Wordless Wednesday~ More Chrismas Spirit

Christmas 2009

We had a fantastic Christmas! It was just as exciting as I imagined it would be and it was filled with lots of family time, good food, and laughs.

Devin favorite gifts were definitely Buzz and Woody (if you haven't checked out the video below- please do!) These were the two gifts that Devin asked Santa for here and every opportunity he had. Needless to say has been thrilled with these plastic talking figures!!

A close second, though, have been his Imaginext toys. He received the Imaginext Firehouse from us and the Imaginext Helicopter from my parents. Devin has had so much fun playing with these toys and their accessories the past two days. And, I have to add, they are pretty darn cool. Each of them have neat little tricks and contraptions that we keep learning about. These toys keep him entertained for hours!
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I am going to back up now. On Christmas Eve we continued our yearly tradition of going to my grandmother's house. All of my cousins and aunts on my mother's side also go and its a nice for all of us to get together.
Devin and Nadya (4)
Memmere
Isaiah (9)
Qyonna (11) and Me
Skya (2) and Alicia

On Christmas Day we did our Christmas thing here and then went to my parents house.
Devin and Grandma (this was actually Christmas Eve during the day)
Papa, Devin, and Micki
Devin and Marie
Family Photo~ plus Woody of course!

We also had Erick's family over on Christmas night, but Erick did not take many pictures (I was busy serving food, cleaning, etc). There is one picture of Devin playing the guitar that Tia Tonia got for him....Oh boy, we're in trouble!!!

I also made sure to take the time to teach Devin about the meaning of Christmas. I taught him about it being Jesus' birthday and the spirit of giving and celebration. I tried to teach him not to be greedy and act spoiled over presents. We may not be good about going to Church, but we still hold the meaning of Christmas and of God in our hearts.

I hope everyone had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did. Love to all.

Favorite Christmas Moment

Here is a taste of my favorite Christmas moment. I will be back with more later.

Funny Boy

~ The other night I was relaxing with some "Me Time" at my hair appointment. While I was waiting for my hair to process I was texting my husband to get some details on something. He was not being very forthcoming (Men can be so vague sometimes!) so I kept texting him for more information. Later on that evening when I got home Devin asked me, "Are you bored Mommy?" Umm no Devin, I just got home. So Devin says, "When you were gone Daddy's phone was going beep beep beep and he said- What is she bored?"

BUSTED! Devin is ALWAYS "ratting" Erick out (as Erick would say)!!!


~ Last night Erick and I were talking about someone -not-so-kindly (no one you know!) and Erick said, "Yeah she's a B-I-T-C-H, huh?" Right behind him Devin says, "Who's a B-I-T-C-H?"

Guess we can't even spell out the swears anymore!?!?!?! LOL

Oh out of the mouths of kids!

Almost There

2 more sleeps til Santa comes and we are ALL so excited!!!! Erick and I just can't wait to see Devin's face on Christmas morning. The excitement is contagious. The magic and twinkle are inexplicable! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow Devin is having a Pajama Polar Express Christmas Party at his school. The kiddos are all wearing their pj's and will be watching the Polar Express. We are bringing in Egg Nog for the kids to enjoy with their other goodies. Elf on the Shelf is going to bring Devin a new pair of Buzz Lightyear pajamas tomorrow morning for his special day!

I am also looking forward to Christmas vacation! 1 more work day! Eeeeeee!!!!

Sugar Cookies

Since I was feeling a bit better after my root canal this afternoon, Erick and I decided to make sugar cookies with Devin (ha, that's kind of ironic now that I think about it!). It was an interesting occasion and one too many times Devin dumped almost all of the peppermint sprinkles and then the chocolate sprinkles on the cookie sheet. Ooops! We had fun though and they managed to come out pretty nice. We are bringing a plate of cookies in for Devin's teachers tomorrow. (Erick made the batch of brownies for his work.)


(*Devin is spelling out NOEL in this picture.)

