Caterpillars

It stopped raining for about 5 minutes today, so the kids quickly went outside to see what treasures they could find. A caterpillar had crawled onto Tyler's tricycle for protection from the elements. What a discovery! They are still playing with it as I type. I wish they each had one so that Nicole would stop trying to steal it from Tyler, but maybe another day. They were content to look at first, but then I got the brilliant idea that they should let it crawl on their arms. I'm afraid that they are going to love it too much and squish it, but a caterpillar's life is short anyway, right? Great, now they brought it in the house. This might be a bad development. I'll have to get one of those little aquariums for them to put all of their little friends in. I'm glad they are so adventurous and I hope that it will rub off on me a little. Just so long as they don't feel like bringing in snakes, we'll be just fine.

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

Today I was brave and caught a little frog for my children to play with. Now I am a master frog catcher and my children think I'm the best mom in the world. I can't say that I was entirely comfortable catching this frog, but I just put mind over matter and managed to hold onto it long enough to pass it off to Tyler. Here's a couple cute videos and some pictures of Tyler and Nicole playing with the frog. Oh, and Nicole is wearing an ace bandage on her arm just for fun. She isn't really hurt.

Nicole's 2nd Birthday!

We celebrated Nicole's birthday a day early so that Ben and Tyler could go to the Father/Son campout today. I can't believe that she is 2 already! Our lives have changed a lot in the last two years. We've moved and changed jobs, bought a house, and now getting ready to have another baby. Let's hope that the next 2 years have a little less going on. Nicole got a lot of stuffed animals and books for her birthday. Which is good, because those are her two favorite things in the world. She is taking a nap with a dozen animals right now. She feels the need to have them all with her in her bed. What a funny girl.
Tyler thought that he was 4 now because Nicole had a birthday. I guess he didn't think it was quite fair that she gets to be 2 and he still has to be 3. I think we got it all straightened out, but you never know with him. :-)
I think someone told Nicole that she's supposed to act like a crazy person now that she's 2. She thinks she should have anything and everything in the world RIGHT NOW. The good news is, she hasn't started with the screaming tantrums yet, so we're still okay.(Oops, I just realized I left the sprinkler on for over an hour. Sorry Ben,)
So now that the hooplah is over and done with, we're going to settle in for fall and bribe our children with gifts for Christmas if they are good. Tyler is very excited because he is going to get Gordon (a train) if he's a good boy. I must admit, it's working pretty well because he pretty much does whatever I ask him to do if I remind him that he needs to be good. Now I just need to figure out how to get Gordon....

Yes, I realize that there is only 1 candle on her cake. I had a whole box, but I could only find one in the drawer. Besides, with all the trouble they had in blowing out one candle, I think two might have been too hard for them!

Our Family Pictures at the Beach

Our Family is Growing

We will be adding to our family in late April '08 with baby number 3! We are all very excited and Tyler thinks he's getting a baby for his birthday (my due date is just 10 days after his birthday). We have a Davis Family Blog, but I want to post more often and I feel like I would take over the whole thing if I did all of my blogging on there. So we are going to try this for a little while. Here's a quick update on our family (in no order whatsoever):
Tyler will be 4 on April 14th and he told me that when he's 4 he will be bigger than Mommy. It made me laugh and then I thought of just how quickly he's growing and that pretty soon he will be bigger than me! He's very sweet. He saw that I wasn't feeling very good so he opened the window for me so I could have some fresh air. That's a big step for him because he likes to keep the windows closed all the time. It was a very unselfish thing for my little boy and I appreciated it a lot. It's funny how hormones get so crazy when you're pregnant. Just that little act of love made me cry like a baby. Nicole saw me crying and kissed my knee and asked me if I was all better now. Could they be any sweeter? I mean, really, just look at those faces. They are so happy. Nicole has learned to throw a fit like a champion, but we just laugh at her and then she stops. One of these days I'll have to get that on film and share it with all of you.
Overall, things are pretty much the same around our house. I feel sick all the time because of these pregnancy hormones, but I'm hoping that in 6-8 weeks I'll be feeling right as rain again just before I get fat. :-) I keep having all of these dreams about having twins. Can you imagine? I think that would send us both over the edge. I have my first doctor's appointment in a few weeks, so lets hope there's only one heartbeat. I spend my days cleaning up after the kids and attempting to cook. I love to cook and I really miss it. The smell of food makes me really sick, so my poor husband is cooking for himself or eating sandwiches and ice cream. That isn't good for his diet, but he still manages to lose weight. I'll put a picture on here of me that Tyler took, he loves to take pictures. I wish I could trust him with our camera and just look at all of the things that he thinks make a good picture.
Tyler is starting pre-school in November and is very excited. Nicole just talks all day long and likes to be in the middle of everything. We're starting to potty train her and she has some pretty cool Dora underwear that she likes. Unfortunately, she never likes to take it off, even to use the toilet. So it has sort of backfired on us, but we'll get there eventually. They spend their days playing with each other non-stop. We don't watch tv anymore, so the kids are forced to play together if they want entertainment. It's been so cute to see them develop a relationship with each other. When Nicole woke up this morning, Tyler ran to her room and said, "There's my baby girl!" (that's what I always say when she wakes up) and then kept hugging her and telling her how much he loved her. I think she was a little confused at first, but then got into it and kept saying, "I love you too, Tyler" and they just kept going back and forth.
Ben is doing great too. He's lost a bunch of weight and looks super hot. :-) He plays basketball 2 or 3 times a week and comes home covered head to toe in sweat. I love doing that laundry, no not really. He has been working for Lenz Financial Group since June and is doing very well. He spends more time with my dad than I do now and I always wonder if they talk about me...
I think that's about it for now. Thanks for reading!