MWCC Playdate

On Monday, we rounded up the kids and headed to Monkey Bizness to burn off some energy. This was good for both Mom's and daughters. I love hearing how Christmas went for everyone else and it is a great time to catch up when the girls are busy running around.

We enjoyed lunch at Gunther Toody's (a 50's diner) and I think I made up for the meal I missed at Christmas.

The Archer Christmas

The Archer Christmas was great as usual. Mom and Dad made a great breakfast which as you know is my favorite part. It was hard to squeeze 16 at a table and we've decided that Dad will simply have to move or knock down a wall so we can all eat together.

Mom spoiled everyone as usual. She goes above and beyond for this holiday and we have nothing but wonderful memories each year we celebrate. She cooked up a wonderful turkey dinner and everyone said it was amazing. Unfortunately I had a horrible headache this day and couldn't enjoy dinner. On the plus side I didn't gain as much weight as I usually do. :)

I must admit that I gave Dad THE gift of the year. Everyone tried to top it but alas...they failed. Dad was touched when he opened his brand, new... nose hair trimmer. Yes, he cried (OK, maybe those tears weren't exactly tears of joy but we did all enjoy a good laugh).

Lots going on when there are sixteen in the house. People napping, kids running around, babies to look after, games being played, books being read, and the list goes on. Good times to say the least. We are truly blessed.

Christmas Morning

We actually had to wake the girls up on Christmas morning. I guess that is a good thing given the hours I hear some parents are asked to get up. The girls were VERY excited to say the least. It didn't take long to plow through the gifts.
Truly the girls enjoy everything which makes it nice for the parents. Santa brought the girls a Barbie house and camper to share. Keara was thrilled to get a music stand for her guitar music. She also got an itouch and a very cool lava lamp. Kailei got a "vacuum" (actually it was a microphone but it took her a while to get that), a cd player and some new clothes. She was in heaven. Zeb and I got each other a wii so the family has that to enjoy in the coming year.

What made this Christmas even more special was that we "adopted" a family this year and were able to help them out with food and gifts. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to share with someone else and hope that in some small way we made their holiday a little brighter.

Holiday Party

Dressed in our Sunday best (even though it was Thursday), we headed to Christmas eve mass around 3:00pm. The mass didn't start until 4:00pm but you have to get there early to get a seat. We took up an entire pew with 16 of us there and having the whole Archer clan there made it special. As usual, it was a beautiful mass and it always makes me choke up. 'Tis the season.

After church we headed back to our place for our "xmas eve party". Everyone looked fabulous all dressed up and it took a great deal to keep Nic and Gary from changing into something more comfortable. My good friend Judith joined the party and we enjoyed having her. Certainly there were lots of friends and family missing but they were in our hearts.

Archer Family Dinner

Crazy as it sounds the Archer's go out to dinner once a year as a family. It is truly a highlight. Unsure why we don't do it more often but money and time get in the way. The whole clan ventured out last night to Mt. Fugi which is a Japanese steak house. We had a great time. All the kids earned a dollar from Poppy for eating Octopus (Ethan says it takes like tuna). Most of the adults left empty handed.

Cookie Day!!!

Once a year Lynn and I bake until we can no longer stand up. It is tradition and we think we have been doing it for fifteen years now. Not much has changed. We still forget some ingredients, we burn things, we hope for the best. It is a great time and I'm reminded of how lucky I am to have such great friends.

Kailei-ism

I was telling Kailei that she needed to go to sleep the other night. I mentioned that Santa knows if she has been bad or good. Kailei commented..."I think I'll get a little bit of toys and a little bit of coal."

Keara's Christmas Story (spelling and all)

Although we celabrate many holidays throughout the year, Christmas is my favorite. First of all, giving and reciving presents is one of my favorite things to do on Christmas. Reciving presents is nice, but I think giving is even better. Next, every year we go to my grandma's house. I like going to my family and I like playing games with them. Last, we give presents to people in need, because after we do it we feel really good. Obivasly, I love Christmas.

MWCC Craft Party

Our friend Sheryl braved it out and decided to host a craft party for the girls. We all brought over some food and/or crafts and the girls had a high old time. They were so cute and so into the crafts. Not sure what we are going to do when the MWCC boys show up but it sure was a great time.

Dylan's Birthday

Kevin's family is in town for the holidays which is so much fun. We celebrated Dylan's birthday on Sunday with Mom's famous spaghetti and a pokeman/footbal cake. It is fun to have the boys around. They are all so darn cute.

