Team Johnson!

Introducing my new Niece~ Norah!

2012-01-14T18:33:00.001-06:00

My brother & his wife had their first baby yesterday. We visited in the hospital today & think Norah is sooooo sweet! Wish I was holding her again!!

MOA 2011 with the kiddos!

2011-12-30T10:48:00.002-06:00

We took the kids to the Mall of America yesterday to go on a ton of rides at the amusement park. It was a total blast! Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T08:52:00.008-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a wonderful year, and a peaceful Christmas with family and friends! We enjoyed our time very much, and the kids had a blast this year. Here are a few pictures from Christmas eve & day.

(Above) Kids in front of the Christmas tree after Church on Christmas Eve. They were really excited to open up gifts from us and each other! Myles was also excited to eat the crab that Erik was cooking!

Above is the Christmas tree after Santa quietly put his gifts under it at 4:00 am. Unfortunately he was really tired at that time and forgot to put one under there. It was discovered by Daddy later (after we opened everything), and then put under the tree. We tried to play it off like "wow, we forgot one!!". Not sure if it worked....

Holly opening a Santa gift. She got a new helmet and a barbie scooter with light up wheels. She was very excited about it!

Myles is about to open his first Santa gift. He knows what it is by the shape, and was thrilled to finally have his Beyblade stadium!

On Christmas morning we go over to my parents house in pj's to open gifts. Later in the day we finally get dressed before we eat. Holly is playing with her baby cousin, Annika, and singing to her. It is soooo cute!

To keep or not to keep...

2011-12-15T08:48:00.002-06:00

So that is the question I pose today. Should I try to revive this blog and keep it, or let it pass quietly in the night and never post again? FB has taken over and how I share pictures with family & friends. But, it saddens me to think about the "death" of this lovely blog.

So - what do you think I should do? Please leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Thanks!
Andrea

Buffalo Ridge family gathering

2011-06-28T11:49:00.013-06:00

Last weekend the extended Bietz family gathered in South Dakota for some fun! It was great to see all that could attend. The weather on Thursday ended up being wonderful!! Myles enjoyed fishing, both kids loved throwing rocks into the stream & lake, and in general they enjoyed being outside. I didn't take a ton of pictures, which I intend to learn from that and take a ton next year!

Andrea

Andrea & Erik - it was cold at first on Thursday, but then it warmed up later!

Holly with her 2nd cousin - they played most of the time together. So cute!

There was a little stream that the kid threw rocks in and walked around in. Here is Myles with Erica and Pete searching for the perfect rock for skipping in the water.

My cousin Cindy with her grandson - soooooo cute!!!

The kids were tired on Thursday evening - Holly even fell asleep at dinner! I was shocked!

Cutie Myles!

Myles standing on a rock.

What a good looking hubby!

Holly was obsessed with finding caterpillars - she's holding one on her finger in this picture. At one time she had 10 of them collected, and they were all named Sparkle. Funny little girl!

Look at my Wolf!

2011-06-09T10:04:00.005-06:00

Last weekend Myles went to cub scout camp with Erik. He had a total blast! On Saturday night families could come for the graduation ceremony and dinner. Myles graduated from a Tiger cub to a Wolf cub. He seemed pretty proud of himself!

I love you Myles - you're my little Wolf!
Mommy

My little gymnist!

2011-05-24T14:34:00.002-06:00

Holly had her gymnastic show last Sunday. It was super cute!!! She showed off her "skills" and was rewarded with a trophy (which she loves so much she slept with it on Sunday night!!!). We'll take the summer off from gymnastics, but I'm sure we'll be back at it this fall!

Thanks to my family for coming to the show and the lunch after! It was great to see you!
Andrea

Here she is proudly holding her trophy after the show. I used my iPhone app to make the black & white pic but added back the color into her leotard. Cute!

Small Spaces

2011-05-18T11:05:00.002-06:00

This weekend Holly was taking a nice little nap, when I needed to wake her up so she didn't sleep to long. I went into her room and she was not in her bed.... but before the panic set in I figured I better search around a little bit. After a moment, I thought of checking between her bed and the wall - sure enough! There she was, sleeping like a little Angel in a very small space on the floor! It was so funny and cute that I dashed out to grab my camera to try to get a picture of her sleeping. She woke up, but I snapped a picture anyway. Holly told me that it was more comfortable to sleep there than in her new bed. Luckily she hasn't done it since this weekend, so hopefully it was just a crazy little idea that she had one time. :)

Happy Easter from Team Johnson!

2011-04-25T09:03:00.006-06:00

Easter Sunday started EARLY at the Johnson house! Myles woke up at about 4:10 am, and never went back to sleep. He got up 2 other times within the next 60 minutes, which made it really really hard for the Easter bunny to hide the eggs. :) At 6:00 am Myles got up, woke his sister up, "woke" us up, and we all went out to see the Easter baskets and hidden eggs around the house. The kids had a good time looking through the goodies in their baskets, and raced around finding eggs. We had to keep slowing them down and reminding them that it wasn't a race or a competition. This was the first year that the bunny also hid eggs in the basement, so they were thrilled to discover that! There were tons of eggs all around.

Next was breakfast & then getting ready for church. Holly was upset about putting on her fancy dress, so I flat out bribed her with candy. It worked! Both kids got ready and looked so wonderful! They packed a bag of books & activities to keep them occupied in church. The service was really long, and we had to keep hushing the kids. They got bored. Someone in church fainted into the pew. But the music was lovely and the message was good.

Next we were off to my parent's house for a yummy Easter meal & hanging out. It was great to spend the day there with them. Myles played with the neighbor kids while Holly napped. In the evening we headed home to hang out and do not much of anything. Great way to end the Easter holiday!

Happy Easter everyone!
Andrea

Here are the baskets the bunny left for the kids. Myles wrote a note for the bunny that said "Easter bunny - please don't dilly dally!" So cute!

Here they are in the morning digging in the baskets!

Look at all the eggs that they found! This is the most that the bunny has ever hidden at our house!

Cute picture of the kids all dressed up - and more iPhone app editing! :)

Don't they look adorable???

Coloring Easter Eggs

2011-04-25T08:33:00.007-06:00

Saturday evening Team Johnson dyed Easter eggs - super fun!! The kids had a blast coloring the eggs first with crayons, and then picking what dye color to make the eggs. I think we ended up coloring 22 eggs in total. It was a fun activity for the family, and got us excited for the Easter bunny to come in the night!

Myles making a special egg!

Cutie Holly with her egg - she didn't really make a design, but rather just "scribbled" all over the eggs before putting them in the dye.

Here is our finished product!

Date Night

2011-04-25T08:05:00.006-06:00

On Friday afternoon, Erik and I took a half day off from work and headed down to Stillwater together for a fun date night. We ate a nice light lunch, napped, window shopped, ate a fantastic dinner at Luna Rosa (highly recommend this place to everyone!!!), and then listened to some live music at our hotel bar. It was a really nice date night!! In the morning, we got up for breakfast and then headed back home to the kiddos. What a perfect date in Stillwater! :)
Andrea

I was playing around with the iPhone app again and adjusted this picture. We are sitting at a small table here listening to the live music at the end of the evening.

Erik took this picture of me and I changed it with the iPhone app.

Here is the live music we were listening to. They were pretty good!

Palm Sunday

2011-04-18T11:30:00.004-06:00

Sunday was Palm Sunday at church, and the little kids were all up front waving their palm leaves as we proceeded into church. Holly was so cute! I just had to go take her picture. She then saw where we were sitting and waved a few times at us. So cute! After church we decided that we would run a few errands and go out for lunch. Myles really wanted to eat at Noodles, so that's were we headed! He ate his whole meal with chop sticks - very impressive! He was proud of himself. Holly tried, but ended up using her fork. The rest of the day we played outside with friends and just had as much fun in the sun as possible, even though the wind made it chilly outside.

Holly looking sooo cute in her little dress at church.

Here is Myles taking a bite with the chop sticks! I used an iPhone app to do the special effects on this picture - LOVE the app!! I'm totally going to use it more often!

Last picture - I used that iPhone app to make it black & white - looks awesome!

Saturday's birthday celebration

2011-04-18T11:23:00.004-06:00

On Saturday Myles attended a birthday party of his good buddy, Hayden! He had a blast! They went bowling, ate pizza, opened gifts, and goofed around the whole time. I'm glad that he had a fun party - we will miss him dearly when he moves out of state!

Myles & the birthday boy!!

Video of Myles bowling

The whole birthday group.

Friday night Mexican food

2011-04-18T11:07:00.003-06:00

On Friday evening we took the kiddos to a local Mexican restaurant for some good food! Holly chowed down not only her quesadilla & rice, but also Myles's entire quesadilla! Then she ate the ice cream Sunday that comes with the kids meal. Amazing! Sometimes she barely eats anything for days! Now she ate more than what an adult eats. Who would have guessed! Well, enjoy the silly pictures that I took at the restaurant! Andrea

Weekend fun

2011-04-11T08:32:00.003-06:00

This weekend we tried to spend a ton of time outside because the weather was soooo wonderful!! I got the kids some new bubble blowers, and Holly couldn't wait to try it out. She continues to be anti-pictures, so I had to be sneaky about taking her picture. She's pretty good at catching me! But we had a great weekend and are looking forward to the next one already!

Holly blowing bubbles into the driveway. We also had fun blowing them into the air and then chasing them around. Bubbles are a great form of entertainment!

Here she is giving me a dirty look because she figured out that I was trying to take her picture.

Saturday afternoon we took Holly to the mall for some ice cream because her brother was at a birthday party. We also picked out a pretty pink Easter dress (which she cried about having to do.... I hope she'll put it on that Sunday morning!!)

Buddies

2011-04-05T08:41:00.004-06:00

We went over to the neighbors last night to have a little Birthday celebration for their son. Myles is good buddies with him, and they both LOVE Pokemon. So here they are sitting together going through their cards together. Just like 2 peas in a pod!