Random Ramblings

Things around here have been a little bit busy and crazy so I thought I would fill you in with a random ramblings post.

*Devin has an Elf on the Shelf that he received last year (I believe?) from Grandma. This is the first year, though, that we've really gotten into it! Frain, as Devin named his Elf, reports to Santa every night about Devin's day/behavior. He leaves once everyone is asleep and returns before we awaken~ he is magic you know. Having the Elf in our house this Christmas season has been lots of fun! Every morning Devin runs downstairs to see where Frain has "landed." Sometimes Frain has landed in his trucks, in the water compartment of the fridge, the handle to his toy bins, on the Christmas tree, under the kitchen table, next to the telephone, and other crazy places! On one particular day, though, Frain returned with a letter from Santa. It was a reminder letter to Devin letting him know that he knew that Devin forgot to be a good listener and that he knows that Devin can be a good boy, and that Mommy and Daddy and Santa were all expecting him to be a good boy. You know what? He behaved much better! Was it the letter from Santa? Who knows but it sure is fun!

*This week I am supposed to be in Boston again finishing up the last 3 days of my Reading Intervention training (which continues from October). Notice I said supposed? Well...I went for one day and was so miserable. I was either in extreme pain (and couldn't pay attention) or I was drugged out from the pain meds (and couldn't pay attention). Clearly I didn't get much out of this one day. It all started on Friday night....I noticed that underneath my bridge (lower left molars) was hurting a little so I brushed, flossed, rinsed really well a few times hoping to get rid of whatever irritant was bothering me. Saturday I was out shopping with my mother and grandmother and I was barely talking. The pain was really kicking in. We stopped to get me some Orajel. By Sunday I was taking out the old pain meds from last years wisdom teeth surgery. Monday morning by the time I got to the dentist I had cried several times and thought I might like to shoot my face off. My dentist started me on antibiotics and informed me that I needed a root canal. I decided I would be a hero and wait until after my training for the root canal now that I had the antibiotics and pain meds. Well, you heard how that went above. Now I go tomorrow for the root canal and back to finish my training in March. I just hope its all a distant memory by Christmas Eve!

*I am getting really excited for Christmas Eve and Christmas! I can't believe its in a week. Yay! I still have a couple of things I need to pick up, mostly gift certificates. I've got lots of wrapping to do....maybe that's what I will do now since Devin is at school and I am feeling half way decent for the moment!

Wordless Wednesday~ 1st Snow Day of the School Year!

Conversation between Daddy and Devin

Devin has had this thing with biting his lower lip for a while now. I am not sure if its a nervous thing or just a habit and I don't know what to do about it or how to make him stop. I tell him not to do it and I have him put chapstick on it, but it still looks horrible with little sores/bite marks on it.

Well, I over heard this conversation last night:

Erick: Devin, you have to stop biting your lip.

Devin: No Daddy.

Erick: Its looks ugly. You want your lips to look pretty, so the girls will check them out.

Devin: Oookaaay, Daddy.

Maybe that will help? Maybe I was just approaching it the wrong way this whole time?

Photos

Although Devin was being a "turkey" for a Thanksgiving Eve photo shoot, we managed to get a few good pictures out of the bunch. A lot of the pictures taken managed to have Devin over-smiling, head tilting back, nose scrunched up and just looking plain evil. Maybe that would have been appropriate? Nah, most of the time he's good! :)

Happy Family Photo


Precious Devin and Santa Photo
Devin refused to sit on Santa's lap. Can't say that I blame him. Santa was gracious enough to kneel down beside him and I love how that created this pose. Devin was eagerly telling Santa about all of the "Toy Story" toys he wants for Christmas!

I was glad, though, that we were not waiting in line in the middle of the mall trying to coerce Devin to sit on Santa's lap while all of the other kids and parents watched on, feeling pressured to hurry up and force him on Santa's lap or forgo our turn after waiting in line for 45 minutes! Thank God the picture studio had their own Santa! (Just saying....)