February Update

We've had a great couple of months. Christmas was great. The kids were spoiled rotten. Then January rolled around and we had a fun wedding to look forward to. I made the cake and had the best time doing it.

Now it's February. And today I've been busy making Valentine's Day treats for neighbors and friends.

The kids are growing so quickly. They love to be with each other and get excited to see one another in the morning. It's a round of hugs before breakfast each day.

Au Contraire is such delightful company (when her sister isn't bothering her.) It's hard on her to be the oldest sometimes, yet it also has its perks. She can't wait to start school in the fall. Her life revolves around her sweet little friends and all the make believe games they play with their toy horses.

Mr. X is on the cusp of potty training. (Fingers crossed!) He will eat nothing but sugar and bread--in any form. As long as it is sweet and full of flour. Once in a great while he'll eat an apple or banana. And meat. He will eat meat, too. How he survives, I don't know. Trains are his life. He lives and breathes Thomas the Tank Engine.

Little #3 is getting cuter and cuter every single second. She is finally sleeping through the night and taking really great naps. (Thank you crib tent!) She is talking like crazy and even asks to go on the potty. I'm not holding my breath, but I think she'll be trained before her brother. She terrorizes her sister and then plays the victim. It's all very cute and convincing. Her life revolves around her "ginky" or binky. She's not satisfied unless there is one in her mouth and one in each hand.

I'm tackling the project of the year--to get organized and STAY organized. I'm working on my Personal Progress for YW. It's slow, but I'm making progress! I'm also working towards getting my life back in order after the PPD. It's tough and there are still really difficult days. Tackling the organization of the house and cooking are keeping me sane.

ESF is plugging along at work and has started working on Volksy with his buddy, K. Kearns Patrol will ride again very soon. He's been trying hard to figure out which color to paint the body. Some of the original VW colors from the 60's aren't available anymore. (We think it's definitely going to be a two-tone with two-tone interior. AND it's going to have a rag top. And this is why I'm okay with him going and working on his car. It's going to be totally cute.)

We're ready for Spring and warmer weather.

Today

We built a Christmas village with all of the holiday toys and the trains. AC took over as controller of the project. Mr. X was in charge of giggling and joy. Aaaannnnd....#3 was deemed "the destroyer."

Welcome Home Volksy!

The night after Thanksgiving, Little Volksy got a tow to Cow Town through the winding canyon. After a few mishaps along the way, it finally made her way to her home for the next few months--our friends' garage.



Yesterday afternoon we got a call from our friend K who will be helping ESF restore the VW. (And by "helping" I mean that he is the one who knows what he is doing. ESF--if you are reading this, I don't mean to imply that you don't know what you are doing....ahem.)

K and his family made this sign for Volksy so she'd feel right at home. We came over to join them in welcoming her into their garage.




ESF and K pushed her into the garage.







ESF has talked nonstop about his newest child and can't stop smiling just at the mention of her.



K gave ESF a shelf in the garage of his very own for parts. And he also gave ESF his own notebook to keep track of parts and the process.



And before we said farewell to our beloved bug, ESF added a headlight. He's so in love with that cute little car. We all are, frankly. AC has decided to name it Herbie Volksy Johnson. She watched The Love Bug movie last night with her dad and hasn't stopped talking about it since.



Good-bye, Little Volksy!



P.S. Until ESF gets his own blog for the bug, I will be posting pictures and updates here. Don't judge me too harshly for posting more pictures of the car than our children. I promise it doesn't mean that I love the car more than my kids. :)

Little Volksy

Please allow us to introduce you to the newest member of our family.....



Adopted on Friday, November 27, 2009.

ESF is a very, very happy boy. I mean, father. :)

A Little Convo With Au Contraire

We had the following conversation on the way home from running some pre-Thanksgiving errands yesterday. Draw whatever conclusions you will.

AC: Mom, do you know what kind of mom I'm going to be?
Me: (thinking about what this might insinuate about my own parenting) A good mom?
AC: No.
Me: A nice mom?
AC: No. Guess again!
Me: A fun mom?
AC: Nope. I'm going to be a mom that does stuff and the dad stays home and babysits.
Me: (grinning from ear to ear) What kind of stuff?
AC: Oh, lots of stuff. Like when I need to go do circus clown stuff.



So you can totally understand this conversation, you must know that my first born wants nothing more from her forthcoming adult life than to be a mother to 6 children--all of whom already have names--and to be a circus clown that does tricks and rides a bike that can go upside down.

What Are You Thankful For?

I saw this on another blog that I read. I had to share it because it made me smile and today I need to remember what I'm grateful for...

Today I'm thankful....

That I got to live in New York for seven years.

For the people I met in NY and my experiences there.

For my sweet little kids who love me and need me.

For my husband who works hard so I can stay home and so we can have the things we need.

