Happy Easter!

I hope everyone enjoys the day with family and friends.

Glow Bowling

Today we celebrated Devin's 5th birthday. He won't officially be 5 until next week-end, but Erick had today off (not next Saturday) and next Sunday is Devin's first T-Ball practice/game. We will celebrate again on his actual birthday, May 1 with a cake and a few presents.

I loved this party because it was easy. The kids loved it because they got to go glow bowling.
My 77 year old grandmother. Doesn't she look fantastic?
Devin's favorite (second) cousin Isaiah! Devin looks up to him because he is a "big boy!"
Devin and his good friend Emma :)
Party Room...pizza
Cake time! Make a wish!
Presents...thank you everyone!
Devin had so much fun with his friends and family. We are thankful to everyone who came.

Domino Fun

After playing a few family games of Toy Story 3 Dominoes it turned into Domino play time!! We all had so many good, hearty belly laughs.
Devin was laughing so hard in this picture!
Devin's domino tower!
Daddy's domino tower!
What fun!!

Flowers for Mommy, from Devin

Devin picked out these flowers for me while he was with my mother on Saturday. He said he "knew they were my favorite colors" and they were "just because he loves me." Aren't they beautiful?

*Mom, Thank you for teaching my son kindness and appreciation. You are the best. I love you.*

Friends

Sunday our neighbor, and Devin's good friend, Lexi spent the day with us. The kids had so much fun together. Devin loved having a pal in the back seat with him, someone to play with all day, and a friend to just be silly with!

We took the kids to the mall, I had some Gym(boree) Bucks to burn, and let the kids play in the play area. After that we took them to lunch at Olive Garden and then back to the house to play.
Although Devin and Lexi have spent a lot of time playing, they have never really spent the whole day together. These two cuties got along really well, especially considering they are both only children and are not used to a full time playmate. Glad to see them getting along so well, since they will be in full day Kindergarten together (and car pooling!) soon!!

Bathtime

Devin usually takes showers nowadays, but tonight was a bath kind of night.

Lolly loves water. She steals my straws and drinks my ice water all the time. She jumps in the tub as soon as anyone gets out of the shower, just so she can lick it clean! She is unlike any cat I've known!

Here are my "two" children at bathtime tonight.

Pure Determination

Last Week-end

Friday night we went bowling with my good friend Heather and her son Pierce. The boys had so much fun, as they usually do together. Pierce is a year and a half older than Devin but they get a long really well. We went to Applebee's to eat dinner after and the boys had fun picking the same meal to order and coloring the same pictures on their menus. By the end of dinner they were tuckered out and having trouble NOT laying down on the seat!! I guess bowling wore them out!


(Devin took this picture of me and Heather.)

Saturday Devin got to play with some of his second cousins for a while before we went to play at a super fun new place called Nutin But Good Times!

(and the pics won't upload...I may or may not be back with them!)

Behavior Equation

Returning from vacation was much harder than I had anticipated. Devin had a very difficult time adjusting back to school. I think the majority of his problem was being so far off of his sleep schedule while we were gone. About a month before vacation (give or take) Devin decided to drop his nap at school. I was okay with this...he was 4.75 at that point and I felt lucky to get a nap out of him for so long, especially considering he was still going to bed early.

Well, take no naps + same bed time then + vacation (Super late bed time + on the go ALL day long + no nap) = one hellava bad boy upon return!

It took us almost a month to get our sweet Devin back! I'm not even joking! He had to go to bed an hour earlier every night for weeks! He is finally catching up on his sleep. He has even starting napping again some days and is back to his regular bedtime. He still goes to bed at an early time, 7:00pm...because he has always been a child who needs a lot of sleep.

As much as we all LOVED vacation....I'm not sure that Erick and I are chomping at the bits to take another big trip anytime soon.

Games

Haha, this cat sure keeps us laughing!!