2008 in Revue (okay, not really)

First, before I begin on whatever it is that thinks it needs to leak from my mind, let me wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope 2009 brings us all even more blessings than 2008.

Here are some of the blessings brought to us in 2008:

We moved to Montana Dec 29, 2007. Okay, that happened in 2007, but we were sick for the first few weeks we were here, so life didn't really begin in Montana until 2008. We lived with Mom and Dad and had a fun time getting the girls back in public school. I had homeschooled them the beginning of the schoolyear because of the substandard public school system we lived within in Colorado. Josh also started his new job right after New Years and has made some great friends that we absolutely love.

Februrary 23. 2008. Emma lost her first tooth. This was a big deal because it was like realizing that our oldest baby wasn't such a baby anymore. Not only was she in 1st grade with real, actual homework, but she was losing that baby look. Emma has continued to blossom into an incredibly beautiful young lady.

March 23, 2008. Easter Sunday. The kids loved being able to have their Easter egg hunts and dressing in their pretty new outfits for church.

April 2008. This month was filled with birthdays and change. Mom and Dad bought a new house and we moved right along with them. Luckily, the new house was about seven houses away from the old house, so it wasn't too hard to move everything. Unluckily, Josh was working a lot during the week we tried to move so I was trying to be as helpful as possible by moving all I could by myself while trying to care for our three children. I moved most of the dressers and the kids' beds by myself. The mattresses were tricky. I didn't want them to drag on the ground, but they were a bit awkward to just heft, so I took inspiration from Josh's mission stories of South African women and balanced the mattresses on my head (one at a time, of course) and carried them to and from the truck and then assembled the beds back together before the end of the afternoon. I'm going to say I don't want to brag, but of course I do. I don't want to brag, but I had begun to lose quite a bit of weight by that time and I was kicking butt in my exercising. Every other day I did circuit training which included a total of about 80 push-ups. On the opposite days I did my cardio, which included 200 crunches. I was totally ready to use my newly trained muscles to move our stuff. Anyway, we also had birthdays galore. Emma's 7th birthday was on the 12th, Grampa's 80th birthday was on the 23rd, and Mom's birthday was on the 26th. We had a big party for Grampa which included his brother and sister-in-law who came up from Mississippi, my aunt from Idaho, and my cousins who were finishing up their semesters at school. For Emma's birthday we went to the circus. The kids thought it was really cool, especially when the elephant pooped during the grand finale.

May 2008. Josh and I celebrated our 9th anniversary by going to Helena for a day out. Abby turned 6 on the 21st. She got a bright pink cowgirl hat to match the bright pink cowgirl boots she had gotten the previous Christmas. We found out we were finally pregnant after two years of wishing, praying, crying, and negative tests. We also found the house we wanted to buy and made an offer that was somehow accepted. We began to prepare to live on our own. Peter got home from his mission in Equador and we loved hearing his stories, seeing his souveniers, and just having him home.

June 2008. Pete's birthday was the 6th. Thirteen days later he and Genica got married. (12 days after his birthday he told us they were getting married the following day, so we spent less than 24 hours preparing for the wedding.) Now Mom and Dad were sharing their (thankfully) bigger home with Josh and me, our three children, Peter and Genica, and Lori and her boys came to visit at the beginning of the month. It was a houseful, just to say the least. The kids and I made a trip down to Colorado for Mandy's (Josh's sister) wedding. Since she and Patrick had already been legally married at the courthouse, they opted for a more formal vow-exchange ceremony. They wanted Josh to officiate, since they didn't need a legal officiator, but he couldn't get the time off work, so I was then asked to officiate. That was an honor. We went down and met up with Josh's dad and his wife Karen. They graciously allowed us to stay with them, and we had so much fun getting to know Karen better. We went to the wedding on the 28th and Matt's 4th birthday was the 29th. We went to the Pueblo Zoo where we met up with my sister Tara and her family and my brother JC and his wife Kelsey. We had a lot of fun with them and then met up with Josh's mom and brother Justin. It was so nice to see so many of our family in such a short trip. After the zoo we had a birthday party for Matt at Dad and Karen's house. We had to leave the next day, but loved the visit. While we were gone, Josh signed for our new house. Tara and Jabon drove up to Montana with us and stayed to visit for a week or so.

