Priceless

Pack of markers: $3.50
Ream of paper: $2.75
Caden and Gwen tired of using paper: Priceless

Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa's

Car trip

Yesterday, we drove to Ohio for the Christmas holiday. The trip went somewhat smoothly, considering the 7 hour journey. However, it rained the entire way. On one stop, the kids and I ran through the puddles to go the bathroom in gas station. While we waited for the large stall, Caden and Alyssa took turns yelling down into the platic 'wet floor' caution cone, and picking up pieces of toilet paper off the floor and throwing them away. Then, once in the stall, they stomped in the mysterious puddle on the floor, and played in the wastebasket. Then on the way out, Alyssa wiped her wet hands all over the bowl of the sink and Caden dried his hands on a used papertowel that was sticking out of the garbage can. At least this time, Alyssa did not put her mouth on the toilet seat like a previous trip to Walmart. I could not come up with warnings fast enough for everything they thought to do. Like, should I have said, please don't put your lips on the toilet seat? Honestly. I haven't noticed any symtoms of mysterious diseases yet, however...

When we were perhaps 45 minutes from my parents house, I looked back at Caden and realized he was throwing up! I screamed, "Shann, he's throwing up!" So Shann whipped the car to the side of the road, jumped out to get baggies, and I jumped into the back seat to catch anything forthcoming. Caden seemed to just be sitting there in a surprised daze. Turns out, he decided to stick his fingers down his throat, you know, just to see what would happen! No, not sick. Just bored. Vomit all over his car seat buckles, straps, and clothes. After we cleaned him up with wipies, he was not allowed to talk. Shann was, shall we say, fuming. So remainder of the trip, was spent trying to keep our own stomachs at peace what with the stench. Its a good thing he wasn't bored at the beginning of the trip.

Oh the joys of traveling with kids.
Merry Christmas.

Choose Carefully

So last Sunday morning, I was getting ready for church, feeling pretty and stylish.
Caden often tells me that I look pretty, so when he came up to me and smiled, I imagined a compliment coming. Instead, he said "momma, do you have a baby in your belly?" Ok, no longer feeling stylish and pretty! Now I feel frumpy and fat! Amazing the power of words - even from a 3 year old! And no, I do not...have a baby in my belly.

Fatherhood - what's hard about that?

Caden has decided that he is ready to be a father. The other day he said he was ready, and then said "actually, mabye when I'm five". So I thought that showed a little maturity that he allowed as how maybe he isn't quite there yet. :)
He and Alyssa are frequently playing mommy and daddy to some little baby doll of ours. Lately, however, poor Alyssa has been made the Grandma. Not sure how this happened so quickly in her young life. So sad, isn't it? If only we'd seen it coming, and had gotten her into counseling or something. I think its because we'll be spending time with Grandparents over Christmas, and he can't wait for that - so he's decided Alyssa has to play Grandma so he can start the fun early.

Snowsuits!

Snow ball fight in 1/8 inch of snow. So fun!

tonight

"mom, there are sounds in my room that I'm not making"

Brain cells

A few days ago in the car, Shann and I were talking. Caden interrupted, and we asked him to wait until we were done. When we finished, we asked him what he wanted to say. He thought for a minute, and said he couldn't find the word. He said, "its gone from my throat. Its out of my brain!" I'm glad this happens to kids too! Too often I 'can't find the word!'
Also recently, we drove past Shann's childhood home, and he was reminiscing about waiting at the bus stop, etc. Caden told Shann that he has a "smart remembery". :)

Football

Alyssa observed Shann watching football today and said, "Mommy, guys runnin, runnin; fall down. Ball!" This pretty much sums up my understanding of the game as well.

Morning Girl?

Yesterday morning I heard Alyssa talking to herself in her crib. So I went in to get her, and she said "I still seeping! Go 'way!" She is often reluctant to get out of her crib - I think she may not be a morning person. Although it is really cozy in there!

A few days ago, I realized that when Caden was Alyssa's current age, he was sleeping in a 'big boy bed'. So I thought perhaps I'd put the side down on her crib, and start talking about what a big girl she is(with the side all the way down, there is still a rail at least 15 inches up from the mattress). So we tried this at nap time. She seemed excited. Then a few minutes after I'd put them both down for naps, I heard running in the upstairs hallway, and then chatting in Caden's room. Huh. I ran up, and Alyssa Jane had decided to go visiting. No more big girl crib. Back to sides all the way up. Maybe we'll try again in a couple months.