Fun Feis

Keara agreed to participating in the Irish Fun Feis. She is not much of a competitor as it can make her very nervous but I think she discovered it could be fun. This was a low key, low pressure event and we are proud that she participated and danced. Grandpa, Grandma, Kevin, Ethan and Jessica all came to watch and support her. Maybe their will be more events in our future.

Davison Christmas

We enjoyed the Davison Christmas on Saturday. Mitch hosted and Lieu spent all day cooking a Vietnamese feast for us to enjoy. The cousins had a great time together. Khiem is all boy and Anika is leaning towards being a tomboy at the moment. Grandpa and Grandma made the trek from Walsh and it was great to see them since we missed them at Thanksgiving. Naturally the best part of Christmas is just being with the family. How lucky we are!

Kailei's Chinese Party

Kailei had a nice holiday party on Saturday at school. Grandpa and Grandma were in town so they were able to enjoy it as well. They are learning so much (wish I understood more).

Wildlights

Joined the Wyman's at the Wildlife Museum last night. It was a great way to get me in the spirit of things given that I've been swamped at work. The girls had a good time. Keara got a little shy when it came to talking with Santa but Kailei made sure he knew what she wanted.

The girls and I then went home, drank hot chocolate and watched "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

I'm ready for Christmas now. :)

School Holiday Parties

While I wasn't able to attend, Zeb managed to scoot out and go to the girl's school parties. Kailei had a major Polar Express theme going on all week. Keara's was The Giving Tree and the kids played games and earned gifts/money cards that they in turn would donate to a needy family. Both girls got to wear their pajama's and had a great day. Wish I could wear my pj's to work. :)

Kailei-ism

So Kailei asked Zeb to draw her a couple of alligators the other night. Zeb obliged but when he got to the second one, he got lazy and drew just a small part of one coming out of the water. Kailei was quite satisfied and proceded to draw her own picture.

When she went to show Zeb it basically looked like a lot of lines all over the place with something undefined in the middle. After asking Kailei what it was, she simply replied it was an elephant in VERY TALL grass.

Change is Hard

Maya is fifteen years old. She has arthritis, can't hear and has lost some of her eyesight. She has a horrible old dog smell but we love her nonetheless. She was our first child.

Recently we got her a new bed. Apparently she hasn't quite got the hang of it yet.

A Little Holiday Music for You

MWCC Holiday Party

Kicked off the Christmas season with the MWCC annual holiday party. We love getting together with our friends and this is just one more excuse to do so. Each year the the mom's and girls draw names for a gift exchange and we get together for a potluck. Unfortunately we were a few families short this year but we did have even more to celebrate as two of our mom's will be bringing their sons home from China in the near future. The girls enjoyed themselves and always looks so cute in their holiday dresses. Of course, one of these years we will actually take the pictures first and then do crafts, and eat messy spaghetti.

Anyhoo, it certainly got me in the holiday spirit and as I create the video each year I'm reminded of all the wonderful people that are so much a part of our lives.

MWCC 2009 Highlight Video

Thanksgiving - Plan B

Well, our tradition has been to go to Walsh each Thanksgiving and give or take a year we generally make it down. This year however we had every intention of going but Tuesday night Zeb got sick. He has been having problems with his eyes for a few weeks now and while we thought things had cleared up, things came back in full force. It is kind of hard to explain but his eyes were quite painful and he can't really see out of them. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and just the 10 minute drive was difficult for him. The doctor said it was a virus and he would probably be miserable thorugh the weekend. Given that, the drive, the pain and Zeb generally not feeling well drove us to make the decision to stay home.

Naturally the girls were really disappointed. They miss their Grandma and Grandpa and were really looking forward to seeing them. We were too and it was made worse when Phyllis reminded me that I would miss her famous peanut brittle and strawberry salad.

While difficult, it turned out to be the right decision. Zeb was still not feeling well at all on Thanksgiving.

I was tried to boost the kids spirits by cooking a big breakfast that morning (which is very rare for me). French toast, sausage and waffles was the basic spread. We invited the Wyman's over in the morning to join our feast and kick off the day thankful for friends.

Later that day, we joined Mom, Dad and Mark for an Archer Thanksgiving. I think my parents were happy to have us join them. Things were pretty low key but Mom always makes a mean Thanksgiving spread and we had a good time. Certainly we were grateful to be there and Zeb was grateful for the leftovers.

