Happy Easter

I get really excited when I find things that I have bought in advance that were on clearance the year before. I marvel at how smart I am that I don't have to purchase things at full price and that I paid so little and got the items in advance. I almost want to kiss myself when I find these items that I have tucked away. - Well, after this past Easter, when I knew I was having a girl, I went ahead and picked up a cute little Easter outfit for Brooke. I figured that this baby would be about Kate's same size, since that is all I had to go off of, so I got the size according to how big I thought she would be next Easter. Needless to say, I was a little off, or she is a little off, or Kate. Either way, here is Brooke wearing her little Easter outfit at Christmas time. Happy Chreaster!

Girly Girl

Kate is such a girly girl. She loves anything to do with dress-up, jewelry, make-up, etc. So, I got her this little princess vanity for Christmas.

Now this is what my little 2 year old has turned into.

I dread the fights we're going to have when I need to go out in public with her.

Giggly Girl

Sorry this is a bit dark. It is still fun to watch.

Simply the Best

I made these today for a little get-together tonight. I saw the recipe online and have not been able to get them out of my mind, and finally I have a reason to make them. Contrary to the title of the post, they are not the most "simple" things to make. They aren't terribly hard, but I would say they are more difficult based on the amount of clean-up you have to do afterward. However, they are simply perfection.



And speaking of perfection....

She is pretty sweet too.

P.S. While making these treats today I realized the vacancy of a double-boiler in my life. I need one. Santa....

Christmas Fun

This past Friday we had a little Christmas party with some friends from our ward. I spent the day baking and getting ready. Here is some of the yummy food before the party started. (You know I have to blog about what I bake) People brought even more great stuff to eat. We had quite a spread.

Chocolate Mint Biscotti. (Recipe from 'Picky Palate')

Chocolate Sheet Cake. (Recipe from my new Pioneer Woman cookbook)

Yummy Honey Baked Ham.

Cute festive babies. Mine is the chunk.

The guys' hangout.

The gals' hangout.

The kids' hangout.

Santa even made an appearance! It was great fun. - Then last night we went with Amy and Lorrin to Callaway Gardens to see Fantasy in Lights.

I swear these two have the same smile.

The cute, newly engaged couple.

The one usually behind the camera.


This place can help anyone get in the holiday spirit. The lights were so pretty and the kids were mesmerized. I highly recommend going.

Amy is Engaged!

My little sister, Amy, is engaged. I wanted to blog and show her ring. It is very pretty.


And here is Amy and her ring.

And here is Amy and me. Sometimes when we get together things just get silly. Maybe a little too silly. The rest of these are photos where we just got a little carried away. We were in tears laughing so hard. We would name a face to make and then laugh at each of our interpretations of the category.


#1) Big Eyes

#2) Cross Eyed

#3)Squinty Eyes

#4) Big Mouth

#5) Big Teeth

#6) Small Face

#7) Frowny Face

#8) Deer in Headlights

#9) The deer got hit.

#10) Duck Lips

#11) Chin Rolls

#12) Big Cheeks

#13) And the back of our heads.

There were even more, but I think this is enough. You get the idea...probably more than you want to.

Pioneer Woman Book Signing

Last night I went up to the Pioneer Woman's cookbook signing. Ree Drummond was at the Border's bookstore up by Phipps Plaza, so Shondra and I, along with my 5 month old, drove up to get our cookbooks signed.

We arrived a Border's happy and excited.

A glimpse of the Pioneer Woman, who we didn't get to meet for another 3 1/2 hours.

We settle in to waste some time.

I dealt with a fussy little girl.

And Shondra sat and read through the cookbook. We had a lot of time to waste.

This shot is to show how long Brooke's eyelashes are. They are crazy long. I have wanted to show them on my blog, but have never been able to get a good shot of them because they are so light colored. This angle shows them pretty well. Anyhow, we were still wasting more time.

We finally got called up to get in line. This is me about 5 minutes away from meeting her. The reality here is that my back and legs are KILLING me, absolutely killing me. I didin't mind waiting, but Brooke is not a little baby and I was sooo sore. I just wanted to get out of there and go home. And then, I finally got to meet her.

I was so tired that I really didn't have anything clever to say. I had been withered down to nothing. I still managed to smile, so that is good. And she was really so sweet and personable (Amazing after having to sit there and sign books for hours. Her hand was probably more sore than my back.)

Then we also got to meet Betsy, her sister, and Hyacinth, her friend.

It was a fun night, and yes it was worth it. Thanks Shondra for being a devoted fan with me!

For Sale

My new yard decor.


I love my house.


We have lived here close to 3 years and I love this place. We were so blessed to find a lot in Peachtree City and lucky to be able to pick pretty much whatever floorplan we wanted. I chose everything about this house. It is about as close to perfect as it gets for me and it is right around the corner from my parents. As of today it is up for sale.

