Officer Inductions

Been busy doing officer inductions for the clubs in the 15th Division and will have some neat photos to post soon.

Scenes From GA Kiwanis District Convention

The Georgia Kiwanis District Convention held July 31 - Aug 2, 2009 at Brasstown Valley, GA. I attended a board meeting, there was a dinner and story telling, the House of Delegates where Greg Hall from Peachtree City was elected as Secretary-Treasurer 2009-2010, training by international trustee Pam Fleming, Award Lunch, a forum with KI CFO Rob Parker, a silent auction, Governor's Banquet with local author and storyteller, a drawing for a $1000 raffle (a fellow from Carrollton won), a memorial service, and finally I was inducted as LTG for Division 15 with all other 09-10 officers at the installation brunch. We all cam e home very tired from all the fresh air.

In Loving memory of Duke

Duke the Davis family's beloved pet of 9 years passed away last night, July 28, 2009 around 11:20 p.m. He was a wonderful dog and will be dearly missed. He had a colorful personality with his friendly attitude. He was so funny with his bucket flipping games. I regret never getting a video of it now. He would fetch a ball and never return it to you. He galloped like a horse down the hallways and was a wonderful watchdog. The house will be so quiet without him. Lindsy picked him out of a litter when she was just two. Elizabeth used to lay on him and crawl on him and love him and he would just enjoy the attention. He would go jogging and hiking with me and he loved riding in the car and taking walks with anyone who would. Rest in peace my dear Duke.

Secenes from Kiwanis Internationl Convention June 25-28, 2009

Lindsy, Elizabeth and I attended the 94th annual Kiwanis International Convention in Nashville, TN on June 25 - 28, 2009. The kids enjoyed the Family Lounge, taking dance lessons and playing wii, while I went to training. We all attended the opening and closing sessions. I voted in the House of Delegates electronically. Attended Kiwanis night at the Grand Ole Oprey and the Sponsored Youth alumni event. We had a great time and look forward to the 95th convention in Las Vegas in June 2010.

Scenes From Club Leadership & Education Training

We had the Divisions 15, 11 and 20 Club Leadership and Education Training aka CLET on Saturday, June 6, 2009 at the United Methodist Church in Marietta, GA. There were over 30 people there. The training was for incoming Kiwanis club presidents and secretaries. C.W. Marlow and Tim McDaniel were the trainers with a spec ail break out session for secretaries let by Pat Huey. Phil and Lynn Dean from Cartersville volunteered to help serve the lunch and my daughters Lindsy & Elizabeth guided people from the parking lot to the event.

Some old stuff

Well the summer has started and so has camp. Lindsy spent last week at dance camp while Elizabeth went to the YMCA. I am busy working on my Kiwanis Lt. Governor stuff and Dance stuff and play date stuff and Japan stuff, we really haven't taken many photos. So I wanted to post some of my old favorites.

Happy Memorial Day

In honor of my favorite soldier, I wanted to post a photo of my personal Army cook in action at the F Company family picnic in April. Ryan is awaiting surgery on his shoulder before he can leave on his next deployment. Keep him in your prayers. In the group pic he is the tall one in the back in the sun glasses looking away.

Forgot the photos

Spring Break at Disney World

We spent our April spring break at Disney World. We did all the fun stuff in just 2 days. We power Disneyed. Then we took a three day vacation in Albany GA

Dance Recital

Both the girls dance and we will have their recital next weekend. This will be the last year they will dance together. Elizabeth wants to start taking Karate. Posted here are a few photos of them in dance costumes. The German looking dress is Lindsy's ballet this year, the green dress is Elizabeth's ballet dress this year. The clown costume is from the nutcracker two Christmas's ago.

Another Busy Weeeknd

On the weekend of March 28 I was supposed to volunteer for my Kiwanis club in a concession stand at a softball tournament. But we were having thunderstorms, concessions was canceled, so I was available to take my daughter Lindsy to her dance company auditions. After that, I picked up my girlfriends Kathy and Nicole and headed to Birmingham AL for my friend Amy's baccalaureate party. We went to a Mexican restaurant and a dueling piano bar. We had a fun but tame night. Nevertheless by the time we drove home and the hour time difference, it was 5 a.m. when I crawled into bed. We got up early to throw a send off party for Ryan and then drove him to the base to continue his Army training on Sunday.

Kiwanis Happenings

On March 26th my Kiwanis club presented the official charter to a new Key Club at Cartersville High School and pinned the officers.

