long week...

i just got home from small group, and i have had a crazy 'week' (i know, it's just tuesday. that's how long of a week it's been!)
sunday night chris went to bed early cause he had to go to work before 4am. so i decided to make him some hard boiled eggs at 10pm, cause i was still going to be up for awhile. i put 6 eggs in a pot with water, had it boil, then on medium/low heat, and went on my merry way. i think i blogged. did random things on the internet. then i went to bed. topher woke me up at 5:30am, which was not ok since i went to bed after 11. but when i went into the kitchen to get him some milk, i noticed a blue halo of light under a pot on the stove. i never turned the dang thing off! that's about 7 hours of cooking. there was definitely no more water in the pot. only six very brown, kinda burnt-ish looking eggs. i praised Jesus that i didn't set the whole apartment complex ablaze. and then i opened all the windows cause our home stank! serious sulpheric stink. many candles were lit. some curse bombs were dropped. not a good way to start the day. especially since 1. chris had been up 2 hours before and could have tuurned off the stove HAD HE NOTICED IT WAS ON. of course he didn't. just like he doesn't notice when i get my hair done. anyhoo, it was also bad cause we had just talked about some 'egg genie' thing that hard boils your eggs to perfection everytime. most guys on his squad have one. i thought it was ludacris, and part of the reason why america is crazy- cause you need to have a specific machine for every single job under the sun. we will be buying an egg genie on the weekend...
i managed to squeeze in a morning playdate and a lunch hang-out while i was airing out the apartment. topher had more accidents on the carpet, so i steam cleaned the living room AGAIN. my girlfriend asked if i regretted training topher so early. cause maybe he wasn't as ready as he could be if i had waited. but then later at night, when we were getting the kids ready for bed, topher said he had to poop. and he wanted dad to take him. so chris took him, and i was going to put lily down while chris was occupied, but lily knew chris was supposed to put her down, so she didn't want to go with me into her room. so then we all decided to hang out in the bathroom together as a family. and we all watched topher poop. and it was INCREDIBLE. a bigger turd than you would think would be able to exist in his little body emerged and sank to the bottom o f the tank. and as we all watched topher poo (no stage fright here folks!) i was SO THANKFUL that he was potty trained enough to be able to poo on the potty (and with an audience) cause if i had had to clean that crap (literally) out of a diaper- it would not have been good.
this morning the kids and i went to the zoo. perfect day for it. actually, as we were getting ready for the zoo, i was running around getting the kids' clothes, and lily was in her room with topher, reading to him. (reaD: she can't read! but it was a number book, and she knows her numbers. so that's reading to me.) SO PRECIOUS. i love my kids.
we went to the zoo, had a great morning, and the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. when the kids fall asleep in the car, we stay in the car until they wake up. i learned from my mistake last week, and made sure i had some literature in the car for such an occassion as this. so i read a chapter of the bible, and an entire issue of 'Parenting' magazine. the kids were out for an hour and a half! great nap! and again- the weather was perfect. with the windows down, the kids were not too hot or too cold. when they woke up, we got out of the acr and all walked to the apartment. perfect.
then tonight, chris and i were planning on going to small group together, but when he came home from work he was TIRED. he has to wake up at 4 again tomorrow, so we decided to drop the kids off at nana and papa's, go out for a nice, quick, romantic dinner for two at chipotle, then i dropped him back off at the apartment, and proceeded to small group.
because of the crazy day the kids had, they both fell asleep in the car on the short ride home. my nightmare come true. there's no way i was going to stay in the car with them for 8-12 hours (unless there was some kind of guarantee that they would sleep for that long!!!) anyway, i parked the car in our usual spot- which is as close as it could be to the apartment, but is still too far at the same time. i picked lily up first. then topher. i did not do a good job of closing the sliding door. oh well. topher was flopping around like a fish out of water- totally asleep. weird. almost dropped him. twice. i was walking/wobbling/praying, trying not to drop the kids. then i got to the door. the locked door. the keys were in my back pocket and i had no idea how i was supposed to get those out with my arms as full as they were. first i tried to prop my leg up on the wall, to give topher more support while my arm was busy retrieving my keys. but then i couldn't reach the lock and doorknob from that angle. i almost started pounding on the door to wake chris up. but i didn't. i crouched on the ground, kinda woke up both kids, managed to get the door open, took off my shoes, threw/placed lily on the couch, brought topher to his bed, then picked lily up and put her to bed. whew. i need to work out more, or my kids need to quit growing.
and to top off this crazy 'week' (read: two days) our tivo didn't record LOST or GLEE!...

