Celebration of Lights

Luke saw a commercial for the Celebration of Lights out in O'Fallon which is about 20 minutes from where we live in Chesterfield. As soon as he saw the commercial he said we're going! It was a little too late to go yesterday, so tonight we loaded up and headed out to O'Fallon. It was so much fun. There were mind-blowing amounts of lights. It took about 15 minutes to drive through the park that had been decked out with Christmas decorations & lights of all kinds and colors. Thankfully there were minimal blue lights. For those of you that don't really know, I have an extreme aversion to blue Christmas lights. But that's a whole other story. Dallace loved it and Derek talked and cooed the entire time. We will definitely be making this a Missouri Christmas tradition!

 

All of this Christmas fun sure made for a happy two year old!

Gingerbread House = Fail

For FHE this week we decided it was Gingerbread House time. So, while at my favorite place on earth (Target) I picked up the gingerbread house kit and came so excited! After dinner and before bath time-obviously-we began the assembly process. Now remember while looking through these that Dallace is still in this, what will soon be considered the, epic swimsuit phase.

Derek got to hang out with Daddy while Dallace and I worked on the Gingerbread house.

 

Once we realized that I had no idea what I was doing, Luke stepped in.

Unfortunately, this is where it ended...Guess we'll try again next year!

Baby Blue Eyes.

I could stare into these beautiful blue eyes ALL DAY!

Playtime!

It's always playtime in our house, but most of the time, I am a bit too involved with playtime to capture it...Need to work on that!

Thanksgiving!

Our first Thanksgiving in Missouri was a success!

Thanks to the help of the lovely Van Sickle Family (Jason, Amanda, and Woody)

we had a wonderful time laughing, cooking, and eating all day long. 

We had: 

Jason's Mashed potatoes (they are super special and yummy)

Sweet potato casserole

rolls

Green Bean Casserole

Brown Sugar and Honey Ham

Turkey

Stuffing

Crack Bread

Jalopenos stuffed with Sausage

Mile High Ginger Pie

Pumpkin Pie 

And what would any Thanksgiving be in the Watson household without tons of Sparkling Cider.

OH, and the pretty flower arrangement on the table was sent to me by Ashley Stasiak all the way down in Florida. With it was such a sweet note about how thankful she is to have me as a friend and wished us a happy first thanksgiving in our new home!

Goodbye Leaves.

It seems like overnight the leaves turned and no more than two or three days later this is what we were looking at....

....Goodbye Leaves.

Derek is 4 months!

Time sure is flying by. This kid is already a third of a year old! He's huge for his age and wants nothing more than to laugh at his sister all day long. He is so sweet to cuddle and nuzzle with and I hate that he's getting so big so fast he just needs to slow down!!!

Grant's Farm

One of the really great things about St. Louis is everything is either free or really cheap. Grant's Farm was Ulysses S. Grant's home that was later bought by Anheusier Busch and the Busch family 

mansion was built on the property and then later turned into a tourist attraction. It's free to get in and you just pay a little for parking. We had a really fun time and will definitely be making our way back there when the cold Winter months are over.  Dallace loved all the animals and the tram that took you around to see all of them and get to main attraction area.

P.S. That buffalo was about 3 feet away from our tram...glad he was lazy and happy!

All this animal fun sure made for one happy 2 year old little lady!

Florida!

Well, it had been an entire year since I had seen my family in Florida. Way too long! So, the kiddos and I hopped on a plane, by ourselves, and headed down to good 'ol Polk County!

The airplane rides there and back went wonderfully! Luckily on the way there we had the entire row of seats to ourselves and Derek slept pretty much the entire way there. On the way home we had to share the row but the woman, named Lindsey, was beyond helpful!

We spent everyday spending as much time as we could with Granny and Papa Dallace loves them so much and every morning would grab her shoes and the diaper bag and say c'mon mom let's go! I'd ask where and she was quick to respond , "nanny & papa!"

