Santa

We headed out to the Houstonian a few weekends ago to meet up with Santa Claus! Davis was so excited to meet Santa.

 Davis had a blast with his friends Ellen & Charlie. Here are the three decorating cookies:

 They also had face painting:

 A balloon artist:

 And a meeting with the big guy himself! Davis had no fear and walked right up and jumped in Santa's lap. He informed Santa that he would like a race car and a kitchen.

I am confident with as good as Davis has been this year that Santa will deliver!

My 3 Year Old!

I remember the morning Davis was born. When they handed me this perfect newborn I remember thinking it could never get better. It was the most joy I had ever felt. I also remember being so sad as he would grow--I wanted him to stay a newborn forever. Everyone kept telling me that it would just get better but I did not believe them. But, I stand corrected. Having a toddler is the most fun and brings me more joy. I love the personality that has emerged and the little boy that now walks and talks around my house! He is definitely not a baby anymore. 

Davis LOVES:

Mickey Mouse, Thomas the Train, football, golf, reading books, eating popcorn, riding the train at the zoo, going to the children's museum, Starbucks runs with daddy

This boy talks up a storm! I feel like from the moment he wakes up until his his head hits the pillow he is talking. Here are some cute things he has said lately:

Me: "Davis did you have sweet dreams last night?"

Davis: "Yes mommy"

Me: "What did you dream about?"

Davis: "I dreamed the Cowboys beat the Giants"

Davis: "Daddy, I am scared of monsters"

Jason: "Davis, there are no monsters"

Davis: "But daddy, what about cookie monster?"

Jason: speechless

At the end of the day recently "Daddy, we have had a busy day"

"Mommy, come sit next to me on the concrete"

"That is a hyena" pointing to the hyena in the Good Night Gorilla Book 

Helping me set up the room for Sunday School he took down a chair and said "This chair is for Lukie" and taking down another "and this one is for me, I sit next to Luke"

Jason was trying to get to work and he needed to leave. He told Davis to hurry up and Davis replied "Daddy, I'm still eating"

Me: "Davis, I love you"

Davis: "I wuve you" 

Davis: (pointing to Jason's wedding ring) "Daddy, what is that?"

Jason: "Someday when you meet the love of your life you will get to wear a ring because you will marry her"

Davis: "Like Mary and Joseph?"

On our way to Kitty Park..Papa: "I love Kitty Park"

Davis: "Me too"

Jason was driving around one day with Davis in the backseat. Jason sneezed not thinking anything about it and Davis said "Bless you daddy, bless you"

Davis told Santa that he wanted a race car and a kitchen for Christmas:

Still takes a nap--thank goodness for nap time! And still just like my little newborn, a total cuddle bug. Davis has one flaw-he is a TERRIBLE sleeper. Before we moved him into his big boy bed he spent nearly every night in our bed (yes, I know save the lecture). I woke up nearly every night with a hand in my face or a little boy smashed up as close as he could get to me. Now that he is in his big boy bed we have taken turns crawling into bed with him when he wakes up. He will roll over and look at me and say "mommy can I lay on you?" and then crawl on top of me and fall asleep (all 32 pounds of him) on top of me. I love it :)

Very, very into talking about Spiderman, Batman and Superman. We end every night with mommy and Davis curled up in Davis' big boy bed. Mommy has to come up with all kinds of crazy things that the three super heros get themselves into (our favorite version is where Superman, Spiderman and Batman all go to swim lessons).  At the end of every story Davis says "One more story" and puts up one finger. I end up telling about 15 more because the way he asks is just so dang cute.

Davis has loved living the past year at Nana and Papa's house. He eats breakfast with Papa every morning. I love to hear him run into the kitchen every morning yelling "Papa!" and then hearing my father-in-law ask him what he would like for breakfast. The two of them then sit at the kitchen table and plan out their day together!

