A Very Disney Adventure

We spent our vacation at DisneyWorld this year.  We had a great time, but be prepared to walk farther than you ever thought you could.  We were exhausted, but satisfied when we got home.  We had loads of fun.  But personally, I am all princessed out!

Daddy Daughter Dance 2012

Kenyon had a great time with Daddy at the dance. She looked so beautiful, especially with her little wrist corsage. She was very tired by the time she got home, but a good time was had by all!

She looks so grown up! It is hard to believe she is almost five, just seems like yesterday she was a tiny little thing in my arms.

A Budding Artist

Here are the latest renderings by K.

Gone Fishin'

Since Kenyon has been in Pre-K her writing skills have improved dramatically. She doesn't write right to left anymore (she is a lefty), and you can actually tell what the letters are. Here she learns to write "fish".

Father's Day

I know its late, but Amy & I took the girls to paint coffee mugs for Father's Day. Kenyon & Jules had so much fun and the mugs turned out fabulous. I learned I need to be less controlling when it comes to arts and crafts.

The Wedding

Last weekend my cousin Monique married her high school sweetheart, Chris. Kenyon got to be the ring girl while her cousins got to be the flower girls. They all looked like little Victorian bridal attendants.

We had a great time and are very excited to officially welcome Chris into our wild and crazy family.

Summertime...

We are enjoying a hot, busy summer. How 'bout you?

Birthday Girl....

I can't believe she is four today! Where did the time go?

In Three Short Years.....

We went from this....

To this.

The baby isn't a baby anymore, and the little girl is now taller than I am and entering the 8th grade. Where did the time go?

Jesus is my BFF

Kenyon was baptized on Sunday. We explained that Pastor Tom would sprinkle water on her head and say a prayer. After we clarified that she would not disappear, as if Pastor Tom was putting a spell on her (blame Disney), we told her that meant Jesus would be her BFF. She seemed happy with that. How else do you explain baptism to a four year old?

She did wonderfully, wasn't scared a bit. She was more concerned with showing off her "church necklace" during children's time. We got her a cross with pin cz stones in it. She loves it.

At the end of the service we officially joined the church, with Hank and & me transferring our membership from Baptist and Episcopalian to now Methodist. We wanted to wait until Sara was with us to join as a family. It was special for all of us. We have finally found our spiritual home, it has been a long journey - four years in the making, but we are home.

A special thanks as always to my dear, sweet, Amy for taking pictures and being Kenyon's Godmother. She and Jules are such a blessing to our family. And even though Aunt Erin & Uncle Chip couldn't be with us we know they will serve Kenyon well as Godparents too! My little girl is very lucky to be surrounded by such love.

An Outing With Friends

Saturday my dear, sweet friend, Julie took Kenyon and Mia to the park and Chick Fil A for lunch. Kenyon had a great time. The best part is that I got to have some alone time to get my hair cut and enjoy the peace and quiet!

I admit I was worried how Kenyon would do at the park being that she likes to take off running to see how fast the adults can run after her. Julie assured me they always act better for other people. She was right. My sweetie was an angel according to Julie. Of course I figured she would just to prove me wrong.

The girls have gotten to be quite chummy. We look forward to having Mia over to swim frequently this summer. Here are a few pictures of the girls that Julie took.

Easter Part III

One final Easter picture taken at the Eggstravaganza at church. It was a challenge trying to get that girl to sit still. She was very sweet to the rabbit. I felt sorry for him because he had about 100 kids grabbing at him, squeezing him and holding him like a baby during the photos.

We have finally officially opened the pool for the season so more fun in the sun pictures to come.

Easter part two

We had a great Easter. Kenyon loved all the candy that was at her disposal. She immediately began popping open eggs and stuffing jelly beans, malted eggs, peanut butter cups etc into her mouth. If that isn't a good way to start the day I don't know what is except cake the morning after your birthday.

After Church we went to Nana & Paw Paw's for lunch and egg hunt with Candace and her boys. We are waiting the arrival of little Violet in a couple more weeks. Candace is ready to get that baby out.

