school is cool

so, as I mentioned earlier- the kids started school on Wednesday July 31st!

 

Lily and Topher's school is pretty awesome because it has all kinds of different times that you can choose to go to school. since topher is in half day kindergarten, I opted for the 'pm' program for lily and the late start for topher, so that they get out of school at about the same time. and fortunately lily and topher's cousins have opted for the same times so I never drop the kids off at school! instead I get in my awesome minivan once a day and pick up five happy and talkative watsons and drive everyone home. it's a sweet gig!

 

lily is in first grade and already loving it. her teacher is so sweet and is a seasoned veteran with 13 years of teaching at our school under her belt.

we are looking forward to how much lily is going to learn and grow this year.

 

topher was apprehensive about starting kindergarten, but fortunately his cousin cooper is in his class, so having a familiar face in class has helped immensely.

topher has a first year teacher, but she is so sweet and organized, and I think she is on her way to a long and happy career at our school!

 

here's my sweet lily getting in a little exercise before school:

 

 

topher doing his homework- he LOVES doing homework! my precious nerd :

 

topher, lily, and grace enjoying some ice cream to celebrate our first week (aka three days) of school:

 

topher and cooper on the first day of school:

 

topher and lily's first day of school breakfast of champions- star pancake and heart strawberries. cause they are stars and I love them! :

 

 

apprehensive, and still cute:

 

lily, jace, and kiefer on the first day of school:

 

so the journey begins. I am so proud of my kids and in awe of how stinkin' old they are getting!! I held my composure for drop offs. it was way too hot to start crying when I dropped lily off. and I thought I was in the clear for dropping topher off, but then as I watched him cross the threshold into the building I teared up as topher marched towards his classroom.

my babies aren't babies any longer!

Good God

so, the kids started school last week. and as you can only guess- that's going to get it's own post- but that post is not this post.

sometimes I have a wicked good memory- like I remember that I wore this shirt from a pizza parlor in korea and a pair of blue pajama pants the first time that chris and I hung out for an extended amount of time in my apartment in seoul (while my sister and other roommate were home with us!). that day was actually almost ten years ago to the day...

anyhoo, but sometimes my memory is CRAP. like this morning I went to work and I didn't bring my key to get into the office. I told my boss that I forgot my key, but truth be told- I actually couldn't remember the safe spot I put my key in before I left for Toronto.... fortunately, after some prayer and something like scales falling from my brain- I remembered where I left my key. it's not easy being this dumb folks.

anyhoo, I had such an excellent trip back to my other homeland, and I just do not want to forget all the times Jesus personally showed up on my trip, so I am going to write about them here:

- I flew with the kids by myself on a Saturday. I checked our itinerary and it said something to the affect of a united flight in association with us airways. so, who was in charge of the flight?? surely united. so I got to terminal 2, with plenty of time to spare. but I was wrong. it wasn't united- it was us airways that was actually flying me to Chicago. hot diggity. so we busted our buns over to terminal 4, and almost missed our flight. but alas, Jesus knew I was going to be late and crazy, so he let my plane breakdown and gave me an extra hour to catch my breath and get ready for my 3.5 hour flight. the kids- especially Mia, did so great on every flight, and on the 2 hour car ride to my parents house from buffalo. praise Jesus. it was such a good day, even though it could have been ever so terribly bad.

-I left the United States of America without a passport. not wise. not something I would ever recommend that anyone do. ever. but I tried to renew my Canadian passport from Arizona, and apparently that is harder to do than for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle. it was a disaster to put it very lightly. but God is good. all the time. and I was able to drive into Canada with just my Canadian citizenship card, AND I was able to drive back into the USA with just my permanent resident card. so great. you have to have a passport if you are FLYING out of the US into a different country. but if you are driving- not necessary. so awesome. to this day, I still have not received my renewed passport...

