PS

Boof is a member of the Sox!
With a name like Boof, who needs a labrum or a rotator cuff?

Pageant

Here is the video and some pictures from Caroline's first Christmas pageant at OLA. If you watch the video, Caroline is in the front right corner. Until the view of her is blocked for the entire rest of the song by the woman in the red striped sweater. And to answer your question Dad....Yes, she still is alive.


Caroline just loves her new dress. She asks to wear it almost every day. I had to promise to take her into work with me before church on Christmas Eve so she can show it off!


Daddy decided to get artistic when cleaning up from this weekend's snowstorm. Isn't it cute?

Two Years.

Already?
Wow.
We just keep flashing back to when he bit the obstetrician as he was being born and say, "We should have known!"
Here's to many, many more years of Sammy being Sammy!

Why YES...

...that IS my son wearing a gorgeous sweater that his great-aunt made him.
And his sister's high heels.
Oh, well.

Here are the kids enjoying CJ's new big-girl bed (I think the peace lasted ten minutes)!

Friday Morning...

...at the Watson house is always very interesting. This morning we've taken a trip to the moon and Mars. Until the kids started fighting over the "rocket boosters" (pillows) - they were having a great time.
I hope the rest of the day is this fun!
Oh - a couple of Caroline quotes:

The other day Ria called me hysterically laughing. Caroline was talking to her son, Sean and CJ said, "You know, Sean - I can't wait to be an adult." And Sean replied, "Why? Being a kid is the best?" Caroline's answer to that was, "I can't wait tco be an adult so I can drink red wine with Mommy."
At least she knows what kind of wine I like. =-)

Last night we were cleaning up the dinner table. Caroline has a special glass that she uses that belonged to Jim's Grandmother. When the table was finished, Caroline, very mournfully, climbed into her chair and said, quite tragically, "Mama - You took my cup of cheer. How am I supposed to get another one?"
I couldn't help it. I lost it.
Where does she come up with these things?

What a Day.

It's only eight thirty, but it has been a long day already.
We started out by going to church this morning. Thanks to Fr Millott for explaining to us the Holy Day today. Because, let me tell you, having two Christmas-time babies - I was pretty sure the angel visited Mary about the first week in April - NOT December 8th!
Seven AM is a bit early for mass - especially to get two kids out and about. The kids did okay - until Sam dumped his animal crackers on the lady in the pew in front of us. She got up and moved. So there I sat, with two kids, feeling like an utter failure. Big gator tears in my eyes. I try so hard to do the right things and have the kids behave appropriately - and sometimes things just don't go the way that I hope. Sam and Caroline behaved well the rest of the time (thank goodness) and we cleaned up the animal crackers. In the midst of cleaning, I got to see two dear friends. Meeting them really helped to pull me out of the doldrums - I was still pretty miserable about the whole incident. And then who comes up to us but the lady that Sam showered with crackers! I was expecting to be dressed down. But she smiled and was very kind. She told me she moved so she wouldn't crush the crackers on the ground and that "I give you a lot of credit for even being here by yourself with children this small. I know it's not easy," and when I apologized (again) said, "Let this be your last thought of it today - you're doing a great job." I almost started to cry (again) - but this time in a good way.
It was so nice to be encouraged, especially in a situation when I least expected it.
From church we proceeded to drop CJ off at school, go to Micheal's Craft Store, go to Trader Joe's , stop at the Ecotarium (Alice Commander has been apprehended!) and then headed back to school for pick up!
This afternoon, when it was evident that nappies just weren't going to happen - we had a snack of hot cocoa and peppermint Jo-Jos and got to work on our project of exchanging homemade ornaments instead of purchased gifts with our friends from church.
Remember when I mentioned that I was trying to learn to embrace chaos in a previous post? Yeah, well - I'm still working. And this afternoon put it to the test. Let's just say that glitter glue and small children can make for a not-so-calm Mama. But we did have fun - and here is our end result...Pinecone Christmas trees!



