Thanksgiving is here again. It was quiet one for us here, but we enjoyed our time together as a family. We even skipped out the big food preparation and instead went to Marie Callendar's for their Holiday feast. we ate to much, and Devon had way to much Chocolate Satin pie but it was nice to come home to a clean house and just relax. We hope everyone else had a great day and time to relax and enjoy friends & family, and all of their blessings.

Well I know I am in trouble with my sister for not posting more this last month. It has been a crazy month and while I have had good intentions to post I just didn't ever feel like spend my limited free time posting. So what has happened in the last month, well lets see...

Trip to Mesquite: At the end of October we made the journey to Mesquite (2 hour plane ride & then 1 hour car ride after getting baggage & car rental - dvh3 was an angel!) My oldest nephew Jordan was speaking in church as he prepared to leave on his mission to The Baltic's (Estonia). My 10 year class reunion also happened to be the same weekend so we had lots to keep us busy. Really glad to have gotten to see a few of my old classmates but I must say I enjoyed the family time most of all. dvh3 got to play with his cousins and was following his new best friend Dayton everywhere.

I generally have glorious visions of productivity for my weekends. I invariably (on Friday anyway) see them as an opportunity to get just a little bit ahead of where I am at the time. Saturday often presents itself with a few extras I hadn't considered on Friday, that make it difficult to get those couple of step forward I so long for, but I can usually manage at least one. This morning, dvh3 had other plans for me... he woke up at his usual hour (about 6:45) and Mary Lou stuck him in front of the digital babysitter so we could sleep in a little. At 8:00 his show was rolling credits and he needed his "muck", so I rolled out of bed to tend to his urgent demands. Too late it seems. He managed to get his hands on a red permanent marker and proceeded to furiously color the floor, the two new leather ottomans, the new leather chair, and the new area rug...

Well for those that don't already know, Devon is going to be a big brother in May. Baby #2 is officially on the way. Mom & Dad are very excited and Devon is also excited to be a big brother. So far he is requesting a little sister so hopefully he won't be disappointed if it ends up being a little brother.

At 12 weeks I am stilling dealing with morning/all day sickness. But it does seem to be getting slightly better. I also find that I am exhausted nearly constantly. Big thanks to Darren for picking up so much of the slack. If anyone is interested you can see the 1st ultrasounds here: # 2.

The Portland Children's Museum is currently running a "Bob the Builder" exhibit. Devon was very excited to go and luckily got there in time to meet Bob (although once he got up close he wasn't quite as excited.) He had a great time playing with all the different exhibits, especially the water tank - pump blue "water" balls through the tank. He also liked getting to try out all the machines and guess what saying they'd repeat. There was also a "Machine petting" out side where the kids could climb on really construction equipment. Definitely something we need to go back for before it is gone.

Okay the weather is starting to turn so I thought I better finally get the blog about of summer. We had a very busy summer this year & relatively short (because the rain didn't stop until late June) but we enjoyed it. Devon took a Sports class through the local Rec. center and loved getting to go play with balls. Soccer balls, t-ball, balloons, basketballs, and one of his favorites bowling. He also took a swimming class which he enjoyed especially the finally day when he got to go down the slide. We also spent a lot of time visiting new parks this summer. You can see many pics from those excursions here: Parks.

We also enjoyed a few days at the coast with friends. We visited Pacific City, OR with our friends the Mauery's and we had a great time. We have known Vernon and Lauren for basic 10 years and 3 kids later we are enjoying getting back to the point where we can have adult conversation. Thanks to Nicole their 5 year old who puts of with Devon (I believe she is his favorite friends) and helped keep the parents informed when the boys started getting tired of each other (Nathan is only 6 months older then Devon but some days that is a BIG age difference!) Even though the beach was a bit windy we had a great time. More pictures posted here: Pacific City, OR. Oh and if your interested in a funny picture of me being attacked by a blanket check out Lauren's blog from our trip - she has some great pictures of the kids too!

