An End To 2009

Today was the first day of winter break that we didn't go anywhere, and it was wonderful! The children were 110% happy staying in their jammies all day. While I helped the girls with some sticky mosaic crafts, Henry tried to figure out a few of his toys! For lunch, I made a huge pot of delicious taco soup. (I got the recipe here.) It kept our tummies warm, warm! (Great soup and the new HB? Fantastic lunch!) And we have a new addition to our family! Jon finally got a new tv, receiver, etc. for our family room. He has been working on it all for days. Here it is during installation (You can see Jon behind it). Jon thinks the faux wall behind the tv is genius (double doors in my art room get to it). I think the pocket doors in front of the tv, etc. are genius. (So, if you are jealous of the fraternity sized speakers that hug the tv, I can just shut it all off with the genius pocket doors! Yippee!). This new tv is Jon's baby. I guess everyone in our home isn't as excited. Tonight after dinner, we drove down the lane to Kyle and Suzanne's. Why? To celebrate the last day of 2009 with this! YUM! Now at home, with all three kiddos snug in bed, I'm thinking ahead to 2010 and what it will bring. My first thoughts go to my children, and I want the world for them...but I realize that I just need to find more peace within myself. In order to be a better mother, wife, friend, etc. I need to be more at peace, so everyone around me can feel that calm as well. It's a crazy life and it zooms by, so to exhale and take in the moments are high on my priority list. Happy 2010 everyone!

Dinner, Dentist, Dinner, Dessert....Diet?

We've been really busy over winter break, but I have enjoyed it! Last night we had our dear friends, the Klatte's, over for lasagna dinner! It was a great time for all! I brought out the dishes that Jon's grandma gave me, made lasagna, yummy beer bread and garlic dip, bought (and drank) some wine (I NEVER drink wine), had a way too yummy cheesecake...plain, chocolate and strawberry (okay, I admit that I bought it) and laughed with great friends. The Klatte's have three kiddos, two dogs and a kitty, so perhaps they can identify with our craziness! Ha! Here are Emily and Laney with Quinn and Isabella. The Klatte's gifted Henry with a new set of car keys for his birthday! He just loves them! Rob and baby Aspen! Night, night, baby! Laney was super excited to show Alyssa and Isabella her new Josephina doll! Laney showing Nana (Rob's mother) all of the pictures she took on their camera! (To see our night through Laney's eyes, go to Alyssa's blog).The two boys! Henry cannot wait until Aspen gets older, so he will have a buddy to play with! We always enjoy visiting with the Klatte family!

Today, the girls had dentist appointments. Emily went first. We said that it wouldn't take that long since she doesn't have her two front teeth! ~wink~ Emily's teeth were great, but I was told that her tonsils were so big that they were almost touching. Jon and I have noticed that Emily is a really loud sleeper (breather), so I'm guessing that my baby will eventually have her tonsils out!

Laney was next in the chair. This was her first time in the chair! She was a pro! She just closed her eyes and relaxed! She was super excited about getting her first toothbrush from the dentist!

While the girls and I were at the dentist, Jon and Henry played with Henry's new birthday toys! Tonight, last minute, we decided to go out for pizza. Kyle, Suzanne (Jon's sister), Megan and Madison met us at a nearby pizza place. I love family, because we can just go "as is". It is cold and snowing here, so we all just bundled up in our boots, hats, etc. My camera must hate the cold because it was acting up once inside the warm pizza parlor!

Here are the girls! Henry was loving his pizza. I snapped this shot really quick...I told Suzanne to lean over and smile...Kyle had no idea I even took the picture! Yes, I'm sneaky! Ha! And this pix just cracks me up! I had on a sock hat, so I have Medusa hair! Goodness, the cold and snow just make me look like death! Unfortunately, I have a few more months of it! Jon looks like he has 8 eyes! Yikes!
This winter break has been all about socializing and eating! My top two FAVORITES! I officially begin my mini marathon training on January 1 (at 9pm...I'll treadmill it while watching HGTV's Dream Home reveal...although I've already checked it out online). I haven't been exercising much over break, and I am actually looking forward to it. (Well, I did go to my first ever Pilates class yesterday morning with Suzanne and Grandma. I kept laughing because I couldn't do the moves. Suzanne would then laugh. And I would laugh harder because Grandma could do the moves, but I couldn't!) So, I have one more day to enjoy my all time favorite desserts:

1. peppermint ice cream

2. peppermint oreos (from Trader Joe's...if you have a T. Joe's, RUN to it for these. They are like stuffed Thin Mints)

3. Jelly Bellies. How many of you can eat just one? The girls and I can just sit at a table and "taste test" for quite a long time!

