Christmas part Deux

This is the day after Christmas. This HUGE box came in from Jason's family. I wanted a small bit of ceremony to go with them so we had them all nicely put under the tree and we let Josie be Santa and hand them out.

This picture makes me laugh. He didn't even know what it was! All he knew was Diego was on the front. He got so excited he hugged it!

Now here is the Leapster!!! We have been letting him play on them whenever we go tot the stores so that kind of worked out cause he actually knew what it was when he unwrapped it.

This is pretty much all that the girls got from Jason's family but I sincerely think it is enough. Hannah was the one who came up with the idea of getting I-Pods and I loved it. As I have mentioned before they have such a long bus ride so this will help keep them entertained. But it is official my kids are cooler then me ;)

Oh look and accessories!!

Cameron didn't let Jason unwrap any of his presents!!

I wanted to get this blog done and out the door. Time to start 2008 off with a fresh new look. I have been inspired by my cousin Laurie. Who was the one who inspired me to even start this blog! Yeah Laurie!!! But Christmas is pretty much all packed up int he Davis house!! Time to think about Valentines Day!!! lol

Merry Christmas!!!

A simple Christmas spent at home with just the 5 of us!! Would of rather been in Illinois but we always made the most of it! Since we kind of found out so last minute that we weren't making the trip home our family members had to rush to the post office to mail what gifts that had already gotten for us. Jason's Grandparents package did not make it in time. So the kids will get to have two Christmas adventures when they get their gifts from Grandma Ann, Grandpa Marvin, Grandma Loni, Grandpa Paul, and Uncle Troy. The kids were a bit bummed but who turns down the opportunity to have 2 Christmases!?! :)

No matter where we ended up this Christmas morning there is no better way to start the day then with this happy smile!!!

Or with this goofy smile!! :) It is a pretty cool mug though. She does love her some Garfield!!

Cameron really got into the 'Olive the other Reindeer' movie this year so I got him the pop up book!! He loves it!

Hannah with her yearly Hallmark ornament! Thanks Grandma Linda!


And thank you Gma Linda for her Illinois shirt. I knew she was going to love it and she does!

He is finally unwrapping his presents!! Last year Aunt Erin had to do it all for him while he lounged next to her on the couch!

Money money money Josie loves money!!!

Jason's gift to me. Josie LOVED this tag and if you came into our home this past week she had to get the gift and read it to you. So I thought it might save her some time to just share the tag with everyone on the Internet. If they so choose to swing by my blog and read it. BTW he got me the Stephen Colbert book. I was laughing just reading the dust jacket!!!

OK this picture may be a bit deceiving he actually was not quite this thrilled to get ANY presents. But he did laugh at this shirt from my Mom.

And this plaque she sent him. He wants to put it outside but I want it inside to keep it safe.

Our gift to the girls. Wrapped in two separate papers in equal halves so there will be NO arguing!!! Surely they wouldn't argue over a gift?

Yeah

They would.

LOL!! See!! They are already tugging ;) Happy happy girls indeed!!

Getting everything set up and ready for their first concert. Cameron cautiously approaching the drums trying to find his rhythm.

I didn't realize tapping sticks on something was so strenuous!!!

They named their band 'The Losers'. I guess it is because they weren't doing so well!!

Get into it a bit more. Cameron is off making posters. He is their agent ;)

I don't have much more to share because pretty much the rest of our day was listening to them play. Which as a matter of fact Hannah is singing 'Mississippi Queen' as I type. Jason snuck in one showing of 'A Christmas Story' but the girls had no interest. LOL they just wanted to get back to Rocking Out!! I love anything that gets them playing together!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! When the package from Jason's family arrives we are going to do another sit down unwrapping extravaganza!! And I of course will take plenty of pictures to share!!!

Santa joined the Air Force

Getting behind in my blog again! So this is from last weekend. Jason's Squadron had a Christmas party for the kids. Jason was in North Carolina at Fort Bragg working on a video of a Toy Drop that they do there. He was only gone a couple of days but in that time he missed the party. I took the kids and took lots of pictures of Josie 'helping' Cameron. I tried to explain to Josie it is not 'helping' when you do it all for him but put his name on it. I am joking with her cause she was so sweet to him the whole morning and he went along for the ride. He sat there so patiently while she did all the activities. And she was so cute 'helping' him do his. He never once made a fuss so I just let them be.

We live extremely close to Jason's work so I had sent Hannah over there early cause we had to provide our own small presents for Santa to hand out. Hannah ended up staying there to help them set up. She is an amazing help and I know they appreciated having her there.

The kids waiting for Santa to call out their names. Their presents are in a military issued duffel bag. He got it when he joined ;)

Josie trying to convince Santa that yes she was a good girl all year. You can't hear me but I am trying hard not to laugh.

Cameron wasn't scared but he had no interest staying any longer then he had to!!

Hannah giving her Mother a photo opportunity! She tried so hard not to sit on his lap because she thought she was to old. But we wanted a picture. Such a trooper!

Cameron got puppets! I cannot begin to tell you how stoked I was when I found these!! Puppets aren't cheap! I have been looking at them in hopes they might help Cameron get involved in story telling. He knew exactly what to do with them. So cute! A fireman, pirate, policeman and a cowboy. Jason can't use them they are to small! But we can and Cameron loves them!

Hannah got Dolphin earrings and a cool orange star necklace! She loves dolphins and the color orange. So Santa knew what he was doing.

No need to go to deep on this one. Josie and her Garfield books are legendary around here. She reads them so much they are literally falling apart. She slept with this one for the first few nights.

Well I know the kids really enjoyed themselves cause I had to drag them out after 3 hours!! But that is OK cause I have quite a few new handmade Christmas ornaments on my tree! My favorite kind of ornaments! I still don't understand why we have Christmas trees out once a year!! More Christmas festivities to come!!

