I woke up way too early this morning, which is getting to be a trend for me, because we are finally moving today! And on the coldest day of the year! I am feeling way more UNorganized for this move than I did when we moved into our apartment 7 months ago-probably because we just started packing last night and now everything is a wreck. I was going to do a Christmas post this morning before all technology gets cut off for a few days and things get too chaotic, but really there are way, way too many pictures to filter through so I'll just share a few for now. We had a really wonderful Christmas being with our families this year and celebrating and eating and playing, always a fun time! It's hard to believe it's already over. Here is your pump you up, encouraging verse of the day-Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever-Hebrews 13:8-He wants us to celebrate Him not just at Christmas on his birthday, but every day, every moment/second, every circumstance.
I am big time missing my baby this morning. She is in Dothan with her grandparents while we move, which is a really good thing, but we already can't wait to get her back. We know she is having a ball being with everybody down there, and I'm sure she's getting her fill of chocolate cookies if her Grandaddy has anything to do with it-hahaha! But it's strange going to bed and waking up without your little one in the house. She'll be back with us and in full force before we know it though, and we're looking forward to some extended help through this week with both sets of g'parents coming up here to help organize/unpack/babysit. Which hopefully translates into a date night every night this week if we are still awake past Hayes' bedtime!
Be back later with a Christmas post. Happy Monday!
So far my afternoon has been unusually productive. Normally I do not get much done around the house during naptime, but today my baby decided she wanted to take a good nap unlike the last few days! So I'm on load 3 of laundry and just finished ordering some birthday invitations-Yay! 2 big projects done on Christmas week!
(Yes Mommy, I do like naps, I just forgot about them!)
This week we have really enjoyed running around town and getting last minute things done for Christmas this weekend. But today, we have stayed home all day long, partly because I was on the phone all morning and by the time we both got ready for the day it was naptime. But it's been so nice because I love lazy days at home. The other 2 busy days this week made up for today. I had a drs. appointment yesterday, which I took Hayes with me to-and she did really good thanks to a whole sleeve of saltine crackers-I was so proud of her. Little Watson looked great and is getting bigger by the minute, literally. Time is just moving too quickly for me. We still have lots to do before he gets here, including a move, getting both babies rooms ready, and Miss Prissy Pot's 2nd birthday party in about 5 weeks. But I still have plenty of time thankfully, no hopefully!
In other news, we are MOVING next week on Monday to our new house! The renovation turned out to be much more of an extensive project that I had envisioned. It's gone very smoothly so far, praise God, and we can't wait to be settled and get all of our stuff out of storage and into the new house. We're just feeling SUPER thankful for this gift of a new (to us) home. And so far, I have not packed the first thing into a box and we are leaving tomorrow for Christmas weekend! Despite my excitement about moving, I just wanted to think about Christmas this week and not have everything turned upside down. Nathan and I will just have a late night packing when we get back on Sunday night!
Hope all of you have a very merry time celebrating CHRISTMAS with your families-what a great time of year to stop and prioritize. We're looking forward to spending time with our family-even though it will be short this year! Merry Christmas!
Moving on from the last post with the old pictures...I am loving this Christmas season, but it's already going by way too fast! I have a few things to share quickly-2 of which you might want to make if you still have any free time left before Christmas next weekend!
1. I made Christmas Thin Mints this week and just saw that my old friend, Ashley, just posted them on her blog too. Hmmm! I'll share anyway. They are festive, delicious and so easy. This recipe made about 90 cookies and guess what, they're almost gone. Not just by us, Nathan had an office party and Hayes' teachers and other people got the rest. And I'm telling you, they are SO tasty I think the little girl and I will make some more this next week to share.
Melt chocolate in microwave until smooth. Stir in peppermint flavor. Dip each cracker in chocolate and lay on wax paper. Sprinkle with crushed candycanes. Watch out, these are pretty dangerous!
2. Jesus' Birthday Cake-I wish I had a picture of this. A mom made this cake at our Happy B'day Jesus party last week and it was so cute. This would be something fun to make with your kids-if they a little older than my Hayes is and actually know what Christmas is about-well she does like to carry baby Jesus around and say his name over and over. She would just love all the icing this year, but hopefully next year will be more meaningful for her! It's a 3 layer cake with a different color for each layer-chocolate is for our sin, red is for the blood of Jesus, and green is for the new life He gives us. It would be fun to make cupcakes too if you could get the layers right without mixing the colors of the batter too much. Here is the link with directions. It was a really cute idea and I hope to start this next year with Hayes.
