John Watson's Dedication Video

Due to technical difficulties it has been a while since I've been able to upload videos. Now that I finally got Vista talking to my Sony I'll hopefully be uploading more often.

I thought this was a good one to start with, granted it's two months old, but it was a good day.

White family mini-post

Ok, so obviously it goes without saying that we're a little slow with the blog updates these days. Here is a mini-post covering the last month or so. And yes, I realize I still need to go back and cover June and July.

The White kids are ready to hunker down for the Dawgs this fall (or in this case for some free Chick-fil-a chicken strips on Labor Day).

Dad and JW hanging out in front of what is clearly the coolest balloon at the Callaway Gardens hot air balloon expo.

Mary E is ready for her first day of 4 year old preschool.

Maggie B (and Dora) also are excited to start schoool.

Hopefully I'll have time to upload some more photos and a few videos soon. Until then just imagine what your life would be like with a 4 year old princess, a 21 month old clown, and a 6 month old who is one laid back little dude, and you'll have a good idea what our life is like right now.

Spring in review

Ok, so its been quite a while since we've updated the blog. But as you can imagine things are pretty darn busy around the White House these days. Here's a pictorial review of what the Whites have been up to since the last post on March 14:

Stonebridge Easter Egg hunt at Laurel Park.

Maggie Beth is not so interested in hunting for eggs.

Maggie B in her handmade Easter bonnet.

Silly girl Easter parade.

Easter morning picture in matching bunny outfits (John Watson is not so thrilled about this).

The closest semblance to a family picture we could manage on Easter.

Maggie B shows a little leg (actually a lot of cute chunky leg).

Princess sisters...as prissy as they want to be.

John Watson visits with Grandpa and Uncle Frank.

That's about as compact as 26 inches of baby can curl up.

Mary E swinging Pitfall style at a gymnsastics birthday party for her buddy Reagan.

Maggie B gets into the action on the parallel bars (she stuck the dismount).

Mmmmmm....cake.

Nap time for the boys.

Princess Mary Evelyne tries on her new Belle dress, hand-made by her Uncle Toby. (This photo makes her father have a nervous breakdown thinking about his girl going to prom in 14 years).

Maggie Beth even got her own mini-version of the Belle dress.

The two glamour girls.

Mary Evelyne shows off the pink hairdo she got at the Taste of Marietta.

Mary Evelyne celebrates her 4th with a Martin party.

Mmmmmm.....more cake.

A princess ballet birthday party for Mary E and her friends (she's actually hiding behind the bunny ballerina on the far right).

This party was over the top girly...princess costumes, ballet dancing, craft wands, pink cupcakes, and even fingernail painting...yikes.

Mary Evelyne shows off her form during dress rehearsal for her ballet recital.

No, Y-M-C-A was not part of the routine. (I think that the most beautiful girl with such perfect form ought to be on the front row...don't you?)

That's me getting ready for a 5k at Callaway Gardens (on Mother's Day morning), admiring all the bikes, and thinking that maybe I could handle the Duathlon with Josh and Jen.

Here I am approaching the finish of the 5k, at which point I know that I couldn't handle the Duathlon and feeling sorry for Josh and Jen who have an 18 mile bike ride and another 5k ahead of them. (Not to brag, but I did finish first in my age group...granted, it was me an one other guy...but I smoked him).

Our 18 month old sipping on her juice box and shooting a sassy look.

A photo from the actual recital (hopefully I can upload the full video soon).

Jen and Maggie B wait for the star of the show after the recital.

John Watson and Pops enjoyed the show, too. (By the way, that little spiky cow-lick arrangement on top of his head...it's permanent...it has earned him the nickname Spike)

The Diva and her flowers.

John Watson flashes his good morning grin. (I told you...the spike is permanent).

Bubby is entertained by Sissy. This scene is repeated often, usually ending with us extracting Maggie B off of her brother after she gets too excited and rowdy with him.

