More things of note

Well, things of note for me...not really for anyone else. First, yesterday was the first time Kember took a real shower (meaning not for swimming). This may not seem like a big deal, but my kids aren't so great in water. But she loved it! She was so excited about it that she wanted to tell Caden all about it and asked if he could take one. I think we will wait on that. Caden is even worse than Kember with getting water in his face. Let me tell you how much fun bathtime is at our house (can you hear the sarcasm?).

Here is a song that Caden made up today. I thought it was sweet.

"Be nice and be good.
Don't drink coffee.
Be nice everyday.
Don't hit, don't drink coffee.
Eat good food."

Clever eh? Hopefully he remembers all of his good advice and follows it :)

When we got out of church today Kember excitedly told me that they learned about Joseph Smith (and the story of him getting surgery on his leg). Caden told me that they learned that when they were having troubles that they needed to pray. I was feeling very good about this and so I asked Cole what he learned about. He got a big smile on his face and said, "Basketball!" Huh...guess that nursery lesson didn't sink in. I was actually just really proud of Kember for remembering and telling me. Normally when I ask her what she learns about whether in school or church her answer is, "I don't remember". Which is frustrating because I ask her right after....but she was very talkative today and I loved it. Caden volunteered to give the Family Home Evening lesson tomorrow, so we will see how that goes. Good times in the Johnson household.

What a day

For a long time I've been hoping for a Saturday where we spend all day doing projects that need to be done around the house. Of course, come Saturday I've lost all motivation to do such project, and every other Saturday Dan is on call....like he was today. So imagine my surprise when he got everyone up and going and we decided to paint. You have to understand that both Dan and I hate painting with a passion. This is why we have lived in our house now for almost two years and there is painting that still needs to be done. But today we painted the basement. It took quite awhile because the gallon of paint got spilled, Dan got called out, and the kids kept wanting to help. But, we got 'er done....well, the living room basement anyway. We were originally going to do the stairs too, but boy..that will have to be some other weekend. Any volunteers? Oh, and then after all the painting and cleaning up the painting (which Dan did most of) he said that we should have a movie night with the kids. So, we kept them up past bedtime to watch a movie together as a family. The kids were really excited to eat popcorn. Anyway, we got lots done today and it feels great. But the best part was working with Dan...and laughing over the spilled paint and making our house look nicer. Good times.

*No, I didn't take a picture of the finished product, and I probably won't either. You will just have to visit if you want to see it.

Caden's birthday round two

Well, the day of Caden's friend birthday party arrived last Saturday, and can you believe I didn't take any pictures? Ya, I can't believe it either. Caden wanted to have a dinosaur party, which was all fine and dandy except he doesn't really have any friends. He plays with his sisters friends, and most of them are girls, so...what to do...what to do? So, we invited all the sunbeams. I hadn't met most of them, but looking back, when we first moved here we didn't know anyone for Kember's party either, and that is what we did for her party. So, eleven little kids running around my house later, we dug for dinosaurs bones, had relay races, sat on balloons to make them pop (this was Caden's favorite game because he raced against his cousin Joey and he beat him. Beating people is really important to Caden for some reason that I haven't figured out yet. And Rorie, just in case you read this, Joey wasn't trying, but don't tell Caden. We hatched dinosaurs out of their eggs. This was my favorite activity. I cooked up some playdough, but toy dinosaurs in the middle and shaped them into an egg and cooked them in the oven. Dan made tiny wooden hammers for the kids to break open the eggs with. It was fun. Crazy, hectic, but fun. I made the mistake of asking, "Who wants to go open presents!" when it was time to open gifts. It was a mistake because saying it that way because all the kids thought they all got to open gifts. Oops. Well, lesson learned there. I was so nervous for his party, which was funny because I had actually prepared ahead of time. I know, amazing right? But I think the kids had fun. Caden is already talking about his party next year. So, bring on the birthday fun.

Chickens round two!

