Watson Website

Our four little toads in a tub

2011-12-05T20:39:00.003-05:00

Wendy's Birthday

2011-12-04T20:00:00.003-05:00

November 3^rd was Wendy’s birthday. As usual she kept it low key and we did our best to celebrate. You see, Wendy is our everything. She gives her entire heart and soul to our family. Without her this little family we sometimes call “Team Watson” wouldn’t make it. She tirelessly raises three boys and does her best to keep me on the right track. We love you so very much Wendy! Thank you for being the amazing person that you are and giving yourself to us.

Happy Birth Day honey!!!

We love you!!!

The last bit of wild Naples, Florida

2011-11-14T13:29:00.000-05:00

Oh, our friend the cockroach. this guy was found in the living room. I sprayed him with bug spray. RIP. You are one Naples thing I will not miss.We had awesome toads. This guy was in our back yard trying to jump into our house.

This is from my last shark fishing trip with my friend Tom. I little black tip to say goodbye.
This is the Biggest Mullet fish ever. These guys are normally about a third of this size. I netted it one night for bait.

Goodbye Naples critters!!!

Lots of Liam!!!

2011-11-13T23:22:00.002-05:00

Liam is getting so big and we don't take nearly enough pic or videos. He is one active little boy. He is 7 months old and crawls around every where and he can pull himself up and stand. This has made church a little difficult the last month or so because he wants to get down and crawl around, and he won't sleep if there is anything going on. And if he does sleep, his nap usually only lasts 20 mins. I was really hoping for a couple more months of that phase where your baby sleeps a while during church and he's happy to just sit on your lap. But no, we have entered the "count down until nursery because your spending most of your time in the hallway" phase. Only 10 1/2 more months :)

He tries really hard to keep up w/ his brothers. It's so cute/wonderful to see them playing all together. Miles and Eli are great big brothers, that is until Liam spits up (which happens A LOT) and Miles and Eli say, "Gross mom, Liam just puked all over my car!"

Liam is a happy baby! I feel so blessed that he is this way because it makes all the errands and running around a little easier. For the most part, he is happy to go anywhere, any time. He has never been a great napper so a 20 minute nap here and there in the car while we're out running errands seems to be ok for him. He always wakes up happy. Even at 12:00 am, 3:00 am and 6:00 am.

The Big Move

2011-11-13T22:24:00.003-05:00

Seriously, this is getting old. I don't want to move again until we buy a house and we're going to be there for at least a decade!The big yellow Penski truck has become a family favorite. The big boys rode down to Melbourne together. We packed all day left at 7:30 at night then drove 5 hours. We got to our new home by 2 in the morning unpacked a few mattress for the boys and laid our heads down on a blow up mattress at near 3. What a day!

Last Beach Trip In Naples!

2011-11-13T22:18:00.002-05:00

We will miss you Vanderbilt Beach and Clam Pass.....We will miss your sunsets and how close you were to our house. But, new beaches await us on the other side. Good bye Naples, Hello Cocoa Beach.

Eli turned 3!

2011-11-13T21:13:00.004-05:00

We had a little birthday party for Eli before moving. It was actually nice to have it be so simple.... a couple friends, a quick coloring activity, a pinata, open presents, cake and ice cream, the end. I just might make all birthday parties this simple from now on.

Halloween fun Naples & Melbourne

2011-11-13T20:19:00.010-05:00

Halloween was pretty crazy this year, what with the move. But, we pulled it off. Halloween is one of my favorite times to bake so I still tried to keep up traditions even with the mountains of boxes. The weeks leading up to Halloween, we managed to make pumpkin chocolate pancakes, regular pancakes that we turned into jack-o-lanterns, caramel apples and we even pulled of baking and frosting jack-o-lantern sugar cookies for Miles teachers for his last day of preschool on the 28th. John found a really great deal on a used Kitchen Aid mixer. I have absolutely loved using it and makes it that much easier to whip up a batch of cookies or brownies.

These are some pics of Halloween and just everyday super hero days (no kidding, they dress up in super hero costumes probably four or more days a week.

This was just a regular dress up in superhero costume day.....
so was this..... thanks to the pirate who does free face painting at Chik-Fil-A every Tues night.

Whirlwind

2011-10-12T21:09:00.002-04:00

This past month has been wonderfully crazy! This is a really quick update just to keep you up on the latest.......

John passed the bar! YAY!!!!! And, got a job with the State attorney's office as a prosecutor. Look out drug offenders of Brevard County!!! And, we're moving to Melbourne (Coco Beach, Cape Canavral area) in .........10 days. Well, John is moving in 10 days to start work. We'll stay for one more week, then he'll drive back down, load up, yet another, Penske truck and off we go.

Miles LOVES preschool. Every night we ask the boys what their favorite part of the day was and it's almost always preschool. He is in a really great one and I'm hoping to find another great one for him when we move.

I am teaching him to read using the book "How To Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He is doing great, mom needs to have a litte more patience some times when he's really wiggley and can't concentrate (which is often) but he is on lesson 29 and he is reading some sentences! It is so fun to hear him sound out the words.

Eli still makes me laugh. He is hillarious. Yesterday he told me I smelled like cucumbers. He tells me I'm beautiful all the time. I painted my fingernails a really dark color (OPI midnight in moscow) and when he saw them the next morning he said, "mom, your fingernails are black. I don't like it. I want them to be white like mine." And every time he sees me he says, "mom, your fingernails are still black." For the record, I think I have painted my fingernails three or four times in the last five years.

Eli is enjoying his preschool too. Everynight after dinner I do a reading lesson with Miles (they take about 15-20 min) and while I'm working with Miles, John does preschool with Eli (and Liam). They work on shapes, colors, numbers, letters etc. His favorite preschool lessons are when we let him get onto morestarfall.com. It's actually a really great website. Eli can control the mouse can click on things all by himself. I would recommend it for any preschool age kids. It costs money but it's only $35 for a whole year. Miles and Eli both love it.

Last tidbit on Eli. He has successfully pooped in the potty for a couple of days now. Then just today he said to me, "Mom, I don't like going poop on the potty, I like going poop in my diaper." Then proceded to hide behind the chair and poop. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Not sure what to do but I guess we're moving in a couple weeks and I'm not going to worry about it right now.

