sunny's birthday!

Clark and I had the privilege of celebrating Sunny on her special day! We took her out to one of our fave spots in town - Cafe Calma - for breakfast. Sunny is a dear friend to all of us Davises and Clark actually has declared because he likes her so much, that she is only his friend! Clark we are all gonna fight you on that one. Sunny you are the best we love you!

Potty Training

Clark has crossed over the threshold of true manhood, he is potty trained! Phil spent the day with him, talking over the basics of body functions, filling him with salty crackers and water and waiting for things to happen. He is getting the hang of it and is even excited to announce to us that he has to go potty and he can do it himself! He's also asked about his cool "pocket" on the front of his underwear (not "panties").

soccer mom

Help...I have become a soccer mom! Not that my children are playing soccer, but the after school car pooling has started! I know Lucy is only 4 1/2 but her extra-circular activities have already started!!! Really, I am so delighted to be in a place where I am at home and can take her to fun after school activities. I am also really grateful that Prague has fun after school activities, we were not sure when we first moved here what would be available, but we have actually found a plethora of choices. Before we narrowed it down some choices we found were football, swimming, horse riding lessons, violin and ballet. At the start of school Lucy informed us that she wanted to do them all (Lord help us) but after some persuading we were able to convince her that we could probably only manage two this semester. So she chose ballet and much to my delight Swimming! She has started both and is loving them.

She goes to ballet once a week and loves dressing in her tutu and spinning with her other girlfriends from school.

Since Lucy was able to master swimming by herself this summer she was able to join the local swim team, the Riverside Sharks (http://www.riversidesharks.com/). She has practice once a week and is literally giddy once she has her blue swim cap and bathing suit on.

Wagon Rides

The fall is comming to a close, (I know it is only the end of September but in Prague it starts to get cold and wintry early) and the winter is starting to settle in but here is a small glimpse into how we spent most of our wonderful fall afternoons... Wagon Rides! We stroll around our neighborhood, pick up a few items from the potraviny (small corner store grocery), visit the park, and see friends. Wagons are not a regular occurrence here, so we are making a name for ourselves in the hood!

Warning: Economics Nerd Alert

Everyone here has been moaning over the fact that the US dollar dropped in value below 20 Czech crowns for the first time. All across Europe the dollar's value has been steadily weakening for several years. It has affected us slightly, as we've begun to see a few ways that our money isn't going as far as it used to when we first arrived (and the value was around 25 crowns to the dollar).

But for many of our friends who have been here a lot longer than us, they have really felt the pinch - it was only 2001 when the exchange rate was 40 crowns to the dollar! Basically the dollar now only gets you half of what it used to 6 years ago! The word on the street is that this trend will only continue, especially as the Czech Republic solidifies its place in the E.U. Moan!

Correction: It's a....

GIRL!!! That's right, little Baby Davis is in fact, a she. You may remember that the doctor told us that we were having a boy (with 95% certainty). So Shanna went in for her check-up today, and told the doctor that she's had several dreams that the baby is a girl, not a boy. Shanna's intuition is remarkably accurate in these matters, so she asked the doctor to make sure it was a boy. After a loooong pause, the doctor informed her that her dreams seemed to be right.

The doctor profusely apologized to Shanna, but I think Shanna is more relieved that she has once again been proven correct (in conjunction with that oh-so-scientific Chinese ovulation calendar - I'm not kidding - it's now 3 for 3 with our kids).

We told Lucy and Clark, hoping that they wouldn't be MORE confused by our news. Lucy immediately beamed a huge smile, while Clark stated "I wanted a boy baby," before he ran off to go jump off a chair or something.

We're still a little shocked but equally as excited as when we thought it was a boy. This is the first time we've (tried) to find out if it's a boy or a girl - I thought this was supposed to make things easier!

Ministry Update

Our fall has gotten off to a good start, with two new women's Bible studies, and guys' fellowship nights each week. Shanna and Dot are co-leading the women's groups, which are both reading the book "Strong Women, Soft Hearts." Interesting title, if you ask me - makes me imagine a new slogan for Christian women around the world: "I am Christian woman, hear me roar!" Anyway, they're all excited about it and their kick-off studies went well this week.

The guys, meanwhile, have been getting together once a week for fellowship time - last week was "Bourne Ultimatum," this week was a concert for Ondra's ska band Afrodisiak. It was a great concert and a good group of (strong) men, some of whom are new to Prague. I'm already looking forward to next week's time together.

Sequence Addicts

Lucy and Clark have been completely addicted to games lately. Our morning routine (lately around 6:00 am - sigh) is for Clark to come into our room and whisper, "Daddy, it get-up time?" immediately followed by "Daddy, you play a game with me?"Enter Sequence. We play this game at least 5 times a day, and it's actually pretty fun. Notice the tattered box. There are 21 different animal characters, each with their own name. We know them all like they're our good friends. Clark and Lucy have also become more competitive - I've taught Clark the fine art of taunting the girls when we play partners, a skill passed down to me from my dad, the king of taunting.

Our green house

We live in a villa that is comprised of 3 separate flats. As you can see, it's covered with some sort of beautiful ivy, and Lucy drew a decent picture of it the other day.

always a party

my have they grown

When we first moved to prague, Lucy, Clark and Owen all fit in the garden with room to spare for other friends to join in... now as you can tell they are growing like weeds. They may be graduating out so baby davis can have a place of his own!

Slug Hunt

Lucy and Clark enjoy checking out the slugs each morning in our garden, especially while wearing pajamas...and galoshes

The Other First Day

After missing Clark's first day of school 2 weeks ago, we made extra-sure that we knew when Lucy started. Friday was her orientation, which basically meant she got to see her classroom and say hi to her friends. (4-year-olds reconnect after summer vacation by saying, "Wanna play?")

The Ultimate Combo

Along with school starting up comes PARTIES! Birthday parties have already started for Lucy and Clark's friends. The first one was Saturday, for Lucy's friend Vivi. It featured 2 of Lucy's favorite things - swimming and princesses. We started in a nearby indoor pool, where Lucy got to show off her finely tuned jumping skills to her girlfriends. After that the girls put on their princess outfits (Lucy's sporting her new mermaid dress) and had pizza and cupcakes. Clark and the other little brothers had a great time running around too.

I'm official

I am now officially a member of the Slow Spokes club - you may remember that I recently purchased a (very) used bike, inappropriately named Easy Time. My friend Michael from Charlotte just sent a package including Oreos and my very own Slow Spokes t-shirt. I will wear it proudly as I struggle to shift gears along the bumpy cobblestones. Thanks, Michael!

Team B-days

August is a good month for our team, party-wise. We celebrated 3 birthdays - Joanna, Chris, and Laura - all with appropriate festivities (i.e. much food). Joanna's sister came for a week and joined us for all-you-can-eat pizza.

And Shanna and Lucy took Laura out for a girls breakfast...

Chris just likes to chill out, so no pictures for him.