Thwee!

Dawson turned three years old today! He strutted around with a big smile on his face and basked in the glow of the candles from his cake while Holly, Grandma Chadd and Grandpa Chadd joined in with our family and sang him the Happy Birthday song. Holly and my mom and dad were here with us to help Daws celebrate his big day, too!

He's been answering "two" for a whole year now when people ask how old he is, so getting in the habit of answering three took some practice! My dad finally told him tonight. "Now, Dawson, I'm going to ask you a question. Are you thinking? Think really hard before you answer me. How old are you?" Dawson looked thoughtful as he paused, then grinned. "Thwee!" He said with a giggle.

Manipulating his chubby little fingers to show the number three was another new challenge for Dawson. He tried and tried to get his pinkie and thumb together and his index, middle and ring fingers to stay up to make the universal "three" with his hands. He got creative (after trying for a quite a while) because he found he COULD get his index finger and thumb together and hold up the middle, ring and pinkie finger much more easily.

Dawson got all kinds of new treasures for his birthday. More Thomas the Train sets to add to his collection, new "smell goods," a Pirates of the Caribbean fishing pole, crocodile pajamas, new clothes, a remote control truck, a Mark Martin race car, underwear, socks, batteries and the always-popular spending money were the gifts he unwrapped. He was thrilled with everything he got and did an excellent job sharing with his brothers and sisters.

We ate lunch and cut the cake after we opened presents this morning and then went to New Orleans and took a Mississippi steamboat tour in the afternoon which everyone enjoyed.

Dawson is now sleeping just as hard as he played today! He is such a special little boy. He's still my chunky little hunk of burnin' love and he assured me yesterday that he will still freely tell me he loves me when he's seven and even sixteen when I asked. I hope so. God has given Dawson the gift of making people feel special. I don't know God's trick yet, but I watch him repeatedly catch the eye of the one person who needs some cheering up lighting up their solemn faces. God brought a little boy full of joy into the world three years ago and I am so thankful I get to be his mother because I get to experience the joy every day!

Happy Birthday, Dawson!

Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?

Madalynn and Jillian are two girls who don't mind getting their dresses dirty!

"Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?" is one of the books in Madalynn's personal library. Grandma Chadd spotted the book and it screamed "Madalynn" to her so she bought it for Maddie.

Madalynn could wear a dress, hold a frog a snake and wade in a river all while donning her beautiful (but perhaps a bit muddy) princess dress, I have no doubt.

A slithery snake came out from under a plant while I was weeding the garden one day, racing right toward Madalynn and Justis. "Get Back!" I yelled, stepping away myself. Madalynn apparently didn't hear me, "Get it Justis! Hurry!" she shouted as she raced TOWARD the snake in an attempt to catch it. Thankfully Justis thought her request was a bit off and stayed back. I had to nearly swat Madalynn hand with the shovel before she would stop pursuit! We had a talk about NOT trying to pick up snakes we can't identify.

I can't tell if Jillian will choose frills, frogs or both at the moment, because she can't say for herself. She holds her own with Dawson, one of her only words is "Dixie" (the name of our chocolate lab), and she puts food away as well or better than her big brothers! She's a meat and potato girl, at that. Travis described Jillian as having an even temper the other night. I looked at him like, "What!?" I said, "Do you mean she's evenly passionate all of the time?"

I love the mix of sweet and spicy Madalynn's personality brings to the family, and I can't wait to see how Jillian's personality will blossom.

Tickly Torture

A hair cut is nothing but a dirty trick to Justis. A dirty trick to steal his play time and make him sit still while a scary buzzy "thingy" gets too close for comfort to his ears.

Justis's hair has a mind of it's own, and if we do not cut it regularly he starts to look like a porcupine. Travis and I are Justis's personal stylists because his hair is the type we have to buzz with the clippers. Many a dollar is saved giving him home cuts, because he needs a hair cut about every three weeks or sometimes more frequently.

