Sweet Lily Girl is 7

Today is one of my favorite days to re-live, and celebrate- the birth of my beautiful first born!

it was funny cause this weekend i was talking with my girlfriend Cindy, and we were telling Lily that this weekend, 7 years ago, we were walking around the zoo just waiting for her to fall out! and that didn't happen. cause of Eve. and the need for labor. boo...

anyhoo, so today was lily's birthday and she had the day all planned out: breakfast at IHOP, go to school, get picked up, hang out, have mc donalds for dinner.

admittedly, two days ago, her birthday plan was a little simpler (and cheaper) because she said she wanted Costco pizza for dinner. and that's why i said we could go out for breakfast because her dinner choice was SO CHEAP. and because chris was pretty sure he was going to miss dinner, and he wanted to take his special girl (and the rest of the family) out for at least one meal on her birthday.

fortunately, chris ended up eating just as many meals with lily today as i did.

here's lily at IHOP:

she ordered raspberry blintzes, and they brought out a little ice cream sundae for her afterwards. nothing gets you ready for school like a little ice cream sundae for breakfast!

she really wanted her greatgrandparents to come to breakfast with us, but poor GG has shingles!

we really never go to IHOP without chris' grandparents, and even little mia was looking around for them when we walked in, and sat down.

get better soon grandma!

lily loved her gifts of clothes, toys, and books!

all of which i got on sale and have been hoarding away since post-christmas.

then lily went to school, and then i picked her up and she said she wanted donuts and then to hang out at a park.

if you start off your day with a little ice cream sundae, obviously the next right move is to eat donuts (did i mention she also brought cookies to her class to celebrate her birthday?).

mother of the year right here folks.

it's only your birthday once a year.

and you also only turn 7 once.

and how can you say "no" to this face?:

                                                  that's right. you can't. so donut time it was!

we went to a new park that they built near the new spring-training facilities they just built for the Cubs. it's a gigantic, beautiful, and BUSY park. the kids definitely burnt off all the calories they consumed today. mostly by posing for all these crazy pics: 

and then we went to mc donalds up in Scottsdale so that chris could join us for our last unhealthy meal of the day. we got home, bathed, got ready for bed, and read books until 9:02pm, which is when lily was born, seven crazy years ago.
i know everyone says that time flies by when you have kids. and i didn't believe them at first, especially when lily was a baby- and then i had another babyrightafterthat.
but it is true!
time is flying, i am aging even more rapidly than my kids, i can't remember anything, and i wish i had taken videos of every moment of every day that my kids have been alive.
but alas, that's why i still have my blog, though i write as inconsistently as i do.
i need to remember these days. cause they are so precious, so beautiful, so fleeting.
i can't thank Jesus enough for the wonderful gifts that He has blessed me with, that i do not deserve in the least bit.
today, my favorite blessing, that started off as an innocent 8 lb 3oz (or was it 2oz? it may as well have been 20oz. man she was huge!) though destructive (i had some wine tonight as i remembered birthing her) sweet little baby, is now a sweet, sassy, kind, smart, caring, funny, and beautiful seven year old girl.

love you Lily Jaye Nara Watson.

ps. get ready to eat nothing but celery tomorrow. ;)

procrastinator supreme part 3

yeah. when you want to remember everything, but don't take the time to write them down as they occur, you need to write a lot all at once.
here's my third, and hopefully last post for the night.

JANUARY (how was that already last month??!!?)

Mia was all done with her crib. after almost a month of her climbing out a few times, and then sleeping in the pack and play, I took the side off of her crib and made it into a toddler bed. after one night when she fell out twice, we put up a rail. and it only took one day and one spanking and she was good about staying in bed. she is so stinkin awesome.

 lily and barb on barb's horse (I don't remember the horse's name...)

this is what winter in the desert looks like- hot.

we were celebrating Christmas one more time cause Chris' brother Justin finally made it out of Alaska (he was stationed there for the last year or so with the army) and back safely to the hot desert.

here's Wes and Xander.

Xander is 1 and this was the first time we got to meet him. he is so sweet!

mia also learned to drive a tractor.

keep your hands on the wheel young lady!

