open the bible and just start reading I found out that there is no mention of December 25th, Christmas, and instruction to celebrate Christ's birth. I'm still reading in Matthew so if I am corrected I will post it. So now what...I have two other members who enjoy putting up the tree, lights, etc. I do too, but it doesn't seem that important to me. I can go either way...so we have a tree up, decorations, and even hosted a Christmas party. We say 'Merry Christmas'. We have done the local tree lighting; toured the decorated farms and parks; and even done Santa's shopping. But I still feel like I'm in a state of limbo as far as what I want our daughter to get out of all this.

I've already told our 3 1/2 yr old that 'baby Jesus' is not a baby anymore, but he is our living savior. He was a baby born of a woman named Mary. She immediately wanted to be Mary and act it out. lol. I've also told her we might not do things like other families because we need to obey God in all that we do. Next year we may or may not put up a tree. We may or may not exchange gifts. If I'm obeying God then none of this will be an issue. I will work out my salvation today, tomorrow, and on Christmas day. I'm thankful Jesus obeyed his father so myself and the world can have everlasting life. This is my celebration.

Merry Christmas and God's blessings to you all!

A lot of turkey and a hometown tree lighting....

What more can you ask for in Southern Maryland! We had a nice Thanksgiving. Of course I cooked a lot of food for three adults and a 3 yr old. lol. We are thankful for the time we get to spend with family. After we filled our bellies, we all played a bowling game on the Wii. Mom loved it and we laughed a lot.

The day after Thanksgiving there is a tree lighting/festival in Leonardtown, which includes Santa nonetheless. So after our turkey pot pie dinner, we bundled ourselves up for the cold to check out the festivities. We got there just in time to find a spot on the sidewalk to watch the parade of firetrucks along with Mr. McGruff and Sparky the fire dog (Caroline's favorite). Then Santa came by and helped light the tree in the center of the Leonardtown square. I'm glad I had my hot chocolate because it was SOOO cold. Needless to say, we walked around the square and headed home. We finished our evening with a slice of homemade cherry pie with whipped topping. YUMMY.

This weekend also starts the holiday season shopping frenzy. I only went to one store, got what I needed and headed home. It wasn't crowded either-I was thankful. Steve went to Best Buys-not the best idea. They were out of what he went after and the lines snaked around the store. He saw a friend of ours and she had been standing in line for 45 minutes (you go Jen!). Steve even said IF they had what he wanted he probably wouldn't of got it b/c the wait wasn't worth his time. Amen!

We also put up the christmas tree and got all the holiday decorations out. Caroline is so excited about the tree. She enjoys the lights and the train!

My favorite is 'candy popcorn'

Caroline tasted candy corn for the first time and that became her favorite and informed me she loves candy 'popcorn'...see the connection? lol.

At O-dark thirty Caroline wakes me up and says, 'mommy it's Halloween' and I replied yes, it is. She talked all day about dressing up as a princess (insert any princess name and she was happy, but Cinderella I think is the favorite). After dinner we got her all dressed up and went to a few houses of people we know. Caroline got to meet another 'Cinderella' and was in heaven. Then we ventured down to the local library for their 'not-so-scary' children's halloween party. I have to say it was pretty good. It started off with a few stories, songs, and games. Then the kids got to go around the library and get candy at different stations. They even got a book, pencils, and coupon for Chick-Fil-A (that's for mommy!). We met up with some friends and the girls had a ball at the library. Afterwards, we walked over to the fire station and the kids got more candy and got to check out the firetrucks. We were home by 8pm and Caroline was asleep by 8:30.

I'm not sure what my take is on this Halloween 'holiday'...basically it means nothing to me. In our house Caroline has the opportunity to dress up everyday and we seem to always have some kind of sugary treat stashed in the house. So to dedicate a day/night to say trick or treat seems useless. I will say that maybe this is due to my Halloweens as a kid...it wasn't a big deal really and I remember getting tired, my costume falling off, and ended up crying for some reason. So will Halloween become a yearly tradition in our family, don't know, but I bet we will continue to dress up as a princess and enjoy sugary treats for the next few weeks!

Happy Fall Y'all.

Granola anyone?

Me and my 3.5 yr old attended a local 'Nature Time' activity at a state park. We had a lovely time. The fall crisp air was invigorating. We had 2.5 hours of outdoor fun. We made a nature journal and then filled it with our findings from the field and corn crop. We saw beautiful flowers and leaves; various birds flying above; and animal tracks left in the mud. After we completed our nature journal it was time for a game. The instructor played mice and eagle..the kids were the mice and instructor the eagle. When the eagle tapped the mice on the head they turned into an eagle...well guess who didn't like being chased by the eagle, yep you guessed it our Caroline. She said she was scared, so be it. On to another game, Simon Says. A few rounds of that stirred up an appetite! The kids had a nice 'healthy' (see funny below) snack of soy nuts, puffed wheat, apples, carrots, and potato sticks. It was food so Caroline was in heaven.

Here's the funny part...

Funny #1: Caroline and the two other kids around her age (girl and boy) were looking at a daddy- longleg and my Caroline stomps on it. The other little girl started to ball. She comes running to her mommy all upset b/c that GIRL killed the daddy-longleg. I explained to Caroline that we don't kill the bugs/animals at the park (so not a nature girl here-lol).

Funny #2: Then we had a scavenger hunt..Caroline finds an ant hill and proceeds to DESTROY IT by stomping on it. Once again, I explained we don't destroy the animals home. I'm thinking to myself how the very nice instructor (nature lady) is ready for us to leave, but all was well and we didn't get kicked out of the park.

Funny #3: The final funny happened when Caroline asked the instructor if they are getting gummy snacks! The instructor explained that since they don't give out stuff with sugar in it (only healthy snacks) they won't be eating gummy snacks. Oh, ok, by now I'm cracking up inside.

By the way, the soy nuts were very tasty. We plan on going to the next Nature Time.

October Adventures and Overcomings

It's October and it's that time of year to say goodbye to the summer heat and hello to cool, crisp days....unless you're in Southern Maryland. haha. We went to the pumpkin patch on one of the hottest days in October that I can remember. We all had a great time finding our way through the corn maze, taking a wagon ride, checking out the animals, and most of all playing in the corn box (aka sand box but with corn).

For the past week Caroline has been fighting a cold. She developed a cough and it caused her some restlessness. She was in bed and I started to pray and before long I said, "Lord loose her from this cough and congestion." Caroline immediately began to cough up the crud that was making her feel so bad. Then the Lord put on my heart to NOT be afraid of what I saw, because what came out of her was pretty gross looking. I was thankful and Caroline was too. She got back into bed and I continued to pray. Mainly thanking God for his mercy on ME b/c he answered my prayer. Caroline opened her eyes, looked at me, and smiled. She slept peacefully all night.