Davey is SIX!

Our lucky dude turned six this year!! And spring break travels meant we were able to spend his special day with grandparents in Plano. Uncle Greg even stopped by for a bit to give him some birthday love! Davey knows exactly what he wants, all the time, and is often willing to crash through any obstacle to get it. He is both our funniest child and hardest worker. We love our Davey dude!

He was very excited to get a new game to play on the Wii

We spent an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese, one of Davey's favorite places

Davey's 6 Year Stats:

Height: 47 in (72%)

Weight: 45.5 lbs (45%)

Percent of his day he thinks about Mario and video games 90%

Grandma was so nice as to get this delicious ice cream cake to celebrate our birthday boy!

Video clips from Davey's 6th Birthday

Fall Soccer - U10 Thunder and U6 Blue Dinosaurs

Fall soccer season brought Davey's first time playing and Sophie leveling up to the U10 division. 

Dave decided to take a break from coaching Sophie after 3 seasons to help Davey's team instead. This was his first experience coaching U6 and the boys seemed so young compared to Sophie's age group. It was a bit like herding cats most of the time (which made it really helpful that Dave could actually be on the field with them during the game) but over the season they all gained skills and ended better than they began. Go Blue Dinosaurs!

Miles (a Charlie look alike!), Christian, Noah, Davey, Ian and Coach Dave

Grandparents were able to come out to see one of his games

His main motivator was the snacks

Sophie moving up to U10 meant a lot of changes - larger field, twice as many players, goalies, offsides and co-ed! She also played her first season apart from Emery. Since Dave was no longer coaching he couldn't draft her and they ended up separated. It was hard for Sophie, but she settled into her team well enough and had a great season despite being on the younger end and a girl. In fact, the Thunder ended up taking 1st place in the division!!

Back Row: Girl, Sophie, Chisum, Girl, Colton, Nolan

Front Row: Lorelai, Bowen, Ava, Mason, Jude

On separate teams, but they still found each other whenever their games overlapped

Another 1st place trophy for her collection - up to three now!

Props to the little brothers who have to find a way to entertain themselves during all the evenings spent at the fields for practices and games

Video: Fall 2021 Sports Clips

Sophie's Starts 3rd and Davey Starts Kindergarten!

We made it back in town just a couple days before school started. Since we missed the official Meet the Teacher, I took the kids in the day before to see their classrooms and drop off supplies. It was kind of nice to make introductions 1 on 1 instead of with hundreds of other families. 

Then on August 17th they were off to school for real! Sophie was excited to jump into a new year as a 3rd grader, and kindergarten isn't going to know what hit 'em when Davey arrives. They are both gret kids and I know the are going to learn and grow a lot this year!

Davey has Mrs. Von Netzer for Kindergarten

Sophie has Mrs. Zachettin for 3rd Grade

Adding a few welcome back messages to the the front walk for the first day

Ready for a new year!

I brought popsicles to school pickup as fun treat. Davey told me every horrible part of his day (he sat by a sandwich eater at lunch 😱), but then said he still liked it, so I guess it went okay

All Signed Up for Summer Camp!

Last year we did not participate in any summer camps, but this year we signed up for four! The original plan was just one or two, but then different (free) opportunities came our way and all on weeks that were available so we took full advantage. They happened over four consecutive weeks, but most only went until noon, so we still had plenty of time for other summer activities, like swimming at Town Club and playing with friends. 

Week One: Camp Discovery: This was a free camp available to all Amarillo District elementary students (except not kindergarten, grrr). It actually went through all of June, but we only registered for the Ocean Explorer theme week. Her friend Emery went with her. At first Sophie thought she might be able to rescue turtles or swim with dolphins, but then I reminded her we live thousands of miles away from the actual ocean so she probably wouldn't have any encounters that exciting. There were still crafts and ocean activities, and on the last day she went for a hike at Wildcat Bluff. It was in the 90s, but I loaded up a camel back with lots of ice and snacks and she had a great time. 