Well, that's a brief look at Spring around the White House. Hopefully I'll get some video loaded soon. And there are stories that need to be told as well. Summer doesn't seem like its going to be any slower, so let's cross our fingers that we can make some time to post. Bottom line: God is good all the time, and we are blessed and humbled by His love for us, even if we don't have time to show everyone.

A few more JW pictures

Here are a few more pictures from John Watson's first day:

John Watson meets the original Watson. Grandpa is as proud as they come.

Pops looks over his long, tall boy.

Mary Evelyne gets her first look, and its love at first sight.

Maggie B wants to love on her Bubby.

The big sisters perfrom a thorough inspection.

Mary E finally gets to hold her Bubby.

Maggie B wants a turn.

John Watson cuddles with his Aunt Bussie.

John Watson's first blog spotting

Hey all:

This is just going to be a quick and simple post of some pictures from early this morning when John Watson was born. Some quick stats: he was born at 2:15 am on 3/13/08, weighed in at 9 lb. 5 oz.and 22 1/4 inches long, and as you can see from the pictures has lots of dark brown, almost black hair. Check out the big hands and feet, he's a big ole' boy! And Katie is doing wonderful, and already looking like she never had a 10 pound baby in her tummy.

More details will come later, so stay tuned.

Bartok the Magnificent

Mary Evelyne has fallen in love with the old school, little-remembered non-Disney princess movie Anastasia. It happened to be on the free movies on Comcast On Demand for about a month in January and then it went off. She has been in withdrawal, so her Mama and Pops found it for her at Target this weekend. It is funny hearing her talk about the story, which actually involves the Romanov dynasty in Russia. She is particularly enthralled with a little bat character in the movie, Bartok, who is Rasputin's sidekick. The picture above is from a little spin-off move from Anastasia starring Bartok (as if Anastasia weren't obscure enough). He is a white vampire bat, but because he does not fit Mary Evelyne's expectations of what a bat looks like, she refuses to call him a bat and refers to him as the "piglyish, rabbityish guy". Yes, she has decided he looks like a mix between a pig and a rabbit and no matter how much her Daddy argues with her, she won't give in to the idea that he is actually a bat. Way to stick to your guns Mary E, even if you're wrong. Just like your mother!

Randomness

Okay, so I don't normally blog about myself, but my wife says I have been tagged and I must compile a list of 10 random things about me. And since I don't consider it wise policy to go around disagreeing with women who are 9 months pregnant, here goes nothing:

1) I suppose I should start with number 1, as in 1/1, as in my birthday: January first. Yes, I'm a New Year's baby, which is only mildly random. But what makes it especially random is that I was born on my father's birthday. Random related anecdote: My mother goes into labor New Years Eve, arrives at the hospital, doctor asks if she wants him to speed things up "so you can get the tax write off for this year?" Needless to say, she passed up the offer and I was born a few hours later on my Dad's birthday. (And did I mention that my Dad turned 58 the day I was born; he's 87 and still going strong).

2) I sweat from the left side of my face when I eat...profusely when it is something spicy, salty or sour. This nifty biological defect makes a fun party trick and was developed courtesy of a benign tumor that was removed from the parotid gland (the largest saliva gland) on the left side of my face, just below my ear, when I was 6 years old. As my face healed from the surgery, the nerves that go to my saliva glands crossed with the ones from my sweat glands, and thus the left side of my face sweats and turns red when I eat. Many years after developing this talent I found out it actually has a name: Frey's syndrome. I'm not kiddin', look it up.

3) I have a dishwasher problem...I cannot tolerate when one is not loaded properly. I promise I am not OCD. This odd condition comes from my youth, when my primary evening chore was loading the dishwasher. From that nightly routine I was instilled with an innate drive to maximize the ergonomics of any dishwasher so as to never leave any dishes remaining in the sink or any dish in a position within the washer which might prevent it or the other dishes from getting completely washed. Be warned, if I see you have loaded the dishwasher improperly, I will go behind you and redo it.

4) Although I now hold two degrees from UGA and have a mild obsession with the gridiron Dawgs (I admit it, I subscribe to the Dawgvent) my most common recurring childhood nightmare was of me being chased through a Scooby-Doo-style haunted mansion by none other than - you guessed it- Uga.

