New Experiences!

Devyn had a busy day last Friday! During the day, April (our nanny) brought bubbles for Devyn and Kaylee to play with. This was Devyn's first time with bubbles and from the looks of things she really enjoyed them!

Later that night Devyn went to her first professional basketball game. We all went to watch the Pacers play the Houston Rockets. It was quite the experience! Devyn is not quite old enough to sit still in a seat and she was way more interested in the people around her than what was going on on the court. But we still had a good time! :)

A rare moment with Devyn actually watching the game.

She's all smiles!

More chair climbing

So just climbing up into chairs has now gotten boring. Now, she thinks she should try to climb up the bigger chairs ( I don't know if you can tell in the picture or not but her feet are up off the seat of the chair and on the back) And out of the smaller chairs she thinks she should be doing flips to get out of them. Of course this does not work out so well since she has no idea how to actually flip.

1-year old pictures.... a little late!

With Devyn's birthday being in December, things were just a little too hectic to get her one-year old pictures taken on her actual birthday. So we went a month late... After an hour of chasing her around the studio and begging her to sit still and look at the camera, I was exhausted! But we got some pretty cute pictures none the less. Here are my favorites

Hitting the ball and Reading Stories

I always laugh as Devyn tries to hit the ball off the tee. Sometimes she does such a good job and other times... well, at least she's trying, right? This is definitely not her best but, It is so funny.

The other night Brandon was making Devyn her night time snack before bed and I was doing work on the computer. We could both hear Devyn Babbling in her play area, but neither one of us was really paying too much attention. When Brandon went to get her after he finished making her oatmeal, he was like.... Katie come here you have to see this. And there Devyn was sitting in her little pink chair "reading" herself a book! I tried to find my video camera, but of course when you really want it, it is no where to be found. I've tried on a few other occasions to catch her reading but this little video is the best I could get.

Devyn...where has the time gone???

Oh Miss Devyn, where has the time gone? I can't believe you are almost 13 months old! You can do so many things and I am amazed everyday at the new things you can do.

At one year old you measured 29 1/2 inches and weighed 23 lbs 5 oz. And you are still in the 80th percentile for height and weight.

Some of your amazing abilites include-
-feeding yourself with a spoon, and with your hands of course because you haven't quite masted the spoon
- Hitting a softball off a tee- one handed
-Coloring squiggly lines with both hands
-Running all over the place (sometimes mommy wishes you would SLOW down!)
-Saying Hello with the cell phone next to your head
-Playing "Peek" by covering your eyes and hiding
-Climbing up into chairs

Below are some pictures of the last month of Devyn's life

Playing "Peek" with Daddy

Feeding yourself all kinds of great foods!
This is how we know she is done eating! The dog loves it because he gets all the food she throws to the floor~

Using my right hand to eat

And using my left hand!

I bought this pink chair for ME to sit in while I played with Devyn in her play area. However, she now thinks that it is HER chair. Here are some great pictures of her lounging in the chair

Reading and Singing my Nursery Rhymes

Changing the Channel on the TV

I don't know what Devyn would do without Beans.... they are always together

Playing Ball

Taking a Nap!


Playing with her toys. Devyn has become increasingly independant and will sit and play on her own, for like 10 minutes at a time!~ I know it's not long, but it's a nice little break from her constant running around

Putting all the shapes in my cookie jar

Taking all the tupperware out of the cabinets! An all time favorite that keeps her very busy!

Pushing her LOUD lawn mower all over the house! It is definitely a favorite toy (even though the nanny asked if she could hide it because it is SO LOUD! :)

Happy New Year!

Nana Walker made brunch for the family on New Year's Day

Devyn with cousin Ashley


Devyn giving cousin Kyla a hug! They are so cute together

Devyn wanted Nana Walker to wear her hat

Merry Christmas!