Week Two: Vacation Bible Camp, Destination Dig: VBS is also free and Sophie and Davey were both able to go, hooray! Sophie did bible camp a few years ago and loved all the activities and songs. Davey was less enthusiastic, but did like it better as the week went on. It was an archeology theme and they spent the week uncovering the story of Christ's life. Halfway through the week there was a big family party, complete with dinner, tons of bounce houses, and snow cones. First Baptist Church sure knows how to be welcoming! I'm sure the kids would love to be Baptist if we let them.

This was Davey after I picked him on on the first day. When I asked him how things went he told me, "The said I was going to love it. Well, I didn't."

Happy kids at the VBS party

Charlie was so sweet with his friend Rossi. She didn't like the loud music, so Charlie fed her snow cone with a straw while she covered her ears :)

Week Three: GT Camp - I took no photos of this week, but it was a camp for Gifted & Talented students through the school district and Sophie was invited to attend. She wasn't sold on the idea of going to "school" camp, but her friend Halle was also there, which made her more willing to go. They spent the week doing different puzzles and challenges, and even if she didn't love it, I'm glad she went. 

Week Four: AC Kids Camps - Our final week of camp was one the kids had really been looking forward to. Amarillo College hosts kids camps every summer and sent home a big catalog of all sorts of fun sounding things to sign up for. I told the big kids they could go for one week and they had a fun time pouring over all the options. Sophie chose Cookies, Candies and Cupcakes and loved every minute. Each day she would make several different fun desserts and then eat them! Davey chose Dragon Scales & Ninja Tales, which turned out to be a flop. They did nothing awesome and mostly read stories and made lame crafts. It was especially hard to make his camp sound exciting compared to Sophie's. Next year I think we will try Lego camp instead. 

Sophie with a "beach party" cupcake and Davey with his Yeti craft, which I actually thought was pretty adorable

Davey's PreK Track Team - Go Cheetahs!

Davey joined a track team last minute this year because it was coached by a mom from Letter Group and they needed more members. We had no idea what to expect for PreK level track, and it turned out to be a fun experience! He was on a team with several of his friends and they got to compete in four meets on Saturdays during April. The races were all different variations of a relay so they would win and lose as a team, instead of individually. Davey actually surprised us by being relatively fast compared to his peers. He loves competition and will really push himself to be the best, which made him one of the top runners on his team!

Gaining ground on the inside corner

Davey taking off with the baton after getting it from his friend Seth

His team didn't win any races the first meet (they were all a little confused about what to do), but they won three at the second meet

These brothers were good sports during the meets, that often lasted a couple hours. They always had to come with me because Dave was busy coaching Sophie's soccer team on Saturday mornings. 

Go, Davey, Go! We were usually late to the meets because of Sophie's soccer games, so Davey's coach would stack all his relays back to back and he had to go without rest breaks. I would give him two fruit snacks after each one for an energy boost :)

No feet on the ground - he was really flying!

By the last meet his team was winning every race

Great season Cheetahs! You all ran your hearts out and did so well!

Video: Clips from Davey's track meets

BONUS STORY: At one of Davey's practices we accidentally lost Griffin for a bit. We had a picnic dinner right before practice and afterward I took the trash to the garbage can, put stuff away in the van, and then went over to watch Davey run. Meanwhile, Dave took Charlie and Sophie to the playground. We both thought the other had Griffin, but instead he was left alone at the picnic table. About 15 minutes into practice I noticed a little white shirt moving through the grass off in the distance and realized it was MY BABY! He was not upset, but it sure got my heart pounding. We're so grateful he didn't wander towards the road, or fall in a ditch, or worse!

Davey is FIVE!!

Davey is FIVE!! This dude loves everything about growing up and getting bigger, and was so excited to "level up" on his birthday. He is eager about what the future holds, and is always asking when he'll be able to start doing things like ride roller coasters, drive cars and shoot real guns. He was a little disappointed when I told him that turning 5 wasn't an automatic promotion to kindergarten, and that he would still have to finish his preschool year and summer break before that day arrived. 

Loving Davey is easy. He is smart, social, passionate, and funny (a list of some of his moments from recent history is below). When he cares about something, he loves it to the ends of the earth and will pour himself into it without reservation. Some things that currently fall into this category are dinosaurs, Pokemon, having epic battles with his collection of guys and weapons, playing video games with Dave, and doing anything with Sophie. 

