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!





-