Lately

Even though it has been raining here almost every single day, multiple times per day, we're trying not to let it get us down here in the Davis household. We have spent the majority of the summer with a huge fort up in our main living room space. That's been fun for everyone! We've played games, read books, watched movies, taken naps, and more in that fun space. And so I can't say this rainy summer has been all bad. The fort has definitely been the upside!

Friday was one of our favorite days of the year around here, Chick-fil-a's Cow Appreciation Day! Lorien is obsessed with CFA, and I am obsessed with dressing up (or rather the dress up clothes -- seriously. You should ask my husband about my dress up trunk full of clothes and all the conversations we had early on in our marriage about how, no, I really am not giving up a single thing in that trunk thankyouverymuch, and yes, we have to figure out where to store it all!). This makes for lots of fun in the Davis household! As friend of mine said, "It's Lorien's favorite holiday of the year!" This was Lorien's fourth CFA Cow Day, and Brighton's second. We've had a great time of it each and every year!

Lorien was 3 months here. July 2010

Brian's sister Heather was living with us this summer and joined the fun!
July 2011

Brighton was 6 weeks old here.  July 2012
Newborn stage is a beast for me. Looking a little rough, but lucky we made it!

Most recent cow day, all looking cute! July 2013

Saturday morning was pretty low key, with clean up around the house and a quick trip to ToyRUs to hit up the Buy 1 Get 2 Free Crayola sale. We got lots of construction paper, crayons, markers etc.  In the afternoon I had the brilliant idea to take the girls out to play in the rain showers. However, by the time we had them both in swimsuits, the rain had blown on for the rest of the day's remaining daylight hours, so we opted for filling up the kiddie pool for the first time of the year. Why oh why had't we done this before?! Splashing brought endless fun to both girls, and Brighton in particular loved it! Sweet girl has a joy and zest for life that I am so thankful and blessed to be able to experience.

Brian captured this fun moment of Brighton looking up into my eyes and smiling all proud of herself for being a big girl in the pool. It melts me. And reminds me of this picture of Lorien looking up into my eyes all proud of herself when she finally first learned to walk by herself at 18 months.

I am going to get a frame with a place for these two pictures side by side and put it up by my side of the bed somewhere in our bedroom. That way, I can always remember the time when Mama was all the world, and perhaps the sweetness of the memories will make the transition to the majority of the rest of life where Mama is not the whole world a bit easier.

Sunday we did the church thing. It's good to be back there, but also hard to focus some weeks. This week was one of those weeks. We left Brighton in the nursery the entire time for the first time ever. But my mind wasn't really in the service. Her separation anxiety hasn't really done much slowing down, and going to church tired and then away from mama and daddy during what would otherwise be her nap time, really is not her cup of tea. I think she would rather be anywhere in the world than church each week, and honestly, I can't blame her. She should drop her morning nap by sometime in late August or early September, and I am hoping that will help her immensely with surrendering to the church routine.

Sunday evening, we were so worn out of exhausted, loud, and grumpy kiddos that we decided to go out to dinner at the Japanese steakhouse where they cook/perform in front of you, just so we could not have to cook and sit in peace while the kiddos stared mesmerized at the show and filled their bellies with fried rice. I'll be honest. I would have never have thought parents did things like that. It never even crossed my mind as something to think about before yesterday. And I am so glad we did it!  The girls were thoroughly entertained, ate up big time, there was no yelling or screaming, and we got to eat in peace too.  I mean really, the cook, whose name was Mack, must have read our mail, because that God send of a man quickly figured out the amount of all my food that I was divvying up and giving to Lorien, and even the size of the bites I was cutting her meat into, and then he did it all for me on the grill from then on out. Shrimp cut up into thirds. Itty bitty bites of chicken. Her own rice serving. That man was GOLD. Pure gold. I've never been so thankful for service at a restaurant in my life.

Another wonderful thing that came from the unexpected outing was finding old gmail chats I had with Brian the week before/of our first date! I was searching the name of the restaurant in my email to see if we might have any coupons (we didn't) when I found a chat we had had because I had randomly mentioned Inoko in it. It was so much fun reading through those old chats and remembering somethings we had forgotten about. Case in point. The actual date of our first date. Yup. You got that right. We've been mis-celebrating it for 5 years. Brian was always sooooo sure it was March 14th, but it was actually the 15th. I used to try and tell him that I thought it was the 15th, but since I'm generally not that great with dates, I just trusted his memory. Apparently, that led us to 5 years of not even knowing how long we've been together. Oh well, I don't think we're really any worse for wear. ;)

These chats also confirmed the story I've been sticking to since our first date (because it's the truth!!) that I had no idea we were even on a date because he had told me that since he owed me some money from something I had paid for him at our campus ministry, that he'd cover my movie ticket to pay me back. He's always said that never happened. Now I have proof that it did. :) And I am so thankful that date I didn't know I was even on happened. Because, really. A lot of wonderful life has been lived together since then!

Last but not least, I have to mention that we were back at CFA again on Monday! I know! We're crazy about some CFA. And princesses too. That was our impetus for heading back to eat more chicken. There was a knights and princesses night at one of the CFAs in town, and our girls weren't about to miss the opportunity to eat chicken nuggets dressed up in princess dresses and meet the real live princess and the princess cow! No way Jose! The girls and I went while Brian was out on a man movie date with one of his friends. Lorien even wore a tiara that I had from my junior year homecoming, which also happened to be my first date ever. Isn't she cute?

Also, I found out that our fearless Brighton Hope isn't as utterly fearless as we thought. She does in fact now have a confirmed fear (and it isn't slipping underwater in the pool and then trying to breathe in before I can snatch her up out of the water --that she was totally cool with today once she stopped sputtering) -- a fear of costumed people. Like the CFA cows for example. Poor girl was trembling all over and trying to keep from bursting into tears each time one of them walked up and waved in her face or heaven forbid to get a high five. She was just not havin' it.