Big Ben turns Three!

It was a busy week here in the 'Ville. I spent the week in Michigan and had the opportunity to connect with Mom and Dad in Grand Rapids. We were able to take in a bit of history as we visited the final resting place of President Ford along with a brief tour of his presidential library. We also took in a bit of family history as we visited Pop's childhood homes and hangouts in GR. Toss in lunch and dinner just a couple of hours apart and you have the final ingredients for a wonderful visit. Amy spent the week entertaining her sister Kristin and her 3 kids while Nic was also away in Japan. Lots of backyard fun and time with the cousins! Which brings us to today. The BIG day for Ben who turns three. Wow! When anyone said "Happy Birthday Ben" he replied "Happy Birthday - insert name of person saying Happy Birthday" In spite of being a little fuzzy on the concept he was very happy all day and enjoyed himself immensely. Now if we could only get him to let someone cut his hair...

Much love from Louisville!

Scott, Amy and the Kids

dry knicks

I'm being reminded that I started a conversation a wee bit ago (there's a hint... a WEE bit ago... get it?... 'wee'... humph har har..) about Jesame and potty training but have yet to close the topic. Starting off wasn't so easy and we had about 4 days of wet pants, accidents and lots of washing to do, but after that... no real problems - and that was weeks ago. Jesame just picked it up and is now happily asking to go for a wee and that she's done 'poos on the big toilet' - what a star. Of course it's very difficult keeping up the excitement about wees and poos, but we found the strength from somewhere... So, the great stuff is, we've been able to ditch nappies 100% during the day (well, I get a bit crazy and don't put a nappy on her whilst she naps... I know... living life on the edge... I'm a bit of an adrenaline junky..) and she does tend to be dry when she wakes up. What a big girl she is - and i say that in the nicest way. WE are very proud parents to have a 2 year old who likes to boast about doing poos in the big toilet... that's nice. bye for now from all of us...

Tis the Birthday season

When it rains... We survived! Oh boy, I am getting old... but we did survive and survived in style as Jesame's fantastic Teddy Bear's picnic garden party at ours - complete with 11 or 12 (i lost count) of Jesame's nearest and dearest - joined us to celebrate the big 2. It's really weird to think that we've got a 2 year old - and a 2 year old who is so wonderful and loving.

Jesame was magic... she constantly made us really proud soppy parents just by being herself - which is a lovely cuddly, sharing pretty girl who says the cutest things. Seriously, every time we looked around, she was having a lovely time with her friends, eating 'like a big girl' on the blanket and, in general, just being GORGEOUS!

At the end of the blog, I'll putting a link in which will give the whole feeling of how great the day was (sunshine held for us, garden came together very nicely and the bouncy castle - that's a moon walk to you Americans - and gazebo combo worked a charm). There will be a number of folk there who you won't know, but that's ok, they won't mind.

We'd also like to wish those Louisville girls happy birthdays - when I said when it rains... March/April/May time is mega birthday season: Mom, Dad (although I keep thinking Dad's Birthday is 24th April - guess I'm combining Mom and Dad... they are one person, aren't they?) Back to business!... Hope, Abby, Sarah (esp Sarah as Jes and Sarah do share their special day with each other). We certainly do think about you on your special days and it's so great to see how you are all growing up into lovely young ladies and gentlemen. Big hugs and kisses all around!

As promised, here is a link to the Jesame Birthday party:
just click on slideshow for the presentation
Around the Birthday

Here's another fun link which features the rest of us non-birthday types:
More Recent

Sara celebrates birthday number twelve!

The Louisville Davidson household has been a buzz of activity this week. Anna, Abby and Elsa stole the show at the Louisville Ballet School Spring Showcase! It was amazing to see all of their hard work in class come together in such a wonderful performance. And here at the end of the week we had much more to celebrate! Our baby Sara turned 12 today, and at Sara's request the party was quite low key. We had dinner at her favorite restaurant - Longhorn - where you can still throw peanuts on the floor. We then had a late evening party with ice cream cake and presents. As we made short work of the cake everyone was thinking of their cousin Jesame who shares this special birthday with Sara. I expect there was cake and ice cream on the menu at more than one Davidson home today.

