TIME WITH THE DAVIS DUDES

Our family got to spend a week with Devry and Michael during this pandemic season that's closed down their school. Most of these pictures aren't particularly wonderful, but the goal was to be able to send a batch to Shon each day so he could see what they were up to without driving the boys crazy by expecting them to actually pose for each picture. 

DAY 1

I snapped a picture with the Davis dudes right after they arrived so I could send it to Shon's mom, who's also a friend of ours. 

Silas let Devry spray paint some wood.

DAY 2

A super short puppet show for the boys, courtesy of Silas.

Devry and Naomi played chess.

We all posed for a group picture before we started streaming our church service.

Shon left and the little boys split off after the singing to watch a stream just for kids.

Devon, Tyler, Devry, and Michael all spent a couple hours burning sidewalk fires they started with a magnifying glass. Too much smoke? Not a problem if you don some swim goggles!

Tim and Devry played Pass the Pigs.

First of several dinners with all eight of us.

Smiles, both regular and silly, during the first of their nightly video chats with Shon.

 (Photo credit: Silas)

Michael fell asleep while I was reading a book to the little boys, so Tim carried him to bed.

Since I'd taken a picture of Michael sleeping, I went back in their room later to take one of Devry.

DAY 3

Starting the day with legos.

Devon and Michael played chess.

Later they built a fort together.

Michael sliced bananas for the food dehydrator.

The boys were impressed with the lego mailbox a few doors down from our home.

Drawing and creating while listening to me read Kildee House.

Tim had Michael help him make popcorn that Devry later claimed was the best he'd ever had.

DAY 4

Started the morning with Silas showing them a little puppet video he'd made with Michael the day before.

Our kids are on a monthly rotation of laundry duty. Naomi has the task in March, so she coached Devry and Michael each through doing one load of laundry from start to finish.

Devry, Michael, and Naomi played Monopoly: Cheater's Edition.

Tyler, Devry, Michael, and Devon drank smoothies and played Exploding Kittens.

Michael helped me remove all the banana slices from the dehydrator and get them put in jars.

Down time is probably the most important part of our day.

Michael was on a picture hunt with First Thousand Words.

Eric Carle is one of my favorite illustrators and Hello, Red Fox is a fun way of teaching about the color wheel.

Trying honey mulled cider for the first time.

He folded and stapled some paper to make a boat.

Silas and Michael went for a walk and got caught in a hailstorm, followed by a deluge of rain. It could have been disastrous, but Michael came back with a huge grin on his face after their little adventure.

(Photo credit: Silas)

We randomly discovered that a guy I was friends with in college, who then became Tim's friend when we started dating, then Tim's roommate, then one of Tim's groomsmen in our wedding, is Devry and Michael's music teacher (and also my step-sister's co-worker). So we took a "small world moment" picture to send to our friend.

Michael enjoyed some tablet time in his fort.

And then he got to sleep in his fort.

DAY 5

Drawing by the fire.

Playing with legos while watching one of the Discover & Do videos.

Playing Sequence, drinking cider, and drawing.

Cracking one of the whips Devon's made.

Michael helped me make flourless peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for our Wednesday night dessert.

Devry made a combination car, airplane, and gun with a rotating steering wheel.

Michael made himself comfortable while eating oranges at dinner.

Someone was tired and konked out on the living room floor while we all streamed Bible study.

Devry's a fan of our Wednesday night dessert tradition.

DAY 6

Michael and I made sweet green muffins for breakfast. He definitely likes to help prepare food!

Devon and Michael played Sorry!

More legos. Shocking, right?

Devry's quite the creator, always drawing or building something.

A game of hide-and-seek was underway and these guys couldn't find Devon. So they kicked things up a notch by putting on police officer and cowboy costumes to go looking for him.

Then it got even more serious as Tyler grew facial hair and Michael donned more professional apparel.

Their strategy worked, as evidenced by the fact they found Devon with 19 seconds left on the timer and put him under arrest.

Michael worked on some happy mail to send out.

The oldest and youngest kids in the house were both hard at work.

Time for a leftover cookie break and weird faces.

Devry took a turn creating some happy mail to send out.

Not content with the paper boat he stapled together earlier, Devry followed a tutorial for an origami one. Persevering through a confusing part in the directions, he mastered the process and eventually made several boats.

Name has been applied, so now it's ready to sail. Or at least be an official boat.

DAY 7

These boys started every morning by meeting in the living room and quietly hanging out until everyone else woke up.

Despite crazy and bored expressions in the picture, Devry and Michael were impressed with their first peanut butter making experience.

Teamwork on a project.

Devry served up black & red bean soup for everyone at dinner.

DAY 8

Time for sidewalk chalk.

Michael got on the phone to show his sister his missing and loose teeth.

Wrestling match between Michael and Devon.

A goodbye message from Naomi and Tyler on our front porch.

And then they were gone. (How did I not get a single picture of them on the trampoline? They spent hours and hours jumping!)

We're glad we could help Shon with childcare for a bit and enjoyed our time with the boys. They were polite, helpful, cooperative, and fun. It was a great week!

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