Halloween 2010

I know, I know. Finally. Halloween. Yes, it is Dec 3, but better late than never.

Grandma came to visit over Halloween. You know, to potty train Tessa.

Grandma was a queen and passed out candy to the few children who braved

the downpour outside. But we were a few of those kids who got soaked.

Family of cowpokes. The hats actually helped a lot with the rain.

Taking a cookie break after trick-or-treating main st. friday afternoon.

Yee-haw says Jessie the cowgirl!

Cowgirls forever!

Went to visit Daddy for lunch and then feed the ducks, one of our

FAVORITE activities!

Tessa going to a dress-up bday party.

Very excited to wear her costume for the first time.

Girls by the firetruck that was parked on Main St.

for the trick-or-treating. They look so tiny!

Cowgirls with a little friend at the pumpkin walk.

An educational experiance with Daddy learning about the yucky
insides of a pumpkin. They were not overly excited to pull all

the stringys and seeds out.

Wanna-be cowgirl! Ashley trying out her new hat!

The girls loved halloween and got lots of candy because the few houses we went to were very generous because of the rain. But what really matters is that they looked super cute!

A New Addition

We are increasing our family. By two-fold.

Two new girls. We are using the names Shelly and Goldie, and they look beautiful. Very similar to this picture below! (because I am not going to try and photograph our fish when I don't even post pics of my own kids very often!)

These are Tessa's fish for using the potty! Because I would LOVE to change fish water

instead of diapers!

Scream It From the Rooftop

It happened. It finally happened. I thought it would never ever happen, and I had no idea on how to change it, for every idea Kirk and I had ever had were total flops. But the sweet precious day finally came. And who knew all it would take is a visit from Grandma and a pop-up castle.

But it's here and glorious!

Tessa is potty trained!

That's right, it only took 4 1/2 years, but she's going like a pro, and since last Thursday has had no pee-pee accidents and has conquered the #2 situation well.

So, here I am screaming from the rooftop...

Glory Glory Hallelujah! She is using the potty!

Thank you Grandma, we love you even more!

Did you make your bed?

I did!

Well, I made Tessa's bed, not as in fix the blankets, but actually made the bed, painted, sanded, screwed together, etc. And we love it! Tessa picked pink, of course!

And the best part is, it was simple. I went to HD, picked out the board listed in my shopping list, asked them to cut them, which they did, and didn't charge me for :) Then I loaded it all up in my car trunk, went home, got out my cordless drill, and put the bed together, which really only took about 3-4 hours, but this was my first project, so it took a little longer to figure everything out. Now I wish I could say the finishing, you know, the filling of screw holes, sanding, painting, sanding again, painting again, etc only took a few hours, but that would be a lie! This part is a little time consuming becasue you have to wait between each coat/layer, so that means you can only do a little bit each day (I still have kids to pay attention to, you know).

Wonder how I did all this, check out the toddler bed on Knock-Off Wood, my favorite website ever.

Oh, and I also built this table from my neighbors old fence they were ripping out, but I will do a post about it seperately sometime soon!

And the quality assurance team gave it a thumbs up!

I'm linkin' up at:

You know you have children when...

You know you have children when you are watching TV with your husband, sharing a bag of chips together, and you reach in for a chip and pull out a plastic toy baby bottle instead. Hm, I am thinking maybe Kirk and I are not the only ones in this house that like chips!

Swingset Giveaway!!!

Serious. They are really giving away a swingset, valued at $340. Go check it out either here. Ends tomorrow night Thursday at midnight. So hurry!!!

Fun huh???

Daddy's Office

We put both girls into the same room a few weeks ago, it is going good. They have finally become accustomed to each other and I think enjoy the set up. So the other bedroom has become Kirk's office. And how does he enjoy his office, let's see...

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I think he is enjoying it! I love you Kirk!

Tessa is 4

My dear sweet little girl is growing up. She is now officially 4 years old (and not potty-trained, but we aren't talking about that right now). We had a backyard water party for her bday on Saturday, she loved it. So with that, let the pictures begin...

Blowing out her candles. We had everyone help in the end because

she just wasn't getting it done!

Singing Happy Birthday Song! Look at all the candy, we totally filled these kids up

with sugar and then sent them on their way :)

I love decorating a fun cake for the kids. I want them to always have a f
un and memorable cake, every year. (yes I have issues).

Tessa being grateful for her gifts. I just hope she is always

kind and grateful as she gets older.

This is her friend that used to live next door, they played

all the time last summer on the swingset.

We miss having her next door, she is such a sweet girl.

Group shot with their cool new shades!

We played the "go fishing" game with the sheet behind them.

