EYE EXAM-TAKE 2

On Monday, I took Stephanie to Lens Crafters to have her eyes checked. It was a stressful experience all the way around. Stephanie is not a big fan of new people or unfamiliar situations, and she had crocodile tears as she sat waiting for her exam. The doctor told us that Stephanie's left eye has reduced vision, but that glasses would not correct the problem. He told me that we would have to do vision therapy with a pediatric optometrist. When I asked him for a referral, he didn't know of any in the area. He left me dumbfounded and went on to the next patient. I was frustrated with myself because I chose Lens Crafters for her exam because of our insurance over going to Doctor Patten's office where I knew Stephanie would be more comfortable.

As any concerned and crying mother would do, I called Martha Patten to share my frustrations with her. She had me talk to her husband, Doug, who is an optometrist. He said that he would check Stephanie's eyes and give me his thoughts.

So this morning, Steph and I went to Dr. Patten's office for a very thorough exam. He did a great job with Stephanie. As buddies outside of the office, they were so cute together in this environment. Stephanie was so much more relaxed in his office and with his exams. She even laughed and joked with Dr. Patten.

Even though Doug's diagnosis was the same, it was a much better experience. I feel so much better having his second opinion. Next time, we skip Lens Crafters and go straight to Dr. Patten's office.

THANKS DOUG AND STAFF FOR MAKING THIS MORNING A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE FOR STEPHANIE! WE ARE SO FORTUNATE TO HAVE YOU IN OUR LIVES. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOUG, AND ENJOY YOUR HUGS AND KISSES FROM STEPHANIE! :)

Christmas in LaGrange

The holidays are upon us, and this is the time for pure craziness. Shopping, cooking, Christmas cards, Santa, expectations, commercialism, etc. etc. etc. We tend to be consumed with the "to-do" lists of the season. With all of the hustle and bustle of the season, we often don't stop to feel the strong Spirit that is in the air and reflect deeply on the miracle of Christ's birth.

I am grateful for the opportunity that we had as a family this past weekend to reflect on the Savior and to feel of His love as we set aside the busyness of the season to spend time celebrating the true meaning of Christmas with the Blazzard family and their friends.

On Saturday, our family was invited by the Blazzard family to LaGrange for a Christmas bonfire celebration with some of their family and friends. It was our first time to drive to this area. LaGrange is located in the foothills overlooking the Tuolumne river.


After dinner, the Blazzard girls helped the children with costumes for a reenactment of the Christmas story. Brother Blazzard read the Christmas story, as the children gathered around the stable and manger. The setting was perfect. A make-shift lean-to, a cold, crisp night, stars overhead, the wind gently blowing throught the trees, and the leaves rustling as the angels and shephards came to the stable, the campfire giving off a warm glow. It was so calm and peaceful as we sat under the stars thinking about the miracle of the season.

I want to thank the Blazzards again for a picture perfect night. The scenic view was breathtaking. The evening air was crisp, clear, and refreshing. The sunset over the foothills memorable. The food was delicious. The company was wonderful. The Spirit was present. It was a wonderful evening and a great way to keep Christmas-Christ-centered.

Thank you Marrianne and Ben (and family) for such a wonderful evening. You guys are awesome.

I couldn't resist!

Stephanie brings so much joy into our lives, and I just couldn't resist taking a picture of her looking so grown up. My little girl is growing into such a wonderful young lady. She is growing up all too quickly. Where did the time go?

GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

Today Amanda hosted her second Make-It, Take-It preschool craft morning. This is a monthly fundraiser for her Washington DC trip in April. The theme for today was TURKEYS. The kids listened to turkey stories, made turkey cupcakes and headbands, had free play, and a snack. It was a high-energy morning full of fun, laughs, wiggles, hugs, and turkeys. Way to go, Amanda on another successful endeavor. Washington DC-HERE YOU COME!

PS-A big thanks to all of you who are helping Amanda along her journey. Your generosity is noticed and appreciated. Without you, Amanda wouldn't be able to reach her goal.
Smile and say "Gobble, Gobble."

