Porter is 7 and Stella runs a 5k!

Weve had a fun week with nice weather for a change! We hosted Porter's 7th birthday party at our house on Thursday evening. To say these 11 boys were WILD and CRAZY would be the understatement of the year. But they had a blast so it was all worth it!

On Friday I went to have lunch with Porter for his bday, but he ended up going with the other kids celebrating their bday that week to the guidance counselors room. She hosts the bday kids each Friday and gives them little trinkets. So I ended up eating with Stella. If a parent come to school to have lunch the child is allowed to have one friend sit with them. Stella ended up having 5 girls with with us. Not sure how she managed that! Haha! But it was a very entertaining lunch to say the least!

Friday evening was Stella's 5k Girls On The Run race. She did great and I'm not sure of her time or place, but I think she finished in the top 10 out of 200+ girls. Hannah was 3rd overall and Stella was just a few girls behind her. Her team brought stuff to decorate their hair and body with. The body markers DO NOT come off! Ugh!!,

Great shot of Wes and Hannah in the front and Mike and Stella right behind them! 

Stella getting ready to cross the finish line. I was looking into the sun and so we can't see Mike!

After the run

With her friend Ally playing at the park.

Saturday the kids threw together baseball game in the backyard. A few are missing from the photo. Yesterday they were playing street hockey. We are adjusting well to having a neighborhood with kids! 

Yesterday was The day Porter has been waiting for for weeks now! His 7th birthday! His big gift was this Razor 360.  He and Stella had a blast on it yesterday! Wish I was small enough to try it out. 

He chose Red Robin for his birthday dinner. He actually loved having the staff sing to him this year. Very cute!

Spring has Sprung!

It's rained nonstop this past Sunday-Thursday, but the upside to that is GREEN grass and warmer temps. Yay! Love Spring! 

Last Saturday our kiddos were invited to a festival in Ankeny from our fabulous backyard neighbors. The kids had a ball and I was able to work for a couple hours in the yard uninterrupted. Double win!

As I mentioned, it was a rainy week here. Stella is fabulous at being able to play inside without relying on the iPad or Wii, Porter not so much. I pulled out he Play-doh for him one day after school and he and I had a great time!

May 1st comes the May Crowing of mother Mary. The kids all bring a flower to school to lay in front of the statue of Mary. I attended school mass that day. Stella was the girl from her class that brought in flowers to place on the alter. 

After mass all the flowers were transported back to the school and lay at Mary's statue. The planting bed flowers are planted by the middle school kids outside the school near a different statue of Mary. 

The neighborhood girls had a picnic lunch on the neighbors trampoline yesterday. Fun!

Last night we had a family get-together and were able to celebrate my little guys upcoming 7th birthday!!!

We had fam pics taken Friday evening by a friend. She did a great job, this is the only pic I've seen (copied it from FB), but I'm looking forward to seeing more. It takes a lot of work to make us look good!

Rex decided not to come inside last night. When I came downstairs early this morning, this is where I found him. #lovemycat

And finally! Signs of Spring! Ive never seen a tulip open up THIS much! Picked from the neighbors yard by Stella, with permission (so she says!). 

The 2 trees in our front yard are in bloom. 

Flowering bushes near the front door. Makes winter *almost* worth it! Beautiful!

Easter, field trips and more!

Thought it was time to update my blog. :-)

Porter lost his other top tooth so now he's sporting a toothless smile! Love this look. :-)

We traveled to MA a couple weekends ago and stayed plenty busy. One thing we all did was pack meals for children in Africa.  

While we were in MA, Mike was on a golf trip in the Ozarks. I found this pic on my photostream of Jon Shaffer with a golf ball on a little log. Guess it must of landed there? Lol!

The kids colored a lot of Easter eggs! They turned out beautiful and Rex even left them alone!

Stella with her finished eggs. I have pics of P with his but they didn't transfer over on the photostream from my iPhone to iPad? Anyone know why some photos transfer and others do not?

We headed back to MA for Easter weekend. We also laid to rest my cousin, Randy Pratt and there was a lot of family in town for that. My cousin EJ flew in from California and the kids loved up on her all weekend!

After an egg hunt on Easter morning. The pic of everyone dressed up for Easter mass didn't transfer either. Bummer! 

The new rage in our 'hood is good ole fashion cap guns! The kids love shooting them off and scaring off the geese and ducks from the pond in the backyard. I took this pic since p and Davis were dressed the same. Too funny!

Yesterday I helped chaperone P's class field trip to Reimen Garden in Ames. The gardens are so beautiful, but not much has bloomed yet. They are doing a butterfly unit at school and enjoyed touring the butterfly house and grounds outside. It was overcast and that day, but the kids didn't care!

All 3 sections of 1st grade. P is in the 2nd to last row, 2nd from the right in a blue sweatshirt. 

We got back to town just in time to make it to Stella's Invention Convention! It was so fun! Each student had to make an invention using a simple machine. She created an automatic backscratcher. Using a drill and a long screw. The simple machines used were screw and lever. She loved it and received a lot of compliments. 

With her poster. The poster is the biggest part of her grade. 

Concert, slumber party and more!

Like you all, life has been busy and fun here at the Davidson Casa! 

The weekend we got back from spring break we had a power outage in our 'hood. An 8 hour power outage during the ISU game that got us into the Sweet 16! We were forced to listen to it on this old device called a radio! Haha! Our neighbors were locked out of their house, since who carries house keys, you just let yourself in the house via the POWERED garage door! Well after they had been locked out for like 4 hours they asked Mike if he could break into their house! Ha! And he did! Pic below is him breaking in via the garage door. 

P and Rex snuggled up

Dinner at friends house. Boys were all hot from wrestling and took their shirts off and so did EJ!

A boy in Stella's 3rd grade was diagnosed with cancer right before Christmas. The entire church and school communities have really pulled together in numerous fundraising efforts to help with medical costs. Last weekend was a 3 on 3 shoot out. Stella, Porter and I were all on teams. So much fun!!  I'm in the purple shirt with pink shoes below. If any of you would like to add Jacob Sires to your prayers their family would certainly appreciate it. 

Last Sunday it finally felt like Spring! And P had filthy feet to prove it! :-)

Despite the warm temps our house got hit by the stomach bug. Boo! Stared with Stella, then me, then Porter and finally Mike! Porter and I were sick on the same day. Yucky.

Finally felt better by the end of the week and was able to celebrate a dear friends birthday over lunch. 

Stella had her music concert this week. Our music teacher always does such a great job with the kids! Their theme was Rock-n-Roll Forever (50's theme). Stella had a dancing part, here she is with the other girl from her class she danced with. 

After the concert being silly. (Michelle Rychnovsky's daughter is in the blue skirt). 

Being crafty on their day off from school. 

Stella with her 9 balloons for turning 9! She woke up to these in her room on Saturday morning. Normally we do this on their birthdays, but since we were in AZ for her bday, we did on the day of her friends birthday party. 

Reading together (caught a rare moment where they were not fighting!). 

P begged me all morning for Chick-fil-a. Who can say no to this sweet face!?!!

P spent the night with his good friend Eric during Stella's slumber party. Here they are roller blading. 

Stella had 8 friends over to celebrate her bday! They had a great time and actually slept 8 hours for us! Yay! She's got a great group of friends and it was fun having them over. 

They decorated pillowcases for one of their activities.