5) Five...that's my lucky number...or 25 (5x5) will do equally as well. Not sure exactly how it came about, but I seem to remember it having something to do with the number 25 jersey I wore as a JV basketball player at MHS. That exact jersey had been worn previously by Steven Goolsby, perhaps the best Blue Devil baller never to live up to his full potential, and I considered myself lucky that I got his old jersey. I try to remember each morning I place 5 quarters in my pocket. I'm not superstitious, it doesn't ruin my day if I forget, but it sure comes in handy when I need a Coke Zero at the courthouse.

6) I aspire to be Automatic for the People. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to go see Weaver. Weaver D's is the finest, most authentic soul food eatery ever established. Dexter Weaver is my friend, he fed me lots of fried pork chops and collard greens during my time in Athens. I was on his meal plan - 20 meals, $100 bucks - every semester of undergrad. The first time I took my wife out to eat - Weavers (she had to pass the collards test if we were going to keep things moving). He catered our rehearsal dinner and his big, shiny, black, bald head is in the frame for a large portion of the video from our wedding ceremony.

7) I am a wheel hog. I love to drive. I do not love to ride shotgun. I despise riding in the back seat. I particularly enjoy driving on long road trips or around places I have never been. I truly believe if I were not an attorney, I would be a long distance trucker.

8) I am a history dork. No really, a huge history dork. The last three books I've read: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abe Lincoln; David McCullough's 1776, and Clarence Thomas' autobiography. Next up on my list: Augustus: Rome's First Emperor. I own Ken Burn's Civil War documentary on DVD, got his WWII documentary for Christmas, and am constantly checking eBay to see if anyone is selling his Jazz documentary at a reasonable price.

9) On a related note: I am all about some public broadcasting. My wife can testify. I think she probably can't remember the last time she got in my car and it wasn't on NPR. I'm a PBS fiend because of Ken Burn's stuff, Frontline and many other programs. I think my attraction to NPR is because I remember what it was like to read good, intelligent journalism during my J-school days in Athens. But I don't have time to read it now, so NPR is the next best thing: its like someone reading the New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal to you while you commute.

10) I am the first male in my family for many generations not to serve in the military. My dad served in the Army during WWII and drove tanks all over Europe; his dad, my Papaw, served in the Army in WWI (and lived to be 99 years old and tell me about it); my mom's brother, my Uncle Dan was the Captain of an aircraft carrier, the USS Kittyhawk; and my brother flew A-6 bombers for the Navy. The only school I ever considered as a serious alternative to UGA was the Naval Academy. Once I met Katie in Athens, she made it clear she was not signing up for military service from day one of our relationship, but I still sometimes struggle with the idea that I probably will never serve my country in the military.

OK, so that was a lot longer than I thought. I guess I need to blog about myself more often.

Well, the only sucker I can think of who hasn't been tagged is my homeboy Sweetchuck. If I think of some other's I'll edit this and tag 'em up.

Done Been Tagged

Ruth Allen has tagged me (Katie) to list 10 random things about myself that will probably make you question your friendship with me, so here it goes:

1. I have two gross habits (Daniel would probably say I have more): biting my nails and cleaning between my toes. My three year old has been doing both for about a year now with no prompting whatsoever.

2. I am fluent in French (well maybe not quite fluent anymore) and taught highschool French right out of college at Paulding County Highschool.

3. I took piano for 12 years and can now play about 4 songs.

4. I do a weird number thing in my head that is very elaborate and pointless. I have no idea when it started or where I got it. I look at digital numbers, like the ones on a digital clock and count each dash. So, if it is 12:00, there are 19 dashes total. Then, I take the dashes in 19 (which is 8) then in 8 (7) then in 7 (3) then in 3 (5), then in 5 (5). It ends when the number equals the number of dashes (like 5 has 5 dashes). I can now do this process in a matter of seconds. See, I told you that you might not be friends with me after this.