We also received some additional good news this morning. For those that have not heard we are expecting #8 at the end of October. We had our first ultrasound today and everything was just perfect! We also found out that we will be bringing home another baby girl. It truly was an amazing day!

We are off to get ready for Hope's performance tomorrow, and will look forward to seeing the birthday news from the gang in England.

Ciao for now - Scott, Amy and the Kids

Abby turns the big 1-0!

The weather is heating up here in Louisville which normally means we are in the middle of birthday season. Unfortunately the Queen could not delay her return to England for a few days after the Derby to join Abby's birthday celebration, but it was festive none the less. Today only marked the beginning of the festivities which are scheduled to last through the weekend. We are also gearing up for the big Spring Showcase at the Louisville Ballet School. Abby, Anna and Elsa will be performing next Tuesday, and Hope has her performance the following Saturday. We may tempt fate and try to post some video from the event at some point. Well I am off to eat cupcakes! Much love from Louisville!

So sorry to hear

So very sorry to hear about the charming and lovely Rathbone - he was such a lovely cat... so willing to be picked up, rolled over and stare at you with a contented glow. He was such a part of your family and I'm sure you're missing him like crazy. It's great to see pics of him - just like I remember him. RIP buddy! Take care of each other and lots of hugs!

RIP, our lovely Rathbone

As many of you know, our wonderful kitty Rathbone has not been well these past few weeks. On Saturday we had to make the terribly sad but necessary decision to let him go.

He was the loveliest friend and companion to all of us for 11 years. We will miss him so very much.

we can post video!

Just a word of explanation here... first off, this is a very funny video which is suitable for all ages (no naughty words... and it makes excercise look fun!). At some point, we're gonna do the YouTube thing and post embedded links to video of us over here... yes mom and dad, it is possible...seems that technology can help even further - unfortunately, our sony handycam is not compatible with macs - so we're gonna have to work around that barrier (not to worry Scott, i know you'rent a techie-geek-head -that's what IT support is for... - so I won't be asking if you can fix it).

Enjoy the vid - we've seen it a couple hundred times and it still makes us laugh!

Comments, comments!

Hello Davidsons All,

Just a quick note about blogging for any novices out there; if you want to simply reply to a particular post rather than starting a whole new post it's possible to add a comment which won't be visible on the front page, but can be accessed by clicking on the 'comments' hyperlink. To add a comment scroll to the bottom of the post where you'll find the date of the post and the number of comments that have been added (if any). If you click here it'll open up a new field for you. It's a good way of getting a dialogue going - or perhaps if there are many participants a conversation!

Love to all,
Dawn

Mom and Ross! Wa hey!

So great to see that Mom and Ross (well, Mom anyways) have broken the tech barrier and are now part of this! I've also had a groovey email from Uncle Tom to say that they have received the details of Haggis (i think Haggis will be the name of my next dog.. whatch you think?...hmmm...); oh, sorry, back to reality... Davidsons on the East Coast are now in possession of the blog details and shall, hopefully, be posting fun bits and bobs - and not just pics of animals... it's been a while Jon Adam and Liz, not sure I could pick you guys out in a line-up.

So, I can't just talk the talk, let's have a look about piccies that I've got of just me and Dawn... ok, not so easy.... oo.... wait, I remember where there's a couple... the first is us in malta (pre-kids...don't we look soo young) and the second is a mad one in Chelmford with Jes - it's hard finding pics of just us!)

The MI Davidsons are in (I think)

I hope this works! I need some of you high tech kids to help me join the Davidson Blog!
Sara, don't you wish you have a wolf like I do? This wolf and I attended one of the Chamber's After Hours. (a business net working event).
Dad and I have been racing through our days, trying to get everything in order before we leave our jobs. (We don't want anyone to "talk bad about us" when we're out of our offices!)
Retiring is rather scary. Right now my days are filled with many meaningful activities and lots of contact with interesting people. On the other hand, I have very little discretionary time. I long to spend more time with all of you!!
Lots of love, Mom (Grandma/Carol)