Crazy mascots, gradulation and the boys of summer

It has been almost six months since my last post. And since there has been non-stop clamoring from all of my cyber-fans for an update to this blog, I am now going to give you what you have been waiting for. (Actually, no one has asked for an update at all and I assume that means no one actually reads this blog but I will update it anyway because by doing this I am getting out of helping to clean the house.) So ... what you ask has been happening to us for the past six months? Lots. Here are the major highlights ... we celebrated Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, birthdays and numerous other holidays I may be forgetting. Our house was struck by lightning and the tax man cameth. I coached my second season of 4 to 6 year old soccer. However, with the dawn of spring/summer comes Davis' favorite pass time .... baseball!

For Memorial Day weekend we took in a Nationals game. The game was on a Sunday and Davis had a very big day. First, it was autograph Sunday and he was able to get an autograph from one of the Nationals pitchers Jason Bergmann. Thanks Jason for the autograph. (I assume he reads this blog and if he doesn't ... well he should be reading it.)

After getting the autograph the three of us were wandering aimlessly around the baseball park and we were stopped by members of the Nat Pack. They wanted Davis to participate in some of the pre-game festivities. Namely, he starred in a game show that was broadcast on the scoreboard and all over the park. The object ... he had to watch Teddy Roosevelt, Screech and the Oriole bird exchange backpacks and then Davis had to point to the mascot that was holding the backpack with the ball. Simple enough.

Ok ... so here is Davis with the previously mentioned backpack wielding mascots. From left to right is Screech, Teddy Roosevelt (who really had a head that large) and the Oriole bird. Screech started off with the ball and placed it in his backpack. The mascots then moved around trading backpacks for a period of time. When they stopped the host asked Davis who had the backpack with the ball. Davis confidently yelled out "the Oriole bird" and .... he was right. As a prize, Davis won a baseball glove and the fame of having his image placed on the Nationals scoreboard. Here is Davis looking over his loot:

After all of that excitement, there was still a game to watch. I am happy to report that the Nationals did beat the Baltimore Orioles. That was very exciting for us because the Nationals had only won 13 games up to that point. So in many ways ... actually seeing the Nationals win is kinda like winning the lottery. (Sorry Jason but it is the truth.)

After the game, Davis along with 3 million other children got to run the bases. This was very exciting for Davis. Here he is heading for home:

The next exciting thing on our agenda was Davis' graduation from pre-school. Davis called it his "gradulation" and although there were no caps and gowns there was plenty of pre-K singing. I thought I would include one of the selections on the blog and amazingly enough I was able to keep it related to our overall theme. Crazy.

I also thought I would include the next photo for a couple of reasons. First, it shows Davis with his two very good pre-K friends Marshall and Jake. Second, it also is very likely an early preview of a police line up photo. Sigh.

We are nearing the end of Davis' second t-ball season. This year, Davis has been mainly playing first base. Davis loves playing ball and takes it very seriously. This past Saturday Davis and his fellow Cubs took on the Nationals. For clarification they didn't play the real Nationals they played the Grottoes Little League Nationals. Had they played the actual Nationals Davis and his team would have scored a lot more runs. (I am kidding Jason.)

Here is Davis receiving some coaching during Saturday's game.

Here is Davis taking a big swing during the game. I am pleased to announce that Davis went 3 for 3 during the game and did not have to use the tee at all.

I am also going to include a video of one of Davis' at bats. Forgive the quality of the video. It was taken on my camera and the game was at 9:30 in the morning so I was loaded up on coffee.

So there you have it. The boys of summer are at again. Hopefully, I'll do another update in the near future (meaning maybe before 2010). Until then hope everyone and is doing well and we are looking forward to seeing many of you soon! May the Force be with you!

Love,

Chris, Lauri and Davis

Jolly Ol' St. Nick, Singing Reindeer and Dancing Elves

Merry Christmas from Virginia! Its been a busy time getting ready for the holidays. There has been shopping to do, parties to attend and merriment to soak up. On December 6th we celebrated St. Nick Day. For those of you know what that is, I had never heard of it until I met Lauri. Her family celebrated it when she was kid. The basic concept is this ... on the night of December 5th you hang out your stockings. If you have been good, St. Nick (aka Santa) comes and fills your stockings with toys and candy. I guess this is a way for Santa to get a head start on Christmas.

So ... what would St. Nick bring Davis? Why Star Wars of course! Nothing says Merry Christmas like the Emperor!

In fact, Davis was apparently such a good boy that St. Nick could not fit everything in his stocking.

Within seconds the presents had been opened and all that was left was a wasteland of tissue paper. (For some reason, St. Nick only wraps things in tissue paper.)

Davis also had his Christmas program at school. There was plenty of food and carol singing for everyone.

You can tell how much fun the kids were having. One of the nice things about having kids is that you can dress them as silly as you want and there is nothing they can do about it.

Finally, Davis realized that the photos were being taken and that this moment would live on forever.

Ok ... now for the piece de resistance. A first for this blog. It may fail miserably. Or it could be the greatest event in blogging history. Here is an actual video sample of singing reindeer. (Insert drum roll)

Finally, if there is one thing we all like to see during the Christmas season its dancing elves! So from our family to yours and without further adieu ... may we present the dancing elves.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you enjoyed this latest installment. I will try to do another update after Santa visits us for the second time. Until then ... May the Force be with you!!

