...playing "pirates" with wrapping paper tubes
...peek-a-boo under the table
...tiny bodies
...being a mom.
i
1 year ago
I love...
...drool and squishy faces
...playing "pirates" with wrapping paper tubes
...peek-a-boo under the table
...tiny bodies
...being a mom.
...playing "pirates" with wrapping paper tubes
...peek-a-boo under the table
...tiny bodies
...being a mom.
The rest of Jeff's shenanigans...
We loved having our Elf on a Shelf this year! Kate didn't quite "get" that Jeff was there to watch her and tell Santa if she was being naughty. Next year though, I think he'll be a great bribing tool :). She loved going and finding him every morning and seeing what silly thing he was doing.
He made himself a bed, got into a snowball fight with Rosetta, hung from our ceiling fan, played basketball, toilet papered our tree, slid down our banister, and even went potty. Kate found that one the most silly.
Now Jeff has gone back to the North Pole to live with Santa. We'll see him again next year!
He made himself a bed, got into a snowball fight with Rosetta, hung from our ceiling fan, played basketball, toilet papered our tree, slid down our banister, and even went potty. Kate found that one the most silly.
Christmas
Christmas morning
I was the second one to awake that morning. I woke up at 6:00 and my wonderful mother was already in the kitchen preparing our traditional sugar cake breakfast. Sugar Cake is a German tradition, and it's my favorite part about Christmas morning. So delicious! Everyone else slowly started to wake up, and all gathered in the living room before we brought out Kate.
We woke up Kate (this picture of her waking up is probably my favorite picture ever), and at first she was like "Why are you waking me up?!?", and then she remembered that Santa came and got really really excited! When she came in the living room and saw her Mermaid doll that she's been asking for for months now, she was so excited! She was jumping up and down and went straight to picking up that doll. Then she saw the Little Mermaid movie. I think she had forgotten she had asked for that because she was so surprised! She also loved her Jessie doll and fan that were in her stocking. I think it's safe to say that Santa did very well this year! Max slept through this first part of Chirstmas but he eventually woke up and saw the Mickey Mouse he had recieved.
Then we feasted on sugar cake and hot chocolate, relaxed for just a little while, and then it was time to get ready for church. It was a wonderful program. We sang hymns, enjoyed some special musical numbers, a couple short talks, and church was wrapped up early! When we got back home Kate was sooo excited to open the rest of her presents she refused to even get changed out of her church clothes. The rest of us did, and then it was time for the party to begin!
Present Time!
We all got so spoiled this year!
Kate got: (from us) a v-tech computer, a princess tent, Sleeping Beauty and Tangled play sets, a disneyland castle doll house, The Wizard of Oz book with a ruby slippers necklace, The Princess Bride (that may be for me me. haha), (from Grandma) a set of Little Golden Books, some paints, a pirate dress up set, and a treasure box. When she saw that she had gotten a treasure chest she said "My dubloons!". haha. She loves pirate stuff!
Max got: (from us) a little football and basketball, a monkey rattle, a fisher price cars set, (from Kate) a cookie monster, (from Grandma) a teething ring, some musical keys, and some much needed clothes!
Dustin got: (from me) a Suns jacket, basketball shorts, a Wipeout Wii game, (from Kate) a Doofenshmirtz doll, (from Kate and Max) Dustin's favorite picture of the three of them in a frame painted by Kate, (from Jennifer) a hand drawn poster of Michael Jordan, and (from my parents) NBA 2k12.
Erin got: (from Dustin) an iPhone!, a cd label maker, The Help book, (from Kate and Max) a jumpdrive and cash, (from my mom) some bare minerals makeup, and a set of pearls so I can Mad Men it up.
I had Jared this year and I got him Lego Harry Potter for the Wii and some film for his Canon SLR. Dustin had Jen and he got her some nice pencils and a leather bound sketchbook. We also got my parents a cute picture of their grandkids.
After a Christmas feast of ham and potatoes, we headed over to Sherice's house for our gift exchanges.
Round 2!
This year we drew names among the grandkids as well as the adults. Kate got Emma a Cinderella doll, Jaylee got Kate a disney princess Memory game, Emma got Jaylee some princess shoes (I'm noticing a trend here...), Maddock gave Max some little shaker things, and Max got Maddock a spiderman mask! The kids all received some cute clothes from Grandma Watson and then we all had them close their eyes while they brought out the big present...
big kid bikes! I didn't bring my zoom lens with me do all these pictures are cropped really tight. Sorry. Deal with it. They were so excited about these bikes! Kate kept trying to ride it inside the house.