Liam is such a happy baby. He had his 6 month appt today and smiled at everyone in the waiting room, and smiled at the assistent taking his weight, then smiled at the doctor when she came in. He only cried for a couple of minutes after his shots then fell asleep in his car seat on the way home and slept for an hour and a half (which is a good nap for him because although he is happy, he does not take good naps during the day). He weighs 15 lbs 9 oz and is 26 inches. He sits up on his own and I bet he's a few weeks away from crawling. Every time I go to get him from his nap he's up on his hands and knees, rocking back and forth.

We feel very blessed and we are really excited about this new adventure. Stay tuned for the next udate, probably in another month or so :)

Our little guy exercizing

2011-09-02T20:46:00.003-04:00

Check out our little guy. He is sporting a sweat band I purchased for my bike training rides in the house. A little background, our boys have been fighting over who gets to wear the "band of power" (sweat band) for a week now. We thought it was Liam's turn to try it on. This was how the band of power worked through him.

PS - Wendy thinks this is totally gross to share a sweaty gym band. She also doesn't appreciate its high fashion.

Wild Florida; part 2, spiders

2011-08-25T23:49:00.000-04:00

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Florida makes so crazy big spiders.

The first spider lives in a tree above our drive way. Each night it drops down to build a web. It is about it size of a golf ball. I almost ran face first into him one night while taking out the trash. Im not sure what type it is but I think it is really cool looking.

the long slender looking one is a banana spider and was about the size of my flat hand. There are acualy two off these ladies and two males on the side of my fathers house. You can see the male spider in the fist pick of the bannana. Hes the small 2 - 3 inch guy (funny that that's small here). I think its safe to say who wears the pants in the banana spider family.

Wild Florida; part 1, sharks

2011-08-25T21:33:00.004-04:00

So shark fishing has become my new favorite thing. What a rush!!! It is truly amazing how hard it is to pull one of these guys in. Talk about forearm pump. It really feels like you are on a football field and you hooked a 350 Ib line man and he is running away. It ends up taking about 30 minutes to reel one in. Then once the shark is about knee deep in the water you have to go into the brake and grab them by the tail and pull them in while they are thrashing and trying to bite you. you take some pics cut the hook with bolt cutters and then drag the beast into the water and hope it doesn't circle back. late at night seems to be the time to get the big ones. So I put the kids to bed and hit the beach. The pics you see are taken between 10:30 PM and 1:00 AM. The top shark is a 5 1/2 - 6 ft bull shark and the bottom pic is of a 7ish ft lemon shark.

Update on our Boys

2011-08-17T20:51:00.004-04:00

Liam: Liam is almost 5 months old now. At his 4 month appt he was 13 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches. I already miss the new born phase. Gone are the days when he would just sit in your lap, or when I could hold him and sit at the computer and type. He is reaching and grabbing everything....papers, the mouse, the keyboard, pens etc. Why are these things always more fun than their toys, although he likes those too.

He has been rolling over for some time now but he can only roll over onto his stomach. A couple of times he has rolled back onto his back but mostly he'll just cry while laying on his stomach and holding his head up until I come to roll him back over. I really give him every opportunity to figure it out (which is code for I'm busy with the other boys and I can't get to him right away). Maybe however, he doesn't want to figure it out because he doesn't like to be on his back. He never did get that bald spot on the back of his head and he's just about sitting up on his own. I bet he skips that step completely.

He is generally happy and easy going and so far my easiest baby. Sometimes I'll put him in his crib and he'll fall asleep on his own. Other times he wants to be rocked a little which I don't mind at all! He's a pretty good sleeper. For a month or so he would have a 5-6 hour stretch every night but for the last couple weeks he's waking up every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I'm thinking he's entering a new phase...teething, a growth spurt or something. Still, when he wakes up, he never fusses. I just feed him and put him right back in his bed and he's back to sleep. What can I say, I LOVE MY LITTLE LIAM.

Eli: This boy cracks me up. I don't even know what to say about him. He's just too funny, too smart, too stubborn and too cute! He has always been a good communicator and was an early talker. He understands concepts and has conversations that I think are above his age level. Which is great for some reasons but not so great for others. Take potty training for instance. Because he's had his alphabet memorized, and has been able to count to 13 since he was about two, and can pretty much copy almost any word you say accurately, I think he's older than he really is and should be doing things, like going potty on the big boy potty. I forget that he's not even three yet and that the average boy doesn't potty train until he's a few months older than three. This is where Eli's stubbornness comes in. A few months back, all on his own, he said he had to go poop on the potty. Great I said. We got his little seat out and put it on the potty. He pulled off his diaper and whoa-la. Success the first time. He even did it a couple more times. And then, he just decided he didn't want to any more. Now our conversations go like this, "Mom, I have to go poop." "Great" I say, "Do you want to go poop on the big boy potty and I'll give you a sucker?" "No thank you" he says and then goes to one of his places, the closet, behind the chair, or yes, he'll even like to go in the bath room, close the door and stand in the bathtub. A few days ago he was wearing his spider man costume and said, "Mom, I have to go poop." "Well, you better go poop on the big boy potty because spider man doesn't poop in his diaper." "Yes he does mom. He's going poop right now." Need I say more. Eli can, all by himself, put his little seat on the potty, pull down his pants, take off his diaper, climb on the stool and sit down. So pretty much I'm just going to let him potty train himself. He may be 4 by the time he decides he wants to but I don't think I'm going to try again until he's ready to start kindergarten:)

Eli still loves Lightning McQueen and all the" Cars" cars. Finn McMissel and Francisco Bernoulli are his new favorites. His favorite movies to watch right now are Panyo and Maters Adventures. He especially likes the episode when Mater is a monster truck. He still loves pasta and can out eat me when it comes to spinach ravioli, lemon fettuccine or spaghetti. His favorite color is red. Everything has to be red..... his choice of candy, his toothbrush, his stickers, etc. It's always, "I want the red one."