Holly at a birthday party

2011-04-04T09:17:00.006-06:00

On Sunday night Holly went to a birthday party for one of her preschool friends. It was at the Maple Grove maze - they rented out the entire maze and Holly (along with a million other kids) seemed to have a blast running around! She was sad when it was time to go, but being that it was a school/work night, we couldn't stay late. Here is the only picture she would let me take of her. I'm not sure what the deal is with her "anti-photo" attitude lately. Hopefully that will change. :) Happy Monday everyone!

My sweet little cat

2011-04-04T09:13:00.003-06:00

I don't think I've ever had a picture of my little kitty on the Blog! She has been asking over and over to have her picture taken so that she could make her world debut. Not sure if she will reach her goals of being on the big screen.... but we love her for her aspirations!

Sammi - the Johnson Family cat

Macy's Flower Show

2011-04-04T08:53:00.006-06:00

On Saturday morning I took Holly to the Macy's Flower show with a friend of mine & her young daughter. It was beautiful, and the scents of the flowers was amazing! The only bummer thing about it was it was PACKED with people who wouldn't budge from where they were standing, and Holly became instantly crabby in the crowd. She cried a little and kept whining to go home. So that was a bit of a drag. But she pepped up once the 4 of us got a cookie and some lunch. Then she had a blast with her friend! On the way home they giggled and chatted in the car like they were old friends. It was cute! I managed to take a few pictures of the flowers, but none of Holly - she refused to let me take her picture.

Pretty pink tulips!

I took this picture with my HDR turned on, and it looks a little like a cartoon photo! Weird. They were very lovely flowers.

Here is a leaning tower full of flowers.

These were just beautiful!!!!!

Car Show

2011-03-14T13:51:00.010-06:00

We took the kiddos to the car show this past Sunday afternoon. We had a great time! The kids just had a ball climbing in and out of a million cars. Who would have guess that they would be happy as clams doing that? Maybe we should park our cars on the driveway and that would entertain them long enough for me to catch up on the loads of laundry I have to do..... :)

Myles standing by the famous Lighting McQueen!

Holly sitting in some random Mazda - she had fun pretending to drive the car.

Hmmm... maybe I should buy this car.... it looks "family friendly", right? I bet it is inexpensive, too.

Timberwolves Game

2011-03-14T13:48:00.005-06:00

Team Johnson went to the Timberwolves game on Friday night. It was soooo much fun! The Wolves played a great game, and were rewarded with a great win! Myles cheered his little heart out! Both kids ate a bunch of snacks that I snuck in with me, along with the juice boxes. Food at a sporting event is expensive!! We all had such a great time!

The view from our nose bleed seats.

Myles & Mommy

Erik - he is wearing a Lakers shirt.... I think he was confused as to who was playing... :)

Holly - she is a little crabby in this picture, but perked up as the game went on.

Here is the half time show - they did some dunking into the net. It was so cool!

Growing up - 7 years old!

2011-02-17T20:58:00.006-06:00

This weekend my baby boy turns 7 years old. I can't believe it! (I think I'll say that every year from now on!) We invited the family over last weekend to celebrate a little early. Myles was so excited! He was happy to see everyone come over, and even happier to see the gifts. This week he has been playing with new toys and reading his new Garfield book. He's happy as a lark!

It was great to see the family! A big thanks to all the family for helping to make my baby boy's birthday a very happy one!

Oh so comfortable!

2011-02-17T20:49:00.002-06:00

Oh what a rough life our doggie lives.

Wish this was me today......... :)

Science Museum

2011-01-23T21:41:00.006-06:00

Sunday afternoon we took the kids over to the Science Museum in St. Paul. They had a ton of fun! Both kids were interested in different things, so we often were split up - one kid with one parent. But they explored a ton of different things, and I would say we barely all that the museum has to offer! What makes that okay is that we got a year family pass so that we can go back as often as we want this year!

On an interesting note, if you hear an alarm go off & look over at your guilty looking child, you can assume it was because he touched the Dinosaur bones. Don't ask how we know this......

But it was a ton of fun & so glad that we did this today!

Both kids thought this giant hand was cool.

Myles was sitting on this world puzzle and watching a globe hanging from the ceiling that was showing a video on the globe. Hard to explain, but it was so cool!

Holly was very interested in checking out the fossils in the rock.

Here she is weaving yarn into a blanket. She did this for a while & was very proud of herself.

Myles was very interested in these shells. He also learned that he can collect things out in nature (rocks, shells, animal stuff, etc.) and bring it to the museum to trade in for points that earn you cool other nature things. He is excited to do some nature hikes this summer to collect things to trade!

Holly really liked the computers & phones at the museum. So if there was a computer screen in her reach, she was there! Here she is looking at some information on the screen about the Dinosaurs. She liked it!

2011-01-23T21:34:00.003-06:00

Erik and I had a chance to go out on Saturday night - the kids were sleeping over at my parent's house. So we got dressed up & went out to a local restaurant (Pittsburgh Blue). Very fun & good food! You can have a really fancy meal, or classic bar food. We went classic and got some really good bacon & cheddar burgers. Yum! So we stayed there for a few hours and then headed home.

Here we are! My picture is a self portrait with the iPhone so it is a little fuzzy.

This is the yummy drink that I had 2 of - it was such a pretty blue color that I had to take a picture!

Cub Scouts - Pinewood Derby race

2011-01-23T21:22:00.003-06:00

On Saturday morning, Team Johnson went to the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby race. It was pretty cool! Myles & Erik had worked all week long on creating a cool looking (and Patriotic!) race car, and it was finally time to test it out. We had already explained to Myles that since this was our first time, it was unlikely that he would have a fast car or a winning car. That prediction came true. The car raced in 4 different races, and came in 4th place each time. I guess I should mention that only 4 cars raced at a time, so basically when I say that he came in 4th it really means that he came in last. Myles had fun, but he was really really sad when it came time for the awards. He looked so deflated and told me that he wished he got a trophy. We tried to show him the positive side of things. His car finished all races and kept all 4 wheels on - not all the cars even achieved that. He eventually snapped out of it, but I certainly hope next year we make a faster car.

This is a video of his car racing - it is the red, white, & blue car.

Sledding with the family

2011-01-18T09:53:00.004-06:00

On Sunday afternoon, we went sledding with our neighbors at the local sledding hill. It was a ton of fun!! The kids had a blast, and I got a work out going up and down the hill. Often I had to tow Holly back up the hill in the sled. She was not so fond of walking back up the hill. But it was a ton of fun! Myles brought along his snowboard to give that a whirl again. It was a nice & safe way to get him interested in it again. He's a little leery of it since he broke his arm last winter during his one and only snowboarding lesson. But he seemed to have a blast on Sunday!

Erik & Myles pause the snowboarding lesson for a picture - aren't they sooo cute?!

While it looks like Holly isn't very happy, she really was! I think she was just to cold to smile properly for the camera.

Here is Holly going down the hill all by herself. She wipes out at the end but if you listen carefully, you can hear her say "That was Awesome!". Funny!

And this video is of Myles giving snowboarding another chance. He is trying to learn how to turn while going down the hill.

Fire House tour

2011-01-10T21:34:00.005-06:00

Tonight Myles had his Den meeting. They went to the local Fire House for a tour. It sounds like they all had a blast (perhaps a little wild... but get a group of 6 or 7 year old boys together and let them loose in a fire house, and what else can they be but wild?!!). Erik took a few cute picture so I just had to share them!

These are the kids in the Den.

Hmmm... I wonder if this is a glimpse into his future career??

Guess he needs to grow a little before the uniform fits!

Why....

2011-01-04T12:16:00.003-06:00

Why......
is it that 3 year olds feel the need to test limits at bedtime??? Sigh. Currently, all of Team Johnson is experiencing some levels of frustration because my usually sweet little Holly turns into a tantruming crazy toddler right after we put her in bed. It's the weirdest thing! Last night she ended up loosing all 10 of her toy horses... one at at time... over a 30 minute period of time. Painful! There was lots of tears, but she needs to know that screaming at the top of her lungs to say "Gimme back my toys NOW!" (followed by high pitched screeching) is not acceptable to Mommy & Daddy. Lets all cross our fingers that this current phase is short lived!

Guess I just have to remember that I'll look back on these days fondly and remember only the good.... right?

Christmas Day finally arrives!

2010-12-27T14:58:00.011-06:00

Merry Christmas! What a blessing it is to be with family on Christmas. I know that I treasure it every year. And every year it seems to be more and more special to me.

On Christmas morning, the kids woke up when Santa rang his sleigh bells to let them know he had just dropped off their gifts. This happened at 6:00 am. So we all got up and raced into the living room to check out what treasures were left. The kids first explored their stockings. I'm so glad that Santa doesn't leave them a ton of candy. The kids sure don't need any more sugar! But they got lots of little things in their stockings that made them very happy!

Then it was on to the gifts under the tree. Each one received 4 toys from Santa, and there was even a family gift for us all. Santa had heard that we are probably going to do several road trips this summer so he brought a dual monitor DVD player for the car. That will be great!!!!

After opening gifts and playing with them for a while, we all packed up and headed over the river & through the woods to Grandmother's house. Or should I say to my parents house. My siblings & their spouse's were already there waiting for us. We had a yummy egg bake breakfast & then started opening up gifts again. It was fun! We were all in our pj's to ensure that the tradition lives on. Plus it is just more comfortable to be in jammies!

Then came the gorging of a food filled dinner. We ate so much that we couldn't even take a single bite of pie! Wow! But it was so great to spend the day with family. Eventually we had to head home in the evening. Our doggie needed some attention, too! So off we went, back over the river (we actually do go over a river - funny, huh?) and through the woods to our little home sweet home.

Now, as life returns to normal, we hope that the kids continue to appreciate all that they have. A huge Thank You to everyone who sent us wonderful Christmas cards! It was so great to see what everyone was up too!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Here the kids are pulling things out of their Christmas stockings.

Holly opening up one of her Santa gifts. It was this little puppy dog that barks and zooms around the floor. She loved it!

Santa brought Myles this football game with little football guys that you put out on the field. He is really into football, so it was great that Santa brought this gift!

The other cool toy that Santa brought was a Nintendo DSi. Myles seems to like it. Although he still asks to play with our iPhone. He even said it would have been good if Santa gave him an iPhone. Yeah.... like that is going to happen!

