TGIF!!

I mean it with all of my heart when I say thank goodness it's friday! Or rather, thank goodness this week is OVER!
The Johnson crew has been hit hard with illness this week. Everywhere I look there is snot flying out of someone's nose, someone is hacking up a lung, or crying. I'm thankful it's over (or at least almost over) and everyone seems to be on the mend today! Just in time for this BEAUTIFUL weather! It has been such a stressful week that I've had to remind myself all that I have to be thankful for... The list is RATHER large, but just to name a few of the positive things that happened this week:

Our new well was put in, meaning we have healthier, cleaner, yummier water! Our well was literally close to 90 years old I think and the water was so rusty and awful. We were blessed to be able to put a brand new well in and everything went so smooth, we couldn't be happier!!

Even though my kids were sick...I got lots and lots of snuggles :)
Which is good, because one thing I did not get lots of was SLEEP  :)

Max and I joined a gym and we are LOVING it! We have continued our love for running for the most part, and now with the sweet treadmills at the gym--there is no excuse to skip the runs! Anyone up for a Turkey Trot?? ;)

This weather is gorgeous. It has motivated us to invest in a HUGE dumpster for the next couple weeks and we've been busy (well, mostly max) cleaning out the barn, getting rid of old junk that was here from the time we moved in to this little farmstead of ours, and continuing to make our dream of someday renovating that big beautiful barn a reality! We are also getting a nice little stable ready for Starr in the barn just in time for the harsh winter months--she will love it :)

My kids are getting healthy again. ---Amen, Amen, Amen!

Caribou Coffee has their HoHo Mint Mochas out. One sip of one last weekend and I may or may not have actually went home and threw in a little Michael Buble Christmas CD :)

I got to have a wonderful little girls night last night crocheting with some of my favorite people ever---"stitch, bitch, and wine" nights are now a weekly event. :)

Oh, did I mention my best friend comes home in a week?!

There are many many many more things that we are thankful for, but for now--back to enjoying this beautiful day!

...because you only turn ONE once!

So this post is about a month overdue, but better late than never! Little miss P (also known as Piper Grace, Peeps, Pips, Petey) turned ONE on October 5, 2012 :) It has been one crazy year, that little wild child just stormed right into our little family and took us by surprise. We love her, and we can't imagine life without her, obviously! She is so playful, and SO funny. She loves to make people laugh and once you get her going, she is all riled up! She loves to sing, she loves a good pop up book, eats fruit, bread, and cheese (and apparently apple pie which I discovered over the weekend--takes after her daddy!) and loves to walk around the house and find whatever mishap she can get into! She's also very sweet, and though they are not too common, her snuggles are the best! She loves her pink blankie and her chair. She continues to adore our dogs, and her newest favorite thing is to give them treats. She squeals when they lick them right out of her hand. She also likes to pet the horse, and sometimes even goes in the chicken coop with dad to find the eggs. She still takes two naps a day, which mommy is very grateful for.... :)
So to celebrate this sweet little thing's birthday, we went for a a "P is for PINK, PUMPKINS, and PIPER!" Theme. Perfect for a fall birthday! I will say that I have some of the GREATEST friends in the entire world who spent the day before with us getting ready for the party---THANK YOU!!  It was a wonderful day that we will always look back on and smile!

Piper on the morning of her birthday, she just discovered her new chair. She LOVES that thing, but does not like to share it!

pink, pumpkins, piper :) 

enjoying my very first cupcake :)

We are so excited for many many more birthdays to come for this little girl!

It's a good thing mommies aren't graded daily...

Because if we were, I would get a great big F with a "See me after class" remark today.....

Yes, it's been that kind of day. The kind of day where I woke up SO THANKFUL to be able to stay home with my kiddos today instead of going off to work, but in all honesty was ready to pull my hair out and cry (which I did, at one point) because of how frustrated I was by noon...

Teething (in addition to ear troubles) has hit our household, and we are hanging on by a thread.Not to mention we have had quite the sneak peak at the Terrible Two's as well (yes, she just turned ONE a few weeks ago) so we are very familiar with 'head throwing back/whole body going limp/ screaming crying on the floor tantrums as well. Keep in mind that I genuinely love my children to pieces, but today - Piper and I have had our battles. This morning was actually really good. It wasn't until lunchtime came that things really hit the fan. My sweet little Piper has actually not been feeling good off and on for quite a while. She's been on antibiotics for an ear infection, she's got molars coming in which are super painful for her, and just in general has not been a very happy girl for long periods of time. But today, there was honestly no soothing her. If I tried to set her down for the slightest second, tantrum. If I tried to show her a new toy to distract her, tantrum. If I dared put her in her highchair to eat, tantrum. Needless to say, at one point she was crying, I was crying, and Max and Ryder didn't have a clue what to do. I can laugh about it now because I know I was just so caught up in the moment and although it really wasn't a huge deal, I just wanted to throw my OWN tantrum. So I did. And then life moved on, we "made up" and daddy actually got a few (not many!) bites of chicken and edemame in her. Later, after stressing for like an hour whether or not I should give her a  dose of infant tylenol (Can you say mommy guilt?? Seriously I have no idea why I stress about this so much. I can assure you that I myself would never sit through a toothache without popping something for the pain, so why in the world would I make my sweet little girl suffer through it without any medicine??--Again, mommy guilt.)  we packed up our things and made a trip to the library to get some new books and play, and Ryder and I made a well-deserved stop at MCD's on the way home (peppermint mocha for me, kiddie cone for him). Now she is sleeping and as I wait for the laundry to finish, here I am blogging my sorrows to you!

Hopefully you are having a better day than what I just described, but if you aren't --just know that you are not alone... It happens to the best of us. I've come to know that even those mommies that you are fairly certain NEVER lose it, have EVERYTHING under control, and have PERFECT lives--simply don't exist. And thank goodness they don't, because man would I really look bad then!! :) Pray for my little P to feel better....Or at least pray that her mommy makes it through all of this with her mind still in tact!

A couple funnies...

Piper just went down for her nap, and somewhere between playing with my little man, cleaning up the house, and maybe even sneaking in a shower, I hope to finish some blog posts that I've been  meaning to do... However, I had to sneak this one in so I can look back on it someday and laugh.
This morning I was giving Piper a bath and Ryder was working on 'art' in the kitchen. I decided that little P was just being such a ham that I was going to take a picture of her on my phone and send it to her daddy.....
Her daddy got a picture alright, although not the one I originally envisioned! :)
Piper was all smiles for me, and then she got this super determined look on her face and started grunting a little. Just as I realized what was going to happen, out popped a dozen little 'pebbles' just floating around in the bathtub..... (I hope no one is eating as they read this!)
I began hysterically laughing and P got super freaked out so I scooped her out of the tub and began cleanup duty... Yes, that was my morning.

On another cute little note, the last couple nights Piper hasn't felt that great, running low grade fevers and just being a little crankier than usual. So, when it comes to bedtime, she's been crying. We usually lay P and Ryder down at the same time so we are usually in Ryder's room reading his bedtime story as Piper lays and fusses in her crib. The last few nights, Murphy (our newest, but not-so-new-anymore pup that I have a love/hate relationship with) hears her crying and runs to the backyard and barks outside her window. She loves it and quiets down for him right away. We just love our little dog-loving girl..... :)

Our Adventures...

