just loving our summer!

I was with my aunt tonight at dinner and she reminded me that my posts have not been updated in quite a while. Well, my friends- I am here to update you on our wonderful summer so far!
It really has been wonderful... I am already having anxiety/panicking about going back to work in the fall because I LOVE being at home with Ryder --but I will save that dilemma for a different blog :)

Our days are spent quite leisurely! Each day Max heads to work and Ryder and I usually start off with a nice stroller walk to get our exercise in and then head back for breakfast/baths/showers, etc. Then it's time to head outside for a while until lunchtime, when Max comes home to eat with us! After lunch we usually run any errands we have to run (if any) sometimes visiting a park or the library, and then heading home for 'rest time' where Ryder gets to watch a movie to unwind for awhile... After that we usually practice some "homework" (coloring, writing, etc) and usually end up outside again as we wait for Max to get home... I also get my cleaning and laundry mixed in there at some point in time...Our nights are insane with volleyball league on Mondays, TBall on Tuesdays, Max golfing on Wednesdays, Zumba for mom and TBall for Ryder on Thursdays and NOTHING on Fridays -- thank goodness!

As for baby, she continues to grow and wiggle lots, as does my belly! I am 23 weeks this week and feel great! My only major complaints are that I get so much more tired out and can really tell when I've 'overdone' it. By about 7pm on some nights, I get into "pointing mode" as my husband calls it... It's when there is still stuff around the house that I want to finish, but I just can't move anymore and I "point" to what I need. (I.E.--I will point to the laundry in the dryer and ask Max to bring it to me on the couch so I can fold it without having to bend down to pick it all up and carry it over to the living room--haha) I am also not sleeping well lately (partially because of all the potty breaks, I'm sure!) All in all though, life is pretty good... This week I purchased our new stroller and carseat and I LOVE it! Our crib is also all set up and the baby's room is being painted as we speak :) --Compliments of Max, gotta love him!

Around the farm not much else is new, Starr is getting saddled up tomorrow for her first ride of the season (which I am sure she is just ecstatic about, lol) and the chickens are still clucking around somewhere as well....OOH! And I had my first peony bloom this morning and it's absolutely beautiful!! It has never bloomed for us so to see if finally bloom this year made me so happy! Those are our updates -- more to come soon!

*OFFICIALLY THINKING PINK!*

A week ago today was our 20 week ultrasound and we are ECSTATIC to announce that our little 'it' is officially a 'she!' :) It's about time for a little pink in my life!

Friday was an exciting day for everyone -- Ryder had his preschool graduation and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time! Those little kids are so damn cute and Ryder was definitely the class clown - just up on stage shaking what his mama gave him and making anyone/everyone laugh at his goofiness... He's such a ham! After that we grabbed a super nutritious lunch at Mickey D's (haha) and dropped Ryder off at Gramma Cindy's. After downing lots of water, Max and I headed to the hospital to check in for our ultrasound. Me and my "full bladder" that they request were not in the best mood as we were sitting waiting forever to be seen by the ultrasound tech, but finally they brought us back and we got to take a long look at this beautiful little baby growing inside of me! Of course they do all the tedious medical stuff first like measuring all the organs and stuff that didn't make any sense to me.... Then the time came when the tech asked us if we wanted to know the sex and I did hesitate just a bit, but we said YES!! She then did a close up of the 'goods' and said, "Well, that looks like little girls parts to me!!" It took a second to sink in, but once it did, I don't think I stopped smiling the entire appointment, or probably for the rest of the day actually. Of course at that point in time we would have been happy with a boy or girl after knowing that everything so far looks healthy, but getting a little girl out of the deal was sure a real treat! After that, we scooted over to the clinic to meet with our doctor for my normal checkup and then got to head back home to tell everyone our exciting news! It was a fabulous way to begin our memorial day weekend!
The next day on Saturday Ryder and I left Max to do his manly stuff here at home (aka-yardwork) and we met up with my friend Kelsie and her son Carson at the Minnesota Zoo! The boys had a blast, Kelsie and I had a great time catching up, and the weather was perfect... Of course on the way home, I realized I was only a few short minutes away from the Mall of America and I just couldn't justify not stopping being so close and all.... My daughter's closet may already be filling up quickly, don't judge ;)
The rest of our Memorial Day weekend was just spent hanging out at home, catching up on stuff, and grilling out with my parents. My dad served our country for 27 years of his life and if spending the day with him grilling out at his house is how he wants to be honored on Memorial Day then that is exactly what we do!
Looking forward to another fun filled weekend this weekend... My sister is finally moved back from Warren (like 4 hours away) and both her and her husband recently got hired at Holdingford High School so they will be moving to the St.Cloud Area soon (CONGRATS NATE AND MELLISSA!!) and will be around this weekend, and tomorrow is the highly prestigious Johnson Bros Lake Stella Triatholon! Good friends, good food = good day!

a lengthy update....