Santa gave Holly these roller skates. She loves them! And has already figured out how to balance most of the time on them.

Here is what my parent's Christmas tree looks like. Well, it looks a little more empty now that we've opened all the gifts!

The adults got Christmas Stockings at my Parents house. Holly was "helping" by emptying one of them.

Myles reading a book that my Mom got. He is also wearing the new Star Wars shirt that Aunt Erica & Uncle Pete gave him. He loved it and wants to wear it on the first day back to school.

Holly got some chap stick in her stocking & insisted that she bring it over to my parent's house. She put it on her lips & face all day long! But then she fell and shattered the plastic top so I ended up having to throw it away the other day. She hasn't asked where it is, and I'm hoping she has forgotten about it!

Random cute picture

2010-12-27T14:52:00.003-06:00

This was just to cute not to share. Enjoy!

We were driving home from somewhere on 12/23 when Erik took this super cute picture of Holly! I just had to share it with the world. My glamorous little girl!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-27T10:56:00.007-06:00

Christmas Eve with Team Johnson was great!! Erik and I were home with the kids all day, and just hung out with them. Then in the afternoon we had to hustle to get ready for church because if you don't get there early, you don't get a spot to sit. We were there 25 minute early and got one of the last seats in the whole church. Next year we'll have to get there 35+ minutes early just to be on the safe side. Both kids had a bag of activities to keep them occupied and quiet during the service. They colored and read a few books. The folks around us commented on how cute and well behaved they were. Whew! It was much less stressful this year than in past years when they were younger.

We then headed home for Erik to cook us a yummy dinner. Crab legs seems to be a tradition. I believe this is the 2nd or 3rd year in a row that we have done this. Myles LOVES crab! Holly... not so much. So Erik made a few fish sticks for her, and Myles even ate a few of those.

After dinner comes the exciting part... presents! This is a blend of Johnson tradition & Bietz tradition. Erik grew up opening all his gifts on Christmas eve (even Santa gifts), but my family just did one gift on Christmas eve so that we opened everything on Christmas morning. So the blend of our traditions means we open family gifts on Christmas eve, and Santa gifts on Christmas morning. It works out great! So the kids and parents took turns opening up one gift at a time, and had a blast! I think they both were happy with what they got (well, maybe not so excited about the pj's, but it was still fun to open the wrapping paper!).

We then played with the new toys for a long time before we finally told them it was time to get ready for bed. So we quickly tossed out some oats into the snow for the reindeer, and picked out cookies for Santa before going to bed. Erik and I then had a nice glass of wine and relaxed for a bit before getting everything ready for Santa to come in the morning.

It was a wonderful day & evening at home with the family! I'm already looking forward to it next year!

How cute are the kids in their Christmas outfits! I didn't even tell Myles to put his arm around Holly - he just did it on his own. What a great big brother!

During a weak moment I let the kids open one gift before dinner - Myles picked this little lego set that Holly gave him. So he followed the directions and put it together himself while Erik was cooking dinner.

And here is a picture of the yummy crab that we ate all up! Sooo good!

And now it was time to tear into the gifts! Here is Holly opening up one of the toys that we gave her. It is a mommy horse and baby.

Myles was thrilled to get yet another lego set! Sometimes I think he is a little lego crazy and only has legos on the brain!

Myles also got this electronic drum set. Yes, this was my brilliant idea. :) Both kids liked hitting the drum sticks on the drum pads.

Here is cutie Holly starting to slow down. The cute little monkey pj's next to her are the new ones that we gave her. They are so cute!

Making Christmas cookies

2010-12-27T10:40:00.007-06:00

On Thursday last week (12/23) I was at home with the kiddos, and we decided to make some frosted Christmas cookies. This was a must as we needed them for Christmas eve.... how else would we have 2 cookies to leave out for Santa to eat after delivering his gifts for the kids? :) So we had a blast cutting, baking, and frosting our little cookie creations! Luckily we only had enough dough to make like 20 cookies. We don't need that many sitting around the house tempting us (or begging kids at 7:00 am to please have just one cookie).

Both kids cutting out some holiday shaped cookies

Here is what it looked like - small, but fun!

After baking comes the fun part - frosting them! (and licking the frosting off the knives once we are done - yum!)

Myles is concentrating hard to make his really good.

Here is what they looked like once we were done (and had a few for taste testing!).

Pre-School Holiday program

2010-12-10T13:57:00.009-06:00

Holly had her Pre-School Holiday program yesterday, and it was sooo cute! The kids had been working hard at learning a few Christmas songs, and the day finally arrived where they could show off their skills to family & friends. Both Erik and I were able to attend, and Holly was thrilled about that! She knew I was coming but Daddy surprised her. She shouted out "Daddy!" when she saw him. So cute! The program was about 20 minutes long (or less), and 10 of those minutes was a cute slide show with picture of what the kids have been doing this past month. The first half was the kids singing a few Christmas songs. They needed lots of prompts from the teachers and there were several parts that were just a mumble. But the parts they knew well, they belted out! After the program, we all went to the classroom for cookies and juice. It was so much fun!

The pictures are a little blurry - the lighting wasn't the best, and I had to zoom with my iPhone which makes it a little less crisp in quality. But she is still cute as a button!

Holly looking so cute in her little red & black outfit! I didn't want to put her in her fancy Christmas dress, but thought she should still have a Holiday look to her. She loved the little jewels on her black leggings!

Here is the whole group - it was great to have Holly up front so we could easily see her singing! She kept looking over at us. We blew kisses back and forth to each other.

Another group shot - Holly's hand looks blurry because she was shaking her jingle bell with gusto!

This first video is of the kids singing their first song - jingle bells. It was cute but I don't think they knew when to stop.....

Just one more little clip of them singing a different song - cute!

Our Christmas tree

2010-12-07T10:22:00.006-06:00

Team Johnson went out on Sunday afternoon to locate and chop down our 2010 Christmas Tree! Well....ok, we didn't really chop it down because it was so cold outside. But we did search the tree lot for the perfect tree! Ok.... the kids didn't really pick out a perfect tree, as it has a big hunk missing in the back, but they love it, so that means we love it! They had fun looking at all the trees, and couldn't wait to get it home to decorate it! Now the challenge becomes remembering to water it so that it doesn't become a fire hazard in our home. But the next several weekends felt so busy that we had to get it this past weekend. Plus it helps the house seem more like Christmas & gets us in the holiday spirit!

Can't wait for Christmas! (I sound like one of the kids!)

Holly all bundled up and ready to find our tree!

Myles poses by the chosen tree.

The kiddos by our tree.

And finally, here is what it looks like once we got it home & decorated it!

Your next Olympic Gold medialist!

2010-12-07T10:13:00.006-06:00

Holly started Gymnastics last week - she loves it! She looks so cute! She is in a small class with 5 kids, and they will be covering all the basics for about 10 weeks. The teacher is really nice, and Holly wanted to give her a hug & kiss after class last week! :) So I think this will be a good activity for my bouncy little girl! I'll try to get some more cute pictures as the class goes on.

Holly in her cute little leotard!

Here she is learning how to flip around on the bar.

Not sure if this video posted well, but I took it on my iPhone so it might not work well. Hopefully you can figure out which one is Holly in the video.

The dentist

2010-11-14T16:17:00.004-06:00

Holly had her first dentist experience! Thank goodness we go to a dental location that is close by, because we got dumped on with a November snow storm! My car slipped all over the roads for the 6 blocks that I had to drive. But we made it! Holly was really good - they were able to take x-rays, clean her teeth, & do a fluoride treatment. Good girl! Then the dentist came in and gave us a good little lecture about Holly sucking her thumb. It is starting to affect her teeth. Even we could see that. But it is super hard to get her to stop sucking her thumb because it happens when she is sleeping. Guess we'll have to get creative.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-11T20:53:00.007-06:00

We had a wonderful Halloween this year! The family kicked off the festivities with pumpkin carving. We picked out the biggest pumpkins we could find, and 2 days before Halloween we spent a good hour after dinner cutting, gutting, and carving our creative creations! It was a ton of fun.

These are our pumpkins. From left to right: Frankenstein (by Myles), Scary face (by Erik), Happy guy (by Holly), and Pretty lady (by Andrea).

On Halloween, we had a great evening! We started off having dinner with a bunch of neighbors. Chili & sandwiches were served while the kids played & the adults chatted. We learned that some new neighbors are preggers - congrats to Emily & Matt! Then it was time to get the kids in costume & hit the sidewalks for candy! We only went around 1 block, but the kids had a blast and filled their buckets. (that is both good & bad - now we will be eating candy for a long time!) But it was a ton of fun and I'm already looking forward to doing this again next year!

Left to Right: Neighbor boys Preston & Mason in their Power Rangers costume, Myles as a Red Dragon Ninja, and Holly as Super Girl!

Isn't Myles so cute??? He had a ton of fun going house to house with his buddies, and probably would do this every night if we let him!

My sweetie Holly. She loved her Super Girl costume. At first she insisted she was Superman, but by the time she was out trick-or-treating she had it figured out.

Johnson's go to Florida!

2010-10-27T20:23:00.028-06:00

Team Johnson went to Florida over the MEA Weekend - it was AWESOME!! The kids were great (well, Holly could have slept a little better at night, but oh well.) and they had a ton of fun! I am already looking forward to when we can take them on a trip like this again!

We got there on a Thursday, and hit the pool as soon as we could. The kids LOVE to swim! For dinner we tired the restaurant at the hotel by the pool. Not good. After we just relaxed a little in the hotel room and got everyone to bed at a decent time so that we could enjoy the next day to the fullest!

Typically, the next 4 days went like this: Get up slowly, go have breakfast, hit the beach during low tide to go shelling & exploring, back to the hotel to get ready to swim, in the pool around 10 am, lunch in the hotel room @ 12:30 pm, nap time for Holly, back in the pool at 3:00 pm till 6:00 pm, dinner at a local restaurant, back for relaxing in the hotel before bed time. It was GREAT!

After you look at the awesome pictures below, I'll tell ya about the trip home... ugh!

Here is the Resort that we stayed at. They have 2 buildings. We were in the one on the right.
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Stunning picture from dinner the first night. We almost vowed to stay forever....

