So I've been neglecting this...

After a long hiatus that I have no excuse for, I'm going to try and get back on the blogging wagon.

There has been a lot going on these days! I just officially became unemployed! I'm so happy. I was getting really tried of working in a bar, especially THAT bar, and am so relieved to be done. Its very nice to not have weekly repeated reminders of how gigantic I am getting. Seriously...you would think those people had never seen a pregnant woman before. It made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside to hear about how their niece or daughter is 2 months farther along than me but I'm SO much bigger than her! Thanks! I'm pregnant, what's your excuse, jack...never mind...:)

<----I cannot get a good picture these days to save my life. That may be partly because I never have pictures taken of me, and I probably get 'picture ready' about 2 days a week. Not too many photo ops right at the moment. I need to work on that.

You can see some of the belly in this picture. That's what I was going for! Also, this angle hides the double chin and huge butt quite nicely! Woo-hoo! Now if I could just add in a smile sometime...another thing on the to-do list. :) I'm almost 20 weeks now! Almost 1/2 way there! My big ultrasound will be on March 12th (or right around there anyway, I don't have the paper in front of me!) We are going to have another surprise. I definitely prefer it that way! I think its a boy!
Elijah is almost officially 18 months. I can't believe it! He's so big now and his personality is really coming out. I LOVE this age and stage. He's getting big enough to accurately communicate his wants and needs. He's definitely big enough to pull his own weight with his brothers.

He weaned, or rather, I weaned him, a bit over a month ago. I was ready. He was too. It didn't take much prodding and was pretty painless for all involved. Thank goodness. I know some people can do it, but I would not be cut out for nursing all the way through pregnancy, or nursing two kids after the baby is born.

He eats like a horse! He'll eat a cup of cereal for breakfast, then wait until his brothers are done with theirs and polish off their left-overs. I've never seen a kid so small eat so much! Its entertaining, to say the least. He eats more than Daniel, who is 4.5!
Here's Daniel, in his new favorite jammies. Current likes are 1)Irritating Isaiah 2) Transformers 3)Bike riding 4) Playing Wii games 5)Crafts, especially ones that involve glue and/or scissors!

He's turning into such a little BOY, which I love. I can't believe he's going to be FIVE this summer. That's crazy to me. It really does go by fast. Unbelievable. He's very excited for the new baby, and thinks this summer will be the very best ever!

"In June it gets to be MY birthday, then in July the new BABY! Woo-hoo!"

He's a very logical kid. Last night we were reading Dr. Suess before bed. We read The Lorax. Looking at one of the pictures he noticed one green hand coming from one side of the page, and another coming from the other. "Mom, how does that guy have one hand right there, and the other WAY on the other side. He couldn't reach that far!"

He's very excited for a summer full of bike riding, swimming, boat rides, and playing in the tree house.
Here is Isaiah. I'm not sure why his cheeks were so red in this picture! He looks like he had blush on! Anyway, Isaiah has the kindest sweetest heart of any kid I know. If one of his brothers is hurt or crying or upset, he goes out of his way to try and make them happy. This includes giving up whatever it is he's playing with, eating, drinking, or doing.

He loves coloring and drawing. Also a current like for both the big boys is Lincoln Logs! They love them! Isaiah is also the best sleeper. We finally got both the older boys going to bed like normal little boys, getting a book read, saying prayers, drink of water, hug and kiss, and going to sleep...on their own. It was a bad habit we'd formed ourselves before, laying with them until they fell asleep. I'm so glad to be done with it! It makes the nighttime routine so much easier. I still wouldn't have changed it though. I had YEARS of good cuddles with those two. Often times they'll still climb into bed with us in the early morning hours. I'm ok with that...for now. :)

So, I think that's it for the moment. Have I caught you up enough! I'll try, again to post more often. Not only for you guys, but for me. I forget the little things with so many of them to remember.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Well there goes any dreams of home-made haircuts!

Meeting many protests I was going to attempt to 'clean up' the boys' hair a bit today. I've done it before with varying results (cough, cough), there was this ONE time while trimming by Daniel's ears that he moved. Suddenly. The clipper may have left a small, teeny, tiny nick in his ear.

Now? Me and clippers = terrifying tear inducing trauma for Daniel, who in turn scares the begeepers out of Isaiah as well. Great!

