New Year's Eve

All the Davidson Kids in one house for New Year's Eve.

"Mr. Bucks" is growing up!

Doting Parents!

Two Sillies playing

Julianne loves to walk the dogs.

Vincent ripping into a gift while Pom, Pak's sister, supervises. Our farthest visitor all the way from Thailand.

Yellow

Finally celebrating the Man of the Day: Mr. M. Andrew's birthday!

Kidwalk

Has arrived!

Rank Family

Very blessed to have four families from different cities together under one roof for a couple of days of celebration. (not to mention sharing some germs)

Merry Christmas

In Vincent's defense I ran over his foot with Claudia's wheelchair just prior to this photo! Oops.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Duet

Sleigh Ride

We packed up the kids and went on a sleigh ride today! It was really more of an open wagon ride pulled by Dick and Dan (horses). The weather was perfect, with just enough snow to make the trip peaceful and cold enough to snuggle up.

Awe

This time of year I find that I'm bogged down with a to-do list. Writing Christmas cards, cleaning, decorating, purging, packing, attending Christmas concerts, gift wrapping, meeting for two IEP's, carpooling children, and I admit in the middle of my to-do list Vincent requested that I write "Read Stories". He is so right. I need daily reminders to enjoy the amazing children who fill my home.

For me there is no better way to celebrate with children than to do a project together. I love to watch their excitement as they see, touch, smell, and discover how to put something together. They learn what happens with the switch of a mixer, the crack of an egg, the drop of a color into icing. It's all new and exciting.

My house will not be spotless, my Christmas cards are not perfect, we will drop sprinkles on the floor, and I will enjoy what we are today!

Spiritosa

Winona gave us all a laugh this morning with red noses.

Winter Wonderland

Out enjoying the bright and beautiful snowy landscape.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

We were surprised this season with a new elf named Winona. Wyatt our former elf had to be relocated to Arizona. Winona happens to be a little naughty!

Claudia performed Friday for a Christmas celebration!

American Girl Adventure

Two very lucky girls and their beloved Grandmas on a once in a lifetime adventure to the Caribbean to celebrate 25 years of American Girl.

Making some friends

Eloise/Ivy

Claudia/Kit

Happy 25th Birthday to American Girl! What an amazing company that knows how to throw a fabulous party with super young ladies!!

Thanks-giving

Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with thanks and givings.

So much to be grateful for....

Trick or Treat 2011

Little Carvers

For the love of Halloween

My updated witch

Can you find V and J?

Monster Teeth!

Blurry Decisions

Can you tell who these skeletons are?

October seems to be passing in some kind of blur. It has gone by so fast but some weeks have been so incredibly long. I'll chalk it up to the stress of making some big decisions.

First, we have decided to move to Arizona. The complex emotions that this move brings about for us has been internally exhausting. There will be so many exciting and new beginnings with a move to Arizona but there is also a huge fear for the unknown and loss of the familiar. We won't be going anywhere until summertime. So we will experience a Minnesota winter and Arizona summer all in one year.

Second, we have decided that "Wally" the helper dog is not going to work out at this time. He is an amazing dog and Claudia did a fantastic job working with him these last four days. Unfortunately the organization behind "Wally" is not steady enough for us to depend on. We have not closed this chapter yet and will continue to search for the right match for Claudia. At least after experiencing four days of work with "Wally" I'm more convinced that Claudia is mature enough and capable enough to have a service dog. There were some big tears yesterday from Claudia as this news unveiled. It was easier to accept disappointment before we had the image of Wally's big dark brown eyes to think about.

So onward and upward.. Halloween.. is coming.... Which of course will mean that I have some photos coming to the blog soon.

Naps

One of those questions that I get a lot when we are out and about: Do they ever nap at the same time? And yes, they do. It is precious.

It was quite peaceful this afternoon while these two snoozed on the couch. They listened to stories until their eyelids grew heavy.

It is more typically the car ride that does it..

on a recent trip to the apple orchard.

So there you have it some documentation that they do indeed nap at the same time.

Lew

With a face full of discovery, little Lew and Eloise enjoy a fall morning. Thanks for coming to visit, always great to see you all.

Wally

Have you seen a smile this big? The giggles poured out too!

Introducing Wally... a super sweet black lab who is training to be a service dog! During the month of October, Wally will be visiting and working with Claudia. We hope that this will work out but are a little reluctant due to Claudia's dog allergies. She has been taking allergy shots in hopes of overcoming the runny nose and itchy eyes, but we may still have some issues.. we'll see.