The Easter Bunny brought another basket to Nana's house and scattered egg for the third egg hunt in a week. Here are the kids post egg hunt. Trying to get a 7, 3, & 2 year old to all look up at the camera at one time is nearly impossible.

Easter Eggstravaganza - Part I

Last weekend we had two Easter Egg hunts, needless to say Kenyon is sugar happy. What a great holiday, furry animals that bring you candy. Almost as good as Halloween...a sugar addicts favorite holiday.

She was cute with her basket at the city egg hunt on Saturday. Here are some photos of the hunt and then of course counting her loot.

She even had a chance to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. On Sunday our church hosted a picnic and egg hunt. My sweet friend Julie was there with her granddaughter, Mia. The girls had a great time cracking confetti eggs on each other's head. Mia told Kenyon, "You gotta do it harder" Apparently the harder the crack the better the confetti spray. Who knew?!

Kenyon was a bit more particular at this egg hunt. She only wanted to pick up the pretty eggs, meaning those that were decorated with insects or other designs. This hunt proved to be more fruitful in the candy department. Mommy was bummed there wasn't any chocolate.

Oh, I forgot the most exciting part of all...at the city egg hunt they were giving away Easter Baskets. The one Kenyon picked was the Hannah Batana (Montana) bucket, which she promptly put on her head when we got home. For some reason that kid likes to put buckets, boxes, and bowls on her head.

Stay tuned for part two of the Easter festivities. We will go to early church then on to Nana & Paw Paw's for ribs and an egg hunt. Paw Paw isn't letting me in the door without my potato salad and my butterscotch bitsy. It should be fun, Candace will be in town with her two boys. We all hope she doesn't give birth while she visiting as she is due any day now.

Many blessings this Holy week, and a chocolate bunny or two.

Spring has Sprung

Last weekend was our 6th anniversary. To celebrate we took Kenyon to the Botanic Gardens in Ft Worth, although there is debate in that we think it should be called Botanical Gardens. Anyway, we had a great time chasing after Kenyon who had to smell every flower and try to climb in all the flower beds and fountains.

She loved seeing the wedding pictures being photographed of the princess, so we had to stop and watch that for a while. K was excited to get a picture in the butterfly chair that sister sat in last time she went to the BG with Nana & Hank.

Then we headed to Central Market for lunch and gelato. Yummy.

Saturday night Hank & I, thanks to Amy, went to dinner to celebrate sans kid. I have found after six years, being married to Hank just keeps getting better. Gifts this year were from the heart not because they were shiny or impressive. Just the way it should be. Although I did give myself the gift of a photo book filled with our wedding pictures and memories. I finally gave up on any hope that I would "scrapbook" my wedding memories. Thanks Shutterfly.

Read the next post for the beginning of the Easter Festivities.

Halloween - Part One

We went to the daycare carnival Friday night and then the pumpkin patch Saturday. By Sunday...I was tired. Friday was a trial run for the pirate costume that I pieced together. I have to say she was pretty stinking cute.

On Saturday we met Amy & Jules again to visit Hall Farms Pumpkin Patch. We went last year with them and had a great time. Unfortunately, Miss K had not had a nap and things went steadily down hill to the point the cupcake making event back at our place was canceled. A fun time was had by all. I loved seeing Baby Ella, & Jules Grammy & Aunt Meredith as well.

As Halloween approaches this weekend, there will be a school party with costume pictures, hoot n howl on Saturday, carving the pumpkin, and of course.....Trick or Treating!

Committed

I have been reading a lot laely and a theme seems to be appearing. Committed is the theme. One about marriage and the other about mental instituions. Now I am not saying that marriage and a mental institution for the criminally insane have anything to do with each other, although some might argue the fact.

I read Shutter Island for my work bookclub. I found it to be exciting and suspenseful. It was the first book I have read by Dennis Lehane. I have seen Mystic River and as of last night have seen Shutter Island. I refuse to see or read Gone Baby Gone. Don't want to see anything about a child disappearing.