Daniel told me at the end that "I just want the lady to do it at the place. And I'll tell her if she's going too fast.". Poor little guy. I think I've scarred him, physically and mentally!

How I'm feeling today...

That about explains it all in one picture. It wasn't taken today, but man oh man. I was actually doing better in that photo than I am at the moment. At least I had my hair brushed and makeup on! Not the case at the moment, and its, oh, almost 3:45! Oops!

Today has been utterly useless. All I've done today is feed and change my kids, and partially pick up the living room. That's it. Oh, I also cleaned out the litterbox. It NEEDED it, trust me. (yuck yuck yuck)

I hate it when I waste days away. I keep telling myself thoughout the day, "Ok, 10 more minutes and I'll get off my butt and get some more stuff done." More often than not, it just doesn't happen.

I'm going to work on getting the blog revamped. I need some fresh pictures for the title bar, since those are now a year old, and a bigger/better layout. I want to be able to have a list of my favorite blogs I check out (Hi SpongemomSquarePants!) on the side. I want some pretty colors, and some 'other than stock' buttons for things like subscribing (HA! Subscribers?? Don't you need readers first??).

I want to get back into this blogging business.

Like I said in my last post, I used to be REALLY into this whole blogging thing. I had hundreds of peopel visiting my blog weekly. Not a lot to some of you big-times, but it was a lot to me! I like to feel like I'm a part of that community. The only difference now, is that I've let the cat out of the bag and my family (Hi Mom!) reads here now! They mostly read for new pictures and funny stories I believe, which are few and far between these days. They might be in for an eyeful now! :) Oh the stories I could tell. Nothing like total transparancy, right?

I can't promise that I'll blog every day, but I'm certainly going to do so more than once a month or so as I have been! Funny pictures and stories included. They happen daily around here. :)

Thanks for checking me out....

Poor, poor, pitiful me!

Because I know that I don't really have any 'readers' anymore, I've become a little blog neglectful. There was a time "back in the day " when I had a lot of readers! Well, a lot of readers by my standards anyway. Enough that I was checking my site tracker weekly, and marveling at the tens of people who had stopped by to read my drivel.

Then I had to change my blog address, and I deleted my old blog due to some online drama that I won't get into at the moment...

Then I went on a blogging 'strike'.

Then all of my funny stories got lost in my own, short, short memory for all of that time.

NO MORE, I say! I don't blog for readers, I blog for memories. If I happen upon some readers in the process (Hi Mom!), so be it!

I've been crazy busy lately. I started working again back in July, and though most weeks it is only one night a week, its really seemed to add a LOT to my schedule. The last few weeks my friend and coworker has been on vacation, so I've been working three nights a week. I don't know how people work full time AND have a family. There just isn't enough time in the day. Bartending has been, interesting. Its a decent spot, and the crowd is pretty mellow for the most part. It can just be a really depressing job. So many sad, sad, people.


We also moved back into July. I *hate* moving, but man, was it ever worth it! We moved HERE....yeah...I'll take that view any day over the double-wide falling apart trailor view that I had previously. We had a beautiful August, and a gorgeous September. The weather was great and we enjoyed many days swimming in the lake. The house also came with a hot tub. Ahhhhh...heaven. We keep it bath-water warm so that the boys can play in it. After an initially hard learning curve with the hot tub chemicals, I think I've finally got it down! Yeah me!

Now my 'battle' is keeping the fur tumble-weeds off of the laminate floors! Bleh!


Daniel has been growing and growing. He's grown out of two pairs of shoes this summer. Its crazy how that happens. We're starting a little 'in-home' preschool with him very soon. He's so excited. I think he'll do well with it, its me that has to get disciplined about it. We've been toying around with the idea of homeschooling for Kindy as well, but haven't made any definite decisions as of yet.

We're both conflicted. If Daniel goes to public kindy, I want him to wait unil he is 6. He's a classic summer boy birthday, and the debate rages on whether or not to start them 'on time'.

Elijah has moved from being a 'baby', to just being 'one of the guys'. Or so he thinks anyway! He spends his days chasing his big brothers, trying to steal their toys, pulling the cat's hair, and spilling things. :) Just what a 1 year old loves!