More chaos ensued. I'm not sure exactly what we were playing - but it involved a lot of stuffed animals, an ACE wrap on Caroline's ankle, stripping the cushions off the couch and wearing life jackets. Once I got over the fact that my living room was trashed - we had a ball!




PS-We also went to vote (and had a steak dinner in honor of primary day - YUM). The turnout was simply abysmal. It's very disappointing that people don't take the privilege to vote more seriously.
PPS - In case your wondering about Caroline's hair and why she looks like a refugee from 1982 , she wanted curls. Caroline has been very fortunate to have access to the best hairdresser in Worcester on the days she is at Ria's house. Unfortunately, Mama isn't as handy with the curling iron as Sean is. So we braided her hair when it was wet and had her sleep on it. Let's just say it took the crimping really well. =-)
PPPS - The living room was clean by the time Jim got home!

Some Small Structural Changes To Comments...

Apparently, blog spammers are back on the attack...we've had to restrict slightly those who can comment (I dont think any who are regular commenters will be affected...it just might take a day for those comments to be public now).

Hopefully Google/Blogger can take another stab at improving security. We did have word verification on and we still got hit...

Back Again

It has been two weeks since the last blog post. We've covered a lot of ground. Playing catch-up is hard, but we'll attempt it.
Well, we're just about recovered from November. Between pink eye(s), ear infections, a school bazaar, a parent-teacher conference, a birthday, work conferences and Thanksgiving, we were on our toes. We didn't have a regular week all month. Not that we have any right to complain, but things seem easier once we have resumed a more normal pattern of life. I hadn't realized how much the kids, especially, rely on routine. Not that they're anything like their mother. =-)

On November 22 we lost our wonderful next door neighbor. We were blessed to be able to know him. He was the true Edinberg Original. We will miss him dearly.

We went to the Ecotarium last week for the first time in a month or so. They had some new exhibits. Sam had fun with the turtles.
And once he learned it was cooler not to throw the balls in the new exhibit across the room, he thought this was pretty neat, too. I think the best part for him was that he could make it work all by himself.

We also got to see wild turkeys (other than the ones we live with) while on the Explorer Train.
Samuel has been oh-so-two-years-old lately. And lest Ria did not believe, we documented one of his more epic tantrums. We have video and everything. We'll consider it ammunition when he's older, I think. =-) Getting back into a routine has benefited him (and our ears) the most.
I am better learning to embrace the chaos that is involved with having two young children. Here we are trying to put together some Christmas presents. All we have left to do is to write and attach the tags. We did have fun - even if it took Jim and me days to pick all of the barley out of the dining room rug.
All of the sudden our little girl isn't such a little girl anymore. It almost broke my heart when I looked at this picture. When did she get so grown up?
But not so grown up that she didn't have her brother in a half-nelson twenty seconds after this picture was taken!
We got to hang out at the Lake with Auntie Dr Chrissy today. Unfortunately, we had to cut it short to try to beat the snow home. Hopefully we'll be able to go up and spend some more time soon.
Since the lake was drained, there was a lot more beach to play on. Caroline had her heart set on swimming (even going to bed in her bathing suit last night so she could be ready to go when she got up in the morning). It was a bit cold for that - but the sand was good for building with.


We have to give the kids credit. I think this was the first time ever that we played on the beach and they didn't need a total new set of clothes. I'd be lying if I told you that, in spite of the temperature, they weren't tempted to go in the water.
Could it be possible that we have a lefty on our hands? One that would be able to pitch middle relief until he was in his mid-forties to provide for his parents in their old age? We can still hope (even though the other seven pictures of him throwing rocks into the lake have him using his right hand).
Give me knuckles, Dada!
Caroline and Auntie Chrissy doing the puzzle book.
We were able to bring our Christmas tree home and get it up. However, everyone is sleeping and I need to be, too. I hope to post those pictures soon.
Good night!