Happy Holidays from the Kids

A Merry Watson Christmas

Rabbitat

Front View

Side View

Our new bunnies are now living in style!  Their spacious new rabbitat (rabbit + habitat;)  is a multi-level condo fit for a four-legged king or queen.  We built the entire thing in the space of just a few hours and for about $60.  Jake & Apple are separated by the wall in the middle, but can nuzzle and clean each other through the wire. We still have some fine tuning to do, but we think the bunnies are much happier in their new home.

Here's the site I got the idea from, BinkyBunny.com.

Applecore on the top floor.

Jake on his 2nd level.

The End of an Era

Okay, fine.  There was no era to end.  I'm just feeling a little sad because my jukebox just left home.  After 12 years of carting the darn thing around, I decided it was time to give it up.  A nice DJ who promised to take good care of it bought it and drove it back to the Bay Area just minutes ago.  So long (sniff)!  I hope you get more play time than I was able to give you!

They Do Multiply!

Say hello to Jake Boom Watson. He was added today to our rabbit family. We are very excited!

Introducing Applecore

Lounging in her cage...

Five and a half weeks ago, I captured a rabbit in our front yard!  I noticed it sitting in the bushes while loading the van for a long day out.  Not knowing what the heck to do with the bunny, I put it in a grocery bag and it went with us for the day.  We went to the orthodontist, the dance store, Trader Joe's and gymnastics before bringing our furry new friend home.

She (I think.)(Thanks for showing me how to check, Maura.) now lives happily in our kitchen.  Early "free range bunny" experiments failed due to excessive peeing on my couches, but Apple doesn't seem to mind the confinement too much.  She is well fed and often visited.  All in all, we like the bunny!

Meet Applecore Zip Watson...

Halloween!

About a week ago, the kids got a package in the mail from "Janet and Matt Baugh".  (Have they eloped?!?:)

Inside were masks and socks.  Both caused great excitement! The girls have been on a knee sock kick lately (how'd you know?).  Molly has even been borrowing mine for her jazz classes.

As you can see from the picture, Des LOVES the masks!  He is going to be Frankenstein's Monster for Halloween.

Lydia & Rowan are going to wear their cat and devil masks to the Halloween party at gymnastics.  They'll be perfect with a leotard for a functional costume.  Wave plans to wear Molly's pumpkin mask and paint the rest of his head orange to match!  I'll make sure to get pictures of that!

Thanks Janet & Matt!  You always send the nicest little treats!

More Pretty Pictures From Molly

The girls had fun today curling their hair and putting on makeup. Molly took pictures when they were done. It's so nice to see them enjoying each other's company. Makes Mommy proud!

The personalities sure shine through in these pics.

My beautiful little cynic.

Happy girl, what a smile!

Pretty sisters. (Good job, Molly, thanks!)

Wave's Wish List

Wave was really excited about this story.  He loves maps and would really like to own this one!

For my readers in Redding, look for your town in the story.  Maybe some of you have political clout and can help the deal finally go through! ;)

'Paradise' found: 70-ton elephant at S.F. Port

Rowan's Stand-Up Debut

The day before her 5th birthday, Rowan participated in the Enchanted Valley's Annual Untalent Show. Needless to say, she was a hit!

The quality on the video is pretty poor, so turn up your volume! I've added annotations hoping that will help.

Coincidence

Since we moved to Sacramento 2+ years ago, I've been running into a lot of coincidences connected to my childrens' names.  My kids don't have the most common names, so it's been surprising each time.  These aren't just singular coincidences,  either.

First, there was the homeschooling mom named Molly with the daughter named Lydia who had the same midwives as me.

There was a family we'd see at all the childrens' functions at the library.  Turns out they are homeschoolers.  They know a lot of the same people we do.  They have a daughter named Lydia.

One day at the dance studio I noticed a woman reading the exact same book I was.  You know I don't read anything current.  This was the 1972 Wallace Stegner book Angle of Repose.  I later found out she has a daughter named Molly.  Molly is in all of Rowan's dance classes.

Last week a woman approached me at the dance studio and asked, "Did you say her name was Rowan and his is Desmond?"  I, of course, said, "Yes".  She went on to tell me that her maiden name was Desmond and her brother has a son named Rowan.  Yup,  Rowan Desmond!

I wonder what the odds of all these coincidences happening are?  Anybody out there smart enough to figure it out for me?

Hello, White House...

Today we called the White House.  I didn't think anyone would answer, I just thought it'd be cool to see what the answering machine said.

I put the phone on speaker and dialed.

Guess what?  Someone answered!

(Not President Obama, himself,  as my photo would mislead you to believe...  Just a secretary, or operator, or the like.)