Yummy! Turkey cupcakes decorated by the kids. We sent the cupcakes and the mess home. It is called Make-It, Take-It for a reason.

Stephanie-Amanda's star pupil! Well, of course! She is almost 2 years older than the other students. :)

Great thoughts for the day!

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.

So love the people who treat you right.. Forget about the one's who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason.

If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.

If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

A Tender Moment

I wanted to spend some alone time with Stephanie yesterday, and I asked her what she would like to do. She wanted to watch a movie and pop popcorn. My return suggestion to her was to go to McDonald's and then have ice cream.

For those of you that know me, you know that I don't like to watch movies just for the sake of watching movies. I like a good drama, and I like a few shows like Survivor, Biggest Loser, Amazing Race, and of course, Dr. Phil, but for the most part, I am not a TV watcher. I get antsy watching cartoon movies, but her vote was still a movie over McDonalds.

So, after supper we turned the lights low, popped popcorn, and watched Heidi (the Disney version). I chose Heidi for several reasons.
1. I hadn't seen it before, and neither had Stephanie.
2. It was not a cartoon.
3. We had it!

We sat and snuggled on the couch with our popcorn and began watching the movie together. After a while, I looked over to see Steph's face, and she had large crocodile tears and a quivering lip. She was so into the emotions of the show that she cried at several points of the movie. Of course, I was crying, too. That was a moving show, but seeing her respond with such emotions touched me even more. She totally understood the depth of the show and not just the actions.

Wow! What a wonderful view into my 5 year old's heart. I am grateful that we had this experience together.

Make It-Take It

Amanda's Make It-Take It day was a great success for everyone involved. She had eight children attend. The kids enjoyed a variety of activities that included making apple designed windsocks, listening to stories, singing songs, playtime, and having apple snacks. The kids all had fun.

Amanda did an amazing job leading and teaching the group. She was prepared for the morning and full of the energy needed to manage a group of this size. She is a magnet of love and fun for children this age.

Daniel turned out to be a very valuable asset, especially during playtime. The boys loved playing with Daniel and looked up to him as the 'airplane, matchbox, lego expert.'

Stephanie was a junior assistant and did a great job as an example and leader during the songs and fingerplays.

As for me, I was on overall management and clean-up. The glitter was a big hit, but a big mess. Not to worry, the tile floors needed a good scrubbing anyways. I was beaming with pride when all was said and done. I love to watch my children find success and joy, and they all walked away uplifted by the events of the morning.

Don't worry if you missed the Make It-Take It for this month. We will be hosting another one in November. Look for details soon!

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

FROM THIS:



TO THIS:



TO THIS

Amanda's post

Feel free to RSVP here.

Hello everyone,
This is Amanda Davis, and as many of you may already know, I am working hard to earn money for my upcoming Washington DC trip in the spring with the 8th graders from Hickman Charter School. As part of my fund-raising, I am hosting a special preschool program for children ages 3 1/2-5 years old one day a month. This program will be called Make it-Take It. It will be geared around a fun, interactive theme. It will include stories, arts and crafts, snacks, games, and a playtime.

I love working with little kids, and this would allow me to earn money in a fun way. Two years ago, my mom taught a pre-school for my little sister, Stephanie, and her church friends. I was able to work along side my mom, and it was a great learning opportunity for me as her assistant. For this program, I will be the teacher, and my mom will be my assistant.

There will be a new theme each month. Feel free to sign up on a month-to-month basis. Please see the attachment for October's information.

Email me or call me if you would like to reserve a spot for October. If you have any family members or friends that may be interested, please feel free to invite them to participate.

OCTOBER’S THEME
APPLE FUN

MAKE IT-TAKE IT is a special pre-school program for ages 3½-5 years old that is geared around a fun, interactive theme. It will include stories, arts and crafts, snacks, games, and playtime.
Make it-Take it will be offered once a month.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, October 15th.