We all exchanged gifts as well. I had Beth and I gave her a steel stamped necklace with her kids names on it and a copy of The Help. Beth had Sherice and she made her a super cute advent calender. Which we all cried over. Not sure why. haha. Sherice had Lacie and she made her some really cute quotes-on-canvas stuff for her dorm, Lacie had me and she gave me a Harry Potter Wii game. Dustin had Jaron and he did an illustration of his favorite football player of all time, Emmitt Smith. I think there were some tears shed here as well. He also gave him the first season of Modern Family. Jaron had Scott and he gave him some games. Scott had Dustin and he made one of the coolest things ever!
He called it a "man-craft". It's really really awesome. Dustin can't wait to hang it in our office! Our gift exchange was amazing this year! The rest of Christmas day was pretty laid back. We hung out at Sherice's for a while, played Uno Roboto, and then headed back to my families house again. When it got dark, Grandpa took Kate outside and played with some leftover sparklers.
We had SUCH an amazing Christmas this year! We love our families very much!! We are very blessed to have such awesome people in our lives.
I was the second one to awake that morning. I woke up at 6:00 and my wonderful mother was already in the kitchen preparing our traditional sugar cake breakfast. Sugar Cake is a German tradition, and it's my favorite part about Christmas morning. So delicious! Everyone else slowly started to wake up, and all gathered in the living room before we brought out Kate.
We woke up Kate (this picture of her waking up is probably my favorite picture ever), and at first she was like "Why are you waking me up?!?", and then she remembered that Santa came and got really really excited! When she came in the living room and saw her Mermaid doll that she's been asking for for months now, she was so excited! She was jumping up and down and went straight to picking up that doll. Then she saw the Little Mermaid movie. I think she had forgotten she had asked for that because she was so surprised! She also loved her Jessie doll and fan that were in her stocking. I think it's safe to say that Santa did very well this year! Max slept through this first part of Chirstmas but he eventually woke up and saw the Mickey Mouse he had recieved.
Then we feasted on sugar cake and hot chocolate, relaxed for just a little while, and then it was time to get ready for church. It was a wonderful program. We sang hymns, enjoyed some special musical numbers, a couple short talks, and church was wrapped up early! When we got back home Kate was sooo excited to open the rest of her presents she refused to even get changed out of her church clothes. The rest of us did, and then it was time for the party to begin!
Present Time!
We all got so spoiled this year!
Kate got: (from us) a v-tech computer, a princess tent, Sleeping Beauty and Tangled play sets, a disneyland castle doll house, The Wizard of Oz book with a ruby slippers necklace, The Princess Bride (that may be for me me. haha), (from Grandma) a set of Little Golden Books, some paints, a pirate dress up set, and a treasure box. When she saw that she had gotten a treasure chest she said "My dubloons!". haha. She loves pirate stuff!
Max got: (from us) a little football and basketball, a monkey rattle, a fisher price cars set, (from Kate) a cookie monster, (from Grandma) a teething ring, some musical keys, and some much needed clothes!
Dustin got: (from me) a Suns jacket, basketball shorts, a Wipeout Wii game, (from Kate) a Doofenshmirtz doll, (from Kate and Max) Dustin's favorite picture of the three of them in a frame painted by Kate, (from Jennifer) a hand drawn poster of Michael Jordan, and (from my parents) NBA 2k12.
Erin got: (from Dustin) an iPhone!, a cd label maker, The Help book, (from Kate and Max) a jumpdrive and cash, (from my mom) some bare minerals makeup, and a set of pearls so I can Mad Men it up.
I had Jared this year and I got him Lego Harry Potter for the Wii and some film for his Canon SLR. Dustin had Jen and he got her some nice pencils and a leather bound sketchbook. We also got my parents a cute picture of their grandkids.
After a Christmas feast of ham and potatoes, we headed over to Sherice's house for our gift exchanges.
Round 2!
This year we drew names among the grandkids as well as the adults. Kate got Emma a Cinderella doll, Jaylee got Kate a disney princess Memory game, Emma got Jaylee some princess shoes (I'm noticing a trend here...), Maddock gave Max some little shaker things, and Max got Maddock a spiderman mask! The kids all received some cute clothes from Grandma Watson and then we all had them close their eyes while they brought out the big present...