I guess you could say my lack of blogging lately has left us in need of some good old Johnson Family updates! I’m sure you are all just so curious as to what us exciting folks have been up to! Well, here you go…

Max….. has been pretty MIA lately! And by that, I mean I see him for a quick kiss in the evening when he gets home from work and then he’s outside pretty much til sun down! His major projects recently have included clearing out the trees in front of our sheds (which makes for a lot of chainsaw action and burn piles—two of Max’s favorite things to do in the world), taking down one of our sheds and using that gorgeous old rustic red barnwood to decorate the inside of our chicken coop, extending my beautiful horse Starr’s pasture and planting lots of greeny goodness for her to munch on in her new pasture, grilling, mowing the lawn and whippin’ those weeds, tilling up the garden, playing on the skid loader, and really just walking around looking for random stuff to do. The good news is, his little boy likes to tag along so makes for some nice free time for mommy!

Ryder Scott….is now four, of course, and he seems to think that is pretty cool. Now that we FINALLY have some beautiful weather, he has been reacquainted with his dirtbike, and it’s usually the first question out of his mouth when he gets home from daycare – “Can I ride my dirtbike now??” It is truly a passion of his, and as long as he STAYS SAFE – I’m okay with that. It’s also a nice way for him to really connect and spend time with his dad, and he really enjoys that as well, so everyone wins… In addition to riding his dirtbike, he has really shown an interest in baseball lately. My parents bought him a t-ball machine (best toy ever invented, seriously—if you are looking for a great toy for a toddler/preschooler, I highly recommend this!) last year for his birthday, and he has really gotten into it this year. We are planning on signing him up for t-ball this summer and he can’t wait! Ryder also loves to help me with my flowers… For Easter, one of the things he got was his own little watering can and he loves to fill it up and water each of my flowers in the landscaping and pick up sticks/twigs with his wheelbarrow around the yard.. He is a busy little man to say the least!

Speaking of Baby… JBaby is approximately 19 weeks old this week and I assume he/she is growing like a weed! Our ultrasound is a week from Friday on the 27^th and we can’t wait to sneak a peak of our little one! We are especially interested in finding out what kind of goods it’s carrying as we have decided we are PROBABLY (no promises) going to find out what we are having: boy or girl! Regardless of that, we are just hoping for everything to appear healthy and normal—but I will be secretly hoping (just a little bit) to be able to go out and buy some PINK when I leave—seriously, have you seen the cute baby girl clothes they make?? Adorable…

The Chicas…. Are ginormous! (I have no idea if that is indeed a word, it doesn’t come up on spell check so I must be WAY off on the spelling if it is, my bad!!) They went from cute little adorable baby chicks to these huge pecking monsters! They will hopefully begin laying eggs in August and when that happens, I will be supplying the majority of Meeker County with eggs, because what we will do with all those eggs, I just don’t have a clue!?

Starr…has a new pep in her step now that spring is finally here! She is itching to get out in the yard whenever possible and that’s when she’s most content. My doctor says NO NO to riding horse when preggo, so unfortunately I won’t be able to get on her this summer but Max promises to ride her (haha) and my sister said she’d come and ride from time to time this summer too, so she should be good with that!

Mickey… is Mickey. He is LOVING the weather and spends his day hanging out with Starr in her pasture and chasing Hootie (our farm cat) around. It’s an endless game, but they seem to enjoy it! He’s still huge, and thinks he’s not and will try to sit in your lap if you let him. He’s the biggest baby I know..

Hootie…is our farm cat, and doesn’t really like to be bothered, so there isn’t much to say about her except that she still only has half a tail (tragic incident) and must be finding her morals lately as she hasn’t quite been slutting around as usual because she hasn’t popped out any baby kitties in a while – a relief to us!

And as for me…. I spend my time barefoot and pregnant J I am counting down the days to be done with work for the year as it continues to be the biggest stressor in my life. The word burnout carries whole new meaning to me and I need a break. My plans for work as far as next year are still undecided which also causes a great deal of stress, but I’m learning to deal with it. On a more upbeat note, I have still been able to stay pretty active, which leaves me feeling good and energized! I still do Zumba twice a week in Cokato, usually walk around Lake Ripley whenever possible, and am still twisting like a pretzel in prenatal yoga on Tuesdays… I recently took Ryder’s 4 year pictures around our house and so have been spending my free time editing them when possible. Outside my time is spent with my landscaping, which I still love. I’ve already made multiple trips to the nursery -my money continues to disappear, and yet I still have a ton of empty pots to plant! I am looking forward to summer days spent relaxing and spending time at the cabin… In all reality, it will probably mean preparing for baby, and running around Ryder to all of his little sports and stuff. It’s a sad day when you realize your 4 year old has more of a life than you do! J    

Life is so much cooler when you are F-O-U-R!