5. I broke up with Daniel the day before our first Valentine's day that we were dating. I think it only lasted a couple of weeks and then we got back together for good. I don't even remember why we broke up now.

6. I have come to realize, especially after having kids, that I really don't like pets. We gave our dog Nellie to Daniel's aunt after Maggie Beth was born and it was like a burden was lifted from my shoulders.

7. My highschool cheerleading squad won the state cheerleading competition my senior year. I can still do the majority of the routine or I will proudly show you the video if you want to see it. I do an exceptional job of the routine pregnant.

8. I am fairly prideful about the fact that I have never had a cavity. Every time I go to the dentist Daniel teases me that I will have one because I generally only brush my teeth once a day and I never floss.

9. I weigh alot more than people think I do.

10. I don't like to see movies or read books twice. This drives my husband, who loves to watch his favorite movies over and over, crazy.

I tag Daniel, Kristi Kay, and Shireen.

Fashion Diva

From the Sunday, January 27th, 2008 Marietta Daily Journal "Lifestyle" (aka Society column) Section:

"Fashion spotlight of the week: Nothing is prettier than a mother who is expecting. And when this one showed up in a simple black sheath and turned her back, she gave new meaning to "expecting" - the strand of pearls she wore was tied with a beautiful, cream satin ribbon - a little surprise that enhanced the simplistic elegance of the look - Katie White of Marietta."

OK, so I am more than flattered that Mrs. Litchfield decided to make me her fasion spotlight of the week (a weekly tradition here in the Marietta society column). It was very sweet and really made me feel so good in the midst of this third pregnancy in as many years, but Daniel and I seriously could not stop laughing since we know the extent of my "wardrobe" and the events leading up to that fashion appearance that night.

So I am almost 8 months pregnant and I have one nice maternity dress that wore out its welcome around Marietta events over Christmas. So, I had two non-maternity dresses that were stretchy and "sort-of" fit (sort-of used very loosesly here). I actually chose the other one and was getting myself ready while also getting the girls ready to go stay at their Mema's (all moms know what level of chaos I am not fully describing here). I send Daniel down with the girls to get them loaded into the car and notice this dress has a hole, yes a large hole in the side (probably where I had forced the zipper over my belly). So, dress #2 is my only option at this point. This dress was purchased at Ross in Paulding County in 2002 when I had to chaperone the Paulding County Highschool prom. This would be the "sheath" that was described. As for the "pearls", which were purchased several years ago at Target, I almost threw them away last year because I got ink all over them while they were on my dresser and a pen leaked, but I finally threw them in some jewelry cleaner and it mostly came off.

I tried to use the article to convince Daniel that I need a larger wardrobe budget to keep up my appearances in Marietta, but he says apparently my current wardrobe is working just fine. Oh well, keep an eye on me Marietta, today I was in fleece pants and a 1998 AOPi t-shirt.

I guess Mary Evelyne gets her fashion sense from me.

SNOW!

One of Mary Evelyne's wishes all winter was that it would snow. When Christmas came and went without snow she would say "It's just not going to snow this year." She knows by heart the two things you need for snow (at least this is the best Mommie could come up with, probably not meteorlogically correct): rain and cold. So, when we left her babysitters after work that Thursday afternoon and flakes were coming down, she started yelling "my wish came true, my wish came true". The only problem is that Mommie was about 7 1/2 months pregnant and baby sister has just learned to walk, not a good combo for playing in the wet snow. So, Daddy came home and saved the day and played in the snow. But, Mary Evelyne's sweats didn't hold up too well making snow angels and throwing snow balls (notice the change in clothes that night). We due to get another dose on Saturday and Daniel was absolutely insistent that she have a waterproof coat, gloves and snow boots. We got home from something Friday night around 9pm and he went back out to Target and returned with the most hideous maroon boots for $4.88. He was hilarious and meant that his girl would be ready for the snow, even if she only needed the coat and boots for that one day. Here's some pics of their fun in the snow. Unfortunately, she insisted on knocking the snow woman down before they came in, so she was short-lived.