The drill is inevitable, but he still dreads it. He sees the stool and clipper bag and starts in. "I don't want to take a hair cut!" "Ticklies" are what drive Justis plum crazy about getting hair cuts. The little prickly pieces of hair that fall ALL over him (cape or not), just drive him bonkers. He calls the prickly hairs "ticklies." Sitting very still while itching all over is hard for anyone, especially an energetic five-year-old that could care less if his hair is long or short.

His face animatedly shows how he feels about the whole process. That's why I took the camera out during his last hair cut. The minute it was over, he was smiling again. I'm glad children are emotionally resilient, because by the way he acts during his hair cut, you think he'd be emotionally scarred for life!

Legend of the Rougarou

The swamp legend of the Rougarou, derived from the original Loup Garou story (French for werewolf swamp monster), runs deep in Cajun culture and has been passed down from generation to generation through the swamps of Louisiana. Children are warned that the Rougarou can read souls, but that they only hunt and kill evil men, well-behaved horses or Catholics that do not follow the rules of Lent!

The Rougarou surfaced in my bathtub a couple of days ago. No kidding! We were taken aback, because few people have ever REALLY laid eyes on the Rougarou. We found him to be a bit different than legend tells. He's a little shorter, merrier and less hairy. He must also need goggles to help him hunt down those evil men and disobedient Catholics. He didn't say much. I guess he enjoyed having some clear water to navigate for a change, because we all looked on as he happily swam from one end of the bathtub to the other.

We had our camera handy. This might be the first REAL proof that swamp monsters actually exist! :)

Sorry, Mom and Dad!

Victory is sweet, especially if it means beating your parents at a board game like Justis did Wednesday night!

Travis, Madalynn, Justis and I sat down and played the game Sorry Wednesday night. Dawson had gone to bed early that night and Jillian did, too, which gave us a great opportunity to play something a little more advanced.

Travis is competitive at anything, so watching Justis knock him off the board several times was flat out funny. Travis deserves credit, though. He DID tell Justis exactly which move would be the smartest, even if it did mean knocking daddy's pawn back to start!

Madalynn is a merciful player. Travis told her she had the choice of moving off of start and knocking my pawn back to my starting place or moving another one of her pieces and leaving my game piece undisturbed. Travis encouraged her to move out and bump me back, but she refused, saying that she wouldn't do that, "Because mommy's good." Thank you, Madalynn.

Justis reveled in victory when he got all his pawns to the finish first. He got to pick a prize out of the treasure chest for doing such a good job counting as well. He went to sleep with a smile on his face!

The Garden Hose Bidet

One of my jobs as mom is to make fun situations out of the inevitable embarrassing accidents that my children will experience. My creativity was forced to be put to work a few days ago when Dawson had a little faux pas.

Ironing curtains, I heard the back door open and I figured Dawson had decided to come in and take a break from riding his tricycle. Madalynn came in a few minutes later and said in a sympathetic voice, "Mom, I think Dawson may have pooped outside. He's getting some paper towels. I think he's trying to clean it up."

Preventing any further "damage" is my first priority when any kind of accident happens, so my feet quickly took me to the other room as my mind prepared to stay calm, give grace and understanding while getting to the bottom of the story at the same time. Dawson has been potty-trained for a solid month now, and it wasn't like him to have an accident. Why didn't he make it to the toilet, I wondered.

Background into my husbands potty training experience gave me some wisdom and insight as my mind went back to the stories Cheryl has told me.

Cheryl explained how, when Travis was around five, his underwear somehow kept disappearing. She would notice fewer pairs going through the laundry but kept buying some more, assuming they were probably getting lost. Travis, in the meantime, was craftily burying his underpants. Why? He was too involved in playing outside to want to stop and visit the toilet when he had to do his doo. He would poop his pants because he was so busy playing, and then bury them to hide the evidence and then simply get a fresh pair to replace the buried ones. Cheryl finally investigated and discovered his secret underwear burying scheme when one too many pair of underwear kept disappearing!