OCTOBER 17, 2008
9:00-11:30AM

DAVIS HOME
1460 GRAND OAK WAY
848-8072
amandandavis@sbcglobal.net

COST-$10 (snacks and any supplies will be provided)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMANDA!

On Saturday, Amanda celebrated her 13th birthday. She had a party with 11 of her friends on Saturday afternoon, and then on Sunday, we surprised her with a special open house with some of the families and teachers from church. She had a great birthday. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter!

Happy Birthday, Amanda! We love you!

"Kitten-Sitting"

Melodie and Chuck Webb asked the kids to "kitten-sit" for their two little kittens for the weekend. The kids were so excited to have pets, even if for a short time. The kittens didn't have official names, so the kids named them Rainy and Playful. The kittens were bottle-fed every 5-6 hours, and there were always willing feeders. The Webbs paid the kids $20, but I feel like we should have paid them for the entertainment that it provided on the first rainy weekend since early spring. Although I am not a fan of indoor pets, I do have to admit that it was fun having the kittens for the weekend. It is like being a grandparent. Enjoy and send home!

Where there's a will, there's a way!

I want to take a minute or two to brag about my wonderful daughter. She is amazing in every way. Of course, for those of you who truly know her, you are aware of that already. Well, let me tell you what she did this time.

She has been given the opportunity to go to Washington DC in April for a 10 day trip with the other 8th graders from Hickman Charter. The trip will cost $1800.

As parents, we are always looking for ways for our children to learn about real-life experiences. In real life, one does not experience a trip like this without hard work and sacrifice. We calculated that Amanda could earn about $100 dollars a month by baby-sitting, teaching piano lessons, allowance, and other odd jobs. This would take dedication on her part, but we knew that the lessons learned along the way would be life-lessons. With this in mind, we asked her to earn half of the money for the trip.

When we talked with her, she was excited about going, and she told us that she would really like to pay for the whole trip, if possible. We were shocked, but amazed at her enthusiasm and maturity.

What an enormous goal for a 12 year old! We told her that we would support her in any way possible.

So, last Saturday we held a fund raising garage sale. Amanda gathered donations, cleaned and priced everything, made fliers and street signs, and ran her first garage sale. She even made homemade jam to sell at her garage sale. She did an amazing job, and the garage sale was a success.

Amanda made strawberry jam the night before the "big sale". She offered samples to her customers, and she sold 13 of her 16 jars. Yum! Yum! Doug was secretly disappointed that she sold so many jars, because he LOVES her jam and wanted it for himself.

Stephanie and Daniel made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I was so busy with other things, that I let Daniel be 100% in charge of measuring and mixing the ingredients with Steph. They did a great job! Out of a double batch, there were only 4 cookies left over after the first day of the sale. I think a few got snagged by the chefs, but that's life. aniel and Stephanie sold lemonade and chocolate chip cookies. She also showed everyone how to play with her "favorite" toys.

As for Amanda, she sure learned a lot about people; the people that she knows and the strangers that she encountered at the sale. She learned that there are people in her life who want her to succeed and are willing to help her along her journey. She also learned a lot about the nature of people in general. The people who attended her garage sale were either very supportive and eager to help her, or they were there to get everything possible for the least possible amount. She has a few of her own funny stories to tell about different people that she encountered.

I know that I am so proud of her willingness to work hard and stick to it until the end, even though it was 90+degrees. I am also very thankful to my wonderful friends who donated things to her garage sale, stopped by for a glass of lemonade, and called to give her support and encouragement. She couldn't have done it without each of you. That means so much to me! It reinforces the concept that it DOES take "a village to raise a child". THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF OUR VILLAGE!

Everything that we do in life helps us to learn and grow. This was an amazing learning experience for Amanda all the way around. And what did I get from this whole experience. Tons!
1. I have more room in my backyard now that the Little Tikes toys are gone.

2. Because Amanda ran the garage sale, I had time to reorganize and clean out both of our garages. As I was cleaning, I found more stuff to contribute to her sale.

