thankfulness

I'm so thankful for our family. We had such a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. A beautiful meal was shared with special family members we hold dear. My parents, Ben's parents, my sister's family and some friends. I realized anewhow blessed I am. We even made s'mores on the patio this year. Maybe this will start a new tradition!

We are back! Now 8 strong!

Just to catch you up, we are now eight fold strong. Ben and I and our 6 kiddos, with our newest addition… A little boy! Baby Levi is now seven months old and ready to crawl day now. And I will have my work cut out for me.

This past weekend, I hosted my first baby shower here at our house for my sister Carrie. With that past me, I'm know ready to focus on thanksgiving preparations for 18!

Snakes, Spiders, and Writing Lessons!

So...I don't know if it's due to a bit cooler weather or what, but we have critters everywhere lately.  The girls spotted a black widow outside today....eek scary... A day or two ago it was a snake (thankfully a small one), and about a week ago they were examining a plump green caterpillar that had "eggs" stuck to it all over.  The kids would pass the green caterpillar everyday on the bush outside and talk about the eggs and when they would hatch...however, in the back of my mind I had second thoughts about the eggs....something just didn't seem right about it...weren't butterflies supposed to lay the eggs, not caterpillars, right?  My kids were so excited about the whole process and having it unfold right before their little eyes. So I decided to come inside and look it up on the internet (gotta love the internet), only to find out that the little "eggs" were actually parasites feeding off the poor green caterpillar....not exactly storybook material here but, science none the less. So, I went on to explain parasitism to my wide-eyed crew only to endure their sad laments for the poor caterpillar!!!!

             English lessons went well today as both of the older girls crafted personal narratives...aka stories about stuff that happened to them!  I am always interested to hear their perspective on their events... Children really do  see the world through  much more honest eyes than adults....maybe because  they haven't  learned to censor and tailor it to what people expect to hear.                                                    Perhaps, I should let them blog for me occasionally! 

We've Moved, Why not restart ye ole blog!!!

Hey all!
Wow it has been too long since I have blogged anything and so much has happened there is no way to catch up. Its kinda like when you are trying to scrapbook and you get so behind that all the pro-scrappers (people who actually do it more than me) just advise you to start with what you are doing now...so that is where I'll begin, again.

We have moved to another town and have been here since August. Its a larger house in a town close to Ben's work. I have already unpacked and we are quite settled and now I am turning thoughts to more ordinary life things....things like school, songwriting, and managing my back pain. I injured my back and have been suffering from pain in my lower back and in my left leg for about 9 weeks.

The girls are doing well...all five. We have had a bit of sickness but nothing too troublesome. We are to head to Ft.Worth soom for some diagnostic tests on the four youngest girls to see if any of them are silently suffering from bladder reflux (which Miranda, my nine year old, had to have several surgeries to fix). We have been told that this tends to run in families and is much more prevalent in girls than boys.....YEA (with sarcasm)!! We will be praying the tests will show no problems and that it was just an expensive precaution.

This is maybe one of the most boring blogs I have written I guess, but there it is. I will write more later!

Skate day !!!

So... yesterday was one of the homeschool skate days, which my kids salivate in anticipation of. They, of course had a super time and so did I. I visited with my friend Janis who is now expecting her third child...I just found out at the skating rink!!! So HAPPY for her!!! and so HAPPY its her this time and not ME!!! WHoo-hooo...love the kids, hate being pregnant!!!Anywho...here's some skating pics! This first one is Janis and her baby.


The fuzzy pic of Kayla isnt really in focus but I thought it was interesting how much she resembles a baby giraffe.




















Brooke just loves pretending to play the shooting game.
Camryn was feeling yucky so she didnt really smile much...but she is doing much better today!


















keep smilin' until next time!
What a doll.

Chickens and Masquerades!!!

Okay...after a week now our chicks have grown so much...today we upgraded them to a bigger cage...thanks to my great friend Janis. Who by the way is my chicken-advice-go-to-girl. She totally has a real farm full of animals of all sorts and totally laughs her head off at all my questions! Anyway. Here are some pics as I promised.





I missed the pic moment where Cami crawled in with the chicks...the poor things were huddled in the corner while the toddler was terrorizing them....I just turned away for a moment and...well...you get the idea.