They all got new sunglasses (that are heart shaped because I bought them

after Valentines day for 75% off for the summer bdays we have!)

Get the candy!!!

Tessa taking a wack at the homemade fish pinata.

I forgot to take photos as I made it, but it was totally easy

and I will probably be making one for Ashley's bday also.

Just a few layers (4) of newspaper dipped in flour paste

to cover a balloon. It probably took a total of 2-3 hours over

a couple of days time. Like the paint?? I was going for cheap

or free with this thing, and this was the only color I had besides

white and black spray paint! but hey, it's simmery!

Ashley's turn!

Bubble snakes. The kids had a lot of fun with this one. Except

both boys sucked in bubbles, and I think one might have puked

a little...opps. It's just a water bottle with the bottom cut off

and a washcloth rubberbanded around the opening. Then dip

in bubble solution or dishsoap water and blow, but only blow

and don't suck, as the boys learned!!

Having a blast with friends!

The pool at the bottom of the slide, this was daddy's idea,

and it was the hit of the party! This is a picture of our

cousin Olivia, I couldn't get on of Tessa because she only

did it once, little chicken girl :)

Tessa, we love you and wish you would stop growing so that you can be my little girl forever :)

Dirty

What is it about dirt piles that children love? Dirt piles seem to have a gravitational pull on kids. Every kid I know loves to just sit and play in the dirt and make mud pies and build dirt hills. At least I know mine do, they are out in the yard right now as I type spreading dirt around, dumping it in Rosco's water, and pretty much just getting dirty. And I can visually remember making mud pies in little blue plastic plates when I was little, then slicing them up and pretending to eat "pie".

Now that I am grown up, I guess I just don't understand anymore the hours of fun that are to be had sitting in a pile of dirt.

I wish I knew where my camera was so I could take a picture of them, Tessa and Ashley and Rosco, all sitting out in the shade in Rosco's relaxing spot playing away. The best part is that there aren't any toys to fight over, just dirt and sticks, so there is no fighting and crying. It's precious.

My Baby

What happened to my little baby?

She grew up, very quickly it seems.

I downloaded pics today and just wanted to share this one really quickly because it caught my eye and I realized that Ashley is no longer a chubby little baby, she is a thinning out toddler who is learning new words everyday and climbing anything she can and is just getting so big.

A few pictures

I am just gonna post a few random pics for fun.

These are from this past winter, sledding in the backyard.

Ashley couldn't even sit up because of all the clothes!! haha

Just chilling together with cookies!

Good Times

I wanted to share a few good times we have had lately, and what we have been up to, since I never blog anymore.

*Ashley is getting sooo big, her little round baby face is beginning to become more slender and she is looking more and more like a little girl instead of a baby *sigh* She is talking so much more. Last Friday night I heard a first sentence from her. "That's funny Dad!" as kirk was tickling her. Today she came up to me and said "Wheres binky at?", to which I said "Where did you put it?", and she follows up with "I don't know." and walks away calling to her binky. Crazy, huh? Told you she is getting big.

*I have began babysitting Kirk's niece a while back, and Tessa and her have a fun time playing and make-believing. One of the favorite "games" is Penny and Bolt. Tessa is typically Bolt because she LOVES pretending to be a dog.

*We had blue stakes come yesterday to mark our yard for power lines and gas and whatnot, so we can start working on the fence for our backyard (Ashley and Rosco are both wanderers, Tessa we have luckily scared to death of the street). That will be our summer project, well, mostly Kirks :) and mine is going to be painting the kitchen cabinets. Also, we are going to lay a new kitchen floor (thanks dad) later in the summer after all the cabinet painting is done. I think both the fence and cabinets will be quite large, long projects for us!

*I had a birthday last week. I am now 29, gulp, my last year in my twenties. It was nice, we went out with the kids on Thursday night to IHOP (we had good coupons and kids eat free after 4 pm) and then Saturday night Kirk and I went out. We went up to draper area to do some shopping at the stores I love (Tai Pan Trading anyone??) and grabbed dinner at Panda Express, which I LOVE. It was really nice to be out going somewhere I have been wanting to go forever and getting yummy food WITHOUT the kids. For my birthday, Kirk got me a jig-saw, which may seem odd, but I have been wanting to get one, and it tells me something very important: Kirk is ok with me starting some of the Knock-Off Wood projects!!! Plus, I have some kitchen chairs to redo (shoot, I shoulda had kirk and I go to the fabric store for my bday!) that need new seats cut out using a jigsaw. Also, we found a nice used bike online for me, so that's also a bday present for me, it will be nice to all ride to the park this summer and for me to get some exercise.