Eli is growing up so fast. He's not much shorter than Miles. In some clothes he's wearing a 4t and his shoe size is 10, depending on the shoe. I don't know what the average is but that seems big to me. Miles starts preschool on Monday and I think this guy is going to be pretty lonely when his big brother is gone in the afternoons. They do everything together:)

Speaking of Miles ....... he is growing up so fast but in a different way. Our conversations are becoming more in depth and not just about toys and stuff like that. Lately we've been talking a lot about the children in Somalia who are dying because they don't have enough food. He first asked me about it in the car a week or so ago when I was listening to NPR. His prayers are sometimes really thoughtful too. Just tonight he prayed, more or less in these words, that other people who took the bar wouldn't pass so that daddy's chances of passing were better. I think John should pass the bar based on that prayer alone:) He also has been asking me to teach him how to read so I just checked out a book at the library, How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons, or something like that, so we'll see how that goes.

Miles can be, when he wants to, a really good helper. When Liam is in his chair and he's starting to get fussy but I'm cooking dinner and can't entertain him, Miles will put his crayons down, or stop playing with his toys and go over and talk to him with out me having to ask him. And Liam loves some of the funny faces Miles does. He's also a really good helper when I ask him to get me things....a pacifier, a burp cloth etc.

Miles is really excited for preschool and I'm excited too. We went to his preschool open house and I was really impressed. I'm hoping we stay in Naples for that reason alone. They sent him home with a big poster for him to color and fill out that tells all about him...favorite color, food, family members etc. He gets to bring it back and they spot light each child. We came home and he wanted to color it right away. Miles is really social and for the past few months we haven't done much playing with other kids for two reasons: We were all adjusting to the new baby and most of his friends moved away when their dads graduated law school with John. I think this has effected Miles behavior a little bit (or a lot bit) the last couple months so I'm hoping he can make some good friends in his class, and hoping we don't have to move in a couple months.

I feel so blessed to have my three boys. They are so wonderful and so wonderfully different from each other. Each of them brings something special to our family. My prayers usually go something like this, "Heavenly Father, I am so grateful for my wonderful, strong, healthy boys. Please let them thrive even though their mom is far less than perfect. Please don't let my lack of parenting skills screw them up forever:)"

3 Boys

2011-08-14T21:49:00.001-04:00

Sorry for all of the pics guys but we are so proud of our boys and... well... its our blog so we can.

2011-08-10T23:58:00.000-04:00

Our happy little Liam

2011-08-10T23:00:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day

2011-08-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

I know this is late but thank you to all those who served and are are still serving our country. This is what we showed the boys on Memorial Day this year. This is John's father Gary guarding President Kennedy's grave and Gary's father Doug Watson during WWII. Doug was an airplane mechanic on a Navy aircraft carrier.

Cars 2

2011-08-09T19:23:00.003-04:00

The boys love Cars. John took them to the new movie franchise. The two of them loved it and still talk about seeing it again to this day. For weeks before the movie miles counted down the days before opening night. On the way in to the movie Miles enthusiastically told everyone that they were going to see cars 2.

Slippin-and-a-slidding through summer

2011-08-08T23:12:00.000-04:00

Our good visiting Naples friends

2011-08-08T21:54:00.002-04:00

As you can see its hard to get a sharp pic of this group. I thought keeping two still was hard! These are our friends from Kentucky, Nina and Stephan. Their parents Per and Angelici own a home in Naples down the road from us. We have really enjoyed getting to know them and their family! We look forward to their visits throughout the year.

4th of July tradition of Superman and parades

2011-08-08T21:27:00.005-04:00

Drum roll please

2011-08-08T20:08:00.002-04:00

Were back, John is done with school, the Florida Bar, and the MPRE.

Will We Ever Get Caught Up???

2011-06-26T22:36:00.003-04:00

Probably not but here's our attempt........

Happy Easter!

Eli ate all of his jelly beans in...maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Once he started dumping them all over the floor I figured, why not? He was one crazy, hyper, then angry, then tired little boy. I think he finally fell asleep around 10:00 pm.

John Graduated!!!!

2011-06-26T22:25:00.002-04:00

In March John and Art participated in the national patent law competition. They first went to regionals in Houston where they took second place, which qualified them to go to nationals. The national competition was held in April in D.C. and although they were eliminated the first round, they did really well. They took 8th place out of 70 teams. John and Art had a blast.....one last hurrah for two best friends. Graduation!!!! Yay, we did it!

2011-06-26T21:02:00.004-04:00

Jeanne, Mike and Tanner came out for John's Graduation. We had so much fun with them. Miles and Eli still talk about their cousin Tanner. Wish we could see each other more often. Beautiful sunset from the Pier (We still LOVE Naples)

Liams First Week at Home

2011-04-09T22:58:00.001-04:00

2011-04-09T22:53:00.002-04:00

2011-04-09T22:49:00.001-04:00

We have a tradition in our family that when we have a new baby, the baby gives a gift to his big brothers (Eli gave Miles a wooden tool kit). We tell the boys that the baby is so excited to be in our family and to have such wonderful big brothers and he wanted to give you a gift. This is Miles showing us his gift from baby Liam. Eli got a Buzz Lightyear toy. Liam, 3 days old In his car seat for the first time, leaving the hospital

Welcome Liam John Watson

2011-04-09T22:42:00.001-04:00

March 30, 2011 * 2:37 pm * 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 inches. Liam left the hospital weighing 7 lbs 8 oz and 5 days later at his 1 week appt he weighed 9 lbs 1 oz! His doctor is a little Haitian woman and she could not believe it. She said, "Wow baby, you drink like a cow" in her accent which sounds Jamaican. We both started laughing, I knew Liam liked to eat a lot, but I never thought he would gain that much weight so quickly!

This was by far my easiest and, do I dare say, most enjoyable labor and delivery. Everything was smooth and easy. Even the recovery has been pretty easy. By reading this you might think I'd be up for another one........ but I'm pretty sure 3 Watson boys are enough for our little family:)

2011-04-08T20:33:00.002-04:00

Drummer Boy

2011-03-20T22:58:00.003-04:00

John is getting old

2011-03-20T22:56:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday John (Jan. 20th) #34!!!!