Cheryl pondered the real reason for Travis burying his underwear. Travis was, after all, totally capable of using the toiled and did except for when he was outside. She realized playing was more of a priority than getting to the toilet. Great creativity is needed to persuade a busy five-year old boy to stop his outside playing long enough to use the potty. Cheryl said, "Travis, what is something you REALLY want?" Travis said he wanted a pair of cowboy chaps. Cheryl said, "Okay, Travis, I will make you some of your own cowboy pants, but ONLY if you stop pooping in your pants and burying them." Chaps were a powerful bargaining tool, apparently, because he stopped pooping his pants!

I arrived on scene and Dawson was standing at with the cabinet under the sink open with poop down his leg and a wad of paper towels in his hand. He was trying to figure out how he was going to, as quietly as possible, tear the paper towels off the roll. I startled him when I walked in and he looked up at me with an expression that said, "I know I did a bad thing, but the terrible smell and feeling from poop all over my leg are consequence enough." I calmly asked Dawson to come outside and show me where his underwear were. Dawson felt ashamed and didn't want to tell me, so Justis, also sympathetic to his brother's hurt pride, came out and helped me take care of it.

Dawson watched as I picked up his soiled underwear and took them in to the washing machine and came back out.

"All right, Dawson," I said with a grin. "Come over and stand on the grass. I'm going to help you get cleaned up!"

An inquisitive smile crept onto Dawson's face. His curiosity was piqued.

I picked up the hose and turned it on, and said, "I'm going to spray you off, okay?"

With a giggle and an "okay" from Dawson, I cleaned him off with the spray of the hose. Keep in mind, here in Louisiana the water that comes out of the hose is MUCH warmer than hose water in Kansas!

My attention was needed at the site of the accident after I got Dawson cleaned up. There it was. A big pile of poop was right beside Dawson's little tricycle. I cleaned it up and realized the good time Dawson was having on that tricycle preoccupied his urge to go sit on the nearest potty. I smiled. Like father, like son, I guess! :)

Madalynn Announces Career Plans

I hope Walt Disney World has a degree in princess. Madalynn announced today that she WILL be a career princess at Disney World when she grows up.

"You know, I'll put on a pretty dress and go say hi to people and stuff like that."

Travis encouraged her, with a grin, "I bet there are LOTS of happy people at Walt Disney World."

I am tickled pink when our children share their dreams with us. Travis and I both want our kids to exercise the gifts that God has given them and contemplate how God would have them use those gifts in the "now" and in the future. Madalynn certainly puts a smile on many-a-face here in the "now!" Only God knows what he has planned for Madalynn's future. Whether God ultimately calls her to be a princess at Walt Disney world or something else we will be there to encourage her, celebrate with her and support her, just as our parents have done in our lives.

I thank both my parents and Travis's parents for the patient support, wisdom and encouragement they have given and still are giving us in following our hearts and God's heart. We hope we do just as well in extending that same patient encouragement, support and wisdom to our children.

We're excited to see where God takes all of our kids. No doubt God has a unique life adventure already planned for each one of them!

Rub-a-dub-dub, Two Babies in the Tub!

Dawson and Jillian have finally found some neutral ground, I mean water. :)

Dawson and Jillian love taking a bath together. The bathtub is one of the few places Dawson doesn't try to take Jillian's toys and where Jillian doesn't feel threatened by Dawson's presence! They share the boats and dolphins we have for bath toys.

Dawson did try to wash Jillian's hair one day and dumped a big cupful of water over her head. I came to the rescue, assuming she would be scared. She just opened her big eyes and smiled, though, when she finally got her breath after the water stopped running over her nose and mouth.

Bath time for Dawson and Jillian also helps me while I'm in front of the mirror getting ready myself. I can make sure they're safe and they're in the same room where I can see them, and they're busy and happy playing together. Thank you, God, for the bath tub!

Justis the "Twisty" Hunter

"Mom! I think I just saw our shed move!" Justis nervously exclaimed as he looked out our dining room window into the down pouring rain today.

Today we are experiencing our first tropical storm ever, Hurricane Humberto, which made landfall last night as a category 1 hurricane near Galveston, TX. Humberto was downgraded to a tropical storm early this morning as it slowly passed through southwestern and central Louisiana. The eye of Humberto isn't really near us, but we are experiencing periods of very heavy rainfall and an occasional breeze.