How can you not love fall in Minnesota?! There are many things I don't necessarily love about Minnesota, but fall is definitely not one of them. I haven't been blogging (surprise, surprise) but that is okay because we've been busy taking advantage of this amazing time of year. It's amazing what is right outside your doorstep.... :)

Heading out on Darwin/Dassel Park Trails!

And that hunk of a man, folks, is my hubby.... All flannel shirt and scruffy beard of him! ;)

Again....Fall in Minnesota, is simply amazing.

My handsome little guy leading the way!

Our final destination, where we enjoyed a picnic supper....

And Miss P crawled around and got a little "exercise" in too :)

More to come soon- we've got lots to catch up on these days! 

Yawn....

It's not quite 9pm, on a Wednesday night and Max and I are getting ready for bed.
Yep, not quite 9 o'clock.
Truth is: I'm exhausted.
I used to think that 'balance' was something that gymnasts did on a beam. Then I had children, and a career, and a husband, and a home to upkeep, and realized that I will be forever trying to 'balance' everything in our lives. Trying being the keyword in that sentence (although failing is probably a more accurate term).
Every day I'm trying to be as organized as humanly possible, I'm trying to think a full day in advance just to mentally prepare myself for what the next day will bring. I used to compare myself to what other people were doing, or let myself feel guilty when I don't feel like I've accomplished enough for a day, but then I realized that other than making myself crazy, it wasn't doing much for me. So enough of that business!
 So as we're getting ready for bed (at 8:45pm) and I'm teasing my husband about how absolutely lame we are, I need to remind myself that holding down careers, raising two amazing children, putting our marriage first, keeping our house a home, and working out (for the sole purpose of keeping our sanity) IS actually a little tiresome.
And with that, I'll say goodnight :)

My little kindergartner!

Ryder came home from kindergarten today and said, "Mom, kindergarten is so awesome!" and then throughout the entire night I got little tidbits of information regarding what they did all day, what "friends" he met, the art project he painted, who fell asleep during rest time and who didn't, who didn't have any pennies left in their jar at the end of the day, etc. I love it. It makes my heart melt and I can't believe he is already in school. I could go on and on and get super mushy, but I will not. Instead, I will leave you with some pictures of our excited little D-C Charger :)

My handsome little man! :) 

Sorry P, no little sisters allowed at Kindergarten!! 

Insert long exasperated sigh here....

Today was (in my mind) the "official" last day of Summer....
Bittersweet.
It always is since I work at a school and it means that tomorrow I go back to work and don't get to spend my days in the comfort of my own home lounging and playing with my little monsters angels all day.
Bummer.

On the bright side-- I'm hopefully going to be able to adjust my schedule this year so that I'm usually only working 3 days most weeks--which will seem SO nice! I'm convinced that working more of a 'part-time' schedule is the perfect arrangement for our family-- in every way possible! Another positive is that I may actually be forced to wake up and get dressed in the mornings now....You know, in REAL clothes, like the kind with buttons and snap closures and the like? No more fold-over yoga sweats for this momma!

On an even brighter side-- Ryder will start Kindergarten this week :) We've met his teacher a couple times already and tomorrow we go back in for a visit with her, and then Ryder will go back in on Thursday for his first day. I'm so excited for my little guy, and I know he is too! I can't believe I have a kindergartner! :(

Although I'm sad to see summer go, I am ready for a slowdown. September is looking like it will be just as busy as the rest of my summer has been though! This past Saturday was the Women Rock 10k in St.Paul. I'm so glad I did it and the run went great! I was able to maintain a great pace and finished in under an hour, which was my goal! And yes, the good looking firemen and bubbly were not bad either ;)

Speaking of good looking men.....I will have been married to one for THREE years as of Wednesday! :) Happy (almost) Anniversary to us!

I run for firemen.

This weekend is one I've been looking forward to for a long time! Although I really debated about it and hemmed and hawed about it forever, I finally registered for the WOMEN ROCK 10K taking place in St.Paul this Saturday... I'll be running 6.2 miles alongside my sister and some of her friends, as well as my aunt. Since the race is exclusive to women, the only men that will be there will be firefighters from the St.Paul Fire Department Calendar as they give all the finishers of the 10K a women rock pendant with a pink saphire! --Good looking men giving me jewelry just for running? Sign. Me. Up. Oh, did I mention the post-race party and my free champagne flute filled with bubbly? Or the pink running jacket that I will be wearing during my chillier runs this fall? Can't forget those important details! I'll stop now.... :) 

In all seriousness, I'm so excited to finally have another race to look forward to and to give me motivation to keep training. I've been consistent with my running, and I've grown to truly love it. I don't dread my runs anymore and I find myself looking forward to them--typically on Monday nights. The last two weeks have consisted of 7 mile runs. I've even stopped (most of the time) running with headphones in/music on because I found that I can really find peace when I'm on those long runs without it! I've come to realize that I'm probably never going to be a fast runner--and that is just fine with me. I run by feel, not by speed and when I focus too much on checking the good ol' garmin every few minutes, my run becomes that much less enjoyable, so I've learned to simply ignore it. A run is a run is a run! :)  

showing love for the locals!

Growing up, there were many things I hated about living in a small town. The drama, the gossip, the boredom, the lack of a Caribou Coffee, the list goes on and on! However, now that I'm an adult and am married with 2 kids, I live in an even SMALLER town than I used to.....And I love it! Being in Darwin, I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful communities surrounding us. What I don't love, however is that the nearest Target is 25 miles away, the nearest decent mall (and Caribou) is more like 40miles away. Not cool.
Luckily for me, our surrounding communities have some pretty awesome local stores in them and I love to do my shopping at them whenever possible! For instance, if you haven't been on HWY 12 recently heading through Dassel, then you may not have had a chance to stop by JM CREMPS, the new adventure store for boys. Ryder and I visited this store after having lunch with Max last week and he hasn't stopped talking about it since. He now refers to it as his new favorite store and he pointed out just about everything and told me to 'put it on his Christmas list' for Santa.... Ummm, a one-stop shop for ALL of Ryder's Christmas shopping??? YES PLEASE, SIGN ME UP! :) The store is actually right across the street from Max's work (how convenient ;)) in the old train depot. The store is simply amazing, with lots of different 'themed' rooms holding everything boys of all ages want to get their hands on: hunting, fishing, camping, toys, projects, books, the list goes on and on. Their grand opening is actually this weekend (Labor Day Weekend) and you will definitely make sure you stop by and check it out! If you can't make it this weekend-- check out their website!
Other favorites of mine include DeeAnn's Country Village in Litchfield, Little Red Hen and Whimsy Green Occasional Shops in Dassel, Chuck's Floral in Cokato, and Ali J Boutique and Happy Sol in New London. For some reason, my wallet is much lighter after visiting these stores, but I'm okay with that!
Happy Monday.... :)

I want to teach you...

It's a rainy kinda morning....cloudy, kind of chilly, and the kind of morning that makes me crave a caramel mocha, lounge in my sweats, spend an hour on skype with my bestie, play with my babies, and pin like crazy, obviously. So that is exactly what I've been doing and will continue to do all day today!
Speaking of my bestie, I was on her pinterest board today and stumbled across a blog with a link to "Raising a Girl: 100 things I want to teach my daughter" so I read it of course. I loved it.
I find myself thinking constantly about what kind of a girl I hope to raise Piper as.... Some of my favorites of the list were:
Beauty is a state of mind, not a state of body.
There will always be mean girls – that doesn’t mean we find a tower and Rapunzel ourselves away from the world.
Your daddy has loved you better and longer than any boy ever will.
Cook, decorate, clean, organize because you love to, not because someone tells you you’re meant to. (Amen!!!)

