pinewood derby

We enjoyed Ryan's first pinewood derby last night. He had fun designing the look of his car and painting it. Ryan took 4th place out of 14 boys. It was a lot of fun... especially to see the boys be excited for each other with high fives, lots of cheering and big smiles. It is great to be nine. What a fun night. Check out Ryan's blog to see his car and a few more pictures.

thank you president hinckley

Our family home evening tonight was about President Hinckley. We talked about some of the things he did in his life and then wrote letters and drew pictures. I loved Katie's picture so much I thought I'd post it. We will miss you President Hinckley.

crazy hair

When I was making dinner yesterday Emily and Katie were up at the bar coloring. All of a sudden Emily says, "Mom, Megan's drawing... and she's doing a good job!" I come running over to take a peek and I'm shocked. It's totally a person. I said 'MEGAN!' (She couldn't quite tell what my shocked tone of voice meant so she looked at me afraid she was going to get in trouble.) Then I said, "That's beautiful" and her face broke into a big smile and she continued doing the hair and said, "This is my Daddy. He has crazy hair." (The round circles outside of his little face are cheeks!) Since then she has been drawing everyone in the family non-stop. Oh, what fun to have another little artist in the family.

something to smile about

Little Luke and I have had very different opinions on how our nights should be spent. Easily he is the worst of my little newborn sleepers... wanting to wake up and eat every hour and a half to 2 hours. My other little babies gave me a 5, 6 or 7 hour chunk right from the hospital. The first month was pretty rough and I was so tired in the morning that when Chris would ask how he did I couldn't even remember. But all that is changing now... for the past week he has been going to bed a little earlier (10:30 or 11:00) and sleeping for 4 or 5 hours and then another 3. This is good... very good. Definitely something to smile about.

cleaning games

Yesterday I had the kids do a cleaning train with me. They lined up behind me and followed me around the house. As I pointed to things the first behind me stepped out of line, picked it up, ran to put it away and then joined the back of the line again. We sped around the house for almost fifteen minutes and I pointed at things so fast that often there were no kids behind me.

Yep, I make up cleaning games. I guess I think it makes cleaning more fun... for me and the kids. Our favorites are 'don't touch my laundry piles' (where I fold as fast as I can and the kids sneak up and grab piles without getting caught -- then I say 'who took my piles?' as they run giggling to put them away)... 'family movie night pause' (where every time I pause the movie everyone has to get off the couch and pick up and put away ten things as fast as they can before we start the movie again)... '10 piece countdown' (where they have to put 10 things away, then run up and touch the fireplace, then 9 things away, then touch the fireplace, then 8... First person to 1 is the winner. Of course I play too!)...

Sometimes we have races, sometimes we put the timer on, sometimes we 'surprise Dad', sometimes (usually on Saturday mornings) I have lists of 3 or 4 jobs for each kid, sometimes I turn the vacuum on and threaten to get them while they are cleaning or vacuum up everything in sight, sometimes we pick jobs out of a jar...

My siblings are cringing just reading this... You see, they will agree I've always had this interesting talent, and I'm sure they are trying to suppress the awful memories. When we were young and mom was gone I would solicit their help cleaning the kitchen by turning the timer on and seeing if we could get it PERFECTLY clean before the kitchen exploded. If there were still minutes or seconds left on the timer we'd stand at the edge of the kitchen and think of what things we could risk our lives doing. The chair is crooked, the cupboard is open... one of us would run it and slide or somersault out just like a James Bond movie. I know, it doesn't really make sense, a clean room to explode but it worked and it was fun. 'There's a bomb in the kitchen' is another of our favorites. The kids love it when they make it out but I do not and fall dramatically to the floor.

Last night when we lined up for the cleaning train, Ryan said, 'oh, man'. Ryan, don't you like my cleaning games? Well, he thought. Cleaning games are better than just cleaning... but no cleaning is the best. Yes, I agree. No cleaning is the best... but since a clean house isn't going to happen by itself... I think I'll stick to my cleaning games.

2 months old

Luke is two months old today and still a big boy... right around 14 pounds. Luke started smiling around 5 weeks old and now smiles all the time. As soon as he hears our 'high happy Luke voice' he breaks out into a huge open mouth smile. He randomly smiles when he sees the kids or Dad or hears my voice... usually in the mornings. Our favorite thing is when he coos... like he's letting out a big sigh. He almost always does it after he sneezes and it's adorable. He likes lying in a warm bath, loves to be sitting up so he can see what's going on, loves to have his pants changed, loves cuddling up in his swings, loves his soother, likes to be attached to Mom's hip, loves to sleep in his car seat, is starting to slurp on his hands, likes to spend lots of quality time with Dad at night, likes to go to bed late and wants to say Hi to Mom lots in the night. He is a sweet sweet boy. We love you Lukey.

Happy Morning

Our little guy's only Christmas present from us was a Baby Einstein floor mat with hanging toys. It's in the family room and ever since Christmas we've been putting him down on it for a minute here and there. Usually when I lay him down the kids come running over to shake toys in front of his face and change the music from song to song. This morning, though, he had his little 'underwater floor mat' all to himself and for 45 minutes, yep that's right, 45 minutes he lay there awake, smiling at the blinking lights and listening to the upbeat classical music. It was precious. I don't know what it is about flashing lights but today they made him very happy... and me too.