*I have lost some more weight, not as fast as I was, but still losing so that's good. My total loss so far is approximately 18 lbs. And, I have now noticed that clothes are getting loose. It's nice to finally really notice and I even bought some new jeans a few weeks ago, and I bought them in a size smaller than I was wearing. yeah!

I think this will be all for now, but I do have Easter post to make. We took the girls to the city Easter egg hunt last Saturday, too funny, they loved it. I need to download the video camera card and show you all how funny it was!

Progress: Week 5 and 6

It has been hard lately. All I want is Chocolate! And, I haven't really lost any more weight, I am hoovering around the 14 lbs loss for all 6 weeks. But, I haven't gained any, so that is the positive! Sometimes I just don't know what to do about the chocolate thing though, because if I have a little, then I just want MORE! So, I try not to have any, but sometimes it's a killer. So, I try mint gum, mints, water. Not helping :( I did find some absolutely wonderful chocolate ice cream bars, from the skinny cow, that are only 100 cals and are called chocolate truffle bars! But then the only eating one problem kicks up, ugh. (at least they only have 6 per box, haha)

Today I had some redhots when I was wanting a sweet snack, seemed to help throw me out of the funk a little, but still the thoughts remain in the back of my head that we DO have chocolate chips in the cabinet (which I have not/will not open, I promise). So, instead I might go have another bowl of zero-point soup, yummy :)

Progress for weeks 5 and 6: no new loss

Total loss: 14 lbs.

Family Photos

These are a little late coming, they were taken in Nov 2009, just before Thanksgiving!

But it is my fashion to do everything a little late :)

Now to upload christmas pics. haha!

ps. these were taken by our wonderful friend Amy, she did awesome!

Tub Times

I get so busy sometimes, I don't know with what, and Kirk probably is wondering the same thing :) but I just don't always find time to get online. But I have found a small gap of time, its called Tub Time. No, not for me, but for the girls in the afternoons. They love it, and I can get out the laptop and have a little "me" time. So here I sit in the bathroom, typing away, telling little girls to sit down on their bottoms so that I can have a few minutes to use the computer :)

This was short today, its time to wash and then go have afternoon snacks!

Gift Card Giveaway

I want to share, my newest favorite blog (Knock-Off Wood) is having a $50 giftcard giveaway! The GC is for either Lowes or Home Depot, whichever you prefer. Just leave in your comment that you were referred by Laura Johnson, because if you get chosen, then we BOTH get a GC!!! So go enter, I am saving for a kitchen floor!!! :)

Go Enter!

Ends Sunday Night

Progress: Week 4

I had a horrible week this past week with eating right. We went out Thursday to Applebees, I had a small meal, they serve weight watchers meals there. Then we went out for frozen yogurt, but it was sugar free, so that night wasn't horrible. Then, we went to Red Robin Friday night with kirk's family. I had a cheeseburger in a lettuce wrap, with a side salad, but they put tortilla strips on the salad (which was delicious), I thought I was only going to eat half my burger,but with out the bun it just all got eaten because I didn't get filled up as fast as if I had eaten a bun. It was sooo good though. Then, Saturday night (Kirk's bro and family came down for the weekend on Friday, and we went out a lot, which was nice to see them and hang out) I had a triple combination at Sizzler, yes I know, what a pig I was. But kirk said it was valentines day so go for it, because it is my favorite. It is steak, Malibu chicken, and 6 butterfly shrimp, and I had salad bar and steamed veggies with it. So to make up, Sunday I made the healthiest lasagna I know how to make, which is delicious too, but we had Lali's party, so I had cheesecake AND a slice of chocolate cake! I am full of confessions right now! And I had some extra icing because it was homemade and you have to taste it as you make it to make sure it is good. SO, then on Monday when the Trev and Lali left, we all went out to Artic Circle for lunch for the kids to play one last time, and I had a salad, but it had a ton of cheese on it, but I used no salad dressing. Does that make me feel better, to write a bad thing and a good thing, yes, it does make me feel better. And, one last confession, yesterday, I had another piece of that chocolate cake, then threw the rest away (I can't handle the pressure of it sitting there uneaten on the counter), and I had 3, yes 3, of the granny B's frosted pink sugar cookies, each on is like 5 points, and I only get 25 points a day. I can't believe it.

So, after a weekend of eating what sounded good and smelled good, I am having junk food withdrawls again. I thought I had kicked it, but I guess it will always be a battle :(

Anyways, after my list of confessions (not that anyone really cares, but I want you all to know that it is so hard to always be good)

my weigh in report is:

This week - one and a half pounds.

Total for the 4 weeks is - thirteen and a half pounds!