-Coming home from Toronto, Mia fell asleep for the entirety of the drive from Toronto to Buffalo. a seriously solid 2 hour nap she took. we flew to Chicago with no problems. then in Chicago Chris and I parted ways. I took Lily and Topher, and Chris took Mia. we were all supposed to be on the same flight home, but priceline changed Chris' flight, so he was on a different flight. ridiculousness. I almost had a panic attack as I envisioned having to fly home with all three kids again, but Chris is the best human being and he took Mia for the long flight home. and she rewarded his awesomeness by sleeping for 2 hours. TWO HOURS. the five and a half hours that I had been on airplanes with Mia two weeks previously- she did not sleep for even ONE SECOND. not a second. but that's ok. we all got home safely and I was SO HAPPY to be home.

we had an incredibly great time in Toronto. but home is sweet. thanks to all of you who lifted us up in your prayers, especially as we traveled. God heard your prayers and answered them all!!!!

Growing Family. Always Growing...

1. Archer Jack

 

 

here is my nephew- Archer Jack. He was born at the beginning of July- NOT the end of June.

Chris' younger sister Breanne and her hubby Scott welcomed this awesome bundle of joy into their family July 5th after 46 hours of labor and an eventual C-Section. Breanne officially wins longest and craziest labor. Dang that girl is so competitive! ;)

 

2. Amber Ham

 

 

Amber joined the crazy Ham family on Saturday July 27th, by marrying Topher.

Just kidding. But look how cute that picture is!

After months of wedding planning, the big day finally arrived and everyone was so happy for it.

Amber is a SWEET and kind and compassionate soul who truly, deeply, and madly loves my excellent older brother. Sure my brother Alex has his faults, but he is truly one of the NICEST and most loyal guys out there. this marriage is a blessed one and I am so glad our whole family was around to take part in it!

(a whole separate post will follow to explain the awesomeness and ridiculousness of our Canadian vacation. )

 

3. Watson Baby #4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

just kidding suckers!

if your heart stopped for a second- I can only hope that it started back up again. and if you were thinking- oh yeah- Jihae has been looking round in the midsection... then... I guess I am the sucker who needs to hit the gym.

 

(I stole that ultrasound picture from Cindy's facebook. thanks Cindy for always having so many awesome pics of your kids- in vitro and out :)

 

 

Anyway, I just wanted to dedicate this post to the two newest members of our family. Congrats Archer and Amber! You guys are stuck with us. Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

 

 

O i love Canada

i almost contemplated giving up my Canadian citizenship a few weeks ago when my passport application got rejected for the second time. by  a few weeks ago- i mean last week. yup. i traveled to Canada sans passport. craziness. fortunately we bought our plane tickets to buffalo, new york, and then drove across the border. so i was able to get in to Canada with my citizenship card. awesomeness. and HOPEFULLY i will be able to cross back into America with my permanent resident card, but we'll see for sure next sunday...

anyway, for those of you who prayed for our travels on Saturday- the Lord heard, and processed all of your prayers! we almost missed our flight- we were at the wrong terminal ;( almost an epic failure. almost. but God managed to get us to our gate 5 minutes before they closed the doors, and he also managed to delay our flight an additional hour so that we could go to the bathroom, get some water, and really get ready for our 3 and a half hour flight. us being kinda late ended up saving me a LOT of strife because they had already boarded half of the plane and then ended up taking everyone off and getting us a different plane. if i had been on that plane with my kids and all of our stuff, i would have been really really annoyed. instead i was on the outside and i was elated. yay blessings!

and when i had looked at my itinerary earlier in the week, i was irked by the fact that i had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, but because we left phoenix late, our layover in Chicago did not feel too long, and it also allowed me to not feel even remotely anxious about the possibility of missing our connection had our stopover been shorter. more blessings!!

and even though mia is my little miss independent, she was SO GOOD on the plane and i didn't even have to drug her. all three of the kids were exceptionally awesome, even though i didn't have a single movie or tv playing. that's all the grace of God and YOUR prayers folks!!!!!!