Staying up late to read a good book is never time wasted.

I’m on your side; especially on the days when it doesn’t feel like it.

Always fight fair. But don’t be afraid to fight

Long hair requires a really good conditioner.

A good cry is great therapy.

Dad will be the one helping you with math homework.

If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it, wear it or say it.

Challenge yourself.

Jesus loves you. Always.

You will always be my baby girl    ..........so very, very true :) 

For a complete list of the 100 things, click here :)   Hope you are all enjoying this rainy/cloudy/ishy day as much as I will be :)

Silly Mommy...

How could I forget to end Piper's 9month post w/out a picture of my little lady??
I don't have her 'official' 9 month pics done yet, because....well, because I don't! I'm hoping it will get done this weekend, but I won't hold my breath.... Anyway, here's my little lady :)

We love pigtails and chubby cheeks.....alot :)

And just because they are so sweet.....here are 3 crazy little boys excited by fireworks on the 4th...

C, R, and G :) 

Little P....

...is not so little anymore! My sweet baby girl celebrated her 9 month birthday a few days ago on July 5.

At 9 mos, Little P ...
-weighs in at 19lbs, 13oz (66 percentile) -healthy baby!
-has 4 teeth, including her 2 new top (buck) teeth
-eats every 4-5 hours (6-8oz)
-is crawling around like crazy! She thinks she is quite sneaky and is quite the escape artist.
-loves to be around people. She is so content to be in a big crowd and adapts so well.
-has recently found her tongue- and is in love with it. It's constantly out and she looks SO silly with it sticking out on the far side of her mouth like a little doggy :)
-speaking of dogs.... she is absolutely OBSESSED with dogs and literally like hyperventilates w/ excitement when a dog lets her pet them. She just squeals with delight!
-loves to stand and walk all around the furniture, she will be walking in no time!
-gives the biggest smiles to people she knows
-recently got to take in her first parade for Watercade....She was more interested in playing in the shade w/ daddy though :)
-loves little puff snacks and yogurt melts, she has gotten so good at picking them up and putting them in her mouth
-it never fails that she will light up for great grandma betty in church on Sundays.
-says "ma ma", "da da", "bye", "la la", "ba ba" and "dog" (or at least her version of it) --she is quite the chatty Kathy
-is a great sleeper. Goes down to bed around 8, up between 6:30-7:30am - and naps twice a day (usually from 9-11 and 2:30-4:30) give or take....
- she loves to take baths and even sometimes enjoys playing in the lake
-as of very recently, she has become a huge daddy's girl. She will literally crawl over to him and wrap her whole body around his lake until he picks her up and will reach out of my arms to his everytime! (little stinker!)
-she likes to sing along when you sing to her
-no one can make her laugh the way her big brother can! They are the best of pals :)

We are so thankful for little miss P!

One Happy Fourth :)

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY/INDEPENDENCE DAY:)
It also happens to be my father's birthday (how appropriate of a birthday for a man who has spent half his life fighting for our independence) so happy birthday to him as well!
The johnsons will be celebrating by spending the day at home. In air conditioning. With the kiddos.... Haha, I'm not complaining---actually looking forward to it! Piper is already down for her first nap of the day and Ryder is enjoying some DELICIOUS breakfast whipped up by the hubby (grilled peaches, greek yogurt, and homemade granola?? YUM) The rest of the day we will probably just be hanging out, and going to the cabin once it cools off a little bit. This weekend is Watercade, which as some of you may know, is a big deal to me. I like to participate in the festivities: running in the ripley run, shopping at art in the park, watching fireworks at the beach party, eating brats at the brat feed, watching the parade at Sam's mom's  house (it's a tradition!), and then enjoying one many adult beverages on Saturday night while running into everyone who you have ever possibly stumbled upon in Litchy Patch.... LOVE IT. Max used to make fun of me for my excitement surrounding Watercade....Now, he embraces it. Go figure!

Time to get a little creative....

This heat is killing me.
I usually don't complain about the weather too much, because there is nothing we can do about it except to adapt to it, so that is what I've been trying to do these last few days. With temps in the 90's, it's just really not all that safe for my kids to be outside for very long at ALL, so we are beginning to feel a little cooped up inside... Therefor, I've had to start getting a little creative with my activities. Yesterday while running errands, I picked up a pack of glowsticks for Ryder. He loves those things and since I'd seen an idea on a blog somewhere once, I thought I would give it a try. When we got home and the kids were just all sweaty, cranky, and a little tired out from going in and out of the car I went downstairs to the bathroom. If you haven't been in my house, the downstairs bathroom is one of my favorite rooms. It's painted a DEEP chocolate brown and has a big jetted tub. Since it can get pretty dark in there (no windows), I filled up the tub with coolish water, broke the glowsticks so they were all neon and glowing, and got the kids in their swimming stuff. We made an 'inside swimming pool', turned off all the lights, and let Ryder (and Piper too, for a little bit) enjoy their homemade "pool" with tons of neon glowing lights everywhere. It was a hit, to say the least. Best part about it was that it cost me a total of $1 :) Love that....
So this got me thinking to all the activities we did last year with Ryder during my summer off, and I went back to my list that I had started a while back.... I'll share my list with you, in case you too are looking for things to do with your own little one(s).
FREE things:
-Playdates w/ friends and their kiddos
-Visiting family members
-Checking out local lakes (Pleasant Lake and Cokato Lake are some of my favorites!)
-Going for walks/bike rides
-County Parks
-Nature walks/Scavenger hunts (lots of ideas online for this, print off a sheet and go exploring in your own backyard)
-Visit the library (In case you haven't been, Litchfield Library has a fabulous preschool story hour on Fridays at 10am)
-Fishing
-Splash Pads (there are two great options in St.Cloud, but Lake George is our favorite!)
-Picnics
-Bubbles/Playdough/Sidewalk Chalk/Crafts
-Slip n' Slide/pools/sprinklers
-Practice "school" with workbooks, etc
Play Places (Like the Hutchinson McDonald's -perfect for rainy days when you don't feel like cooking lunch- it's a double whammy!---Just don't forget the hand sanitizer ;)
Como Zoo/Conservatory (free will donation, plus it's a great zoo!)

And a few of our other places to go....
-Bowling (rainy day?? perfect.)
-Art As You Like It (in St.Cloud--your kids can paint to their little heart's desire, it is a great place!)
-Dorothy Olson Aquatic Center in Willmar (accommodates both little kids AND big kids--Ry loves this place)
-Indoor Parks (Edinborough is one I hope to get to this summer!)
-A Maze N Farmyard -- another one of Ryder's favorites
-Baseball games (The Stingers in willmar run TONS of promotions, and they are very kid friendly)
-Golfing/Mini Golf
-Airmaxx trampoline Park-- this is a workout. Seriously.
-Valleyfair
-State Fair (hoping to go this year, ryder's never been!0
-Apple Orchards (yum)
-Children's Museum
Tropics Indoor Waterpark (this looks fun, but we've never been -yet--the waterpark of america is also a fabulous time!!)
-Shopping--just to "browse" of course ;)

I'm sure I missed a few here and there, but sometimes it's just helpful to just have a list with everything jotted down so that you can look at it when you feel there is 'nothing to do'...With that being said, I can't believe it is already JULY and sadly, we have not had the chance to do many of these things yet...Time is just flying by and I can't believe I am already being forced to think about starting back at work next fall :(

Enjoy the July 4th holiday tomorrow! :) I know we will!





