Happy 5th Birthday Devin!!!

Devin turned 5 yesterday!!!

I still can't believe it!

He had a fun day.

Breakfast consisted of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with chocolate milk on the side.

We played wii games together.

Played some board games.

One gift he got was clay. We sculptured clay (such a mess!).

 Dev made his hair "so crazy like shark boy" per one of his birthday requests!

We met daddy and aunt Sarah for lunch at Los Hermanos.

They sang happy birthday to him and I thought he was going to cry!

They're so loud and they crept up on him. It was pretty funny.

 Sarah came back home with us and she played more games with him.

We made homemade (might I add, delicious!) pizza.

They boys made their own. 

 Then I was sorta feeling bad because I didn't feel like throwing a big 

friend party this year...but the best thing happened.

When it was time to cut the cake we called our neighbors over.

They came, had cake, opened some more presents, 

played one round of a game and sent them home.

And EVERYONE was happy!
And it was super easy! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my big boy Devin!

Devin Starts Pre-K!!!

Our little firecracker, Devin, started pre-k this year!

He will be turning FIVE next week, and barely misses the cutoff for Kindergarten this year.

And I am a-okay with that! I think an extra year will be good for him. :)

He'll be going to this wonderful preschool near us. They focus a lot on music and art.

They have four classrooms, and each class rotates through all four classes each day.

One room is a big art studio. Another room has a stage where they learn about instruments, music, 

dancing, singing and performing. And another is a big play room with different stations, they read and play. In the last room they learn phonics, letters/numbers, etc.

So far he loves it!

I just can't believe he'll be turning five already!

 Everyone always comments on his (and James') red hair. I see it so often I sometimes

don't realize how red they are, until I see photos of them! It's hard to believe we have two 

little red heads in our family. But I love it!!

Devin's Birthday Bash!!!

Well...we may be hypocrites.

We always said "oh we won't have elaborate parties for our kids!"

But, we've discovered that it's easy to get carried away and actually, Matt and I REALLY enjoy 

throwing parties. Our next house will definitely have an "open concept, that's great for entertaining!" ;)

The other reason we wanted to have a big party for Dev was because it's our last year here and he has lots of little friends and it's just so fun!

We had a circus theme and the night was kind of like a trip to chuck-e-cheese.

We had dinner. Played games. Pinata. Face painting. They won tickets. 

Ate cupcakes. Then they could buy prizes with their tickets at the end!

They loved it!!!

So, enjoy the pics...I know we're crazy!

 The prize table.

 So, my set up looked ight. Then Bekah and Kassie (my pals) showed up and BAMB!

It looked glamorous!

And, I recently bought jumbo piping tips and I am in LOVE!

I frosted those cupcakes in no time and I love how cute they turned out.

 I will be SO sad to leave these ladies next year. 

 Jane, his one and only girl-friend. 

He also got some pretty awesome jammies and Captain America costume 

for his birthday. Perfect gifts for him. 

By the end of the night, he said, "no more pictures mom!"

We love you little Devin and can't believe you're 3 years old!

Happy Birthday Dev!

Rest of Feb

Just random photos from the last part of February.

Mid-day tub time.

  Pardon the crack....I just noticed that. It's MUCH smaller on my phone. :)

Loosing it in the car because this boy has given up naps.

Mario before bed and Mario first thing in the morning. 

I wasn't feeling great....and this is how the boys "made me feel better."

This is probably some of my favorite pics of Devin. 

We had these tiny toy guns from Luke's pinata and Matt discovered that they were actually squirt guns. 

Devin was thrilled!

A few of me and my friends found this place where you can rent a small room and do karaoke by the hour.

I was hesitant at first...but it was a BLAST! Sadly the place is closing. 

And there are 3 preggos in this pic...but 4 babies! Lady in pink is having twins! 

Glad it's not me. :)

Dev's devastation when he realized his "friend" (a baby we babysit) left during his nap.

Devin started this cute music class while Luke is at preschool. He loves it. 

Devin is frequently found sitting on the floor with food...this time it was a bag of shredded cheese. Yay for independence! 

On to March...

Happy St. Patty's Day

St. Patty's Day was a very simple celebration at our house this year. No green pancakes, eggs and milk, not even Lucky Charms in green milk for breakfast. People in Cleveland seem to go all out for this holiday. Houses are decked out throughout the month of March. I didn't even really know until I moved to Cleveland that corned beef, Ruben sandwiches, hash...it's all St. Patty's food. I'm sure all the drinking related to the holiday has nothing to do with it. ;) Maybe next year will be our first and final Cleveland St. Patty's celebration (minus a visit to the local pub).

We spent a week in Texas and LOOOOVED every minute of it. We got back late in the afternoon on Sunday (St. Patrick's Day). Little did we know that while we were gone a little leprechaun sneaked into our house and played a few silly tricks on us. Luke thought it was pretty awesome. 

He also left this little note (Luke has me read it over and over again).

 He was so excited he tried so hard to wake Devin up to see the little mess...but he was out cold.

 The leprechaun put our chairs in funny places, knocked pictures over, turned our clock around...you get the idea. 

Dev pretty much never falls asleep anywhere but his bed. He had a hard time waking up and adjusting back to life in Cleveland. 

 And I think we were both depressed to go from this to this....

Also...now that we're back Devin has a little growing up to do. Starting with that darn binki, then the potty and then sharing a room with Luke. We cut off the tip of his binki last night and it was like someone died. TOTAL devastation. He just held it in his hand all night, but didn't use it and he eventually went to sleep. Tonight we'll trim it a little more. All he could say was, "ohhh my binki!!! It's browken!!!!!"

Sorry baby boy.