This is the pool that we swam in daily - shallow on the right, deeper on the left.

There was one other little kiddie pool that Holly enjoyed a few time, but we didn't play there much. Here are the kids in their swimsuits - cuties!

Holly in the lower right with a squirty blaster thing. I'm in the upper right (white swimsuit) tossing a ball up in the air for Myles to catch. He was loving it!

The kids & I. Here we are in the Gulf water. We didn't swim much or play a ton in the sand. But they thought it was awesome when the Stingrays would swim past us!

One day the hotel had a tattooing activity by the pool. Both kids were excited to get one. They lasted a couple days. Myles thought he was so tough looking!

Here is Holly getting her tattoo - a mommy & baby Dolphin. She loved it!

One evening we took a Sunset & Dolphin cruise on a boat. It was fun! Since there were only a total of 3 families on the boat, we got lots of personal attention from the captain. It was a ton of fun to have him tour us around and give us lots of detail about ocean life.

Holly brought her little stuffed animal and insisted that it looked out at the water with her. Cute!

The Captain let both kids drive the boat. They were so thrilled with this chance! Since they were the only kids on the boat, they got to do this for like 15 minutes each.

Holly taking her turn to drive the boat.

In the early mornings, the low tide gave us a great chance to go hunt for shells and see the neat sea creatures. The kids loved doing this! Here Erik is showing the kids a neat shell that had a crab in it. The kids were allowed to collect shells that didn't have a creature living in it. So we now are the proud owners of a million smelly shells....

We often found star fish that were stranded in the wet sand as the waters dropped in the low tide. So we enjoyed rescuing them by putting them back in the ocean. I've never held a live star fish so it was really cool!

Just us walking along and looking for shells or sea creatures in the wet sand.

The kids doing their own hunt.

We were told that this restaurant called Nervous Nellie's was a tasty place to go. They were right! It was so good - Erik ordered some stone crab, and I got some kind of fish that had grilled shrimp on top of it. I think we both ate every single piece of food on our plate. Holly hated her pizza, so she ate all of Erik's fries. Myles had the best tasting Lasagna I've ever had. We had a great time and would go back if given the chance!

Here we are waiting for our food at Nervous Nellie's. The weather was perfect for sitting outside. Plus there was a live band playing so we had free entertainment!

Me at Nervous Nellie's

After eating at Nervous Nellie's we walked down a little Pier to check out the water. Got this cute picture of Erik & Myles.

Back to the pool! Again, swimming is what we did the most of. Here the kids were just being silly so I took some cute pictures (btw - Love having a water proof camera! I would recommend one!)

My silly little Holly!

This is a cool underwater picture of Myles. He thought it was neat to take a picture while being underwater.

Myles really had a great time - he made a few friends at the pool. On our last day, he played all day with 2 boys from England. They taught him how to do a flip off the side of the pool. Myles thought he was soooo cool!

Erik zooming Holly around on a little kick board. Holly had so much fun doing this that she insisted for like an hour that we do this with her.

Sigh.... here we are at the airport waiting to go home. And it is the beginning of the drama we experienced getting home!

Cool picture out the window of the plane.

So... the story. In Florida, they delayed our flight by a few hours due to weather back here in Mpls, but we thought all was well when they allowed us to board the plane. The flight was uneventful until we got to Mpls. The whole plane knew it would be bumpy because the winds were gusting up to 50 mph. During the first attempt to land, Holly started to yell loudly to me that she had to poopy badly right now. Not a chance since we were all flying around in our seats even though we had our seat belts on! Then suddenly Myles started puking in the barf bag on the other side of me. That's when I noticed that more than a dozen passengers were also using their barf bags. Yuck. I was crying and silently praying for safety. It was the scariest thing I've ever experienced. The pilot took the plane back up to circle around again. Then began decent #2. The whole plane was freakishly quiet. We were tossed all around for another 5 minutes before the pilot took us up again.

That's when the Captain got on the speaker and told us it was to dangerous to land and we were going to Des Moines, IA for the night. Well, I've never been so happy to be in Iowa! By the time we got to the hotel that night it was 10:30 pm. We went straight to bed. Everyone slept except me. I was to wired and worried. We were up at 5:00 am for breakfast and at the airport by 6:00 am (per the airline's directions). Then we sat on the floor for the next 3 hours. The kids were AMAZING! So well behaved. They just played nicely with their toys. We got a dozen complements by strangers about how well behaved they were! What a blessing that was because Erik & I were tired and stressed.

We finally made it home 23.5 hours after we checked out of paradise in Florida. But it was good to be home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ER visit for Holly

2010-10-11T09:02:00.005-06:00

Sunday was not the day of rest that I had envisioned...

Just before lunch Holly & Myles were playing outside. I ran inside to do a few things & get lunch started. Erik was outside when I heard him bringing in a screaming & crying little girl. Holly thought it was a good idea to stand up in the wagon, but lost her balance and fell out. Her head hit the cement floor in the garage and she was hurting pretty bad. It took me a long time to calm her down. I then served lunch to the kids, which Holly barely touched. Then I put her down for nap time. I ran out to do a brief errand, when Erik called to say that Holly had thrown up. I rushed home, and Holly was crying. She then threw up for a 2nd time. We decided that I should take her to the ER to see if she has a concussion. On the way to the Hospital, she threw up for a 3rd time. I got her cleaned up and went into the ER. They gave her something to calm her tummy, and waited for about 30 minutes. We then went to have a CT scan. Holly was very good and laid very still. I stayed right by her side, and she kept looking over at me for reassurance. This was probably the hardest part since my mind kept racing to all the bad possibilities, but I had to keep a smile on my face to reassure Holly.

We then waited another 20 minutes to get the results. It came back good and there was no bleeding on the brain. Yeah! So just a regular concussion that we can live with. So after some basic instructions from the doctor about what symptoms to look for, we headed home. Holly played like her usual self in the evening, but perhaps was a little crabbier than normal. But who wouldn't be after smashing their head on a cement floor!

My brave little girl getting ready for her CT scan.

Fun at the park

2010-10-09T21:57:00.006-06:00

This evening I took the kids to the park, and we had a blast! The weather today was AWESOME! Can't beat 80 degrees in October! They ran around and played for 45 minutes. I was able to take a few cute pictures. I sure do hope that this nice weather holds on for the rest of October!

To brag... or not to brag

2010-10-09T21:48:00.003-06:00

On Thursday Myles had a dentist appointment, and I was the lucky one to bring him to it. He was a pretty well behaved little guy, and the hygienist was super nice to him. They took x-rays, and cleaned his teeth shiny white. The Dentist came in and announced that he had 4 cavities. Yes............. 4 cavities. Yikes! Since they are all in between his molars, I'm thinking it is time to have him floss regularly. Guess that will be Erik's job since I'm still avoiding that good habit. The funny thing is that when I brought him to daycare the next day, he began bragging to the daycare lady and his friend that he has 4 cavities. Let's see if he is bragging when we go back to fill them. :)

Mmmm... love that fluoride!

Cub Scouts

2010-10-01T10:26:00.005-06:00

Myles has joined Cub Scouts! At the end of last school year he came home with a flier for cub scouts, and begged to join. He had to wait till 1st grade, and now can participate. He is thrilled! He has gone to one pack meeting and one den meeting. I guess the pack is the once a month meeting where all the dens gather together. The den is a smaller group of kids that gather once or twice a month. Hmm... sounds like a lot of driving around! But he thinks it is great! I've got to get his patches sown onto his shirt, but this picture is him proudly displaying his uniform as he heads out to his den meeting.

So cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holly's in Preschool!

2010-09-14T19:46:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-09-09T21:07:00.008-06:00

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....

2010-09-09T20:58:00.004-06:00

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

2010-09-05T14:08:00.003-06:00

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

2010-09-05T13:26:00.019-06:00

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

2010-09-05T13:01:00.001-06:00

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

August Horse Tracks

2010-09-05T12:34:00.012-06:00

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!"

National Night Out

2010-08-30T19:36:00.009-06:00

I'm a little behind for the month of August, but I'll get into that at a later post!

This post is to show you some pictures of our 3rd annual National Night Out in my neighborhood. I didn't get a chance to take as many pictures as I had wanted to, but here are a few. It was slow to start, but once the people started to show up, it was fun! Great to meet a few new neighbors and welcome them to the neighborhood.

Hopefully the few bumps we experienced in the planning stages will be ironed out next year! :)

Family pictures

2010-07-31T20:33:00.016-06:00

In June my family (parents, siblings, in-laws, us, & the kids) all got our pictures taken. This was a great chance for a Bietz-Johnson-Lehner picture! Below are some of the ones that I like best. Enjoy!

Here is the whole group - aren't we so stunning? :)

Grandma, Grandpa, and Grand kids

My Parents

I think we were supposed to look like we were walking... we obviously weren't, but still a cute picture!

This is my favorite - Love this photo of my family!!!

Another good one of Team Johnson!

Here is one of just my siblings and spouses - it is a really good picture!

Sister & Brother-in-Law

Brother & Sister-in-Law

Here we are - don't we radiate Love? I love this picture!

How cute is Myles!!!!

Siblings... Wish they got along this well all the time!

What do you suppose is going through Holly's mind right now....

Isn't this picture so cute you could just eat it up?

My happy little girl!

Hanging at Lord Fletcher's

2010-07-31T20:02:00.003-06:00

Last night we took Billy to experience Lord Fletcher's. It was fun! The food was yummy with zero nutritional value to it (gotta love Cheese Burgers!), and the weather ended up being great! Not to hot, not to cold, and no rain! Yeah!

Erik and Bill before they chowed down on dinner!

Como Zoo

2010-07-31T19:38:00.008-06:00

On Friday morning we took our kids to the Zoo. It was a ton of fun! We currently have an out of town guest with us, Billy from CA. The kids love him! He is like a real life toy or something. They love to goof around and race around with Bill. So of course we had a great time at the Zoo. The kids got a kick out of the animals and even saw the Sparky show. While we didn't see every animal there, we stayed for a few hours. We packed a great picnic lunch and enjoyed eating outside of the Zoo on their picnic grounds. The kids then played on the playground for a while. It all ended when Holly fell and scraped her elbow. Nothing that a band-aid couldn't fix!