Justis is our cautious child, and storms are something he doesn't completely understand yet, so he's very leery about them. He sat wide eyed when we watched "Hurricane on the Bayou" at the IMAX theatre as he saw film of Hurricane Katrina making landfall and the destruction it left behind.

Questions about what a hurricane is poured out of his mouth after he watched "Hurricane on the Bayou." One of our conversations went something like this:

"Mom, umm, is a hurricane the same as a twisty (his word for tornado)?"

Contemplating my response carefully, I replied, "Well, Justis, a hurricane kind looks like a huge twisty, except it lasts longer than a twisty and the winds are sometimes stronger."

"Oh. Will a hurricane come to our house?"

"It's possible, but a hurricane probably wouldn't be as strong when it gets as far as our house. Hurricane Katrina passed by our house when we didn't live here, but at our house it only rained a lot, the wind was strong for a while, some trees fell down and the power was out for about a week. The damage at our house wasn't like the damage the hurricane caused in New Orleans like the stuff you saw on the movie."

Justis and I repeat the hurricane discussion almost every time he hears thunder or the mention of a hurricane on the weather channel. I reassure him that God is watching over us and that Travis and I will make sure our family is safe if a hurricane is coming our way.

The Weather Channel's tropical update is something I make sure to watch at least once a day to make sure I know if there's a tropical wave, storm or hurricane I need to keep my eye on. The first words Justis heard when I turned on the Weather Channel this morning were "hurricane," and "Louisiana."

"Mom!!!!??? The guy said there's a hurricane in Louisiana!"

"Justis, there's nothing to worry about. The only thing that is going to happen here is we're going to get lots of rain."

Our conversation about the "Louisiana hurricane" apparently didn't pacify him. Before getting out of the van this morning at story time at the library, Justis cautiously peeked his head out of the sliding door and peered up into the raining sky to make sure the coast was clear. Rain started pouring down when we got home and he nervously walked from room to room looking up at the sky through the windows. Justis isn't even sure what a hurricane looks like, but one thing is crystal clear to him. He doesn't want to be caught in one!

He has categorized tornadoes and hurricanes into two categories that make sense to him. He calls a tornado a twisty and a hurricane a REALLY big twisty. I have officially dubbed Justis the family "twisty" hunter. I think I'll leave the Weather Channel off today!

Great Ball of Fire!

Jillian is a sassy little gal with a little fire under her skirt (as some people describe a feisty lady)! Personality radiates from her now, as she's starting to develop her own likes, dislikes and STRONG opinions.

Cruising around the furniture and crawling make it easier for her to explore and decide what kind of opinions she will choose to make about the people, objects and goings-ons in our home.

Towels in the drawer at the bottom left side of the sink are the bomb to Jillian. Many a capful of laundry detergent has been dispensed to clean and reclean the towels she unfolds and leaves on the floor for her siblings to step on.

The bathtub is fascinating, in Jillian's opinion. She hears water being drawn for a bath and heads toward the bathroom, convinced SHE is the one getting the bath every time. She is disappointed those times it's not HER turn. Standing at the tub watching whomever is bathing and knocking all of the soaps and toys into the tub, however, almost makes watching the bather as fun a bathing!

Jillian is most definitely NOT a vegetarian. Vegetables and fruits are just fine for her palate, but she has a taste and nose for savory foods, particularly meat. Cheddar wurst sausages are Jillian's favorite. Graham crackers don't even hold a candle to a piece of that sausage in Jillian's opinion.

Jillian perceives Dawson to be her #1 nemesis. He likes the same food, toys and people she likes. He gets sneaky and tries to steal, persuade or manipulate her food toys and favorite people away from her. Dawson is no match for Jillian, however. Her angry eyebrows are her way of telling him, "Back off, Buddy, or you'll be sorry." Screeching, pushing and shoving meet Dawson immediately if he does not surrender to the angry eyebrows right away. She will push, screech and throw a tantrum until he leaves her alone.

