Trick or Treating 2009

Saturday was Halloween, and it was a blast! First thing in the morning Myles asks "When do we get to go trick or treating?". Well, it was 6:15 am, so he had a long wait till evening! But we kept them busy and soon it was time for friends to come over! We had dinner with our Neighbors Gwen & Justin & their 2 boys Mason & Preston. Next came Cory & Silvia with their daughter Isabella. Finally Aaron & Michelle came over with their 2 kids Olivia & Jonathan. We hit the trick or treating road around 6:15 pm. The kids were bouncing off the walls with excitement, so it was a relief to finally get their energy focused on what they wanted to do the entire day! A few houses down we were joined by neighbors Doug & Beth with their 2 kids Cordrey & Alexis. So we had quite the crew going around the block together! I think it took like 45 minutes to get everyone around the block. But we had a ton of fun! The only bummer thing that happened is that Holly got bit by some dog. Crazy, I know! I guess at one of the houses that the kids went to, there was this little dog. And let's just say that the dog was less than happy to see a group of kids invading his territory. So the dog zeroed in on Holly and bit her leg. Erik was up there and I was down at the end of the driveway with other parents. We kept going to the next house, but Erik was really concerned so he decided to ensure that the dog was up to date on its shots. I think the dog owner was thinking the same thing because when Erik went back they already had the shot records pulled out. Thank goodness that all is well. Holly didn't even complain about it the rest of the night.

Once we reached home, the neighbors left, but some of our friends stayed for a bit to hang out. It was so good to see everyone, and spend Halloween together! Hopefully we can do something like this again next year! (minus the dog biting incident...)

Holly - Pirate, Preston - Spiderman, Myles - Obi Wan, Mason - Clone Trooper

Here are the 2 Star Wars guys - Myles & Mason! They had such a good time trick or treating together!

Holly & Preston did a great job keeping up with the "big kids" as we went around the block.

Hmmm... Can you tell they were done with pictures and ready to get out!

Here are the two Pirates in the group - Holly & Jonathan. How cute are they!!!!

Myles and Preston pause for a picture.

Holly had fun walking around with Alexis - they looked really cute together and I had to laugh as I listened to them talking together.

Here is cutie pie Isabella all warm and cute as a Cow.

Party with the Neighbors!

Erik and I got dressed up on Friday night and went over to the Neighbors to have some Halloween fun! A big thank you to Grandma who was able to come over and babysit the kids! We had a great time hanging out and enjoyed the games. A little after 10 pm Erik and I headed back to our house. But as always, it was a blast! Thanks Gwen & Justin for inviting us!

Andrea

Don't we make a cute couple?

Erik as Captain Kirk, and Andrea as a Chamber Maid.

Kindergarten Halloween Parade

Myles had a Halloween party at school on Friday. At the end of the day they do a Halloween parade so that parents can come and see their kids all dressed up in costume. I took off work early and joined my Mom and Holly to see Myles in the school parade. It was so cute! Myles is dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi (a Star Wars character). I didn't tell him that we were coming so he was really surprised! It was cute!
Andrea

Myles is the one in brown, 2 back from the teacher.

Here is my cutie pie Myles (or should I say my handsome Obi-Wan!)

It was cute how surprised he was to see us!

Here is the whole class. Myles is on the far right in the back row.

They of course handed out treats. He is clutching his bag of candy. Like he isn't going to get a ton more tonight! :)

Pumpkin carving for my birthday

On Tuesday, it was my 34th birthday. Yikes! I requested that my birthday evening be filled with family time. So I picked up Subway on the way home for dinner, and then we headed out to get some pumpkins for carving! It was a ton of fun! Myles was thrilled to carve pumpkins since it was something that he wanted to do days ago! So for an hour or more we cut, gutted, and carved our unique pumpkin faces. It was fun! Neither of the kids were interested in digging the guts out with their hands. Holly kept saying "Eew!" Funny little girl. Myles used a pen and designed his own pumpkin face. In the end, Erik had to help him carve it out since he was struggling a little bit.

The evening was a ton of fun with the kids! After they went to bed, Erik and I just watched a movie. It was so so but nice to just hang out.