I hope that you are all enjoying your holidays!

My Favorite Handmade Gifts

I was very excited to Christmas gift this year. Here are a couple of my favorite handmade gifts that I gave.

1. Custom Sock Monkeys! Kim, over at Turtle and Rye, creates the most amazing custom sock monkeys! After visiting her etsy shop, I fell in love and ordered 6! I wanted a rock and roll monkey for Henry, a princess monkey for Laney, a pink pirate monkey for Emily (her Halloween costume), a bird monkey for cousin Madison (She always has a robin nest outside her window every spring.), a superhero monkey for cousin Megan (our power girl) and a mermaid monkey for cousin Abigail (her room has an under the sea theme). Kim was oh so sweet to work with! I cannot even show all of the amazing details each monkey has. Everything comes off...mermaid tail, eye patch, shoes, clothing, hats! What is extra special about these monkeys? Kim's daughter had to have open heart surgery right after she was born; therefore, Kim gives each monkey a beautiful hand sewn heart and a percent of her sales go back to the children's hospital where her daughter had her surgery! Kim's talent and turn around time was superb! My children's monkeys are on display in their rooms. They all love them so much! Here are 5 of the 6 kids displaying their new monkeys!

2. Barbie Home! Jon's grandpa built a Barbie home for his mom when she was a little girl. Jon's mom refurbished the home and has it in her guest room. All of the girls love playing with it. My own girls are HUGE Barbie fans, so after a few years of talking about it, my dad made a similar home for my girls! (Dad also built a train table for the girls a few years ago. So awesome and sturdy!) I used our interior paint and carpet leftovers, so the barbie home is similar to our own home! I hand painted shingles on the outside, and painted some eggplant trim. Oh, I even added sparkle paint! I planned to paint some murals inside the home, but once the furniture was in, I thought I would wait. I might add some Doodles by Lauren mini canvases! I bought the majority of the furniture from this ebay seller. I didn't bid on it, I just bought it. This is the most amazing furniture...hands down! The bed has tons of pillows, an eyelet trimmed sheets, and a great foam mattress! The living room furniture is just as great! I love her fabrics! She has a lot of different sets and fabrics to choose from. She even gave me a ton of rugs...yes, gave! If you are looking for sturdy and lovely barbie furniture, visit her store!She has a ton of new fabrics...even zebra! LOVE!

I bought the dining room furniture from this ebay seller.

It is quite difficult to find barbie sized dining sets! The seller was wonderful and even added in a complementary holiday basket for the table, since I was a first time buyer! I had such great luck with these two sellers! All of the goodies are great and the customer service was super! These are gifts that I plan to keep passing down to family!

Boiler Up

Our friend Rob scored some Purdue Women's basketball tickets! Jon and Emily were lucky enough to join Rob and his children Isabella and Quinn. This was Emily's first women's game, and she really enjoyed it! (She said all the adults keep standing and shouting! Ha!) Honestly, I think Jon enjoyed it more than anyone. Maybe it is because he just loves basketball. Maybe it was the behind the bench seats. The row right. behind. the bench.

While the guys took the older kiddos to Purdue, Henry, Laney and I went to my parents to visit with my sister and niece before their flight tomorrow. We all watched Rob, Jon and gang on TV! When Jon got home I told him that I could see him during the whole game! It was fun! Laney thought Emily was a movie star!

Emily, Isabella and Quinn at their seats in Mackey Arena.

Smile girls!

Goofy girls, while Rob (background) watched the Boilermakers.

I know that Jon and Emily had a great time! It was fun to hear all about it when they got home!