July 2008. After the 4th of July we finally moved into our new house. I kept waiting for someone to tell us to get out of their house. But, it's ours and we love it.

August 2008. We began to prepare for school to start. The girls were going to a new school since our new house is across the river from Mom and Dad's house. I was beginning to show a bit with the pregnancy and Matt would often stuff his blanky up his shirt so he could be pregnant too.

September 2008. Matt began preschool. But first we had to teach him that some words are not acceptable to say (like "dammit") in front of your LDS preschool teacher. Okay, they're not appropriate for him to say ever, but the day he said it in front of his new teacher I about died of embarrassment. He didnt' learn that word from Josh or me! I swear! My birthday was the 16th and that's about when I started this blog. So, to keep this long story short (too late), I'll let you read about that yourself. Just scroll down to the Blog Archive on the right.

October 2008. Josh's birthday on the 9th. Halloween--see the Blog Archive for pictures.

November 2008. Dad's birthday on the 23rd. Lori's visit over Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Again, go to the Archive if you want more details.

December 2008. Our precious Millie arrives. Here's a link the hospital created for her birth announcement. Our Christmas was fun. New Years is going to be a bit of a bummer since Josh's vacation time is interrupted by a mandatory stretch of shifts covering New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (tonight and tomorrow). I'm sure he'll be plenty busy around 2am until his shift ends at 7am. I'm just fine with staying home tonight. I still need some of the good medication a couple times a day. I seem to be healing fine, but major surgery hurts for a while afterwards. Not so fun. I'm so glad Josh is such a good nurse, though. He was able to take the staples out for me so I could avoid an additional trip to the doctor. And, he's just such a great man. Have I mentioned how much I love him?

So, that was our year, how was yours? Any great memories that stick out? I think Millie is our greatest memory by far, but it's so incredible to relive so many of the blessings we've received this year.

Christmas 2008

I thought I'd finally get online and update everyone on our Christmas happenings this year.

We had a wonderful Christmas with the family that was here in Montana. Millie and I were released from the hospital Christmas Eve and we spent the evening at Mom and Dad's house where we read Luke 2 and The Cajun Night Before Christmas. When we got home that night the kids were allowed to open the gifts that they had gotten for each other. They thought that was really fun. Emma gave Millie a doll and toy, Abby gave Matt some monster trucks, Matt gave Emma a talking bird doll, and Millie gave Abby a cosmetic set.

Christmas morning we slept in a bit, all the way until almost 8:30! It was nice. We opened up the presents under the tree, including some that Poppy and Mema had each sent. Then we spent the afternoon and evening back at Mom and Dad's. Everyone there had waited for us to show up before they began opening their presents. We exchanged gifts with Mom and Dad, as well as Pete and Genica. Gramma, Grampa, and my aunt and uncle had left some gifts for us there. Everyone was so generous and we love being able to be so close to so many of our family that we haven't had the chance to really bond with before.

By Christmas night I was wiped out and we needed to head home. Millie slept all day long. I don't know that she was awake for even an accumulated hour. Needless to say, our nights have been very, very long. We took plenty of pictures Christmas day and I thought I'd share them in the form of a slideshow I made. Our camera died before the day was over, so more fun was had than is shown, but I think you get the idea. I'll add the slideshow on the sidebar as soon as I can. Unfortunately, hungry babies don't wait until you're done with something before they begin crying!

Our favorite Christmas present

Abby, Matt, Emma, and Millie

Our three princesses

Dad holds Millie


Grandma helps Matt hold his little sister.
The day before she was born, Josh asked Matt if he was ready to become a big brother.
He said, "I not a big brother! I Mommy's little boy!"

Dad and Mom looking at their 10th grandchild.

