Hope is Six Years Old!

It was a beautiful day here in the 'Ville as we celebrated Hope's sixth birthday. There were carousel rides, bubbles, yummy cake, crazy masks and a beautiful princess. We also welcomed Elsa home after a week at the Regional Dance America conference so it was truly a joyful day in our household! Hope had several things on her wish list including a stuffed baboon, a tiara, a "lovely" princess gown and a Buzz Lightyear acton figure. The baboon was a bit of a challenge, but in the end we were able to track one down. Hope was absolutely "lovely" in her princess dress and was thrilled with the tiara that Elsa brought back for her from the conference. It was a wonderful way to end my week off, and as you can see everyone was really into the party.

Much love from all of us in Louisville!

And they will know us by the trail of ...

Becks! the quick answer is, 'yes'. I talked to good ole Ross the other day about it (and he advised me that he was aware of it as Scott had mentioned it to him). I said he should check it out - that he would like it... and I do think that when they do hit that retirement ground/stage/when dad is put out to pasture and Mom rocks on... they will join. I also forwarded onto Uncle Tom at something like jtd40@verizon.net - that right? - so they should know ... and Lizzie, Ethan and co... they were also in the original line-up... and asked that someone send to Jon Adam and Liza (as i totally don't have their email address).... and can i do a bit more run-on sentences... and say things like 'oo' ...

Hope to hear from all soon.

love and smoochies
todd

ps. to Scott,

I'm going to be getting a notebook and am thinking about either a Dell or a Sony Viao. It needs to be super light and small and easy to transport. Do you have a recommendation? I will be heading out sometime next week to see options in person - any questions I should ask? I know to ask if it uses the old operating system -XP, which I have on my desk top, or the new Vista operating system....but of course, I have no idea what that means.......BD

Chicago, April 26th

I love the blog!
Where are the MI Davidson's - do they know about the blog?????
How about those Princeton folks?????
I'm hoping Laurie can teach me to post some pix.
Love to all - Becky

a bit of this, a bit of that...

Hooray for IT geeks! they do have a purpose... Glad to see you were able to sort it all out, Laurie -Loo and post such fab pics. And to be honest, it got me thinking about a number of similar things - as in... Milly! and Milly's companion... kinda weird to think that this dog is nearly 12 and her companion is fast approaching 40 - well, 39 this september... it's the 6th, in case anyone has forgotten... not that I'm a great one for remembering birthdays; or rather, remembering them on time... why get it all over with in one day when you can drag it out for a whole week (or more).








Frozen pea man Jack in his number 3 hat reminds me of a Jesame picture which is just hilarious. Who needs Gap when you've got a cardboard thing which used to house tomatoes.
Speaking of 'the girl' I'm sure she won't mind me mentioning that we're in the midst of potty training - oh joy, what fun! So far, so, uh... ok... quite a few accidents, but she was able to push out a 'lovely poo' - her words - the other day (which is good, cause it had been a while and we were starting to think that she would explode). I'd like to say that we'd keep you posted on how this is going, but that just seems a bit silly. Suffice it to say, the process has begun and we feel a bit better for not dumping a few more nappies in the ever dwindling resource that is landfill (it was Earth Day the other day as we were reminded in Becky's blog... this is our contribution; that and I cycle to and from work every day - ooo, and we compost... we're so green, we should be sprouting...)

Want to see something wierd? Here's an image from our back yard. In England, when this happens, the country freaks out... everyone starts panic buying bottled water and tinned goods (you never know, we may have to start eating each other if the snow lasts.. well, lasts longer than the usual 10am melt-off). Also, they drive at 2 miles/hour... now safe is good; i do safe, but come on...


and finally, a few images from reunion-villes... really great memories... they also happen to be some of Jesame's fav pics
. Kiz is doing great - had a hosp appt the other day and we've got some physio to do to get her left hand up to speed, but all-in-all, a very happy and engaging little girl (if only she'd sleep from 3 - 5, we could be a bit more normal... more memories?)

Goodnight John boy...

ps, if you want to see something really hilarious on You Tube, check this out - it's a music video and will go down as a classic - you will need broadband for this: it's called, 'OK, here it goes again'

Hi everyone! Thanks to the great folks in IT at Northwestern, I am finally able to post to this awesome new blog. What a good use of our work time! :)


Thanks to Toddy and Dawn for putting this blog together, what a great idea. There is still one member of our family not represented, so I better put that right, right now!