January also marks a month of crazy birthday celebrations- we went to San Tan Brewery to celebrate Elisa, Todd's and my birthday. (Todd is Chris' cousin, and Elisa is his wife and one of my BFFs :)

Here are the boys.

and here are us girls.

so fun being out! have I mentioned how much I love my family!??!

back to Christmas in January- here's my ridiculously cute girl trying to look like her Nana

and here is my niece Emma, not trying to, but succeeding at looking like her Nana :)

remember I said how great mia is at staying in her bed? well, one day she didn't want to nap and I made the mistake of not closing her door all the way, so she came out looking like this. how am I supposed to be mad at this?!??!?

my birthday this year was SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was randomly and thoroughly spoiled by my friends and family, and Joe Johnston and his free food around Gilbert.

I didn't really LOVE my birthday as a kid, and definitely not as an angst ridden teen. but man- my birthday now is SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

here are my nieces Zoe and Sarah.

Zoe just came back from Alaska, and she's a sharp little (not actually little) 4 year old.

Sarah is Josh and Aly's little (actually very little!) 4 month old :)

 

procrastinator supreme part 2

Christmas was so fun that it deserves it's own very belated post.

 

I am very happy to say that I accomplished a fun craft in the midst of the busyness- I re-covered all of the stockings with fabrics that better suited our family members' personalities and interests. more so than the original red velour-ish material they once were.

 

 

this picture perfectly captures our Christmas morning- lily and topher were SO EXCITED! lily is the blur in the pic. mia is sitting, drinking her milk, mad that we woke her up...

 

yup. still grumpy. even after opening some presents. I missed getting a picture of her throwing her toys on the ground in a huff. thankfully most of her gifts came from the dollar section at Target.

 

lily and topher went to the dollar store and got gifts for each member of our family with their own money. it was SO precious. it made my mommy heart so happy.

 

and they even wrapped and decorated the gifts themselves!

they are getting so big and growing up so fast.

 

lily is trying to get her sister excited about her present.

 

we try really hard to remind the kids all through the hustle and bustle of the holidays that the meaning of it all is the birth of Christ.

thank you God for sending your one and only Son to be born among us so that He could eventually give His life for ours.

 

Thank you and Happy Birthday Jesus.

procrastinator supreme part 1

wow. I just updated my side-bar. do you know it used to say "craziness brought on by my almost irish-twins TODDLERS, and my husband..." yeah. lily hasn't been a toddler in... a long time. and, oh yeah, I have another kid! and she's TWO! wow. I am on top of things...

speaking of which- let's post some pictures from CHRISTMAS. it was only two months ago...

the holiday season always starts off with Chris' birthday and our anniversary. we started off the day at our favorite place for breakfast- Liberty Market. and my parents were with us which made the celebrating all the merrier.

Christmas day was spent with lots of family.

Lily and Papa Jerry. At this point Jerry is 1 year and 1 month cancer free!

Praise Jesus for He is GOOD!!!!

 

The Patriarch and his precious sons.

(left to right:)

Matt, Grandpa, Wes, Glenn, and Neil.

Barb and her sister Susie.

Have I ever told you that Barb and her sister married brothers?

Glenn, behind Susie, is Wes' brother. I love our family so much :)

And there's lots to love- that's a lot of Watsons (and beyond).

We started a new Christmas tradition of eating random food, picnic style, lighting a fire in the fireplace, and watching a Christmas movie. here the kids are watching 'A Christmas Story'.

 and they are shocked and entertained.

we went to Vegas! again. the malloys were there too!

 and we celebrated the New Year bowing, getting money, hanging out, having a great time!

 

And then my brother and Amber came! it was so fun hanging out together.

 

our drive home from Vegas.