Sleep Over

2011-03-20T22:55:00.002-04:00

Miles said that he and Eli were going to have a sleep over. I wasn't sure what that meant since they already share a room, but when we went to check on them later that night this is what we found.......

Chuck-E-Cheese

2011-03-20T22:47:00.001-04:00

One last family outing before John started his last semester of school. Chuck-E-Cheese is about 30 min away and we surprised the boys. The whole way up they kept asking us what the surprise was and when we got there they were SO EXCITED! I wish we would have gotten that on video.

Eli's long hair is gone now :( It was so cute but it's just too hot here in Florida and he hates having it washed.

New Year's Eve

2011-03-20T22:38:00.001-04:00

Fireworks at the Naples Pier (this pic was taken by our friend Jim Harmer)

Game night after fireworks. Miles actually stayed up until 12:30 am w/ no nap

Our little family waiting for the fireworks to start. We love New Year's in Naples.

Yoga

2011-03-20T22:18:00.003-04:00

Yoga didn't work so great with the boys but it was fun that they wanted to try.

Still getting caught up from Christmas

2011-03-20T12:27:00.004-04:00

Having an ice cream treat

2011-03-19T23:52:00.001-04:00

Money Concepts

2011-03-18T20:18:00.003-04:00

Miles has started earning his own money. He gets 25 cents for folding laundry, taking out the garbage or helping me unload the dishwasher (all his other "chores" are just because he's part of the family). I'm amazed at his willingness to do these things. It's not often that he says no to any of them, and he's great at these jobs, even pulling out the heavy garbage to the curb all by himself.

Last week we counted the money in his bank and he earned $3.75 and with a $10 Target gift card from Grandma Janet that we've been saving since Christmas he had enough to go to Target and pick out a new toy (it was another Iron Man toy, big surprise). The lady at the check out was really patient while we counted out the quarters so Miles could see how this process worked. It was a great experience and I felt like I was being a good parent and teaching my son a valuable lesson. I'm thinking, yay he's understanding the concept.

Then, yesterday he wanted to buy something and I told him he didn't have enough money. He told me to drive to the bank and get some. I said to Miles, "Money isn't free from the bank, you have to work hard and earn it and then you take it to the bank."

"No you don't", he said, " It comes from Grammy and Grandpa in the mail every time they send a package or a card. Let's call Grammy and tell her to send us some more free money."

I just started laughing because that's mostly true right now. I guess the next money concept I will be teaching him is about loans and having to pay them back after dad graduates and gets a job.

Mom and Dad, please do not send a check to Miles after reading this:)

2011-03-17T00:19:00.001-04:00

More funny things:

2011-03-17T00:03:00.002-04:00

Miles and Eli are so funny and I neglect to write down most of the funny things they say. Well, lets face it, we neglect to update anything these days. And I'm pretty sure it's not going to get any better with little Liam John Watson due in the next couple weeks. So, one last update before the new baby:

Yesterday Eli laid down on the couch and said, "Mom, my tummy hurts." "What's the matter?" I said. His response...."My baby in my tummy is moving and it hurts."
Hmmmmmmmm, where did he hear that?

Super hero's are driving me nuts. The boys are still wearing their costumes 3-4 times a week and we're ALWAYS fighting bad guys! Two days ago while I was working with Miles doing some preschool things we were practicing writing his name and he said, "Mom, I want to change my name." "OK, to what?" I said. "I want to be called Peter Parker, that is my new name." And wouldn't you know he actually answers to it sometimes when I can't get him to answer to Miles.

Out of the Mouths of Miles and Eli.....

2011-01-30T23:10:00.004-05:00

Today at church we were sitting next to the missionaries. They had an investigator come in a little late and sat down right by us. The investigator was pretty overweight and before I new it Miles said in a not so quiet whisper, "Mom, she ate too many cookies but I won't call her fat" (Miles and I have had the discussion about how we treat everyone kind and we never say mean things that would hurt other people's feelings).

Then Eli chimes in and says, "Don't eat my crackers" as he pulls them closer to his body to protect them.

I WAS MORTIFIED!! I'm still hoping she didn't hear, but that's not likely. I tried to pull out their cars and books as fast as I could before they could say anything else.

A few days ago we were going around our neighborhood on our bikes. There is always this guy standing in his driveway smoking a big fat cigar. As Miles rode by he said to him, "You should really listen to Jesus more often." The man just said, "Um, OK" and I just waived and smiled.

What's a mom to do:)

Let's Talk Baby Names:

2011-01-18T16:22:00.002-05:00

We still do not know what we are going to name baby boy #3. We've narrowed it down ( I think) to these names: Liam, Truman, Sawyer or Crosby. If anyone reading our blog has an opinion on these names or a suggestion to add to our list, please feel free to comment. I know I still have 10 weeks to go but it seems like it's approaching fast.

Christmas morning 2010

2011-01-16T21:28:00.004-05:00

The night before Christmas and all though the....

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Cookies for Santa

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Getting ready for Christmas with gingerbread cookies

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The big dirty

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During finals this round I decided to rock a mustache. Wendy and every female I knew thought it was ridiculous and disgusting but the guys thought it was awesome. These are a few redneck shots.

Grammy came to town!!!

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Tennis Lessons for Miles

2011-01-02T20:29:00.003-05:00

With Miles being 4yrs old now we can sign him up for sports through the rec ed program. We first tried tennis. He did pretty well the first few lessons but then I think he got bored. If it wasn't for coach Allie I think he would have just stayed home the last couple weeks. Miles really had a crush on coach Allie. Eli still talks about her when we go over to the park and pass the tennis courts. He'll say, "Miles played tennis with coach Allie right there".
We start soccer in a couple weeks. We'll see how that goes.

John's New Hobbie.......

2011-01-02T20:26:00.001-05:00

Carving coconuts. Much cheaper and safer than racing motorcycles.