I liked the book better than the movie because much of the back story was sterilized for the big screen. The last 40 pages of the book were going so fast my heart was racing and I could not read fast enough. DOn't miss a page or you will miss the whole twist unraveling coming to an end that leaves one guessing about their own sanity. If you are looking for a suspenseful read...give this one a try.

The second book I have read recently was Committed by Elizabet Gilbert. This is the follow up to Eat, Pray, Love. Being forced to marry Felipe in order of him to stay in the US she has to reconcile marriage with herself. She loves her man, but not the idea of a legal marriage. She does extensive research into marriage both in the US and in other cultures. I found the book to be educational and thought provoking. My copy is underlined and tagged on multiple pages.

I recommend this book for anyone married, about to be married, or divorced. I enjoyed the "What happened ?"aspect that you were left with after EPL finished. I look forward to her next book, which she is currently working on.

Both good books for very different reasons. The one common thing is that I found time to be committed to reading two books in a very short period of time. Of course it might have to do with the Fall season still weeks away on TV.

Fun-filled Saturdays

Kenyon has discovered the library to the pleasure of her Nana, whose profession just happens to be college librarian. We go to the library every Saturday morning to turn in the pile of books only to check out an even bigger pile. We don't have to go weekly, but I can only read some of those books 10 times then I start to make stuff up when we read...or better yet skip pages.

The two books of choice are Clifford the Big Red dog and Arthur. Kenyon fell in love with Arthur's Underwear in which he keeps dreaming he has forgotten his pants. I was glad to see that one go into the library drop box.

These are also popular on our Netflix watch instantly. I guess it could be worse.

After our playdate with Ryan fell through today we decided to swim anyway. After dinner alfresco poolside we used our BnR coupon. Kenyon got pink bubble gum ice cream on a cone dipped in chocolate with sprinkles. It looked very cute with her twirly skirt outfit she had on today.

She wore this to the library with her Dora purse and Dora ball cap. She was just adorable. Even the librarian did. She tried to give the librarian money for her books. I tried to tell her they were free, but we had to return them I guess she confused it with the bookstore.

Nana & PaPa are coming tomorrow and hopefully Ryan will be able to come over next weekend. Have a great weekend...we are!

How in the world did it get to be September

I can't believe it has been almost 10 months since my last post. It has been a crazy year in the Johnson household. First and foremost the Johnson's relocated, not to a deluxe apartment in the sky but to a bigger house in a neighborhood one block form K's daycare.

Many firsts have happened to us this year....

• Kenyon's first "real Christmas"


• Sara's first room that she got to decorate all herself


• Our first major snowfall in the DFW area


• The first Johnson 4th of July party coupled with K's third bday party...in the same day


• The first year without Finn....sadly he was sick, but made his time with us so special. We still miss him


• Hank's first year at the NE campus


• Our first year with Nana & PaPa living close by


• Our first year with lots of new playdates and friends for the girls

Perhaps the best thing this year has been our swimming pool! We have spent hours and hours playing and teaching K to swim. Don't worry we have been using sunblock 50!

Well, I am glad to be back in the blogging world. Stay tuned!

Friendship

Yesterday Kenyon and "My Jules" as she likes to call her went to the pumpkin patch at Hall Farms in Grapevine. We had a good time. Kenyon ran and ran and ran.

Jules was a bit under the weather so she wasn't as active as she normally is, but Kenyon made up for both of them. She loved picking up the pumpkins and carrying them around. She slid in pumpkin roadkill. I think some other kid dropped a pumpkin and left the guts everywhere.

There were tractors to ride, photos to take and animals to visit. They had two potbelly pigs and rabbit that was as big as the pigs. If you go later in the evening there are hayrides, cider and a corn maze to get lost in.

We have been trying to get to this pumpkin patch since Kenyon was born. All in all it was a good way to spend the morning. A morning is always well spent when in the company of a good friend.