Talking Turkey

Another year, another Thanksgiving. We spent the 22nd making cookie turkeys for the kids to take to school. Friends joined us as we created a virtual army. The kids have a great time making these and even more fun eating the pieces and parts.

Precious

Keara and I attended a talk on vocations in the church last night. When it was over I asked Keara if she had any interest in becoming a nun. She said, "I don't know Mom. The don't even own anything." I tried to explain but she quickly interupted stating, "They don't even have a cat!" That statement made my night. :)

Happy Birthday Zeb and Mom!

Decided to combine birthdays this month and celebrate Mom and Zeb's together. I fixed pepper steak, made a cheesecake for Zeb and a chocolate bundt cake for Mom. The bundt cake stuck to the pan but was edible at least. Zeb never asks much for his birthday. It just isn't the Davison way but we hope he knows how much we love him. Mom was surprised with a new vacuum and while it sounds kinda lame - she really did like it. I hope everyone enjoyed their celebration. It was good to have the family together.

Orphan Sunday

Kailei-ism

"Love is what the world is all about."

Way Behind

Well, life took over and blogging about it fell to the bottom of my list. I have had much to share but no time to share it. Then of course I was so behind I got overwhelmed at the thought of trying to catch up. Now I'm just to the point that I'll post what I can. Mostly it is pictures or will be short sentences so feel free to backtrack and see what has been up in the Davison household lately.

Halloween

Keara arrived back from NY just in time to go trick-or-treating. The family came over for pizza and kids ran around the neighborhood like crazy people. Naturally they had a good time. Poppy ate my favorite candy bar but I've forgiven him.

The Big Apple

Well, Keara and I ventured to the Big Apple recently. A friend of mine mentioned that he was going and we should meet in the city for a show. Really he didn't have to twist my arm at all for me to start looking online for plane tickets. I'm such a sucker for Broadway. :)

So Keara and flew out this week and stayed with Jack and Bernice. They were so great to let us stay there and they chauffeured us around the whole time. We flew in on Tuesday and went to Nana's right away. From there we HAD to go to Walter's hotdog stand. Keara was not as thrilled to have a Walter's as I am but it certainly made my day. Nana made her famous spaghetti and meatballs for us and then we headed to Irvington.

Wednesday we went and visited Sharon, Stefan and the cousins. It was so much fun to be around a baby again and Keara really enjoyed playing with Kiernan and Maeve. We then were treated to the Big Apple Circus which was just great. I loved the clowns and highly recommend this circus for everyone.

Thursday Jack took off of work and was our tour guide. We went to the Botanical Gardens (which I absolutely loved!), rode the Staten Island Ferry and went to the Tenement Museum. We then headed to Times Square and met my friend Michael. Dinner was at Tony's and then we saw Billy Elliot. The show was just great and was worth every penny.

Friday Bernice took us back downtown so Keara could go to the American Girl store. We also visited Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Keara wanted to see her cousins again so Bernice took her back to Sharon's and I met Nana at Grand Central station where we had dinner at the Oyster Bar. It was delicious. I got two tickets for Next to Normal that night so Nana and I took a pedicab ride over to the theatre. It's not a bad way to travel and Nana and I giggled the whole way. The musical was not as good as Billy Eliot but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Saturday we ventured back to Colorado. We actually missed a huge snowstorm while we were gone. Keara was supposed to miss four days of school and ended up only missing one.

It was great Mommy/Daughter time and I hope Keara remembers if for a long time.

Wicked!

Back in the spring I got tickets for Wicked. I wasn't sure if I was going to take Keara or not for fear she might be scared but decided to go for it. A friend of mine also had a ticket and couldn't go at the last minute so she gave it to me. So Grammy benefited and together we made an evening out of it by going to dinner at Carmines (my favorite restaurant) and then seeing Wicked. It was great and Keara LOVED it. I love the theatre and hope that my girls enjoy it as well. There are lots of kid shows this next season so time will tell.

Honk!

The girls had a day off so naturally I "had" to take the day off as well so I could watch them while Zeb worked. As moms do, we joined forces and Britt and I took the girls to see the children's show "Honk!" at the Arvada Center. It was a real treat for everyone. Kailei cried quite a bit. Not sure if she was happy or sad but she said she liked it nonetheless. The girls then played at the park and we topped off the day with lunch at Gunther Toody's. Another wonderful day.

JCCC

Almost every Saturday we venture over to JCCC and Kailei takes Chinese language and dance class. There are a number of girls from my Mom's group but Kailei and Catie are the hold outs this year and continue to be in class together. I'm glad Kailei has a friend in class.