Thanksgiving

2011-01-02T20:18:00.003-05:00

We headed up to Titusville (about 4 hrs away, up by Cape Canaveral) to spend Thanksgiving with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Janet. We had a rough start to our trip. We got off about an hour and a half later than planned. John had to stop by his school to get some books so he could study that weekend and while we were pulling out to head toward the freeway an older lady from Canada rear ended us. Thankfully it was really minor, just a few scratches, but it scared the boys and delayed our trip even more. Then, I decided to take the scenic route because it's much prettier of a drive but didn't realize how late it was. We were heading to Dinosaur World, a park about an hour and a half from Titusville, with 50 or so life size dinosaurs and other fun things to do. I called earlier in the day and they said they closed at 6:00. No problem I thought. We got there about 4:45 and they said, "Sorry you were misinformed, we close at 5:00pm". I just about cried at that point. But, what are you going to do. We let the boys run around for 15 or 20 twenty minutes, got back in the car and went to five Guys for dinner. That will always make a pregnant girl feel better.

The rest of the weekend was great. Janet and Gary cooked a nice Thanksgiving meal. The weather was so nice we spent a bunch of time out side. These pics are from the park we went to the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Wendy had a Birthday

2011-01-02T20:06:00.002-05:00

Our wonderful Wendy had a birthday. She is a selfless giver and glue to our family. Being Wendy there were no surprises and no fan-fare. This is the only photo I could get of the event. Even though there was no "big ta-ta" as Wendy would say, we all celebrate how special of a person she is to us. We love you Wendy. You are amazing!!!

Halloween in January????

2011-01-02T20:04:00.001-05:00

Yes, if it's been that long since we've posted anything on our blog. And it has. Sorry. At this rate we'll be posting Christmas around the time the baby is due the first week of April.

Halloween was so much fun this year. I love this holiday. Our boys really got into it. We sang songs, made caramel apples, watched Halloween movies, ate pumpkin everything..cookies, pancakes, muffins etc. We celebrated the whole month long.
Carving pumpkins in Florida is different. You really can't carve them any earlier than the day before Halloween or they turn moldy. I think we carved them Saturday which was the day we celebrated because Halloween was on Sunday.
We went to a couple really fun parties.

Both of our boys were Iron Man!!! (Eli pretty much copies everything Miles does) I have to say that these costumes have been put to good use because they still wear them a few times a week. Super hero's are really big right now in our house hold. The boys go back and forth between being Iron Man, Batman, and Spider man, while dad is Captain America and I am Woman Girl (Wonder Woman, but Miles calls her Woman Girl). Daily we are fighting the Penguin, the Joker, Ultimo, Whiplash and another bad guys trying to hurt us. Yesterday, Miles, I mean Batman, was protecting the baby in Mommies tummy because the bad guys were trying to hurt him. The only time the boys are not pretending to be super hero's is when they are pretending to be Buzz and Woody from Toy Story 3, their favorite movie right now (except for the monkey, Eli is sooo scared of that monkey) Also, Miles likes to pretend he is Mr Potato Head in the first scene of the movie when he is robbing the train. Miles loves to pretend to steal money from a train or bank etc.... Should I be worried yet? I suppose not since the other six days of the week he's the good guy.

2011-01-02T19:40:00.003-05:00

Bath with the boys and their new way to make a mess

2010-11-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

Eli is two!!!

2010-11-06T21:19:00.002-04:00

The nights that followed the big-boy-bed

2010-10-23T22:56:00.003-04:00

We moved Eli out of his crib and into the big boy bed the beginning of Sept. He did pretty well. I think it only took three or four nights of having to go in and put him in his own bed. It was actually really fun to go in and see where he ended up. My favorite of course is when we found Eli in bed with Miles. When these two boys aren't fighting, they are best friends. I asked Miles not to long ago who his best friend was and he said Eli.

Eli's new big boy bed

2010-10-20T23:11:00.001-04:00

Miles doing push-ups

2010-10-20T23:06:00.001-04:00

2010-10-08T22:12:00.002-04:00

Funny Things From Miles

2010-09-30T09:01:00.002-04:00

As I said in my earlier post, Miles says some really funny and creative things. Here are a couple:

Yesterday in pre-school we talked about weather, mostly about wind. I bought the boys a little wind chime (They were 50 cents at Michael's, I couldn't pass them up). Miles started ringing his wind chime and said, "Mom, every time you are not paying attention to me, I am going to ring this wind chime and that will let you know you need to pay attention to me." Although this was initially funny coming out of his mouth, it's really not so funny because he is REALLY demanding. I guess I should be grateful that he can at least verbalize it with words instead of just screaming and doing bad things all the time. Oh wait, he does that too. (OK, maybe I should have passed up the wind chimes:)

Miles also like to change his clothes....a lot... 3 times a day or more. Laundry is killing me. I've really been trying to crack down on him when it comes to changing his clothes all the time. A couple days ago I went into his room after his quiet time and he had changed his clothes. He was wearing his Superman outfit and there were clothes all over the floor. "Miles, what have you done?" I asked. His reply, "Mom I'm playing Superman and I have to change my clothes because when Superman is in Chicago he wears one thing, and then when he's in Japan he has to change into something else. He can't wear the same thing in Chicago as he wears in Japan." How could I argue with that??

Miles

2010-09-20T21:12:00.002-04:00

A while ago I did an update on Eli. Now I want to do an update on Miles.

Miles is my buddy. Other than the 45-50 mins he's in quiet time every day and the 3 hours every other week that he goes to "pre-school" ( a little mommy co-op I'm doing)....oh and two hours of primary on Sunday and an occasional 30 min walk after dinner he is by my side talk-talk-talkin'. I remember my brother said once he was so excited when his oldest son Jackson started to talk but the excitement wore off when he realized that now he won't stop talking. I'm not going to lie, sometimes it wears on me. But mostly it fascinates me, the things he says. He is so thoughtful about things, and creative. I'll have to jot them down on the blog on a regular basis so I can remember what he says and document it for when he gets older.

He is such a good big brother to Eli. Other than the occasional push, shove, hit, take his toy (which I'm sure is normal) he is so caring and concerned about it. Eli is usually a good eater but he is going through a phase right now where we practically have to force vegetables in his mouth etc. Well, the other night at dinner Eli was not eating and we said that he couldn't have ice cream if he didn't eat his dinner. Miles chimed in and said, "Please Eli, Please eat your dinner. Try your broccoli so you can have some ice cream." He really didn't want Eli to miss out on that yummy treat.

