Andrew:  When there is lighting, does that mean that God is mad?

After a little bit of discussion, the boys began to discuss other weather patterns and tried to relate them to God.

Ben:  If it is raining, God is crying . . . or maybe spilling water.

Andrew: . . . . or peeing?!?

After a quick chuckle, we explained . . . No, definitely not peeing.  By then it was too late . . . let the bodily functions begin . . .

Andrew:  Thunder means he’s burping . . .

Ben:  . . . or farting.

Ok, so our boys have learned bathroom humor . . . God, please forgive them.

Dad being Dad, decided to mess with Andrew.  Kicking back during a lazy afternoon, Dad sat next to Andrew while he was playing Lego Batman on his DS.  Dad picked up Ben’s DS and began to play.  Noticing that Andrew kept looking over at his screen, Dad started to jump in one place, claiming that he didn’t know how to get to the upper platform (ignoring the ladder right beside him).

After a couple of glances Andrew chimed in . . .

Andrew:  You have to use the ladder.

Dad:  ** Making Batman jump in one place against the wall **

Andrew:  The ladder . . .

Dad:  I am, it’s not working ** Against a wall decoration that wasn’t the ladder **

Andrew:  The ladder . . . right there . . . not that thing . . . right next to you!

Dad:  He can’t seem to get up there?!?

Andrew:  Just let me see . . .

He preceded to grab the DS away from this amateur gamer and successfully jumped onto the ladder and grabbed a blue lego to complete the necessary task to get to the next level.  Once complete he handed it back.

Andrew:  You see . . . there you go.

Dad:  Oh, okay . . . that ladder.

Not sure if you ever watched SNL with Jimmy Fallon as Nick Burns, the Computer Guy.  That is who Andrew reminded me of . . . . “MOVE!!!”

In the morning, Ben and Andrew were hanging out in their bedroom.  They were bored so decided to make a fort out of their blankets on the bunk bed.  Proud of their efforts, Andrew came in to tell Mom and Dad about it.  From a previous experience, Dad was a bit nervous about hearing this story since the last time an effort like this ended with almost everything on the floor and their room in a complete mess.

That in mind, Dad said . . . “You guys are going to have to pick all that up later!”

We then overheard Andrew go into the room and tell Ben . . . “Dad says . . .”  now he just didn’t repeat what Dad said but actually put a spin on it and lowered his voice to do his best impersonation . . . “YOU BOYS HAVE TO PICK ALL THAT UP SOON!”

Dad looked over at Mom to see if she heard what he heard.  She did . . . that was great way to start the day . . . a good laugh.  Thanks Andrew!

Ben:  Leslie, the FBI stopped by at our house!

Leslie:  Why did the FBI Stop by your house?

Ben:  Because dad wanted to order pizzas!

Okay, probably need to explain this one a little more.  Ben sometimes likes to dramatize his stories but this is a truthful story . . . kind of.

It was a cold, snowing evening at the Davis household when there was a loud knocking at the door.  The dogs aren’t used to visitors so they began to bark.  Ben, Andrew, and Jacob took a break from playing Star Wars Lego on the Wii to see who was stopping by.

Dad answered the door and invited the stranger in.  The stranger handed dad some paper work and as Dad was filling it out, the boys came in for a closer examination of the guest.  Looking at his hat, they asked:

Ben:  Are you the FBI?

Stranger:  *in a stern voice*  Why, yes I am.

Jacob:  I knew it, that’s what it says on your hat . . . FBI.

Andrew:  What are you doing here?

Stranger:  I arrest boys that are being bad, are you boys being bad?

BOYS:  NOOOOO!!!!

.

.

After the paper work was done . . .

Ben:  Dad, what were you doing with the FBI?

Dad:  Ordering pizzas.  (Of, course)

Okay, in actuality it was a boy from the Rochester Youth Hockey League that had an FBI hat.  He was going door to door in our neighborhood selling pizzas for fund-raising.  Several weeks later when he dropped off the pizzas, the boys recognized him and called him the “FBI guy”.  He was  a very friendly kid and was kind enough to entertain the boys and play along with the FBI story.

Hmm . . . I’m suddenly hungry for pizza . . . go figure.