No one can ever convince me that miracles have ceased. Here I sit holding my beautiful little girl. It turns out that c-sections aren't so bad even if you do have a phobia of needles and such. The worst part of the whole thing was waiting 2 hours for everything to begin. I have to admit that the surrealism I experienced was a bit overwhelming...I couldn't believe I was about to have a baby. Not being able to see her right away made it more difficult, but it doesn't take long to fall in love with such a perfect girl!

Our little Millie has a number of similarities with her brother and sisters: she looks a lot like Emma when she was a few days old, she's a good eater like Abby, and she has a stork bite on her forehead like Matt.

But there are a few big differences. She won't take a pacifier and the other kids lived for theirs. Her timing is so different. Not only is she so much younger than the other kids (the difference in Matt and Emma's ages is less than the difference between Matt and Millie), but their birthdays are in April, May and June and Millie's is way out in December. Millie is the only one of our kids born with a significant amount of hair--and it's dark! It's amazing how different every child is!

Merry Christmas Mildred "Millie" Marie Johnson!!!!

The long awaited arrival of Mildred "Millie" Marie Johnson has arrived. At 08:13 this morning our perfect little Millie arrive weighing in at 7lbs 6oz, and stretching to a full 20 1/2 inches in length. Isn't she just perfect?

Millie was delivered cesaerian without complication in a procedure that took a TOTAL of 20 minutes. Shelly, ever the incredible mother, is recovering well. Millie was immediately hungry and nursed nearly 30 minutes on each side only an hour after birth. She looks a lot like Matt and has Abby's feet and hands, with Emma's temperment. What a wonderful blessing. Of course I am a giddy Daddy and trying my best to take care of both Shelly and Millie the best I can. The older kids should be on their way to the hospital any time now, so there will be more photos of all of them together very shortly I am sure. We want all of you to know how much we love you and thank you for your kindness and support. We miss all of those we don't get to see often and can't wait to visit with you and show off all FOUR of our beautiful children. Talk to you all soon. Josh.

"Shock me, shock me, shock me with your deviant behavior!"

So, we know I like to shock people a bit. Tonight I shocked the lady at Walmart and I totally didn't mean to. For Christmas we got Emma and Abby cd players for their room so they can have some music. We got them cd cases since I'll just burn discs for them, but when we picked them up at Walmart today we didn't realize that we were only charged for one case. I looked at the receipt tonight, noticed the error and went back to Walmart to pay for our second case. I got up to Customer Service and told the lady about my situation. She took a double take, paused and asked, "So, do you want me to charge you for the second case?" I felt my face blush a bit when I said, "Well, I thought it was the honest thing to do." She kind of stuttered a bit, agreed it is honest and said, "That just doesn't happen very often." On the one hand, I felt good about doing the right thing. On the other, I felt sad that it was so shocking that someone would do the right thing. If nothing else, shouldn't this time of year remind us of the importance of being Christlike?

This is probably my last post as a mother of three. Millie will be here in no less than 34 hours. Can you believe it? I'm still having a hard time accepting the reality that I'm pregnant. I'll have to hold her in my arms to believe she's actually our daughter. But, if you have the chance, pray for me. I need all the divine peace possible. Josh told me that the hospital has internet and guest logins, so I may be able to update everyone very quickly after she's born--if I'm not too busy ogling over my new little girl!

Everyone, have a great weekend!
(By the way, can anyone name the movie my title comes from?)

Happy Anniversary!

December 19, 1998, I met the man of my dreams face to face. We'd been exchanging letters for nearly six months and weekly emails for about two months.

Josh came home from his mission to South Africa about 11:45 that night after two days of traveling from South Africa to London to LA to Phoenix to Colorado Springs. Since this was pre-9/11 I stood with his family at the gate. We were all sporting those Groucho Marx glasses and fake noses. I stupidly stood in the back of the group with his aunt realizing that maybe it was a mistake for me to be there. I had asked Josh several times if he wanted me to meet him at the airport or meet him at church the following morning. He told me it was up to me. Not the answer I was hoping for. I was afraid that if I went to the airport I might appear too eager. But, if I waited to meet him at church the next morning we'd be watched intently by our entire ward that knew that I had begun writing letters to him after my family moved into the area the previous February. There were a lot of people interested in our "love story."