Every night we ask the boys what their favorite part of their day was. With Eli we usually just re cap all the things we did and then ask him, "Did you like that part?" Eli says, "Yes." Sometimes Eli will say more like, "play, or book store or Ferrari" (The boys saw one on an outing and Eli was so excited to tell me about it) and I'll say, "Oh, your favorite part of the day was going to the book store or seeing the Ferrari." and he'll say "Yes". With Miles it's a whole different story. This is my absolute favorite 5 min of the day because Miles is laying in his bed and I'm kneeling beside him and we're talking. I mean we're having a real conversation. He's telling me details about his day that I may have missed because I was busy cleaning or doing something else. He's telling me about how he felt when this or that happened. And he's really insightful. Sometimes it's not just the big things like going to the Everglades to look for alligators, or the beach, or the train museum. Sometimes like tonight, it was playing with Eli, and we did some fun things today. Sometimes he says, "My favorite part of the day was cuddling with you mom." Or, " My favorite part of the day was when dad came home and we went swimming, the whole family and we were all together." And then there are those days when we've had a REALLY rough time . I still kneel down by his bed and ask him what his favorite part was, to which he'll reply, "No favorite part." Believe me kid, I'm right there with you. But then I'll say to him that we should get a good night sleep and try to have a better day tomorrow and kiss him on his head. And no matter what he always says, "I sure love you and I'll sure miss you mom." and I say it back to him. It really is magic having that 5 min conversation with Miles.

Miles loves books. All kinds of books. We read superhero books, books from the library, moms books like "The Giving Tree" and "I wish I were a Butterfly." (books I don't want ripped) Oh, so many. Last night he and dad were taking turns reading. Miles would "read" a page in his book (really tell about the picture or tell the story from memory) and dad would read a couple paragraphs in one of his law books. John said Miles really listened while he read, and waited patiently for his turn to read again. And Every night we read the Book of Mormon. It's a big heavy family edition with lost of pictures. He'll pick a picture and we'll talk about it. Then I'll read a couple verses. I never know if he's listening or not, but the other day I said to Miles, "Let's read the Book of Mormon. And he said, "OK, and it came to pass." Which made me laugh a little because now I know he's listening.

I am so glad I have Miles for my buddy. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'll take him just as he is. Besides, he has to take me just as I am and that's pretty imperfect.

I'm so grateful for my two wonderful boys.

Next I'll do an update about John, my oh so wonderful husband. Don't hold your breath, it may be a month or more.

Family home evening roasted marshmallow & hanging around

2010-09-06T22:28:00.003-04:00

Swimming

2010-08-28T21:22:00.002-04:00

Fishing with the boys

2010-08-28T21:11:00.002-04:00

We pulled the plug.....

2010-08-02T19:56:00.002-04:00

...on the internet in our home. So... I don't get much time on the internet anymore. There are things I really like about that and things I don't like about that. I like that I'm reading again. I'm currently reading two books at the same time, The Red Tent and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, along with the May conference edition of the Ensign. I only have the Sunday afternoon session left. What I don't like is not being able to check blogs or do updates on our blog. I am in John's office at his school right now and he took the boys to the book store. After checking my email, paying bills on line and checking blogs, I'm guessing I only have maybe ten minutes before John pulls up and honks. So we will have to do this update in "chunks". I'll start with Eli.

Eli: Eli is growing up so fast. He talks all the time and can copy most of what you say. He'll say the last word of every sentence when we're kneeling for prayer. We'll say....."Thank you for our family" and he'll say "family" etc. His favorite movie is "Ghost Lights" from Cars. Every morning he says, "Hello mama, watch Ghost Lights." Eli can count to three and recognizes some of his letters. He also knows some of his shapes....star, heart and triangle are the ones he knows best. He also loves to put his own shoes on and always gets them on the right feet. Sometimes he'll put them on the wrong feet then come to me and say, "Mama look, wrong feet."

He loves Miles and loves to play with him. The two run around the house and jump on each other until they're out of breath or they're both crying. At which point they take a breather and start right back up again. our house is becoming consistently more noisy the older Eli gets and the more he understands. Miles and Eli just "feed" off each other. When one starts screaming (or making any noise for the matter) the other one has to be even louder, and then the first one has to beat that etc. It drives me nuts most of the time but I guess it's pay back from when I was a really loud kid. I can still hear the words "No noise" or "Wendy, not so loud" coming from my father. One time I called him, and after apologizing for my loudness as a child I asked if I was this loud, referring to the noise in the background from Miles and Eli. He said, "No!"

John just honked. That's all for now. No time to re-read and spell check. Hope it all makes sense.

The bite, The orgin of "Miles did-it."

2010-07-13T23:15:00.002-04:00

Ouch, this was Miles way of working out a fight with Eli :( When asked what happened Eli said for the first time "Miles did-it." This phrase has become a favorite of Eli and is used often.

A quick dip on the other side of Florida

2010-07-13T22:59:00.004-04:00

We drove to Ft. Lauderdale one afternoon and it was hot! I guess that is no surprise. The boys were able to take off their shirts and go for a swim. Good thing dad had his water polo days of training. Doing the egg beater with two boys in the ocean was no small feat.

Our boys

2010-07-13T22:38:00.004-04:00

One of Miles favorite things to do is listen to what dad has on i-tunes and watch our family pictures cycle through the computer.

The second photo is Miles doing his spontaneous version of a cool pose.

In the next two photos Eli found Miles old helmet and wanted it on and then found a box and sat down. I would guess he was pretending he was driving a fast race car.

The last two speak for themselves.

Notice Lightning McQueen in Eli's hand. IT NEVER LEAVES IT! He swims with it, travels with it, takes it to the park, library, everywhere. He takes baths with it, reads books with it and at the end of each night it goes to bed with him. He's getting really good at doing things one handed.

A few more fishing photos

2010-07-13T22:22:00.004-04:00

Lady fish

This is a small stingray without a stinger. Not sure why. Maybe its to young or its a different breed.