3. I learned that there really wasn't any reason for me to stress about the signs being up on time, the prices being too high or too low, not having things that people wanted to buy, etc.

4. I saw again how willing Amanda is to jump in and get the job done regardless of the effort. She had no idea that her sale would be such a success, but she was willing to try regardless of the possible outcome.

5. I was again reminded about how wonderful my friends and neighbors are in our lives. Several friends, and a few strangers, donated extra money to Amanda's cause. Many people bought lemonade from Daniel and Stephanie, just because. Some gave a quarter and didn't even take anything in return. Wow! To see the joy in their eyes was a valuable lesson for me. The next time I see a lemonade stand, I will stop so that I can "pay it forward".

As I reflect upon the craziness of it all, my thoughts go back again to the generousity that was shown on behalf of my daughter. May God bless you all for your love and support.

Sleeping Beauty

One of the wonderful benefits of homeschooling with Hickman Charter School is the opportunity for the kids to participate in a performance choir. Amanda and Daniel have been working very hard this past month as they have been preparing for the performance of Sleeping Beauty.

Amanda is one of the three fairies, Fauna, and Daniel is Fumpel, the goon. (Stephanie is the unofficial back-up just in case someone is sick. Because she attends every rehearsal and practice, she knows every one's lines and all of the songs).

The kids had three dress rehearsals yesterday, 4 performances today, and they will have their final performance on Monday night. Tickets are still available for Monday if you would like to see this fun and fast musical. :)

Way to go, Amanda and Daniel! You are doing awesome! Thanks for being willing to work hard to develop and share your musical talents.

Camping at Silver Lake

Over the weekend, we went camping with the Webbs, Paces, and the Dunlops to Silver Lake. We had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, the scenery was breathtaking, the food was yummy, and the company was great! We took our canoe and spent Saturday paddling around the lake. (Some were even brave enough to swim in the lake. BRRR!) The kids enjoyed exploring the rocks and woods and catching minnows and baby trout with a small net. We were grateful for one last trip before seriously hitting the school books.





The funniest part of the whole trip was when Amie, Katie, Daniel, and Amanda were exploring the woods near our campsite around dusk. They were gathering firewood for our evening campfire. While walking along the stream, an animal that looked like a wolf came out of the trees. Amie saw it first and yelled for everyone to run because she saw a wolf. Everyone began running back to camp, except Amanda, who jumped into the stream. As the kids ran to tell us what happened, an old lady walked past us with her ugly gray and white dog-"the wolf". The kids laughed so hard they could barely speak. Poor Amanda! Amie said "run", not "swim".

This is a sign of another successful trip full of fun, activities, and great memories!

I WILL SURVIVE HOMESCHOOLING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIOogqa-5GA

This is an awesome video that says it all about homeschooling. Sorry, but I wasn't able to upload it to my blog. Technical difficulty (me). If you want a fun video about what life is like at the Davis' house right now, copy and paste the above link.

Smile!

If you are able to teach me how to upload youtube videos into my blog, that would be great.

Favorite sayings

I found a couple of great sayings that I would like to remember and use in my life.

1. When one door of happiness closes, another opens: but we often look so long at the closed door, that we do not see the one that has opened for us.

2. "Never argue with an idiot; they will just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."

The older I get, the more I realize that this is so true! So true!

Feel free to leave me some of your favorite sayings.

School's in session-or is it????

This has been the big question all month. Our town of Oakdale started school on August 6th, and I feel like that is a crime. Too early, too hot! YUCK! I, on the other hand, am slacking off until after Labor Day! Unfortunately, Hickman Charter School started their year-long Monday classes yesterday.

I did take the kids for their classes, but then declared the rest of this week-teacher workshop days. :)

I took a few pictures of the kids on their first (kind of first) day of school just to prove that my kids do get dressed and leave the house even though they are homeschooled. These pictures are for those adults who continually tell my children to "pretend that they are in school" when they are talking to them about life, peer pressure, homework, etc.