-

Patience, people....

For those of you who don't know my educational background, I graduated from St.Cloud State with a degree in Community Psychology....For those of you going, "huh"??? Let me explain. My classes were kind of a mix between social work classes, psychology of the brain, child development classes, ethics, stats, etc etc... I actually love school. I love learning in general (lame, right?) and wouldn't be surprised if I end up going back some day to get my Masters.... In addition to my classes, my major required me to take a lot of behavior modification classes. In a nutshell, how to change the behavior of someone. Pretty useful information, especially when you have children, and work with children, right?? Most of it actually seems like common knowledge sometimes, but we don't always do it. Let me rephrase that... I don't always do it.
Ryder is 5 years old. 90% of the time, he is SO easy going and lovable. Since he is 5 and is capable of dressing, bathing, eating, playing, by himself (or mostly by himself) sometimes I feel like I treat him older than he is...Or at least, I forget that he is still straddling the line of dependence and independence as a kid. As his parent when I am laying in bed with him saying his prayers at night, I ALWAYS pray for my kids (both of them) to learn to be "kind, respectful, hard working, happy, and  honest". Pretty much in those exact words. If there are a few things I really want them to "get" in life, those are a few of the most important, in my opinion.
So why am I blogging about this? Why am I sharing my shortcomings as a parent with you? Let's go back to what I was saying earlier, about Ryder straddling the line of independence and dependence (and will likely continue to be for many many years to come!) I have noticed this shift in Ryder (maybe in part because of his age, or possibly with the birth of a new baby sister) where sometimes he just wants to be "big" and "growed up" (his own words). Other times, I will tell him not to do something, and if he doesn't like to tone of my voice, or the fact that I had to correct him on something, he will absolutely burst into tears much like a 2 or a 3 year old would do. This is not actually typical Ryder behavior, and so it frustrates me. After all, he is growing up, growing older, becoming more independent, why start these "babyish acts" now?? Then, in return I get more upset/angry with Ryder, which then upsets  him more (because like a good little boy, he doesn't like to disappoint his parents) and the cycle goes on and on! So, behavior modification....Common sense sometimes, but difficult to practice in real life all the time. I know (when I'm thinking rationally) that if I want Ryder's behavior to change, I need to first figure out what it is that he's getting out of his behavior. In most cases, it's probably my attention. Now, if I was a perfect parent, (which I SO am not) I would be SO good at providing Ryder with positive reinforcement regularly throughout the day that this would probably not even be an issue. Clearly, that's not happening. Or at least, it's not happening enough. The "smart" mommy in me says that instead of trying to correct all of his outbursts with punishment AFTER the fact, I need to consciously be rewarding him for positive things that I notice throughout the day. The hope is that a great deal of his negative behavior would decrease, and he would continue the positive behavior more frequently since his main goal is positive attention from mommy... Am I confusing you? If so, no worries, I confuse myself all the time. Let me just say---it makes sense in my head :) Now, I may have just spent the last 20 minutes of Piper's naptime blogging about how I have the answer to my own problem, but I promise you that it doesn't mean my problem is solved. It just simply means that as I reflect, I realize that I do know better than this (something I say to Ryder all the time, interestingly enough) and I CAN do better, as a mom. At least, I'm willing to try.... If I want to teach Ryder (and Piper) to be kind, respectful, hard working, honest, and happy, I should probably lead them by example, right? Woah. Mind boggling stuff here for a Thursday morning, I know.... Like I said, common sense, but sometimes the things that seem easiest in theory can be the hardest to put into action.
Therefor, I decided to try something new with Ryder starting this week. I am in the process of making him a little 'punch card' and whenever he does a good deed without being told to, or if I just notice something really positive that he's doing (random act of kindness?), he will be getting a sticker on his card. When he fills it up, he will get different rewards (a special "date" with mom and dad, going to a movie, etc). He's super excited about it and so am I. Although there are many things that Ryder currently needs to work on, so do I... Patience being one of those things. So, as always in this house, we'll give it a try and maybe it will work great, and maybe it won't, but either way, it's worth giving it a shot.

Mary Mary, Quite Contrary....

How does your garden grow?!
Well friends, for possibly the FIRST time ever, I can actually give you an answer to that silly riddle. It is (for once) growing great! This is the first year that I decided I was really going to get into this whole gardening thing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my flowers and playing around with my landscaping, but I usually leave the vegetable gardening to Max, because it's big and intimidating. This year, however, we double teamed it and after many long hard and HOT hours in the sun this past weekend - there is not a weed in it! (Okay, maybe a few, but who's counting??) Obviously, I had to take a picture of it because goodness knows it probably won't last too long looking this way, but a girl can dream, right?!

And this, is what happens when a stay-at-home mommy gets quite bored and is feeling somewhat crafty during the day:

Because of all the work on the deck, Mr. Andy Gilbertson had lots of these little stakes laying around and he so graciously let me keep them instead of throwing them away so that I could paint them up and make some markers--because this lady gets a little confused every once in a while when trying to remember what I put where! 

So in case you were wondering what my Saturday consisted of this past weekend, there you have it. Ryder had a visit with his Grandma Nancy and little P hung out in her pack and play next to the garden while I pulled weed after weed and Max worked the tiller. In all honesty, it was so relaxing to be out there working the soil, getting sweaty, and chatting it up with the hubby enjoying our little homestead :) 

Then of course, we had to celebrate our hard work on Sunday with a breakfast brunch on the pontoon (we skipped out on church---sorry PJ and Kels!) It was the perfect morning and we didn't waste a second of it being inside. We were literally at the cabin from 10am to about 8pm and it was so relaxing! Piper even put her little swimsuit on and took her first dip in the lake--and she actually somewhat enjoyed it!

YIKES!

Has it really been over a month since I blogged last?! More like a month and half....Really??
I'd like to say that I simply forgot to do it, but I didn't....Not at all, actually. The truth is that the last time I blogged was May 6th- and May is simply a bad month for me. Wrapping up the school year is absolutely no fun for me at all, and the stress of it really hit me hard this year. I've had millions of emotions/bad days/ and topics that I could easily have vented to all my wonderful blog followers on PLENTY of occasions.....However, I chose not to. (You are welcome :)) I've been struggling. I don't know how else to say it, but I really just had a bad couple of months in terms of my attitude towards most things....Not all of it has been related to work, but mostly in general I just have had the feeling that my 'to-do' list just continues to grow and grow and nothing ever gets accomplished the way I want it to. Instead of coming on here, logging on, and rehashing all the stuff that has been bringing me down, knowing it would only more than likely bring anyone reading this down also, I chose to simply take a break from the blogging world. The good news is that it's now summer break and I can take a few steps back and just relax and love on my babies...And blog, of course :)
June has been SO unbelievably busy. We have literally had something going on every single weekend, which is fun--yet exhausting at the same time. Piper started crawling in early May--and since then NONE of us have stopped moving, in an attempt to keep up with that girl. She is trouble!  busy, but we love her.... Ryder started t-ball, so he's a pretty happy guy and is looking forward t kindergarten in the fall. I'm still coming to terms with this! MJ just finished his very first 1/2 Marathon, so I am ONE. PROUD. WIFEY :) Max and some friends ran the Grandma's 1/2 Marathon in Duluth last weekend and he finished the race with a time of 1hr and 48 minutes. I am so pumped for him (and Kyle, Joe, and Leah), and only a little bit sad that I didn't hop on the bandwagon too so that I could have ran w/ him.... Or let's be honest, behind him... Maybe next time?? As for me, I'm adjusting to my new role (for the time being) as just mommy. Or, mommy/house keeper/landscaper/chauffer/doctor/babysitter/maid/playmate/chef/wife/magician/etc ---whatever you prefer to call it ;) Oh- and in case you were wondering- I'm still on track with the 'one a month' running goal and finished the "Lola's Lakehouse 5K" in Waconia with Max, Joe, and Kyle on June 9th. Coming up in July is of course, the Watercade 4-Mile Run/Walk and the following weekend is the Color Run in the cities which I am SUPER excited for. I haven't stopped running my mouth about it since one of my besties texted me about it (thanks, sam!) and so literally, I don't even know who all is doing it anymore. I just know alot of us are, and it's going to be a good time... I don't have one for August yet (so I'm thinking I will just invent one in honor of the legendary twine ball and it's designated day--I heard the mayor thinks he's Usain Bolt (my husband told me to say this) so maybe he can pull some strings?? ) , but September is up in the air.... Kristin and I are considering (if she gets her but up here from Key West!!) the Women Rock 10K/ 1/2 Marathon .... We shall see :)   