Parenting Davey is hard. We have power struggles daily. He lives to make Charlie miserable, although that has just recently started to improve. He can be overly emotional, obsessive, and defiant, but out of all our kids he is also the first to admit fault, the quickest to show remorse, and the best at offering apologies. He really does have a good heart, and when he's not driving us bonkers, he is one awesome kid. We love you Davey!!

Davey at Five

• I don't have his stats yet because his well child visit is not until May (covid delayed it last year and now we might be stuck in a late schedule for the rest of time). Right now he's wearing 5T clothes and size 12 shoes.
• Davey believes that if he says something enough times, it will eventually come true. Whether it's dinosaurs really being alive, or us taking him to Chuck E Cheese, he will not stop talking about it until it happens.
• He is a food thief, although his target items are completely different than Sophie's. While she would sneak fruit snacks or candy, I often find him in the fridge grabbing strawberries, grapes, apples or carrots. Noodles are his most favorite food, although they have recently been joined by pepperoni pizza. He still will not eat bread (sandwiches included) or cheese.
• His favorite color is still blue, followed by purple because it's close to blue. There used to be a fight between Davey and Sophie every morning over the blue cereal bowl, so one day I bought a second one. To my surprise, as soon there were two blue bowls, Sophie went back to using her purple one, admitting she only was competing for the blue one to make Davey mad. Oh kids.
• If he could have any job when he grows up it would be to rescue dinosaurs for Jurassic World. 
• He still sleeps with Yellow, his blanket, every night.
• Preschool has worked some miracles in that he now can recognize all his letters and what sound they make. We will start reading practice with him this summer, as he is very eager to follow in Sophie's footsteps.
• He is an early riser and we've made it part of his job chart to stay in his room until 7 am on weekdays and 7:30 on weekends, but even that doesn't happen all the time.
• He is very social and has lots of friends. He does not like to play alone and begs every day to have someone come over, but I can only handle that about once a week. His favorite toys to play with are his dinosaurs, Legos, Hot Wheels, and bad guys. 

Since his birthday is on St. Patrick's Day it's tradition to have green pancakes for breakfast

Although he would have loved to have a friend party, things are still a little weird with covid right now so we just celebrated with family. On his birthday we did presents in the morning, Chuck E Cheese in the afternoon, pasta for dinner, and then cake. 

All but two of his gifts were dinosaur themed - it's what he loves the most!!

There was a random snow storm on his birthday. I saw it in the forecast, but wasn't expecting to actually wake up to anything, but blizzard-like conditions brought 6" that morning!

Davey requested donuts instead of a cake. Dave had to go out in the storm to get them and actually got stuck on his way home. I was so confused when I came out from putting Griffin to nap and found a wet box of donuts on the counter, but no Dave. His car had gotten high centered on snow buildup in the alley and he had to go back with a shovel to dig it out!

I did my best to make the donuts look like dinosaurs

I can't be 100% sure what he wished for, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was for a pet T-Rex

Some Davey moments from the last few months:

• Me: What do you want to do for the letter S for Letter Group tomorrow?
  Davey: We should smash them
  Me: Do you think your friends would like that??
  Davey: Probably not, but it does start with S so let's go ahead an do it anyway.
• Davey: When do people die?
  Me: Everyone dies at different times.
  Davey: I think you'll die soon.
• When told we were having beef for dinner: Ughhh, I hate cow chicken.
• Davey to Charlie: If you like dried apples, you should try sweaty apples sometime. They're really good!
• As we walk into church and pass an obese man: Sophie, Sophie! You have got to see how fat this guy is! (he got a spanking and a talk for that one)
• We told everyone they could have their favorite flavor of ice cream since they ate a good dinner and Davey said, "Yes! Woodchips!" (He meant mint chocolate chip).
• Charlie was sobbing that he couldn't find his ball anywhere, while Davey denied any involvement. He did mention though, that he thought he saw a ghost hide it behind the laundry room door.
• Said to me one day while I was putting away laundry: You sure don't want to be a chicken because one day the farmer will come out and you'll be the slowest to run away so he'll pick you to eat for lunch. 

Videos from Davey's 5th Birthday