Davis is FOUR!

Look how old Davis is!

For his birthday party, we invited his friends from our preschool group and his Sunbeam class. Having seven four-year-olds at your house is an adventure!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the Thomas cake:

 This was the crew that came:

Yesterday, we had a smaller party with just our family and Grandma and Grandpa and Great-Grandma and Grandpa. It was definitely a success.

I didn't get a picture, but after opening presents, Davis put on his new snow boots and new gloves and worked with his new tools. He was very happy doing his "Davis-land" things.

Things I want to remember about Davis turning four:

• He LOVES his little sister and is (usually) the best brother for her. They like to sing and dance together, watch movies together, and mostly play together. He can seriously get Reagan to do things that I can't even get her to do sometimes.
• He is NOT motivated by food. Ever. There are so many better things to do with his time than to eat.
• He LOVES doing crafts with me, and loves to break out the crayons and draw.
• He also loves anything to do with trains. Last night, he mentioned something about couplings while opening a present. Great-grandma was impressed, but I explained that if you watch shows and play with trains CONSTANTLY, it's part of your lingo.
• He can't wear his socks for any longer than just in the morning. If they are still on right before his quiet time, they come right off for the rest of the day.
• He is very rigid about his rules of daily life. He ears basically the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. He is pretty particular about where things go sometimes.
• He loves to help me or his dad do anything. He also loves to feel like he is fixing things around the house, and loves opportunities to use his tools to do so. He like to feel helpful and big.

Oh, how we love this boy!! He has let me know that he is done growing, which I always hope is really the case!

Becoming a citizen

In the United States, becoming a citizen is a BIG DEAL! My good friend immigrated from Mexico, and after a long time here, a U.S.-born husband and two kids, she was FINALLY able to become a citizen! She went to Boise with her family for her final test, and found out that she PASSED and that the next ceremony was in exactly a week! Unfortunately, her husband could not take the trip to Boise with her again so soon. At first, she thought that she would just go up by herself and was trying to figure out who would watch her kids. I told her that she needed me to come so I could take her picture and give her hugs (and watch her kids). So, Marcela and I packed up four kids in my van and drove to Boise! When we got there, we checked into our hotel, and went foraging for food. Originally, we were going to take the kids to a movie, but they were having way to much fun at Chick-fil-a, as you can tell by the socks strewn all over. So, no movie. Ah, well.

That night was an adventure. Our boys slept together in Davis's sleeping bag. The girls wanted to sleep together (mostly Bri. Reagan had no idea what was going on) but that didn't work out. Reagan ended up switching between her sleeping bag and bed with me a bunch of times before finally falling asleep, and then throughout the night as well.

The next morning was the big ceremony. We got there, and there was no sitting room available any more. Fortunately, we were told that there were toys at the back of the room, so we basically hung out there during the ceremony.

It was a very cool experience. There were 34 people from 15 different countries, and the whole room said the Pledge of Allegiance together, which was fairly moving regarding the circumstances. A role call of countries was called out, and there were people from Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand, Argentina Brazil, the UK, and many other countries as well. Then all of the new citizens stood and repeated the oath of allegiance together.

After the oath was repeated, everyone received documentation that they were now citizens of the United States. Then, a video was played with the president welcoming everyone into the country, and then another video with a moving rendition of "America the Beautiful." After that, many pictures and hugs were taken and given.

This one is a representation of our craziness:

Anyway, it was an awesome experience and I'm so glad that I was able to go with Marcela. Afterwards, we celebrated the experience and her birthday at Tucano's. I have to admit that my eyes did leak a little bit. Somehow, I did not expect to get emotional about it, but it was a really cool experience that I will never forget!