For a washer and dryer, dishwasher, central air, a driveway, and more room in our house. You forget how wonderful those things are until you don't have them.

For good friends who bring joy to my life just by being there. (Especially Nat, Whitney, Aubrey, Liza, Kelly, ChyAyn, and Liz. There are many more.)

For mountains and the beautiful area where I live.

For gardens and the bounty that comes from them (I can't wait to plant one again next summer).

For comfy flip-flops from Brazil that I wear every single day.

For nights when I get more than two hours of consolidated sleep.

For my gym membership and early mornings shared with strangers who inspire me to get up and workout even though I'm often too tired and too cold to get out of bed.

That I have been able to re-prioritize my life.

For my calling/job at church with the young women.

For lovely photographs of ancestors on my side and the Johnson side.

For my hands--the best tools in the kitchen. I hope they keep working for many years.

For music. Good music.

For the great night last night at Rooster with my cousins and aunt--the ramen was delicious, the conversation was marvelous, and the hazelnut cream that came with my lava cake was out-of-this-world.

For challenges and hardships that have forced me to grown and be better.

For my midwives who have given me a safe place to go and a listening ear when I need help (or more Zoloft). :)

For my husband's aunts who become dearer to me each day.

For naptime (which is upon me)

For my little redhead who is signaling that my computer time is now over.

I Can Update With The Best of You!

Update: We are still alive and breathing. The kids are still pooping, barfing occasionally, staying up too late and waking up too early, throwing their meals on the floor, fighting excessively with each other, stripping and escaping from the house, undoing the attempts at an organized house, eating cookies for breakfast and ignoring their parents.

That about covers things....

Oh, and here's a few pics that don't involve many of the above! Just click on them. I don't know why they are so flippin' small. Sorry.

From My Pictures

From My Pictures

Oh! I just figured it out! See how gigantic this picture is?! Maybe the next one should be a little smaller...

From My Pictures

Better. But look at all that red hair!!! I know. You don't have to tell me how darling she is. When I want to hear that I call my mom or my sister. Or I listen to my own voice saying it over and over all day long. SHE'S SO FREAKING CUTE!

From My Pictures

From My Pictures

She's walking! She's running! Pretty soon she'll figure out how to drive stick shift.

From My Pictures

From My Pictures

Au Contraire figured out how to ride Mr. X's bike this summer. She was praying almost every single night for a bike, excuse me FOUR bikes, that would be faster than her friend E's trike.

From My Pictures

My garden did well this year. I picked this many veggies every other day once everything started ripening.

What about Mr. X? He's not going pulling much of a showing in this update because he keeps calling me "But, Mom" or Butt-Mom. Whatever you like better. I prefer "Your Majesty", but it's too hard for him to say. Sometimes he calls me Tinkerbell. She also has a big bum, if you remember correctly from the Disney movies. (Ahem.)

From My Pictures

Speaking of Disney movies...our children are wearing costumes from last year's clearance rack at Target. Sweet. I love it when I can buy something and they can wear it for three years. They will wear the same costumes again next year. Mr. X is going as "Buzz Lightyear, Star Command!" (no pic)

AC is going as Cinderella. She wore this pretty much every single day for a week until I hid it from her.

From My Pictures

Number 3. She's going to as a bee. Or maybe a cherub. Or pixie. She's too cute for a cheap costume from the clearance section.

Mischief abounds.

Next time I tell them they can paint, I'm going to Home Depot first to get some latex paint and a few rollers. This activity kept them busy for HOURS while I was maybe on the phone in the other room talking with my friend...who lives down the street...for over 1 1/2 hours...hypothetically speaking, of course.

From My Pictures

From My Pictures

From My Pictures

ESF came home while I was still on my phone call and demanded that I get pictures of this event for posterity. Of course I feigned anger and disappointment in my kids for painting on the walls, table, toy room and toys, each other, Number 3....it just wiped off. (And I may or may not have been sort of negligent.) Also, bigger fish to fry.

From My Pictures

From My Pictures

AC hijacked a photo session I had going with some gorgeous fall pears.

From My Pictures

Mr. X hijacked AC's photo sesh to tell me he wanted to look at pictures of Thomas on the LCD of my camera. He even got out of the bath and dripped his way to our office to tell me that. (On second thought, maybe I should have him be Grandpa Munster for Halloween. Thoughts?)

From My Pictures

To sum up, AC still loves her Baby Piggy (who made a quick trip to Switzerland as a boy pig and came back as a female), Mr. X still loves Pubs (pooh bear), and the baby mugs on me as she has not yet found a cuddly soft friend of her own yet. Though she does show an affinity for whatever stuffed toy her brother and sister happen to have in their hand at any given moment.

If you want to see the rest of the pics from our (BO-ring) summer, be sure to click here for the full set. In case you missed that--HERE.