Boiler up!

Some Day My Prince Will Come

...And he did. One year ago, today, Henry Oliver was born! We have had such an amazing year with our precious little prince.
Today, while Jon and I prepared for Henry's first birthday party, Uncle Kyle had some fun with all of the girls! Everyone was so excited for the first sledding excursion of the season!

Cousin Madison, Emily, Laney and Cousin Megan riding sleds that Kyle made! Yahoo!

Henry stayed warm inside. He had a ball playing hide and seek with our slip covered chairs!

When I was pregnant, I had a dream about a rock and roll nursery. When we found out that our baby was a boy, I started my rock and roll dream! Henry is a party baby, so he had a rock and roll themed 1st birthday! Let 'er rock, Henry!

Henry and his older sisters.

Favorite gal? Mommy!

Yummy cake!

All of Henry's cousins celebrating! All of the girls received "air" guitars, stickers and Barbies!

Henry loved his cake. Henry is such a chill baby...the best. When it was time to eat his cake, he just grabbed a handful and ate...so nonchalantly! Like it was nothing new!

I love this picture. My baby boy, holding a princess wand, with a baby stroller behind him and American Girls behind the stroller! Being the youngest and the only boy on both sides of our families, this little guy will probably see a lot of glitz and glitter!

Henry's bag! All of the girls have them! Love these!

While Henry opened gifts, the girls enjoyed some time playing. Cousin Abby loved Pepper the pony! Giddy up!

Laney tried a new hairstyle! Yikes!

Henry's first birthday party was wonderful! We had a nice time with family. Right before he went to bed, I got this shot of my sweet angel...remote in hand, lounging on the couch! A true boy! Ha, ha!

The sweetest baby in the whole world is one today. He was born at 10:53pm, and from that moment, he has filled my heart with more love than I ever thought it could hold. We have had the best year with the most perfect little boy. Henry, my prince, you will always be royal in my eyes. Happy first birthday sugar bear!

Our First Christmas As Five

Christmas 2009 was very busy, but in a great way! Here are the children before we went to Grammie and Papa Larry's home on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed spending time with Jon's parents and his sister, Suzanne, and family. We always have a great time gifting and receiving! Laney's highlight of the evening? Josephina the American Girl! Laney has wanted her for nearly two years! It was love at first sight!

The Johnson guys: Larry, Jon and Henry!

Unfortunately, Emily got sick, so we had to cut the party short. We were home just in time to get jammies on and tuck the kids into bed. We did get Laney back up, and she helped Jon and I prepare refreshments for Santa and his reindeer!

Christmas morning! The children were up by 6:30am ready to go (and Emily was feeling great)! They were excited that Santa and the reindeer filled their tummies!

The BIG surprise? A Barbie house! My dad built it and I painted and decorated! I bought the most amazing furniture online! We used our house paint and leftover carpet, so the Barbie house is a mini version of our own home! The girls thought it was very cool that Santa brought the house over in his sleigh!

Emily gifted Laney with a special butterfly necklace that she bought at her school's Christmas shop. Laney loved her new bling!

Then, Emily gifted Henry with some plush balls! His favorite!

After unwrapping, eating yummy orange cinnamon rolls, and relaxing a bit, we headed over to my parents (Mimi and Papa) for Christmas lunch! Here are the grandchildren all together!

My parents gave the girls digital cameras. Laney took this pix of Henry getting a "pick me up"!

Chef Abigail Shay!

Henry was so chill all day! Just hanging out and enjoying!

We then traveled from my parents to Jon's parents for Christmas dinner. His grandparents and Aunt and Uncle and family joined as well. (My camera died...overload of Christmas pix! So, I do not have any evening pix.)

We got home last night and everyone was exhausted. It was a fabulous Christmas Day!

This morning the children got to enjoy their toys a bit more. Here they are with some favorites.

Jon and I spent ALL day reorganizing, cleaning out the old (donating) and putting away the new. The tree came down and all of the Christmas decor was neatly tucked away. Today: Goodbye Christmas! Tomorrow: Hello Henry's 1st Birthday!