3. A fun Santa linkthat we found this morning with a dancing Santa...you can change out the Santas, music, and dances...Susannah I thought about you and Anderson when I found this that he might like it!
4. McWane Center-we went last week with our good friends Lindsay and little Caroline and the snow exhibit is so fun! If you are local go check it out before the end of the month. Hayes had a ball playing with the shovels and buckets. Lots of fun for the little ones, and lots of running and chasing for this mama, good exercise!
5. Lastly, we finished up our Christmas shopping this morning, which ended up being pretty light this year thankfully, and Hayes got to ride the reindeer on the carousel since we were at the galleria. She loved it of course and couldn't stop smiling. And I'm so glad her Daddy volunteered to ride w/her because going in circles makes me sick to my stomach!
and a video for the grandparents...she waved and smiled the every single time she went around...I love this girl.
I've just started to realize that our days with just Hayes are getting numbered. It makes me a little sad, but I'm looking so forward to adding another little one into this family. BUT, before that day comes we are soaking up these precious days with her. So tonight we're having a family date night at Chuy's-it's so yummy, plus I could eat Mexican every day if I could. Hope you're all having a good weekend and are enjoying this fun Christmas season!
Does anyone else love to go back and look through all the pictures on their computer? I do it OFTEN because I love to see how much Hayes changes each month, and now from one year to the next. I was looking at all of our December pictures from 2009 and I cannot believe my baby was ever that small. It's so true that with each new stage, which is constant, you can only remember them at that current stage. I have a hard time remembering back to daily schedules/routines from when she was little. I did go back and look at newborn pictures a few days ago, just to refresh myself on what we were about to do again in a couple months and WOW! that little newborn stage was such a sweet time that at the moment seemed like it was never ending, with constantly feedings, no sleep for a few months, etc, but really I just blinked and then it was gone. And now my BABY who is mostly big girl now is almost TWO. I'm having a hard time thinking about the next birthday even though it's just around the corner!
Meeting Santa 2009
Poor Santa 2010-zero improvement from last year
Christmas Dinner 2009
Christmas Dinner 2010
My little one is up from naptime. Be back later with some current events and a recipe!
This past Saturday we had our Watson Family Christmas Dinner. This is the big family reunion on my Daddy's side of the family and this was year #61! It was so fun. Usually this is held in either Dothan or Montgomery, but this year lucky for us, it was in Birmingham, so we didn't have to travel! We normally get to see quite a bit of these people during the year, but there are still some that we only see at the Christmas dinner that live further away.
Our family
This started a long time ago with the original 8 Watson children. Now there are only 3 of them left, my Aunt Ann, my grandmother, and my Uncle Bud. Every year each family takes a turn hosting the dinner. This year was my Grandmama's turn, so my Uncle Larry and Daddy were in charge.
"The dinner" as Grandmama and Ease (her twin) always called it, was such a big deal to them and they looked forward to it all year long. They started planning EARLY what they were going to wear, what we would wear, what songs they would sing and which jokes they would tell-and they had alot of them (because they were big performers and LIVED to be the center of attention!)
Larry and Daddy
I'm not sure if I've mentioned on here before that my Grandmother has had Alzheimer's for a while, several years. After my Grandaddy died last December, it's gotten really bad. She normally recognizes people, but she is night and day different from how she used to be. We're just so glad she was able to go this year though. She would have never missed a Christmas dinner!!
We weren't sure how Hayes was going to do since it usually lasts awhile. But oh my goodness, I don't even know how to describe the PURE EXCITEMENT she had being with all of her cousins. Nathan and I have died laughing about how she will just SCREAM with happiness at the top of her lungs b/c she is so happy being with all of them.
Sitting at the big kid table!
All the kids, minus Carson and Hayes, read the Christmas story together
and Hayes listened...can't wait until she can join them one day!
Carson
Sweet Holley
Girl cousins...Emma, Claire, Alice, Hayes, Holley, and Mary Hannah
All the little cousins... They all live in Bham, except for Holley, MH, and Carson-if only they were here too!
I wish I had more pictures of all the adults, but we did get a big group picture of everyone there-78 total. Hope to get that soon! I love this tradition. I hope it will continue for a long time and I'm so glad that Hayes and Watson now get to be a part of it. Thanks for hanging in there if you're still reading, this was more for my memories to have it recorded here!
