Recent Videos

I realized recently that I've begun to fall into the stereotypical "lots of pictures of the older kids and hardly any of the younger kids" trap.

So, I've been trying to take more pictures but also make some videos of the kids, particularly of the littler girls.

Here are the latest in the series:

Millie is meditating.  (I love Emma's near-teenage comment of being in a "Nerd-fest".)

And....

Can you name that movie?

I tried to upload the one of Sarah laughing.  If you haven't seen it, I'll try to upload it again sometime.  It's worth seeing, but might be too big for Blogger.  Darn it.  

But these girls keep me laughing!

The Colorado Times, Issue 1

We headed to Colorado for Fall Break.  It's the first family vacation we've taken since Millie was about 3 months old -- she turns 3 years old in two months.  It was time to get the heck out of Dodge.

So we left the heat (yes, it's still in the 90s here in good ol' AZ) and went to the mountains.

It was a good choice.

We stopped and had some vacay time with my sister and her family.  It just so happened to be the weekend my nephew Trenton was baptized and my parents and my two brothers and their families all came.  We had a lot of fun with everyone and loved watching sweet Trenton on his special day.

On the trampoline



Josh with Abby, Teagan, Emma, and Millie




Abby asked for an extra picture so she could pose.  Vogue!


We also were introduced to Kid History.  Have you seen these?  A family with at least 4 brothers has told family stories to their kids so many times that the kids can retell the story.  The adults then take the kids' narration and dialogue and act them out.  My description does not to do it justice.  You much watch it to completely get it.



This one is good too.



There are six episodes and I highly recommend that you watch all of them.  Highly.  And if you don't begin quoting it, we may need to reevaluate our friendship.

Randay!!!  Randay!!  Randay!!!  Randay!!!  Randay!!! Randy?

"Josh, Where Are Your Shoes?"

We had some great fun out on the lake the other day.  It definitely was something we'll do again.

I thought I'd show off our pictures in a movie.  

We loved going out and playing in the water.  We went out on the tube (the pictures at the end) and while Josh and Matt were out, Josh thought he'd show Matt how to be a little daring.  Josh laid on his belly and pretended to be Superman.  He sat up and bounced up and down.  He even hung his feet off the side and into the water. 

And then .... oops.

It was immediately after that that we began the search for Josh's sandals because they had slid off his feet and drifted away somewhere into the lake.  Throughout the afternoon I had a little fun at his expense by asking, "Honey, where are your shoes?"

I learned something, though.  I want a boat.  I grew up under the impression that only the dads drove boats.  Only my grampa drove his boat.  And only my dad drives his boat.  No girls allowed.  But that's not the way it has to be.  I even got a bit of a driving lesson and taught some tricks of the trade so someday when we get a boat I won't be completely clueless. 

I can see it now.  We'll all have fun on the boat while we're laughing (my cheeks ended up hurting from laughing so much), tubing, swimming next to the boat, looking for Josh's lost shoes..... it'll be a wonderful time. 

Now, to suddenly get rich.....

The Story of Emma

We have had a great ending to the school year.  We've got one week left and I don't know if my homework-hating heart will make it.

Emma had her final band concert for the year.  I tried to get a picture of her, but all I could see was the top of her pretty little head.



Emma's band teacher encouraged the class to listen to a song and try to play it.  One of Emma's favorite songs (thanks to her Mema) is "You Are My Sunshine."  Emma played it by ear for her teacher and her teacher found the sheet music for Emma to play as a solo at the concert.

I recorded it, but Millie was acting up.  You can hear her fussing, me telling her to be quiet and then there's a section of video where I'm trying to take the fussy child off my hip and set her on the ground.  This really makes trying to create a nice video difficult, especially when you're just holding the camera in your hand.

But enjoy the music.

Emma also made her own trifold highlighting her poetry.  She asked me to take a picture of it and post it because she did it all by herself.  With no help from me.  She's very proud of herself.

APRIL

by Emma

April is blooming rainbow,

The color of everything. It’s all colors.

It sounds like birds chirping to wake the sun.

It smells like fresh grass, rain drops, and sweet flowers.

