Na-Nee's (additional photos added 9-1-02)

Care Bear has three blankets that she lovingly calls her Na-Nees. She LOVES her Na-Nees and has to sleep with them every night and they sooth all kinds of owies for her. We think she calls them Na-Nee because Jaco had three blankets he loved and he called them Night-Nights. Na-Nee must be her interpretation of Night Night. Originally they were beautiful, soft, cozy chenille blankets. She received the original pink one as a newborn for a gift. I found out quickly not to use it often because it had to be handwashed and air dryed and it literally took all day to dry. I kept it in her crib not thinking anything of it. When Care Bear was nine months she caught a horrible case of hand foot mouth disease that caused her to quit using her binky because it hurt due to all the sores in her mouth. At this time she turned to her chenille blanket for comfort. She would chew on it and suck on it to go to sleep. When I realized how fragile this blanket was and how much Care Bear loved it I knew I had to find a back up one. I bought every baby chenille blanket I could find but if they did not pass Care Bear's bite test she would never touch it again. I finally was able to buy a blue one on E-Bay and bought a yellow one from a friend. Care Bear did not care what color she used as long as it felt right in her mouth she was happy. So now three years later these blankets have taken a beating and they show it! When we were in Idaho everyone thought her Na-Nee's looked gross and a little too loved but Care Bear didn't care. My brother even said when they finally disinigrate I will just need to buy her a hammock because that is what they look like now. So I thought it would be fun to show you the before and now pictures of Care Bear's best friends.

The original beautiful blanket.

The official bite test.

Care Bear at 10 months attacking her Na-Nee with love during nightly nakey time.How Care Bear usually fell asleep.A friend reminded me of how Care Bear drug her Na-Nee through the dirt during a church camp-out. I had to take a picture of the water while I was trying to get it clean. I know, it is DISGUSTING!
Waiting for them to dry on a beautiful sunny day.

The favorite most loved "pink" Na-Nee the way it looks today!

Well loved strings with a little material left!

My Baby is 3!! (on August 24)

I can not believe it but Little Miss Care Bear is 3. I wanted to post on her birthday but our internet has been down. Care Bear is growing up way too fast! When Jaco and La-La were turning 3 we either had a brand new baby or one was coming soon so it feels weird this time to have that NOT be the case. Care Bear had a fun day. At our house the Birthday Fairy comes and decorates the kitchen and the birthday kid's door with balloons and streamers. Care Bear was thrilled to wake up and find it done for her. We let her open her gifts before church which may have been a mistake because she was beyond WIRED at church. Justin and I spoke at church and we didn't get to listen to each other because we had to take turns literally chasing Care Bear around the building. La-La and Care Bear have friends who live across the street so we invited them to have birthday dinner with us. We had pizza according to the birthday girl's wishes and a cake that was supposed to look like a bath tub and kind of did. :) We had fun and Care Bear's favorite present was her very own computer which is all she asked for for 2 weeks straight.

Care Bear learning lots on her "Puter"!

Loving her cake full of Jell-O with pizza sauce giving a rosy cheek look!

What the cake was really supposed to look like.Close up of the cake. Kind of cute but the cake was too crumbly when I frosted it.

Cody

We added another boy to our family today! Cody Wally Johnson was born May 25, 2008 and joined our family Aug 20, 2008. He is a cute, playful, cuddly Cocker Spaniel.La-La has wanted a puppy for so long so today her dreams have come true!

Jaco loves Cody too! He can't wait to teach him all sorts of tricks.
Cody wasn't too sure about his first bath.

So far Cody is a very well behaved puppy. He has only gone potty outside and has yet to bark. He is sleeping comfortably in his kennel. I hope it continues to be this easy!

Photographs

For anyone who looked at my blog last night or early this morning, I don't know what was wrong with the individual slideshows! Technology is so much fun. So here are the slideshows of Jaco, La-La, and Care Bear. Jaco is a typical boy and hates to have his photo taken. We got a couple smiles out of him when we teased him about former girlfriends. La-La was funny to photograph because she took everything Miranda said to the extreme. If La-La was asked to point her chin up a little, she would point that little chin to the sky. Then Care Bear, like usual, had her own agenda and would start rolling in the grass when asked to sit still or anything else she thought she wanted to do. My sister Miranda was able to get some fantastic photos of all three kids even if they didn't want to do it! Thanks Miranda!! In the group shots, my kids are with their cousins Braylee and Jaxon. The three old fashioned pictures were taken at Sam's Club. Here is the link to Miranda's business blog Sweet Pea Photography so you can see more of her work. http://sweetpea-photography.blogspot.com/

Jaco

La-La

Care Bear

Group Shots

Photographs

My sister Miranda has started a photography business so while we were in Idaho she was kind enough to photograph our kids. She did an amazing job even if my kids were not the most cooperative! Enjoy the following slideshows thanks to Sweet Pea Photography. Check out her website to see more fantastic photos! http://sweetpea-photography.blogspot.com/

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Two of my sisters told me about this recipe. It is all in the pudding! YUM!! YUM!!
1 heaping cup brown sugar

2 cubes cold butter

1/2 C sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 box 5 oz vanilla pudding mix

2 1/2 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

milk chocolate chips (as many as you like)


Bake 350 for 11-13 minutes

Follow the recipe exactly for the best results!