We have a lot of fun watching God unfold her little personality right before the family's eyes.

Rico Suave

The scent of freshly bathed and lotioned babies and the clean breeze of Travis when he has just showered, smelling like soap and cologne, are two of my favorite smells in the world. I now get to smell both delights all at once, except instead of Travis smelling of cologne, now it's Dawson!

Dawson's morning routine is not complete without "smell goods." Smell Goods is Dawson's word for cologne. Smell goods must, in Dawson's opinion, add that special touch to his outfit of big boy briefs, shorts and shirt. He layers his smell goods over his Baby Magic baby lotion after his morning bath. He's convinced that he MUST smell twice as good when he has both lotion and his smell goods on! I think so.

Travis and I dispense the smell goods. Dawson comes to whichever of us is in front of the bathroom mirror and says, "I want some smell goods." We spritz his shirt and then one of his wrists. Rubbing his wrists together, he holds them up near his face, takes a big sniff, grins and walks off to go play. We just laugh, glad that Dawson takes time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life!

The Davis Family Fais do do

Laissez les bon temps rouler! This strange-looking string of words is required vocabulary for a Louisiana resident. Laissez les bon temps rouller is "Let the good times roll!" in French, of course.

The six of us let the good times roll Sunday night with our very own Fais do do! Fais do do is French and means an all night get-together/dance. Our fais do do didn't include the traditional bourbon, Cajun cuisine and zydeco music, however. A family-sized tent, complete with a family of six, sausages, s'mores, sleeping bags, a lantern and some matches and, of course, the "music" of the chirping insects and frogs made for an exceptional family-style fais do do!

Sunday afternoon, September 2nd, we set up tent and got our camp site ready in plenty of time to leisurely cook supper over the fire, go swimming in the lake and have s'mores before zipping into our tents for the night.

Listening and watching a tent in which Madalynn, Dawson and Justis are holed up together is quite a show. Travis and I sat quietly chatting while they were SUPPOSED to be winding down and falling asleep. The lantern they kept turning on gave away the goings-ons in the tent and we could hear their sneaky plotting whispers. They had a great time together just being brothers and sister.

Jillian's camping trip was more of a sensory experience for her this time around because she's getting around more. She learned what wollerin' (Kansas lingo)in the dirt feels like when she finally got brave enough to veer off of the nice, big clean tarp we had put her and her toys on. She peeked through her tent window from her porta-crib and cried when we put her in bed for the night. She quickly gave into sleep, though.

Swimming in the Lake is probably the kids' highlight of camping at Percy Quinn. Justis lit up like a Christmas tree when he stepped into the water. Jillian is a little fish, so Travis took her out in her diaper and held her, too. One of Madalynn's Crocs made a fine holder for the clam shells she gathered for her "collection." Dawson stuck to Travis's side, not surprisingly.

Weary from staying awake until the kids FINALLY went to sleep, Travis and I were not ready to get up Labor Day morning when the kids did. The sun hadn't even fully made it's appearance in the pre-dawn sky before the kids were up and screeching and laughing LOUDLY, so as to wake all of the rest of the campers in a one-mile radius up! The words, "Go back to bed," do not register in the mind of a camping child who sees the beginnings of the morning sun!

Kudos to my ever-so-manly husband! Travis knows how to camp. I was a girl scout, but I cried almost the whole week of camp because I was homesick! 'Nuf said. I am an idiot when it comes to being an "outdoors woman." Travis is a pro at packing that minivan chock full and getting everything set up and creating a fire out of very few resources! He also kills spiders, bees, wasps and anything else creepy crawly that "threatens" me or one of the children. Thank you, Scott, for teaching Travis well and for the air mattress and pump you added to our camping collection for Travis's birthday. My night's sleep was much more peaceful this camping trip!

I can still smell campfire smoke after washing my hair twice since our family adventure, and I am still EXHAUSTED. Smoky hair and tired eyes are such a small price to pay for the family time and bonding that happens every time we go camping, though.