So, anyway, there I was in the back corner wearing these embarrassing glasses which I don't think I needed since he'd only seen a couple of pictures of me at that point in our relationship. He happily greeted his family and then his mother and sister pushed the two of us toward each other and he happily shook my hand since he was, after all, still a missionary.

We got delayed at the airport because some of his luggage was lost (of course) and then we headed to our stake president's home around 1am for Josh to be released. As we all left the stake president's house Josh's mom graciously acknowlegded the fact that he was no longer a missionary so it was okay for us to sit by each other in the van and even hug hello. She pushed him into my arms and we hugged. On the way up the mountain to drop me off at my house, Josh's sister kept whispering in his ear questions like, "Do you like Shelly? Do you think she's pretty? Do you want to kiss her?" I'm pretty sure he was a bit overwhelmed having just spent two years avoiding girls/women. Poor guy. I don't know how he managed to get past the terror of being thrust back into the world that way.

By about 3am we showed up at my house where my parents greeted us at the door. My dad was in his robe, but still as intimidating as possible. Mom had made hot cidar and cookies for us to enjoy. We sat around the table and talked for a while until my future husband and his family continued up the mountain to their home.

And that is how I spent Dec 19-20, 1998. Ten years ago I found my eternal and celestial companion. And now here we are. We have three incredible children and number four on her way at any time. We are even happier today than we were back then. Our love has multiplied and matured and I couldn't want anything more.

I love you, Baby!

This is the photo I sent to Josh while he was on his mission. No one can ever convince me that these $300 headshots were not worth the money!

The day Josh proposed to me was a Sunday, March 1999. He was in armor and asked me to marry him. He gave me a Precious Moments of a "Christian Soldier" and my ring was hung around the tip of the shield. What a romantic!

Here is our wedding day Saturday, May 8, 1999, at the Denver Temple. Isn't he so handsome?

Opening Night Jitters

There are some similarities between preparing for delivering a baby and the opening night of a play.

The air is filled with anticipation. It's mostly a positive energy that fills the home/theatre. Everyone feels the excitement and there's an overload of energy at times. The first play I was ever in I cleaned the whole house the day of opening night because I had too much energy and no other way to expend it. Now, I have a lot of energy, but it's only from my arms up. My belly to my toes are in no condition to be able to expend extra energy. My brain, however, is on overload.

All the prep in the world isn't enough. It doesn't seem to matter how much you prep beforehand, how many dress and/or tech rehearsals you have, things never feel ready by opening night. Same with delivery. We've been preparing for nine months, but I do not feel even close to being ready. However, the show must go on and everything always seems to work out, even when you wish you could just cancel the whole thing.

Sometimes you have to either throw up or pray. Sister Helen Prejean sat in seat E5 on opening night of Dead Man Walking. The real lady. The one I was supposed to be acting like. Over 25 bookclubs had read the book, thinking they knew her and expecting to see her portrayed a certain way. Talk about nerves. Every night I sat outside the back stagedoor and prayed. I prayed a lot. I'm doing the same thing now. Every night I kneel down by my bed and pray. I'm a bit scared about this whole get-a-big-needle-in-your-back-so-you-can-have-the-doctor-cut-you-open-to-pull-a-baby-out thing. As I've said, I hate needles and think they should all die. But that's nothing compared to dwelling on the thought of a scalpel cutting me open. I think I'm having a hard time with this because I've had a chance to think about it. With Matt the decision was made and within what seemed to be a few minutes we were in the OR and he was being born. But whether we're talking about stage or hospital, both have had the effect of making my nerves roll. And I sweat a bit. And I text Josh my worries at 1am.

Looking forward to the cast party. Admittedly, I've only attended a few cast parties. I have always been invited, but the atmosphere was sometimes a bit uncomfortable for married Mormons. Anyway, the ones we attended were generally fun and the best part was that they happened at the end of the run. The work was over and it was now time to relax. With this delivery, our cast party will be coupled with Christmas Eve and Christmas. Not all of the players will be there--we'll be missing all of you aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. But our children will all be able to play and relax together and Josh and I will have some time to watch it all happen.

