I Spy

red wrapped presents,

Christmas books,

a kitten,

and an ornament.

Elf Sighting

I spy Frain and he brought a new Amelia Bedelia book for Devin for having a great day. At least it wasn't coal and a reminder note from Santa (this time!).

Mischievous Monday

Show Me the Mommy

Christmas Traditions

One of Devin's favorite Christmastime traditions has become Elf on the Shelf. Ever since he realized that Christmas was approaching (I guess about a week or so before Thanksgiving) he has been asking when the Elf was going to come to our house. The concept of the Elf is that he/she goes back to Santa each night to report on the behavior of the child/children of the house. The Elf works by magic and if you touch it too much or play with it, it will lose its magic. Each morning the child has to find the Elf in its new hiding spot, where it landed upon returning from Santa. It can be quite fun!

One of the things Devin has asked for this year is new books. *Squeal* Can you feel my excitement? Of course that thrills me (the reading teacher!)!! So I decided to buy a bunch of books for Devin through book orders at my school. The Elf, Frain- this is the name Devin gave him last year, will be able to give Devin a new book about every other day.

I also have a couple of pieces of coal if need be...

.

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.

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!!!!

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!

Shh, don't tell!!!

Recently, Devin and I started listening to Christmas music in the car. I know its a little early, but I might be just as excited as he is for the upcoming holidays. Its something about experiencing the holidays through the eyes of a child that is exhilarating.

Anyway, after "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" we proceeded to have a conversation around this topic. I reminded him that he needed to be a good boy all the time or Santa wouldn't bring him any presents- I know...so mean! (He has been having a couple of particularly challenging days and I am 98% sure its another ear infection- we'll know later today.)

He told me, "Don't tell Santa, okay Momma?"

This darn kid is too smart for his own good!

Oh and Santa, if you are reading this, Devin REALLY wants a "toy" Buzz Lightyear and Woody for Christmas. Not the real ones, the toys. (LOL)

Devin and Papa Jam out on Christmas Eve

My father taught himself to play the bass when he returned from Vietnam, nearly 40 years ago. It is something that has become a hobby, a passion, and (partial) career for him as he uses it for side jobs to earn extra money. He is VERY GOOD at it!!! My father has mostly played the bass guitar, but in recent years took interest in the larger standing bass.

Devin LOVES when his Papa plays the bass. Since he was a baby, Devin has loved to listen to Papa play songs for him. As soon as Devin could boogie, he began dancing to Papa's music and it was only fitting that last Christmas Grandma and Papa got Devin his own Elmo guitar for Jam sessions.

On Christmas Eve Devin and Papa had a Jam session. It was adorably cute!

The lighting in my father's "music room/den" is dim, so I hope that you can see the video well enough to enjoy it.....

Pajama Gram

My parents got the 3 of us matching pajamas through Pajama Gram. What a cool gift idea! We wore our new matching pjs last night and I did my best (using the camera timer) to get a picture of us!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was wonderful! It was nice and slow moving. We woke up around 8:30 and slowly made our way downstairs (quite possibly the last year that will happen!). We then went to see if Santa had come. We checked first to see if he had eaten the cookies we left, along with the carrots for the reindeer. In fact, the cookies and carrots were eaten but many crumbs were left behind. We also noticed that the Magic Key was left in front of the door instead of next to the cookies where we left it! Devin wanted to look out the window to see if Santa was there. He was not.

We turned on some Christmas music (and snuck the casserole in the oven) and proceeded into the living room. We found stuffed stockings on the couch and a tool bench next to it, along with presents under the tree.
We spent all morning enjoying the presents and the Disney Christmas parade (and the sausage casserole that I made!) and around 3:00 pm Erick's parents came over for some food, presents, and family time.
New lap top!
We had such a wonderful Christmas. It is great to see the holiday through a child's eyes again. The spirit is revived and I am so thankful for everything I have and for my beautiful family!

Christmas Eve

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we went to my parent's house and then my grandmother's house.
My parents:

My brother. Mark:Opening presents at my parent's house:
At my grandmother's house for a more extended Christmas party:
My cousin's 1 year old, feeding her new baby doll....soo cute!
Here is her 3 year old sister with Devin in the background.Here is my cousin and her adorable 8 year old son!All 5 of Memmere's GREAT grand kids:
~

Dear Santa,

Devin would like to take it easy on you this year. I assume he is doing this in preparation of more expensive years to come. Please read the following conversation that we had this evening:

Mommy: Devin, What kind of presents would you like Santa to bring you?
Devin: No presents, just a lollipop.

I think we can handle this one on our own this year. Thanks Santa!

Love, Karla~ Mommy to Devin age 2 years 7 months 2 days
~

More of our Christmas and winter decorations

Front Door
Basement Door
Look carefully~ you will see our "magic key" by which Santa will be able to enter our house (since we have no chimney) Thanks to Grandma!
Stockings: Devin's, Daddy's, Mommy's
Back Sliding door

If you look carefully here you will see lots of snowmen accessories.
As you can see, we do not have an abundance of decorations as we just do not have the room! I do, however, enjoy snowmen and I will keep a lot of the snowmen things up through January. :)