AC's Days Gone By

I love, love, love my Au Contraire. She is as wonderful as she is difficult. (At times...) She's full of light and joy. Not much gets her down.

These are some pictures I haven't posted from the Summer and Fall of '09.


After watching Peter Pan she painted her brother and sister and then they ran around scantily clad hollering and pretending to be Native Americans.


Her trick-or-treat cookies for Halloween.


ESF took this picture after all the leaves had fallen off the two giant trees in our front yard.



Before Halloween we went with the cousins to a floral place pumpkin patch. The top picture is AC on top of a pirate ship. The bottom picture is self-explanatory.



We took our favorite drive out by the lake and I drove down into an area and let the kids throw rocks into the lake. (We won't talk about how difficult it was for me to drive out of said area. Or how long it took me to dig out from the gravel.)



I found AC sitting in the laundry basket on top of the dresser one day. She told me she could see the TV better this way.



She hijacked a photo sesh I was doing with some lovely pears and asked me to take pics of her and her two favorite stuffed animals.



One day when I was talking on the phone for a very long time I let the kids paint. I came into the kitchen and found they had painted the walls, too.



In her Cinderella dress. She pretty much wore this dress constantly and still does.



Unless she's making new clothing out of plastic grocery sacks.



Back in November, our little Au Contraire turned 5. FIVE. Man I feel too young to have a 5 year old, but then I remember that I'm almost 30. Boo. I wish I could get this excited for my upcoming birthday.

In any case, we had a Princess Tea Party birthday party for AC with her friends from church. They all dressed up in their Disney princess attire and came on over for some of Lilly's favorite foods and a fun craft--princess crowns.



AC requested a Chocolate Strawberry Cake for her 5th b-day. I'm happy to say that it turned out lovely. Maybe even better than her lemon cake from last year. She loved it.





Love this girl. She is already excited for her 6th birthday. She talks nonstop about turning 6 and all of the things she's going to do when she's 6....like learn to drive. And she's serious about that last part.

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.