New Year's Resolutions

Time to start thinking about New Year's Resolutions. One that is new to us - get out of debt - sigh!
Spend more time with God and each other. I stopped by Lifeway today and picked up a new couples devotional book. Pray for us!

Hula Hoop

Jamie learned how to keep the hula hoop up today in Grandma's backyard. She even got 2 and 3 to stay up for awhile. Amazing! haha (James thinks it's from playing the hula hoop game on Wii fit - but there are no real hula hoops on that - who knows)

Great Grandpa Helms

Anne's fever finally broke and she had a long nap this afternoon. She is sleeping in her bed tonight and hopefully I will be able to sleep too but can't sleep yet. Jamie spent the afternoon at Grandma's house with the cousins while I ran errands - like picking up medicine for Anne and going to the bank. We brought Great Grandpa Helms over for a quick visit and dinner since we haven't seen him all week and we couldn't take Anne out anywhere yet.

He told us about his post office supervisor night job. And I asked him what his favorite toy was when he was little. He said he could only remember a rector set - where you build things with motors like a windmill. He said by age 12/13 he was hunting and fishing all the time. He used to be a member of several rifle associations and took his shotgun to school and hunted a lot. Different times back then. He looked at our blog and James "counted" all our digital pictures for 2009 - over 8000! Good grief I'm addicted.

Rugs

My sister Lori sent us some $ for Christmas and instead of buying toys or books, I invested in 2 really nice black and gray rugs to cover the kitchen tile floor. Now Anne can be on the floor and not keep getting cold legs and then getting sick. They arrived today - perfect timing for my anniversary and the beginning of the year.

Hair

Wednesday afternoon we had hair appointments with cousin Michelle. I took several pictures but they are on the camera phone that still needs to be downloaded. Michelle has hair extensions so her hair is long again with red violet highlights.

Anne is sick

Anne has been sick all week with a high fever. When we went on Monday to the dr's office, she had bronchitis. Today when I took her back, she has a double ear infection. Now we can give her a tiny bit of antibiotic. I have spent my entire week - night and day holding Anne upright so she can breathe and sleep. She has been miserable.

Treasure hunt

I used to hide clues for Jamie and her friend to find treasure. Now Jamie is hiding clues for her cousins to find treasure. It's a fun way to connect! Jamie hid clues for both Timmy and Lucas to find so there would be no fighting - I followed Timmy and she followed Lucas. They ended at the same place - in the shoebox and sneakers in her room. She had an elephant hiding for them. haha

Smoothies

Michelle and I made smoothies this summer and now Charles and I are making them at the end of the year. Smoothies make me happy! I like orange, pineapple, banana best. Annie likes them too!

Disney Tinkerbell Pajamas

I picked out some matching Christmas Tinkerbell pajamas from the Disney online store for Jamie and me. Jamie set the timer on the camera and we smiled!
Jamie is a great model!

Family Photo

We tried to get a family photo plus a good friend tonight. Charles had to work but we got most of us sitting on the stairs.

Bull in a China Shop

Travis' friend brought over a card game called Bull in a China Shop for Jamie. My mom used to say that about us all the time. We are getting ready to play it.

Annie and Dolly

Annie loves her dolly! We printed out pictures all morning for Grandma Jacky and my frames. I took this one today for us too.

Annie

Aunt Teresa gave us some beautiful, warm outfits for Anne. Of course this blue one is my favorite. She squints up into a smile when she sees the flash pop up.
Anne is very serious about her new pjs from mommy. haha
Little Annie has been practicing going up the stairs with Grandma on Fridays. On Christmas Day I had my back turned taking pictures and saw a shadow go by me - whose kid is that? Mine - little Annie crawled up the stairs on her own.

Down Home Ranch

Aunt Christine works at Down Home Ranch. Grandma let me read the newsletter to learn more about it. They have a website: www.downhomeranch.org and hope to have a blog this year. Shown in the picture above from the newsletter: Christine learned to put felt around bars of soap at work. I'm guessing she taught Grandma who then taught the grandkids who then made them for Christmas gifts for various family members. That is so neat!

Clothes

Jamie only had a few long sleeve shirts which we found out was a problem when she tried to go camping over Thanksgiving weekend. So Aunt Teresa bought her 3 and I bought her 3. One of ours came in as a tiny nightgown so it had to be returned. But hopefully this will get her through a week or so in case she goes on any more long trips.

Cookbook

Jamie asked for a cookbook for Christmas and she picked out this one by Paula Deen for kids at the book fair. She offered to make lunch today and chose chicken wraps - yum! I am so proud of her.

Curtains

My boss at the daycare said curtains have been on her wish list for about 10 years. She saw the fairy godmother outfit pictures and found out Grandma can sew. She said wow maybe we could ask her to make curtains. We found these drapes/material in Grandma's sewing room. Grandma has been very busy teaching but she had about 2 weeks off and she hemmed the curtains for Christmas. Thank you!

Shopping

Another Watkins family tradition is gift cards for books from Grandpa and Grandma. We went to Half Price Books and used 2 out of 3 gift cards this morning. Jamie wanted cookbooks and a calligraphy set as well as some Christian fiction. Grandma said she would help teach her calligraphy on Fridays. We also went to the dollar store and picked up wrapping paper and Christmas cards for next year at 50% off! Yeah!

Treasure Hunt

We love treasure hunts. We played a new one called Act it Out on Christmas morning which we videotaped and Jamie found the clues to her final gift! The grand finale - Coupon good for a trip this summer to Virginia! I also found a holiday photo album of our first Christmas in Texas. We all look so young!

Christmas afternoon

We went to Grandma Jacky's house around 3 pm in our pajamas and started passing out gifts. I received a lovely Cinderella music box from Teresa. Jamie received a fudge brownie mix in an oven mitt from Aunt Teresa and she was so excited. That is always on her wish list. We gave the Haunspergers a tub full of games - cars theme. Aunt Christine gave a Rubik's cube to Doug with instructions how to solve the puzzle. The guys took turns working on it all afternoon.

Jamie made a lot of gifts for everyone with Grandma's help. I loved my magnet - that says "With God nothing is impossible". Another one was a special sleeping bag with a hood for Zachary for camping. Jamie loved her horses from Travis and his friend Lindsay. It made her day! Jamie learned to felt with Grandma and they made Grandpa Steve an eagle. Grandma made Jamie a felt horse puppet and passed on jewelry and a seashell mobile from Great Grandma. We passed on our exersaucer from Anne to Zach (thanks Aunt Lori). We all received $1 gold coins from Great Grandpa Helms. We also received several gift cards which I haven't even looked at yet. I heard there were several good restaurants to choose from for our Anniversary lunch.

Then we had waffles and fruit - strawberries with whipped cream and strawberry syrup was the favorite.