Revelation

Tonight at church I told the 3, 4, and 5 year olds the story of Elijah when he was waiting for God to speak to him. First, there were great winds. Then there was an earthquake. Then there was fire. God did not speak to him in any of these. But then there was a gentle wisper. And in that, Elijah heard God. I told them how God can speak any way he wants to, but we must be still and listen for his voice.
So on the way home, Caden was ready to hear. We talked a little more about it, and then he said "Every one be quiet, I want to hear God speak!". We all got quiet, and he said "Ok God..." It was quiet for a minute, and then Caden announced "He said to be grateful and be kind to Alyssa!"
He was so excited and so ready to hear from God again. Pray with me that he doesn't lose this childish faith, and he helps me to grow in mine!

First Snow

We had just a dusting Sunday morning. Caden came over to our room, looked out, and said "Did they put the pepper down on the roads yet?"

She's all girl!

Some of you know that I do not care for this phrase. What is that supposed to mean? Would you say to someone, 'well, he is mostly boy'? Or, 'she is slightly girlish'?
I feel as though its stating the obvious.
Regardless, I'm quite amazed at how young Alyssa has decided to take on the role of mommyhood. She is constantly wanting her baby to carry around or push in the stroller. She likes to wrap them up in a blanket and feed them bottles. Mind you, if she cared for a real child, the poor thing wouldn't last long. She is still learning that you cannot throw it down on its head, etc. She also always wants to carry my purse. She loves shoes, and has to show Daddy to have him proclaim 'how pretty!'.
Its so funny to me that some people (who obviously aren't parents) think that boys and girls are the same, just nurtured differently. Caden does not want to hear 'girly' songs (songs sung by women), or color with girl-colored crayons or play with pink toys; he is constantly smashing dinasaurs into trucks, etc. The sounds coming from their respective rooms at play time tell it all. From Caden's room I hear growls and car crashes. In Alyssa's room, she is cooing softly to a baby. So amazing how God made each of us from birth to be suited so well for certain things.

Spidey

Caden told me yesterday that he wishes that we'd named him Spiderman. Yeah, thats right. Spiderman Davis. I can just see that on a resume. Or, 'Do you, Spiderman, take this woman...' Maybe someday he'll realize that Caden was a better choice.

More car musings...

Here we are in Williamsburg, VA for Thanksgiving. We're having a great time with the Davis family!
On our way down, Caden said to me, "Mom, when are we going to go up with God?" I said, "No one knows, buddy, but I'm ready!". He said, "I"m ready too, mom."

More salvaged pics from my camera - August!

Here is Alyssa licking and me trying to get a picture of Caden. He is sort of in the run-away-when-the-camera-comes-out stage.

camera!

Well, my intelligent husband got our camera fixed, so here are a few pictures that were caught in limbo on my broken camera since August. These seem so long ago, with the pool out still!

Car spoutings

The other night in the car, Alyssa was being loud. I forget exactly - shreiking about something. Caden sighed and said, "This is too much for me to handle! Alyssa, this is too loud for the car! What we need is kindness and peaceness!"

Is this some twisted version of what he hears me say? :)

Honor your mother

This weekend, we drove to Ohio to have a quick visit with my parents. We arrived around midnight Friday night, and left around 2pm on Sunday. The 14 hour round trip can get long with two smallish children. Especially this time of year as we had to travel in the dark for most of both trips.
So to pass the time, I bring along movies, books, CDs, toys, lots of food, etc.
Yesterday evening, we were listening to a kid's CD by Steve Green. He takes scripture and puts it to song - very catchy tunes. We listened to the 'Honor your Father and your Mother' song and Shann and I joked that we should have this softly playing in their rooms each night to get it to sink in! After this was over, I had to turn on the light to find someone's fallen cup. After I turned it off, Alyssa kept yelling "ON!,ON!". She wanted me to turn the light back on. Caden chimed in with "Alyssa, HONOR YOUR MOTHER!" They went back and forth, yelling
"ON!"
"HONOR YOUR MOTHER!"
"ON!"
"Alyssa, I SAID HONOR YOUR MOTHER!"
And so on.
I guess something sunk in!