sarah's housewarming cake

thursday night we had a nice little get-together to celebrate my sister-in-law's sister's new apartment! sarah's been living in arizona for the last year and a half i think. maybe more. and she has the greatest skin in the world! (that has nothing to do with her moving into an apartment, but she really has beautifully milky white clear skin. i jealous.) she has been living with her sister, and justin (my bro-in-law), and niece. they are planning on moving into army life, so sarah's getting her own apartment could not have happened at a better time.
i thoroughly enjoyed making sarah's cake. especially since it is the first real cake i have made since living in this apartment. i actually really hate getting the cakes to come out of the baking pans, and then i really really hate frosting the cakes and trying not to pick up crumbs along the way. it's stressful. but fortunately the cakes slid out of the baking pans, and i got a great recipe for vanilla buttercream off of the foodnetwork website, which made frosting shockingly quite easy. and for the most part, i would say that the frosting tasted pretty good too. but i'm not entirely sure cause after all the frosting making and spreading, i had no desire to actually eat any cake once everything was all said and done.



sarah likes cats (she has great skin. but obviously she's crazy. i don't like cats.) she also likes to read and drink tea. her favorite color is red, which made me start sweating immediately when i asked her for her favorite color- cause mixing fondant to be red really sucks. like really sucks. but it turned out alright.



i just did a buttercream icing around the whole cake, and added all my handmade fondant pieces afterwards. i did the circles on the side of the cake, to tie in the motif on the 'rug' i made. but i mostly did it to cover the unevenness of the icing. i also did a 'shag carpetting' on top of the cake to really make it look like an apartment, AND to cover the unevenness of the icing on the top of the cake.



and here is the buttercream recipe i used that worked out pretty great:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

i added quite a bit more whipping cream to make it more spreadable. but i also added some already-brewed (and therefore not hot) coffee to break some of the serious sweetness of this icing. next time i will probably add even more coffee (this time i put in about a tsp of the good stuff. a serious tbsp or more will probably be better. i'll let you know though.)

(i know the label says 'cupcakes' even though this was clearly not a post about cupcakes. but i'm not making another new label!

nothing to fear but pee itself

topher is way awesomer than i give him credit for.

yesterday i got him a cute little bible at ross. it's a boardbook, which is good cause he still isn't the best with paper pages.anyhoo, he loves it. on the cover is a drawing of Jesus with a bunch of little kids. he started naming the people in the picture: "that's toto. that's mommy (a little girl holding 'toto's' hand). that's noona (an african american boy). that's gu-gu hyung (meaning his cousin, who is 1/4 african american and 3/4 korean. he was pointing to the other two ethnic kids on the cover)." then i point to Jesus and ask him who that is. "grandpa" he says. and toto's grandpa does happen to have long hair and a beard, and when we are at his house, he often has at least one kid on his lap at all times. even when he is eating. what a great compliment- to be mistaken for Jesus!

then this morning, as i was reading my bible, i told topher: "hey this is mommy's bible. it's just like your bible!" this excited him quite a bit. he grabbed his little bible and said: "my Jesus. (pointing to his bible) mommy's Jesus. (pointing to my bible)." precious!