Enjoy the cute pictures of the kids at the Zoo!
AJ

We went into the Butterfly house - it was pretty cool! Lots of them just hanging out so you got a chance to get up close and personal with them. I think this was heaven for Holly!

How cute is this picture of Myles in the Butterfly house?

Just as exciting for the kids was this turtle statue - they jumped right on and had a blast!

We made a pit stop at the Sparky Show. It is kinda neat all the tricks they can teach a seal.

Here the kids are outside the seal habitat. Holly laughed every time she heard the seals barking.

They both were totally fascinated with these lily pads at the entrance of the Zoo.

Soccer

2010-07-13T10:10:00.003-06:00

Myles is having a blast playing soccer, and we are loving watching him play! He has games twice a week and we all look forward to them. Yesterday his team (the Hurricanes - blue jerseys) played a team called the Venom in yellow. The Hurricanes played hard and were rewarded with a win! The score was 2-1. Myles made his first goal ever, and it was the game winning score! He was so pumped, and we are so proud of him!

Below are a few pictures that one of the parents took and sent to us all. I selected a few to share with you all.

AJ

I believe this is after the first goal made by a different team mate. But they all were very excited about it. You can see the enthusiasm from Myles! Now imagine how enthusiastic he was when he scored! :)

Myles going for a shot on goal. This one didn't yield a goal, but still a good try!

Here is the team after they won the game. Everyone was so happy!

Happy Birthday Holly - 3 years old

2010-07-11T19:26:00.011-06:00

Today is Holly's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe that 3 years ago, she was born. She is still my little baby. Just a little bigger, heavier, smarter, louder, faster, sassier, funnier, etc.... sigh. I sometimes really miss holding her in my arms and rocking her at night. That was so wonderful. But today, she is an independent and talkative 3 year old. She definitely has her own opinions on what to say, what to do, and how to do it. Yup - she is my daughter!

The day started off slow. I made muffins and eggs for the kids for breakfast. Myles loved his, Holly just at the cottage cheese. Figures! We then watched cartoons and played with toys for a while. I then needed to start cleaning. I was motivated to get most everything cleaned in the morning so that I could watch the World Cup Soccer match in the early afternoon. While Holly napped, Myles and I watched a tough match between Holland and Spain.

At 4:00 pm family started to show up. By 4:45 Holly was opening up gifts. It was cute! She really seemed to like everything and played with each thing. When we were done with that, Erik began grilling the brats & dogs while I prepared a few side dishes. Dinner went off without a hitch, and we all ate our fill. Cake and ice cream followed next. Yummy!

I would say that it was a very good 3rd Birthday for Holly! We love her so much and are looking forward to watching her grow this next year!

Holly starting to open up her gifts

Pausing for a picture before opening

One of her gifts was this little puppy - which she promptly put a sticker on its back.

Grandpa and Holly

Holly and her butterfly cake

For weeks I would ask Holly "what kind of cake do you want?" and she would consistently answer "A Butterfly one!". Well, places don't really sell Butterfly cakes around here, but Target does make this lovely Butterfly cupcake creation! Holly was happy with it, so I was happy!

Both kids were excited to eat their cupcake of choice!

The family singing happy birthday to Holly!

Myles' First Soccer Match

2010-07-07T20:20:00.003-06:00

Been a while since I've been on the blog. I shot this video with My iPhone. Came out pretty good. Myles had been looking forward to this game all week. He had a shot at a couple of goals, played goalie and cheered on his teammates. They even ended up winning 1-0. He has really enjoyed soccer.... And I must say (I know, I am biased) he shows some real talent for it. Must take after his Mom!

Myles' first soccer match.

2010-07-07T20:17:00.000-06:00

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T20:18:00.021-06:00

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

We went out of town this weekend - to visit with lots of family in South Dakota. The kids did pretty well the whole weekend. They played outside a ton with their cousins, and at a TON of junk food. It was so wonderful to see everyone and to catch up over a few days.

On Saturday, we took the kids to an outside water park - below are a few pictures:

Cutie pie Holly taking a little break from swimming

Myles also taking a quick break

Wow... those goggles sure are stylish!

Mmmm... cookie time, and then back into the water!

Holly thought this little floating turtle was fun!

Myles LOVED this Lilly pad - the kids were all scrambling to get on it and then to tip over the Lilly pad. The poor life guard kept telling them to stop. But the older boys kept doing it, and Myles didn't seem to mind. Until he got pushed off, then he was upset. It is tough to hang with the older kids!

After the water park we changed, took a quick nap, and then back to Grandma's house for some family fun. Holly enjoyed this bubble wand. She plays with it again the next day as you'll see below.

This is my Uncle Tim - There is a running joke that his Rapper name is One Dolla. So Erik had a t-shirt made for him. It was really funny!

Patrick and Nicole enjoy some family time outside.

And here is Holly again with the bubble wand! This is from today - notice the cute 4th of July shirt she is wearing! Good thing I bought a $5 shirt for just one day. :)

The kids made some pretty pictures on the sidewalk in front of Grandma's house.

Here are some of the family members eating the 4th of July food. It is safe to say that enough calories were consumed over the course of 3 days that we don't need to eat for a week. Luckily we escaped for home without having to take anything back with us. It may not have been a healthy weekend, but it sure was yummy!

3 Generations - Me, my Grandma, and my Mom.

Erik and Tim take a break from the food - for only a minute! It is easy to re-charge the tummy!

My little 2nd cousin (Eden) - this pouty little lip was so cute I had to take a picture!

So we watched this hot dog eating contest on t.v., and it inspired my cousin Andy to have a one man challenge with a piece of chocolate cake. Can you guess who won?

Myles and Lily - they played very well all weekend.

Stacey and Andrea - can you tell that we just gorged on tons of picnic food?

One last cute picture of us before we took off to head back home.

We had to fill up with gas, so the kids were being silly in the car. Good chance for a picture!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T20:46:00.002-06:00

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!! Today is Father's Day, and I think we enjoyed the day very much. The day started with sleeping in - can't ever go wrong with that! Then Erik and I went out for breakfast. After, we went to pick up the kids from my parent's house (they had a sleep over so that Erik and I could go out on Saturday night). We played outside and hung out. Then while Holly napped, Erik went on a bike ride. Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Murphy's house for a bbq and some fun! Everyone was in a great mood, and both kids & parents had a great time.

It was an enjoyable day - Happy Father's Day Erik!

The kids made Dad a gift at Daycare - it was a cute little pillow with their picture on it. They colored some pictures as well. Myles was so excited to give the gift to Dad that he begged him on Friday evening to open it up. So Erik got his gift a few days early. :)

What is missing?

2010-06-20T20:34:00.003-06:00

Myles has had a loose tooth for WEEKS! I was beginning to wonder if it would ever fall out. Well, tonight in front of lots of people, his tooth was so loose that it was practically falling out. We all encouraged him to just pull it out. He tried a few times, but I think he was concerned that it would hurt. So Dad pushed it gently down a few times, and it popped right out! Myles seemed so excited! We put it in a baggie and brought it home with us. He is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Tooth Fairy while he sleeps. I just hope that the Tooth Fairy can locate a crisp dollar her castle, or she may be heading out to the gas station late this evening to buy a pack of gum with the $20 dollar bill that is laying around.

Look at that beautiful gap in his pearly smile!

Soccer for Myles

2010-06-16T21:31:00.012-06:00

Myles started Soccer tonight! We had a parent info meeting first and then the kids had soccer practice. The coach went through a bunch of operational details, and then asked for any questions. Myles raised his hand and asked "Should we be practicing our headers?" It was funny! The coach was like "Uh, no... not really at this age."

So while they practiced, I snapped a few quick pictures.

Group shot of the team practicing.

Myles is on the right in the grey shirt and blue shorts holding his soccer ball.

Here is my proud soccer player!

Short video clip of Myles dribbling the ball weaving back and forth between the cones. He is on the far side in a grey shirt, next to the assistant coach in red.

After Soccer, we decided to cool off at Dairy Queen - it was yummy!

Team Johnson!

Family Trip

2010-06-15T19:28:00.009-06:00

The first weekend in June, Team Johnson went up North to spend quality time with the whole family. My parents, sister & husband, and brother & wife, all went up north as well so that we could spend 4 days together. My parents are up there often since their camper is located there. We rented a cabin to avoid sleeping in a tent with the kids (not the adventure I wanted to tackle!). The cabin was awesome and both kids insisted on sleeping in their sleeping bag even though there was a bed right next to them. Figures! And there was so much for the kids to do all day long: Playing in the sand & water, canoeing, boating, fishing, hunting for bugs, checking out the turtle, roasting marshmallows over the open camp fire, and so much more! Slow starts in the morning while sipping coffee, and late nights chatting out by the camp fire. What more could we ask for! While up there, we took a quick trip up to the head waters of the mighty Mississippi. That was fun! The kids got soaked, but had a blast. After that, we all ate together at one of the restaurants in the State Park.

We were sad to leave on Sunday, but felt like we tried to enjoy every minute. We are looking forward to going up there again at some point.

Holly playing frisbee

Myles playing bean bag toss with his Aunts and Uncles - look at that good form as he tosses that bean bag! :)

The family waiting for lunch - we were sooo hungry!

Cutie pie Holly at the Mississippi headwaters

Myles insisted on crossing over the slippery rocks. He fell about a million times and was soaking wet! Luckily I had a change of clothes for him.

Erik braving the mighty Mississippi

The entire family

Memorial Weekend Fun

2010-06-02T19:35:00.006-06:00

Memorial weekend was a wonderful 3 days for Team Johnson! We had a great balance of planned activities, and down time at home.

On Saturday morning we packed up the kids and headed over to Wild Mountain Water Park outside of Taylors Falls. They had a blast! The kids got to go down the water slides with us, then we had a picnic lunch, and finally we headed over to the kiddie splash park. Below is a short clip of Myles getting splashed with water. He thought it was a blast!