I've been in Toronto for three days and have already seen three of my bffs. i met my future sister-in-law- and she is a GEM. my kids LOVE her already, and topher thinks she is very pretty :) she already loves my kids too, so i would say things are off to a great start for all of us already!
tonight i went out for ice cream with my four siblings and her, and it was simple wonderful bliss. it's been at least two years since we have all been together in one place.

lily, topher, and sungu go to science camp at the science center from 9-4 every day this week, so we have been having a relaxing and wonderful vacation filled with good food, good friends, good learning, and great family. the weather is a bit hot for my liking, but it's still better than being in Arizona right now :)

i do miss my christobear (but not Maurice) though, but he has been hanging out with his friends and living it up- even while hanging out with other people's kids. he will be joining us on sunday morning and we are all excited about that. please pray for him cause he will have a one hour layover in Philadelphia, and hopefully he will make that!

California. Part 3

Some years are kind of boring for us. I mean, we usually move every year, but aside from that- some years we just lay low, sign up for every session of swim lessons the city offers, and call it good.

but not so this year my friends. this year, we are on crack! California crack! our first trip was in march when we went to Monterey to visit my sister and her family. then in april we went to Disneyland with Chris' dad and co. then in june we went to Mission Beach in San Diego with Chris' mom, step-dad, and Robert's family. and it was AWESOME.

chris' mom and Jerry have been planning this trip since LAST year- when they decided they didn't want to give us a Christmas present- and instead gifted us this trip. and it was worth it!! my kids don't need more toys- they need more awesome memories with people they love! and this year was choc full of that so we are counting ourselves extremely blessed. and as Robert aptly, though depression-inducingly, noted- that lily is already 1/3 away from being out of the house so we need to be creating memories ASAP styles!

so we left for San Diego on a Saturday, and got back the following Saturday. so wonderful to spend a whole week away from this sweltering desert that we call home! Barb and Jerry rented out a beach house that was about 27 steps away from the beach. it could not have been more awesome. we played at the beach twice a day, most kids, and sometimes adults took naps during the day, we ate in for 98% of our meals- which was perfect because Mia is at the anti-being-in-public portion of her toddler career. and most of those meals were MAD DELICIOUS! and I didn't have to make hardly any of them!!!! (coincidence?... I don't know...)

the kids loved playing in the sand, burying themselves, jumping in the waves, finding sea shells, and surfing on boogie boards. all six of them were so ridiculously good, I didn't even know how to handle it. I was afraid the beach- and mostly the ocean, were going to be too dangerous and crazy for the kids. but they seriously did so stinkin great. lily even got stung by jellyfish remnants twice, but she handled it like a champ.

most nights Robert, Lindsay, Chris and I played cards. I LOVED that too. such a simple activity that just doesn't occur when we are at home. everything about the trip was excellent. it was laid back, fun, and relaxing. the only outing we went on was to the San Diego Wildlife Zoo. it was fun, and made all the more so when we go to hang out with 13 other Watsons who just happened to be in San Diego on vacation the exact same week as us, and who also happened to buy the exact same discounted tickets that we did on LivingSocial.

all in all, our family has been spoiled rotten by our extended family this year and we are SO VERY THANKFUL for it all.

these pics are in reverse order...:

chris and the kids before we met our friends, The Perry's, before we drove back home.

eating fruit snacks on the beach!

building castles in the sand

Robert taking lily 'surfing'. he just spun her round and round and round and she just loved it so much! she even got a jellyfish sting on her leg while doing this but it did not stop her from living out the movie that the kids watched 100 times that week- Barbie: A Mermaid Tale.

Mia LOVED the water. she didn't care that it was dangerous or occasionally freezing. true, unconditional love.

Topher also loved boogie boarding.

Dinner at the beach house.Magnifique!

Robert showing off the awesome fish that he caught with Chris deep sea fishing. we ate well that night!

the kids with Nana and Papa before they left early on Thursday.

my boy Corban and I on the tram at the zoo.