Snow Day

Because of the snow, church was cancelled today. After spending all day yesterday in the house I was hoping to at least get out to church today. Oh well. By tomorrow it's supposed to be a bit better out and Emma is feeling better and should be able to have a good day at school tomorrow. We can't even play in the snow, mostly because some important kid snow gear is wrapped up under the Christmas tree. I'm not about to have three sick kids!

On another note, we are now in the single digits for Millie's countdown. Only eight days left. The house is pretty much ready, Millie's clothes have been washed and put away, the car seat is in the van...still in its box, but it's out there.

I was reminded this morning about how incredible the Christmas story really is, even when you just look at the aspect of Mary and Joseph's role of our Savior's birth. On the Kidz blog, Tara has published a great post that is absolutely worth reading. Be sure to watch the video. And yes, I'm so proud of myself for knowing how to hyperlink. Give me a few weeks to get past my glee and it won't be such a big deal anymore.

Hooray for Taralee!

In my last post I asked for a link lesson and got one due to my very good friend Tara. I have to be careful about specifying which Tara I'm talking about...friend or sister (for these two women those words can be interchangeable). Anyway, thank you, Tara! Despite your lack of sleep I totally understood what you were talking about. Take a nap today, you deserve it! Now I don't feel like such an ignoramus!

Click here for Emma's pictures in the local paper (see the last post as to what this is about).

Christmas Program and Party

Despite the fact that I forget my camera often, I don't always forget it. Here are some of our recent adventures...

Emma awaits for her program to start.
Emma's tree that she, Abby and I made together after Thanksgiving.

Emma's gingerbread house she made at school.

Emma was sooo excited to see Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Peter, and Aunt Genica at her program.

Surprisingly, after this we had to take her to the doctor and she's been asleep since before 5pm. She probably has strep.

Abby was a reindeer for the Reindeer Pokey (Hokey Pokey).

She even had a tail to "Shake it all about"

She did such a good job!

At Daddy's work Christmas party, the kids played on an inflatable bouncer.
Heeeere's Abby!

Emma had fun jumping.

Matt wouldn't give me a normal smile, the little stinker.

Matt and Santa

Emma and Santa

Abby and Santa

Someone from the local paper was also at the kids' program. Check out these pictures, especially numbers two and six. http://greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=G1&Dato=20081212&Kategori=PHOTOGALLERIES03&Lopenr=1212001&Ref=PH And will someone puh-lease tell me how to do the whole "click here" thing so I don't have to put the whole lame weblink on the computer. I don't even know what it's called to do that, so I can't look it up in the Help bar. Anyway, the kids are having fun so far this Christmas season. Emma's sick right now and we're spending tomorrow at home. We'll miss the church Christmas party so everyone can finally overcome this yuckiness we seem to be stuck with right now. Only one more week of school and tomorrow marks our countdown to Millie to be in single digits. Life is hectic, as I'm sure it is for all of you!

Pregnancy Update

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. It was pushed back from 4 to 4:30, so we dropped Josh off at home so he could get ready for work and we went straight to our baby shower. Of course I forgot my camera. When will I remember that thing?

The doctor checked me and I'm only about 1 to 2 cm, but I'm about 75% effaced. Did I spell that right? Anyway, when we reminded the doc of the c-section date, he told me, "You may or may not make it that long" and we went into a dialogue of what to do if I go into labor before Dec 22. A cold front is coming in and his nurse swore that many women's waters break during a cold front. Also, it's a full moon. So, if old wives' tales have any merit, we may have a baby before too long.

My shower was very nice and not only were my friends from church there, but also my mom, my aunt, and my gramma. It was so very nice. We now have a carseat, so Millie can actually come home with us. That's a relief!

There's Nothing Like It!

There's nothing like...

There's nothing like being so big and pregnant that you're forced to use the handicap bathroom/temple dressing room stalls.