Love,

Chris, Lauri and Davis

Soggy dressing, stuffed turkeys and pre-K pudding

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! This year Lauri, Davis and I spent Thanksgiving together and we had no visitors. It was a little sad not having any other family to share the holiday with but we still made a giant meal which took all day, then stuffed ourselves and then sat moaning in agony until it was time for bed. Well ... I did all of those things anyway.

I also made Ray Ray's famous dressing recipe. Word to the wise ... if Ray Ray ever gives you a written recipe to follow ... ignore it! I diligently followed the recipe and mine was more like dressing soup. I later learned that although the written recipe calls for 4 to 5 cans of chicken broth ... you should really only use about 3. Hmmmm.

Speaking of recipes, Davis created his own Thanksgiving dessert recipe. Last weekend, I was telling Davis about the cake that I had ordered for Thanksgiving dinner. He said, "that sounds good daddy but do you know what would be really good?" He then spouted out the following dessert recipe. So we made that also. What follows is an illustrated version of Davis' Thanksgiving dessert recipe ...

Step 1:

Charge your camera battery.

Step 2:

Make vanilla pudding. Davis and I made vanilla pudding the night before Thanksgiving so that we could save some time. I was going to take a picture of Davis making the pudding but my camera battery had died. That is the reason for Step 1.

Step 3:

Take some milk chocolate chips and crush the bejesus out of them with a metal hammer.

Step 4:

After you have crushed the chocolate chips, raise your hammer in victory and taunt the crushed chips mercilessly. (Please note that this step is optional)

Step 5:

Pour the sad and defeated crushed chocolate chips into the vanilla pudding.

Step 6:

Stir like you have never stirred before.

Step 7:

Place pudding mixture on a lovely holiday plate. But do not eat yet ... there are still 15 more steps!

Step 8:

Add chocolate sauce.

Step 9:

Top with whipped cream and a cherry!

The finished product should look something like this ...

Step 10:

Enjoy!

Well there you have it ... pudding a la Davis. Hope you enjoy it. We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Hey ... I just wrote an entire post without one mention of Star Wars (except for this reference)!

May the force be with you! (and this reference)

Love,

Chris, Lauri and Davis

Halloween, Birthdays, Soccer and the Dark Side of the Force

Ok ... here goes my first attempt at a blog posting. I will try to be as witty and insightful as my sister Emily is on her blog; however, I make no guarantees. This is always a busy time of the year for the Virginia Sigler's. We have Halloween and Davis' birthday all within a short amount of time.

First, Halloween. For those of you who don't know ... Davis loves Star Wars. A while back we were at a restaurant and a waiter saw some of Davis' Star Wars toys and said, "You can never have enough Star Wars!" Well, you can actually.

So anyway, Davis decided to be one of his favorite Star Wars characters for Halloween ...

Sorry ... that is actually the wrong photo. You can see how easy they are to confuse. Here is his actual costume.

Pretty scary. As we walked up and down the streets of the neighborhood using the Force to secure vast amounts of candy, I held a small electronic doohicky in my hand that, when I pressed the appropriate button on said doohicky, made a Darth Vader breathing noise. It was like the real Darth Vader had been shrunk in a hot dryer.

As with every Halloween; however, there was bound to be a duplicate costume. Davis and his friend Jake really need to call and coordinate with each other ...

As you can see, Halloween was a huge success. The next thing on the agenda was Davis' birthday. You are probably wondering at this point what Davis would possibly want for his birthday. [Sigh] That's right more Star Wars ...

And what is a birthday party without the obligatory Clone Trooper crashing the party ...

Davis had his birthday party at a place called Pump It Up. It has lots of giant inflatable slides and obstacle courses and the kids can run around and jump until they go crazy. Then we fill the full of sugary drinks and birthday cake and send them back to their parents. It was great fun.

Here is a photo of the happy group ... it looks one may not have survived all the mirth and merriment ...

After the cake, juice and other snacks, it was time for more presents. Guess what .... more Star Wars!!!!!

What kid wouldn't love wearing a crown and sitting on a giant inflatable crown while being presented with a seemingly endless stream of birthday presents. It was crazy fun!

So Davis had a great birthday. He was able to see Grandma from Wisconsin and RayRay and Pepaw also. He was so glad that they could all make the trip for his birthday.

Finally, this fall also saw my coaching debut. I know that when you think of me you immediately ask yourself why I am not coaching something. It seems that soccer was my calling. I coached the Panthers which was a team of 4 to 6 year old soccer stars. Davis was on my team as well as other great kids. While it is true that some of us cried when goals were scored against us and that some of us kicked the ball the wrong way ... we had a great time playing and I look forward to coaching the Panthers again in the Spring. By the way, next season we will be taking no prisoners! Here is look at Coach Chris reviewing his troops ...

Well ... that's all for now. It has taken me like nine hours to do this so I am going to call it quits. If I am showered with compliments and "attaboys" I will post again.

May the Force be with you!

Chris, Lauri and Davis

P.S. Adelaide ... Davis says happy birthday right back at you!