We all exchanged gifts as well. I had Beth and I gave her a steel stamped necklace with her kids names on it and a copy of The Help. Beth had Sherice and she made her a super cute advent calender. Which we all cried over. Not sure why. haha. Sherice had Lacie and she made her some really cute quotes-on-canvas stuff for her dorm, Lacie had me and she gave me a Harry Potter Wii game. Dustin had Jaron and he did an illustration of his favorite football player of all time, Emmitt Smith. I think there were some tears shed here as well. He also gave him the first season of Modern Family. Jaron had Scott and he gave him some games. Scott had Dustin and he made one of the coolest things ever!
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!
Christmas Eve
When we woke up on Saturday all Kate wanted to do was play in the snow. After about 2 hours of her begging, Uncle Jared finally caved. We're grateful that Grandma Foree had some snow gear as well!
She wanted so badly to make a snowman, but the best we got was a pile of snow. She shortly discovered after that that it was much more fun to throw the snow anyway.
We just relaxed and ate good food the rest of the day. After dinner we had Kate call Santa Claus! This was a tradition in my house growing up. Every Christmas Eve I would call and talk to Santa (my Grandpa). Kate was amazed by this! She is usually so quiet whenever I try to get her to talk on the phone, but I guess none of those people are as exciting as Santa, because I've never heard her talk so well!
After that we loaded up in my family's Durango and went and looked at Christmas lights. We were being loud and jovially singing when I noticed Kate had fallen fast asleep! We were able to take straight from the car and put her to bed at 7:30 on Christmas Eve. Something tells me it's not going to be that easy every year!
After getting Kate in bed, we made hot cider and homemade doughnuts!
That night Dustin and I stayed up with my brothers and played games. We played Scattergories and Imaginiff and then we got set up for Christmas morning. I hardly slept that night of course, I think Christmas is even more exciting when you're a parent!
We just relaxed and ate good food the rest of the day. After dinner we had Kate call Santa Claus! This was a tradition in my house growing up. Every Christmas Eve I would call and talk to Santa (my Grandpa). Kate was amazed by this! She is usually so quiet whenever I try to get her to talk on the phone, but I guess none of those people are as exciting as Santa, because I've never heard her talk so well!
After that we loaded up in my family's Durango and went and looked at Christmas lights. We were being loud and jovially singing when I noticed Kate had fallen fast asleep! We were able to take straight from the car and put her to bed at 7:30 on Christmas Eve. Something tells me it's not going to be that easy every year!
After getting Kate in bed, we made hot cider and homemade doughnuts!
That night Dustin and I stayed up with my brothers and played games. We played Scattergories and Imaginiff and then we got set up for Christmas morning. I hardly slept that night of course, I think Christmas is even more exciting when you're a parent!
Christmas Friday
Well we're back from our wonderful Christmas! We had an amazing Christmas this year! I have so much to blog about! We'll start with Friday.
One of the first things we did when we got there was play in the snow! We got the kids bundled up in what we had. Thank goodness for Grandma Watson's stash of snow clothes! We put some snowpants on Kate and she wore both her sweatshirts on top of each other. The kids had so much fun sledding, shoveling, and making snow angels in the snow, and the adults...well...we got so cold we forced the kids to come in sooner than they wanted. haha.
We came inside to get warmed up, and Grandma Watson got out a gingerbread kit. We tried our darndest to put that thing together! But in the end we just handed each grandchild a side and let them decorate it.
Then it was time for our traditional mexican food feast! We had tamales, enchiladas, and green chile chicken chimichangas. Yum! Then after dinner we had a live nativity story. The little girls were angels, Maddock was a shepherd, Scott and Jaron were wise men, Beth Sherice and Lacie were the innkeepers, Dustin and I were Joseph and Mary, and Max got the starring role of baby Jesus. Maddock did an awesome job of acting scared of the angels! He stayed in character for the whole nativity!
After that we played our traditional Bunco game and I won a panini maker! I'm so excited about that! We love our family and I look forward to this night every year!
One of the first things we did when we got there was play in the snow! We got the kids bundled up in what we had. Thank goodness for Grandma Watson's stash of snow clothes! We put some snowpants on Kate and she wore both her sweatshirts on top of each other. The kids had so much fun sledding, shoveling, and making snow angels in the snow, and the adults...well...we got so cold we forced the kids to come in sooner than they wanted. haha.
We came inside to get warmed up, and Grandma Watson got out a gingerbread kit. We tried our darndest to put that thing together! But in the end we just handed each grandchild a side and let them decorate it.
Then it was time for our traditional mexican food feast! We had tamales, enchiladas, and green chile chicken chimichangas. Yum! Then after dinner we had a live nativity story. The little girls were angels, Maddock was a shepherd, Scott and Jaron were wise men, Beth Sherice and Lacie were the innkeepers, Dustin and I were Joseph and Mary, and Max got the starring role of baby Jesus. Maddock did an awesome job of acting scared of the angels! He stayed in character for the whole nativity!