There's nothing like avoiding the little boy in Emma's class because everyday he asks if she can call him later. Remember in A Christmas Story (I know you've already seen it once so far this year!) when Ralphie helps his dad change the tire and he says "The Mother Curse Word" and his mother asks where he heard it and he names his friend Schwartz and then his mom calls Schwartz's mom and from over the phone you hear the mom yelling and screaming some high-pitched "What? What?" This is how I want to react to this boy every time he asks me if Emma can call him.

There's nothing like running out of gas 25 miles from home at the end of a youth temple trip. Just ask Josh (Love you, Baby!).

There's nothing like trying to explain to your 6-year-old that she is not old enough to just walk home in the middle of the school day.

There's nothing like being 9 months pregnant and Christmas shopping all day looooong.

There's nothing like having your 4-year-old try to convince you to buy him some candy because "candy is good for you."

There's nothing like taking your children to see Santa and seeing how they suddenly become shy (SHOCK!) and humble in asking for the present they've been adamant that they've wanted.

There's nothing like listening to your Grampa tell stories about how he learned that a fight isn't worth fighting if you can't take the other guy out in one punch.

There's nothing like realizing the bassinet your husband just put up will actually be used by the little baby in your belly in less than 11 1/2 days.

There's nothing like registering for your baby that you weren't going to register for because she's baby number four but your friends want to throw you a baby shower and you need to tell them what things you still need since you gave everything away when you moved a year ago and then you realize that there are so many things that you didn't put on your register that you actually need. Who remembers changing pads?

There's nothing like looking forward to your husband's maternity leave. That's right, I said maternity. I can't wait for him to be home!!

Picture Mania

I decided to download some of my more recent pictures. I've got to get into the habit of taking more pictures more often. I don't want to be one of those parents with no pictures of the younger kids. And it's not because I never had any pictures taken of me when I was a kid. But my poor siblings...

Anyway, I've begun to complete some of my projects for Christmas. I decided to be a little thrifty and finish some of the projects that I began once upon a time for each of the kids. Well, all but Millie. I haven't had a chance to flake out on making her something yet. But, give me time. I made this cross stitch of Mickey and friends for Abby. I got this pattern not long after we went to Disneyland with Josh's family. That was in February 2003. But now it's done and all I have to do is wash, press, and frame it.

The Winnie the Pooh cross stitch is for Emma. I chose this one for her because when we went to Disneyland she was almost two and was afraid of every character we came across except Pooh Bear. It was very, very sweet. This one is also ready to be washed, pressed and framed.

For Matt, I decided to go with the quilt I began for him this past March. Gramma Williams has been giving me lessons on quilting and I finally finished the quilttop last night. Now I'll go over to her house tomorrow for my actual quilting lesson. Gramma designed the top for me. We used John Deere patterns and colors. I think it's going to be a hit. It turned out even better than I expected, if I say so myself.

So, we've been pretty preoccupied with newborn babies in our house lately. Everyday Matt and I watch different birth stories "A Baby Story" or "The Baby Diaries." Matt really gets into it. In fact, he gets upset at me if I go to change the channel. He likes to see if the baby is a boy or twins especially. Anyway, he came into my room this morning to wake me up and I asked him to give me a few more minutes. He sat down on the floor next to the bed waiting for me. I reached over and toussled his hair. He grabbed my hand and as he held it in both of his hands he told me that he'll hold my hand "like this" when I have Millie. He won't squeeze hard, though, because that will hurt me. What a sweetheart. We may have a problem when he begins to understand that he won't be able to be in the OR when Millie is born. I really hope he protects his sisters as much as he protects me.

Abby got to use foam rollers the other night. She was so excited. So, here are the before/after pictures. She was so excited because she was so beautiful. Also, she thought it was really cool that her hair looked shorter with the curls in it. Poor Emma missed the camera this time around. I'll have to get more of her later.

A Christmas Kiss

Here is our little Millie kissing the ultrasound "camera" today at our appointment. Look at her big lips! She's going to look like her daddy! Josh's first baby picture shows him with these so-cute big poofy lips. The only real difference between his picture and this one is that in his picture you can see his eyes. And it's in color. And it's not as grainy.