Summer Days

We enjoyed a beautiful summer day! This afternoon we took a short drive to the river and splashed around. Not quite as fun as the beach but still pretty cool! Like usual Jaco sat away from the water wanting to go home while the girls and daddy had a ball splashing and looking for the perfect skipping rock. Then after dinner the kids and I went to visit our local petting zoo. Ok, it is not really a petting zoo just a family nearby with a bunch of goats that love to be fed the grass they can't reach through the fence. Tonight we discovered a new baby goat had joined the group. We were having fun watching him run and play when the owner of the goats showed up. He was so nice and let us pet the baby. They milk it's mama and bottle feed the baby so he will be gentle and tolerant of humans. The kids were able to help feed the baby a bottle of milk. The owner also let us see some piglets. The mama pig was a little grumpy. She barked and growled at us warning us not to go near her young. The owner took a pitch fork and gently lifted a piglet out so we could pet him too. It was so nice of this man to cater to us. The kids were thrilled and didn't want to leave. Then if sharing the animals with us wasn't enough, the owner gave us some lemon cucumbers. Little balls that taste like a cucumber! It was a great summer day!

08-08-08...

...The beginning of the olympics and more importantly Justin's birthday! He is now old until February when I have my birthday. He is 6 months older than me so from August until February I tease him about being old then all the teasing stops until the next August.We had a couple of Doctors Justin works with and their families come celebrate with cake and ice cream. Jaco suggested an olympic cake for Daddy so that is what he got! I didn't mind. It was nice and easy!!

Happy Birthday Justin! Thanks for all your love and hard work!

If anyone needs a laugh, check out this blog.

cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Jaco is a wolf!

On Thursday June 26 Jaco was awarded his Wolf Badge in Cub Scouts. The Monday before we had a marathon "fulfill his wolf requirements" day. It was a family effort and his leaders were wonderful to help out too.

Daddy had to work that night but Grandpa Ted was in town so he was able to come watch Jaco earn his award.

Grandpa Ted was showing Jaco some knots and decided to try one out!

La-La was getting bored so she tried on Grandpa's hat and glasses. Talk about a complete makeover!

Hot dog or Cattail?

For the last four nights we have gone for a family bike ride after dinner. We have enjoyed beautiful summer evenings from two wheels. Tonight we came upon a bunch of cattails. I wanted to stop and pick some so the kids could feel how soft they are. From behind me in her bike seat, I heard Care Bear say "Look at all the hot dogs!" Then when we got home she was being super silly and pretended to eat her hot dog. La-La asked me to post about this and wanted me to include a photo of the Sweet Peas we picked. I call her "sweet pea" so she thought it was pretty cool.

We won a Wii!!!!

Have any of you looked at a Coke lid and seen the code written on it then just thrown that lid away? I am here to tell you to save that code until you have entered it on the mycokerewards website! I saved some of those codes and we won a Wii! I entered a sweepstakes using my points saved up from entering the codes and it payed off. Now thanks to Coke we are enjoying our new toy!

Jaco is 9!

Jaco's birthday was July 22nd. I can't believe I am a mother to a nine year old! He will start 4th grade this fall which makes me feel even older. Jaco is a pretty fun kid to have around. He keeps us guessing everyday with his constant questions about what everything means. He wants to know everything about anything and isn't satisfied until he is confident we have answered completely. He has an amazing vocabulary and has an incredible ability to retain knowledge. He will be tutoring me before long!
We got home past midnight on the 21st but the Birthday Fairy still came and decorated the kitchen and his bedroom door. She was pretty tired! Jaco was so excited for his b-day that he woke up at 6:am even though he didn't get to bed until atleast 12:30. Lets just say that this did not make for the best start for a birthday. He was extra emotional and grumpy until it came time for dinner and the family party. Jaco is really into Pokemon so I made him a cake that resembled a Pokeball. He thought it was great especially when he discovered the Pokemon inside his cake. I got candles that relight after they are blown out and he wasn't too sure about them!

Jaco wanted a Wii game and I was thrilled to find the one he wanted at a used game store for a fraction of the cost of a new one!

The next picture was when he was still excited about the candles. Then when they kept relighting he wasn't very thrilled. The last photo is of him finding the pokemon. Happy Birthday Jaco!

Port Townsend

On May 31 we took a short road trip to Port Townsend. We played at a beautiful park, we ran through old military tunnels and flew kites on the beach. It was a beautiful day. We went with our friends Spencer, Debbie, Stewart, Josh, Krystin, and Aiden.

Jaco, Care Bear, Spencer, La-La, & Josh on the ferry to Port Townsend.

Care Bear and Aiden hanging out in the sand. Spencer & La-La exploring the beach.

Spencer and La-La; best buds!

Jaco was picked to ride up front with the driver on the way back from the tunnels. It made his day!
Justin entering a military tunnel.

La-La, Spencer, & Jaco in a tunnel.

La-La in the military tunnels.

Care Bear & Aiden

Krystin, Me, & Debbie

Spencer, Jaco, La-La, & Care Bear at the park.

Finally connected!

We finally got the Internet today! I have so much to post but it will take awhile so be patient. Here is a brief update. We finally arrived at our house on July 3. Then one week later we took a LONG drive to Idaho to spend 10 days with family and friends. We returned this last Monday the 21st and now I am busy unpacking from vacation AND moving all in one. I don't recommend it. Stay tuned for pics and more details about graduation, moving, playing etc...!