One a Month!

Tonight I was feeling extra lazy....I ran some unsuccessful errands in Hutch, it was not very pleasant outside all day, and I really just felt blah. However, at 7:15pm, I laced up my good old' Brooks running shoes, and headed out the door with Ryder close behind me. He hopped on his bike and I set out for a run. I didn't want to, but I did it anyway.
And I'm so glad I did :) Runner's high is the best feeling in the world. Hands down. If I'm in a bad mood, I know the cure is to lace up and go running. Sometimes when I run I process my day at work, work through my frustrations, make mental lists in my head, or more often than not, put on some damn good workout music on pandora, put the headphones in my ears and just jam out to pass the time.
This weekend is the "Empower Race for the Future" around Lake Ripley. Proudly, I can say that since I started running again after Piper was born, I have ran either a 5K or a 7K every month! In February I ran the Frozen 5K in Spicer with my sister-in-law, Amy. March was the St.Patty's Day "Get Lucky 7K" with friends and family in the cities. April was an early Earth Day 5K in Key West with Kristin, and of course this weekend is the Empower race in Litchfield. I was hoping to do the Fitgers 5K in Duluth when Max runs his half marathon, but sadly it is already full, so looks like I will need to find a new race in June!
So my goal? One a month until..... well, who knows when!? Minnesota winters are tricky - but I'm shooting for November ---wish me luck! :)

1/2

Okay, so this post is about a month late... Today is actually miss Piper's 7 month old birthday, meaning exactly a month ago, my little one turned half a year old.
How does that even happen?? It doesn't feel like it was that long ago when I was crying to my husband in bed after yet another month went by leaving us not pregnant. We had wanted a baby so badly, and there were times we just didn't understand why it wasn't happening, and we had even began to fear that it wouldn't happen at all. To this day, I have no idea why it did take us a full year to get pregnant, but I do know that for this sweet little girl, it was worth the wait :)

Clearly, God had a plan for us and on October 5, 2011 we welcomed P into our little family. She has brought us so much joy, that I can't even imagine our lives without her! Here is what I know about Piper Grace thus far:
*She looks like her mommy! :) This is so fun for me, because Ryder is a spitting image of his dad. Literally, spitting image. The only thing on that child that I claim as my own would be the adorable little freckles that are scattered across his upper cheeks/nose... So, at random moments when I am picking Piper up out of the crib, or if we are just playing on the floor and she does something that reminds me of me, it is a pretty incredible feeling...I love her dark hair and her sweet blue eyes.
*Although she looks like her mom, she has her dad's pouty lips and likes to show them off when she is upset. It is adorable...
*She has a mind of her own and is very strong willed. She wants what she wants, and you will not be able to persuade her otherwise. For instance, from very early on we have tried just about every pacifier on the market, because they make lives easier on parents, right? Well, P has her own thoughts about pacifiers/nuks/whatever you want to call them, and she has refused them time and time again.We no longer try. In the battle of the nukie, Piper=1, Mom and dad= 0 :(
*She loves to chit-chat.... She is quite the babbler, and likes to hear her own voice. Currently she spends the majority of her day saying "ba-ba-ba-ba!!!" with enthusiasm, and within the last week or so she has really been working on her "p" sounds. She also likes to make 'mmmm' noises when she is upset or frustrated, and she likes to imitate whatever you are doing/saying with her lips. She is quite observant...
*When she sleeps, she likes to roll on to her side and grab her blankies up to her cheek. It melts my heart.
*I can't really think of any 'favorite' toys, but she does usually play in her exersaucer quite well, and she loves to be outside. She also loves her outdoors swing and she likes to watch mommy groom the horse.
*At 6 months old, Piper got her very first little tooth :) I believe she is currently working on some more, and of course, EVERYTHING goes in her mouth!
*Call me crazy, but I believe that she loves shopping. Just loves it. Let me explain by saying that Piper is not always known for being the most content child, sometimes she can be a little needy/demanding... However, when we have to make a target or  a shopping mall run, the girl is just an angel. Seriously. I'm pretty sure it means she loves to shop.
*She likes her naps.... She takes 3 naps everyday, 2 shorter ones in the morning, and a longer one (about 2 hours) in the afternoons... Sometimes she even likes a cat-nap in the evening if she's had a busy day!
*She sits up so well by herself and can get herself in complete crawling position. It is only a matter of days before she takes that first little crawl--and then, I have a feeling I will be one busy mommy!
*She absolutely lights up when she sees someone she knows and loves... She has a beautiful smile, the kind that goes all the way up to her eyes. She loves to giggle, and she loves her big brother... He does such an amazing job of entertaining her and playing with her.
*She absolutely can not stand when her daddy kisses/blows on her cheek. (Apparently, she does not dig facial hair on men, --and she get so angry with him when he does it, and then just laughs at her!) She does, however, love daddy's red Titleist hat, and riding on the lawn mower with him :)
*She likes to be around people, and does not repond well to being left alone for very long at all! She likes to be front and center, smack dab in the middle of the action. She's quite the busy little bee...

*....And most importantly, she is quite possibly the most loved little girl on the face of this planet. Of course, I may be a little biased ;) Can't wait to see what the second half of her first year will bring us!

what life was like at mile marker 0!

Finally, a little alone time to sit down and gush about my Key West trip! I know it has been long awaited.... Forgive me for the delay, but adjusting back in the saddle of mommylife has taken it's toll on me! :)

I woke up early on Thursday morning with a slight hint of excitement, and a HUGE anxiety about leaving my kids and the hubby. It was an emotional morning, but by the time we were nearing the airport and the kids had been dropped off, I was ready for my vacation! My morning at the airport started off as every morning should, in my opinion, -with a delicious dark chocolate mocha from caribou coffee. My coffee was delicious, the people watching was phenomenal, life was good. However, that was the beginning of what later would be known as one of the longest days of my life. Let me just say it. I hate airlines, and the crabby agents that work at them, at least the ones I had to deal with! Anyway... Long story short, because of millions of delays, I ended up shackin' up in Miami for the night. Not really a huge deal since my flight to Key West was taking off at 8am the next morning anyway, but still-- I was over it.