We had a very busy Christmas! Devyn got to visit lots of family and had tons of excitement. I really don't think she slept for like 3 straight days! She was on overdrive.... but mommy and daddy were exhausted! (And I know she exhaused granny and gramps too!) But overall we had a great Christmas. Devyn loved all the presents and there are some good pictures below of her playing with some of her Christmas toys. Brandon and I couldn't be more thankful for our beautiful baby girl and all the joy, excitement and love she brings into our lives.

Our festivities start off on Christmas Eve. Family tradition says that Santa always comes to our house on Christmas Eve while we are at Church.

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Finley's. The whole family is there! Uncle TJ, Daddy, Grandma, Aunt Tawny, Gramps, Me and Mommy

Devyn with Granny and Gramps

A picture of the family (minus the family cat, Brutus, he didn't make the trip to Ohio.) It's almost impossible to get any good pictures these days.

Devyn spotting her first presnt....she can't wait to rip into all this good stuff!

Devyn is fascinated by Christmas Tree's. Mostly because she likes to take off all the ornaments and tree decorations! I can remember last year how much she enjoyed staring at the lights on the tree. Well the same is true of this year, except this year she points and claps and gets all excited when the tree lights turn on!

(ok, so I know at this point I'm supposed to have some pictures of her opening presents, but it was too hectic! I tried to get some video, but that didn't even turn out too well. Maybe next year.... :)

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Devyn looking all cute on Christmas morning in her Christmas Dress. What a great picture of her and Grandma

Our first stop on Christmas is to my Dad's side of the Family. This is a complete picture of the Finley Family. All the cousins were home for the holidays this year.

Great-Uncle Randy got out is original train set (I think he said he got it in 1954!) and set it up for the kids this year. Devyn LOVED it! She enjoyed sitting with Randy and just watching the train go round and round.

However, the train did have some technical difficulites (it is over 50 years old!) so then Devyn thought she could help get the train back on track!

Ah, at last some pictures of Devyn opening presents! (but don't get too excited, I only have this one!) She loves this pop up toy, after she opened that is was hard to get her to pay attention to anything else!

NEXT STOP- GREAT-GRANDMA RAY's- By this point in the day Devyn had had enough of the dress! So now she's in some super cute Christmas PJ's. I have only a few pictures of Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. And I don't have any that show the true choas that was Christmas at my Grandma's. But that of course is what makes it so much fun!

Devyn enjoying all the great Christmas food. She got WAY too much sugar... (Thanks to her great Aunt Amy and Jan!) Here she is sitting with cousin Laura and grandma is feeding her some type of junk food

More fascination with the tree. I think she took this ornament off the tree about 50 times!

At the end of the night we realized my grandma's TV wasn't working. Devyn of course is Miss fix-it and thought that she could make it all better by pressing all the buttons!

DAYS FOLLOWING CHRISTMAS

AH, back and home and time to relax... well not really! Here Devyn is playing with her Cabbage patch kid that she got from Grandma Finley and the stroller that she got from Mommy and Daddy. She LOVES to push her baby around the house. And she takes the baby out of the stroller and feeds her her bottle and gives her kisses and hugs. It's too cute!

Here she is getting hugs and kisses from her new Curious Gerorge stuffed animal that she got from Great Aunt Marie.

Aunt Marie would be so proud. Here Devyn sits reading her new board books, that she got from Nana Walker, with her new friend George

Beans is exhausted from all this playing. But Devyn really wants to get to her toys!

Beans.... GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!

She finally figured out how to get around him so she could play with her Little People's carnival that she got from the Mehrle Family. The best part for her is the Monkey that falls down into the dunk tank! I hear those sound effects in my dreams.... that is how much they are played during the day!

And Last, Uncle TJ bought Devyn and rocking horse for Christmas and at first she wasn't too sure about the whole thing. But what a difference a few days make because now she loves to ride and even likes to do it with no hands. You have to watch the video to get the full effect!

Thank-you to everyone for all of Devyn's great presents. And while I don't have pictures up of all of them, she loves everything she got! She is so lucky to have such great family and friends!