Here is Lt. Frankie Cline of the Cartersville Police Department and current President of the Cartersville Kiwanis Club presenting the charter to Emily Ponder the President of the Cartersville High School Key Club and Key Leader Alum.

Another Busy Weeeknd

Actually it has been busy here almost everyday since my last entry. On March 19 I went to the eye doctor and couldn't see for hours after getting the drops in my eyes. I need stronger reading glasses and I am still not a candidate for laser surgery. Maybe in the next decade they will have something developed for strabismis. The kids take ballet and tap classes and Lindsy takes jazz and acrobatic classes too. They also take religious education classes. That plus homework and chores keeps us busy most weekdays now. Anyway on March 21st while Ryan watched the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament I took the kids to Eagle Rock 4-H camp for a "military kids" camp day. Here are a few pictures. Elizabeth held an albino king snake and a turtle. We made a "purple cow" grape milk beverage and some trail mix and then we climbed a tower built on the camp Indian Mound. Lindsy being the "cool" tween would not pose for any pictures but she really enjoyed the High Ropes Course and the rock climbing wall.

Another Busy Weeeknd

Usually I blog on Wednesday about the past weekend, but this week has flown by and it is early Friday morning. Last weekend actually wasn't busy. Maybe that's what made the week seem so busy instead. First of all it poured all weekend, from Friday to Monday. Ryan came home Friday night from his military training. He was tired and we watched a DVD Beverly Hills Chihuahua and went to bed early. On Saturday we spent the moring at Dobbins Air Force Base getting Ryan's rank (Sargent) sown on to his hats and PX shopping. Then we had lunch at Sonny's Bar-B-Que. It was yummy and so filling, noone was too hungry at dinner time, so we played on computers, watched college hoops and ate popcorn and leftovers. Then Sunday we slept late and had a wonderful pancakes and eggs brunch in our PJ's around noon. Then like the slugs we are we slouched around at home all day waiting for the March Madness selection show. I made my meat sauce and meat balls for a pot luck dinner that my Kiwanis club was having on Monday. The house smelled like a ummy Italian restaurant and we enjoyed some of the sauce on spaghetti that night. Ryan left at 5 a.m. Monday moring back to base. Tuesday I did yard work. The rain cleared and weeds grew. I am trying to prevent the poison ivey from flourising this year. And Wednesday I was blind from seeing the eye doctor because of the drops they put in them. And Wednesday night is LOST Yeah!!!! I was guessing that Lock and the "plane group" were not in the same time (1977) as the rest of the group. I just didn't figure on Sun being with them. But I digress. Anyone else looking forward to the Harry Potter movie coming out this July?

Another Busy Weeeknd

This is Lindsy and the Jr. Company at the Jazz on Tap Festival in Atlanta this past weekend. They performed "Put on a Happy Face" in tap. They were aw some. I got to spend a lot of time doing hair and make-up. Then I also volunteered with the company concession stand. Since Lindsy and I were so busy this weekend with the tap festival, Ryan was off and we told him not to drive the 4 hours to get home. Instead my mom and Elizabeth went down to visit him. They had a lovely time. Elizabeth said she pet a baby alligator (It was only 2 years old) and she saw a bike race. The town they are in has many sculptures of turtles painted in many different ways. So they explored the city to see all the turtles. By the way Atlanta has cows, I think it's because of Chick-fil-A. My brother has lots of pics of the Panda's around Washington D.C. They even do them in Europe, because we saw them in Munich, Germany. Anyway back on topic... They swam all weekend in the hotel pool and to top it off, Elizabeth was given a new Webkinz. She has been sick the past too weeks with different ailments, and this weekend seemed to make her all better since she spent it, just her and her Daddy and Grandma, because on Tuesday she said nothing hurts and all signs of sickness left her face and personality. The other thing that is keeping me and Lindsy busy is reading the book Eldest by Christopher Paolini.

