Teaching James to Read

James seems to be very accelerated in the learning department. After researching a little of information online I have learned that he is most likely consider to be a gifted child. I taken a few online Q&A's as well as reading through several checklists that could help determine if he is in fact gifted. In most all areas he shows as an extremely high possibility. A pediatrician or specialist will not be able to determine if he is until he is about school age and can do the testing so until then I should be treating him as if he is. In doing so one of the biggest things that I should start working on him with is reading. I know your thinking "WHAT" he just turned two; I know I said the same thing. However I am going to attempt to teach him how to read. I wanted to share with you what is said to be the most affective way of teaching a child to read, especially at such a young age. It is called the phonics alphabet. The way this works is that you don't teach the kid what the name of letter is because the kids don't read the letters. You teach the kid the sound the letter makes. So when your kid looks at the letter "C" they don't say "SEE" they say "CUH". It's really interesting. Saying the alphabet just became a lot more challenging for me. Watch the video clip and you try to say the ABC's this way, it's quite funny!

Wish me luck as I teach James how to read.

Saving Money!

Since moving to Agoura in July our grocery budget has suffered greatly. I don't have Super Walmart close by so we are shopping at regular grocery stores. Not that you all care but we were spending approximately $600.00 a month on groceries. This includes, cleaning and house hold products, Toiletries, diapers/baby, and our food. I would like to cut my spending back to no more then $400.00 a month. I tend to by name brand everything so I know just by switching to store brand I will save quite a bit of money. The main thing I am having problems with is finding budget friendly recipes that will make enough to freeze for later or have left overs. I know that buy in bulk is more cost effective, however it costs a lot of money up front which is hard for us to spend. I need ideas for that as well.

Don't take this post in the wrong way... Ryan and I are doing just fine and can make ends meet every month with our $600.00 budget. We just want to pull a head and buy a house someday. In order to meet our buy a house goal we need to save $200.00 more per month on top of what we are already saving. If you have any tips for how to cut back, or save money at the store, or have cheap recipes it would be much appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Mile Stones

These are some pictures from James's second Birthday Party. He was a little sick that day but still managed to have the energy to swim in the pool all day, eat his yummy ice cream cake, and play with all of his new toys. We had the party and great Grandpa and Grandma Lang’s house we were accompanied by Grandpa Tim, Grandma Shari, Cousin Madison, Uncle Robert, Robert's girlfriend Sasha, and Uncle Steve. James got some new books, two new DVD's, a vacuum cleaner from great grandma, and a whole kitchen set from grandma Shari. I got teased quite a bit about wanting a little kitchen for him, but I am glad I withstood the criticism because he absolutely loves his kitchen. He spends a lot of time playing with it. Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts for him and for making his birthday a really special day.

This was Emily's first time eating cereal. She was a little apprehensive at first but very quickly grew to love it. Every time I get it ready for her she starts kicking her feet and laughing. She always eats the full amount I make her and sometimes wiggles for, she usually finishes her second helping as well.

I Know I know... I am horrible!

I vow from this momment on to be a better blogger. It's not that I don't have plenty of things to post about, it's just finding the time to do it. The computer is in my bedroom now so I can't post when Emily is sleeping. I did however move the computer so I have a view of the living room this should hopefuly make a difference because I will now be able to see what James is up to while I am on the computer. Things are good for us since we moved, the area we live in is great and we have the added blessing of being able to see Grandpa and Grandma Lang on a frequent basis. We love going over their for dinner and hanging out at their pool. We are very blessed to have them so close and for them to spoil us like they do. (Thank You Grandma & Grandpa)

The kids are doing very good...

James:

• Just turned 2 years old
• He is talking like a maniac, He wakes up taking and doesn't stop until he goes to bed. (Sometimes he even talks in his sleep)
• He loves swimming and is fearless when it comes to the water.
• He loves the beach, and now that we live closer he gets to go atleast once a week, He has started to enjoy wading in the water and jumping over waves.
• He is now fully potty trained except for at bedtime
• He wears big boy underwear with Elmo and Diago on them, He picked them out himself.
• He is really into stickers, coloring, play-doe, and cooking (He got a play kitchen from Grandpa Tim and Grandma Shari and he totally loves it.)
  

Emily:

• She is 5 months old now and weighs 14lbs
• She smiles all the time! I have never know a baby to smile as much as she does.
• She can sit up if her hands are on the floor to support her
• She rolls over and uses that as her mode of transportation
• She loves to stand up (Someone holding her of course)
• She just started eating cerial and will start her veggies next month
• She too loves to go in the water, and enjoys making the water splash
• She loves her big brother even though he isn't always that nice to her, she always has smiles and laughs when he comes around.
• She is not the best sleeper, she still wakes up about 2 times a night wanting a full feeding; occationally she will let me sleep until 4:30am but that is a rare occation.

I love my kids, I feel so blessed to have them in my life even when they don't sleep or they are bratty. They truly are wonderful spirits! Here are some pictures from the last few months... Enjoy!Daddy, James & Emily

James showing love to Emily... She loves him too; but only from a distance. He tends to be a little rough!

Emily loves sitting up this is how she spends a lot of her day.

Almost Sitting

NOT ENOUGH TIME IN ONE DAY!

You ever feel like there just isn't enough time in one day to accomplish everything that needs to get done... That would be how my life has been for that last few months. The only reason I have time to sit down and post this blog is because I am hiding in my bedroom from my screaming two year old. Yeah! probably not the best method to solving the temper tantrum problem, but after a week straight of constant fits I can't take it anymore. I am giving my self a ten minute brake while he throws himself all of the living room screaming and crying for no reason at all.

There has been a lot of changes in the Watson house lately, hence the reason my blog hasn't been updated in so long. First off, we moved. We are now living out in Aguora Hills closer to our family. Next we took a trip to Mammoth with Ryan's parents, grandparents, siblings and all the nieces. It was very fun. The rest of the craziness is all just from everyday things such as dishes, laundry, diapers, baby, and toddler. I will try and find sometime in the next day or two to sit down and give you the full scoop on things along with with posting a bunch.

Stay Tuned, my ten minutes is up!

Fishing With Daddy

On Saturday Ryan took us all to Castaic Lake to go fishing. James absolutely loved it. He got to throw rocks in the water, play in the dirt and climb on rocks. He also got to learn a little about catching fish. Ryan was very patient while helping James; not even 5 minutes after casting the first line James caught his first fish. It was a beautiful 8" rainbow trout. Later Ryan showed James how to gut the fish (not that James understood). After Ryan was done dismembering the poor fish, James referred to it as "broken". Hopefully James won't be traumatized by the experience.

MY CUTE KIDS

I took a few random pictures and decided that I had to put them on the blog because they were so cute. I love this little boy so much... He is so much fun; he talks my ear off all day long. He is quite a handful, but always entertaining.

As for Emily she is my happy little red headed baby... she is always smiling at me. Sometimes it even seems like she is trying to laugh. She has been sleeping a lot better at night recently (only waking up once) It's crazy how much she has grown in the last 9 weeks and how much more alert and curious she is about things. She now likes to look at colorful toys, and enjoys it when I let her touch the toy or put it in her mouth.