Jerry, Lily, and Topher's knee cap, and Lindsay in the hat, on the tram.

Mia walking with Barb and Jerry.

My crazy kids.

Lily and Topher during all the other kids' nap time. I really loved hanging out with them quietly during the day. they colored, played with their hero factory, and were just so awesome while I read. a book! I read a book. it was magic. the quiet, the fellowship, the book, the reading. all of it!

family fun!

one of my fave pics from the week, which also happened to be our first time at the beach.

enjoying the 6 hour drive.. pray for us cause we are flying/traveling to Toronto this Saturday! and by 'we' I mean the kids and I... hopefully there will be a lot of this 'Mia napping' business...

 

 

our little graduates

Graduation season is such an emotional one for so many families. their little ones all grown and ready to attack the world.

 

well, we had two graduations in two weeks so you can only imagine the waterworks this produced for chris.

 

first we went to topher's pre-k graduation where he sang some songs and played a little whistle/horn. it was the cutest little production I have ever seen. topher went to a precious little preschool called Heritage Lutheran Preschool, and it's located on Ray road between Gilbert and Lindsay. it's right in front of our church- Sun Valley. the lead teacher is Miss Chrissy and her assistant is Miss Allison and they are both rays of sunshine. they love their students and are the happiest women I have ever seen around a ton of little kids! I could not have asked for a more positive first step into topher's career as a student.

 

here are some pics from topher's big day:

 

our handsome graduate and chris and Maurice

topher, cooper, and miss Allison

topher, cooper, and miss chrissy

playing his little horn second from the right :)

 

this is pretty much my favorite thing that topher has ever made. look at how topher captured Maurice! and green is my favorite color- even the shade of green that topher used to draw me. he's so smart!

 I am pretty sure I have mentioned this whole 'topher thinks chris is batman' thing before, right? topher knows chris is a crime fighter- much akin to batman. so he kind of made that connection himself. chris' dad knew this and then told toph that he used to be batman, but now chris is batman, which obviously means one day it will be topher's turn to be batman. see how impressionable young kids are?? they will believe almost anything they are told. so, we shouldn't lie to kids. ever. BUT if you are going to lie to a kid- make it a good one.

 

 

then the following week, we headed over to lily's kindergarten graduation. she was also a part of a wonderfully adorable graduation ceremony. she even had a line in one of the little skits that was presented and she NAILED it! :) they learned about penguins this year and lily's line was: "I like the macaroni!" I didn't know there was a penguin group called macaroni. so happy that lily already knows more than I do.. (about penguins at least!)

 

here's our family. we are so stinkin proud of her!!!! she learned how to read and write this year which was so incredible to witness.

here are Charles and Grace. they came out to support our lovely lily because they are awesome and we love them.

barb came out to support her granddaughter too. she brought her mini-me's- gabe, corban, and emma.

so great to have a supportive family.

 

our graduate!

 

this is one of my favorite things lily did this year. her spelling is off- but still amazing.

in case you can't see what she wrote (and there is a piece you can't see cause it didn't make it in the picture):

frogs can eat

frogs can clime

frogs can ribit

but, frogs can't JRIVE a car

name Lily.

 

 

 

 

Super Mia the little mermaid

mia is almost 19 months old.
it's been a long time since I have had a post dedicated to her, so here it is.

here's what a typical day looks like for my precious baby:
anywhere between 6:15am-7:10am: wakes me up by crying, or screaming in her crib. even if she is calling for daddy, i get her. unless it's my birthday or mother's day.
then she gets her diaper changed and we watch a show together. sometimes mickey mouse, or little einsteins, or the pioneer woman. she seems to enjoy all three equally.
then she eats breakfast. sometimes a lot. sometimes a little. she likes to keep me guessing.
then we play. sometimes we run errands early to beat the heat. but now that would require us to be out and about and back in the safety of our air conditioned home by about 9 am.