Yep, we did it. We got chickens again (Well, Scott and Carol Lee got us chickens again). Except we got four this time. They are kind of sad looking chickens. They were really beat up, and they are really skittish. I mean, I know chickens don't really like people, but these are extremely skittish. They seem to like all the bugs in my yard though. I'm all for that. I wonder if I will still like them when I plant my garden. Did I mention it was around 60 degrees today? Yeah, got to love St. George winters.
I figured with four chickens we'd have eggs up to our ears. Well, not so much. We don't get eggs...any. I'm not sure what happened. We got eggs at the beginning (and some were blue...those were fun)...and then...nothing. Dan brought home some oyster pellets to give the chickens extra calcium, but still nothing. Ah well. What can you do? They are getting fatter by the day though, so they are at least looking better. The kids named them superhero, whitey (yep, it's white), sword, and omelet (that was Dan's contribution to the naming). Great chicken names eh? I was kind of hoping the kids would be a little better than me on the naming issue, but apparently not.
So chickens...at least they eat bugs right? Who needs eggs anyway?

Not my little man any more!

Well, it's happening. Caden is growing up. How dare he?! He just celebrated his 4th birthday on Saturday. He's been so excited for his birthday and would ask every day if it was his birthday yet. I wanted to make it a special day so I asked him this night before what he wanted to do the next day. His list went like this:
-play boxing on the wii with daddy. Check. Although, he lost to grandma first and was quite upset by this fact. I will also attribute this to the fact that he was soooooo tired.
-make his birthday cake. Sort of check. I went to make it but he was doing something else on his list and he decided he didn't want to help. But he ate it, and I guess that was the important part.
-Watch Dr. Seuss. Check. Dan rented this movie from Red Box. I'm not sure how many times they watched it, but they started it at least three times.
-Eat at Pirate Island Pizza. Check. We did and the kids had fun, but I'm not sure I'll be going back. We waited FOREVER for our food and they didn't bring everything they were supposed to until we reminded them and then had to wait forever again, and my glass was dirty (and I'm not a picky person, but this was gross).

So, it doesn't sound like much to me, but that is what Caden wanted to do, so that's what we did. He also wanted Mac and Cheese for dinner. Everyone else had hamburgers. I think he wanted to go here because of Kember. She went to a birthday party here and enjoyed it. When we walked in it was pretty dark and he was scared for a little bit, but soon had a lot of fun. He was thrilled to be able to wear the green jogging suit from Grandma and Grandpa J. He really enjoyed it when Grandma took him around to play the games and he got to pick some candy for his prizes.We didn't have much of a "party" because he's having a friend party on Saturday (if you are reading this and you live close by, and you have a child around Caden's age...consider yourself invited. I'm trying to get the invites out, but my printer is jammed and I'm having issues), and because the present that we got for him still isn't here yet. I ordered it online and thought for sure it would be here, but nope...we're still waiting. He's okay with it though, and didn't ask at all to open anything. Kember did. She wanted to know what we were waiting for. For his cake he wanted a volcano cake. If you've read my blog for a while you know I enjoy (mostly) making a fun cake for the kids. I didn't think this one was going to be so hard, and I already had a pattern...didn't even have to search it out on the internet. Well, lets just say that it flopped, and it flopped hard. So no picture, no documentation. It's better this way....trust me. I didn't even finish it it was so bad. But everyone still ate it. I'll try again for his party on Saturday, and maybe I'll post a picture if it turns out any better (which shouldn't be hard because it didn't turn out at all). So, I asked him if he had a good day and he said he did. He was happy that Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came down to visit him.
I had a whole long list I was going to write about Caden, but sitting here I think all of his best qualities can be best summed up by saying that he's a sweetheart. Caden is the person I go to when I need a hug. He's the first to comfort me if I'm sad, or if I'm upset. I've never met anyone so tenderhearted. He just wants to help and be loved. And I couldn't ask for anything more. I love you buddy! I hope you have a great 4th year.