Of Course, Sunday Family lunch is a must with my family-it's always a treat. Aunt Rhonda's beautiful backyard is always a huge plus for picture taking ;)

We also got to spend some time with a few of my friends. Here's some pics of my friend Jesey and her two kids. Our girls are a week apart and the boys are about 3 months apart. Needless to say playdates will forever be made when we come down to visit! Sadly, I somehow missed pictures of Ashley when we got to see her..not sure how that happened but it is unacceptable and will have to take tons of pictures when she comes up to visit this spring :)

And finally, we got to meet the newest addition to our family-Mason Eilers. Mason is my aunt Tracy and Uncle Scott's fur-baby. He is the sweetest dog and is such a cuddler! We love him and miss him already!

So, yet another trip to Florida with oh, so many memories. We love everyone down there so much and can't wait to see them again, sometime soon!

Getting Settled.

Getting settled in Chesterfield has been, dare I say...easy. We've moved into such a wonderfully welcoming ward, have met several other "Logan" families, and I think the main reason it's been so easy is these kiddos. They keep everything consistent. I don't think I was expecting some sort of chaotic time period while we're adjusted to the day to day, but I expected some things to change, but Dallace and Derek can make any place feel like home. And just for future picture reference. Dallace is refusing to take off the swimsuits. They are "so pretty" and she loves to spin around in them, and I am picking my battles. And the swimsuit is cute and definitely not worth a silly argument with a two year old when we are at home.

So, as you can see life is simply normal. Which is great, but don't get me wrong we are definitely missing certain familiar faces!

The Move.

Wow, I realized I was a horrible blogger, but nearly 3 months has gone by and so many changes have taken place. Let's start with the Move.

The move began with a LOT of goodbyes.

While I realize to most of you the picture of the side of Tasha's head may seem irrelevant-It is anything but and she, Julie, and Stefanie understand why.

Then after all of the hugs and tears with the goodbye's it was time to go. Luke and his dad left a few days before his mom and the kids and I hopped on a plane to St. Louis. After 3 1/2 long days of driving and 2 short flights for the kiddos and myself we were home! Chesterfield, Missouri (Suburb right outside the city.)

Once we had unpacked and relaxed a bit we went out with grandma and Pepe to see the sights of St. Louis.

Before we knew it the rest of the week flew by and it was time to say goodbye, again.

Cousins!!

Oh how our kids LOVE their cousins! This summer we got to spend a lot (but still not enough) time with Avery & Jax (and some other favorite cousins ;) Here's just some of the fun we had! Prepare yourself for photo overload!

There was quite a bit of time spent, with these two little girls in particular, trying to get a simple "cheese" picture. However, it usually ended up with them tickling each other....

..or Avery tickling Dallace...

..or a sweet kiss.

Of course, with it being SO hot outside- some time had to spent outside at the splash park!

Next, was the sleepover (well one of them, since on a few occasions Dallace just told me bye and Avery just HAD to have Dallace there to sleep-so sweet!)

Lots of fun playing out at Aunt Becky's house!

..And at Great-Grandma Watson's..

Derek's blessing day!

Whatever one had the other HAD to have it to.

This was hands down one of the best ideas.
The practicality of it, however...

..not so much!

We had so much fun playing everywhere with our cousins this summer and will miss them all so much since we don't know when we'll get to see them, next. But, one things for sure we know we'll have a great time when we do!

ELMO!

This last week we had the amazing experience of Elmo LIVE! We purchased the tickets a few months ago as a birthday present for Dallace. The tickets were "VIP" status so they along with 2nd row seating we also got a photo opp with two characters. Luckily, one was Elmo and the other was another family favorite-Cookie Monster. Dallace made it through the photo opp, the hour inbetween that and the actual show, and then about an hour or so in before she was getting cranky and ready for bed (seeing as the show STARTED at her normal bedtime.). It was a wonderful show and while she WAS happy it was a lot of fun and we'll definitely try something like that, again!