I'm not sure what this is in the last photo. I put it in a gallon zip lock bag to examine it. I stepped on it and it felt squishy. Its about the size and overall shape of a flat baseball. This is a view from the top those flaps fanned to slowly propel it in the water. As I touched it or moved it around it inked. Anyone have an ideas what it is?

Rhino boy

2010-07-07T20:59:00.002-04:00

Our little Rhino

Creatures of Florida

2010-06-24T22:40:00.003-04:00

Photo 1 & 2; last week we were coming home from a late night with the kids. we got home, piled out of the car. Miles said "but mom I don't have any shoes." You see Wendy always, I mean always, makes sure that the boys have shoes on when they go out side. Well this time on her on volition Wendy said "its OK just don't step on any cockroaches." You see there are lots of those around here. Well Miles missed all of the cockroaches that I'm sure were scurrying out of the way but he ended up stepping on this snake that I grabbed after some delicate wrestling on our garage floor.

3 & 4 are from my last late night shark fishing adventures. How it works is I walk up and down the beach in knee deep water with a head lamp on and spear any glowing eyes I see. The hope is to get some big fish and or stingrays for shark bait. This night I got a sting ray within the first 3o minutes and put that on the shark rig. I walked it out to waist deep water and chucked the ray with two big hooks and about a pound worth of weight in the ocean. I then go back to spearing, until 2ish. This night I tagged a Lady fish about 10 inches long that we ended up using for bait. Then I got a 4 inch white fish that I used for bait to catch the beautiful Snook that you see below. I understand that they are great eating. They also put on a BIG fight. Alas though, they are out of season so after the attempted great photo with my frozen camera due to the frozen chum sitting next to the camera on the way to the beach I let it go. The last thing I speared that night was this cat fish It was grunting as it forced air through its gills. They can breath out of water for some time I am told. As I was looking at it I noticed it had a mouth full of fish. On closer review, they were its babies. There is one that fell out and is on the top of the cooler you can see. I felt bad. I'm OK killing fish to eat or use for bait that other fish will eat but this poor momma fish was just trying to raise a family. I pulled her of the spear and let her go. Who knows if she was gobbled up by the next shark or big fish? I just know I felt a little better about trying to let her go back to her mommy life.

2010-06-23T20:15:00.004-04:00

Here are a few last photos of our trip to ride the train. Thank you so much Grammy and Grandpa. The two boys loved it and Wendy and I had a blast.
From the top; Miles checking out the tracks before the train came, A quick stop before we turned around to go back to the old logging town, Miles on the way to ride the train.

Before the big ride

2010-06-22T21:32:00.002-04:00

Miles, Grandpa, and Dad went exploring while we all waited for the train. We found the remnants of an old logging mill. It was so cool for Dad to figure out how they would bring the logs in from the train and process them in the old steam run machines. There we cut logs, belts, blades, gears, chains, and small trolleys it was so cool!

2010-06-20T22:43:00.001-04:00

This was a face of pure joy! Miles watched the train pull into the station

We went through a redwood forest. I had fun imagining what it would have been like to be a logger back when this area was being cleared.
My wonderful Wendy

2010-06-20T22:31:00.002-04:00

Last few days in Utah

2010-06-20T22:05:00.003-04:00

Wendy and I had a amazing time in the Draper temple. Its by far my favorite now. The Spirit hit me like a load of bricks and as a side note the art work was amazing!
My family with Grandma Jeannie and aunt Karen
The boys had a blast playing with all of Stacy's cars from her boys/now men. The kitchen table was a favorite race track for the boys.

A pinata celebration just because. Eli surprised me with knowing what to do and Miles could really swing that stick.

Fun With The Boys

2010-06-20T21:43:00.001-04:00

We had a sleep over with some of our favorite friends, the Mortensen's. Here the boys are playing Ninjas.
Miles and his cousin Tanner had a blast playing together. If we lived closer, man those two would be causing mischief all the time.

Boys and baths

2010-06-20T21:31:00.003-04:00

A sick and fevered Miles, Brooks and Carter Mortensen
Miles and cousin Tanner
Eli and cousin Tage

2010-06-20T21:22:00.002-04:00

We all had sooo much fun at Grammy and Grandpas house.

Grammy took over all child care. This was the regular bed-time story.
The hall way other wise known as Grammy and Eli's race track

Grammy and her awsome oranges

2010-06-20T20:54:00.001-04:00

This summer we all made a trip to Sunnyvale, CA. then to Salt Lake City, UT then back to Sunnyvale. This was our first stop.
One of our traditions is picking oranges with Grammy Barbara. The kids loved it and even John enjoyed finding all the hidden ones deep in the old orange tree.

Random Stuff Until We Get Caught Up........

2010-06-13T23:00:00.001-04:00

"Caps, Caps For Sale. Fifty Cents a Cap" One of our favorite books
The boys have really enjoyed painting and other art projects lately.
Jumping....always one of our favorite activities.

2010-06-13T22:50:00.001-04:00

fishing....a favorite past time lately
Eating apples on one of our trips to the Everglades
More fishing.

2010-06-13T22:46:00.001-04:00

2010-06-13T22:43:00.002-04:00

These eyes were on a frog that he made at the library. He pulled them off, put them on his head and said, "Look mom, now I have four eyes." He must have forgotten they were up there because he wore them for an hour or so.

2010-06-13T22:34:00.002-04:00

Miles had a primary talent show a couple months ago. Ever since then he'll sometimes randomly set up a stage on our little table by covering it with blankets and then he'll sing and dance. Stay tuned for pics from our trip out to CA and UT

Conversations With My Boys

2010-05-11T19:50:00.000-04:00

John: Mother's Day was wonderful. John was so nice to change all the diapers, take the boys out of sacrament meeting when they were naughty, make dinner and clean up after too. While he was doing the dishes I said to him, "This has been such a wonderful day, I wish all days could be like this." (and by that I didn't mean that he should always change all the diapers, make dinner and clean it up. I was referring to the peaceful, happy feeling in our home. The feeling of love and appreciation the whole day through, uninterrupted by little arguments or moments of losing patients with the boys. It really felt like heaven on earth in our home that day) John's reply was this, "I don't wish everyday was like today. It's too hard being you." He was obviously referring to changing all the diapers, making dinner etc......

