Christams in the AZ

On Christmas afternoon we escaped the bitter cold and headed to warm and sunny Arizona! The kids were VERY excited to fly on an airplane again and they were great travelers!! We had a fabulous time with my WONDERFUL inlaws!! Stella and Porter were so happy to see Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Chris! We had great weather, lots of fun things to do and lots of time creating memories. :) I know most of you have seen my pics on facebook, so I'm trying to post different pics so they aren't all repeats. :)

The morning after Christmas we had our Christmas with Grams, Gramps, and Uncle Chris. Here is Steve opening a gift.

Stella fell in love with these Christmas decorations of Grandma's. Linda told me they've had them for years and they are little carolers and in true grocery store fashion, they also sport the Pepsi logo. :)
Eating lunch one day.

Picking lemons and grapefruits at one of Steve and Linda's rental properties. They made lemonade with the lemons. Porter loved it and Stella didn't care too much for it.

Mike, Chris and I went to the ISU bowl game while in Arizona. It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of fun people at the game!

Cuddling on Grandma and Grandpa's bed, watching a movie.

Playing at the park, we spent a LOT of time at the parks while we were there.

At the Phoenix Zoo.

We met Chris for lunch one day and headed to Peter Piper's pizza. They had an area full of games that the kids went nuts over. Unlike Chuck E. Cheese, the pizza was actually really good and the game area was really clean! :)

Porter sacked out on the plane from Denver to Des Moines. He slept most of the flight.

Thank you Steve and Linda for a fabulous trip!!!!!!! We miss you guys already!

Sledding!!!!!

I am planning to update my blog with pictures from our trip to Arizona, but for now I'll post some photos from today. Stella, Porter and I met up with friends at Waveland Golf Course for a fun-filled afternoon of sledding! It was SO MUCH fun!!! The hills were awesome and the kids were going down them super fast and having a blast. I thought Porter might be a little scared, but he was laughing his little head off! Stella was beside herself with joy! The weather was absolutely gorgeous today--in the low 40's (which is freezing for some of you!), but for us it was perfect. We were taking off our gloves, hats, upbuttoning coats! It's a lot of work to hike up a sledding hill for 2 hours! Port & Stell both would bring their sleds/tubes back up on their own. I can't wait to go back to sled again!!!
Here they are just getting off the sled and pulling it up another hill. Stella! Looks like she is about to biff it, but she recovered nicely! :)

Porter sailing down the hill.

Stella is the little dot between the two trees, she is getting ready to go down the hill.

Group shot!

It's Christmastime In The City.....Err I mean MA!!!

We had our Watson Christmas in MA over the weekend. It was so much fun!! Mom and Dad always go all out and Dad spends way too much time shopping for just the right gift, baking all the holiday cookies, wrapping presents, etc!! ha ha! Seriously, it is always a fun time and many memories are made. The kids were excellent! They are at the age now that they pretty much entertain themselves. I've noticed that lately Haydn and Porter play a lot together and Stella and Hannah have always played great together. Haydn really liked the tool set that Porter received from Vada. That was the only downer, the Cunninghams were not able to be "home" for Christmas, but hopefully we will see them soon!! *hint, hint* Get your hineys back to IA, Cunninghams!! :)
We let the shorties open up the gifts from the cousins on Saturday morning. Porter got a power tool set from Vada---he is obsessed with it!!

Oh and these photos are totally out of order by the way! Sorry! Santa Claus made a special appearance on Friday evening! Mom and Dad had a little party and lo and behold Santa showed up after a bit! :) (For those of you wondering it was Lynn R.)

Santa brought a special "adult" gift for Dad. It was something along the lines of a Tiger Woods Viagra??? Not sure about all of that! :) The annual reading of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas before heading off to mass on Saturday night. Only missing Vada Rose!

Papa always is great about taking the kiddos in the hot tub. They LOVE the hot tub!

Before church on Saturday night. Doesn't Hannah look excited! LOL!!!!!!!!

Sunday morning we opened gifts. Porters favorite was his Batcave! He's played with it nonstop since we got home.

Stella's favorite was her make-up!! The Little's on Saturday night.

Us on Saturday night.

Christams Concert

Stella had her Christmas concert today at school. They sang around 10 songs and she did a great job remembering all of the words and motions! She was excited about her concert!
Here she is walking into the church with her classmates. Porter didn't want his photo taken!

Singing away! She's in the second row, second from the left.

More singing!

Dad and Mom were able to come up to watch her concert. Stella thought that was pretty cool!!!

Santa also made an appearance at the reception after the concert. Today Stella asked him for a trampoline!!! I have no clue where that came from, she has never once mentioned a trampoline. So now she wants a hot tub and a trampoline.....glad she doesn't have expensive taste or anything! :)

Cookies, Frosting and Frosty!

Last week Mike was out of town all week and we were snowed in a most of the time he was gone!! We found ourselves staying entertained with lots of Christmastime activities. One morning was spent rolling out cookie dough that we made the night before, cutting out cookies and frosting them.

Some of the finished products!! Now, don't be beating down my door trying to be the first to gobble up these beautiful sugar cookies!

How I found them hiding after making the cookies! Thankfully the bookcase is screwed into the wall so it won't fall over on them!

Today Porter kept asking to go outside and build a snowman. When I took them out earlier in the week the snow wouldn't really stick together well for a snowman. Stella was pretty sure that since Daddy was home now HE'D be able to make one!!!

Here they are in front of the pile of snow in front of the neighbors house.

On top of the snow mountain!

Porter helping Mike out.

With Frosty! And for the record, the snow still isn't very good for building a snowman which is why he is so small! And we didn't have a big carrot for the nose, so we used orange sidewalk chalk! :)

Holiday Party

I'm fortunate enough to belong to a stay at home mom group with a great bunch of mamas! There are 13 of us that created this little group and we always have lots of fun together. The kids have grown up together and the hubbys even have gotten to know each other well. Last weekend we hosted our annual Sassy Mama holiday party. All but one member was able to make it, so needless to say it was a full house at our casa! The kids had a little gift exchange which was a lot of fun.
Here are the ladies that keep me sane most days! :) I didn't get a group shot of the kids, but I really wished I would of! Stella and Berlin

Chit-chatting

Some of the guys Playing

And the aftermath!!Stay-At-Home-Moms with a drinking and eating problem?!?!?! ha ha!!!

Toys....................