Worry

There's always worry in parenting. It just sneaks up sometimes. Things are rolling along then, without warning there's something bubbling up. But what I'm noticing is that kids are more resilient than we think. And that I shouldn't project my worry on them. Because even though it kind of stinks that other kids aren't always nice to your wonderful , kind, silly, creative children, they will find their way. And just when you think they are so upset that nothing will get them out of their funk, you look outside and they are laughing and goofing off and climbing trees in the neighborhood. And then suddenly you have a whole different worry on your hands. Because it would be really inconvenient to have someone break a bone when your orthopedic surgeon husband is out of town. Excuse me while I go tell Sean to not climb quite so high in that tree! 

Sunday leisure



A rare moment of brothers peacefully sitting side by side. 



Always a good time for a nap.



Still working on our baked donut technique.



Food blogger in training! (He's using the ipad to get the best shot!).

Not quite Spring yet....

Talus enjoying the winter wonderland

So sad they had to miss school because of the snow day...ha, ha!

Hard to see, but there's someone cross country skiing along the side of the road!

Baseball in the snow!

Much prettier than a rainy day.

A January recap

Shorts year round!

Sunny day bike ride.

Giving Talus some love. 

Making breakfast.

Preparing apple hand pies...which were amazingly delicious.

En route to skiing means donuts.

An amazing ski day.

January has been a pretty nice month!

A bit of post holiday R&R

The Holiday Season

Searching for the perfect tree...on a sunny day!

It's not the holidays without gingerbread houses.

The last ornaments on the tree!

Christmas cookies!

A swim meet!

Jackson getting ready for backstroke.

Sean's class did an amazing holiday performance.He wasn't excited about dancing with girls, though.

A moment of Zen amidst the holiday frenzy.

December has been busy but filled with fun things. There are always a few moments of stress over trying to fit in too many things but I think we've kept our schedule sane enough to enjoy the season. We have made cookies, decorated, attended parties and mailed out a lot of packages. School is out till January and we plan to relax, make yummy food and count our blessings. And , I will try to remember that next year I will  get one really good family photo! (I take a crazy number of pictures each year. You'd think there would be one nice photo in which we aren't all wearing fleece jackets!). Feliz Navidad!

Going to the beach, Going to the Mountains...

Weeks like this help us appreciate the beauty of Oregon. Yes, it rains, but when we can go out and play in places like this, it makes the rain a bit more tolerable. 

Music, stitches and other fun stuff

Jackson had his first band concert last week. These kids all just started playing this year and put on a good show.

Sean's class had a harvest festival on a perfect Fall day. There was a bonfire, songs about the changing seasons, and most importantly, the annual rolling of the giant oatcake to determine the severity of the upcoming winter. One side of the oatcake has an "o" and the other side has an "x". The kids line up along sidewalk that has a gentle downward slope and the principal rolls the oatcake. At the end, it wobbled a bit then landed on the "o" side which means a mild winter. We shall see!

Here is Sean getting stitches at the kitchen table. Just a normal Friday night at The Davitt's! He cut himself while making a bow at archery camp and the cut was just big enough to warrant a visit to the Davitt ER. Fortunately Jim was home and had just enough time to put in a few stitches before heading off to his gig as volunteer doctor for the high school football team. It was a busy night for the Davitt medical team.   

 Fall running on trails is always more fun with Auntie Sue Bee along.

 And running followed by pie is a good way to spend an afternoon!

 Soccer season wrapped up last weekend and I can tell you that the weather during the last game did not look at all like  what you see in this photo. But this is a great picture one of my friends just emailed me so it needed to be posted on the blog.

Finally, here is an origami creation by our in house origami master, Sean. Please keep in mind that this creation is one of about 100 origami pieces in various places throughout the house right now.  I do think this is one of the more impressive works by Sean and he was kind enough to take a photo of it for me to share on the blog. 

Taking time out to enjoy Fall

I try really hard to keep Sundays a free day to do something as a family. Fall is a busy time and it gets harder to carve out family time. But I've realized how important it is for us to have one day of family time, preferably on an outing of some sort or else we get consumed with household chores and iPads and Iphones, etc. .So, with the amazing weather we've had, we were lucky enough to find time for getting pumpkins one weekend and apple picking another weekend. Apple picking in particular was a great day...20 pounds of gorgeous apples are now in our garage. You can't beat spending a day in Hood River picking apples in warm Fall sunshine. Not to mention the amazing views you see in every direction.