April tastes like fruit. Spring fruit.

April feels like sun on your face after winter’s darkness.

Spotlight: Millie

I thought I'd highlight my kids this week.  I really missed them while they were gone and after a week of them being home, that loving nostalgia has already begun to wear off.  *Sigh*  Yet another tally on my Mommy Guilt Chart.  So, I'm going to be proactive and look for some of my favorite things about them.  Here's a little bit about my Millie Vanilli.

We watched August Rush on Saturday and I tried to sneak some video of Millie.  This is pretty typical of what she does during the day.  It doesn't really matter what's on TV.  Millie likes to twirl in circles and sing loudly.  She also likes to sing loudly in the car.  Funny, most of her singing occurs when there's lots of other noises happening.... like talking, TV, arguing, or the shuffle of Sacrament cups at church. 

Yep.  She's pantless.  That's a somewhat typical thing.  I'm not sure if she's hot (it is getting a bit warmer) or if she likes the freedom.  Either reason is very possible.

Millie also loves Blue's Clues.  If you've ever seen the show, you've seen the host (either Steve or Joe) indicate playing Blue's Clues by putting his hands up and opening and closing his fists.  Anytime anyone goes for the PS3 remote (the device we get our Netflix off of) she runs up to them, pumping open her hands and saying, "Boos Coos!  Boos Coos!" 

Millie played some "Fort" on Friday. 

My favorite thing about Millie is her personality.  Her sense of humor is coming through like fire.  She loves to snuggle, hug, and kiss.  She blesses strangers in the grocery store when they sneeze ("Bess oo!").  And she's more persistent than anything else.  She's also begun sleeping in her Big Girl Bed and she loves it. 

My Millie Marie rocks.

Side Effects May Include......

I have been sick lately.  I don't really know how it happened.  It's been so long since I've been knocked down like this.  It's as if my whole body has been sucking energy from wherever it can get it.  And unfortunately, my brain has experienced the most suckage.

Sometimes, when I write, I try to write something along the lines of clever.  Something I hope might make people chuckle.  And a couple days ago I thought I had come up with a hilarious idea about psychology and a cold.  All I'll say is it had something to do with the term psychosomatic, Freud's model of the psyche (id, ego, superego), and Pavlov's dogs. 

Seriously, I was laughing at myself for being so incredibly clever.

However, now that the fog in my head has begun to clear, I can now tell you how glad I am that I did not actually write what I thought was so clever.  If I had, I would have deserved this:



I really hope I'm back to 100% soon!

Millie Marie

I found this old post and realized it never published.  I think I couldn't get the video to upload.  Maybe I don't know.  But the pictures are cute, so I thought I'd share.

*****************************************

I need to clear some space off my memory card in preparation for Halloween and the Trunk or Treat at church tomorrow evening.

Here are some candids of our Millie Marie.

I know they are bad shots.  You have no idea how hard it is to get this girl to hold still!

Millie wore a cute little piggie to church last Sunday.  She actually pulled the bow off before we got out the door and into the van, but the piggie itself stayed until about 20 minutes after the meetings.  Amazing.

And if you need a live action of this little girl, just watch this.  She's pretty calm in this because she's sleepy.  At the zoo last week I asked her if she wanted to sit back in her stroller since she had been walking a lot.  She would hold her hand out to the stroller, nearly double in half as she yelled to me, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

And never mind that it's cut off at the end.  My memory card ran out of space.  Such is life, right?

2010 in Review/Revue/Re-view

Just a little video highlighting our year.

Happy Holidays from the Johnsons!

Debbie Downer Days

I've been having some "down" days.  Debbie Downer days, if you will.



I'm not a good enough mother.
I'm not disciplining my children enough.
I discipline my children too much.
I don't have a clean enough house.
I'm not close enough to being ready for Christmas.
I don't give enough of myself to my husband.
I don't give enough of myself to myself.
I'm not exercising consistently enough to feel good about myself.
I need a haircut.
I eat too much junk food.
I don't feel guilty enough about eating too much junk food.
I feel like I'm barely staying afloat in my calling at church.
I feel like I'm overly invested in my calling at church.