Andrew is a big fan of using the big boy urinals (even if it means tip toeing to reach it as dad nervously watches on).  Even though he thinks of himself as a big boy for standing up, he gives everyone a reminder of how young he is by dropping his pants and drawers all the way down to his ankles, as all kids his age do.

While at the mall, Andrew gave dad that look of panic, so without exchanging words, we were headed toward the bathroom.  Ben didn’t need to go, so as we entered the bathroom, Ben found a place to sit near Andrew as he patiently waited.  At the time we were the only ones in the bathroom and dad was suffering though the normal “yeah you did, no I didn’t, yeah you did,  . . . ” conversations.  Suddenly, someone came walking in and the conversation stopped.  Andrew was still going at the urinal, and as the person walked past, Ben took both of his hands and made a mini wall to cover-up Andrew’s bottom from the person passing by.  Although no words were said, Ben’s eyes gave him the look of “Nothing to see here, keep it moving!”

Ben definitely takes on the responsibility to protect his brother.  Dad shared the story with Mom for a good chuckle.

Here is an example . . .

Mornings are very hectic in the Davis household.  Mom and Dad do our best to get the boys up and going, setting out their clothes, feeding the dogs, getting ready for work, etc . . .

As we are in middle of our routine, Mom walked in on Ben and Andrew . . . picture if you will Ben squatting in the middle of the floor with his pajama shirt over his knees . . . Andrew with bundled socks trying to stuff it under Ben’s pajama shirt . . . Mom walking in the middle of this process:

Mom:   What are you guys doing?

*Ben and Andrew looking up innocently*

Andrew:   Ben’s laying eggs.

Mom:  Okay then [walking away shaking her head]

. . . Never a dull moment.

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Andrew:  Dad what does that say?

Dad:  It says Andy.  That’s your name.  What do you want us to call you?  Andy?  Andrew?

Andrew:  *small pause* . . . Call me Nathan . . . *mischievous smile*

Andrew further explained that he had a kid in his class named Nathan and he liked his name.  The funny part is that when Andrew was born, Nathan was one of the names that made the top 3 choices.  I’m sure if we would have named him Nathan he would have asked us to call him Andy

Judy and I would have been happy to get one or two runs from Andrew.  To our surprise and enjoyment, both boys lasted the full 3 hours.  We took one of the cameras to take pictures and we were able to take a little bit of video too.

The boys really enjoy “Fireflies” by Owl City (BTW, a Minnesota group out of Owatonna) so I put together a video of snow tubing to that song:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LknBsiNNucs

Andrew has been our shy kid and we were unsure how he would do in front of a crowd.  We worked with him to get him excited about the program and did a countdown to the Christmas program with him at home.  He woke up very excited about going to his Christmas program.   He had to sing 3 songs and since we didn’t know how the songs went, we weren’t sure if Andrew knew them (he wouldn’t give us a private performance or sneak peek to his songs).

When the preschoolers were called to the stage, Andrew made his way to the steps and was actually the first one on stage for his class.  Holding his teacher’s hand, he marched to the middle of the stage.  The moment of truth arrived and Andrew did very well.  He knew the words to the song and preformed very well on stage.  He was strictly business on stage which we got a chuckle out of.  After his performance, he was very proud of his moments on stage and seemed to have enjoyed it.

We bought a new video camera for the event so that we could start posting videos on YouTube in HD.  Enjoy the highlights of his performance.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-1QBVGhFaw

Don’t forget to wash your hands.   Why?

Eat all of your veggies.  Why?

Stop hitting your brother.  Why?

You get the picture . . . after 1,000 why’s, our typical answer has become . . . ‘because I said so. ‘  You can probably tell where this is heading.

The other day we were watching a Tivo’d show when Andrew needed to use the bathroom.  Mom missed his official bathroom announcement so Andrew followed his initial request with more of a demand . . . ‘Mom, pause the TV’.  Not knowing the reason to pause, Mommy kindly asked . . . why?

Andrew stopped in his tracks looked at Mom and said . . . ‘because I said so!’ . . . and continued onto the bathroom.

After he was done, we explained that ‘because I said so’ doesn’t quite carry the same weight when they say it.  We are always amazed on how much kids notice and soak in.  We always enjoy seeing how their logic works.

Watch what you are saying . . . they are listening . . .