10 Days in the Chair

Chris loves his leather chair and ottoman... but after 10 days straight it's getting a little old.

Last Tuesday Chris went into the Hughton Clinic Orthopedic Hospital, only a few miles away, to have hip surgery. He has Femoral Acetabular Impingement Syndrome which means that he has an extra bump on his femur that caused problems with his hip joint and tore his labrum. The surgery on his right hip fixed his labrum and shaved off the extra bone. It went well but in the recovery room Chris said he much prefers being the doctor than the patient.

Chris didn't look too good when he first came home. Megan was eager to see him, but her face turned from excited to concerned when she saw him struggling on his crutches. When he was seated on the couch she said, "I need a hug Daddy" and then turned to me and said, "What's going to happen?" I told her 'Dad was going to be ok and that we needed to take care of him' and she's been bringing him drinks ever since.

The leather chair has been his resting place for the last week and a half. He's read a big pile of books, played Wii with Ryan, planned vacations, read everything there is to read on Cougar Fan, grown a beard, stayed caught up on the election, listened to Emily read and helped her with her workbook, held Luke lots, watched countless movies and listened to me chatter endlessly. He is going to try to go back to work tomorrow but will still be on his crutches for three more weeks. The leather chair is going to look lonely without him.

Downtown and Underground Atlanta

After the aquarium we crossed the street to the Cenntenial Olympic Park built for the 1996 Olympics and wandered downtown. We sought out the elevator which took us to 'Underground Atlanta'... a series of shops and restaurants underneath some of the main streets of downtown. It was fun to walk along the cobblestone streets and read about the history of these roads, but soon Mike and I were singing Sesame Street's hit song, "One of these things is not like the other..." We stood out in more ways than one... and soon realized maybe we didn't want our $3000 worth of Nikon camera bling hanging from our necks. One guy had set up a little corner photo studio where you could get your picture taken with parrots. When he saw Mike and I his eyes got big and he said, "DANG, I want you'lls camera!" ... Later we were helped out by a homeless tour guide and found ourselves in not the best areas of town where groups of interesting people loitered around signs that said NO LOITERING. It was fun though, and we sure got the flavor of real downtown Atlanta.

It was a fun few days. Thanks for coming Mike and Brian! We miss you already.

Georgia Aquarium

The Atlanta Aquarium boasts it's the largest Aquarium in the world. (I guess so because it's the largest price we've ever had to pay too!) 8 million gallons of water and some amazing fish...
One of our favorite things about the aquarium was the huge Whale Shark Tank and the tunnel you had to walk through to get there. We sat for a long time to watch and point out all the different fish.

Our favorites were the hammerhead sharks, leopard rays, zebra sharks, giant groupers, blacktip reef sharks, beluga whales, penguins and four huge whale sharks and the sea turtle.
Megan decided she didn't want to smile when I pointed the camera at her so Katie decided to follow suit. What a character! She always has all of us laughing. We really did have a great time though!

January humidity

Even though Mike and Brian came to Georgia in January, they still got to experience a little Georgia humidity. We took them to the Butterfly House in Callaway Gardens where it was 80 degrees F with 80% humidity.
Just like breathing water. The heat made us tired. Chris and I sat down while the kids ran around and Brian and Mike took a ton of great pictures. So now we know... whenever we're missing our summer humidity... time to go visit the butterflies.

Tour de Callaway

We had a great time with Mike and Brian here. We hung out in the morning and I got my much-anticipated camera lesson from Mike. Chris got off work early and we headed to Callaway Gardens to spend the afternoon. We decided to rent bikes for a ride through the forest. We couldn't stop giggling about the bikes... they were a little old fashion, with pedal brakes and large seats and even a basket for Mike, but it was fun. Luke and I stayed back while everyone else biked the large loop around the lake, racing hard to get back in time. Emily and Megan loved being towed behind. Mike said he and Megan sang the whole time they rode. Another beautiful day at Callaway Gardens.

Luke's Special Day

Luke Delmar Johnson was blessed on Sunday, December 30th, 2007. It was great to have Grandma and Grandpa Johnson here for his special day especially since Luke's middle name comes from his Grandpa. We blessed him at home... just the nine of us with Chris and Del in the circle. Chris gave him a wonderful blessing. In part Luke was admonished to adopt the qualities of his grandpa and to pattern his life after him. I hope Luke grows up to be just like his Dad too. He's wearing the same outfit that Ryan wore when he was blessed. Not exactly a winter outfit but I just love that both my boys wore the same one!

Our Little Emmy... 5 Years Old

6 months old

1 year old

18 months old

Almost 2 years old

Almost 3 years old

4 years old

4 1/2 years old

5 years old

Emily's birthday was December 28th. She woke up positive that she had grown taller, was heavier to lift, and that the shoes that were too big yesterday would fit perfectly today. Funny thing is... I think she's right. She is so excited to be five. Yep, five is big. Kindergarten, tying shoes, riding bikes... She's a big girl now. We feel blessed to have an Emily in our family. Her adorable smile and twinkling eyes have always made us happy. Emily, we are lucky to have you. Happy Birthday Big Girl!