Darren's mom came out to visit 2 weeks ago and I have been very remiss in getting the pictures posted. Devon had a great time with Grandma Hope putting puzzles together, working in the yard, going on walks, riding his bike, and playing at the park. I think everyone had a great time and Devon was very sad to see her go. We just don't get to see family often enough. Oh well we enjoy the time we do get together. See a few more pictures in Devon's 3rd Year Album

Parks So this summer I tried to do a weekly park trip with women in our yard. There are a few pictures of one park which turned out to be lots of fun. Water, sand, and spinning toys -- Devon was in heaven. Also included are pictures of Devon and his Friends Nicole & Nathan playing at the big tree house play structure at the outlet mall. They had a grand time and Lauren got to shop in peace. Devon loves being able to get out and move around, climbing, jumping, running, spinning, rolling, tossing,... the list goes on so I am glad that Portland has so many great parks -- now if his mom wasn't so lazy and would take him more often.

So Devon gave us our first really REALLY big scare Saturday. Darren had been out working in the yard with Devon (getting our water feature in) and I was in the house getting dinner ready because we were barbecuing with our friends the Mauery's. Lauren came in with her kids and said the boys were still out side "working" so we started chatting. About 5 minutes later Darren walked in and the first words out of my mouth were "Where's the boy?" (a common question in our house as if he's quiet he is definitely up to no good.) Darren's face clouded and he said "He's not with you? Oh no." And thus started the search for our missing 2 year old. I headed up the street to ask our neighbor (who had just been down helping Darren out in the yard) if Devon had come past. Nope, last time he saw him he was in the front yard with Darren. Darren started calling out his name, checked the front yard, the backyard, the side yards and then all the rooms in the house. I started checking his favorite spots in our neighbors yards the whole time calling for him, Lauren re-checked the house, told Nicole & Nathan to stay put, and she and Vernon headed further up the road calling out and looking in bushes and yards. After what seemed like an eternity (but was probably only 4 or 5 minutes) Darren and I met up in the front yard again. Darren told me he had sent Devon into the house to "get momma and tell her the water feature is ready" and that Devon had headed straight into the garage. As he said that I realized that the ladder to the attic had been down when I left the house to start searching, I started to ask Darren if he had checked the attic just as we both heard the clomping of little feet in the attic. Darren ran to get him just as he threw one of Darren's model airplanes down the stairs (The Stuntman 23 - don't panic Grandpa Vic) -- we were ever so HAPPY to see him again so he didn't even get in trouble. He apparently had quite a bit of fun up in the attic playing with old baby toys and dad's model airplanes because Darren said he made quite a mess. It's also not the first time he's climbed up the ladder (nor will it be the last I'm sure) so we'll have to be more vigilant about keeping it put away when Devon is about. He gave us quite the scare although I must say I'm glad we live on a cul-de-sac with good neighbors who keep an eye out for each other. If we lived on a busier street I would have been even more frightened. I am also thankful for good friends who started helping us look right away. Mostly I'm just grateful my crazy little boy is safe and sound. He drives me nuts some days but I don't know what I would do without him. Love you Devon.

Okay this is just a funny quote from Devon that I had to posted--he says the funniest things lately!
A little back story the boy's vocabulary has been growing by leaps and bounds and sometimes it seems that he is learn 10 new words each day--if you say it and he heard it it he will probably repeat it back to you. So he came into the kitchen asking for Raspberry juice (except it was more like "Rasppy jue" then the conversation went as follows:

Me: How about apple juice?
D: No want rasppy jue!!
Me: The Raspberry juice is all gone. All we have is apple juice.
D: Oh, appie jue is fine. Thanks Mommy.
Me,(Laughing at his use of "fine"): Where did you get your vocabulary from boy? (I don't know why I ask him such big questions)
D: Under the deck.

Under the deck. came out very serious and matter of factly and I just busted up laughing.