Here is Rathbone. He's eleven years old and not a well cat. But he is still the sweetest cat ever, as all you who have met him will attest. I've noticed the MI Davidsons are also not yet represented, so here's a sample of our lovely Christmas in Benzie:




And no post is complete without Chad singing disco:
Love,
Laurie

Hi again! I realized that I didn't put a picture of Jack on the blog and I wanted him to be represented. He still loves music (nature or nurture?) and has recently started swimming lessons. Oddly, he has developed a taste for all things frozen. Frozen peas, frozen corn, frozen grapes...if it can be frozen, he'll eat it. Go figure. Anyway, we're trying to figure out plans for the summer. The cost of a trip to see the UK crew is looking prohibitive, but we're still looking for any deals on airfare.

Well I have no idea if I am doing this right - but here goes

Chicago Davidson's were also at the zoo for Earth Day. LPZ had many interesting things going on, inlcuding live music....we started at 3400 with brunch - bacon, eggs, oatmeal buttermilk blueberry pancakes and fruit. Jack ate bacon and fruit - what else is new.
Then we all piled into Chad's SUV (so unEarth) and went to see the otters, monkeys, turtles etc. The lions were sleeping..the traffic was horrendous - Cubs in town, first nice week end, Earth Day at the zoo - but we handled it all with aplomb.

I am getting by - not great, but getting by with a lot of help from my friends, and family.
I am committing to Earth day and the environment by "trying" the bulbs - light is still pretty harsh, using a canvas bag at the grocery, and walking more.

I thought it was interesting that the 20/20 piece on Earth Day had them turn of the studio lights, but send 6 reporters by air all over the world to report - aren't there good stills at National Geo. that they could have used to make the point???

Love to all. Not sure I'll ever be able to post a photo - but FYI, I now have super short hair and am going natural - grey as rat to come.... Becky

Fantastic stuff!

Wow! so great to see that this has taken on a new bit of life! Always a joy to see how things are going down in ole KY - we certainly remember those days with fondness....ah the puppets and a new take on Alice in Wonderland. Really looking forward to seeing you again at some point - although we don't know when. I'm realising that although Kiz is somewhat represented, I do think that she deserves a bit more... by for now, and best of luck Elsa @ the conference.

be good

todd

Springtime Fun in Louisville

It is a beautiful day here in Louisville as we approach Derby Day! The kids and I took advantage of the wonderful weather to celebrate Earth Day at the Zoo. Baby elephants, a peacock and a roaring tiger where the highlights of the visit. Elsa heads off to Pittsburgh tomorrow for the Regional Dance America conference with the Louisville Ballet Youth Ensemble. We are excited for her and are sure she is going to have a great time with her friends and instructors from the Ballet. Much love from Louisville!

Scott, Amy and the Kids

Time to release this on the you all... we set it up and said... we should send this around... and then didn't... So now is the time. Post whatever makes you happy - gives an impression about what's important. So, for here and now, here's a link to HR Pufnstuf (what the heck) . looking forward to seeing you all.

By the way, we've got a Skype account, and our online name is Davidsonsincumnor (bit long, but it works...). If you've got a webcam and can stand to fill out one more form, do it and we'll talk albeit with a slight delay. You can access skype by the following link: Skype.

If you'd like to see a few more piccies of us (ok, mainly the girls) you can check out the flickr account - some will have already seen them...we'll change them soonish, so check em out sooner rather than later... here's the link:

1. family fun

todd

Welcome!

Well, we thought that since blogs have been around for, oh say, 10 years or so, we thought that we might give it a go and do something to help bring us a wee bit closer as time and distance seem to be taking a toll on our ability to keep up to speed with what's going on in each other's lives.

Like... for instance... shall we say... I've got a tattoo! yes, the king of swoon (not my fault) I get it from my Dad who once said, "why stick around? it might hurt..." wise words... Anyways, I've got a tat - and yes, I nearly passed out all the way through it...

But seriously, we thought setting something up like this would be good for as to keep in touch and give an idea about what we all look like, what our interests are, how we all tend to make noises and grunt when getting off the floor (age... what a bummer) and all that jazz, oh yeah.

So, as we kicked this off, I figured we get first shot to post the images of family living and I do hope this works - I'm not wholly convinced yet of the technology, so here goes (and by the way, did you check out the sporin in the guy in the top right corner?! wa -hey!)