so anyhoo, i have bought a couple of boxes of Pull Ups in the last month since we've been back from Vegas. and with every box i think: "this is the last box of Pull Ups i am going to buy." and then i don't try to re-train topher to be potty trained. cause it's so taxing! so much effort needs to be put forth- on my part! like when we are out and about, i have to intentionally stop at a public restroom and make him/wait for him to pee. whereas if he is wearing a Pull Up, i don't care, and if lily doesn't have to pee, then we will not stop in a public restroom. ever. so topher's not being re-trained is my fault. as usual. so i decided to bite the bullet and throw him back into his undies. no matter how much extra laundry, carpet cleaning, public restroom visiting that would cause.
so he was in undies all day today. and it was awesome! he didn't soil himself once! he wore a Pull Up to nap, but that's totally acceptable in my books. i was so excited when we got to the end of the day and were changing into our jammies. i was telling topher how proud of him i was as i was getting lily ready for bed. and of course, topher peed on the carpet beside his bed.

oh well, it could have been poo, and it wasn't. and he could have been peeing all over the place all day today, but he hadn't. so all in all, it was a pretty great day.

as for lily, ahe is doing pretty great. she has her days when pooing is still a serious, and possibly painful chore, but she has woken up with a dry Pull Up 4 nights in a row! and only one of those nights did she wake me to take her to the potty!

as usual, i convince myself that things are going to be difficult, terrible, a disaster, or all three, and then my kids shock me and show me that they are awesome, able, and adorable little self-sufficient human beings. though not entirely self-sufficient. but that's ok in my books.

Easter Funtimes

we watsons had another wonderful easter together. we missed having chris' dad and step-mom with us, but it's tax season. it couldn't be helped. (chris' dad is an accountant. in case that previous sentence didn't make sense.)actually, chris' sister, and her kids didn't make it either. unfortunately. but the rest of us had a wonderful time, eating, chilling, looking for eggs, and making sure the kids didn't go jumping over the fence and into the pool with their new sugar-induced powers.
chris' mom is the brains and arms and legs behind our family easter celebration. we met at her house, as we did last year, and she and jerry do a bbq style dinner, while the kids and other family members bring side dishes. altogether, 'we' was composed of grandma and grandpa, chris' superaunt susie, supercousin katie, her awesome hubby joey, and their beauty of a daughter brooklyn, who is lily's bff by the way (they are a year and 3 months apart), chris' two bros and their fams, and our awesome friends, jeff and mary beth (who i consider to be an older, wiser sister) and their two beautiful girls.
anyway, barb is crazy and awesome, cause she puts together an easter basket for all the little kids. even the babies. 8 altogether. and then she sets up the eggs for the easter egg hunt. there were 7 big eggs and 7 little eggs for each kid. what's 14 times eight? like a million. anyhoo, thanks barb for being awesome (and better at math than me). all the kids, big and small, had a great great great time.

all the pics are pretty self-explanatory. except for the one of topher who looks like he has handcuffs on his belt. he does. he is wearing his 'sherrif's belt that he got for his bday. he kept dropping his 'bullets' and people kept picking them up and telling him 'hey topher, you dropped your bullets.' our easter was very safe, and very well protected. hope yours was the same!

clarification on: easter dresses

ok. if you read my post from an hour ago, you will be proud and happy to know that i did do the dishes, and put the clothes in the dryer, and hid all of the clothes and shoes that i know lily and topher will want to wear tomorrow, but are not permitted to. (gotta choose your battles. or make potential battles disappear altogether.)

and while i was doing the dishes, i was thinking about whether or not i offended anybody about buying dresses for easter from my post marked 'humble pie' or something like that.

i just need to clarify that i have a serious problem. i am a little obsessed (oxy moron!) with clothes and accessories. i love them all. quite a bit. and it's a problem. remember i told you we took pictures with our professional photographer friend? well, for two weeks leading up to the 'photoshoot', i thought and thought about what lily should wear. did i want her to be playful? beauitufl? easy breezy? really dressed up? moderately dressed up? etc. and then the day of the shoot, i forgot to put in her white shirt that i bought FOR THAT DAY. ugh. and i could hear God laughing at me, and asking me if all that 'thinking/obsessing' was worth anything. it wasn't. and the pictures still turned out awesome!