All kidding aside, it is so weird to think that Amanda is in 8th grade. She has grown up so much this summer, both physically and emotionally. It is hard to think that she is growing up so quickly. She told me this morning as I was doing her hair that at this point next year, she will be in high school. NOOOOOOOOOO!

Daniel is in 6th/7th grade this year. He is taking a 7th grade Pre-algebra class. He was concerned at first because he is technically only in the 5th grade and he is small for his age, but after his first class at Hickman, he is hooked on algebra. Hurray! Because I will be teaching Daniel's math Tues-Fri, Hickman asks the parents to attend this class with their child. Daniel thinks that it is funny to be in class with MOM. We had a good time together!

As for Stephanie, she is in 1st grade this year. It is hard to believe that my peanut is growing up so quickly. She was nervous about her classes, but told me later that she had no reason to worry. It was fun and easy. I am excited about working with Stephanie this year.

Another visit from the tooth fairy

Well, we finally did it! We finally convinced Stephanie to let us pull her wiggly tooth. This tooth has been loose and sticking straight out for a few weeks now. Her adult teeth were already growing in, but the baby tooth was holding on tight. Stephanie ate an apple, corn on the cob, and a bagel, but still her baby tooth wouldn't budge.

We were concerned that it would cause other problems, so on Wednesday night before bed, I finally convinced her to let me pull it. It took some bribing. I told her that I would give her three Dibbs if she would let me pull it. She agreed.

I put dental floss in a loop around the base and under the wiggliest part of her tooth. I then tightened the floss, and the tooth popped out. Yikes! Blood everywhere. Steph didn't know, so she didn't freak out, but I did. My tummy turned, and I knew that I owed her a whole ice cream Popsicle, instead of just a few Dibbs.

Steph was excited about the tooth fairy coming again and leaving her $2.00. I took her to the dollar store the next day. She bought two Princess frisbees and a crown.

Doug and I were excited about having that persistent tooth finally out. But, I have to admit that I do cringe every time I see the pictures and think about the whole experience. YUCK!

Southern California Trip-Take Three

We headed down to Southern California for our third time this summer. Doug had a one day conference in LA, so we took the opportunity to stretch it out to a week long vacation. We stayed with Uncle Frank for a few days, and then headed to Glendale.

At Uncle Frank's house, Amanda made yummy cookies and learned how to make Uncle Frank's world famous Paradise jam. If you would like to sample this awesome jam or any other of the wonderful varieties that Frank gave us, just give us a holler.

Frank's son, Brad, and his family came for Sunday dinner and to celebrate Brad's birthday. It was a houseful of people, but a lot of fun. We also learned how to play Ticket To Ride (Germany version). Very addicting.

For those of you who were concerned about our lack of AC in the van. No need to be concerned any longer. We endured 6 hours of heat and open windows on the way down to LA, but found a great place that fixed the AC for 1/3 of the price that Oakdale garage was going to charge us. We even got a 1 year warranty. Hurray for AC!

If you are asking yourself if this is our last trip to LA for a while, let me tell you that it is not. We have another trip planned for mid September. Oh, the joys of homeschooling. Travel at will (and at the company's expense)! :)

Dear Tooth Fairy

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I am so excited. I lost my first tooth. My tooth has been so wiggly for a long time. I was eating dinner, and my tooth was really wiggly. I was eating noodles, and it fell out. It was very surprising. I had a good time losing my tooth. It felt kind of weird. I wasn't even scared! Thank you for giving me all that money. I cleaned my tooth a lot. It was good to have you get my tooth.

Love,
Stephanie







Stephanie was so excited about losing her first tooth. She was afraid that it would hurt, and she didn't want to touch it after it came out. If you click on the pictures, you will see her stunning brown eyes, her angel-kiss freckles, and her adult teeth that are already growing in behind her wiggly teeth. We hope the next tooth will fall out tomorrow.

It is hard to believe that our baby has reached another neat milestone. She is growing up so quickly.