After that we played our traditional Bunco game and I won a panini maker! I'm so excited about that! We love our family and I look forward to this night every year!
Playtime with daddy
I blog a lot. I know. You may wonder why I'm still going strong when this doesn't seem like the "cool" thing to do anymore. It's because this is my journal. Not just of me, but of my children. I know when they're grown I'll treasure nothing more than the daily stories and pictures I've taken the time to document. I'm not a scrapbooker, nor am I good at printing out the millions of pictures I take. So, I make these entries into books at the end of each year, and one of my favorite things to do is to sit down and look through them. I have 4 now (one year I made two) and one day, they will be something I can pass on to my kids. I try to take pictures of the everyday as well as the big events. It's the everyday that I'll want to remember. Days like Sunday.
My kids have had a nasty cold lately so on Sunday we stayed home from church. We cuddled up on the couch and watched movies, we played pretend, we took naps, and at the end of the day the kids took a bath, and then played with daddy before bedtime.
Then he read them one of my favorite stories,
and put them to bed.
My kids are very lucky to have such an awesome father.
My kids have had a nasty cold lately so on Sunday we stayed home from church. We cuddled up on the couch and watched movies, we played pretend, we took naps, and at the end of the day the kids took a bath, and then played with daddy before bedtime.
Then he read them one of my favorite stories,
My kids are very lucky to have such an awesome father.
Santa Baby
My cute boy is 5 months old today! Please stop growing Max. Seriously. I just love the stage he is at right now. He's so cuddly and smiley...I just love him! He can now roll over from back to front, but has not mastered front to back rolling just yet. He can be pretty mobile when he's on his belly as well. He loves to yell and make noise. He is in 6-9 month clothes right now and is getting bigger everyday! He loves to reach out and touch our faces and gives slobbery kisses. And man....he is CUTE!
I just love this boy to pieces! Thanks so much for joining our family little buddy!
I just love this boy to pieces! Thanks so much for joining our family little buddy!
I love my sister
I took these a couple weeks ago but forgot to post them. Kate and Max are always so cuddly. Kate loves snuggling up with baby brother, and Max loves to hold her hand. I'm loving every part of this stage because I know it won't last forever!
Glitter
Have I mentioned before on here how much I love Pinterest? I'm pretty sure I have. I follow a lot of photographers on it and there is a trend growing. Pictures of young girls blowing glitter. I've been wanting to try it for awhile, and yesterday I took Kate outside to try it. I fully expected for her to not want to do this, but she was all about it! She kept saying, "let's do it again mom!", and I'm glad because it took a lot of frames to get these shots! My 5 foot tall weeds all blurred out actually make the perfect backdrop for these :) It was pretty tricky. For all interested, this is how I did it. ISO 400, 2.8, 1/60. I wanted a large aperture so I would get a shallow depth of field to blur out my hideous weeds, and I only wanted her hand in focus, and I wanted a slow shutter speed so the motion of the glitter would be streaky. So...it was very hard to get a two year old to hold very still while she is blowing a pile of glitter. As you can see this one is a little OOF, but I like the motion of the glitter.
And this one...well I couldn't be more pleased with how this one turned out! I just love everything about it! Kate's room is in need of re-decorating and if I go with a fairy theme--this is definitely going big on her wall. I will definitely be incorporating glitter in future shoots. So fun!
And this one...well I couldn't be more pleased with how this one turned out! I just love everything about it! Kate's room is in need of re-decorating and if I go with a fairy theme--this is definitely going big on her wall. I will definitely be incorporating glitter in future shoots. So fun!
Santa
This picture was taken at our ward Christmas party last week. I love how Kate is so excited to see Santa this year! Let us remember how last year went...
Yes that is the same Santa. It's Brother Willis from our ward and he just loves to play Santa. He even had elf helpers this year that handed out toys to the kids! There is a sister in our ward (blanking on who it was) that had a collection of Beanie Babies that she donated to the children in our ward. How cool is that? So every kid who saw Santa that night came away with a Beanie Baby. I love my ward. It's awesome.
Kate once again asked for the same two things: "Mermaid doll and Mermaid movie". She'll for sure get the first item on her wish list. I've ordered the second, but there was some confusion with shipping, so I'm REALLY hoping it gets here on time. I think I may have to make a business of buying Disney movies and then selling them to people after they go back in the vault. Those people cash in around the holidays. All the new dvds that I could buy were at least 39.95! Yikes. I was able to find a used one for 16.50. The seller said it has some scratches, but if it doesn't play well I can return it for a full refund. So I figured I couldn't go wrong there. It only has to last me until 2013 when it will be released in the theaters in 3D and then (hopefully) a corresponding blu-ray.