So the next morning after approximately 3 hours of sleep for the night, I finally made my appearance in Key West and was rejoined once again with my bestie, Kristin :) Due to my extreme exhaustion, the first stop we made was this cute little coffee shop. This is where I learned my first piece of valuable key west information: they love their chickens! Kristin and I were peacefully sipping on our iced coffees catching up on any and everything when all of a sudden this little chicken decided to walk on through the coffee shop and join us on the patio. Um, excuse me? I'm at a coffee shop and there is a chicken parked next to me on the ground. Then I looked down the street and realized that chickens are probably like the state mascot, because they kind of roam around wherever they want....love it. The rest of my day involved a shower, some shopping, a spin/pedal & pump class (I was convinced that I was either going to die, fall off, or lose my virginity (again) while on that damn bike, but no worries, friends-- I made it alive (and in tact!) ! :)) That night we ate a fancy little italian restuarant in order to 'carb up' for our 5k the followin morning. The food was fabulous (although my plate could have easily fed the entire population of Darwin) but we were all exhausted so we decided to call it an early night... After a little skype action with Max and Piper :) (Ryder was at his grandmas)

Saturday was race day, so up an at'em we were! I'm so proud of my best friend for beginning this running/getting healthy journey, and more than anything, for having a goal, and accomplishing it! So happy to have been able to be a part of that accomplishment with her! We ran along the beach, which is about enough motivation for me- It was absolutely beautiful and believe it or not, the weather was perfect. Not chilly at all, but not too hot either. Just great! After our run we lounged around for a while, made some lunch, skyped with the fam back home (who I missed dearly!!) and then decided we wanted to go Kayaking. We packed a few beers in a cooler, put our suits on, and away we went! Kristin and I took a double kayak and we thought we were pretty cool, although we just couldn't keep up with Eric. Apparently we aren't the speediest kayaker's but we made our own way! We saw starfish and jellyfish, mangroves (whatever the hell they are??) and multi-million dollar homes along the channel that we were in. Amazing. :) After this little excersion, was naptime.... Ahhhhh the joys of being on vacation and being able to take a nap. Uninterrupted. Alone. No Kids....  After we woke up we decided to shower up and get pretty for the night. We went to Santiagos Bodega for dinner, soooo yummy. The food was great, but the Sangrias were even better! ;) Following multiple glasses of the sangria was a wise (??) decision to hit up Duval Street "for a couple".

My oh my. There were people EVERYWHERE, and at least like 50 bars just hopping with people. It was here that I discovered another little key west secret: strawberry beer :) -YUM! After a nice classy bar serving the strawberry beer, we made our way up to another bar. A slightly different bar. A clothing optional bar. I actually saw the sign that said "Clothing option beyond this point" and kind of thought it was cute, just for decoration. WRONG. I walked in and my poor little innocent eyes were not prepared for what they were about to take in. The term, "partying naked" in Key West, is actually meant quite literally! Now, if you know me, then you would know that I was like "trying-not-to-pee-in-my-pants-laughing-so-hard" mode as we people watched in this bar. To be fair, most people in the bar were dressed. And most of them seemed quite normal, many of them were young like us, in fact. However, the people hangin' out with their goods out for the world to see were all probably over the age of at least 50 and this just added to my amusement.  I'm actually laughing out loud as I type this.... The next bar we went to was much more normal--although I did end up stealing a pink tiara off of some guy's head and wearing it around the rest of the night, and although I'm pretty sure that sort of thing doesn't happen in Darwin, you never know...

Sunday morning brought with it only a slight hangover (thank goodness!) and to remedy this, Kristin and I decided to bike down and get some breakfast... After enjoying that, we hit up the beach for the day. I'm talking teal-crystal clear blue water kind of beach. It was soooo pretty! I probably could have laid there all damn day... On our little bike cruise on the way home we picked up groceries and made homemade fish tacos for dinner. Then we went out to the Sunset Festival where I discovered love for a man who's job is to hide behind some palm tree branches and jump out and scare people. If you have gotten so busy with your life that you forgot how funny it is to see people get absolutely terrified/pranked, you are missing out. I highly recommend it. (And yes, I donated to his tip jar!) Some sinful ice cream followed the sunset festival and a little more shopping.

Monday morning was an early one, because I was determined to wake up for a sunrise run to the beach. Well worth it! Then we hit the streets with some serious shopping to do, and before I knew it, it was time to say our goodbyes! Although I was sad to be leaving, I was so anxious to get home to my babies!!! (All three of them). I said goodbye to my bestie and boarded the plane (after ANOTHER 2 hr delay) to Tampa Bay... It was here that my husband proved to be my night and shining armor (again) and got the airlines to switch me from having 2 stops left in my journey, to having a non-stop flight from tampa to minneapolis..... Do you love him or what? I do :) Around 8:30 pm that night I arrived safe and sound (thank God!) back in good ol' Minny and take my word for it,  I have never been so damn excited to see that damn ball of twine before in my life because it meant my kids were just a minute away! .... Only in darwin, friends! :)

what have we been doing?

If you are wondering this question, it means that I have once again been slacking on this poor little blog. Oh well, I've had better things to do, and lucky for you-- now you get to hear about all those 'better things!' :)

Spring break was a few weeks ago. We had a great time just hanging out with family and friends. We did take a little adventure to Airmaxx Trampoline Park in St.Cloud with Ryder's cousins and they had a blast, while this momma was sweating bullets. It is a workout! Other than that, we just enjoyed being home, and being together - and really, what is better than that? 

Then of course came Easter and all those little Easter festivities. We died 'koolaid' easter eggs, went on easter egg hunts, and that silly bunny made it's way out to darwin and left some goodies for Piper and Ryder. We praised 'the big guy' at church, hung out with our families, and as always, ate. (And then ate some more.)

Somewhere right around this time, my little peeps celebrated her 1/2 year of life.... 6 months old already?? I'm still trying to figure out just where all that time went, but I'll save that for another post - turning ".5" gets you your own blog post around here ;) 

Next came Key West. And yes, there will be a separate post for this also. Way too much excitement to combine it all into this one.... more to come!

Along with all of these celebrations is a bit of sadness as well. This household has been 'Fighting for Gage" and sending our prayers up for him and his family since day one. If you don't know about Gage, you probably aren't from around these parts. Gage is a young boy who was diagnosed back in October with an inoperable brain tumor, and his fight ended this past Sunday. Although I know he was so young and had so much life yet to live, I know in my heart that Jesus is taking care of him now, and I know he is free of all the pain. I don't know all the details of heaven and earth, but my faith is strong, and I know for a fact that Jesus loves his children!  I haven't been able to formulate words on how all of this has made me feel up until now because as a parent, I just can't wrap my head around what the Drivers and all of their family and friends have been going through. Even if you have no idea who these people are....please say a prayer for them to find comfort and peace, a prayer for Gage up in heaven, and if you can, donate to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation :) I realize that money doesn't solve problems such as heartache and grieving, but it can fund research to find cures for all these malicious diseases. We have some really smart and talented people in this world, and with the right tools and resources, they will figure this stuff out eventually, I'm sure of it! 

And on that note, this mommy is heading to bed. Yes, it is 9:30 --don't judge :)

Cowboy take me away....