After we got home, the kids and I washed my car. Then they ran around the yard and played. Holly was totally obsessed with the hose and spraying water on the driveway and the grass. She had so much fun! I had to keep putting sun screen on the kids, but failed to put any on me. As a result, I got a minor sunburn on my shoulders. Ouch!

Myles decided to build some contraption - not really sure what it was, but it kept him busy for quite some time (while Holly played with the water hose).

Sunday we hung out, did yard work, and met my parents for lunch at a Mexican place. It was great!

Now, on to the bad part of Memorial weekend................... As you can see, Holly is not in her bed at home, but rather in a hospital bed. In the ER. In the middle of the night on Sunday night. Ugh. She quickly came down with Croup at 12:30 am, and wasn't looking/sounding so good. So I took her to the local hospital ER to have them check her out. She got a nebulizer treatment, a shot, and then we had to hang out there for 2 hours. Sigh. I was so tired, but glad that they were able to help her feel better. So we got home about 3:30 am, and headed back to bed. Holly was fine the next day but we all were a bit tired.

On Memorial Monday, we played outside almost all day! In the afternoon, we had the neighbors over for grilling. The kids played in the backyard with some more neighborhood kids, and they ran through the pool and sprinkler that I set up. They had a blast! We were calling it our back yard water park. Grilling was yummy, and we all over ate. Oh well.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 3 day weekend over Memorial weekend!

Andrea

Celebrate our World school program

2010-05-26T20:19:00.003-06:00

Myles got to sing in a school program this evening called "Celebrate our World". They sang a variety of songs about different cultures and countries. It was really cute! Myles was very well behaved and sang his little heart out!

It was a busy evening between t-ball and this school program, but the kids did a great job and seemed to enjoy themselves. So did Erik and I!

Myles in the front row, proudly wearing his t-ball medal!

Myles is on the far right in the blue t-shirt with his back to us.

Here is a short clip of the kids singing one of their first songs.

T-Ball

2010-05-26T19:52:00.008-06:00

During the month of May, Myles has been playing t-ball 2 days a week though a little community program. It is designed to help teach kids the fundamental skills and do some practice games. Myles is VERY enthusiastic about t-ball and runs all over to "help" get the ball and throw it to the nearest base. Cute, but he sometimes needs reminders to let others get the ball also.

Tonight the kids got a medal for playing t-ball at the end of the evening. Myles is so proud of his medal! Right after the medal ceremony we had to quick dash to school for a school program that Myles was singing in and he wore that medal in front of the whole crowd. What a cutie!

Erik was one of the parents helping the kids play t-ball.

Here is Myles with his medal - don't be surprised if he carries that around for weeks and shows you or anyone within 5 feet of him!

A Wonderful Girls Weekend!

2010-05-23T20:42:00.008-06:00

This weekend was a 3 day weekend up North at "The Shack" with the girls to celebrate Kristen's upcoming wedding in June! So as many of us gals met up and enjoyed a much needed weekend together. We started off by having dinner at the Casino & then proceeded to loose a little money at the slot machines. :) The night ended with us catching up with each other while watching some old episodes of Friends.

Saturday started slow but by 10:30 am we were out hitting the trails on the Cushman. Thanks for being our guide Julia! Once we all had our turn out and about, we headed into the house for some singing and lunch. Since all 6 of us (plus 4 more) will be singing at Kristen's wedding, we were excited to practice the song and figure out who was singing what parts. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! I so missed singing with my girls! It took us about 2+ hours to get it all figured out (partially because we were all crying at some point during the singing... guess we are an emotional group of friends!). By the evening we were simply content to hang out and watch a chick flick together.

Sunday morning started slow again, but I sure jumped up in a hurry due to a tick that sunk its "teeth" into me. Thanks Jen for yanking that little guy out! We then all dined on Julia's fabulous egg bake and split some Toby's carmel rolls. Yum! By 11 am we all split up and headed out. Few hit the Casino one last time (hope you gals hit it big!) while a few of us headed towards the cities but stopped to shop at the Outlet Mall.

I had the greatest time ever, but it is nice to be home with the family. Can't wait to see my girls again in a month at the Wedding!!!!!!!!!!

Getting some last minute instructions about how to get the Cushman up the hills with everyone still in it!

Jen, Brianna, Kristen, & Julia

Kristen, Julia, & Me

Julia, Me, Kristen, Brianna, Jen, & Laura

Oh so silly!!!!!!!

What a beautiful Bride Kristen will be!

Last group photo before we head out for home. The sun sure was bright! Thanks for attempting to open eyes for the picture! Wow that sure hurt!

This video is of some of us cruising around the trails.

This is of us girls practicing our song for the first time. We got much better, I promise!

Warm Spring evening

2010-05-23T20:07:00.003-06:00

Thursday evening we went to eat at the Champlin Grill (formerly called the Moonrock). The weather was nice enough for us to sit outside on their deck. That is always a big hit because the kids love to look out at the water to see the ducks & Geese swimming around. (Cheep entertainment!) So I took the chance to snap a few cute pictures of the kiddos! They were pretty well behaved, and ate good. What a cute kids they are!

Grandparents Program at School

2010-05-10T19:58:00.004-06:00

Tonight was a special night - Myles participated in a little show at school just for Grandparents. Erik and I were not allowed to attend. So Grandma & Grandpa picked up Myles and brought him back to school in the evening, and they sang songs and did their little performance for all the Grandparents in the audience. Myles did a good job singing all the songs. I sent my camera along with them so that we could enjoy some cute pictures.

Myles is in the middle of the kids, in the front row.

Here Myles is on the left acting as the Peanut - soon to be the Peanut Butter in a PB&J sandwich!

Dayton Elementary

2010-05-09T07:57:00.003-06:00

On Thursday night Myles and I went to Dayton Elementary School. They had a little Welcome and Information session for parents and kids to check out the school they will attend next year. I can't believe he will be in 1st grade! So we went, saw the slide show of pictures, got some information, and toured around the school to complete a Treasure Hunt of some key rooms to visit. I think it will be a good school for him next year.

This is one of the Twin Cities Peanuts Statues that is located at Dayton Elementary. Myles thought it was pretty neat, so we took a picture next to it.

Fun with Friends

2010-05-09T07:50:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday we went over to Tom & Keely's house to have dinner and for the kids to all play together. Steven & his 2 little ones joined in the fun as well. It was great to see everyone and to catch up. The kids did a great job of playing nicely together the whole time.

Here is a random cute picture from that evening. She is wearing a Fairy Princess dress, Black & Decker eye goggles, and playing with an animal hospital. So she will grow up to be Royalty, be tough enough to do construction, and be a Veterinarian in her spare time. Funny!

New Culvers

2010-05-09T07:38:00.006-06:00

Our local Culvers had a kitchen fire many months ago, so they tore it down and started to build a new one. Myles was really sad that "our" Culvers would be different, but we told him that after they opened the new one, we would go check it out. So Culvers opened this past week, and on Wednesday we went to have dinner there. We all loved it! It looks even better than before. I'm sure this summer we will walk there for several frozen custard treats!

Enjoy the pics of Team Johnson!

AHS Walk for Animals

2010-05-09T07:15:00.006-06:00

Last weekend, Team Johnson participated in the Animal Humane Society (AHS) Walk for Animals. This is a HUGE fundraiser that really helps out in several ways for animals in need. I believe this is one of the biggest Animal Walks in the country. We get their early to try to beat some of the crowds, but always end up parking a mile away. Sightly annoying since we then have to walk a mile before we even attempt to walk the 5 mile fundraiser.

The whole family went this year, and we decided not to bring the stroller for Holly. This means that we would not finish the whole walk, but that is okay. The kids did well walking, and Yoshi had a lot of fun! She loves the outdoors, and looking at other animals.

It was fun and I'm sure we'll do it again next year!

Here is the group that walked together - these are some of my co-workers at Capella.

Holly really wanted to be the one that walked Yoshi. Not really possible since she pulls us adults around! So Erik held Yoshi on the short leash while Holly held the end of the leash. She was so proud of herself to be helping walk our dog! Very cute!

Here are some of us walking. Myles was totally obsessed with Connie's little dogs. He wanted to walk by her doggie stroller the whole time. He even got to push it a little. I think he wants a little dog - but it will not happen in this house! :)

What a good looking group of Johnsons!

New face in town

2010-05-04T20:48:00.003-06:00

Our neighborhood has added another friend to the mix! Little over a week ago, cutie pie Rylee was born. She will have a great group of neighborhood friends to play with as she grows up!

Welcome Rylee!

Last weekend

2010-04-24T20:21:00.021-06:00

Last weekend was cold, rainy, cloudy, but wonderful! Team Johnson hung out together and made the most of it. On Saturday we decided that after nap time we would take the kids to go see "How to Train Your Dragon" and it was fantastic! If you have kids, I would say they will like the movie. Holly even watched most of the movie - she got a little distracted for awhile and thought it was more interesting to climb in and out of her chair a million times... she liked the fact that the chair seat went up and down. Funny girl.

After the movie we went to eat at the California Pizza Kitchen. Decent place but I would say that Erik liked it more than me. The kids were well behaved overall, and so we decided that we would walk around the shops at Arbor Lakes. Erik found some great deals at The Gap, and then headed back home.

Sunday was the last day of Sunday School for Myles. They sang a few songs in front of the whole church - very cute! Next fall Holly will begin Sunday School - the kids are getting so old!!!

Enjoy the pictures!
Andrea

Erik and Myles - aren't they cute!

I tried to get a cute picture of Holly but she kept squinting when she smiled, so......

...here is what i looks like when I tell her to smile and keep her eyes open. Funny!

Doesn't he look so sweet and innocent?

The Shops at Arbor Lakes has this little fountain that the kids were fascinated with, so we took the photo opportunity to get a pic of them together!

The cutest kids in the world!

Easter Sunday

2010-04-05T20:26:00.006-06:00

Easter Sunday started early at our house ~ Myles was up at 6:10 am, begging to get Holly up so they could hunt for Easter eggs. So we woke up poor sleeping Holly and the fun began! We started by looking in the jammed packed Easter baskets that the bunny left for them. They enjoyed all the little trinkets, and didn't seem sad that there was barely any candy. Then they ran around the house hunting for plastic eggs. The bunny did put some jelly beans in about 30 of the eggs, but the rest were empty. Myles asked why that was, and I told him that the bunny had to visit lots of houses so he couldn't fill all the eggs and hide them in time. He seemed to be okay with that explanation. Whew!