The last one is the thing on my mind tonight.  Mostly because I've been working on stuff for church for the last several hours.  In January, 25 of my 52 nursery kids are heading to Primary with the older kids.  (We'll only have 27 kids, whatever will we do?)  They will be in a class called the Sunbeams.  Because they are 3 years old, there are plenty of worries for these little guys to be able to sit still for nearly an hour before they go to class and have to sit still again.  That's a lot of stillness for such little kids. 

So we've been practicing.  We've had Sharing Time and music time.  The kids have been sitting in their chairs and raising their hands and offering answers.  They are smart.  And they know who Jesus is.  Really, isn't that all that matters?

Tomorrow we are going on a field trip to the Primary room where some of the kids will see their brothers and sisters.  Even some of their parents.  I'm excited for them.  It's a fun change.

I've taken it as a personal challenge to make sure these little ones are taught what will be expected from them in Primary.  You can imagine how big Junior Primary will be if there are 25 3-year-olds.  Not all of the age groups have 25 kids, but they are all large.  If we sent 25 rowdy 3-year-olds into a room with 100(?) other kids, what sort of learning and sharing could occur?  Not much, I can tell you that.

So along with our practice Sharing Time and our field trip to Primary tomorrow, I also made necklaces for the kids to have tomorrow.  They have a picture of a sun and the middle of the sun says, "Sunbeams in Training". 

I sat there looking at my creations and thought, "This is fun!  I really hope the kids like these!"

Then the Debbie Downer in me popped up again.  "Why am I putting this much energy into something no one will appreciate?  98% of all handouts end up in the garbage."  Yes, that's a scientific fact.... I'm guessing.

So I hope that the things I've struggled with all day end up being worth it in the end.  I'll know by tomorrow morning.

As for the rest of my Debbie Downer list, check back with me in about 60 years.

Millie's Favorite Commercial

It's nearly Millie's second birthday.  Well, in 12 days, but still.

If I were to sum Millie up in an image it would have to be this:



This is Millie's favorite commercial.  She stops to watch it.  Then she laughs as the baby zooms across the country.  I think Millie relates to this baby.  She gets it.  I think because she moves that fast too, but without the walker. 

"God Is Not Dead; Nor Doth He Sleep"

Last night my sister took me out for a date.  We went to listen to the Christmas concert for the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization. 

It was beautiful.  Music is truly the universal language.  I loved the whole thing. 

The program ended with the director challenging the audience to discover the heartaches that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow experienced as he penned the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

I accept your challenge, sir.

According to Tom Stewart, Longfellow and his wife, Fanny, were married for nearly 20 years and had five children.  In 1861, the Civil War broke out.  That June, Fanny cut their seven-year-old daughter's hair and decided to save the cut hair in an envelope sealed with wax.  The wax from the candle dripped onto her dress.  Her dress caught fire.  Fanny tried to save the two little girls who were in the room with her.  She carefully ran with them to Henry's office and he tried to extinguish the flames with a rug.  When that didn't work he threw himself on her, burning himself in the process.  She died the next morning.  Between grief and his severe burns, he couldn't attend her funeral.

Two years later his son was shot while in battle.  The bullet entered under his shoulder blade and injured his spine, however, the wound did not kill him. 

Holidays were the hardest for Longfellow to endure.  Life was difficult to survive without his wife.  And the injury of his son seemed to haunt him as well. 

Yet, somehow, Longfellow found some hope:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

This story touched my heart.  The choir's performance was beautiful.  I wish I had a recording of it. 

Longfellow must have been a strong man to have endured so much trial and pain and yet still write one of the greatest carols of hope for the Christmas season. 

I've been a little afraid of Christmas this year.  I had some weeks of envisioning the mini-stocking we'd use this year for our unborn baby, the one we used for the other kids when we were pregnant with them.  That stocking is back in the box with other unused decorations for the season. 

But this carol is a wonderful reminder.  God has not left us in our sorrows.  He loves us, despite the trials and heartaches we experience.

I'm Thankful For....

