Another update in pictures

The Watson family has been keeping busy with...

SOFTBALL...Go Wildcats!




KINDER FIELD TRIPS





GIRL SCOUTS (International Fair) - Girls dressed as a Rugby team because they learned about New Zealand for their booth.





MORE GIRLS SCOUTS (Field trip to DC Gymnastics) - Had to get more use out of the Rugby shirts *LOL*




Throw school in to the mix, homework, AWANA and softball practices and our weeks are just flying by! This momma is super excited for down time over spring break!

Lead Me...

Heard this song for the first time today and really felt God speaking to me! I don't want to be so caught up all the day-to-day and not be intentional about leading my children in God's ways! Whether it's just taking time to discipline, talk with them, pray with them, etc. It's overwhelming to think about how I need to change, but I know the more overwhelming it seems, the more I need to depend on my Father for strength and guidance! I'm thankful to have a great husband who leads our family and is by my side through all the chaos.

Sanctus Real - Lead Me (From the album Pieces of a Real Heart)

I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying...

Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone”

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They're just children from the outside
I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine
They're in independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying...

Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, but what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone

So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be
Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won't You lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up

I'll show them I'm willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone

Boots

Brandon got a pair of cowboy boots for Christmas and LOVES them! If Daddy would let him, I think he would wear them every single day. The other day we were out in the back watching Melanie practice and he humored me as I took a picture of his boots. Otherwise, he isn't a big fan of his picture taken these days.

Four Cookie Booths down...

Oh yes, that wonderful time of year when the Girl Scouts sell cookies! Except this year we've had all of the cookies in our garage and I think we've personally eaten about 20 boxes ourselves! Melanie worked 4 cookie booths and has sold over 100 boxes so far. Thanks to all who have bought them to support our girl scout troop!!

Busy, busy, busy...

Softball season has started and this year Melanie is playing in a different division! She has been spending a lot of time practicing with Daddy in the backyard and has three practices during the week. She's even practicing pitching because the girls pitch to each other in this age group!
Brandon is enjoying his break from baseball this season, but still likes to practice with Dad. Brooklyn loves going to Melanie's practices because she gets to play with her "friends" who are also at the park watching their siblings practice. She usually spends a few minutes in a chair and then she's off and running the rest of the time.
With all of the practices and games starting soon, life has been hectic! In addition to softball, Melanie is still in Brownies and AWANAs at church. Good thing Brian has been off work to keep things running around our house!!

Holiday weekend

We had such a great four day weekend! We decided very last minute to head up to the snow on Saturday. the weather was beautiful and the kids had so much fun sledding and having snow ball fights with Dad and Uncle Vince! Uncle Vince made a snowman that was taller than Melanie! Got some GREAT pics to add to the good old blog and then realized that my memory card wasn't in. Such a bummer, but we will have to go again soon and get pics.

On Sunday we decided to head up to El Mirage for some riding and camping. The kids really wanted to have a campfire and spend the night. Brandon was happy we didn't see any snakes this time. Although it got chilly that night, we had a great time. The lakebed was closed, so we had to ride on bumpier terrain than the kids were used to. Melanie really got used to riding in the sand and over all kinds of bumps and hills. Brandon ventured out, but still prefers the flat for now *LOL* Brooklyn may be our most daring kiddo yet. She rode her "quad" all over the place and rode with Daddy up and down some pretty big hills! I didn't bring my camera because it's usually pretty windy when we camp. Of course the weather was beautiful and I'm bummed I didn't.

Oh well....promise my next post will have pics!

Mad Brando

Even though the candy store was fun, any trip wouldn't be complete without one mad kiddo. On this day it happened to be Brandon. But he cheered up pretty quick!

Free Lollipops

When we were at the park, my sister was telling me about a local candy shop that had a storytime and free lollipops. That was enough for us to check it out. She came by the house to pick us up and we headed out. The kids really enjoyed the story and of course checking out all of the candy. Free lollipops and balloons was probably the highlight though. Great idea Auntie Amanda, you kept the Watson Mommy sane for another day of Christmas break!