After breakfast, we got ready for church because we had to get there early in order to get a spot in the sanctuary. It was filled with tons of people, and the service seemed to run long. The kids were so/so but were definitely ready to get out of there by the end. We then went over to my parents house to celebrate with them and my siblings & spouses. It was great to see everyone!

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter!

Here are the baskets that the kids got.

Holly is still a little sleepy and less enthusiastic than Myles, but it didn't take her long to run around!

Here they are collecting all the eggs!

Look at them all! Very colorful!

And here we are all dressed up after church!

Coloring Easter Eggs

2010-04-05T20:09:00.005-06:00

Saturday evening we colored some eggs to help prepare for the Easter festivities! While the kids don't really like to eat hard boiled eggs, they sure do enjoy decorating them! I let them decorate 4 each, and it was so cute to watch them. The easter bunny doesn't hide the real eggs, so we don't need to color a million of them.

Holly creatively coloring her egg before putting it in the egg dye.

My silly boy - he really liked doing the eggs.

Look at the eggs in the dye!

Here are the final results!

Spring Break in Chicago

2010-04-05T19:30:00.014-06:00

Erik and Myles went to Chicago last week for Myles's first Spring Break. It was just a boys thing, and I stayed home with Holly. The boys had so much fun! They really packed in the adventures. Some of the things they did were: Rode on the L train, went to Navy Pier, went to the top of the Sears tower, at deep dish pizza, took several taxi's, went to the Shedd Aquarium, went to the Magnificent Mile for some shopping, ate good mexican food, went to the Field Museum, ate Chicago hot dogs, and stayed up late every night.

They were gone from Wednesday - Saturday morning, and had a great time! I'm glad to have them home, and we were able to spend the weekend together. In 2.5 years I'll get to take Holly on her first Spring Break, and I can't wait! :)

Enjoy the pictures below of their adventures in Chicago!

Just one of the streets in Chicago that the boys were walking down.

Here is the shedd aquarium that they went to - Erik says it is really neat!

On Friday the boys went to the Field Museum - Myles liked it better than the aquarium.

See how cool the museum looks!

Giant T-Rex. Makes me think of the movie "Night at the Museum".

More dino bones!

The boys saw some dinosaur 3D movie at the Museum.

How cute does Myles look here? He loved the dinos and the Egyptian stuff.

Ooooo... a mummy!

They also had some under the earth thing where you felt like you were shrunk down smaller than a worm. Myles is touching that giant worm in the picture.

He was very enthusiastic at the museum!

A Special Wednesday!

2010-03-31T11:03:00.004-06:00

Why is today special? Where are the boys in my family you ask me? Good Questions!!!

Early, early, early this morning I woke Myles up (5:15 am) to have breakfast and get ready for his very first Spring Break Trip! My Dad picked Erik & Myles up at 6:00 am and drove them to the airport for their early morning flight to Chicago. Myles has never been on a plane so he was SUPER excited (** an interesting side fact for you is that Erik will have introduced 2 of the 3 members of his family to their first airplane ride... that would be both Myles and Me! I went on a plane with Erik way back in the early days to California for spring break in college.**)

They made it to Chicago just fine, and rode the L to their hotel. Next it was a quick cab ride to some yummy pizza joint where they are currently enjoying some deep dish pizza!

I will miss them, but Holly and I will have some quality girl time at home. But we will eagerly welcome the boys home on Saturday!

Below is a picture that Erik sent me from his iPhone - this is a tired looking Myles on the plane. The airline gave him that cute pin on his jacket since this was his first plane ride! So I can now say that my son has his wings! :)

Andrea

Twins Stadium opening

2010-03-20T14:19:00.015-06:00

This morning we decided to head down to Minneapolis to the new Twins Stadium to check it out and buy tickets to a game this summer. When we got there, the area was buzzing with people. We asked some nice couple in the skyway what was going on, and they said that season ticket holders were allowed to go into the stadium to check it out. They then proceeded to give us their entry pass for the stadium! Wow! So we headed over and instead of walking around the outside like planned, we got to go inside! It is so amazing! The kids got a kick out of walking around and exploring. Below are the pictures - enjoy!
Andrea

Erik on the phone and Myles scoping out the field.

Holly insisted on her stroller like she was some kind of VIP guest. But she had fun!

Erik and Myles pause for a picture.

Here are a few pics of the stadium inside -

Erik is so pumped for outdoor baseball this year!

Mommy and Holly -

it was a little cold outside today, but it will be awesome this summer!

Myles and Holly wait patiently while Erik is buying some tickets to 2 games this summer.

After checking out the Stadium, we went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe in Mpls.

The kids were really good this morning at the Stadium and at the restaurant!

Class Field trip

2010-03-19T21:19:00.007-06:00

Today I took the day off from work to volunteer on Myles's Class Field trip to the Children's Museum. It was a ton of fun! When I got to school, the kids were finishing up their music/singing session - that was so cute and funny to see the kids singing silly songs and goofing off to the songs. We then got paired up with our assigned kids, and Myles was so happy to be with his good buddy (*no name used just to be on the safe side). We all lined up and marched off to our bus.

The bus ride there was funny because I got to listen to Myles & his buddy chat about boy stuff. That mostly was space/alien stuff, poop, toys, and observations they saw out the bus window. Made me chuckle.

We all started off by eating the lunch we all brought. After scarfing that down in 20 minutes, we were off to explore the Museum! The boys got a mini lecture from me to set expectations that they were not to go anywhere without telling me first. They decided the first place to visit was the Dinosaur room. We actually ended up going there a few times to check out the dinos. We visited the Nature World a few times and ran around the ant hill, got soaked in the "river", and explored the Woodchuck lodge. We went into the World Works room to explore, and the Our World room. The kids were also thrilled to explore the China room - they kept calling it Chinese room. Funny. One of the last things we saw was this little snake show. The kids were thrilled with it! They got to touch the snake with one finger.

Then it was back to the bus for the long ride back to school. I was so tired!!!! I will admit to closing my eyes just for a minute. I got to bring Myles home right away, and Myles fell asleep on the car ride home (all 5 minutes of the ride).

It was a wonderful day, and I couldn't have asked for better kids to watch. Myles and his buddy had a blast, and were really well behaved!
Andrea

Myles and his buddy pause for a picture

Myles sitting on some music chair in the room about China

Here the boys are beating on this drum - oh the fun!

Here they are painting their face

Myles rocking out against the blue screen while watching him on the TV - it was like a music video

Here is the snake guy - the kids really dug this show

Last, but never least - here is the final picture before we got on the bus to head back to school. The boys had a blast and really enjoyed being paired up together! And I loved that they were really well behaved!

Just one of those questions

2010-03-18T21:22:00.003-06:00

This afternoon I picked Myles up from school, and we were talking on the way home about his day. He had made this little creative guitar from a box, a stick, some rubber bands, and paint. He was very proud of his art project and said that he would keep it to show his children someday. So cute! So I asked him a question, and here is how the conversation went:

"Myles, how many children will you have?"

" I don't know Mommy, maybe one."

"Just one, Myles? Why not more? It is nice to have more so the kids can play together."

"Well, maybe I'll have more... I don't know. I guess so. Will you and Dad have more?"

"No hon, I don't think so. But it would be fun to have another baby!"

"But where would the baby sleep?"

"Maybe the baby would share a room with you or Holly. Or we would use one of the rooms in the basement."

"No, probably not the basement... that just sounds complicated."

"Oh. I didn't know that would be complicated. Well, don't worry Myles, Mom & Dad are done having more children. No more babies in our house."

"Mom?"

"Yes, Myles?"

"How do you get your wife to stop having babies?"

"Uh............... (silence)................ I guess it just happens naturally for some people and other times you have to go to the doctor to make it stop."

(Silence)

"Oh. Okay. Thanks Mom."

This is where I both held in the laughter, and said a silent prayer of thanks that he didn't ask any more questions! Kids can be so cute, funny, and innocent all at the same time! Tonight, it was just one of those questions that make you wonder if they will keep asking....

Yikes... Crash... Broken!

2010-03-07T11:16:00.003-06:00

On Saturday afternoon, Myles had a snowboarding lesson at the local ski park. This was to be his first real snowboarding experience, so we decided to hire an instructor. After 30+ minutes Myles was making good progress and even went down the bunny hill one time. He was starting his second descend, when he veered to the left which sent him down the actual snowboarding hill with the jumps and railings for tricks. He somehow made it almost to the bottom when he went up a jump, flipped over on the railing (crashing his arm on it) and then smashed his face on the ground. (yes, he was wearing a helmet.) So the ambulance was called and he was taken to the ER - the face will heal fast as it is just surface scratches, but he did suffer a broken left arm between his elbow and shoulder. So he has this half cast thing on his arm that locks it in a bent position and then in the sling for support. It was a long evening in the ER and they actually had to put him under a bit so that they could reset the bone before putting the cast on it. It was really freaky to watch and feel so helpless. Myles came out of the sedation and was seeing double and talking slurry & slow (this is all normal due to the meds). He kept asking me why there was 2 of me and why he was talking so funny. But at least he doesn't remember the pain of getting the cast on.

So now he will be at home for the week to keep his arm still and begin healing. The doctor thinks that he should be healed enough by the end of the month when Erik & Myles have their trip to Chicago schedule. Erik told Myles that in the ER last night and we both chuckled when Myles said "Whew!". Such a cute little boy!

Christmas in March

2010-03-07T11:14:00.003-06:00

After supper one day this past week, we were playing with the kids, and Holly found this Christmas Santa hat. She wore it for a long time while playing with her ponies. It was so cute that I decided I better get one last Christmas picture in for the winter season!

Sledding on Saturday

2010-02-28T11:54:00.004-06:00

We took the kids sledding on Saturday at the local sledding hill. It was soooo much fun! We went down the hill tons of times, and then had to hike back up. I think I got as tired as the kids! Enjoy the pictures!