There are a lot of things I'm thankful for.  I'm a little late with yesterday being November 1st, but I'm going to try to post something everyday that I'm thankful for until Thanksgiving.

Today I'm thankful for my strong-personality-baby-girl, Millie.

Millie's personality became apparent before she was born.  I didn't have that blessing with the three older kids, but Millie is a bit larger than life at times.

This video is her on a typical day.  She's not nearly as boisterous as usual because of how tired she is.  If I remember right, I caught her on a Sunday afternoon after playing in Nursery at church all morning.

To give you another idea of how strong-willed she is, let me tell you a little story.  The other day I took Millie to the store with me.  It was getting late and, again, she was tired.  Every time we go to the store she asks for the unique carts.  At this particular store, sometimes you can find the carts that look like cars.  We found one and Millie ran to it.  I pushed her around the store getting the items I needed and we finally made it to the check out line.

Insert tired fit HERE. 

Millie began getting out of the car and trying to walk around.  She was bored and wanted to do her own thing.  She didn't like it when I told her she had to stay in her car or I had to hold her.  I just didn't want to lose her in the crowded store.  She wouldn't go back in her car, so I picked her up.  Then she began screaming bloody murder.  The octaves were off the charts.  Heads turned to stare.  Children pointed.  I'm sure I blushed.  But I continued to hold her because I didn't want her to wander off.  And then she started yelling, "He'p!  He'p!  He'p!"  (That means "Help" in case you didn't catch it.)  For crying out loud.  I set her in the front of the cart and within thirty seconds she calmed down and I checked out without any more problems. 

And as much as you're snickering about my baby yelling for help in the middle of the crowded grocery store, just realize that she really is awesome.  I love her liveliness.  I also love when she snuggles next to me on the couch and we watch Curious George together. 

She's loving, loyal, and caring. 

I love her and I'm so thankful Heavenly Father sent her to me.

Getting Ready.....

We're having some fun at our house getting ready for Halloween.  Costumes are being constructed or are already completed.  Decorating is in progress, though right now our only decoration is a tombstone that reads "Vacancy."  And we've been playing with Jib Jab.  You can see one of our creations above (until the link expires, at least) and here you can see my favorite one that we just made.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Halloween!!!

Abby and the Didgeridoo

We had TONS of fun at the beach. As perfect as I'd like to naively believe our trip was, I do have to admit that we had a few fits and tantrums.

As I was having a moment of conflict with Abby, the thought hit me:

Abby doesn't march to the beat of a different drum.

Abby plods along to her own didgeridoo.

San Diego 2010

There is no Bloggest Loser this week because I had an inkling that we were going to be out of town.

And we were.

Monday morning we left to go to San Diego to visit Josh's grandparents.

He hasn't seen them since he was about 16 and his grandfather is in very poor health. We knew we had to make the trip before school started and not wait until it was convenient. We had a bit of time and low funds, but we still had a wonderful trip.

Monday night we saw Gramma and Grampa Essary.

We stayed at a hotel between their house and the beach.

The next morning was overcast and cool, but we decided that we HAD to see the ocean while we were there. We didn't change into our swimsuits since it was so chilly, but all four children ended up wet from their shoulders down.

We had some lunch and the sun came out, so we decided to go back to the beach. This time we wore our suits and did some major shell collecting. It was a good day.

It was a very fun, although fast, trip. I can't wait to do it again. Next time we'll have some more ideas of where to go and what to do.

The kids' first time in the ocean.

Millified (A Verb)

I don't know if it's because I've had three other children or if it's just that Millie is so unique, but this little girl

has a big personality that is very obvious even at her young age. One that has been apparent since before she was born.

I've actually coined a new phrase. Millie's pacifier was missing one day and I happened to find it in an empty contact solution box. Josh asked me how in the world I found it in this random box. I told him that my clue was that the box had been crushed and misplaced, or "Millified."

Millie doesn't seek out mischief. She is too task-oriented to look for trouble. Millie sees things around her and knows when a job needs to be done.

For instance,

Food: should be eaten. It should be eaten from off her plate, off the floor, out of the garbage can, off Daddy's plate, out of Mommy's hand, off a sibling's plate sitting unattended at the kitchen table.