Wow, it's been a while! Life has been a little hectic, let's just put it that way... Hoping for a slow down very shortly~! In the meantime of this crazy wonderful life, my little boy turned FOUR years old on April 28th. He is very excited about being four, and he had a wonderful birthday!

The day started off like most others, we wished him a happy birthday, made a special little breakfast, and went our seperate ways - Max and I headed to work, and off Ryder went to daycare. Around noon, Max and I met up at the bank (we only worked half days) and we drove over to Ryder's daycare to surprise him and pick him up early. He was a little confused why both of us picked him up and why it was only lunchtime until we explained to him that we were headed to the Mall of America for the day to go to Nickelodean Universe and go on the rides! And that we did, many many rides later, we found ourselves starving and grabbed a yummy supper at Rainforest Cafe, which Ryder thought was pretty cool! Within minutes of leaving the cities, we had a snoring little boy in the backseat which to this mama, means a successful birthday! When we got home, Ryder got to check out his new bike (which is a bright shade of orange, his favorite color of course!).... Overall, it was a great day and we were so happy to share it with our little man. The following Saturday was his birthday party and he had a blast running around with all of his cousins, opening his gifts, and chowing down on his 'dirtbike cake' :) Thanks to all of our family for making it a great birthday party!

At four years old Ryder:
* LOVES anything to do with Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story --he is obsessed!
* is also very very into "super heroes'" (ie: Spiderman, Batman, etc) and now loves action figure toys.
* still loves anything with a motor and although he hasn't had many opportunities to ride this year yet, still loves to hop on his dirtbike and cruise around the yard when possible...
* hates tomatoes. They are literally the one food that I just can't talk him into liking -- he refuses.
* loves to be silly and make anyone around him laugh just by being a complete goofball.
* has many friends from daycare and from preschool who he cherishes so much!
* is growing up way to fast, I have already witnessed some eye rolling and talking back, ummm...not okay.
* feels that "now since I am four I can wipe my own butt" --mom is not a fan of this as he's not quite thorough;)
* is SUPER excited for his new baby brother or sister on the way! Everyday at some point, he lifts up my shirt and talks to my belly and gives it kisses, he is so sweet....
* will be graduating preschool in a couple weeks.... I can't even believe this!
* now sleeps in his new 'big boy room' downstairs which is finally finished! We moved him down there and have not had a problem whatsoever!
*his favorite color is still orange...bright orange!
* LOVES being four :)

For the love of ZUMBA....

During long weeks (like this one felt like!) Thursday nights seem to take forever to get here... Thursday nights are Zumba nights - along with Saturday mornings and they are to be treasured! My sister-in-law Jen and I are faithful Dassel~Cokato Zumba participants and we like to think we work our asses off (literally!) for 90 minutes during each class session. Sadly, I am probably the only person in class whose belly is GROWING, not shrinking, but what can you do?? It still feels amazing to be able to get out of the house, get a great (and fun) workout in, and feel good about doing something good for myself! I will be truly bummed when the day comes that this preggo body of mine (or my doctor!) no longer allow me to participate in Zumba, so I enjoy it while I still can! If you have not ever given a real Zumba class a try-- I highly suggest you do so...

Okay, so other than shaking it at Zumba, we have been BUSY. And it's only going to get busier... Our basement is still sucking up the majority of my husband's time -but I think he secretly loves it. I have never considered Max to be a 'handy man' by any means but in the last year and half that we've been married, he has truly amazed me by his abilities, or more so, his willingness to learn since many of his friends are handy... All of this week he has been staining, painting, and tiling the entryway, bathroom, and shower. Early next week, the carpet gets installed and then our plumber will come finish up the last minute installations in the bathroom. After that, the basement will be pretty much DONE. We are excited/nervous to move Ryder into his new 'big boy room' downstairs to see how he does so we can start working on creating a nursery :) This was an exciting week for us because we ordered both the baby's crib bedding as well as Ryder's new bedding and they both arrived in the mail. We are so happy with both sets, which is a relief... Other than the basement, we are looking forward to spending Easter with our families this weekend and celebrating Ryder's 4th birthday next week! The week after that is Mother's day so you could say we have a busy few weekends ahead of us!! Thank goodness some of my energy is back :)

This article should be added to the constitution/bible/any other great work of literature...