Andrea

Myles & Holly with their sled

Myles walking back up the hill - Erik and Holly are way up at the top.

Wonder what it looks like to go sledding? Come sled with us by watching this video!

Here is a video of Holly going down on her own

Birthday boy

2010-02-28T11:48:00.004-06:00

Myles enjoyed every minute of his birthday last weekend. On Sunday we had the whole family over for cake & ice cream, and then opened gifts. He was thrilled with what he got, and has been playing with everything all week long.

Thanks everyone for making his 6th Birthday a good one!

Love, Andrea

Myles picked out a Pokemon cake for his 6th birthday celebration

Here he is opening up some of his presents

Happy Birthday Myles

2010-02-20T21:02:00.011-06:00

Today is an amazing day - 6 years ago, our first born son came into the world. All morning long I kept saying "Right now I was in labor in the hospital." or "Right now I was pushing, trying to meet you." or "Right about now you were born!". The day almost seems surreal. I went from being a regular old individual, to a Mommy. Talk about a rush of emotions! I sure wish we had a digital camera back then. But in the "olden days" of 6 years ago, we didn't.

So tonight as I was deciding what to blog about, I thought I should take a picture of a picture where Myles was mere minutes old.

Isn't he so cute? I remember his cry was so adorable at that moment... :)

But now flash forward to current time, and I have a sleeping 6 year old upstairs in his bed. Amazing. He needs 2 hands to show someone how old he is! Amazing.

We all spent the day together to celebrate his 6th birthday. The morning started off as usual. He was up at 6 am (yippee!), and he had 2 breakfasts by 8:30 am. He must have needed that for his 9:30 swimming lesson that Erik took him to. On the way home they picked up 2 donuts - one for Myles and one for Holly. Then we got ready and headed to Northtown mall to walk around a bit. We visited with all the cute baby animals at the pet store, and also ate lunch there. Myles requested Tacos. That's my boy!

Next it was time to head home to play for a bit before rest/nap time. Myles chills out in his room, and Holly naps. We all love this time! As soon as we were all up and running, we got ready for the real fun... swimming at the Grand Rios Water park! What fun that will be! Myles was thrilled that we were going to go to a water park. None of us had been there before, so that made it extra exciting. We got there and it looked awesome! The kids ran around the large kid area and had a blast! Holly stuck close to us, but Myles is another story. He is harder to track than Bigfoot. We lost track of him once and boy did he get a lecture when we found him. It was only 90 seconds that he was gone, but it could have been a lifetime if you had asked me! Once we were all versed in the rules (NEVER LEAVE THE KID AREA!!!) we went down the water slides with the kids like a million times, and floated around the lazy river with them on the inner tubes. Next was dinner at their cafeteria - chicken strips and cheeseburgers! How healthy! We then went back for more swimming and lazy river time. Myles ran into one of his Adventures Plus teachers, so he thought that was so cool. By the time we wrapped up and got home, it was 7:30 pm. The kids had a small snack and then got ready for bed. It was a fantastic day, and I know that Myles is looking forward to tomorrow when we have some more celebrations planned (cake and gifts with the family).

Enjoy the pictures and video below of our Water Park Adventure! And Happy 6th Birthday to my little boy Myles!

Look how cute and happy Myles is - he said this was the best birthday ever!

Holly got chilly, so she warmed up a bit in her towel. Notice the head wound on the right side of Holly's forehead? Yeah... she totally fell of the bench in the locker room and hit the floor face first. She needs to learn to stick her arms out and brace her fall with her hands and not her face....

I had to get a picture with the Birthday boy!

Erik and the Birthday boy!

Mommy and Holly - how cute is my sweet little Holly?!

Here is a super funny little video from the water park. Look for Myles in the middle of the crowd wearing the orange flowered swim suit.

One more cute video of Myles getting splashed on and then dancing around!

Valentine's weekend!

2010-02-14T21:11:00.004-06:00

What a fantastic weekend this was! Friday evening we went over to my parents with the kids to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympics. I love Olympic time! Bring on the ice skating! The kids got to sleep over night at the Grandparents on Friday, so Erik and I headed back home to finish watching the opening ceremony. It was cool, minus the technical glitch - yikes! We slept in on Saturday, sipped coffee, and then decided to head out to the mall. I did a little shoe shopping and got 2 cute pairs! Next on the agenda was going to the movies. We decided to see Avitar in 3D. Kinda neat, but the 3D isn't really necessary. The movie itself was good, and I'm glad I saw it in the theater. We then headed home to start getting ready for dinner. We had reservations at Restaurant Max in downtown Mpls. We got there early for some drinks and appetizers. The dinner itself was ok - I had a yummy sea bass, but Erik's steak was only so/so. Dinner ran long, but it was great because we were together (sappy, I know, but isn't that what Valentine's day is for?). Sunday morning was about sleeping in and more coffee, before we went to get the kids. They were really good for us today! We hung out together and they played so nicely. After nap time we took them swimming - I think that tuckered them out! They both ate dinner really well (Erik made a roast chicken and it was very yummy!). Then more playing, and finally... bedtime! Hope they sleep well!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day! I know we did!

This is me in my little black dress that I wore on my date with Erik.

Myles's Valentine picture

2010-02-14T21:08:00.003-06:00

This week Myles showed me his Valentine picture that he colored for the coloring contest at school. He was so proud of it! I didn't hear if he actually won or not, so that leads me to believe that he didn't win. Oh well - it's still cute to me!

Siblings

2010-02-14T21:05:00.001-06:00

Here are our 2 cute kids! Earlier this month they were playing so well together that I had to take this quick picture. They look so much alike at times!

Random cute picture

2010-01-26T09:47:00.003-06:00

This is a random picture from Thanksgiving weekend. Erik & Myles went to hang out with the boys in the family at cousin Jeff's "Garagemahall". Basically it is a grown man's playground. He owns these go-carts, which Erik & Myles zipped around on. I wanted to post this picture months ago, but forgot. So here it is!

Daddy & Myles pause for a picture before racing around on the go-cart!

Vikings party

2010-01-25T20:09:00.010-06:00

Well, Sunday was a day of highs and lows. We had decided to have a few friends come over for the big game in the evening to cheer on our MN Vikings against the Saints. All evening long we cheered and shouted at the TV, hoping that would gain us a victorious win over the Saints. Alas.... it was not meant to be. The loss was really hard on Myles - he ended up crying about it he was so upset! Even though our hearts were broken by the slipping away of a Super Bowl that includes the Vikings, it was awesome to see friends and catch up. The kids played super well together and I don't think we had any issues with anything. The kids even got to stay up well past bedtime to watch the entire game.

Ruthie with her little baby Sawyer (well, I guess he is like 15 months, but still a baby!)

Myles was hanging with Vinny, and loving whatever game he was showing him!

Here there are still smiles on our faces... meaning we hadn't lost yet.
(L-R: Baby Sawyer, Michelle, Aaron, and Ruthie)

Erik watching the game intensely!

The girls were really into playing dress up. Holly wore this pink princess dress all evening!

Here are cutie pie brother & sister: Olivia & Jonathan. They were so funny to watch! Jonathan was determined to get that cupcake from his sister - he wouldn't take his eyes off it!

Swimming = sleeping children!

2010-01-23T19:54:00.002-06:00

It has been a good Saturday today! Myles had swimming lessons, and listened very well to the teacher. While Myles was swimming, Holly and I went to the doctor to check out my ear. It had been plugged for 3 & a half days. Just as I suspected, ear infection. So now I'm on meds to clear that up. It will be nice not to be deaf in one ear!

After nap time, we decided to take the kids to the pool and let them swim their hearts out. And they did just that! Myles impressed us with his ability to swim (well... doggy paddle actually, but that's something!). Holly showed us how fearless she is by jumping off the side of the pool into our arms over and over and over and over. It sure was fun!

Finally we relaxed by watching a movie, eating dinner, then playing with toys until bed time. Everyone is sleeping now, and I'm going to watch a movie as well! Hope everyone had a great day like us!

Andrea

Sunday fun in the Snow

2010-01-17T21:39:00.006-06:00

What a great day!!!!!!! Erik and I got to sleep in since the kids spent the night at their Grandparents. Then we met up at Noodles for an early lunch with them and brought the kids home in time to watch the big Vikings game. Erik and Myles were cheering loudly, and as a result, the Vikings won! Yeah! Then later in the afternoon we all went outside to play in the warm weather (it was in the 30's! What a heat wave!), and get some energy out. For 30 minutes Erik threw the football to Myles and the Myles ran the ball back up the driveway to score a touch down. It was so cute to watch! The neighbor boy came out to play with us, and the little girl across the street came over as well. Tons of neighborhood fun!

Then Erik cooked a yummy dinner (which Holly hated), and we all played together in the evening. Next came baths, teeth brushing, prayers, bedtime stories, and sleeping children! Yeah!

Hope everyone had as great of a day as us!
Love, Andrea

My little snow princess had a ton of fun this afternoon in the snow!

And my little snow prince played his heart out! Football is on the brain and he ran small plays with Daddy for like 30 minutes. We are expecting he will sleep hard tonight!

The weather was wonderful this afternoon, and we all played outside together.

I call this picture: Getto Prince!

Here is some cute footage of the football playing!

Bowling

2010-01-01T20:16:00.007-06:00

After nap time we took the kids bowling for the first time - it was so much fun!!!!!! Myles has actually gone once before with his A+ program, but this is the first time Team Johnson went all together. We did bumper bowling so that the kids got better scores. And.... it helped Erik and I as well! :) Myles actually won the 2nd round with a high score of 105, beating Mommy by one point!

I would highly recommend going bowling with the family - I know we will do this again! It was a great way to spend the late afternoon on New Year's day!

Myles & Holly - they shared the orange ball.

They had this contraption that the kids got to roll their bowling ball down. It helped them aim better - not that it mattered with the bumpers up!

Myles was really excited to see his ball knock down the pins!

Holly was constantly playing by the balls - I was worried she would pinch her fingers, but she wouldn't listen, so I figured experience would be the best teacher! She never did get hurt, so I guess she knew best!

Daddy helping Holly when it was her turn.

Coming back from a successful bowling turn!

Mommy and Holly