When the woman's voice said, "Hello, White House", I was pretty stunned.  I hadn't prepared to say anything!  I almost hung up, but instead stammered, "Uh,  how's the weather there today?" (I know, so lame.)  In a bit of an irritated voice she replied, "I don't know, I haven't been outside in 5 hours."  I thanked her and hung up.

Molly wouldn't believe us that we had called, so she hit redial on my phone.
"Hello, White House."
"Is this really the White House?"
"Yes."
"How hard is it to get to talk to the President?"
"You would have to go through his scheduling office for that."
"Okay,  when is the President's birthday?"
"You can go to the website and find all that information in his bio."
"Okay, bye."

I wonder how many idiotic phone calls like ours they get per day?  If you'd like to be one, just dial (202) 456-1414.  Say "hi" for me!

Japanese Company Turns Diapers Into Energy Source

Slashdot Idle Story | Japanese Company Turns Diapers Into Energy Source

A great idea!  Thanks for the story, Matt.

Taco Wednesday

A recent veg plate of purple onion & cabbage,
green tomato and black olive.

That's right,  Taco Wednesday...

Taco Thursday has reigned in our home for at least 8 years, but our hectic schedule just won't allow it anymore.

The tradition started when we decided to combine our favorite meal with our favorite television show, Survivor.  As luck would have it, the schedulers at CBS were aware of our late night dance classes on Thursdays and moved our show to Wednesday as well!  Thanks, CBS!

Survivor Nicaragua airs tonight, enjoy!

The Day Gwen Stefani & I Got Married

Not to each other, of course...

While that is, for now, legal in California, (yay!) it wasn't back in 2002.  

(I wouldn't marry Gwen Stefani anyway.  Her asinine song lyrics irk me to no end.  I  imagine her conversations are full of whining remembrances of old boyfriends.)  

But, I digress...

On September 14, 2002 I married Wave, Gwen married Gavin.  They married in London, we married in the Enchanted Valley.  Both brides were an hour late to the ceremony, oops.  I can't speak for Gwen, but for me, it was a nice day full of friends and family.

We've (that's Wave & I, not Gwen & I) had our ups & downs since then.  Two more beautiful children.  Loss of loved ones.  A couple moves.  New jobs, no jobs.  Countless days of happiness & fun.  Countless fights & misunderstandings.  We are only human.

I guess the important thing is that we keep trying.  We keep going.  We do our best to make each day a little better.

Eight years now and on to 9.  I, for one, am excited to see what comes next.

Fun With Walmart & Safeway

Share Tar Sands Truck Slogans and Create Your Own!

My personal favorite!

Okay, so some of these are funny, some are pretty dumb.  The point?  There is a price to be paid for the low, low prices.  You personally may not have to pay it, but someone out there does.

We all have to make our own decisions regarding how we live on this planet.  My boycott of Walmart stands.  Safeway, on the other hand, I occasionally patronize.

The difference, for me, is the necessity of the products they sell.  My family needs groceries.  We don't need the junk Walmart sells and there is no way I'd purchase food there (blech!)

Gingko Biloba

One of my favorite trees. The name is fun to say and it is so pretty! This is a female tree. The males do not bear seeds.

Check out the Wikipedia entry, (Ginkgo Biloba)  it features a beautiful picture of the ginkgo's leaves.

Gingo Biloba by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This leaf from a tree in the East,

Has been given to my garden.

It reveals a certain secret,

Which pleases me and thoughtful people.

Is it a living being,

Which has separated in itself?

Or are these two, who chose

To be recognized as one?

Answering this kind of question,

Haven't I found the proper meaning,

Don't you feel in my songs,

That I'm one and double?

Happy Birthday, Rowan!

Everybody's best friend, super little athlete, happy-go-lucky, smart-as-a-tack, this kid rocks!

Happy birthday, baby!

Lucky Birthday Omens

On the eve of Rowan's birthday, her Daddy cracked these eggs into her cupcake mix.  Five yolks (from 3 eggs) for our soon to be 5 year old.  That has to be lucky!  

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Mmmmmm...

If you know me even a little, you know I like pizza. This branch of the Watson tree has been making pizza nearly every Friday for 7 or 8 years. This beauty was mushroom, spinach and havarti. It was good!

Little Sapling

Little Sapling Toys for my little sapling.  Des received these cars and hills as a gift from his Granddad.  He loves to drive them, I love that they are eco friendly and beautiful!

Little Sapling Toys plants a tree for every toy sold!

Catching Up

In looking through Picasa (the photo management program I use) I found several pictures I took for blogs that I never got to.  It seems a shame to forget them, so over the next few days I'll give you the truncated versions of the blogs that never were.

