Devon: December

We had a fantastic month with all the excitement that comes with the holidays. We did Christmas afternoon at my mom's house, Christmas with Joe's family a week later, but we had a lovely Christmas morning at home complete with pajamas, messy hair and sugared cereal. I had so much fun selecting gifts for Devon and I think my painstakingly slow gift selection paid off. Devon is such a caring boy and loves animals. We recently took Sampson to the vet and Devon was such a great helper, I thought he would enjoy his very own vet kit.

Ahhhh the magic of Christmas morning and the thrill of a new toy. Devon's "big" gift was a real Buzz Lightyear. He plays with him constantly. They are best friends. This is a seriously awesome toy that is, thankfully, very durable.

Testing out the laser. Yeah. It's awesome.

I made a supreme effort to do festive crafts with the kids this Christmas as my way of starting traditions so I made a felt fishing game. I made a few "fish" (ornament, candy cane, gingerbread man, etc) with paperclips sewn in and a simple pole with a magnate on the end. I need to make some actual fish and put these away with the Christmas stuff for next year. Such a simple game that both kids love to play.

Felt board holiday craft. "Snowmans" and Christmas tree with all the decorations. He was so proud of himself for putting it together. Check out that hat!

Santa says,"Ho! Ho! Ho!" in honor of a sparkle covered pine cone "tree".

Paper chain and snowflakes. I cut everything out and Devon and I spent about two hours gluing on glitter. He did a great job putting on just a tiny bit of glue (he had plenty of practice) as well as carefully placing the glitter. I hung the paper chains in the dining room near the tree and I think it added a sweet whimsy to the holiday.

I think the gingerbread house was Devon's favorite this year. I built the simple, basic structure the night before and put it in the fridge so it was solid for decorating. I put the frosting in a zip lock bag, tied a knot and let Devon do the rest. We took a couple of days to get the whole house covered, but I think we all had a great time doing new, seasonal crafts and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to do things one-on-one.

We enjoyed some lovely weeks of rain this past month and on this particular day I got Devon suited up to play in the rain. He shoveled mud and sorted the rocks for about 15 minutes before he begrudgingly came inside.

I know all parents think their kids are amazing/smart/cute, but seriously Devon is very smart. I have started to let him use my phone somewhat unsupervised so he can play a matching game and he is A-mazing at it. I also let him take pictures and out of 40 or so shots, there are about 5-6 truly good ones.
For example:
Holiday crafting paper chains covered in glued on glitter on the floor.

I call this one "Diaper change" :)Devon's perspective.

Audrey coming into his room to play.

His growling dinosaur.

Mama. In her pj's. No make up. No hair done. Hands in front of face just in time :)

Although Audrey is passed out, it's always a good time for funny faces and robot arms.

Devon loves few people more than he loves his Uncle Ben. Devon is so well behaved and sweet when Uncle Ben is around. He wants to show him all his toys and books and cool tricks and my ever patient brother listens intently.

I took Devon over to Aunt Jane's house for a play date with all four of her girls. He had so much fun and loves his cousins. They play so well together giggling and playing toys. Devon is such a good sport with this Super "man" outfit. It has a cape so the fact that it's actually a dress is a moot point to this sweet boy.

Devon and Audrey are becoming pals. For realsies.

Devon loves to go to the park, be a super hero (that changes every 20-30 seconds), play on mama and daddy's bed, ride cars, "do some exercisin'" and all types of art projects. He is a delight to be around and is pretty easy going.

THE ENDS.