Hope everyone has had a nice week!
Andrea

Erik & Myles starting in on their pumpkins

Erik helping Myles carve out his design

My cutie pie Holly

Myles trying to carve before Dad had to help.

Holly was poking at her pumpkin with the carving tool after I finished it.

Here is my happy girl with her happy pumpkin!

Myles proudly holding his pumpkin when it was done!

The 3 pumpkins on the right are the ones we carved. The one on the left was the pumpkin that Holly "'carved" at daycare (however I would guess that it was the daycare lady who actually did it!)

Here is what they look like with the glow of the candles!

School Picture

Myles had his Kindergarten pictures a few weeks ago, and they just sent them home last week. I decided to take a picture of the picture, and see if it turns out. Not to shabby! So here is my grown up Kindergarten boy!

.

Imagination has no limits

Myles has really been into Football this year. He will watch some on tv (before loosing interest to some toy or chasing after his sister!) and cheer on whatever team Daddy is rooting for. It is really cute to watch! So this evening, after bath time, he decided to make his own football pads out of paper and tape. So he colored on 3 pieces of paper, and asked Erik to tape them on his arms and chest. What a imaginative little kid!

Maybe this is the uniform for Team Johnson!

Let's hope he is always this creative!

Painting Pumpkins

Team Johnson went to a free pumpkin give away this afternoon, only to discover that they were all out of pumpkins. Bummer. So after a free cookie and some hot cider, we ran over to the grocery store and bought 2 pumpkins. After going out to dinner with my Mom, and Brother & Sister-in-law at Panera, we headed home to paint our pumpkins. This occupied the kids for about 30 minutes. They were quiet, they were sweet, and they were happy. So Erik and I were happy! We might have to paint pumpkins every night this fall! :) Now we just have to wait for the paint to dry, and then set them out by the front door. I would highly recommend this activity to anyone with kids!

Holly starting to paint her pumpkin.

Do you think she has a grand plan for her creation? If not, she still had a blast!

Myles said he wanted to paint a Walker (star wars thing) on his pumpkin.

Myles proudly displaying his pumpkin master piece!

I'm beginning to think Holly must be into Abstract art....

Here is a close up of Myles's final product - a Star Wars Walker!

Holly's final product..... uh.... we'll just call it "Autumn Sunset"....

Leaves everywhere!

Friday night got so cold that it snowed. There was a very light layer on the ground (luckily it is to early for the snow to stick around!). But not before it managed to snap off every leaf from our front yard tree! And as you drove through the neighborhood, you couldn't help but notice that most other yards had the same thing. Huge amounts of leaves on the ground that weren't there the day before, and bare trees in the middle if the yard.

On Sunday afternoon, we couldn't ignore them any longer. We bribed Myles with a dollar, and he helped rake and bag 6 large bags of leaves. We didn't get them all, but cleaned up the majority of the leaves in the front yard. I have yet to peek in the back yard to see how many leaves are back there! I think I'll keep my eyes closed for now!

Sunday morning creativity

Sunday morning, Holly was a bit crabby and super slow with eating her oatmeal. So Erik went to Church and Myles went to Sunday School, as I stayed home with Holly. We decided that after breakfast, we would have some fun with Playdough. Most of the summer we find other fun things to do, but once the cold weather is here, playdough is a weekly activity! Holly seemed to enjoy herself this morning. Although she ended up mixing up 3 different colors of playdough all together to make one big blob of pink, green, and purple. That will be her own personal playdough for a few months!

Team Johnson meets the wilderness

On Friday morning, Team Johnson left at 7:30 am with the kids for the great wilderness adventure up North! After driving over 3 hours, we finally arrived to my parent's camper. My mom was there to greet us, and the kids were thrilled to see her! After a brief tour of the camper and the camp grounds we settled in for the 3 day weekend. The pictures below outline our 3 day adventure:

Here is the camper that we stayed in for 3 days, 2 nights. There is a bedroom at either side of the camper, so the kids slept in one room and Erik & I in the other. It is really quite big, and was perfect to stay in for the weekend!