I really got to start exercising. Does typing count? :)

Progess

I know I usually weigh in on Wednesday, but I had to check anyway this weekend, and I have hit the 10 lbs mark! So super excited! I was gonna start trying to go to the gym this week, but Ashley has woken up with a cold (again) so she can't go to any friends houses to play for a couple days. Arg. Maybe I can get myself up early to go walking with Rosco. Thats a big MAYBE. haha. We will see. But still super exciting for 10 lbs! :)

Toddler Bed

We are selling our toddler bed if anyone knows someone that can use one. Asking $35 and it is made from solid wood, painted white, needs a touch up or re-paint job because it's been used and whatnot. Also, the princess decals come of for boys!

Progress: Week 2

Week 2 has been good on my weight loss plan. Total, I have lost approximately 7 lbs in these past two weeks. Yea! Now, I am sick again, a cold this time, thank you Ashley, so I will start my exercising next week when I am feeling better, I am getting someone in the ward to watch the girls so I can hit the gym. Stay tuned.

Oh, the chocolate thing is not as good as the weight loss. I did cave in and have a cupcake, yellow with chocolate icing. And, I ate about 10 M&M's this past weekend. While I am confessing, I also had a cupcake without icing (it was one that broke coming out of the pan). So that is my sugar confessions! Still, it's been good since I am still losing weight. :)

Progress

I have decided that it is time. Time to lose some weight. There are lots of reasons why, and it definitely is time. So, last week I got out my Weight Watchers books and charts and info, and started keeping track. It's been one week, and so far 4 lbs. But it's hard to tell, because I can't remember what part of the day I weighed myself last week, because weight fluctuates during the day. I am now going to weigh every Wed before breakfast, so I am keeping my fingers crossed and eating my salads! :)

By the way, 8 days and not one piece of chocolate, or actually not one piece of anything sweet, besides oranges and bananas!

MIA

I know that I never blog anymore. Never ever. I am too busy. I also have my 2 assistants that like to "help" on the computer. So, my computer time is pretty much limited to nap times and bedtimes. Maybe an occasional few moments here and there when everyone is preoccupied :) So, when the time does allow for me to go online, I have found a new passion... Craft Blogs...and...Remodeling Blogs. I could spend hours searching these blogs (the first one I saw, which led me to sooo many more is All Things Thrifty, where they like to refinish yard sale furniture... love at first post! Because I always tell Kirk when I buy something from a yard sale that we can always paint it, which I never really do because I am not always super sure on how to do it, but now I am! I had no idea I was missing out on so much GREAT information out there! We just went to Ikea this weekend, and found lots of things we would love to buy, but some are a little out of our price range (actually at this time EVERYTHING is out of our price range :) But (kirk, don't read this:) I found an awesome blog that tells you how to build everything, mostly pottery barn inspired things. I would start out with their queen sized bed with drawers underneath it, so much storage from such unused space. So exciting!

So, that's where I have been, not at the Johnson Crowd, but out searching and loving craft blogs!

And, if Kirk does read all of this, I am pretty sure he is going to cancel our Internet before I have him "helping" me with fun projects! Love you Kirk!

I need Ideas

I have a geat new Idea. Well, I think it is a great idea. But I can use some help from other moms. I want to start putting together and selling dress-up kits/trunks. I made Tessa dress up box for her birthday, and she loves it. So, I thought it would be a good idea to sell them. It is really hard to find quality dress-up stuff that doesn't cost an arm and leg. Even walmart sells a kit, but it's like $30 for hardly anything and the reviews have said that it's all really cheap things.

So, with this thought, I need some ideas of what you would like as dress-ups, or what your little kids would like as dress-ups. It's really boy stuff that I have a hard time thinking of, guess maybe cause I only have girls! These are the ideas that I have:
*fairy stuff- wings, tutu's, fairy headpiece
*Wedding- white wedding dress, veil, probably a pair or fancy gloves
*cheerleader- skirt, pompoms
*cooking- apron, oven mitt, perhaps a chefs hat (that may be too involved:)
*animals hoods and tails combos- cat, dog, rabbit, pig, maybe horse
*cowboys- bandana, hat, vest, chaps
*capes- superhero capes, maybe facemasks too

and then I have accessories to chose from:
*hats, scarves, gloves, purses, tiaras (homemade), wands, crowns (like king and queen), boas, glasses, shoes, etc.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Do you think it's a good idea? :) Thanks!

Chocolate

With the thought about chocoate from the other post, I have decided that this would be a good time to give up chocoate again. Yes, I say again because in Nov I went about 2 or so weeks without a single thing chocolate or chocolate-y. So, having not eaten now for almost 2 days because of stomach flu, I guess I already have my head start on giving up chocolate.