No, Stan has not lost his job. Yes, we are doing fine. But things are a bit scary out there for a lot of people. Many people are upside down on their homes. Luckily, we are not in that situation. Our plan is to sell our house and hopefully get a decent amount of equity where we can take advantage of the many good deals out there and downsize a bit, and plan more for the future. We do not know where we are going to move. We won't be moving far, but we probably won't be staying in Peachtree City. However, we won't start looking until our place sells, and knowing how things are out there, we could still be here for quite some time. Stan feels like this is the right thing for us. I am pretty sure it is the right thing too, but it is not easy seeing that sign in my yard. But the right thing is not always the easy thing, and if anything, it is probably a wise decision. I feel that we have made good decisions in our life together up to this point, and hope this ones ends up being a good one too.

Black Friday

This post is dedicated to Kinsey, who wants to know what I got. I wasn't going to blog about it, but this one is for her.

11:30 Thanksgiving night, I leave my house and head to the Toys R Us in Fayetteville. Going into ghetto-ville by myself at night, I was armed with my mace. I arrived hoping to get in line early enough that I would be able to buy a little princess vanity for Kate and a few Thomas the trains that were on sale for Jake. When I got there, the line was already past Best Buy, around the side and all the way around the back of the building. It was BEYOND ridiculous. I decided to go back to my car. I was about to go home, but I thought...What if? What if I can really somehow get those items? Is it worth my life? Probably not. I stay in my car. At 12:00 when the store opens, I realize the the police are keeping things pretty calm and it is all rather organized. I get out of my car and about go in the store. Yep, everything I wanted was out. I should have known. The line for the register is like nothing I have ever seen. I refuse to even look for anything else. I walk back to the car and head home.

Once I get home, I climb into bed and have a hard time falling asleep. I know I have to get up at 3:00 and head to Kohl's. I finally doze off when Brooke wakes up. I feed her and then try to sleep. I get a few zzz's but have to pull myself out of bed when my alarm goes off. I debate feeding Brooke again, but I don't want to disturb her, and I had fed her just 1 hour earlier. I leave and head for Kohl's.

I get to Kohl's and the line is not too bad at all. I only have to wait about 20 minutes in the cold. Some lady in front of me is holding her 3 year old daughter. Why oh why someone would do this to their child is beyond me. I don't mind exposing myself to such craziness and mayhem, but I would never drag my kids out into the cold at 3am to go shopping. Grrr. Ok, so I get in the store and don't think to grab a cart. It is practically impossible to shop. I finally get one and can finish my shopping. I bought some pots and pans for my sister who is getting married (Amy), some new silverware to replace the hodge-podge collection that we have. I got some blocks for Jake, a princess lamp for Kate, a coin collecting jar that keeps track of the total collected (for my dad). Oh, and some candles. Then off to Wal-Mart.

I can't bring myself to do the Wal-mart in Newnan (Oh, there is a big difference and I even try to avoid ours at all cost). I head to PTC. I get there a few minutes late but I am able to fight the crowds enough to get a chest of dress up clothes for Kate and a Dinosaur mountain toy for Jake....and a couple of 'color wonder' coloring pads. Then I head to Target.

By the time I get there, many of the doorbuster items were gone, but I did get the little princess vanity to replace the one I missed out on at Toys R Us. This one is better anyhow. I also got some PJ's for the kids and a couple of DVD's. I took my time a little more there. I don't mind Target too much. The lines to check out were not too bad, so I check out and head home.

Luckily, Brooke has been asleep this whole time. I crawl back into bed, and 5 minutes later she wakes up. I think I was able to sleep for about an hour after that, but then I have to go into mom mode. My sister Amy was nice enough to come over and watch the kids for a while so that I could nap. So, there is my black Friday shopping experience. I still don't know if I have caught up on sleep.

Merry Christmas!

I got excited when I realized that we already get to sing Christmas hymns in church! Woohoo!! Here is some Christmas cheer from the Johnsons!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Kate Quiz

I have done these types of quizzes in the past with Jake. Now that Kate is starting to talk more, here is one with her. Here are two little clips of Kate saying two different (but related) words. See if you can figure them out. The third clip is the answer. (She says the words more clearly in the first two clips.)

This one she only says the last three of a 4 syllable word.


This one she says pretty clearly.


Any guesses?????


The answer.



As I have mentioned several times in my blog, Jake is quite enamored with dinosaurs lately. Surprisingly, Kate has become quite fond of them as well. Today I asked her what they were and expected her to just say 'dinosaur'. I guess she has been paying closer attention than I thought. The allosaurus is really a velociraptor, but I was surprised she even knew the names of specific dinosaurs, and it does look a lot like an allosaurus, in her defense.