 

lily LOVES amber. and the feeling is mutual.

the kids really loved hanging out with their fun 'young' aunt and uncle (little do they know alex is WAY older than me. by 15 whole months...)

so that was our December in a tiny nut shell.

hang in there- I've got some January pics coming up too!

always be a daddy's girl

this last week (started this post a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time a go...) we were in vegas with the hams. not all the hams. but lots of em. my parents, my brother, and his new wife Amber. my sister and her family were there too.it was a zoo. a giant, happy zoo.


during the day we hung out, went to malls, parks, mc donalds, regular stuff. at night, we hung out, and lost money, and didn't get enough sleep. great times!


the highlights of the trip were very unexpected and delightful. one of them was that chris and I spent New Years Eve with the 5 kids, while my sister and James partied on the strip, and my parents slept at their hotel. the kids were asleep, and chris and I barely made it to midnight, but after a couple of power naps- we made it! it was quiet and warm and nice.


the second unexpected highlight of my trip was that I got to golf 9 holes with my dad. it was so unexpected that I actually had to run after him and jumped into the car while he was waiting for the gate to open. I was wearing skinny jeans and sandals. fortunately my mom had golf shoes in the trunk and I played golf for the first time in over two years. and I shot par on one hole! first time ever!!!!! :) magically great time.


and the last and also phenomenally surprising great time I had was when my sister and I took my parents out on to the strip for a night out on the town. we started at the mall, and I got the bright idea of trying to get my dad to buy my sister a pair of shoes cause hers were worn down pretty good. my dad took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. (is that the term? I don't fish.) and my mom jumped on the wagon and scored herself a new pair of shoes too. then we went to another store and scored some new clothes. then we had to rest and rehydrate ourselves so I got us some water and all four of us shared a grande decaf Americano with sugar. cause that's how we all happen to drink our coffee. (and it made my heart glad when I realized that chris, his mom, and his dad, all like to drink their coffees with French vanilla creamer :) and after a short break, we shopped some more and I got some new shoes too!

that was the first time in 32 years that I could think of my dad going in to a mall with us and buying us things! my mom buys us stuff all the time, and for that I feel so fortunate as well. BUT, there was something so different, something so special, and something so very wonderful about my dad spending time with us and buying us pretty things.

I don't know if there are any dads who actually read my blog- but if you are a dad and you have a daughter, take her out and buy her something. doesn't matter if she's 5, 15, or 35. it will be special and she will remember it forever.

happy birthday Mia

ok. this is a continuation of the other post, that was getting a bit too long.

so, after all the fun-having that happened for Mia's birthday party day, we celebrated Mia's birthday on Sunday! Chris went to watch Peyton Manning on Sunday, which is why we celebrated so hard on Saturday. it worked out great, especially since Mia is only two and has no idea what her birthday means, and has no idea when her birthday is. When someone says happy birthday to her- she usually says it back to them!

So, Sunday Jeehon and I took the kids to the San Diego children's museum, and it was free! Yay Second Sunday! The kids spent A LOT of time painting, which is awesome, cause my kids love to paint and I am not awesome enough to let them run free with giant sticks with paint brushes attached to them at my house.

topher climbed this really crazy structure from one end to the other. he almost fell a few times, and almost knocked other kids off too, but he succeeded. well done son!

I could not get a good picture of my kids together to save my life

Jeehon is so great at finding awesome things for us to do when we go to visit her!

I cannot believe how big this kid is getting!

thanks Instagram for this pic

after getting pretty dirty with the paint, we played with bubbles

another terrible shot of my progeny

Mia laying on an egg mat

this cornucopia reminded me of the hunger games

here are my tributes ;)

 

and Sunday also happened to be the Marine Corp birthday, and we celebrated it by getting Chris a new hoody. He just needed another one, and so I gave it to him as a present. there is no symbolic meaning behind getting a former Marine a hoodie.

look at this stud! man I miss that face!

;)

 

anyway, Mia is the most incredible little 2 year old walking on this planet. I know lots of other PHENOMENAL two year olds, but having birthed this particular one, I am obviously very partial to her.

Mia knows a lot of her numbers already (thanks team umizoomi!) and is starting to potty train herself. the other day ago, she was sitting on the can trying to go poop. she finally pushed out two turds that weren't exactly soft or easy to get out (I know- more fiber) and she shuddered and said: "poo poo is scary!"

how is she so awesome??? she is a funny, sweet, and sassy little monkey girl, and we all love her so very very very very much.

 

happy birthday sweet Mia! try not to ruin your twos by being terrible.

thanks! love you. mama