To start (from over a year ago)...

I Love Cloth Diapers

I have been very lucky in regards to my supply of cloth diapers!  I spent $80 on some used diapers right before Desmond was born.  The rest have been given to me by friends.  Super generous friends!  My favorite are the Mother-ease.  They are easy to use,  don't leak, and will fit until Desmond is done with diapers.

I Just Got 6 Bingos!

I am totally amazed, myself!  I think my highest number of bingos in one game was 3 before now.

A Scrabble bingo is the use of all 7 tiles on the rack at one time.  Fifty extra points are awarded when a player is able to do this.  

I took this screenshot after the scores reset, but I think it was something like 598 to 280.  (You can see I had to learn how to take a screenshot first!)

My bingo words were...
 DOMINOES
CABBAGE
CROWNING
GUILTIER
BEMUSING
UNTITLED

Yay, me! :)

P.S.  In case you were wondering, my other words were

FRAZIL

NE

OPAL

FOP

QI

DELLY

AGER

SERF

Anyone wanna play? ;)

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Our busy class schedule is about to start, and we'll need our lunches on the go.  I've been thinking about these rolls for a while.  My idea was to use bread dough, fill roll sized portions with sandwich fillings, then bake.  PB&J seemed easiest so I started my experiment there.  

I used a basic white bread,  freshly ground peanut butter and homemade apricot jam.  I am happy to say the mini sandwiches are a success!  They are going to be so easy to grab for a tasty, easy meal, yay!

First Day Of Golf

Lydia & Rowan had their first golf lesson today.  They were super excited to wear their new golf outfits and use their golf clubs somewhere other than at home.  They both did a great job and had a lot of fun!

Rowan says, "I hit a golf ball really far!"

Actually, they both seemed a bit timid about whacking the ball.   Maybe that's because of all the times we've told them not to swing their clubs in the house!

Another Reason To Love Burt's Bees

As of April 2010, Burt's Bees has ELIMINATED landfill waste from their facilities.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G ! Read more about how they did it here.  What's New - Burt's Bees

In Case Your Methods Of Enraging Monkeys Are Not Advanced Enough...

Monkeys hate flying squirrels, report monkey-annoyance experts - CSMonitor.com


(Thanks, Blake!)

Lydia's Moth by Molly

Lydia saved the moth from the pool.  Molly took the amazing photos.

Impressionists At The De Young

Lydia gets a smooch.

I have been dying to see the Impressionist exhibit currently going on at the de Young Museum in S.F.  Happily, Wave and Doug wanted to see it too.

We all piled into the van on a Friday morning and made the drive.  Doug told us some of the history of the Enchanted Valley as we drove along scenic 280, making the trip even nicer than usual.

We fortified ourselves at a favorite restaurant of ours, Darla's, then walked through Golden Gate Park to the museum.  It was really nice to be back in the city.

A peck on the head for Rowan.

I had not yet been to the de Young since it was rebuilt, and it was a delight.  We saw only a tiny fraction of the museum in our 4 hours there.  The Birth of Impressionism exhibit was amazing,  I'll definitely go back to see it again before it closes.

My Favorite Outfit

Lydia used to be quite the trend setter with her outfits.  I was happy to see her revisit her old style.



















And of course, my Rowan can't bear to stay out of a picture!

Laundry Day

18 lovely days in the mountains.  1 ho-hum trip to the laundromat.

We're Baaaaack...!

;)  Loana was the winner of the "Where's Watson?" picture contest!  Loana's Big Win  Her prize is that I've stolen her blog title!




It seemed a fitting title as we are back.  It was a quiet, lovely trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains.  David and Doug spent much of the time golfing,  Molly wandered around E.V. working with Gene and hunting for other teens.   The rest of us spent most of our time next to the pool.  
We did manage to drag ourselves away once or twice.  I'll post more about our trip over the next few days. Stay tuned!

An Enchanted Fourth

 The Watson clan spent the 4th of July enjoying traditional Enchanted Valley activities.  First, the children paraded around the parking lot & pool areas.

    


Where's Watson? (Find 4 of us in this photo.)

Desmond enjoyed repeatedly petting all
the dogs.  He was too distracted to march with the other kids.  

                                   Molly watched from the sidelines with a friend.

Lydia, Rowan & David played in the annual wiffle ball game.  After one turn in the outfield and one at-bat, Lydia decided the game was not for her.  We are proud of her for trying something new on her own, though!

Rowan was the surprise star of the day.  She hit the ball both times she got to bat (without the tee!) and made it to first base.  Unfortunately, Daddy was up after her and hit a pop fly for the 3rd out.