Christmas etc.

The tradition in our family goes as follows:

1) I take a picture of the gifts Santa left for us after the kids have woken up (I made them sleep in our room this year...I caught Chase trying to escape at 1:00 in the morn. to see if Santa came)...

and 2) I take a picture of the kids before they see if Santa came. They claim they hate this...and so does Kirk. Kirk thinks the kids should be able to go out into the family room to see if Santa came BEFORE we wake up. Why keep them from peeking you ask? Well, b/c then the parents (especially the mom who has worked so hard to make their kids Christmas so special) miss out on their first reaction to what Santa left. And, you run the risk of the kiddies opening up some of the gifts.

Faith and her American Girl Doll...changing her earrings.

Chase playing w/his DS. His cousins got them too. They've been nonstop "DSing" it since Christmas. May he enjoy his limitless play until school starts.



When Ty and Crew woke up, they were surprised to see new toys to play with.



Kirk performing an operation in order to detach a toy from it's packaging.

The babies' favorite gift...Fruit Loops.

Chase schooling my sis. Tara on Bakugans.

If you ever have an old cell phone you're not using, let us know. They seem to be a big hit.

Our biggest Christmas gift, Kingston. He's an Arabian colt. He's a pretty chestnut color...a bit muddy here. We're able to keep him at my parents' place.

Faith feeding Kingston a carrot. She's in love!

Kirk and Kingston bonding. Kirk's even more in love!

Faith bought a new hat with her Christmas money. She wanted to take a picture w/me...but was a bit sad here b/c she didn't want Kirk and I to leave to go out for our anniversary...

Our 11th anniversary on Dec. 30. Feels like our 5th!

Beginning of Christmas Season

Chase and Faith have been wanting to put up Christmas decorations for awhile now. It's just a lot of work...huh, moms? It really is fun to see how excited the kids get about it all. Kirk left town last Monday...but had to get the tree up before he left (according to Faith). So, we spent the next few evenings putting the lights on and hanging the ornaments...at least on the upper half of the tree.

Here's Chase helping with the lights.

Faith and I worked out a good system. She sat on the chair and handed me ornaments (since most of them had to be hung high).

Faith's throne.

The sisters at the Jim Brickman Christmas concert. Thanks Ross for taking the pic.

Thanksgiving

So Kirk is watching The Office while I'm updating our blog. We record it each week and usually watch it together. I guess he knew it would take me awhile...so he couldn't wait. He's still in trouble for watching an episode w/o me a few weeks ago. He deleted it "on accident" after he'd watched it. I'm not sure what my point is other than I really like The Office and it's taking a lot of will power to sit here right now.

So, for my entertainment and hopefully yours, here's a little something to laugh at. While we were getting ready to make our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving (and the Coldplay concert...awesome bytheway), Crew and Ty kept occupied by playing with these...yes, tampons.

On the way to Utah. Faith is under the green blanket, Chase is under the red. Amazingly, this seemed to keep them from fighting. Ty and Crew kept eachother entertained.

Here's Faith and her cousins Cambry and Mia. They decided to make picture books and sell them.

The day before Thanksgiving we spent the afternoon at Classic Skating. The kids loved it. Here's Kirk and Ty.

More cousins...Marissa, Miranda and Lucas.

Kirk's sis., Liz and her daughter. She is probably upset from Kirk teasing her.

Chase spent the first part of the afternoon like this.

But with a little help from Miranda, he spent the later part like this.

Cambry, Faith and Chase.

Grandma Johnson and Ty.

Miranda, Chase, Cambry and Faith helping make the rolls. Thanks Grandma Johnson for letting them help...they loved it.

A little treat after the roll making. Cambry, Faith, Allison and Wyatt.

All the Johnson cousins/grandkids. All twenty one.

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson w/all (except Faith) their grandkids. Now we know where Ty gets his facial expressions from.

And finally, on our trip home I became desperate to make little Crew happy. So he got an Oreo. We had a great time with our family on Thanksgiving. We really do have much to be grateful for. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Johnson for a great time!

Halloween

As I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music, I suppose it's about time I posted some Halloween pic.'s. We had a great Halloween! Warmest Halloween I remember. My family came to our house/neighborhood to trick or treat. After trick or treating, we chowed down on soup, cornbread and, of course, candy.

Just in case you have a hard time telling what everyone was dressed up as....here's a run down. Chase was a football player (for the second year in a row). Crew was a dragon/dinosaur...
...my sis. Steph was herself and her 6 week old baby (and 6th baby) was dressed up as a little indian baby...

...Kiya was something cute (not sure exactly) and Faith was Hannah Montana...
...my sis. Noelle was a cat and her daughter Josie was her kitten...

...Kirk was Kirk and Ty was Kirk Jr. (he sported a drawn on goatee)...

...I was a witch and my mom was a vampire.

One of Crew's many found treats from the floor.

And the scariest pic. of all is this gem of a photo. Faith loves to make this face. I was along for the fun.
A few weeks ago I heard some unusually loud eaters and found little, turkey Crew had gotten out of his green highchair and climbed onto Ty's. Ty is less than enthused as was I. This is just the beginning of things to come.

And finally, Chase had a patriotic music program this last week. Here he is speaking his part. Unlike some school programs, this one was quite good. God bless the USA!

Autumn fun

This past weekend Kirk's parents, along with our sis in law and nieces and nephews, came up from Utah to visit. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying the fall weather. In addtion to going to the kid's games, we paid a visit to the local pumpkin patch.

Here's Grandpa, Chase, Faith and Miranda playing football after Faith's soccer game.

The Bulldogs had their last game this year. They had an awesome season. Along with fantastic coaches, the kids are all great friends. Chase is looking forward to next year.

Grandpa, Grandma and Chase after his game.

Faith, Eliza and Lucas at the pumkin patch.

Can you see the similarities?

Miranda and Crew.

The gang (with the exception of Cherlyn and Chantel...the picture takers) at the p. patch.

One of Ty and Crew's favorite pastimes.

Faith and me on my birthday.