so anyhow, my comments about buying an easter dress, was a criticism against myself. cause it would be one thing if i thought about it, bought it, and forgot about it. but for me, it's one obsessive thought that starts with a dress, then goes down to the shoes, and possibly matching earrings, and hopefully, just maybe even a necklace...

i think stay-at-home moms need/deserve a new easter dress every year. cause the truth of the matter is- that might be the only day of the year they have a real excuse to get dolled up! and any excuse for a mom to get dolled up, feel pretty, and show off a litle, is not a bad thing, considering what moms deal with everyday, whilst wearing sweatpants, the same pair of jeans for a week so as not to create any extra laundry, and a t-shirt. or a long-sleeve t-shirt, depending on whether it is summer or winter, here in arizona.

anyhoo, people used to get dressed up for church every sunday in their 'sunday bests'. we have definitely moved away from that, at least at the last 3 or 4 churches i have attended. easter is a very special day. the most special day for Christians, cause it's what makes us Christians- Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and then He rose to life three days later. we should try to offer up our 'bests' to God- good looking insides and outsides, cause He surely did so for us.

what to do?

here's a picture that chris' grandfather just sent him, from an easter celebrated many moons ago! so cute.

so it's 10:27pm. so many things i could be/should be doing right now. put laundry in the dryer (i will definitely do this at some point before bed!). put dishes in the dishwasher (not holding my breath on this one). make banana bread, just cause i feel like eating banan bread tomorrow (but that's probably not going to happen either). read the bible (it is easter season!). look at listings our realtor sent us for a new home. start decorating a cake that is 'due' this thursday (i'm really excited about this cake. yes, cake, not cupcakes. but not excited enough to start working on it...) tidy up the apartment. look up some preschools for lily, and possibly topher too. find some extra-curricular programs for lily (and possibly topher) to do, like t-ball and ballet (former for both, latter for lily only!) etc. etc.

so much to do. so very little desire or energy to do anything but sit in this chair. i barely want to post a post, but theni would really just be sitting here doing absolutely nothing.

the past couple days have been exhausting and entertaining. i have taken some awesome pics of some things, and didn't have a camera for some other things. example- i was hanging out with my girlfriend christin, and her two girls. cambry, christin's oldest, is topher's age. and they are so cute together! i will NOT say she is topher's girlfriend, cause quite frankly that girl has many suitors after her! she was the only girl born in '08, in the midst of three very handsome boys being born that same year. anyhoo, christin has a 'great' backyard. very pretty, complete with a fountain and a putting green. the putting green happens to also have 3 sand traps. my kids thought the sand traps were a little piece of beachy heaven. at one point, christin and i were watching topher, kneeled in the sand, with his sister smashing sand into his newly shaven locks. handfuls of sand. smashing. into his 'hair'. awesome. then it looked like topher had grabbed a handful of sand and put it down the back of his pants, into his pull-up. i was shocked later when there was no sand in my son's butt crack. delightfully shocked mind you. the whole time at christin's was a riot, but i didn't have my camera on hand for any of those ridiculous moments. oh yeah, topher also grabbed a nasal aspirator off of the table, then went to lie down on the couch and tried to aspirate his own nose with this aspirator that does not belong to him.

lily and topher are being really hilarious, cute, and obnoxious these days. the terrible twos have definitely entered topher's life. lily's counting in spanish is kinda the funniest and cutest thing in the world. and she is trying to dress herself when we go out, and it's nuts. especially since she got a trunk full of dress-up clothes for her birthday. today she wore a regular old skirt with a glitzy, frilly, faux-crushed-velvet pink bustier-type princess shirt, complete with glued on jewels and everything. topher is testing his limits still. but is responding a bit better to his beatings (read:slaps on the hand!) i smacked his hand cause he tried to run away from me int he parking lot today. then when we were walking on the sidewalk, he insisted on holding my hand, even though that is not one of our rules. it was so nice though, so maybe i will make it one.