I'm kind of obsessed with the Pioneer Woman (aka- Ree Drummond). I heard about her blog a LONG time ago and started poking around her website because there is SO much to explore. I love her photography, her food, her show on the food network, and basically, I enjoy living vicariously through her. In a different life, I think I would love to be a rancher's wife. (Minus the being in the middle of nowhere factor). The horses on her ranch are stunning, and I can only imagine how peaceful it is to look outside your window and see miles and miles of wide open land. I also wouldn't mind looking out at her cowboy hunk of a husband from time to time. Seriously, he is yummy. Recently I read her book, From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. It was an easy read, and who doesn't love a good love story every now and then?!
Anyway, the reason for my post is my lunch which is sitting in front of me. A couple weeks ago I decided to try her chicken spaghetti recipe in her first cookbook. It was amazing. I don't usually like my pasta 'baked' after being cooked, but this was so  good I didn't even mind. It's pretty simple with just pasta, chicken, cream of mushroom, pimentos, green peppers, and cheese and more tasty ingredients all thrown together. I added mushrooms, because if it was up to me, sauteed mushrooms would be included in EVERY meal. :) As I was making the dish however, I realized that her big family eats much more than my little family does. So, I was left with half the dish to freezse, which worked out great to unthaw and warm up in the oven for a quick lunch on this dreary cloudy day. You can find the recipe here
Enjoy :)

miss me??

yep, it's been a while. Wish I had a better excuse, but the fact of the matter is, I've just been lazy and work has been somewhat exhausting lately, which means the last thing I care to do when I get home and have a free minute is to sit on the computer and type.... Today is an exception, because the hubby is sick so he hit the sack early, and me...I'm still trucking along, so here I go-

Gosh, so much I've missed--where to begin?! This past weekend was St.Patty's day. I did all the right things for a successful st.patty's day-- I wore green, I finished my very first 7K run in Minneapolis, and then I partied the DAY away in the cities. At one point in time, I was even watching Rugby while drinking an irish beer. (Is rugby an irish thing?? Now that I typed that, I'm not sure....oh well) Anyway, the day was a success and we had so. much. fun. I think I smell a new tradition starting ;)

My little boy had kindergarten roundup tonight, so he is just pumped. He got to meet his two potential teachers and check out the school. He is getting so old... Next month he turns 5! He is currently still very much into baseball. He loves the move "sandlot" and he and his cousins reenact the movie quite often from what I'm told. When his mind is not on baseball or movies, he is outside. He has grown to love the art of 'putsing' around like his stepfather, and most of the time, I really have no idea what he is doing outside. I do know, however, it usually involves wheels. He is constantly asking to ride either his bike (no training wheels!), his dirtbike, or his four-wheeler. If there is mud outside, you can bet he is whipping shittys in our driveway (with the proper safety equiptment, of course!) and trying his hardest to get CAKED in mud. ......boys!

Little P is not so little anymore either.... She will be 6months old soon, yikes! She is so stinkin' cute. There is just no denying it. She's a little ham, and for the most part, she is a smiley little girl who loves to giggle and talk when she feels she has something valuable to add to the conversation. However, she has her moments. Actually, she has her hours! Everyday from about 5:30-7:30, she is super fussy/needy. Its the point in time where she actually could use a little nap, but she refuses one, and so it's just not a very pleasant time. With this new beautiful weather we've had lately, it's been super nice because I plunk her in her stroller and she just gets strolled along in our yard as I help daddy do yard work and it seems to calm her. That, and the moby wrap, have been my saving grace! Without them, I would probably never get anything done...

Max is sick, at the moment with a bad head cold, so he's pretty much miserable. Other than that, he's been busy with yardwork and house projects, and getting things finalized for our deck, which will hopefully be started soon :) He's running alot lately since he and some friends signed up for the Grandma's 1/2 Marathon in Duluth this summer! So proud of my man!

As for me, I'm just giddy. Giddy about the fact that we have some nice springy weather (minus this week, not that nice), giddy about the fact that Hunger Games comes out this weekend (if you haven't read the series, do yourself a favor, and please do) and giddy about the fact that....Oh yeah, I will be seeing my best friend in less than a month!! I'm flying to Key West in mid-april and I'm so excited I can't even wrap my head around it.. It'll just be for a long weekend, because I would go crazy for any longer without my babies, but I really am looking forward to taking in Key West, running an earth day 5k with kris, and just enjoying my bestie once again.. :) Seriously friends, life is good :)
Enjoy your day!

decisions, decisions...

A few minutes ago I was sitting at the counter filling out Kindergarten-Roundup packets... Seriously, Ryder will be a kindergartner next year??? Time flies...
Anyway, where to send Ryder to school has been such a tough decision. Since I work for all meeker county schools, I can honestly say that I think they are all great! Living in Darwin, we are actually in Litchfield's district, but after much thought, we've decided to send our little man to Dassel Elementary. It just made more sense for many reasons including transportation. With Max working in Dassel, and with my job taking me all over sometimes, it's just more practical. I've had the opportunity to get to know the elementary principal and social worker at Dassel through my job, and I must say that I feel we've made the right decision! It's such a welcoming and happy environment (hopefully all elementary schools are!) and I know Ryder is going to LOVE kindergarten. I'm probably more excited than he is though :)

Now that we've made one tough decisions, it's freed up some time for us to start focusing on the rest of the decisions we've been pondering.... For one, we've decided to (hopefully) finally put on the deck that we've been waiting for! We had our friend Andy come out and do measurements, we've been trying to figure out exactly what our 'wish list' consists of, and filling out lots and lots of paperwork to make it all happen! We are all so excited for this and I know we will use it a TON. I'm sooooo ready for outside projects: the deck, more landscaping, gardening, adding a sandbox to Ryder's swingset, etc. Love it...
Other decisions we are playing around with are just trying to figure out what is best for our family structure. Right now, I work. Generally, I enjoy working outside of home, and I'm fortunate enough to work with some pretty awesome people, but my job is not always enjoyable. Actually, it adds a lot of stress to my life sometimes, and that stress affects our family in many ways. Next year is very up in the air for us. For financial reasons, I would love to continue to work, maybe even just 3 days a week, but at the same time, I feel like I am missing out on alot and Piper is already growing up so fast! She very well could be our last baby (at least for a long time!) so I want to enjoy every. single. moment. with her :) On the flip side, I also have this image in my mind of my husband barely walking in the door from work before I hand him the kids because I simply can not deal with them anymore after being 'stuck at home' with them all day. Don't get me wrong. I like being home, but the problem with me being home all day is that I feel like my house needs to be spotless every second that I'm in it. I love a clean house, and I feel crazy when it's messy. It's crazy how much i enjoy the hour at night after the kids are sleeping that I have a clean house and a candle burning. Even though I know it will be messy by 7am the next morning and will be a disaster by the time I leave for work, it still makes me happy. My other issue with staying home is that I went to college for a reason. Stressful or not, I have a passion for the kind of work that I do, and even if I took some time off now, I can't really imagine never wanting to work again -- and who knows when I will find work again? Ahhhhh can you sense my dilema with this topic?? We honestly can't come up with an answer... Luckily, we have a while to figure it out and I know that the answer will come to us... Enough for tonight! Busy weekend ahead including birthday parties and basketball games with family- love it :)

...it's the little things

By 7:30 this morning, my Valentine’s day was complete. A recap of my morning:


7am- I am getting ready in my bathroom when Ryder walks in, says “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mommy” and gives me a big sleepy hug. I then took him into the kitchen and let him open his Valentine’s card and his little treats/book, etc… He was happy with his goodies and then went on his merry way to brush his teeth and get dressed for the day. By 7:20, Ryder was still downstairs and hadn’t had breakfast yet. Frustrated at the fact that he was taking so long downstairs, I yelled down to him telling him to hurry up and that we were going to be late. (This is nothing new, our mornings are typically a little hectic trying to get everyone out the door, and we usually are late, no matter what). A minute later, Ryder comes upstairs and says, “Sorry it took so long mom, I just wanted to make you a special Valentine’s day card” and presented me with a blue sheet of construction paper that he had found downstairs. As he brought it to me, I realized he drew (in pencil) a picture of our family. He then “read” us the card- “Dear Mommy and Max, I love you soooooo much. And I love doing stuff with you. Happy Valentine’s day. Love, Ryder”

Honestly, it doesn’t get any better than that. And yes, I cried at work this morning just thinking about it. :)

As for P, she expressed her love by screeching and squealing in delight (her new favorite thing) all morning and giving me and daddy lots of smiles.

