April

Just a quick update since I haven't posted anything lately. Kirk's parents came to visit Easter weekend. It's always good to have them here. The kids always get excited when they know they're coming and start a countdown on their calendars. We had a great time spending time with them. Chase cried when it came time for them to leave...wish Sandy was a bit closer to Boise. Faith also had a birthday this month...she's 7 now! She has had her birthday planned out since the day after her last birthday. She had several of her friends over. She LOVES being the center of attention. Last weekend, Chase, Faith and I went to Pocatello to watch my nieces dance in a dance competition. Those girls can DANCE! They're awesome. Way to go Marlee and Kiya. Ty and Crew were well taken care of by their dad. They stayed behind for a nice quiet (well, quiet probably isn't the best word to use) weekend. I'll post pic.'s soon...

Lately...

It's been awhile so here's what we've been up to lately...

Faith singing to us all. Notice the microphone holder...whatever works, right?

Kirk's birthday. The kids were teasing him that it was his 40th birthday...they're not too far off.

Our friend Will came to celebrate Kirk's b-day. Cute matching sweatshirts.

Lovely cake and even lovlier birthday banner (thanks Liz...I just took it down last week; very cute).

Our friends invited us to spend the weekend in McCall to go sledding. The kids had a blast! Here's Faith...

and Chase...

Faith warming up w/some hot chocolate.

She later caught some air.

The whole gang.

Chase started basketball this year. He loves it! The season is almost over...he has his first tournament game tonight.

I know some of you may be surprised that I actually posted this pic. So am I frankly. But the story warrants it. I had just come home from the dentist and half my face was numb. Chase saw me walk through the door and wanted to know why I looked weird. I told him my face was paralyzed but it wasn't a big deal. I started laughing which only made things worse and he came over and gave me a hug w/tears in his eyes. Shame on me...but I couldn't help myself. He was slightly relieved to find out it was temporary. Thank goodness! (The chocolate smear above my lip was from the Butterfinger I found in the car. Now I know how my dad feels).

Faith and her friend Dylan. We're lucky to have great neighbors!

Innocent Ty...

but not so innocent Crew. If Crew were older, he'd be in time out for a week. He managed to clog our toilet w/a baby moniter, pencils, maybe Kirk's ipod (it's missing) and many other things. Kirk had the fun job of lifting the whole toilet up to find the clog. During the procedure, the tank was cracked...so we had to buy a new one. Just yesterday little C-bear (as Chase calls him) took our only phone that wasn't lost and used it to try to get a drink out of the fridge. It's now broken and we are unable to receive any calls. Leave us a message...we'll call you back on our cell phones.

Here's Crew, diaperless, w/his favorite toy...the remote.

Computer problems

I'm sure you've noticed (Becky) that I haven't updated my blog lately...yea, I know. Here's what I blame it on...my darn laptop. When I try to upload pictures onto my blog, my laptop shuts down. So I suppose I need to make an appt. w/Kirk to use his computer to update my blog. Stay tuned...

Pacman

Thanks to my cousin's son, Skyler, I now have my favorite video game, Pacman, on my blog. Thanks Skyler!

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!