Cleaning and scrubbing will wait ’till tomorrow, but children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs! Dust go to sleep! I’m rocking my baby. Babies don’t keep. – Ruth Hamilton

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Pizza...

I feel like I am blogged out with our trip! There are so many photos (701 in fact), all of which are on out shutterfly account listed on the side. I think this will be my last post, but I have to say it was a fabulous trip and I am so thankful we got to be part of such an amazing experience! Thank you Mom and Dad-you are my inspiration!
I have to share about our pizza night. This was one (of many) of all of our favorite nights. Mark and Brent got the fire burning and Brent made homemade dough. We all had our drinks and enjoyed cooking together.
When people ask me what my favorite thing was, I have to include this night. It was good family bonding and of course we got to enjoy pizza! On a side note-I had pizza everyday when I was there. The food was the next favorite part of mine.

The first picture is from our front door-and then Bruce and Mark looking at their work


We had all our toppings to the side because first you have to cook your dough and then put on the toppings. Isn't that cool?
Love both these shots

I also had to include these pics. I was showing this slug to my niece Millie and Avery walked by and just plucked it off the wall (mind you we saw so many creatures due to the open house). It made a funny suction sound-then she proceeded to jam her finger in there. I had to take it away!
Overall, nothing can describe our trip! I am happy to have all these memories in my head!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Planes, Trains and Automobiles-The Watson's Take Italy-Pisa and a Wine Tour

We went to Pisa for a few hours one day...there isn't much to the town-we just wanted to say we went to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa...




Then, on our way to Rome we stopped at this beautiful winery! I can't remember the name of it, but we will get some of our wine soon! We took a tour and then enjoyed lunch while tasting the wine. The owner's wife cooked all the food. YUM!

Avery was trying to bend down like the other girls :)

Mack and Avery loved it too

Again...there will be more post!

Friday, June 24, 2011

In the Meantime

My post from our trip is taking a while to finish, so in the meantime I will post what has happend since we've been back.

We have been on many adventures! Today we met some friends at Stephens Lake to play in the fountains. We ended up leaving because a kid decided it was fun to put his foot on the sprayer and spray my kids as well as others-it was pretty scary for me and much more for the kids. Can't believe some parents! They were both too scared after that, so Miss Mallory and I headed them to the park area and met some other friends.

Yesterday we went to the Katy Trail so mom could run and then headed to a different park. I didn't bring my camera:(

We also had Hiram and Jane over for dinner-I was ready to have visitors after no naps that day!

The other adventures have been at home! They like it best there. It has been rough getting them back to our routine-plus Mack has 5 new teeth (4 of which arrived on the trip). Mom (me) has been busy getting the house and clothes back together and the kids have had a lot of fun staying in their pj's and hanging out.

I am loving being at home with them! I forgot how great it is. I am also thankful for the help I am getting from Miss Mallory! There is no way I could do some of things I want to do without her. It is a lot of work to have them this close and now that Mack is going everywhere-it is crazy. Now we can go swimming without fear of one not getting enough attention (or drowning).


Josie and Grace are our friends twins. They are a little over a month older than Mack. It is going to be fun having all 4 so close and we each have a boy and girl


These fountains are so cool!

This was a big project! I was putting her clothes away last night and she found a pack of stickers. I have never seen her so content. She pick each one off and put it on herself
When ever things get rocky-pull out the wagon! It's gold!

Time outside


Mack is everywhere. Here he climbed into the cabinet and then Avery joined him:) haha

I got an apron from Italy and so did my mini me. When I put mine on she wanted hers on too
Avery loves to help-I had just made Mack's food and she was taking them off the counter to bring them to his highchair


Next up...more swim lessons (which I teach), Tumble Bees, free library activities, hopefully lots of family time with cousins and grandparents (at the lake)!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Caio! (revised due to spelling)

We started off early in the morning and took a flight to NY. We were supposed to have a 9 hour lay over, but the airlines messed up (even though these tickets were bought 2 months ago), so most of us got on an earlier flight, and the rest came on another flight.

It was a an 8 hour flight -we had a lot of time. I sat next to a man from Rome and he talked a lot about his country and luckly had children. In turn, he was very forgiving of mine! Mack did alright and Avery was okay! They had major break downs on the flight, but Italians are really great with them.

When we arrived in Rome only 6 bags arrived (because we changed planes). So it is Sunday evening and they have still not arrived and no body here really cares:) The ride was about 4 hours from Rome and after 2 the driver pulled over for his break! haha that is why they are stress free here.

To get to our villa you have to climb a mountain with a one lane road (and our bus was huge!) we are on top of the mountain with an amazing view. There is a pool on the side of the house over looking the whole town.

There is no air conditioning because you can open every window and everything chills off. Last night it was rough with the babies, so we are hoping tonight will be okay. I will try my best to keep this updated! For now Ciao!



Having lunch (pasta and hotdogs)

We had nice local ladies prepare dinner for us-it was about 5 courses!


No clothes equals naked babies (p.s. did I mention we have a washer, but no dryer-everything goes outside)



He has fit in well


This out our front door



This is Avery after our flight-she made it! Whew!


She had to swim in a swiming diaper-and eat a peach



Will Write Soon!

One of My Favorite Things

One of my favorite things...getting Mack up from a nap or in the morning. This video is Mack getting up from a nap! So cute!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...The Watson's Take Italy- Rome and heading home


There is so much to share about our trip, but instead of writing about it, I thought I would let the pictures tell the story. The other post were us there in action and now I have had a few days to organize everything in my head. I still don't think we have all truly comprehended what we just experienced. How could you!?! When people ask us how our trip was-it's easy to say wonderful, but I feel I need to show how wonderful it was.

I only hope we can continue to give our children these experiences (maybe not for two weeks and in Italy), but traveling (even in the U.S) could not be anymore important for children to learn outside of the classroom. I didn't know any Italian (which I am not proud of), but spending 2 weeks somewhere you really learn about another culture, language, and experience things outside your own world.

I am starting backwards-this is us in Rome and then heading home...




Rome in a Day(and not enough time)

This was a church where we started our day. It was perfect because we were able to comprehend how old Rome really is. This is the view from inside the church-as you can see we were below street level. Through the years in Rome there have been floods, earthquakes, and much more so they have built on top of buildings. We went down 60 feet below this church to unfold two more churches on top of each other. A priest was outside digging in the yard and discovered much more than he was expecting. We couldn't take pictures inside.

The three older girls wore these white matching outfits through the city-they are precious.


Colosseum

We wanted to make sure he knew he was there


At the Vatican. I should have taken pictures inside the Sistine Chapel-everyone else was! It was so beautiful, but the people were very disrespectful, so it made us mad.

We had a two story apartment-here is our upper room and the view...Do you know what building that is?

Yep...it's the Pantheon! Unbelievable!
Here is the front of where my parents stayed and just SOME of our luggage. They couldn't drive the bus up to the hotel so this is how it got transferred.

The bus ride from our hotel to the airport. Mack and Greta sleeping though it once again.
All smiles before it started!


This is Avery getting mad that her warm Chocolate cookie was gone. Right after this she flew out of her seat head first...that is when I asked for the wine to keep coming!