I get the biggest kick out of this kid. He LOVES hugs and kisses, and has a REAL thing for his Daddy. Its so, so sweet. He also now LOVES kissing his brothers! Big, wet, slobbery open mouth kisses. So cute.

Isaiah's talking has exploded the last few months. He's saying everything he wants, having full conversations with his brother, and just blossoming. Its so cute to hear him. I think because he started talking so late, it really made me appreciate it more. Or maybe he is JUST.THAT.STINKING.CUTE. This is the most expressive kid I've ever met. His facial expressions crack me up, every day. He's got the kindest heart. He is our cuddler right at the moment. The perfect size to just wrap up and snuggle. This is a classic Isaiah face. This is him, excited. He isn't really into posing for the camera at this point, so most of the pictures I have of him are making funny faces and sticking his tongue out. That's cute and all, but I like a good smile now and then.

Next time, I'll tell the story of why we're currently on a potty training 'break' with Isaiah. It involves Isaiah, Elijah, a fork, and the carpet. I'll leave it at that for now. Not for those with a weak stomach. I don't know why this is showing up as a link. I wish I knew more HTML. Don't click! I think its just the picassa link and I don't know how to shut it off....

My three boys....just before their first birthday...

Here is Isaiah! One day before he turned one year old. :) He's showing us his cheerio. So cute!
















Here's Daniel! This was a few days before his first birthday. He had already mastered getting up and down off of the couch. Very big stuff...













Here is Elijah! He's eating the blackberries Jeremiah and Daniel went and picked. He LOVES his blackberries!!

I can't believe my third baby is about to turn one!! Its goes way too fast. He's a big guy now....a...TODDLER!! Oh no!!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great time yesterday. First we went to one of Jeremiah's friends' homes. The boys all dug for clams since the tide was out and his friends live right on the Puget Sound. I actually tried one! I wasn't a fan! I'll stick to my clam chowder, anyday. Little pieces, that's the key! The taste was good, but the texture...bleh. My camera wasn't charged, so I don't have pictures of that.

After that we went to our other friend's house. The same one we are moving into next month! Of COURSE I forgot to take pictures of the actual house/property. I did get a couple of good ones of the boys though! They both tried out tubing behind the boat.



Isaiah wasn't a huge fan at first, but tried it again when Jeremiah, Daniel and I were going. It was a blast!


Jeremiah wakeboarded. His first time in YEARS! He's sore today. As was the pattern yesterday, I didn't have my camera out on the boat for that. I wish I would have! Jeremiah did GREAT! He took a couple of hard spills, but really did good, especially since he hasn't done it in SO long.

The fireworks on the lake were amazing.


They are ALL legal out here, and the people on the lake really went all out. The show lasted for well over an hour, almost 2! All three boys fell asleep during the fireworks.



I made a cheesecake. It cracked, which wrecked the decoration I had on it, but still tasted good! Everyone seemed to like it. I got a few "this is the BEST cheesecake EVER!" comments. I like those!! I don't make it often because its so much work, so when I do I really like it when people enjoy it.


Today we were busy cleaning. I'm trying to get the house in order before my BIG HUGE AWESOME trip!!! Yup! In case you haven't yet heard, I'm going to Minnesota July 9th to the 15th. It'll be just me and the baby this time. I can't wait. I'm SO nervous leaving my big boys, but we'll all be ok. (I keep repeating that to myself!) I've just never been apart from them for so long, especially so far away.

I'm sure it'll be fine. I don't know what I'll do with myself having only one child to take care of for 6 whole days! I bet I'll figure it out though!!

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Just another update!

Its been a long week in the Johnson house. The kids were all sick, and had runny noses, coughing, the whole bit. Not fun. I've been covered in boogers and snot all week, but surprisingly enough I haven't caught it yet. For that I am really, really thankful! As little patience as I have now for the seemingly constant whining, it would be substantially less if I was sick too.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

That pretty much sums up how we all felt this week. Hopefully they get better, and soon!!

I'm trying to figure out the Audacity program, that edits mp3 files. I have a bunch of songs that I've done at church, but they are all strung together and I'm trying to figure out how to split them up. I'm not having much luck. I usually pick up programs pretty quickly, but this one has me baffled.

Ok, I have to go break up yet another fight. Wish me luck! (is it nap time yet???)