This Week's Highlights

Kids say and do such funny things each day, and I always tell myself "that was so funny, I'll never forget it," but I often forget before I even tell Jon about it.  Jon's Grandma wisely advised us to keep a little notebook and write those things down everyday, but I rarely get around to writing it down either.  So here are a few of my favorites from this week, that I still remember.

>the kids playing Angry Birds in their room--no cell phone, no tablet, just a dresser, a bed, and a child's imagination!

>Emma:  Come on Mikey, there's puddles outside waiting for you!

>Mathew:  There's no school today?  Yay, that means I get to stay home all day and play with Michael!

>Mathew & Emma making letter shapes with Glow Sticks, and Mathew testing Emma on her letter movements (Zoophonics)

>being prepared for anything at Kindergarten:

Watson Family Beach Day

Back around Mother's Day, we were able to get the ENTIRE family together for a beach day.  It's usually a little cold at the beach still in May, but I love doing this.

Dad & Jeanne were there, but they had to leave before we took the group shot.

We love this girl!

Quotes from my favorite little 4-year-old:

"Girls talk to much"

"That boy looks like a girl" {about a guy she saw at the store with only kind of long hair, which by the way was still longer than hers}

Emma: Mathew, you talk like a girl. {when he was whining}

Mathew: No, I don't

Emma: Well, you cry like one.

Emma to Michael: "That's why you work down in a ditch and I work up in the sky." {with attitude--from the Tinkerbell movie}

Since her birthday lands on the father & sons' campout, we got to have an all (well, mostly) girl party.  Here she is with all her guests.

She is such a girlie-girl, but she's tough enough to take on any boy around.  She is such a joy to us!

Mathew's 5th birthday

We had so much fun planning Mathew's big birthday party. It was the first big party we've done for him, and he was so excited.
Mat's new favorite show is "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," so when I saw the idea online for a pirate and pixie party, I knew Mat would love it. Almost everyday he would ask if we could look for party ideas online.

Drawing on the wigwam

Cannonball battle

Searching for treasure
Mathew is so excited about growing up and going to kindergarden. He tells me "I want to be baptized so I can live in Heaven" and "I want to be a missionary so I can go on a mission." He is a sweet little boy, we love him so much!

I can't believe Thanksgiving was my last post. Christmas is old new by now. (Although I still haven't given out all of our Christmas gifts yet!)

Our Christmas was awesome! It was our first Christmas together alone. We went on a real vacation in white, snowy mountains.

The kids loved the snow. Mathew kept running outside barefoot just to touch the snow. He even laid down in it with just his pajamas on to make a snow angel.

Thanksgiving

Two of my favorite pictures from Thanksgiving this year:

Mikey found something that was just his size.

Grandpa with two very happy girls.

My boys

Mathew loves following instructions...
as long as they are on paper...
with pictures!

Michael made a new friend on our last trip to Disneyland. This guy was sooo nice, he entertained the kids for hours while we waited for the parade.

My favorite part about having Disney passes is spending time with our friends when they come for Disneyland.

Halloween

We went to a fun pumpkin patch.
Getting ready for the corn maze.

Halloween, "but not the real one," according to Mathew. He was looking forward to "the real Halloween, when you trick-or-treat at houses instead of just cars."

This was Emma, earlier in the week, when she still had all her hair. {She cut her own hair}

{And yes, I cried, a little}

She changed her costume 3 times in the morning before her Joyschool halloween party.

School

Mathew and Emma started Preschool and Joyschool this year.

We all love it.

The Best Summer Ever

This summer we spent lots of days by the pool and took a few trips. We had lots of good times.

Yosemite

For our last big vacation of the summer we camped for a few short days in Yosemite. It was fun to go camping again, but I really miss being able to take day trips to enjoy Yosemite.
Mathew is having a great time, he loves Grandpa.

The girlie girls. They are out numbered by the boys in my side of the family.

River Rafting A bunch of friends from our ward on the second annual river rafting trip.

We are so glad we got to go this year, it was so much fun! We are looking forward to doing it again.

Good Friends

At the beach in San Diego, our most successful beach trip.

Sundance

We kicked off our summer in an AMAZING cabin in Sundance, Utah with Jon's family. Those mountains are gorgeous. We rode the tram all the way to the top and did a little hiking.

We got some yummy suckers for the kids, just like Jon got when he was little.

Spring Things

I haven't been much for photos lately, but there's this place...

where I wanted to take pictures of them...

but they were acting like this...

until they got to do this...

and then they didn't want to leave.

At least she liked it :)

That was Easter weekend. We had lots of fun Easter parties, too with egg hunts. But, our kids don't really "get" egg hunts yet.

Disneyland

We took our kids to Disneyland for the first time and got passes. They loved it! (Although it doesn't show in this photo).

We forgot the camera! So this is our only photo of the day.

Mathew liked all of the boat rides and running around Toontown.

Emma was mesmerized by the princesses and the castle.

Michael's favorite seemed to be the Buzz Lightyear ride.