I like smiling. Smiling's my favorite.

I , Kara Davis, am a Christmas Movie addict.
Hi Kara!
Well except for the Lifetime/Hallmark movies. Sorry I don't enjoy those. Happy movies please!! I enjoy Christmas movies that make me chuckle. Or outright belly laugh. Which I have to give full credit to 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' and then of course 'Elf'. Oh and 'Scrooged' with Bill Murray!! But my one weakness is 'A Christmas Carol' I have seen almost every version of that story. And I own allot of them. Let's see my absolute favorite version is "A Muppet Christmas Carol' the Christmas season does not officially start til I have seen that one. And 'Scrooge' with Albert Finney. I so love that one. The end song/dance sequence 'Thank You Very Much' LOVE IT!! Not one of the usual faves amongst the critics but it makes me happy ;) Then of course 'Scrooged' as I mentioned above. I also read the book by Dickens's every year. I so love the story. But I shall reign myself in. No need to read a whole blog on Kara's Christmas Movie List!!

But I shall share Cameron's current faves.
"Olive the other Reindeer"
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" original of course.
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" which literally makes him laugh out loud numerous times. As you can see in this current picture. Sorry a bit blurry.

Admit it you can hear the tune!!!


Just a bit of my Christmas decor.

Look at my babies on their first Christmases!


I knew I was going to have a spare fake tree this year and all I could think about is she was going to be outside by my front door!! I love it!! The girls decorated it for me. And at night of course she is lit up with lights. When I hit the clearance racks this year my goal is to get outdoor themed decorations for it!! Mom has some pine cone garland she got for me and I am hoping to find some cardinal ornaments. AND!!! I hope to find another small and very cheap fake tree cause I want another tree in my kitchen with food based decorations!!! EEK!! I am so excited!! And of course my RaRa would be rolling her eyes right now because once again I am planning for NEXT Christmas. LOL

I know I know I did not share our tree in the living room. I am hoping to take it tonight when it is darker and I can light it up. OK I better go! I promised my cousin Laurie I would actually be productive today ;) So I shall pop in a favorite Christmas movie and get to creative work!!

Unbe-leaf-able!!!

Admit it I am FUNNY!! :P Back to Thanksgiving Day cause Jason took so many fabulous pictures while him and the kiddos were outside. It seems like they were outside forever without us but really it was only about 45 minutes. But I guess Hannah and I really missed out on all the fun. After the pictures of the cat and the umbrella Jason wanted to teach Cameron the joy of jumping in a leaf pile. To be honest neither one of us thought he would get very far. With the whole not getting dirty thing outdoor play with Cameron has proven to be limited. But he so got into it!! Jas caught some great action shots that cracked me up!!

A little love to the Nipper family who dressed Cameron this day!! lol I know Aunt Brenda is looking at the pictures saying 'Hey I know that shirt!!' well you know the jeans too. And the socks ;) Pretty much we just bought the shoes :) This tree still has a lot of leaves for Cameron to play in. Jason had to bring him back in the other night cause he wasn't 'helping' very well!! Poor Cameron came back int eh house with tears in his eyes and leaves in his hair. That is never a pretty sight!

Thanksgiving was a week ago and I am still sharing from that day!! Can you imagine how bad it will be after Christmas!?!?! LOL

Weaving the Blanket of Freedom

Well he will be for 6 more years. His last 6 years as a matter of fact. Jason re-enlisted today. It was honestly up in the air if he was going to. 8 months gone from his family and 6 months in Iraq definitely makes you question some things. But in the end Jason knew that with only one enlistment left til retirement he really didn't have a choice. Besides the fact no good jobs had panned out fast enough to really consider getting out. So here we are 14 years later and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. A military career is not very long. Only needs to be 20 years. You can go longer but it's not in my man to do that. And I am perfectly fine with that. 20 is enough. In just these 14 years alone we have had three kids, 4 states ( not counting Illinois ) 7 homes, to many TDY's and one Deployment to Iraq under our belts. I know there are no more kids in our future ;) But who knows what homes or states or TDY's we have left. And unless we have a miracle there will be more time in Iraq. If these next 6 years are anything like the last 14 it will be over before we know it!

Jason thought it would be cool to ask 2nd Lieutenant Sowell to do his re-enlistment because she has never done one before. Her first his last. She was so cute! I love her anyway cause she is a hugger!! I love huggers! I am a hugger. Can I have a hug?

Um yeah I cut Jason's hair this past weekend and kind of used the wrong guard. Which of course I didn't discover til I did the first swipe across the top of his head. Thank goodness it isn't cold here cause he is a wee bit bald :)




Magnum GI doing the infamous eyebrow! To know Jason is to know the eyebrow. He is exaggerating a bit here :)



I didn't realize Jas had sent word out about Lt Sowell's first enlistment. I am yakking my head off and come into a room full. So not expecting it. But to know Kara is to know her yakking :)

She had memorized the whole statement!! What a trooper. She was shaky in the middle but she came through. Of course Jason just has to repeat things so he gets no slack! And of course I am at the age where I ask. How old was she when we started this gig? Doesn't matter she hugged me :)

I had a 'official' Combat Photographer take our picture!! Pretty much it just sounds cool. Considering Johnny Stevens was next to him with his camera phone and probably got the same shot :) Cameron wouldn't look at them no matter who was taking the picture.

Not the best shot of Jason but it was the best shot of me and since it is my blog.........

Captain America saving the world from bad video!!!

OK is the 6 years over yet?

Oh yeah and Jason pointed out by the time he gets out Hannah will be the age he was when he got in. The man is trying to kill me!!