Drinks: should be out of water bottles. Or empty pop cans.

Walking: should be accomplished anywhere. And often. Through the hallways at church, around the zoo, through the aisles of Home Depot, across the dance floor at a cousin's wedding.

Dirty Looks: should be given to anyone at anytime for any reason.

Toys: should be given to the proper owner. Or Momma. Or just haphazardly placed throughout the house in rooms the toys would never ordinarily appear.

Remote Buttons: should be pushed. Mostly at random. And during a show everyone else is enjoying.

Microphones: should be sung into.

Garbage Cans: should be emptied. It doesn't matter whether it's the kitchen trash that is emptied one item at the time or the small garbage cans from the bedrooms that can be dumped all at once.

Clothes and Accessories: should be worn. Headbands, shoes, necklaces, sunglasses... it doesn't matter.

Wipes: should be pulled out of the wipes bag and sucked on. Don't judge me. I don't make up the rules.

Papers: should be wrinkled, ripped or read.

Finding these tasks completed means finding these things Millified. She doesn't mean to frustrate the living heck out of me. It's just her job.

The Walking Adventures of Millie Marie

Millie began walking yesterday. I can't believe it. It took her long enough to realize that she pretty much was already doing it, she just needed to let go of the couch or coffee table or my fingers. Silly girl.

As I've been watching her, she just makes me laugh. First of all, she's finally doing it! I'm so proud of her! At first she just did it when Josh or I coerced her to do it, but today she's been doing it on her own accord. It's so wonderful.

She also makes me laugh, though, because she's still getting used to bending her knees and all of the mechanics involved with the act of walking. So, she's a bit stilted. She kind of reminds me of the Frankenstein Phil Hartman used to portray on SNL. He was the stiff-jointed, awkward Frankie we all recognize with the added glory of the line: Fire BAD!!!! Oh, hilarious. Believe me, there'd be a clip here for me to show you if I could find one.

But, you'll just have to see Millie instead. Don't mind the end of the video, Matt had just thrown a bunch of toys in front of me that she tripped over once she got close enough. Still, it's a great thing to watch.

Pictures and More Pictures

Let me preface this by saying that there are very few pictures with good shots of faces. And so it goes. But, here is a little blurb about some of our exploits with my cousin Jon and his family. They came to visit for a week. Jon ran in the P.F. Chang's Half Marathon in Phoenix last Sunday.

Here is Emma and her second cousins. That means they are my first cousins, once removed--I totally had to look that up at Genealogy.com. I truly had no idea how to explain our family relationship.

Megan, Kyra and Emma

We went to the Phoenix Zoo. Here is my little family looking at the tiger.


Josh took this shot from afar. We were looking at the hippos.

It's hard to see, but that's Matt, Emma, Abby, me with Millie on my shoulders, and Pam (Jon's wife).

This is the Geico Gecko. He didn't talk to us about switching our car insurance. But he and his buddies did hang off the glass, the rocks, everywhere. It was pretty cool. And I know where he comes from....not Australia.

Later we went to the Mesa Temple. Jabon and the boys came to take some pics of Jon and Pam's clan.

Abby, Matt and Brett

Brett and Matt discussing politics over raisins.

Ashton and Millie checking out all the big kids.

Poor Josh had worked the night before and was a bit tired.

This one was from tonight. The kids were just playing around and I thought Millie's face was priceless. That little girl sure puts up with a lot.

And in case you were wondering, I'm pretty much the worst Mom ever. While my baby is thowing a fit, what do I do? I take a video of it and stick it on the internet so everyone can see what a ball of fire I have. Man, am I excited for the Terrible Twos to start. And the preschool years. And the elementary years. And the Tween years. And the teenage years. Heaven help us!

But she's still cute.

Christmas in Pictures

Here is a video montage of our Christmas this year.

Enjoy.

I know, I know....

It's not even Thanksgiving and I've already posted my first Christmas item. Directly above you will see the ElfYourself that I've already done this year. It's hilarious. I had to post it on the blog because I knew the kids would want to watch it over and over and over....

Anyway, that's why it's there.