8.18.2008

Carpool Conversations

This is our 4th week of school. Grace and Will are the only kids in the carpool NOT on D track so I've been sister chauffeur for the last 3 weeks. To and from everyday. And I've loved it. Ten minutes there and 10 minutes back has really been my favorite part of the day. We practice spelling and vocab, discuss the lunch possibilities, do last spit check on faces, kisses and they are out of the car.

One of my favorite parts comes AFTER I drop them off. I am in the church parking lot right next to the school so I sit and watch for a few minutes. Grace turns and waves ONCE everyday, and then she is off and RUNNING. She has a weird thing about being late. I don't know where she gets it:). Will is the softy. When we moved to St. George 4 1/2 years ago I had to drive Will everyday for a month until our house was finished. My little shrimpy 1st grader would hop out of the car and start the treck to his classroom clear on the other side of the school. He would take 5 steps, turn, look for me, WAVE WAVE WAVE, turn around take 5 steps, WAVE WAVE WAVE WAVE...and so on and so forth until he'd give me one final wave as he turned the corner and left my line of vision. I ate it up everyday. Fast forward to 5th grade. Another new school. Mom is driving. I get my waves. Will is a bit more socially conscious of course, as any 10 year old is. He turns, looks for me and gives a little inconspicuous wave. He'll do it twice before he gets close enough for his buddies to see him, then he runs and drops his backpack to play basketball with his friends and forgets all about mom. It still melts me. It still makes my day 4 years later.


Driving home is great too. Ten minutes of my undivided attention. I bring snacks and settle in and let them go. Lunch report, recess report, you know, the news of the day. A few days ago Will started talking about finding a gold brick. A HUGE brick and every little crumb would be worth a MILLION dollars. These are just a few of the things he would buy:


A new skateboard

A mini fridge for his room

Target...the whole company

A chinese woman to feed him ding-dongs

The house being built next door for his SG buddies to live in

Stuff for Grace

A cool car

A chinese lady to be his nanny, which he quickly amended (thanks to Grace and I mocking him mercilessly) to a chinese lady that would be his bodyguard and perform kung fu on his attackers. He wants an entourage of bodyguards. Cuz he'll certainly need them with all of the fame and fortune coming his way.
The next day he told me he missed ONE question on the test we'd been studying for. When asked who the governor of his state was, he put BILL GATES. nice:)
this is the OLD remote gas powered remote control that Jeff and Will have been building jumps for. They want the new and improved model, which I'm sure will make it's way into Jeff's car some way or another before you know it. Notice Grace's BORED TO DEATH pose in the back. Love it. Below is Will posing in his new helmet. That's carmel, not snot on his shnoz. I swear.
In other news, the village idiot showed up to teach the Laurels yesterday. It was awful. The 1st counselor in the bishopric stopped in and I ATE DIRT for the rest of the lesson. HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE does not begin to describe my bumbling idiocy. nice.
I'm gonna try a new method this week. I will not open the manual till Friday. Instead I will read Breaking Dawn cover to cover. Sounds like a plan to me. Can't get any worse than the train wreck that was last week.
Luckily we had nice new friends invite us over for dinner last night. THANKYOU!!! The company was SUPER and the burgers WERE gourmet:)
have a good week ya'll.

20 comments:

Kristin said...

CUTE kids. I miss you all deeply. YOU. Libster. William. My gorgeous daughter-in-law Grace. Even Jeffery. I doubt your lesson was that bad.... but breaking dawn will help. I am seriously tempted to read it again. already. Keep the updates coming.

Holly O. said...

Yeah, this post made me wish I got to wave at you.

Melissa E Photography said...

I don't buy the idiocy. It couldn't have been that bad!

I need some Tara kid therapy.

Mindi said...

hey--- WE have a chinese woman here at our house who feeds us ding dongs all day....what a coiincidence!!

that could be my favoritest thing that came out of a child's mouth all year long....

kudos to will!

Ences said...

So fun to hear about what's going on in the Davis family! I am 100% positive that your lesson was NOT a train wreck! I do know how you feel though when someone from the bishopric walks in - my brain totally walks out! I am so excited for you to have that calling! We'll have to help each other out with teaching ideas! Thanks for the call on my birthday! It was good to hear you voice! Love ya! Camer

carey said...

I've learned that "horrible lessons" are never really as bad as we think they are. ;) I'm sure you are fab in YW.

Love the kiddo waving rituals. My boys & I used to have a "secret handshake." Now, Liam gives me the "I love you" hand sign while Cal starts walking without him and turns to give me a little head lift...(I still love it.)

Lesley said...

I can't believe some other teacher gets to hear Will talk about his Chinese women dreams and aspirations. He better not be hitting his new teacher with humor like that or I will cry. Oh Willum, why did you leave me? I would have forced you into my 5th grade class this year for sure!

tiburon said...

Hey since you seem to enjoy the carpool so much, hows about you swing by here and grab my kids and run them to school. I will feed you Ding Dongs.

Jan said...

I loved the car-time. Sometimes that was the best times I had with my kids. I love it that you recognize it as the perfect opportunity to connect.

Jeff, Di and Ty said...

What fun stories! I just love Will's wishlist! Hilarious!

Sherine said...

I think you should send fox TV his wish list. I'm sure they could make a sitcom out of it...

wait.. was that Arrested Development?

Becca said...

I think the Olympics are making quite the impression on Will!!!Chinese woman area must on anyone's list when they have gold bars to spend!

Fun to finally get together!!!!!

Emily said...

I love and miss you and your kids!!! :( They are such a riot. It's been too long since we've seen you guys. We just might need to make trip up to SLC soon.

That bored pic of Grace just cracks me up. Too funny!

Melissa said...

I noticed the complete look of boredom on Grace's face right away, that girl is a hoot!

I love my car time with the kids, it's the best. Just wish WE could carpool, that would be even better. Your kids are the best, I love them. Must be because they have such awesome kick ass parents!!

Megan Andersen said...

Do you want to know what is weird...Ryan fantasizes about chinese women too! But I'm sure it is in a different way then Will does.

bolingbrokes said...

I remember my Jackson would hug himself and blow me a kiss..you know..kiss and hug...awww, I miss those days. Lunch was great, you are one fun girl...now I know what Melissa has been saying all this time...lets do it again soon!!

Jori said...

Chinese lady to feed him ding dongs! Ha! that just made me SO happy.

Kristi said...

Dude, could you be a freakin cuter mom? And your kids are adorable--what with the waves and the sweetness...love it. I hope you are well, lady!!

Emily said...

Okay girl...now I can give you a hard time about updating you blog, since I finally updated mine. (well, Jeff did acutally) Now get on it! :)

Melissa said...

Seriously...what is taking you so freakin long to update your blog...get on it!!!