We also saw her grabbing her feet. Her hands are nice and chubby and her toes are soooo cute. She's got big kissable chubby cheeks. Pardon my bragging, but she's already begun to steal my heart.

Millie is measuring about 7 lbs 6 oz. Give or take. Her abdomen is a bit large, so she may actually be a little bigger than that. Everything looks healthy and she's still a girl. The cord was NOT wrapped around her, which is a big sigh of relief. There's no guarantee that it won't, but she's safe for now. The technician was surprised by her activity and asked me if she usually moved around so much. I told her, "Yes, she moves ALL the time." I'm pretty sure Millie is the most active in-utero child we've had so far.

Only 19 more days and we'll get to see her in real life...Hooray!

Elf Yourself

I hope you enjoy our "Elf Yourself" post above. It's so fun to do! Make sure you do it yourself and LET ME SEE IT! It just makes me giggle!

Preparing for Christmas

This weekend we've begun our Christmas decorating. It started out with Emma's homework. For Thanksgiving break she needed to decorate a paper Christmas tree her teacher provided. She, Abby and I worked on it last night (last minute, of course) and I think it turned out pretty freakin' awesome. We glued individual pieces of rice along a continual line for the lights, the girls used finger paints to create the ornament balls. We also accented it with glitter glue. It was really fun and I forgot to get a picture of it, darn it!

Today I spent hours rearranging furniture, vacuuming, and decorating our living room. For Family Home Evening we decorated the tree. Lesson #1: When kids decorate, don't hope for a professional outcome and you'll find it a lot easier to relax and enjoy the moment! It was very nice and we put on our cowboy Flying W Wranglers Christmas cd for background music. Doing FHE on the nights Josh works is tricky, so we actually began about 4:00 this afternoon.

We are currently watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the kids are loving it. These are the reasons I love Christmas!! Emma was so happy to have spent such a lovely afternoon that she willingly ate her dinner, which is a HUGE shocker! Who says miracles don't happen?


On another note, here are some Emma-isms as of late:

Last night Josh was talking about Roman numerals and realized that the subject was probably a little beyond the girls. He said to them, "You girls probably don't know Roman numerals, huh?" Emma said, "I don't even know who he is!" Josh and I began to try to stifle our chuckles, but she saw us and quickly added, "...or her."

Tonight Emma kept referring to December 22 as "December twenty-twoth." I corrected her and immediately she said it wrong again. It took her a while to remember "second" and not "two-th."


One last funny moment:

Last week my Primary class (the kids at church) was in charge of Sharing Time (a mini-lesson for all the kids to participate in). We talked about talents and had enough time to go to each kid individually and ask them what their talent is. I got to one boy who is 6 and a little hard to understand sometimes. I asked him what his talent is and he answered with, "Farts." I tried not to laugh as I looked at his teacher for a little help. She understood that I misunderstood and told me, "His talent is building forts." Oh! FORTS! Yes, I was sure that he was very good at building forts.

Random Thoughts of the Day

Here are some things that went through my mind today:

1. Josh's picture from the previous DWTS post was used when we made this picture for Homecoming. We lived on campus last year and our apartment complex had a competition to see who could decorate their front window for the Superhero Homecoming theme. We won. Of course, only one other window (out of about 40 apartments) competed. But it was still fun. Josh drew this, by the way.

2. Yesterday our neighbor approached Josh and asked him if we got rid of our dogs. The sad truth is that, yes, we had to find them more suitable homes. This was a very hard decision to make and it took us a few months to decide to do it. When we got our dogs we expected to buy a few acres further out in the country and they would have plenty of room to run and work. They're border collie/Aussie shepherd mixes. Anyway, keeping them cooped up in our backyard with Josh working so much, the kids so young, and me high-risk pregnant, we couldn't give them the attention and work they needed, so Bear went to a family in a nearby small town with a few acres and Jessie went to a Heuterite colony (for simplicity's sake think "Amish") to be a cattle/sheep dog. They'll be much happier and in a few years we'll do more research on the breed of dog that fits our family's lifestyle better. Anyway, this neighbor went off on Josh about how "when you get a pet, you should be committed." I really don't need or want his judgement. MYOB, dude.