We've noticed lately that Hayes likes to count. We didn't even know she was really able to count yet until we heard her in her room one night, counting up to about 7 or 8. We've had lots of practice but none with her participating! This week she and I have had quite a bit of bonding time, like all week long non-stop and it's been great. She seems so much bigger and older to me everyday. She spent about an hour and a half in the bathroom with me this morning getting ready and playing in the tub. This girl loves some bathtub playtime!
Nathan counts to 3 with her when she's washing her hair and then pours water on her head and today she wanted to do it herself. I love those teachable moments when you don't even think they are listening to you. So I'll give Nathan the credit for her counting skills, at least up to #3!
Water in the face is so fun. And oh how I love that sweet little voice. This is a fun little age-22 months-just when I think the age she is at is so great, then the next month/week/day/moment happens and it's always something new she's doing. So thankful for a growing, learning, happy child-thank you Jesus!
*Do you see how LONG that hair is when it's wet? It's only half that at the most once it dries and curls up!
Last weekend we took Hayes to see Santa. We already knew how this was going to go, she's not a fan of dressed up people. We got there and she saw him from a distance and saw the other children going to sit in his lap. She knew what was about to happen and turned around like she wasn't going to pay attention and that maybe we'd forget and not drop her off up there with that big guy.
He was a really sweet Santa but she did not care one thing about letting that strange man hold her. I really don't blame her!
One day she might like you Santa, but not this year!
Nathan's Grandmother-Honey-gave Hayes an early Christmas present-a REALLY BIG boy baby doll. He has a "newborn" tag on him, but this little man looks and feels more like a 15 month old baby. He is HUGE and I felt like we needed an extra carseat just for him on our way back from Dothan. I'm telling you he's large and life-like. At first Hayes didn't notice him, but the past few days she has taken a really big interest in him. I think she thinks this is the little brother we've been talking about to her. She strolls him around in her baby doll stroller, puts diapers on him, reads to him, puts her shoes on him, kisses him, rolls the ball to him, and makes (really MAKES) him color with her. We have to hold the crayon in the big baby's hand and make it move so she thinks he is really coloring-that one makes her really happy. Too bad her real little brother won't be doing ANY of those things with her for a really long time. But we at least have hope that she will love her new baby brother like she takes care of her dolls!
Six months ago we sat in an attorney's office and signed away our sweet first home that we loved so much to another couple who were just about to get married. We hoped they were just as excited as we were when we bought that house right before we got married. Doesn't everybody feel that way about your home, especially the 1st home?! It was a great house, cozy (most of the time), really old which made for some interesting "issues", and mainly we just loved it because it was ours!! I think both our families thought we were crazy when we bought it but we did not care. I mean we really LOVED and wanted that house, and it was really special too because it was Hayes' 1st home. But we knew having a 2nd child there wasn't going to be ideal for a few reasons, so we went ahead and put it on the market and it sold. It was exciting and sad altogether. So we moved into our temporary apartment with no plan about the future, just hoping the perfect place would come along. We knew God had a plan for our family and we didn't want it to be our simple minded man-made plan, so we just decided to wait and see what happened.
Yesterday, 6 months and a few days later, we went BACK to that same attorney's office to sign all the papers on our NEW HOME!! This one came along at just the right time for us, and now we are SO thankful for that waiting and wondering period God gave us. I think the waiting time will really make us appreciate it more. We think it's going to be a good house to meet our short term (w/little ones) and long term needs(w/bigger kids.) And, it's right down the street from my old school where I taught which is a huge PLUS b/c now Hayes and new baby boy will be there one day. It needs work on the inside because this one is old too like the last one, which we love and what we wanted because we can make it our own. I took alot of inside pictures last night so we could remember what it all looked like before (lots of carpet, wallpaper, dark paneling, etc.) It's all getting ripped out today! So we are planning to move in after Christmas if all goes as planned!!
So there will be very little Christmas decorating for us this year, except the small tree my mom sent back w/us for our apartment. But really I am grateful for that even though that sounds sad! This pregnancy and chasing Hayes 24/7, and moving in 4 weeks has me as wrapped up as I need to be and I don't think I could deal with boxes of decorations here at this tiny apartment. Next year though!
Other BIG news (for us anyway...) Our baby BOY (still catches me off guard to say that) finally has a name!! We have thought and thought and thought and finally are making it official. His name will be JAMES WATSON KENNEDY, and we will call him WATSON. James is Nathan's first name, and Watson is from my side. So both sides mixed together makes one name for this baby. Nathan constantly tells me I have a hard time pulling the trigger on anything, so I'm posting this here so I won't go back and change it once we're at the hospital!!
Hope everyone is having a good December so far. Only 3 1/2 weeks until Christmas!
