Back to School

Oh my!  The summer is over and school is here.  How I fear the morning routines, but I also look forward to the routine of our day.  

I love this picture because it perfectly sums up their feelings about the first day of school.  Chloie couldn't be more excited to start kindergarten, and Owen... well, his face says it all.  

However, I don't think Owen really hates school so much as he gets nervous about the unfamiliar.  I think it's easier for him to just say he doesn't want to go because he doesn't like it rather than admit fear.  Hmmm... sounds pretty human to me.  He finally whispered that he really was excited to start first grade as I tucked him in the night before school.  

Anna was ready for school too!  She's taking off with the backpacks.  No time for a picture!

Not sure what Owen is doing here??? Maybe if he looks dorky enough I won't send him??  Sorry, Owen, I looked dorky all through school, but my Momma kept sending me...

It has now been a couple of weeks into the school year, and they are both doing well.  Chloie plays school the second she gets home, and can't wait to put her school shoes on in the morning.  Owen requires a bit more encouragement to get going, but I have found that Chloie is a good motivator for getting us to school earlier this year.  

Spring and Summer 2015

Well, another Davis birthday has come around, so it must be time to make a post! 

 

Another season of planting has come and gone...

It was a difficult year to get everyone involved.  Daddy only has so much room for riders, and we keep adding more riders!  

When it wasn't Owen's turn, he would whine mercilessly and even at times chase the tractor around the field.  Being completely sure Chloie was not enjoying it as much as he would, he reasoned that he should get to ride 99.9% of the time.  As for Anna getting a turn, that was just ridiculous.  How could a baby even like it at all?!!

A school year ended...

 Owen raced around the gymnasium in his homemade tractor racer to end kindergarten in the Kindy 500.  It would seem Owen has inherited my serious lack of talent in creating things... or being patient about it.  However, he was extremely pleased that he beat out his opponent in his race.  Though by a mere margin... as he kept his head turned almost completely backward to see if she was gaining on him.

And there's my little Chloie (in the middle of the back row wearing a bright pink bow) rocking out Pre-K with some 80's jams.  My favorite was hearing her practice on the back porch in the days leading up to the program.  She would sing her little heart out... as long as she was sure no one was listening.  Sounds like her Mama as a little girl.

And then there was summer...

Lots of backyard playing.

Not so much of anything else...

Which leads me to our birthday girl...

I can't believe it has been a year since we first met our little Anna.  She is sweet and silly and getting wilder by the day. 

So many sweet cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas made Anna's birthday so special.  

We learned from Chloie's first birthday that a candle (at least when supervised by Daddy) is not a great idea for the first birthday.

Anna approves of my cupcake!  Hooray!  Though not everyone cheered so lively for them.  

Anna even got a visit from her Godmother all the way from Washington DC to celebrate with her.

But by the end of the weekend, her napping schedule awry, Anna breaks down... the party is over.  Time for rest and another year of adventures!

A 2015 Update

So April is nearly over, and I'm thinking I'd better hurry up and write something before December hits!  The time just flies with a baby who is still up a couple of times each night and eats what seems like around the clock and two older kids who need to be driven to school twice a day and also seemingly eat around the clock.  Oh, and that husband who seemingly works around the clock... and eats a lot too!  

One thing for sure, 2015 has made Anna just about the cutest thing we've ever seen... though this is what we said about our other two when they were this age.  But something happens around the two year mark.  Maybe it was that they started talking and their demands lost the adorableness of those sweet baby shrieks.  Anyway, I digress, Anna lights up our lives.  Owen and Chloie's lives a bit too much as they constantly hover and smother and really honk her off much of the time, as siblings tend to do.

I have waited, as a good farmer's wife would, patiently for the slow season when Matt would be home a bit on the weekends and spend an afternoon relaxing on the couch... however, as spring looms in the air, I am forced to admit there is no down time for my beloved.  He spent his every winter moment chainsawing and wood chipping, changing the landscape of his farm from a gnarly woodland stream to a lovely, free flowing ditch.  

It was a challenge to make it out for a visit, but we managed to be moral support a couple of times anyway.

 

And it can't be the end of April without a happy birthday for our Chloie.  She has only asked every day for the last month, "How many more days until my birthday?"  

With a bright and early 6:00 wake up, she eagerly began her 5th birthday! 

So many family members and friends made her day so special.

She is one loved little girl.

From 6:00 a.m. until nearly 10 p.m., even out playing Owen, she partied and played, our dear five year old, Chloie Marie... (who looks like she's 7... she will insist).

Rounding Out 2014

It was a blessed, if not long, harvest this fall.  It was bittersweet that I never even made it into a tractor or combine. Little Anna was either napping or nursing or pooping... such is the life of an infant.  However, thanks to our dear grandparents, Owen and Chloie got plenty of time in the harvest action.  

Oh, what's this... Christmas?  No, Happy Halloween!  Wonder what the kids dressed up as??? Hmm... well, good thing we recycled last year's costumes.  If I want to know, I'll just pull up last year's camera roll. 

Daddy turned 34! No wonder I notice so much gray when I cut his hair! Since there are no pictures of me turning 34 a few weeks later, I will pretend that I am much younger and experience none of the graying in my own hair... 

Chloie can be such a great big sister to Anna in the mornings while Owen is at school.  I can just pretend that it is always so lovely...

But don't let that adorable red hair trick you.... She's a handful.  Right now she thinks Anna must love really loud, grunting noises. Because who wouldn't??  Poor Anna cries and jumps, and Mommy reprimands, but this stubborn red head just keeps at it.  We're all looking forward to the day she outgrows this rather annoying behavior...

Merry Christmas!  It was an interesting advent.  Owen went through denial of Santa Claus for the first week.  And then he wasn't sure.  By the third week, he was a full believer in Santa, Jesus and love he told me!  It always helps encourage belief when a good buddy at school has seen Santa with his own eyes the year before leaving presents.

Owen was especially excited about every silly gift exclaiming, "I didn't even ask for this, but Santa knew just what I would love! Santa is the best!"  Why, thank you, Owen...

And then just some super classy Meyer Christmas pictures.  Al is really getting into Christmas here

Melanie was so excited to be gifted these handy pajamas in the white elephant gift exchange. And can you believe no one stole this sweet item from her??

Cute family... though two minutes after this picture was taken, that sweet looking Lily dropped a fart bomb on her dad and ran out.  

Oh my gosh, Frozen!!

Everybody loves Aunt Nancy!

Anna is quite interested in this rather dated and yellowed wrapping paper...

Owen's favorite part of the night was when Grammy gave him and Austin some of Dad's hats.  Owen exclaims, "It's Grandpa's hat... FOR FREE!" He wore that hat for three days without hardly taking it off.  Tears and smiles...

And wearing Grandpa's hat, Owen finds the board that Dad so diligently wrote all the grandkids names on the previous Christmas.  A hole in all of our hearts and a quietness to our celebrations.  A first Christmas without such a loved one present among us is difficult.  But the very meaning and purpose of that first Christmas gives my faithful heart hope and joy despite my grief.  There will be a time to dance and sing and sip some homemade wine with my Dad again because God came down from heaven that we may gain eternal life.