The DeVore Daily

We had a wonderful weekend!! We met Kay in Fort Worth to spend a little time together. On Saturday we took the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo and had a great time. This was Greyson's first trip to the zoo, so we had a lot of fun seeing and talking about all the animals-the monkeys are his favorite. If you are ever in the Fort Worth area this is a great zoo for little ones-lots of fun things for them to do. Here are some pics from our zoo time...I'll have more about the rest of our weekend in the next blog.

"I pulled myself up into a standing position today while I was playing on the floor!!"

I got this idea from my friend Maryann and wanted to share with all of you...

Each child takes a Grand (or other large ) canned biscuit, or crescent roll. They flatten the biscuit out until it's about 5 inches across. Then each child gets one large marshmallow. The marshmallow represents Jesus. It is white because it stands for His purity and His sinless life. They dip the marshmallow in melted butter, and roll it in sugar and cinnamon. We explain that the butter and spices represent the oil and spices used to anoint Jesus' body before His burial.

They place the marshmallow in the center of the biscuit, then fold the sides around it forming a "tomb". (I help the younger children pinch the sides of their tombs closed and then we place them crease side down on a baking sheet so they will not open while cooking). Put more butter, cinnamon and sugar on the outside. We talk about the sweet taste of the spices and how Jesus gave us the sweetest gift we will ever receive.

At this point you can go ahead and bake the buns. They need to bake following the directions on the biscuit package. Then they need a little cooling time because the marshmallow will be very hot.

When the children bite into their buns they will be surprised to find the center empty. The marshmallow has melted. As each child discovers the empty tomb, we repeat : He is not here for He is risen!!

The kids received their Easter packages from Sito today. They had a great time going through them looking at all the fun stuff-Greyson especially!! Thanks Sito for all of our treats-we love you.

Our Playgroup had an Easter egg hunt on Friday morning at our house. Greyson didn't really know what to think about it all at first. Once he figured out there was candy inside of the eggs he got into it more. He would go from egg to egg opening it up, eating the candy, and then on to the next. While some kids ended up with about 15 eggs, Greyson only ended up w/ about 4. I think he'll have the drill down by the time Easter rolls around as he is all into the eggs and his basket now. It is so fun watching him enjoy all these new things that I remember loving as a kid. Here are some pics of the fun!

Sara and I took the kids to Austin for the day on Tuesday to visit our sweet friend Alissa and her little boy Bennett. Since it is Spring Break this week, it worked out perfect for all of us to get together. Greyson, Sam & Bennett had a great time playing together (even though they look less than thrilled in this picture). Sara, Alissa, and I had a great time visiting and catching up while the kiddos played. Thanks for a great visit!!

What a busy weekend we have had so far and it's not even over!! This is the first weekend in over a month that we have not been sick, been out of town, or had visitors. We took advantage of our free weekend to complete some projects that needed to be finished.

Almost a year ago we moved Greyson to his "big boy room" to prepare for Davis' arrival. We had the necessities in there...a bed, changing table/dresser, bookshelf, etc. and had done a little decorating but had not completed his room. Now I think his room is complete...we painted some stars for his wall and Jason did 2 canvases as well-we think it looks pretty cute!! We have neglected to hang some of our professional pictures we have taken over the past 2 1/2 years and finally got frames for those and hung them in our living room. Our pantry was a disaster zone and had been neglected as far as organization goes for some time. I finally gave in as it was driving me crazy, got in there and organized-it feels great to have that done!! I also cleaned out our bathroom cabinets and organized those as well. I am available for hire if anyone has organizing they need help with ;)

For the "Big Boy Things"...Greyson has been saying "poo-poo" and "pee-pee" for some time now and can point to were those things come from. The few times I have tried to set him on the big potty it was a traumatic experience for the boy, so decided a little potty might be better for now. I am still not convinced that he is 100% ready for potty training so for now we are going to ease into it and just see were things go. Jason and I got him a little potty the other night. We pulled it out of the box this morning and he thought it was great!! There was no success in the potty today, but like I said we are going to ease into it. He also graduated to the table with us last night. We decided since Davis is eating 3 meals a day now that he needed to give up the high chair for her and graduate to the table with us. Our little boy is growing up too fast and I just can't believe it.

Not to leave Little Missy out...she is doing great!! Crawling all over the place and still just as sweet as she can be. She is moving way too fast for us, so we are taking in every moment we can.

I do have pics of all our "fun" things we did, but am so tired-I can't imagine why. I'll post pics tomorrow...

Yes, Valentine's Day has officially been over for about 3 weeks, but not at the DeVore household...So, I mentioned in the Valentine's Day blog that Greyson had a Valentine's party at MDO. All the kids in the class brought Valentines to pass out, they decorated a bag for their Valentine's, etc. This little bag of Valentine's brought hours of entertainment to Greyson. He carried this bag around for weeks, taking the Valentine's out, putting them back in, "reading" what was on the card, so on and so on. Little by little I would have to throw the Valentine's away (of course w/o Greyson knowing) b/c they had become so worn. We finally threw the Valentine's bag away and had a little bye, bye Valentines party at the trash can. Needless to say folks, kids don't need lots of expensive toys...it is the little things that they love!!

Thursday was Jason's birthday!! We went to lunch with my dad and the kids that day and then celebrated with our friends the Moffitts & Stricklands that night. We have a new Japanese sushi/habachi restaurant in town (Atami) that Jason wanted to try-it was wonderful!! We sat at the hibachi grill and enjoyed watching the chef cook our food. It has been years since I have been to a restaurant like that and forgot how fun it was. All in all I think it was a great day for him!! I know birthdays are always the best when it is yours, but I have just as much fun celebrating the special day with that person. Honey, you truly are the best husband and father to our kids I could have ever asked for. Thank you for working so hard to provide for our family. I am so lucky to be able to share life with you-I Love You!! I have included some pictures from Jason's bday dinner as well as when we celebrated in Tulsa.