Family Time

We love Uncle Wes and Aunt Rebecca!
We can now "officially" call Lindley "Aunt"!

Eli loves Uncle Bo!

The children and I spent ten days in Tennessee visiting our family this month. Mark had to work, so he joined us for the last few days of our trip. We had a great time staying with my parents and Mark's mom and visiting with family. My brother Bo (in the real world he is known as Bob, but that childhood name is stuck in my head!) and his love Lindley got married on the last day we were there. I am so glad we could be there! My brother Wes and his wife Rebecca flew in also, and we loved being with them. Family is precious, and I am so thankful for the time I can spend with mine!

I always underestimate how tiring it can be to be on vacation with the children. Eli displayed his fit throwing talents (he is an expert two year old, even though he is only 22 months!). It was nice to get back home and get everyone back into a "normal" routine and back into their normal beds! It takes several days for me to catch up.

Keys to a Good Night's Sleep

A Special Blankie + A John Deere = A Good Night's Sleep!

Hair

It is amazing how much time, effort and money is put into hair! People all over the world have an opinion on what makes hair look good. People all over my house have opinions on this very same topic! This week, the girls have been into having their hair braided (started by last weekend's prairie party). Anna Grace brushes and brushes her hair trying to make it straight. Olivia likes wearing hers in a ball on top of her head. Bailey has started fixing her hair by herself. And on and on.

Recently, Isaac has started to have an opinion about his hair. I guess it is a sign that he is growing up (or maybe he is just trying to drive me crazy...). He inherited his mom's curly hair, and it is bugging him (I feel his pain). He has decided that he wants to grow his hair out, especially on top. He has visions of flipping his bangs over to the side. Isaac is a pretty compliant guy, so I have been trying to give him his independence. I did finally put my foot down and took him to get a trim yesterday. Our hairdresser, Tyler, is a great guy, so I thought that he would be good to listen to what Isaac says and still give him a good haircut. After Isaac was in the chair, I remembered the fact that Tyler has long hair, and that he might side with Isaac on this one. He did trim him up on the sides and in the back. He then did something that thrilled Isaac's heart. He pulled out a flat iron. Isaac came out with straight bangs on top. He said, "This is my hair dream come true!" I suspect that I am going to have a hard time getting Isaac in the shower!

It reminds me of my favorite line from Charlotte's Web. Fern's mom had gone to see the family doctor because she was worried that Fern was spending too much time with the animals and claimed that they talked to her. The doctor wisely said, "There is a name for this. It is a childhood phase, and sadly, it passes all too quickly."

Apples!

A friend gave us a bag of apples last week, and we decided to make some applesauce. It was a totally new experience for us. We usually just have to open a jar to eat applesauce! We borrowed a Pampered Chef corer/peeler/slicer (which is a really neat doo-dad!), and set to work. Isaac was my right hand man -- he loved working the "heavy machinery". He did let Olivia take a few turns as well. It was a bit of adjustment for the children, who are used to the pretty apples that come in a bag at Walmart, to sort through the small, holey apples. They even discovered a worm or two. We were all amazed at how much the apples cooked down, and how little applesauce we actually ended up making. The applesauce was yummy, and making it was a good experience for us all!

The High Dive

Bailey has a bit of an adventurous streak in her. She loves the roller coasters and fast rides at Amusement parks. She has also developed a love for the high dive at the pool. Now that she has had swim lessons, we have given her a bit more freedom in the deep end. We went to a church pool party last week, and she spent a lot of time in line for the high dive. It has been a LONG time since I went off one myself, but I can still remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach looking down at the water. I kind of got that same feeling in my stomach seeing my little girl up their looking down. Bailey is growing up before my eyes!

Anna Grace

Anna Grace was watering our plants with water from the wading pools. Every time she passed by my chair, she wanted me to take her picture. I ended up with four or five pictures of Anna Grace carrying water. She and I are quite the opposite. I have no desire to have anyone take a picture of me in a swimsuit. Aah the joy of being a little girl...

Our Littlest Water Soldier

Eli loved our water fight. He was not the least bit afraid to get water in his face! His favorite part was throwing water on Mommy and Daddy!

Friday Night Water Fight!

The Refueling Area

Friday nights are Family Night at our house. We had nachos for supper, and then the children wanted to have a water fight with their Daddy. Being the great daddy that he is, he agreed. I kept a camera in my hands, so I was exempt (a pretty good strategy, if I do say so myself!). Isaac filled up our wading pools, and they were all set!

Each of our children have different water fight personalities. Isaac took it very seriously! He was very focused on dumping as much water on his daddy as possible. Bailey preferred to act as a refueler, helping all sides in the war. Olivia acquired a high tech weapon (also known as a pool noodle, that she used to blow out water at her dad). Anna Grace splashed around most of the time. Eli walked around with a measuring cup of water. He ended up dumping it on his own head most of the time. He did not get the memo about not getting the picture taker wet, so I ended up with some wet legs!