Davis answered the following questions tonight:
Favorite color: yellow
Favorite food: popcorn
Who loves you: God
How old are you going to be: 3
What color is your big boy room going to be: navy
What is your name: Davis Parker
Who keeps you safe: Jesus
What day is your birthday: December 14

Thank God for the most amazing gift I have ever received, the gift of getting to be a mommy to this little boy. Davis, you will never know how much happiness you bring to me on a daily basis. I love you!

No More PACI!

Yesterday was a big day in our household-no more pacifier! Over the last few months the paci collection in our house has dwindled.  I decided it was now or never and we devised a plan. I started talking up the "No Paci Party" we would be having on Sunday. We gathered up the pacifiers that were left and placed them in a bag and headed to Toys R Us. Here we are in front of the store--we are about to "buy" a toy with our pacifiers! 

 Here is what Jason  Davis picked:

When we checked out I told the cashier we were here to buy this toy with some pacifiers. The cashier must not have children because she looked at me like I had lost my mind! I mouthed to her to just play along and she finally got it. Davis told the lady he was a big boy and no longer needed his pacifiers. I was really afraid he would cry but it was actually me who cried the whole way home when I realized I don't have a baby anymore.

House Update

Our general contractor had the nerve to go on vacation last week and slow the process down. I really should fire him but I don't think he would listen to me (our GC is Jason)!

Here is the new brick work completed under the kitchen window:

 In front of the master bathroom:

 It is really hard to tell with the shadows but here is the front of the house. I LOVE the finished product:

Here is the front of the house before the new brick. Notice we took out the rotting wood and changed the three window front to two:

No more wood between the windows and new brick pattern:

 And we have a new door! This leads from the breakfast area out to the driveway. We knocked out a leaking shower to put in this door.

Electrical starts today and the new siding starts tomorrow!

To the Studs!

More house.....Upstairs bedroom with no carpet:

 Hallway:

 Davis' room (notice it is 3 windows..will become 2 shortly)..

 And now....drum roll please....we are to the studs and then some! So the picture below is standing in the formal dining room (wall now gone) looking towards the backyard. If you remember the doorway on the left of the fireplace used to be a wall. It will soon become two sets of doors to the outside patio (former sunroom)

 Standing at fireplace looking towards the front of the house. The wall in between the dining room and family room is gone--as is the pink half wall.  The step down into the house has been jack hammered out and flattened:

 Looking upstairs:

 Looking towards the breakfast room. Half wall in between breakfast and family now gone and beam in place:

 Sunroom turned outdoor living space:

 The three windows up top and three down have now been consolidated to two larger windows.  All the windows were replaced this week. Check out the old frames in the front yard!

 This was the area in the front of the house that used to be siding. Now a pretty brick pattern:

 Front entry with construction door and leveled out entry. We decided to knock out the entry closet to allow more space in the entry:

 The windows arriving:

 Another window that had siding underneath that now has pretty brick!

 Hallway downstairs prior to the half wall framing coming down:

 Upstairs hallway:

 Outdoor sunroom prior to the new mudroom being framed out:

 What a mess

The plumbing is now complete. Next week brings AC system and electrical...

More House

These pictures will seem comical in a few posts. Why? Because, we seriously thought that we would be able to do the demo on the house ourselves. So we threw a big pizza party to kick off closing and then started demo. It was very fun and we felt like we got a lot done. 

In talking with the owner of the house we learned that they worked with an interior designer when they built the house in 1979. They followed all the designer's advice and then never updated a single thing again! So the wallpaper was the original wallpaper. The beautiful pink walls (who the previous owner called terra-cotta and got very upset with me when I called them pink) and the wet bar have been in the home for thirty plus years. 

Here Jason and Derek tackle the formal dining room:

 My father-in-law taking up the floors:

 My mother-in-law taking down the wallpaper:

I have a personal issue with hearths. I dislike them and all I can think when I see them is emergency room trip waiting to happen. So out the hearth went:

 My brother and sister-in-law to be taking out closets and tile:

Stay tuned....you're going to be shocked!