TK Circus performance

After our trip to the circus the TK class had their very own circus performance. Piper was an acrobat and she got to show all of her new tricks off. 

The splits... yes she can do them both directions and is very proud of this! 

 Stilts...

 and cartwheels..

Piper spends all of her free time doing cartwheels so she was ecstatic to get to perform!

The Circus

We headed to the Circus with Piper's TK class... really what that meant was we headed to the Circus with the Bryans! We have not gone as a family before so we were looking forward to it. We had amazing seats as it was a showing that is reserved for school groups. We were in the 10th row and had an up close and personal view of the whole experience. I am not a big fan of the Circus and clowns and all  the big top stuff, but it was a great experience and I am glad we all got to experience it. 

Someone was in awe of the tightrope

 What is a circus without elephants

 Lucy and Clark's eyes were so big for most of the show especially when the lions came out.

Piper turns 5!

Piper celebrated her birthday at the gymnastics studio that she takes classes at each week. Her loves at this point are cartwheels and playing with her hair (or anyones else's). When I asked her who she wanted to invite to her birthday party, her answer was Emerson (He is a 12 year old boy who she loves and he was so gracious to come to her party and love her well!), Aiden (10 year old boy), Noah (8 year old boy!) , Miss Anne and Mr. Derek. She loves the Rogers (as do we all). So before any planning could happen I needed to check that they all were free to come to her party. Once they were secure she added some other friends from school and church. And then when I told her that Papa and Yaya were coming she flipped her lid. I don't think she realized that we lived close enough for them to come. She was really excited and thrilled for her big day. 

 She also celebrated with a cookie bars at school.

Clark and Lucy saved up and bought her a fish for her birthday. I am not sure who is more excited Piper or Lucy and Clark.

 Piper picked Brixx for dinner and when we were getting ready for dinner she asked if Emerson could come too...(she has a little crush on him), so even better than just Emerson we got all the Rogers for dinner and cake!

Piper is such a delight. She is really funny and outgoing and loves life. She can be shy at times but loves people. She is so girly and loves all things girly as well as bugs and lizards. She loves to cook with me and really just be with people. She is growing a lot in her faith and is developing a heart for prayer. She keeps us laughing and we are so blessed by who she is. Piper we love you.

Happy Birthday Piper!

new do

isn't she beautiful! 

First Dinner

Our first home cooked meal at our house was shared with the Minks and the Krugers. Followed by a family soccer match on the field. We only had one injury... and Mike is still whining about it. The match was a tie and a promise of a rematch.

Lord of the Flies

This is what most afternoons at our house look like. Lots of kids running around and lots of craziness.

Library

One of the day-to-day things about living in the US that I was most excited about was getting to use the library. We all got cards right away and proceeded to check out 49 books on the first go. The library was a place of great memories as a kid and I love that they are enjoying it as well. They have been reading up a storm and so have I. 

They feel like such grown-ups checking out their own books.  We have met and talked to all the librarians in the children department.

First Day at Covenant Day School

Lucy and Clark's first day at CDS. (Piper is starting at the British American School next week.) Wednesday is chapel so they have a special Chapel uniform that they must wear. They are excited and nervous. On a side note this is the school where Phil taught middle school for two years. 

And then after school we spontaneously decided to head to the Duke game downtown! it was so fun!!! 

Lunch with the Shoemakes

A Christmas tradition is to have Christmas with the Shoemakes and this year was no different. We had a lovely lunch with Padgett and Mr. and Mrs. Shoemake.  It is always fun to be with people you have so much history with, and the Davises and Shoemakes have been best friends for almost 40 years. It is a sweet relationship that we are so grateful for. Padgett is super talented and made the most amazing gifts for our family. Home-made Memory the game, out of tiles with our family's pictures on them, little art packs to go for each child and a huge bucket full of more amazing custom games. LOVE. Sad I didn't get more pictures of the day. This is the amazing Padgett!

Christmas Morning!

A bit bleary eyed but excited!

 Excited for presents!

 He got a soda stream - I think he was more excited then anyone else

The day was so lazy and fun. Opening presents and being with Papa and Yaya was such a blessing. We just loved being together celebrating Jesus' birth.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with the Yeatts, Phil's Mom's side of the family. Lots of little people running around and lots of conversations happening and lots of Christmas chaos! We went to River Road Baptist Church where the kids bring up wrapped canned goods for families in need. And then it was off to get ready for Christmas day! 

 They are ready for Christmas!!!

 Love this picture!

love this girl

pipers first day

Piper spent one day at the British American School and we LOVED it. It is an amazing school and reminds us our beloved school Riverside in Prague, but everyone was almost too friendly! Everyone in Piper's class was reaching out to us and so welcoming and inviting but with us only being here for one semester we realized that first day that this wasn't going to be doable. We already have this community 

at Covenant Day School that we are trying to reconnect with and we thought before we came that this would be so much fun to meet new people - and then we realized that Piper was going to suffer because we were naturally going to gravitate to those we already knew. We also realized that we could make the double drop offs and pick ups but it was going to be very tight. So on day two we moved her to Covenant Day School. She is really happy and has met lots of friends and loves that she goes to the same school as the big kids. 

Charlotte!

 We have made it to Charlotte where we are going to be based out of for the rest of our stay in the States. We are so excited to be here. This is the house we lovingly refer to as The Cottage. It is on 3 acres of land - it has a pond, a huge bamboo forest, a fire pit, a rope swing and provides a house of exploring and imagination building. The cottage is so cozy - it has plenty of room but isn't too big. Uptown has completely furnished this house for us and it was amazing as the furniture was coming in - some donated, some loaned, but all with God's hand stamp and that it all matched! The location is great - it is close to the kids' school and close to lots of friends. I asked some friends to pray for our house in Charlotte as we were getting close to move date and had nothing. I asked them to pray for a place close to friends that was cozy and warm, a place that would be a real refuge for our family. And the Cottage has been just that.

Davis Christmas

The best words to describe Christmas with the Davises are: fun, loud, paper throwing, ooh ahhh ooooh, family, conversation, bowling, Bills BBQ (R.I.P.), games, Grandma, laughter and delight!