Holly's in Preschool!

Well, I can officially say that I have 2 kids in school! Ahhh!

Holly had her first day of Preschool. She was so cute this morning. I think she was excited about it. Which is good because a month ago when I showed her the backpack I bought and told her it was for school, she cried. I was concerned that she wouldn't want to go. Those concerns were washed away today as she enthusiastically bounded out to the car this morning, saying that today was her first day of school. Very cute! When I got home she told me right away that she helped her teacher today. She seemed so proud of herself. What a cutie! Hopefully her enthusiasm for learning & school will continue for another 15 -20 years!!! :)

Look how happy and cute she looks!!!

She had this cute little dress and leggings on today - much more fancy than her usual daycare outfit!

I thought this picture was so cute - Holly looking up at her big brother as they pose for a picture.

School time again!

Well, it's official... I have a kid in elementary school! Myles started 1st grade this year, and is going to a new school. Last year he was at a school that was a Kindergarten center, but now he is at a different school for the next 5 years! Another big change this year is that he gets to ride the bus to and from school. I bring him to daycare, they get a group of kids on the bus to head to school for the day, and then after school is done they get dropped off at the same bus stop & goes back to daycare for an hour. He was so thrilled to be a 1st grader, and was thrilled to ride the bus. Funny how you start your school career thinking the bus is cool, but end your school career dreading the fact that you have to ride the bus. :)

This week has been good for Myles at school. He says he likes his teacher, and seems to like what he is learning. We are hopeful that this year is a little better than last year, and that he continues to learn new and exciting things at school!

We are so proud of Myles!

It was cold and rainy on the first day - here is Myles waiting at the bus stop for his first day of school! Sooooo cute!!!!!!!!!! (and no, I didn't cry!)

Here are some of the kids from daycare that are at the bus stop. It is so nice that there is a big group that all ride the bus together.

These 3 boys are buddies at daycare, but each one is in a different grade in school. But they looked so cute I had to take a picture!

Here he is.... about to take his first step on the school bus!

I made him pause for a picture. After this he bolted on the bus and sat in the 2nd row. Glad he is up front!

Creepy Crawley....

This big guy (or girl??) made his home on our deck this past weekend. We weren't sure what to do about it. I wasn't willing to kill it, mostly because it would be a juicy mess. Erik wasn't exactly excited thrilled to be designated as the official Johnson spider killer.... so what did we do? Waited for it to rain and then cheered when he disappeared. (The other alternative was to "hire" the neighbor who torched a spider from his backyard just days earlier. Yes... I do mean torched!)

I know, I know..... he is probably still out there on my deck, but if I can't see him, then I get to pretend that he was washed away by the rain.

Whew! Gotta love denial! :)

Charlotte's web??? I think not!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random pics from July

These are just 2 random pictures that Myles took in July. Since I got behind in my postings, they never made it to the blog. But now I promise to be better with posting.



Speaking of which, I guess I mentioned in a previous post that there was a reason I was behind. It is really silly, but here is why. I used to log into blog with my yahoo email address. Well, I thing blog (google) made some upgrades, and as a result they began denying me access till I created a gmail account. ANNOYING! I have enough things in my life, another email address is not something I wanted to keep up. So I gave some serious consideration to dropping this blogging thing. (no... I would not have picked up facebook - still boycotting that!) But after a month, I began missing the blog and posting pictures. So with a scowl on my face I created a dumb gmail account so that I could start posting again. But I refuse to use the gmail email address for anything. My work & yahoo will remain my real addresses. I guess I just wanted to sulk for a while before I finally gave in. Sigh. Oh well.

So that is my story. Exciting, huh? :)

Camping up North

Mid August we went up north to stay in my parent's camper. We had some friends join us on the camp grounds - the Murphy's and the Jurgenson's. It was fun to spend time with our kids and friends! We had camp fires, swam in the lake, fished, looked for bugs, played ball, at junk food & snacks, stayed up late, and laughed a ton!

Huge thanks to my parents for letting us stay up there! It was fantastic and we can't wait to go up again next summer!

Cool Erik - isn't he cute?!

Silvia with the kids - Camilla, Olivia, Holly, & Jonathan (Jack)

Aaron & Cory chowing on some yummy tacos!

Isabella - not sure if she liked the tacos - they look a little destroyed!

Jack seemed to like the tacos!

One evening Erik made Puggie Pies for everyone! This is a tradition from my Sister-in-law. You take 2 pieces of bread, butter the outside, and fill it with pie filling. Stuff them in the sandwich makers and cook them over the fire. Sooo yummy!

Close up of the puggie pies cooking! Wish I could have one now!

Andrea just chilling by the camp fire!

On our last day we went to the Mississippi headwaters in Itasca State Park - this is Myles crossing the water at the early part before you get to the main area.

Myles standing on a rock at the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Michelle & Olivia with their toes in the water of the Mississippi.

Holly is ready to swim in the headwaters! She loved it - she was excited that there wasn't any weeds like in the lake.

Erik & Myles pause for a quick picture in the headwaters!

Olivia splashing around in the water!

What a nice family picture! Michelle, Olivia, Aaron, & Jonathan

Erik with our little fish girl!

Holly took this picture of me - thought I should include it!

Viking's fan at heart

I guess when in Minnesota.... you must wear the traditional headdress of the Viking's fan! Looking good Bill!

August Horse Tracks

In early August we went with our CA guest, Bill, and the kids down to the horse tracks - it was family day at the tracks. Team Johnson has never been there before, and it was a ton of fun! The day was very hot, but we made the most of it. We had some snacks & soda to cool down when we got there, and then the boys made their way over to the counter to make some bets. We then got some great seats to watch the race. It was exciting! Those horses sure can run fast and they look amazing! After watching a few races (winning a few bucks & loosing a few bucks) we decided to check out the family activities. The kids played on the wooden swing set that they had - lots of kids were climbing all around the playset. Next we were off to "ride" on the ponies that kids could ride. Holly was so excited about that. She named her pony Pokadot. The kids also got their face painted.

After being there for a few hours, we were hot and tired. Time to go home. Holly was asleep in the car about 30 seconds after we pulled out of the parking lot.

It was a lot of fun and I would recommend going on Family days (Sundays) to the track. It was fun!

Andrea - waiting for the race to begin

Holly looking at the horse information - she could make as good of a guess as I could!

Myles - he was very excited about seeing the horses run!

The kids were totally into these junk... I mean toy machines. I think they pumped in about $3 worth of quarters to get some really cool treasures.

Both kids got to ride on these machine horses -they had as much fun as if they were at an Amusement park!

Myles had his arm painted instead of his cheek.

Holly is looking sad - I think she got her foot stepped on and stayed sad for like 15 minutes about it. Not even a cute kitty on her cheek could help her mood improve!

Here is Myles on his horse - he seemed to have fun!

Holly riding her chosen horse - Pokadot! She squealed most of the time and was saying "Gidyup!"