MEGYN KELLY: The Top 5 Things You Should Never Say to a Pregnant Woman

By Megyn Kelly
Published April 07, 2011
FoxNews.com

Here is my list of five things you should not say to a pregnant woman in ascending order:
Number 5: Don't tell us how fat or out of shape you feel. We're packing at least 25 extra pounds as we deal with nausea, back pain, swelling, and a host of other unmentionables … and frankly, we just don't want to hear it.

Number 4: Don't tell us "it looks like we're having a girl." We all know what that means -- they say "girls steal your beauty." Well, they don't steal your hearing!


Number 3: Don't "kid" us about our condition. "Wide load coming thru!" is not funny. "Waddle on out of here" does not amuse. Ellen DeGeneres has a good rule on kidding. If we're not both laughing, you're doing it wrong.
P.S. And please don't joke that the pregnant meteorologist is blocking the weather map. Turns out, that's insulting.


Number 2: And I cannot stress this enough. … don't guess the due date. “Is that a Christmas baby?” Ummm, no -- April. “You sure? It looks like New Year's at the latest.” Please stop talking.
You see, pregnant women -- especially the second time around -- get bigger faster and we don't want to play the guessing game.
If you ask me when I'm due and I'm vague, just be quiet. We both know you're wondering how I got so big so fast. You see, I would be smaller, but I have another human being developing inside of me.


And the number one rule in dealing with a pregnant woman…
Don't comment on our bodies. Ever. Really. But especially when we're pregnant. What is it about a baby bump that makes people feel it's okay to say things like "God! You are big!!!"???
And don't say we look small either. That just makes us worry that something's wrong with our baby.
Whatever our bodies look like, it's our business. As for your thoughts? Keep them to yourself.Consider this age-old chestnut instead: "you look great."


-----Seriously friends, read this article, memorize this article, and if you are preggo like me, LOVE this article.  :) Goodnight! 

Finally Friday!

On this beeeaauuuttiful Friday morning I find myself in the lovely Cricket Meadow, sipping on an iced chai, and drowning myself in pictures... It has been my number one goal lately to ORGANIZE and EDIT all of Ryder's pictures from the last, ohhhhh about 3 years. Ugh. The thing is, I love photography, and I love photoediting (especially with my new photoshop elements software!) but I SUCK at actually printing pictures/scrapbooking because I just don't make the time. So today, while the monster is at preschool I have locked myself away to just upload pictures to Shutterfly and create some photobooks to get all of Ryder's up to date before the new baby comes. So far, it is not going as planned. Shutterfly takes forever to upload my pictures (and I have a lot of them!) so I sit and I wait... Good thing I am SO patient ;) (not)
Which reminds me that I need to get started on Ryder's 4 year pictures. I have some cute ideas so far and I *hope* to have them done, edited, and printed by the time of his birthday party to hand out to family and friends... Um, we'll see about that but it's a nice thought :)
We have a busy weekend ahead of us and I'm so looking forward to it! It is supposed to be beautiful today and tomorrow. After preschool today I think Ryder and I are going to trek up to St.Cloud to get a few things, and a haircut for Ryder, as it is definitely needed! If you haven't been to Kids Hair in St.Cloud, I highly recommend it. Ryder loves it there and they do SUCH a good job everytime, I have never been dissapointed.... After that we will head home, hopefully find time to walk the lake with my long lost workout partner, Becky and find time to play outside... Tomorrow we have a wedding reception in the evening which I am looking forward to because we haven't been "out" in quite a while! And Sunday, I think I heard rain is forecasted which means house cleaning and finishing up projects! I am so excited to post pictures of the basement when I get some new ones, it is all painted and the trim will be all up by tomorrow!! I absolutely love the way it is coming together and can't wait to move Ryder into his "big boy room" (he wants motocross theme--who could have guessed?? haha) so I can start working on the baby's nursery!! Speaking of baby-- I am a much happier preggo lady lately. Alot of my symptoms/misery from before is slowly starting to fade away and I finally am feeling energetic and more 'normal' lately! No, my jeans are not buttoned as we speak (the ponytail trick works wonders;)) but we wont' go there! Now that I feel better, I am SO SO SO excited for baby, baby things, and our ultrasound which will hopefully creep up somewhat fast --about 7 weeks left! We go back and forth about whether or not we are going to find out the sex of the baby or wait and be surprised...There are definitely perks of both ways. In all honesty, it will probably just depend on the mood I am in the day of the ultrasound and how much self control I have that day! Either way we will be ecstatic, just as long as it is healthy... Okay, back to pictures-- hope you all have a fabulous weekend like we hope to have!