Brooke was so helpful in feeding them but wanted nothing to do with touching them(afraid they will bite her)!

























Camryn, on the other hand, had no problem handling the birds. She almost strangled this one!!!


LOOK AT THAT LITTLE TIGHT GRIP!!!!

Seriously, poor thing...I hope it recovers from the wrath of Camryn "the chicken-strangler" as she is now affectionately known. Time will tell.











Here is our cute pup Duncan... I like to call him Duncan punkin!

And, here is the puppy momma...btw, she decided to no longer let him sleep with her after one night of his exuberance in the middle of the night. But he is finally getting better about sleeping in his bed! Hallelujah!






So....Now it is 8o'clock and the girls have decided it is time to have a masquerade dancing party...






which Ben and I must attend of course

....using the masks they have been creating from foam plates since this afternoon.





























Ben is the music maker! whoo-hooo!














I am simply trying to maintain sanity for a few more moments before the much anticipated, heavenly BED-TIME.

GOOD-NITE HOLLIE!!! miss ya!

Power Outages, Trips, and Pets...of sorts!

So friends, back by popular demand....the watson blogging. I will try to do better, no promises though. We are a busy family. So...following hurricane Ike we lost power for several days and had super strong winds that resulted in a beautiful oak tree almost falling on our house....simultaneously we were helping to man the red cross evacuee shelter that was set up at our church here. The tree has since been cut down and we took off a week to go to GlenRose. So we ended up getting a mini vacation to our old hometown and some much needed rest for Ben and I. We had a super fun time at Fossil Rim Wildife Center with Ben's sis and folks on a guided tour of the park. Since his sis, Aimee, is a super friendly doctor in the area, she was able to score us this neat tour. Great Perks to being a doctor!! We had a great time with them and my beautiful and sweet nephew Nick!!! He is such a cutie. I wish I had a pic to post. We also got to spend some time with the Vallasters while in GR and the kids had a fun time with their best friends while Amy and I got to catch up over her 6th pregnancy nausea. Hey! Im just glad its her and not me this time...seriously! We had the opportunity Friday night to visit the Promise and see some faces we have really missed!!! We really were able to enjoy the show and getting to visit with old friends.
So....now about the pets....call me crazy, I do anyway...But all in one week we have aquired a cutie pie black lab puppy, whom we have named Duncan, and10- 3 week old baby chicks. The puppy was completely an impulse decision--As are most puppy buys...at least in my life...I guess I am mesmerized by puppy breath when I am agreeing to this torment. We havent hardly slept since we brought the little bugger home on Saturday! The chicks we got today, but this decision was premeditated. I have been wanting chickens for a while now but finally got around to going to get them today. The girls were so excited and PROMISED to help....we shall see!!! I am planning to let them have the majority of the chicken raising responsibilities, and Miranda has already been asking all kinds of questions about them so I am directing her to the chicken manual we have borrowed. Miranda is such a rule-follower I am sure that after reading it she will be reminding me of all that we need to do. She has taken it upon herself today to create a chart to keep track of feeding responsibilities for all the animals old and new. So funny how meticulous her personality...so different from me....so FOREIGN!!! Where did this child come from??? Mikayla is the puppy mom and I think Duncan himself has already bonded with her. Of Course, Mikayla is the friend-maker kid...and this carries over to animals as well as humans. I have given in to letting the little canine sleep in her bed tonight...I mean Ben and I have to start getting some shut-eye. Kay was thrilled, to say the least at her newfound responsibility. Brooke and Avery cant wait to hold the chicks tommorrow....maybe I can snap some pics of them. As for me I was very happy to get a little tiny bit of "me" time today at volleyball...the rest of the day seemed like a flurry of activities and kid questions...busy busy days like these I treasure and yet at the same time wish life could slow a bit... or maybe just the responsibilities of life. I do love the fun stuff...the times together that pique our interests as a family ( Like picking out baby chicks and bringing them home). I know one day not far from now I will truly miss the wonder in the eyes of a that 4 year old with the new puppy (its better than Christmas) or the excitement of figuring out things in life that a bright-eyed seven year old brings. I want to soak it all in and never forget the preciousness of the gifts I have been given for such a short time... And I have to say at the end of the day (which it is way past now) that my new favorite thing to hear from my super capable 8 year old is "Mommy is there anything else I can help you with?" We are so blessed.