Zoo

We went to the zoo last week with our friends Antonio and Gabriella, Austin and baby Logan, and baby Luke. Mommies: Jen, Rebecca, and Michelle. In a couple of the pictures, the kids are standing in front of the tiger cage - there are 3 babies that are 7 months old, plus the momma. We watched them wrestle around with each other and the mom even got in on it - not by choice. One pounced on her back, and she didn't seem too happy. We laughed about how we can relate: all moms feel that way sometimes,like "get off of me!" :)

You can tell from the pictures, Antonio and Caden are best buddies.

Zoo

ZOO!

Halloween Crayons

The cutest crayons in the box! Yellow lagged behind during candy collection, but refused any offers of carrying or hand holding. Oh, and she grew tired of the hat. So we didn't last very long. Who knew walking abilities are hampered when dressed as a crayon?

"Deeduu Yaha"

I heard this phrase while doing my hair in the upstairs bathroom. Caden and Alyssa were coloring in the kitchen. Her page dropped on the floor and he picked it up for her. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have to capture these sweet moments and remember them when it seems like all I hear sometimes is shrieking and bickering.
What are these words that made me stop curling and smile?
Thank you, Caden.

"Planes, Trains, and...Superheros?"

Caden has been into superheros lately. A couple nights ago, he dreamed he was a superhero, and he flew to Sesame Street. Grover said to him "cleared for takeoff!"

Today we were talking about his cousins in China, and how much we miss them. He said, "if we wanted to go see them, we'd have to go in a boat, or a plane, or with a superhero. Thats what we would have to choose from."

Cat lover?

I would call myself a "cat person". Not a crazy take-in-strays and hang cat pictures on my wall type, but I like cats. Unfortunately, I don't have one, as Shann claims to be allergic.:) Nevertheless, I love their personalities; I love that they're unpredictable - they can be aloof or affecionate. They're really rather independent, not as needy as dogs... precisely why many people prefer dogs! But I also love when they knead and purr, and twine around legs. Cats seem contented and in control.
Anyway, this is my question: Since I really do like cats (and hope to have one again some day), why is it so incredibly tiresome to me that Caden and Alyssa are constantly pretending to be kitties?
Caden is always saying in a high squeaky voice, "mommy, I'm a kitty!". Even Alyssa, out of the blue, will crawl up to me, meowing. They want me to pet them and scratch their ears. I can even get them to eat otherwise despised foods if I suggest that kitties would love it!
You would think this would please me and perhaps help me through this catless period in my life. But no - I'm annoyed! Why is that?

Medium-sized boy

After church, yesterday, we went to a couple's house for lunch that we don't know very well yet. I knew that they had 4 children, older than ours. So on the way, as we talked about it, Caden became somewhat concerned that they wouldn't have toys that he would like. "Do they know how big I am, mom?" He said this several times, and I'm wasn't sure what he was getting at. Was he trying to say that he is big, or that he isn't very big?
Then he said, "I'm a big boy, but I'm still kind of little." I thought this was funny, like, 'don't get me wrong, I'm a big boy and all, but you have to protect me, because I'm not that big!'
As it turned out, their youngest was Caden's age, and he had plenty of toys that Caden was interested in! Caden and Caleb had a great time playing with trains, cars, and 'guys'. :)

Comments

I just changed my options, so anyone should be able to post a comment on the blog. So if you've tried before, and couldn't, please try again. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

the vacation is over

Last night, I was in the car with Caden and Alyssa, on the way home from church. Caden asked if he could have ice cream when we arrived home. I said, "no, buddy, its almost 9 o'clock, it'll be bedtime when we get home". He said, "But we have ice cream every day!" Hmm. Now, he just got home from a week-long visit with Grammy and Poppy. Interesting. I explained that we do not have ice cream every day as it isn't very good for our bodies, etc. We went on to talk about other things. It got quiet for a minute, and he sighed, "my life is so sad". I asked him why. "Because I don't get ice cream." Oh my. Its rough coming home to mom.

still more...