We had fallen into a rut of watching television most Family Nights, so it was nice to do something different. Cheap fun and the grass got a drink at the same time!

Johnson Men

I snapped this picture of the men of our family during Bailey's birthday party. They wisely chose to stay outside with the other dads and brothers during most of the party. There was too much "girl stuff" going on inside!

Bailey's Birthday, Observed

Little Party on the Prairie

The Birthday Girls


Quilt Cookies

The Birthday Cake

Yummy Food

Bailey turned eight back at the beginning of July. We had a family celebration then, but we celebrated with friends this past weekend. Her friend Mary Anna turns eight later this month, and they both like American Girl Dolls, so we decided to have a combined party for them. The girls both have a Kirsten doll, so we had a prairie party. Thirteen little ladies came to help them celebrate.

As the girls came in, they each decorated a square sugar cookie. We put all of the cookies together, to make a cookie quilt (which was eaten later, of course!). The girls then made handkerchief dolls and decorated wooden spoons. Next on the agenda was square dancing, which was a hoot to watch! Mary Anna's great uncle played the fiddle.

The girls had worked up quite an appetite, so it was time to eat! The menu included corn on the cob, sandwiches, chips, strawberries, raw veggies and dip. For desert we had the birthday cake (decorated beautifully by Mary Anna's mom Melissa), cookies, old fashioned candy and homemade peach ice cream (my favorite food of the night!).

The girls recieved lots of nice presents, and had a great time with their friends. Best of all, they made wonderful memories they will treasure for a very long time! Praise God for friends!

Swim Lessons!

I have not been a good swim lesson mom! In fact, it has been one of those things that made me feel a bit guilty, so I pushed it to the back of my mind! I enrolled Isaac and Bailey in swim lessons several years ago, when Anna Grace was a baby. I dutifully drove across town every afternoon during rush hour traffic for a week. We had a thirty minute lesson, which we shared with our friends Jadon and Jonas. Bailey and Jonas refused to get in the water, so Isaac and Jadon had some personalized attention. While they were in class, I got to chase Olivia and keep Anna Grace happy. I think the experience scarred me, because after that, I shuddered every time I heard the words swim and lesson in the same sentence.

After that I kept putting swim lessons off. My friend Tanya gave Bailey unofficial swim lessons two summers ago when she came to visit. Last winter, the children started asking to take them. It was easy to promise back in January when there was snow on the ground. It started to get warmer, and I kept procrastinating on calling. Taking five children to a pool everyday for a week made me feel tired!

Finally, I called and set up lessons for the last week in July. Our lessons were about 25 minutes away in Cave City. Our teacher was a sweet college student who was great with the kids. We were the only people at the pool, which was nice. There was also a fenced in baby pool, which was perfect for Eli to splash in while the others were in the big pool. We had a private lesson for an hour. Anna Grace got the first fifteen minutes, and she worked on beginning things like putting her face in the water and floating. The others had forty-five minutes. The worked on a couple of different strokes, as well as tredding water and diving.

Overall, the swim lessons were much less painful than I had anticipated. The children learned a lot, and had lots of fun. Maybe I am over my swim lesson phobia!

School Pictures...

How did he get to be in 4th grade?!?

Our sweet 3rd Grader!

I love that snaggle tooth smile!

Our little Anna Grace is in Pre-K!

We started back to school last Monday. I wanted to get a jump on our year because we have a couple of trips planned in the next few months. Our first day went well. Olivia and Anna Grace had been asking to do school for several weeks, so they were very excited to start! Isaac and Bailey were not quite as excited, but they worked hard, without much complaining. Even Eli was relatively quiet on our first day! I bought him some Bristle Blocks as "school work", which entertained him for about half an hour (which is like five hours in Eli time!).

The rest of our week was good, but challenging. I seem to go through an adjustment period during the first few weeks of school. I have to figure out to juggle our school work, housework, cooking, etc. I also have to figure out how to keep the littlest one occupied -- schooling with a toddler is hard work! Usually, after a couple of weeks, we get into a routine, and life gets a bit easier (or maybe I become numb). I know that this toddler phase passes all too quickly, so I try to be patient with my little man.

Even though it is challenging at times, I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to homeschool our children. It is truly a blessing! One week down and quite a few to go!!!

Donuts!!!!

Today was our first day of school, and we wanted to start things off right. We headed to Daylight Donuts for a yummy back to school breakfast! We all had plenty of sugar, and left happy. Thankfully nutrition was not in my lesson plans for the day!

Kim's Dirty Little Secret

I have a little secret that I am keeping from my family. Everyone has been a bit tired and grumpy the past couple of evenings. It has been wearing on me and making me a bit tired and grumpy too! I took matters into my own hands and set our clocks about ten minutes fast. This may not seem like a big thing, but I get to put my sweet, sweet children to bed ten minutes early. Some nights, ten minutes seem like an eternity! I did not even tell my sweet husband.... Shhh! Don't tell!