Pumpkin Patch Ballet

This past Saturday was Kaylyn's first performance with her ballet class from Sugar Land Dance Center at the Pumpkin Patch and Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Sugar Land. Above is the video I took on the Flip camera.
Afterwards, the kids played on the playground. Jack dressed up in costume for the occasion. Click here to see some of the photos that I took.

Frantic Fall Fun

Below is an assortment of video clips from the recent goings-on. I have been so busy with the kids and their activities and work (we had our EPIC go-live this week) that I have not been posting regularly. I am trying to catch up now...


This first clip is of Jack doing his stretches at gymnastics class. He used to have melt-downs and insist on my being on the mat with him. The coach told us that we needed to physically leave the building for a few classes until he got used to being in class without us visible. This week we stayed for the first time in a month. He didn't even look at us once the whole class. He's getting so good and following directions!!


This clip is from Kaylyn's ballet/tap class. They are wearing their costume tutus for a practice run of their Pumpkin Patch dance. Kaylyn's class has been invited to perform at Holy Cross Episcopal Church Pumpkin Patch event on Saturday, October 30th. Anyone who is interested is invited to come watch! I think the performance is at 3:30pm. I will post more details at the date gets closer.


This final video clip is from my dad's birthday dinner at my parent's house. Kaylyn had baked a chocolate cake with minimal help from her dad. She even cracked the eggs by herself (no shells in the cake!). She then frosted it with white icing and her brother helped decorate it with sprinkles. We all sang happy birthday and had cake after dinner.

Future Golden Globe Winner

Well, obviously the Davis family has become quite busy since school started.

Kaylyn LOVES kindergarten and her new ballet/tap classes.

Jack is attending Colony Kids 2 year-old class twice a week.

We got a new shower after a leak was found under the old one.

Finally, my dad had his total knee replacement surgery done today.

I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off and Brian should win a "Mr. Mommy of the Year " award for taking care of running the kids around to all their activities and keeping the house in working order.

Now, the video above was a totally improvised clip. Kaylyn and her brother decided to don hats and silly sunglasses one night after their bath and run around the living room. I turned on the video camera and told Kaylyn to "say something" and this is what I got! I've been told by a couple of people that she needs to be in theater classes. Maybe one day she'll be on Broadway or the silver screen....

Dancing Princess

Well, I think we made a good decision to cancel soccer and let Kaylyn take Tap / Pre-ballet. I took her on Monday afternoon after school to the Sugar Land Dance Center to take a tour and watch a class. We both liked the dance studio very much and registered her that day. Today was her first class and it looks like she did really well.....Brian may have to practice his hairbun making skills though, LOL! I was sad that I missed the first class, but I am so glad that Brian caught some of it on video!

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, we set out at 07:30am to make sure we had enough time to get to her school. We parked down the street and walked to the school together. Jack was a big, grumpy mess and Kaylyn was super-excited. When we got to her classroom we ran into an old childhood friend of mine. One of his daughters is starting kindergarten in the classroom next door. Then, when we go inside, Kaylyn sees an old classmate from Pre-K at Colony Kids. She smiles and says good-bye to us with no problem. However, her brother Jack cries for her the entire way back to the car. Then, to top it off, when we get home, he won't have anything to do with me. He only wants his daddy. So I did fine up until then, then I did break down and cry. It's so weird not having Kaylyn running around the house after she was here all summer.

Click here to see pictures.

Last Wednesday we celebrated Brian's 35th birthday. We had dinner at Russo's NY Pizzeria. We then headed back to the house to surprise daddy with his Star Wars cake. The kids had a great time singing happy birthday to daddy and helping him blow out the candles. Brian got a new iPod Touch and accessories - just like he wished for!


To see more pictures from the event, click here.

Galveston Fun

Well, we're back from Galveston and everyone is a little bit tanner. We had a good time. Clarissa had no idea how exhausting the 2 kids would be, especially after being in waterparks with them for 2 days!! We went to Moody Gardens on Saturday and did the Aquarium thing. Clarissa then took Kaylyn on the Ridefilm. After that we headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and change into swimsuits. We then spent the rest of the day at Palm Beach. For dinner that night we tried to go to Rainforest Cafe, but it was a 2 hour wait!! We went on the river ride at the restaurant then had dinner next door at Landry's instead.

Sunday we got up and packed up the car and checked out of the hotel. We had a nice breakfast at Starbucks before hitting Schlitterbahn. I had no idea that Schlitterbahn in Galveston was so toddler friendly. There were multiple kiddie pool areas, some in shade and some in sun. I also like that you can bring your own cooler into the park. The kids favorite part was the wave river...see above picture. Somehow I think Palm Beach will now just be a memory. They will want to go back to Schiltterbahn instead!!

To see the photos from the trip, click here.

This video is so true....

The Greatest Show on Earth

Well, I am a bit behind on my updates here, so let me try to catch up. Last Thursday my mom, my sister, and I took the kids to see the Ringling Brothers Circus at Reliant Stadium. We got cheap seats (they were actually good seats, just not expensive) through 97.9 The Box's website. The kids had a great time and my sister and I ended up spending more money at the circus than on the tickets themselves. The kids made out like bandits, as usual. Although I wouldn't agree that the Ringling Brothers Circus is "the greatest show on earth", it was entertaining. Kaylyn's favorite part was when Mr. Gravity (the evil clown) turned into a Bengal tiger. I personally liked the double human cannonballs just before intermission.

Now, Brian is off to Ohio with his mom to visit family and work on genealogy stuff. Meanwhile, I have the kids to myself until next Tuesday. Clarissa and I are planning to drive the kids down to Galveston on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend doing water activities. We have tickets to Schlitterbahn Galveston and Moody Gardens. We are staying at The Victorian Condos on the seawall. Pictures and stories to come next week when we get back. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Summer Portraits

Well, not much too going lately worth blogging about. But, today we FINALLY took portraits of the kids. I've been meaning to take them since Kaylyn's 5th birthday (May). We went to Portrait Innovations again. I am always pleased with their work, plus we get the photos immediately after the sitting. It was a rough start to the sitting since Jack was not having any of it. He was grumpy and throwing tantrums. He has definitely reached the "terrible twos". Thank goodness for the patient staff who took time to play with him until he warmed up to them. They managed to get him to smile in his pictures! Kaylyn on the other hand is an old pro at the picture-taking. In fact, the photographer called her "quite the ham." Again, we were pleased with our portraits. Click here to see some of our favorite poses.