Caden and Alyssa colored on their pumpkins with markers! Now this event will be remembered for posterity due to all the colors permenently on Alyssa's jacket!

Shann's is the spider. I'm sure he'd like me to point out that his was voted the best overall. Mine is the moon and star - I didn't realize until I was done that I seem to have made an Islamic pumpkin. Oops. I was going to do more stars, but ran out of steam. In case you're wondering, the second from the right is supposed to be Conan O'Brian. Anyone see it? I'd like to point out that several of these (not mine) were made with help from patterns. :)
So fun. Thanks for hosting Jay and Amy!

more pics from pumkin carving

Not a good picture of anyone...
Jay and Amy (and Baby)
Jesse and Andrea
John, Michelle, and Luke

The Annual Gardocki Pumpkin Carving Party

before carving, we filled up our bellies with fallish desserts; pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, apple crisp, pumpkin dip with ginger snaps, hot cider, and pumpkin pie! Oh, and brownies. :)

Andrea and I
Trying to get Baby (the dog) to sit still for this picture didn't quite work. Alyssa kept her smile ready, though!
What a pumpkin!

We're back!

Shann and I had a great time of relaxing and reconnecting in the Blue Ridge Mtns last week. We hiked, biked, golfed, and went horseback riding. Thus, I was sore all week! But it was fun. I'd post pictures....but I still don't have a working camera.

Caden and Alyssa also had fun with Grammy and Poppy in Harrisburg. We left our vacation a little early so Shann and his Dad could put in new flooring in our house! Faux-hardwood! It looks beautiful, and I'm very happy with it. I'd post a picture....but I still don't have a working camera.

Vacation

We're going on vacation...by ourselves! Caden and Alyssa will be staying with Grammy and Poppy, and Shann and I will be relaxing in the mountains of Virginia for a few days. We're hoping to hike, bike, play tennis and golf, maybe horseback ride and boat. As you may have guessed, we're not 'lay around' sort of vacationers. We like to have lots of activities! So being that we basically know nothing about this resort, we're not sure what we're getting into. Should be fun!

So no blog updates for a few days. See you next week!

Were did you go, baby?

Hee hee, couldn't resist posting this picture from 3 years ago.

It seems ages and ages ago. Only having this one little baby boy. He seems so far gone sometimes when sharing some philosophy or another. At other times when he is cuddling with me, the baby doesn't seem so long ago.

I know the glimpses of the baby will get fewer and farther between, and then soon after I'll be wishing just for a glimpse of the little boy in the face of a teenager.

I didn't mean for this post to be sad, but sometimes its amazing how quickly life goes by.

Sesame Place

We recently went to Sesame Place with some friends. It was a gorgeous day, and the kids were old enough to enjoy most of the rides. We even enjoyed the water park! It would have been a perfect day for Alyssa had it not been for all these big, scary, furry monsters scattered throughout the park. In the picture with Big Bird, she was ok looking at him, but when we got in front of him - she was not a fan of him being behind us where she couldn't keep an eye on him!
Then below, she is blissfully unaware that we're about to be eaten by him!

Last time we were there, Caden was about Alyssa's age, and I distinctly remember him, running away from Bert, screaming. :) Why do we put them through this, you ask? This is fun! Can't you see she is having fun?

snippets

Shann and I were talking in the van the other night, and I heard just snippets of Caden explaining a few things to Alyssa.

"When we get older, I'm going to have to get a job, and you'll stay home and take care of mommy, ok?" Alyssa: "yeah".

"...and we'll both get married... and we'll each have a kid..." Alyssa: "yeah".

Well, I guess its all worked out. I wish I'd heard the rest of his plan.

Apple Picking

We went apple picking this weekend with some friends! It was such a gorgeous day! This is the first time we've done this as a family! Caden and Alyssa had a great time eating themselves silly. I noticed Alyssa, at one point, eating the whole apple - including the core! Yum. This first picture was a tree among the others, but the apples were teeny - crab apples I guess.

Look how many are packed together on this tree!

"Oh, the Lord's been good to me. And so I thank the Lord For giving me the things I need: The sun, the rain and the appleseed; Oh, the Lord's been good to me. " - from the Johnny Appleseed Grace song.