i have been waking up at six every morning this week. topher has gotten lily off of her schedule (she used to wake up anywhere between 7 and 8) and now she gets up at 6 too. although this week, the kids took turns waking up at six, or before. it's like they planned out the night before who was going to get to sleep in (never me), and who would wake me up early. mean little monkeys.

but, in my efforts to be a better human being, a nicer mom, a better christian, i have been trying to be more thankful in all situations. so though it takes me a little while to snap out of zombie-mode, once i get that coffee maker going, i try to enjoy my time with the kiddies, even though it is so dark cause the sun is BARELY UP!... deep breath... relax.

so, i guess that's it for now. it's already almost 11, which means i need to be up and at em in about 7 hours, so maybe i will try to get 7 hours of sleep for a change! it'll be nice to have energy for church, volunteering, making dips, then going to a rockin family easter bbq + easter egg hunt at nana and papa's.
that's it for now. good night all.

I'm Eating Humble Pie for Easter

our small group has been reading colossians. we wanted to set ourselves up for success, so we picked one of the shortest books of the bible. there are only 4 chapters. we've been at it for about 4-5 weeks. we are ALMOST finished with chapter two. almost. it's good though, because the whole book is jam-packed with too much good information. not that other books in the bible are NOT packed with too much good information. you know what i'm saying.
anyhoo, i read ahead a few weeks ago, and am completely stuck on chapter 3. the part about 'rules for holy living'. yikes. chris' grandmother told me once that she was studying the love verse in 1 corinthians, and she tried to practice each attribute of love, starting with 'love is patient' continuing on to 'love is kind, it does not envy...' i think she said she was 'stuck' on the first one for quite a while. which is understandable cause it was when she was mothering 4 young boys.
anyhow, so i am reading through this chapter, and it's making me feel like garbage, cause i realize more and more that i am full of garbage: "set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things..."
with easter coming up, you'd think i would naturally be full of pious thoughts, and thankfulness for what my Savior did on the cross for me (and for you!). but alas, i have fallen captive to the american way of celebrating easter- easter dresses, easter baskets, etc. etc. i say this is the 'american way' because when i was living in canada, i was unaware that people made such a big commercial deal about easter. but i was unaware of quite a bit when i lived in canada. sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes not. it didn't make me holier, maybe just apathetic.
but here in the land of the free, everywhere you go, there are beautiful and fluffy dresses for girls, supercute preppy outfits for boys, wonderfully cute things to fill easter baskets with. they are in the stores, ads appear in all 6 of my e-mail addresses, i am overcome with the desire to buy buy buy!
and is that what Easter is about? of course not. but do my thoughts rest, daily, on what easter is about? not really.
chapter 3 continues: "put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry... but now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips." ah. so much more to work on. of late, i have been repeating the latter portion of that verse to myself when i get riled up about nothingness and am filled with impatience, and BAD WORDS. seriously, i have to repeat that about 3 times a day. minimum. i don't know why i have such anger in my heart. or filthy language from my lips. but it probably has to do with my heart, and it's condition, and what it's fixated on. and like i said before, it ain't always Jesus.
i am so stuck on that beginning part of chapter 3 that i find it hard to read on, but i must, cause it tells me what to fill the gap with: "therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentlness, and patience." and there is no greater picture of someone who lived all this out, than in the person of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, a very torturous death, and yet still displayed compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, all the while. yowsers.
if you read through colossians, one thing that is mentioned in every chapter is thankfulness. we need to be thankful, no matter what circumstances are around us. thankful for the people around us, thankful for Jesus, thankful to God, for all things.
so, no matter what you end up wearing for easter, or what is or isn't in your basket, i wish you all a happy easter.