So, with the new year in mind and of course, as everyone does, wanting to lose weight, I am deciding to give up chocolate. I might even add a chocolate ticker on this blog! Here's to hoping my willpower is great! :)

Girl after my own heart

Last night, I had Tessa help me make some chocolate pudding. I told her if she ate all of her dinner, spaghetti, that she could have some dessert. We never do an actual dessert, like a totally planned out item. So, in an effort to have Tessa eat better I have decided to add dessert to the daily menu. Probably just something small, like chocolate pudding, because I don't need any leftovers of chocolate lying around! :)

So, we made pudding, but forgot to give it out, for a couple reasons. I was still feeling sick from my round of the stomach flu, so I went to bed a little early and forgot to offer the pudding, and reason two is that the girls and Daddy came downstairs as soon as dinner was over to watch some more great dance scenes from Snow White. (It is a DVD with only dance scenes on it, just little 3 minute clips, and yes, we watch the same on OVER AND OVER, but they love it, it also came with a princess book)

Back to the pudding, so today I gave the girls their pudding after eating ALL their lunch. Well, Tessa ate hers and put her bowl in the sink (good girl) and Ashley pretty much worked on her pudding for about 20 mins. Finally she came walking over towards the sink with bowl and spoon and chocolate everywhere. So I grabbed the bowl and spoon and started to work on cleaning up all the chocolate. Well, she promptly tried to run away so I wouldn't take her bowl, then threw herself onto the floor for a full blown tantrum. Pretty much her first real kicking screaming tantrum that I have seen! And all over a little chocolate :)

Spell Check

I noticed the other night that our "Merry Christmas" greeting on our blog has been mispelled this entire holiday season. How many of you noticed this? Either you are all very polite or we just don't really attract that many visitors to our blog. Or maybe those visitors to our blog can't spell like us....lol.

Just another day...

Today, I went in to get Ashley and found her surrounded by vomit. Yucky. Thankfully, it wasn't anywhere but on her bed, so that is pretty easy to clean up. But it just made me a bit depressed because thats a never a good sign. I was hoping to go up to IKEA today to window shop, but that didn't happen. She only yakked one other time, and thankfully, that was in the kitchen, sitting on my lap facing away from me. So, another realatively easy cleanup. I hope I am not jinxing myself for posting this.
I hope no one else gets anything, I dont' especially care for cleaning up puke :(

Ramblings from the husband

When we bought our house here in Cedar Hills we decided to cut back on a lot of unnecessary bills. This meant getting rid of cellphones and cable TV. Luckily our contracts were up for both of those so we didn't have to pay any expensive cancellation fees. Laura got herself a pay as you go Cricket cellphone which has worked out nicely. She now pays roughly around a month instead of $60 something with our old plan. I like her having a phone with her in case she needs help with car problems and such.
We have Internet since I often VPN into my office computer and work a little from home when needed. So last night I'm sitting in front of the computer with ESPN gamecast on so I can watch the updates for the Fiesta Bowl with Boise State and TCU playing while doing some work. I'm thinking something is wrong with this set up.
I bought a little 7 inch portable TV so I could walk around the house and find the best location to erect my 500 ft digital antennae. I have since found out that we get 3 stations. 2 Spanish stations and some sort of Christian station which is even cheesier than the 700 Club with Pat Robertson. Sorry if I offended any 700 Club fans. So I either need to learn Spanish and start enjoying Spanish soap operas or I can watch TV evangelists preaching fire and brimstone one minute and crying repentance the next. Haven't decided on which one I prefer yet. I may become desperate enough to sit on my camping chair on the hill behind our house tomorrow night to see if the reception is better there.
So I realized something this past week. We didn't have cable in our first house either until after Tessa was born. Laura finally decided if she was going to be up in the middle of the night nursing then she deserved to be able to watch TV without the rabbit ears. I was of course in full agreement. So along came dish network and the glorious DVR.
So I'm thinking it's time we have another child. I know what you're thinking......that's pretty expensive way to get cable TV but in this economy I may not get a raise for awhile so this might very well be my only choice. So keep checking in on the posts to see if there is any news but I'm predicting no cable TV at the Johnson home for a few years but hey I can try right?
I enjoy our home and love that Laura and the kids think it's a great place. I am beginning to understand about the sacrifices my parents made for me and my siblings.
Truth be known I think I'm more productive without TV. There is a high likelihood I wouldn't be typing this if I had cable TV. Oh and by the way does anybody have extra space on their couch Thurs. night for the Texas vs. Alabama game?