Catch up blogging...

Now that school is back in session it seems that I'm swallowed back up by all the daily school-related things. But wanted to post some pics of the last week of our Christmas break. I was just about ready to sell all three of the Watson children on ebay so we decided we had better get out of the house. We met up with some friends at the park one day...brought out the best in everyone for a few hours! Melanie was so busy playing I didn't get any shots of her!

Christmas and New Years

It's so crazy how fast time flies as you get older! Figured that I had better post some pictures from our Christmas and New Years celebrations before it's summer time! We really enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with Grammy and Grandpa in Orange County. The kids have so much fun seeing their cousin. We ate chili, chatted, ate more food, and then opened presents. Then we drove home to have our own family celebration Christmas morning. The kids woke us up bright and early and we watched them open some presents from us. Then we headed over to Auntie's house to celebrate some more. It was great to visit with my Noni and Nona. I'm so thankful that they came down, even though they were in the middle of a big move. We also got to see my sister's new baby girls and enjoy all kinds of good food that my other sis prepared. Between holding babies, eating yummy food, nerf gun battles, eating yummy food and visiting with family, it was a GREAT day. We are truly blessed!

My sister brought us masks so we wouldn't spread germs to the babies. My kids wanted to wear one right away LOL


New Year's Day was great as well...We tried to get a picture with Nona and all her Grandkids. But it wasn't going to happen with this group. This was our best shot and I must admit that one person had to be photoshopped in LOL
Then we also wanted to get a shot of the twins with the twins...special ;o)

Christmas is here!

Can't believe how quickly it came this year! Our tree looked pretty for the first 24 hours after putting it up. After that cats and children have messed with it multiple times and the ornaments are all bunched together *LOL* We decided this year to donate gifts to the Angel Tree ministry at our church in place of giving tons of gifts to our own kiddos. They are already blessed with so much and they really enjoyed picking out things for other kids who may not have as much. I picked kids who were roughly the same age as them so that they could each pick out a toy and outfit. It was really a fun thing to do with them.
My kid's favorite thing to play with each year is the Little People Nativity (thanks Auntie Amanda). As soon as it comes out of the box they play with it. This year the nativity characters even played on some of the Littlest Pet Shop houses *LOL* I usually end up rearranging all the characters on a daily basis and try to keep them all together. We always joke because every year we seem to misplace Baby Jesus and then find him a few months after Christmas. How could we possibly misplace the star of the show?!
I think it's God's reminder to us to keep Christ at the center year round.Here are a few more pics of a couple of my favorite ornaments. Both were on our tree growing up and one was given to me the year I was born. Hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Good times with Little Miss B

Need to blog about something positive about 4 year olds...I could probably fill pages and pages with all of the struggles we are having with our lovely 4 year old, but I will post some silly pictures instead to make me feel better.

Brooklyn HATES having her picture taken...I take that back...Brooklyn HATES having her picture taken when I am behind the camera. Give anyone else a camera and her precious little smile comes out. But whenever Mom tries she gets mad.

The other morning we decided to play with the camera. I needed to get out the camera for fun reasons rather than just using it for business. Brooklyn decided that she would rather take the pictures than be in them. So we took turns and had some fun...

Happy thanksgiving...

So much to be thankful for this year!!

Halloween...a month late!

Been so busy with other people's photo sessions that I haven't had a minute to update our family blog. But better late than never! Here are all of our little trick-o-treaters. Melanie requested to be a bat this year...

And of course Little Sis wanted to be the same thing.

And Brandon was Indiana Jones...mostly because he wanted a whip *LOL*

Soccer

Another season of soccer has come and gone. Mom is glad to have our Saturdays open up for a few months, but we'll miss this great group of girls!