anywhere between 10:30am and 1pm she takes a nap. it depends on what our day looks like. and what she looks like. some magical days, she will wake up kind of early, nap early, and then nap again at around 3. those days are rare, but when they appear, they are welcomed with open arms.

lunch is consumed at some point either before or after nap. she shares a good portion of every meal with pug. that's pretty annoying. except for pug. he loves her so much. it's hard to tell how much food mia actually consumes at any given time because of the dog. but my girl is still chubby in all the right spots, so she is definitely not wasting away.
she plays really well and loves to read books. lily and topher never wanted to be read to as much as mia does. she has memorized a few of her faves and it is so cute to see her 'read' (OBVIOUSLY I know she is not reading. i'm not crazy people.) she also loves playing in our little baby pool in the backyard. I think she thinks that she is a mermaid.
she is no longer a major danger to herself on the stairs, so I give her a little more space to roam around and explore the world (the house.) sometimes that's good, sometimes it's bad. like the other day when I walked in on her putting my toothbrush in the toilet. I'm glad I caught her, so I could throw out my toothbrush. but it did make me wonder if she had done that before and I didn't have the good fortune of catching her in the act...

then we eat dinner/make a giant mess. we get cleaned up. then I put mia's jammies on her, we brush her teeth (which she is not a huge fan of. which lily and topher actually loved), then mia likes to give hugs to everyone, and then goes to bed.

simple enough. some days are so chillaxing and wonderful. and some days are less so. but man oh man does she make my heart melt something fierce!

she was saying more than 30 words before her 18 month well-check. I wrote them all down so that I could be sure of the number cause I knew my pediatrician was going to ask. I would definitely consider 'puppy' to be her first real word spoken. she calls lily 'nunni', which is funny cause as a girl who has an older sister, she is supposed to call lily 'unni'. but topher calls lily 'noona' cause he is a boy, so mia has combined the two to make 'nunni'. it's my favorite! and then she calls topher 'appa', which is actually 'dad' in Korean, but it's very close to 'oppa', which is what a little girl is supposed to call her big brother. so close! and she says 'ko' for nose, which is actually correct. that is the extent of her Korean knowledge. no, I lied. she also says 'umma', which is 'mom'. it's good to know how to call your mom in as many languages as possible.

another hilarious thing that she says is 'sit down'. and usually that is followed up with a pat on the chair/couch/spot next to her. it is the cutest! i'm so happy that she does it cause it often reminds me to actually take a seat and enjoy being with her, and her siblings. she is so wise for a toddler! ;)

and actually, yesterday was an amazing day, cause she chose to serve her siblings for the first time. she got them each a cup of water in their respective transformer and hello kitty cups. it was really sweet to witness cause she did it from the goodness of her heart- not cause she was told to or anything. sweet, sweet girl.

another hilarious thing that mia did the other day is that she turned on chris' iTunes on his phone, and the first song that turned on was from Les Mis. as soon as she heard it she started doing the moves for 'gangnam style'.we couldn't get it on video cause we were too in awe of what was happening before our eyes. she is so entertaining!!!!!

so, that's pretty much mia in a nut shell. I am all kinds of sad that she is growing up as fast as she is. almost makes a person want to have another one. muahahaha. no. not that sad!

this is from today! it was 'wear a cape to church day' so I cut out mine and chris' Disney shirts. mia picked up the scrap part that had the sleeve on it and wanted to wear it. she won't wear hair bows, but she will wear t-shirt scraps.

 

here's mia and her cousin Corban. they kinda look like they have similar hair color. or maybe it's just her scalp.

here's mia with her cousin's dog. it's either princess or max. I still can't tell the dogs apart even though I have 'known' them for about 8 years. I think she is praying for the dog. notice her hands are clasped together.

the laying on of hands. she is so spiritual.

you can't look as good as she does without getting some beauty rest.

beating the heat

my little mermaid

sisters in matching skinnies