3. There seems to be a hypocrisy when it comes to teaching children how to handle other people. We always tell our children to be nice and kind, but it's come to my attention that we also have to teach them to stand up for themselves. Where exactly is the line between nicely telling someone to leave you alone and firmly making them leave you alone? I feel like a hypocrite telling my children to be aggressive when I'm always telling them to be nice.

4. Black Friday is a stupid idea.

5. My biggest fear right now is that my water is going to break. I've never had an early delivery, except for Matt, but he was induced a week early. I have no reason to believe that Millie will come any earlier than we've already planned, but in my mind I've formulated an emergency plan of what to do with my children if I suddenly go into irreversible labor. Plus, I know the ER phone number by heart so I can warn Josh that I'd be coming in. Overreacting? Probably. I'm so paranoid of my water breaking that I'm nervous sitting on our nice couch.

So, how was your day?

Care For a Smoke?

This morning at about 4am I woke up choking on smoke. I knew one of two things had happened...either our house was on fire, or Josh got off work and started a smoky fire in the fireplace. Luckily, it was the latter. Unluckily, our whole house was filled with smoke. It still smells like a hickory BBQ in here, but we all made it through. The girls never woke up (I don't know if that's good or not) but Matt did. He snuck into my bed after I went to investigate the smoke source. He said he couldn't sleep in his bed because it smelled like smoke and fire and he didn't want to die because "I love my mom, and I love my dad, and I love my sisters, and I love my room, and I love ours house, and I love my toys." Poor Josh felt so bad. We think that the heaviness of the cold air in the flue pressed the smoke into the room. To avoid this again, I've already started a fire before it gets too cold outside. Josh tried to be a good dad and husband and warm us up on a cold morning. He's a good man.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Being with family is always fun, especially during the holidays. The only problem was that we didn't have everyone with us. We needed some more of our aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. But, we had a nice dinner anyway.

Gramma Courtney (Dad's mom), Genica (Peter's wife), Teagan (Lori's youngest), and Peter

Dad and Grampa Bill (Dad's dad)

Emma had to get in the shot, of course!

Abby and Pete needed their own pictures

What would Thanksgiving be without a superhero? Trenton (Lori's second son) and Emma

Mom cheesed it up for the camera, with Trenton

Lori and Aunt Jo (Dad's sister)

I almost missed getting a picture of Josh, but I found him!

I almost didn't put this one in, I look like a beached whale. Just realize I'm wearing Josh's shirt.

Emma and Mommy

Somehow I missed pictures of Tyler (Lori's oldest) and Matt.

I think they were engrossed in Inspector Gadget.

I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving too. The food was good, the company was great, and the realization that Millie is coming in 25 days was freaky. Overall, a pretty good day.

DWTS--Spoiler Alert

Josh and I don't get a whole lot of nights together, but with our handy-dandy DVR we still get to enjoy our favorite shows together. The one we never miss is Dancing With the Stars. We love that show, and as much as I'm glad to know the winner, I'm also sad that it's over for the season.

We both believed that Brooke would win because she truly should have. She was consistant in her technique and had amazing hyper-extended legs. If I can look half as good as she does by the time Millie is two I'll be happy. I loved watching the backstage footage of her taking her children with her and it made me think of all the times my kids followed me to the theatre. I think Emma was one of the few two-year-olds in the world that knew what a Green Room was.

My favorite person to watch, however, was Warren Sapp. I love Warren. He makes me think of Josh. Here's why:


WARREN SAPP

Height: 6'2"
Weight: 300 lbs
Football position: Defense
Nickname: Twinkle Toes Teddy Bear
Very charismatic on the dance floor








JOSHUA JOHNSON

Height: 6'4"
Weight: 320 lbs
Football Position: Defense/Offense
Nickname: Love, Baby, Sweatheat, Handsome Man
Very charismatic with his wife


I think if Josh and I ever take the dancing lessons we've always wanted to, he'd discover that he is very light on his feet for a big guy. He can already sweep me off mine!