Tractor Dreams

Eli's favorite place to be these days is on a tractor (lawn mower), especially if his daddy is on there too! Mark took Eli for a little ride on Saturday afternoon, and Eli fell asleep on Mark's lap. He looked so cute, I had to snap a few pictures. He was probably dreaming sweet tractor dreams!

Our Little Graduate

Olivia graduated from kindergarten on Friday night. Our co-op had its end of the year program, and our class of three kindergartners received their diplomas. We are proud of our little scholar!

Future Presidents???

Olivia is Growing Up!

Olivia lost her very first tooth while we were in Houston last weekend. It had been loose for a while, and she had been dreading the moment it would come out. She was convinced it would be painful. Much to her delight, it was much less traumatic than she had thought it would be. Someone left her a couple of dollars under her pillow. Olivia was one happy girl! I told her that I was a little sad that she was getting so big. She said, "Mama, I still have lots of teeth left to lose!" I love that spunky little girl!

We bought Isaac a swing set when he was a toddler. We spent a lot of time looking at options and deciding which one to buy. We decided to go with an inexpensive metal one. Many minutes were spent pushing our little man in a baby swing and then on a "big boy" swing. Over time, three more little ones joined him on the swing set. We moved it across town and then to a new state. By the third house, it was still working well, but it was starting to look a bit more rusty. When we moved here, we decided it was time to buy a new one. Some of the bolts were stripped, and it had seen better days. The various pieces laid in the yard and on the patio for the past year. I set aside some money and started looking at new swing sets. One night last week, Isaac said, "Why don't we just put the old one together?" Mark decided to give it a try. He had to improvise a bit, but he was successful in putting it together. The children are thrilled with the results of his labor! Eli has joined them in their swinging. We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of this swing set!

Fishing Rodeo, Part 2

While the older children were fishing, Eli was trying out three new delights-- "Jumpy Things" (The Johnson family term for inflatables), cotton candy, and snow cones. He thoroughly approved of all three! I also caught a picture of Anna Grace winking over her snow cone! What a happy day!

The Fishing Rodeo Part 1

Fishing is not something that we do very often. In fact, we are downright inexperienced at it. I think that it is one of those things we might enjoy after we are out of the toddler stage. Mark's company hosts a "Fishing Rodeo" at the company park each April, so we get a small taste of what fishing is all about.

Last year, Isaac fished for about five minutes before he became bored with the whole experience. The company also has inflatable slides, face painting, cotton candy, and other temptations that lure children away from the fishing. This year, he hung in longer and was rewarded with a catch! Olivia borrowed the pole and caught one also. They were both thrilled with their fish. They were blissfully unaware that there were prizes for the biggest fish, and that their sweet little fish were some of the smallest ones. The thrill of the catch was enough of a reward for them!