Anyway... Max wants anything cuddly or something he can chew on. Done and done.
I am SO excited for Christmas this year! 10 days!
Jeff
We've welcomed a new addition to our family.
His name is Jeff, and he is our scout elf from the North Pole. He watches our kids during the day and flies back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa whether they've been naughty or nice. When he returns home, however, he can get quite mischievous! We've found Jeff in all sorts of silly places!
Zip lining...
Having tea and cookies with Snow White...
That silly little elf even ate all our cookies!
You can't touch him though, or he will lose his magic.
To learn how you can become a home to a scout elf, click HERE.
Zip lining...
Having tea and cookies with Snow White...
In our Christmas tree...
That silly little elf even ate all our cookies!
You can't touch him though, or he will lose his magic.
To learn how you can become a home to a scout elf, click HERE.
Snowglobe
Yesterday, for craft time, I decided that Kate and I would make a snowglobe. I had been saving a jar for the occasion and yesterday seemed like the day to finally do it. I wanted it to be Christmas themed, so I came up with a genius idea to make an ornament snowman for it. We glued two silver balls together to make the body, added some beads for the eyes and nose, and some do-hickey I found in my junk drawers that looked exactly like a little top hat!
I learned a few things yesterday.
--Hot glue is not the glue to use when your craft will be submerged in water.
--Glitter clumps.
--Ornaments will still shatter in water. Our poor snowman now looks (although there is no picture depicting it) unrecognizable. What used to be a cute snowglobe, for about 5 minutes anyway, is now just a jar of glitter water with shards of ornament in it. Notes for next time: Use a plastic toy. Use super glue.
..And what is this mysterious package?
"Special Delivery from the North Pole?" hmm.... stay tuned to find out!
--Hot glue is not the glue to use when your craft will be submerged in water.
--Glitter clumps.
..And what is this mysterious package?
I love my brother
Kate: Ya
Me: Why?
Kate: Because
Me: Because why?
Kate: Because I love him Mom!
Gingerbread Houses
No I did not make actual gingerbread. We used graham crackers. But "graham cracker houses" just doesn't sound as good as "gingerbread houses", so I kept calling them that. Kate called them "wittle houses", maybe that's more appropriate.
We had the other Watson's over to create these for Family Home Evening. Oh side note- the kids (Maddock, Jaylee and Kate) sometimes fight over whose name is "Watson". It goes a little like this:
"I'm Kate Jordyn Watson"
"No I Jaylee Watson"
"No I'm Watson!"
"No I'm WATSON!!"
"No I'm WAAATSOOOOOOOON!"
It culminates in a screaming match over who is the real Watson, and then we have to explain that everybody's name is Watson.
Anyway...
on to last night. Kate was so excited to do this she probably asked me when we were going to make houses at least 50 times. I had whipped up some homemade butter cream frosting for this. We probably needed something a little stronger, but it worked for the most part.
Kate and Jaylee mostly just ate their candy, but Maddock proclaimed "I don't like sugar!' and used every bit of his candy to decorate his house.
Some close ups of our creations.
Maddocks
Kate's
Jaylee's (after Beth added the second story)
And my sad little attempt.
It was so much fun, and the kids had a blast! Definitely a Christmas tradition in the making!
19 more days!
...but who's counting? :)
We had the other Watson's over to create these for Family Home Evening. Oh side note- the kids (Maddock, Jaylee and Kate) sometimes fight over whose name is "Watson". It goes a little like this:
"I'm Kate Jordyn Watson"
"No I Jaylee Watson"
"No I'm Watson!"
"No I'm WATSON!!"
"No I'm WAAATSOOOOOOOON!"
It culminates in a screaming match over who is the real Watson, and then we have to explain that everybody's name is Watson.
Anyway...
on to last night. Kate was so excited to do this she probably asked me when we were going to make houses at least 50 times. I had whipped up some homemade butter cream frosting for this. We probably needed something a little stronger, but it worked for the most part.
Kate and Jaylee mostly just ate their candy, but Maddock proclaimed "I don't like sugar!' and used every bit of his candy to decorate his house.
Some close ups of our creations.
Maddocks
Dustin's very elaborate, but undecorated home.
Jaylee's (after Beth added the second story)
It was so much fun, and the kids had a blast! Definitely a Christmas tradition in the making!
...but who's counting? :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