I love the last video and her crazy eyes when she roars, it kind of goes with her crazy hair. She is such a funny girl.

Houseguest

Meet Lorrin.

Lorrin likes her:

I am not quite sure why...



Ok, maybe she is a catch.

Lorrin is a smitten kitten. He has packed up his bags and moved all the way from Utah to my upstairs playroom just to be near my little sister. And because I love my little sis, I have allowed this stranger to move in with me. Plans are for him to be with us for several months. Now, you might think that he might be in the way, or a bit of a drain on us. Oh, but let me tell you, this boy is heaven sent. All my friends who have met this boy are already asking to borrow him, and wondering if he is trying to find other service projects. Let me share with you a little list of things that Lorrin has done since he has been here. He has: lined all my flower beds out front with bricks, raked the neighbor's yard of pinestraw and filled my flowers beds with this fresh pinestraw, cleaned the upstairs bathroom twice (and that boy knows how to clean; he has a good mom who taught him well), put shelves together for me, babysat, cleared out my garden, raked my parents' yard, cleaned out their car, and has helped me get the kids ready for church. (You know, all the things that I don't allow Stan to do, because I would rather have his help with the kiddos.) The other day I heard Amy ask him to go out and get something out of the car for her, and do you know he said???? He said, "I would love to."!!!! Is this guy for real? Now, I don't want to put news out there that isn't mine to share, but I think this guy might have some plans to make things a litte more permanent between him and my beanpole of a sister. I don't know what I am going to do when he moves out, but at least I can give my sister two thumbs up in her taste in guys. He definitely has my approval.

And his initials are LDS. So, can you really go wrong with that?

Fernbank

Today we wanted to take the kids out to do something fun. We ended up taking them up to Fernbank since Jake loves dinosaurs so much. It's been years and years since I have been there. I was impressed by all that they had to see. We were there for a couple of hours and did not see everything. We ended up getting season passes, so we'll be making some trips back. This is part of my effort to get out and do things with the kids since I took them out of school. Jake looooved the dinosaurs. He was quite upset when we left and cried to go back to the museum. Here are a few pics from our day.


Throwing leaves in the parking lot.

Large bronze dinosaurs outside Fernbank

Kids with the dinos. I can't remember their names (The dinos names....I know those other creatures pretty well.)

Dino replicas in the museum. (The Argentinasaurus and the Giganotasaurus) Jake was messsssmerized.

There was this 14 yr. old kid who was volunteered there b/c he loves dinosaurs so much. He showed us teeth from a giganotasaurus and a T-rex, and a dino egg. We learned that Argentinasaurus (the largest dino ever found) was discovered in Neuquen, Argentina where Stan served his mission.

My little omnivores, I think they are nocturnal.

They had a great area for kids to play. Here they are pollinating flowers.

Another dinosaur. A hadrasaur, I think. I am getting better with learning the dinosaurs, but still not that great.

Fun day. I am sure we will be going back soon.

Problem Solved!

You know, I really do like to help others out when I can. My sister, Amy, came to me with a little problem. She had a crazy week with her architecture classes at Georgia Tech. She worked on a big project all week and missed a lot of sleep. Because of this complained to me that she lost 3 pounds! Here was my solution.


I had some heavy whipping cream that I whipped up with some sugar. Then I took some bananas, sliced them up, coated them in sugar and cinnamon, and cooked them in butter. Then I made crepes. Inside these crepes went some nutella and the cooked bananas. Then on top went the whipped cream along with a drizzle of chocolate and caramel syrup.

This thing will make any problem go away, esp the problem of losing 3 pounds. You're welcome Amy! Now I need to go run a few miles.

Baking and Couponing

I know, I know...Shocker that I would blog about baking and couponing, but this time there's a twist. Today I couponed and baked with Kristin Wardwell!

Kristin is married to Stan's cousin, Troy. Kristin is a rockstar mom and wife and shares my love of baking and cooking. Today we got together because she wanted me to teach her how to coupon. I decided that we should also bake. It was fun hanging with her and this little cutie.

This is Bryn....such a cutie. She is only 11 days younger than my Brooke. Kristin always has the cutest little head bands on this girlie. Did I mention she is cute? And here is Bryn and mom baking me cookies.

The dough had to chill for a while, so we used this time to have our lesson in couponing. Look how good she is with those scissors...amazing! She is a natural at this whole couponing thing.

Then we threw the dough in the oven and this is what came out.

These are Chocolate Ginger Cookies. I wanted to make something new, seasonal, and chocolate; this is what I found. They were pretty good. The recipe even calls for chocolate chips (we used half a bag of mini chips). Yum!

Thanks for hanging out with us Kristin. Good luck couponing!