...."here, fishy-fishy!"

Yesterday Max had the afternoon off and he took Mr. Ryder Scott ice fishing... They had a blast. I was at work (boo) but when I got home and talked to him he was ecstatic for the following reasons:
1) He caught a fish all by himself! --Not to mention, he caught the ONLY fish ;)
2) He got to eat "reese's" (which is his and max's "thing" together) --and also "doritos" (Ryder can't really figure out how to correctly pronouce this word and it is hilarious to hear him try!) ---Very healthy, Max. (Men....honestly)
3) It was "boys day" and there were 'no girls allowed'
4) He got to ride in the front seat of the truck on the ice, which he was obviously pumped about.
5) Jo-Jo joined the boys later in the afternoon too.

Seriously, Ryder was just beaming when he got home and didn't stop smiling all night. He had to call his dad, his auntie Lissa, his Papa Steve, and just about everyone else he could think of... Such a proud little boy! Someday I will find motivation to post a picture....

Crazy?? Maybe.... Desperate?? ....Absolutely.

Definition of Crazy: Registering and paying a $50 entry fee for a 7K race (4.35 miles) when it has been AT LEAST one full year (give or take) since I last ran……… And by run, I mean jog- because I am by no means, a fast “runner”….These short stubby legs of mine really don’t get me far. Literally.


Um, yeah. Probably not the smartest thing I’ve done recently, but my sister provided me with an opportunity to run the “Get Lucky” 7k race along with our aunt Karen, and for some reason, I felt compelled to do so. So I signed up. And now I am already stressing over it because I really have not been running at all lately. Not to mention that even when I was running fairly regularly with my friend Becky before I got pregnant with Piper, the most I ever really ran at one time was about 3 1/2-miles… Not 4.35 miles. The race takes place on St. Patrick’s day, and the bright side is that after you finish, you get a free beer from your choice of 3 Irish pubs downtown :) I’m not Irish, but I like the color green, and I like free beer, so how bad can it be, right??

Anyway, I don’t expect to do well, whatsoever, but my ultimate and only goal is just to finish the damn thing. I am not going to stress over having to walk for part of the time (because I know I will probably have to) but I know the overall feeling of accomplishment will be so worth it, not to mention the statement I will be making to this stubborn baby fat that does not want to go away!! To be honest, if I didn’t think I could run the entire thing, I normally wouldn’t sign up for the race at all, because that’s just how I am-- but thanks to a refreshing convo this morning with my bestie, Kristin, I’m willing to try it. She just completed her first 5K down in Key West… She made me realize that it doesn’t have to be pretty, you just have to do it. :) Needless to say, I will be running tonight ….

...a sneak peak at peeps :)

Piper just loves when her mommy whips out her camera......not! However, it was time to start snapping for Piper's 3month pictures. This was just a few from 'round one' -- I'm sure there will be a couple more mini sessions here and there in the next week or so, but so far, I'm liking what we got!

...love my sweet little girl!

isn't this little buggy adorable?? -compliments of cindy :)

one of my favorites..

she had the cutest purple boots on, but was not having it this day - so off they came!

love.love.love!!

Merry, Happy, and all that jazz!

Time to catch up a little bit… What else is new, right? Anyway, 2011 is officially over, and while it was a brought the Johnsons many blessings—we are looking forward to what 2012 will bring also! Back track a couple weeks, shall we? In our family, we celebrate Christmas the right way. Lots of places to go, people to see, food to eat, wine to drink, and gifts to give :)However, it is also an exhausting time for us, in a good way, but still… I’ll show you what I mean. The Friday before Christmas (23rd), Jen and I took the boys (and Piper- gosh, I need to stop saying ‘the boys’ all the time!) to New London and spent the day with Amy, Brynn, Gus, Reed, and Zane… We ventured down to the lake right by their house and the kids had a blast ice skating! Ryder hasn’t really been on skates except for a few times and this year he really got into it. He took his little chair and cruised around without a care in the world. Then, he discovered that it’s SUPER fun to fall on the ice (when you have tons of padding from snowpants, etc) and that became his new game for the afternoon. All in all, it was a great day and we headed home one tired crew—all four kids took a nap and Jen and I were reminded how sweet our kids are….(when they are sleeping!) The following day was Christmas Eve. I made my first ever spinach and mushroom feta cheese quiche and we headed over to my parents’ house for brunch to hang out with my immediate family… I used to think I had such a small little family, but we are growing, slowly but surely. It now consists of my parents, my sister and her husband, Nate, my brother and his long-time girlfriend, Erin, Max and I, Ryder and Piper… Doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you add in Goose (my parent’s German shorthair), TeeJay (my sister’s rat—I have no idea what kind of dog it is—the kind in lady and the tramp I think) Mickey (our lazy golden retriever), and Tuff (my brother’s adorable, yet VERY high energy lab puppy). Yeah, we are dog people, and it gets a little crazy. (And in case you were wondering, the quiche was delicious…I will definitely be making that again! YUM) After brunch we headed home for Christmas Eve church service and then just got to go home and hang out together. Ryder was so excited for Santa, he went to bed like a champ! The next morning, we were lucky enough to have both kids sleep in for a change, and then we opened Santa’s presents… Ryder was thrilled with his new things and is still finding new things to play with to this day… Later that day we headed to Grandma Betty’s, celebrated with the whole Johnson crew and that evening went to my parents for the Hendrickson get together. Are you exhausted yet? Because I was by this time... But yet Monday came and we had yet another Christmas brunch at Mark and Cindys with Max’s immediate family… More good food, more good people, more calories consumed, yada yada… It goes without saying that when we left, my little family took a 2 hour nap!!


After that week we dealt with a lot of puke and a lot of laundry, because Ryder got some type of flu-bug. Not fun, not cool. But we rolled with it and eventually it cleared up and he headed up for his annual trip to Breezy Point with the Barricks… Since we were down one kiddo, we decided somewhat last minute to meet up with some friends for New Years Eve since our other plans fell through… Little P went to visit Grammie Cindy and Papa Mark and Max and I headed over to Emily and Andy’s for a couple hours. So glad we did—nothing like ringing in the new years with good friends! :) We picked up P on the way home that night and enjoyed our next couple days off… RELAXING and working on the kids’ playroom downstairs. It is coming together, and I love it so far! Now my little man is back home with us, thankfully… 5 minutes after walking in the door, he had turned my entire living room into a ‘fort’ with draped blankets and pillows everywhere…. So much for my clean house!!