After we brought our stuff into the camper, Myles brought us down to the beach to show us around (he was here once before with my mom). It was a really nice beach, and there are about 6 cabins that line the beach. We are hoping to rent a cabin sometime next year.

Erik standing on the dock. It was such a nice day, and we were in awe at how beautiful it was down by the lake!

Myles was laying on the dock and looking over the side at the plants in the water. It was so cute that I had to take a picture of him.

Holly pretty much copies what her brother does. Luckily for me, when I suggested that she lay on the dock like Myles, she was all to happy to copy him! So I snapped her picture as well! What a cutie!

Myles taking a moment to snuggle with Dad - they are so cute! A moment later he was off playing with some other kids who were also staying for the weekend. It was great to have them there so that the kids could run around with them. They bonded initially due to their love of Bionicoles, but then ran around the beach and on the playground equipment.

.

Later, Erik cooked a really yummy dinner on Friday night, but the kids barely touched it. Oh well, more for us! After eating, we went for a nature hike, and found some good walking sticks. Holly ended up jabbing herself under the chin with her stick and cried. Oh, the drama that can come with young kids.

Friday night we had a little fire. The kids were fascinated by it, and hung out for a bit. Bed time came fast and we got them in bed by 8:30 pm. Holly was chatting away until about 9 pm, so I had to tell her to be quiet a few times. By this point, Erik and I were exhausted as well, so we went to bed about 9:30 and threw in a DVD for 30 minutes before we decided that sleeping was better. And it was a good thing since both kids were up at 6:00 am. Ugh.

On Saturday morning, Erik and Myles went fishing off the dock. Myles got a few nibbles on his bobber, but didn't hook the fish. He was really disappointed. Erik caught a whopping large fish (or so he'll tell you - but it was more like a 6 inch baby fish!) but released it. What a nice guy! We won't mention about how it basically was hooked so good that it died.....

.

After fishing, Myles and Holly again were playing with the 2 boys at the beach. They built a sand castle, and were getting buckets of water and pouring it down the trenches around their creation. Myles basically got soaking wet. I only had one other pair of pants, and knew that wouldn't last. So around 11:00 am, we packed the kids up in the car and headed into town. We went to.................................................Walmart! Shocking.... I know! Don't worry, I prayed for forgiveness after shopping there. :) We only got the bare minimum which was a pair of sweat pants and sweat shirt for Myles, and a cute pair of jammies for Holly (hers weren't fitting so well). Each kid got to pick out one small toy as well. We made it back in time to grill for lunch and then have nap time. Yeah for nap time! I even slept, while Erik went out fishing again. You'll have to ask him if he caught anything!

Holly picked out this ugly looking lizard toy at the store, and then brought it down to the beach after nap time. It got dirty in the sand, so here she is laying on the dock and dangling her lizard into the water to wash it off. She did this for about 10 minutes. It was really cute.

The next thing I know, Myles has his pants rolled up (with Daddy's help) and is walking in the water. Holly wanted to do the same thing... of course. They both got soaking wet. I should have just brought swim suits, but it was actually to chilly to go swimming for real. So we are on outfit number 3 at this point on Saturday! Good thing we went to the store!

After we changed clothes from "swimming", Erik ordered pizza from the main office, and we finally chowed down when it came. Yes, I know that most people don't get pizza delivered when camping, but let's be honest..... this really isn't camping!

Erik relaxing by the fire after eating pizza!

Holly snuggled into my lap as the sun went down, and we watched the fire burn. She was so cute! The kids actually slept pretty good each night. We would put Holly to bed first, and then have Myles sneak into the room later.

.

On Saturday night, Myles was so tired that he fell asleep on Erik's lap! It was really cute, and we talked about how this might be the last time Myles falls asleep on our laps since he is getting so big & grown up. Amazing how fast the past 5 1/2 years have gone!

After the kids went to bed, we spent some time hanging out by the fire. It was so peaceful! But again, by about 9:00 pm, we were exhausted, so we went to bed to read for a bit. It didn't last to long before we practically fell asleep reading. So we just turned off the lights b/c we figured the kids would be up early again!

Here is a cute video of Myles and Holly in the hammock, down by the beach. They can be so funny some times!