Another Busy Weeeknd

This past weekend Ryan was home on a three day pass. We kept busy all weekend. Elizabeth stated Friday in the Dr.'s office with strep throat for the 9th time in 2 years. They are finally going to refer her to an ear, nose and throat specialist. While she rested Friday night, Ryan, Lindsy and I played a very competitive game of monopoly. On Saturday we went to go to the Outback for lunch, but they are only open for lunch on Sunday, so we ended up at Longhorn instead. During lunch, he decides to have a little "get together" for dinner. So I quickly text people "Ziti at 7 and cards at 8" and we had a gathering that evening. Our friends Joel, Kathy, Chris, Nicole and Heather all came over and we had my best baked ziti and then we played Uno till midnight. Then as you can tell by the previous post, it snowed on Sunday. We played and got wet and cold. We changed and went to my mom's house for Sunday dinner. We ended up spending the rest of the day cooped up there, because once the snow was done falling the wind picked up and everything melted, dried up and the temperature dropped. It was cold!!! We moved here to get away from this kind of cold. Monday we were able to eat lunch with Lindsy at school. We had to sit on the stage, it seems odd to me, but Lindsy enjoyed being up there with us. Then Ryan headed back to his Army unit that evening. Not sure when he will be home again.

It's Snowing

It's snowing!! The kids are excited. We are going out to play in the falling snow. There won't be any on the ground to play with later. That's the way it is in GA. Usually at the park the kids go "southern" sleigh riding. They slide down the hillside on wax covered cardboard on the winter Bermuda grass. Once the grass turns green in the spring, the cardboard won't slide.

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アメリカ生活のお手伝い日本からお越しの皆様、アメリカでの生活はいかがですか？
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実践的なサービスを心がけています。
尚、日本での留学経験があり、日本語＆日本文化の知識があります。
子 供2人を育てている経験から、アメリカでのデイケアや教育についてもご相談いただけます。
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カトリーナ・デイヴィスKatrina Davis

Japan

I am proud to announce that my daughter Lindsy was selected to be one of two young ladies representing GA as Jr. Ambassadors to the 2009 Asian Pacific Children's Conference (APCC) in Fukuoka, Japan for two weeks this summer. I can not express how proud I am of her.

These are pics of Elizabeth, Lindsy and myself at a corn maze in Canton, GA in Oct. 2007. But I think it says a lot about life. We are always reaching road blocks and need to rethink which way are we going to go from here? No two people think the same way, not even in your own family. But together, as a family, we meet the challenges put before us and eventually navigate our way through the maze of life and into God's loving arms. I always tell my children "quitting is not an option!" As you can tell we would still be in this maze if it was.

Another Busy Weeeknd

The weekend was busy. We started with an interview with the Japan America Society for Lindsy to be a Jr. Ambassador for the Asian Pacific Children's Conference this summer in Japan. She was one of six female finalists and two will be selected. She enjoyed "mixing" with the other finalists, learning and playing games that helped teach communication and Japanese culture. She made two new friends in the process. Elizabeth even made a friend too. Then we ate at McDonald's (their favorite place) and I dropped them off with some friends while I went and assisted my mom with a dinner auction at the church. I managed to buy a dinner which will include dinner and card making. That dinner will be in September. I am hosting a Harry Potter lunch and 12 people purchased that lunch. So I am looking forward to that party too. A couple of friends of mine had an engagement party that, due to the auction, I could not attend but I had a friend that was going and thought she might spend the night at my house. So after I picked up the kids I frantically began cleaning house, but then she canceled and I went to bed.

Sunday, was another amazing day. I finished some of the cleaning I had started, then we proceeded to church. Elizabeth is finally starting to pay attention in mass. I think it is so she will know when it will end, so she can get a donut. The kids then hung out with my mom while I attended Nihogokai. I was able to network with some people in the Atlanta area who love Japan or are Japanese. I learned several things and was able to use my Japanese language some. I made two new friends too. I then picked up the kids, chatted with mom and joined Mark & Amy for Mexican dinner. We had a long discussion on private vs public schools, since Lindsy's 6th grade year is moving to the middle school. Before next year, middle school has been 7th & 8th only. So for me I need to get used to the idea. The years are going by too fast. I got a phone call from Ryan, he is feeling fluish but will get a pass this weekend. I look forward to helping him feel better. It is always good to hear from him. And then I also received an awesome gift from my awesome friend Rebecca. It's a GWU Santa with a GWU child cheerleader on his lap. I immediately put it in the curio, to display my school pride year round. Thanks so much Rebecca!!!

I'm a new blogger!!

Greetings and salutations. Going to be blogging here to learn the ropes, share photos and the goings on of our family. I hope to feel comfortable here and then get a blog going for the Kiwanis Clubs of Div. 15 while I am LTG. I hope to connect with friends and family and stay in better touch. Perhaps even start traveling with friends and family or sharing recipes or parenting tips. Please pass on your ideas. my e-mail is circlekatie@hotmail.com if you want to ever converse privately.