Whoops, back up

So I was sitting here reading other peoples blogs, and lamenting the fact that I had nothing to blog about. Let's face it, my life isn't really all that exciting. And then it hit me...I haven't blogged about Christmas yet! Wahoo. So, here we go.
Dan was able to get work off so we headed to Aurora on Thursday for the Johnson's Annual Hawaii Party! (One of our friends had a Christmas party and Dan and I thought it would be cool to dress up in Hawaii clothes because of the Hawaii Party...unfortunately no one else thought it was cool..or funny..but what can you do?). We missed a lot of the cousins because not everyone was able to be there, but it was fun to see everyone who could come, and of course, it's always great fun to sacrifice a pineapple. Can't miss out on that can we? Instead of playing games like we usually do we asked grandma and grandpa questions. It was fun to hear about their youth and their memories. That same night we headed for Midway.
Christmas Eve morning I had some high school friends come over to mom and dads house to just catch up. A lot of people couldn't come, but it was good to see those who could come. Thanks guys for making the effort!
Christmas Eve was a lot of fun for me. My mom decided that dinner was going to be made by divvying out each dish to different teams. I was on a team with Cameron and Matt (the cheaters) and the other team was Dan, Andrea, and Dad. Cameron and Matt promptly went to the store to buy the rolls, and left me at home to make the salad. They came back and threw together some concoction that we baked, but it was good they bought the rolls. Dan was amazing and made cheesecake but put it in the skins of those li'l cuties. He's a keeper, what can
I say? It was fun, but the kitchen was sure crowded.While we cooked, mom took the kids and had them make marshmallow snowmen and decorate cookies. Cole basically gorged himself on the frosting, but he had fun. Caden was sooo proud of his snowmen.Then we had the kids do the traditional Nativity story. I was pretty bummed we didn't make a nativity like we do every year out of random material, but it wouldn't have worked so well this time with everything else that was going on.Isn't he cute? I think he was being a shepherd.You're right....he doesn't look happy. He wasn't. He didn't want to dress-up, he didn't want to participate, and being the great parents that we are...we made him. He ended up liking it though, and even got really concerned when his wise man turban thingy kept falling off.This is my favorite picture of the whole night. Kember is such a sweet heart. She was so excited to be Mary. No one told her to do this, or pose with the baby at all. She just went over there and luckily someone got it on camera. She loves Milee. She wants to help dress her, change her diaper, hold her, etc. She has all those loving tender mother instincts that somehow skipped coming to me. But at least she'll be a great mom, right?

After the nativity we played some really fun Minute to Win it games. That was it for Christmas Eve. Christmas morning we were heading back to Aurora so we had to get everyone up early. We told the kids that Santa knew we were going to be busy so he left everything at the other grandparents house for us...but he knew we would have time to open stockings here.Seriously, isn't he the cutest kid ever? Look at that smile! He was so excited...and it was just a candy cane filled with M&M's. This Christmas was fun for me because the kids were understanding it a lot more so it was more magical.Caden was so excited to start whacking stuff with his sword. Cole played with him for a minute, but then decided he had better things to do, so Caden had daddy play with him.Aren't these shirts the greatest? Cameron had us for Christmas and he got everyone Utah Gymnastics shirts (and other U of U things for the kids). He asked that we wear it to the Johnson breakfast that morning, and to tell him what everyone thought of them. This was hilarious to me because the Johnson's are die hard BYU fans and one of the girls is actually a gymnast for BYU. They were all good about it though. So, we headed down to Aurora for the traditional Christmas Breakfast at Grandma Gayle's. It was sooo yummy. Then we headed over to Scott and Carol Lee's to finish/start opening presents.I think my favorite thing was to see how excited the kids got to give presents to each other...and how excited they were to open something that came from their brother or sister. It was fun to take the kids shopping for each other. Caden knew exactly what he wanted to get people. Kember knew exactly what she wanted before she went shopping, but I guess once shopping she got a little distracted by all the toys and kept want stuff for her. Dan took the two oldest out separately to go shopping. I took Cole and the rest of them to get stuff for Dan. Yes, I know the picture is upside down, but it's more to document that Milee was there and celebrated her first Christmas. She was held a whole bunch by all the Aunts and cousins, and then she slept the rest of the time. So that was our Christmas. It was a quick trip, but we wouldn't have changed anything (except for seeing more family...a lot couldn't come...maybe next year). I know a lot of people look forward to just doing Christmas on their own, but Dan and I can't fathom not going "home" for Christmas. Last year when we couldn't leave to see family until Christmas morning it just wasn't the same. We like you guys. Thanks for being such a wonderful family!

I've come to a decision

Well, two decisions actually. The first, I've decided that I'm horrible at blogging and probably won't get any better. I've learned to accept this..you should too (dad). Second, and the reason for this post, I've decided that four kids is over my limit for outings to the store. It's just too many to take at the ages they are. Mind you, it is doable. The baby obviously isn't any trouble...she sleeps in her car seat. But lugging that thing around while I'm chasing Cole everywhere isn't on the top of my "Fun Things To Do" list. The older kids, while they are loud and excited to see everything, are generally obedient and pretty good in a store. Cole however is crazy. And trying to coupon on top of that is just not something that I wish to do anymore. Three kids at the store is my limit I've decided. Three was not a problem. Four, it's just not fun anymore and that is my final decision.