Miles: We went to Shark Valley in the Everglades this past weekend and Miles had to go to the bathroom. I took him to the restrooms which were "out houses". Really nice ones actually. When we went in there I said to Miles, "This potty is a little different, you don't have to flush it." He took one look down that big dark hole and said, "Mom, little boys will fall in!" "No you won't Miles, I won't let you." He took another look down the hole and said, "Mom, there are tigers in there." Thankfully he only had to pee. Later on he said, "Mom, I have to poop." And I said, "Go get your dad." Good luck with that one John:)

Eli: Eli is quite a good little talker. It's amazing how in just one week they go from saying a couple two-word sentences to lots of two-word sentences etc. Tonight after dinner I said, "Let's go eat popsicles on the patio after dinner." "Should we do that?" Eli's reply was, "Ya, do dat, popickles.

I love all my boys and our conversations!!!!

Easter and eggs

2010-04-30T21:42:00.000-04:00

Our neighbor gave us these eggs filled with confetti. She said it was a southern tradition to crack them over your head.

The Ugliest creature in the whole world

2010-04-30T21:33:00.000-04:00

John says this is the ugliest creature in the world. He may not be really cute, but the ugliest? I found him walking down our sidewalk one morning and had to take a picture.

Space Shuttle launch and easter with grandpa & Grandma Watson

2010-04-30T21:04:00.000-04:00

Pictures of the sky after the shuttle launch

Waiting for the launch at 6:00 am
The boys are still train crazy. This is one of their favorite movies called "I Love Toy Trains." Go figure.
Miles helping grandpa Gary with yard work.
Easter Bunny Breakfast
I wish these videos did the launch justice. It was AMAZING....bordering even spiritual to think about where the astronauts were headed. To have that perspective. To look upon our world, the Lord's creation, from the heavens above.........man, someday.

Red Sox Baseball Game

2010-04-18T22:15:00.000-04:00

Washing the boys

2010-04-18T21:58:00.000-04:00

2010-04-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

2010-04-18T21:34:00.000-04:00

THE FIELD IS WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST

2010-03-28T21:36:00.001-04:00

I got back from attending our stake missionary fireside and I thought I would share some of the things I learned and feelings I felt.

I had a few "I'm not in Kansas (Utah) anymore" experiences. We have 30 full time missionaries serving in our stake. When the stake president asked them to stand up I took a look around the chapel and was overwhelmed with the spirit that these special young men and women have. It was like our own mini MTC.

Later, the stake president asked everyone to stand up who is a convert to the church. Then he asked those to stand up whose parents were converts and that's how they came into the gospel. And then onto grandparents...stand up if your grandparents were converts to the church. By this time everybody was standing up. Not kidding. The stake presidency, the bishops and branch presidents, and even a member of the Tampa Bay Florida Missions presidency stood up. There could not have been more than a dozen people still sitting. And the ones I could see sitting down were from the law school. They're probably from Utah or Idaho etc. I have never been in a place where literally almost everyone is a first or second generation member. My first thought was, " How cool." My second thought was, "I think I'm just realizing what a blessing it has been in my life to have such a rich heritage in the gospel to have my membership in the gospel go back to the pioneers." My third thought and most powerful, "Have I lived worthy of this rich heritage?"

There were nearly 600 baptisms in the Tampa Bay mission last year. In one ward last month they had 14 baptisms and 90% (I think) were brought to the missionaries through the members.

The stake president shared this story about a member in our stake: This man and his family were living in Miami at the time. One day he was walking down the street with his son Elijah. They passed by another man and began to speak with one another. They talked for a while when the other man said, "Shorty you and your family will move and you will be presented with a beautiful opportunity, and your son Elijah will do a very important work for the Lord. The man had never been told his son's name. Three months later they moved up to St. Petersberg. They rented a house whose owners happened to be members of the church. The rest is history, or the beginning of this family's story as members of the church.
The stake president said that angels all over are preparing the way if we will just open our mouths.

Have I opened my mouth lately? Have I loved and served my neighbors? When people see me, do they see a happiness to the core, a light in my eyes, that would let them know there's something different about me?

I know I feel overwhelmed most of the time raising two boys, having a husband in law school and teaching seminary, trying to keep the house clean (that's way down on the list lately), making meals for my family that are healthy but also in our budget of not much, serving in the YW presidency, reading my scriptures everyday and the Ensign every month and updating my blog:) etc.... yada yada. But, I really hope to keep the spirit of missionary work and to remember to go out of my way to love and serve and open my mouth.

Highlights of the day....

2010-03-23T18:19:00.000-04:00

Highlight #1: John watched the kids during lunch while I went to a lecture that one of his professors was giving on human trafficking. I've read the book "Half The Sky" and I've heard a lot about this on NPR. Immokalee (a farm community about 30 min east) has a huge problem with human trafficking. Ave Maria has a clinic to help the victims of this horrific crime and Professor Donovan works directly with the girls as their attorney. I feel like there's not much I can do being a stay at home mom. I'm not going to drag my kids out there to scope out any suspicious bars, buildings, trailers etc. so I can report it to the police. But I feel like I have to do something. I talked with Professor Donovan very briefly and I hope that she knows of some way I can be of assistance. I'll keep you posted.

Highlight #2: I'm putting Eli in his car seat to go to Super Target. Miles was running to the car and he tripped and fell and skinned his knees(this part was not the highlight of my day). Fortunately I keep some Neosporin To Go and band aids in my bag so we didn't have to go all the way back in the house. They were Handy Manny band aids. We fixed up Miles skinned knees and off to Target we went. When we got there, Miles did not want to get out of the car. This was our conversation:

Me: "Miles, why don't you want to get out of the car?"

Miles: "Because Handy Manny band aids are so cool and everyone will want one and they will try to steal them off my knees!"

After laughing out loud, literally, I promised Miles if anyone came close to his knees to try to steal his band aids then I would king-fu chop them. This worked, and he felt a lot better about sporting his Handy Manny band aids in Super Target.

A Visit to the Train Museum

2010-03-22T21:18:00.000-04:00

Eli loves Elmo

2010-03-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

These slippers are still too big (they were Miles) but he loves them