The Johnson Journal

I never knew that squirrels like french fries, but they do! I took the kids to the park today. It was very cloudy and cool I was actually a little cold which is quite a change from the extremely humid 90+ degree days we've been having. We took some lunch to the park. After we sat down, we noticed a squirrel who wasn't timid at all. He came right up to where we were sitting at the picnic table. Kyle threw down one of his fries and the squirrel picked it up and ran over to a tree about 10 feet away. He held the fry like an acorn and started nibbling on it. It was the cutest thing. I wished that I had brought my camera along. The kids were just giggling. He ate a few more fries and ran off. A few minutes later he returned with a friend and they both started chowing down on the fries.

Over the weekend we went to Joshua's 8th birthday party. The kids had a lot of fun swimming, throwing water balloons and hitting the pinata. Kyle never quite got the concept of throwing the water balloons at people. He was just having fun pulling them out of the bucket and throwing them on the ground!

I started cutting Kyle's hair a few months ago when our hairdresser was getting ready to retire. She gave me a few tips, told me what brand of clippers to buy and said I could do it. Kyle's hair is easy to do. It's a standard #3 buzz cut. It's getting him to sit still that's the problem!

Keith on the other hand...I was feeling quite adventurous yesterday when I jokingly told him, "Next" after I finished cutting Kyle's hair. He said, "Are you serious?" As I was cutting it, I said, "Hey, it's only hair, it will grow back, right?" Actually I think it turned out pretty good despite the blood I drew on his neck. Oops! After Keith checked it out in the mirror he said, "Hey, that will save us $15 a month." That's my man, thinking just like me. :)

Ok ladies, if you ever want motivation to get in shape and lose weight, go visit a personal trainer. We have been members at our local recreation center all year and have only been there a couple of times. None of which were to work out but to take the kids swimming. :) I decided to use some of my birthday money to go see a personal trainer. Now that I'm finished having kids, I'd like to get in shape. I noticed on the recreation center's website that you could sign up as a couple and save money. If you know me at all, you know I'm all for saving money. So, Keith reluctantly went along with me last night. The real motivation for me was the fat percentage test. I remember those pincher things from grade school. I didn't like it then and I certainly didn't like it now. But it was good to know where I stand so I can see my progress. I have some good goals set now and I just need to stick to it. The trainer showed us how to use all the machines and now we're ready to go. Wish me (us) luck! :) P.S. It's not fair that men in general have less body fat than women!!

I have always made the kids' birthday cakes. It is something that I really enjoy doing. This year Kaitlyn helped me make her cake. She helped mix all the icing colors. When it came time to decorate it, she wanted to help me with that too. I had to explain to her that maybe some day she could. It was really fun to have her help me. She is really growing up!

We had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating Kaitlyn's 5th Birthday. The theme of the party was Dora the Explorer. It was a well attended event with 20 adults and 25 children and most of them were family! We had a mexican fiesta with tacos, nachos, salsa, veggies and fruit kabobs, among many other things. Thanks to Kaitlyn's cousins, Chris and Taryn, we had to have fruit kabobs in a basket for her party. She saw those at their wedding reception last month and told me she wanted those for her birthday. I was hoping she'd forget as they looked quite complicated but she didn't! So, we made fruit kabobs for her birthday and they were a hit.

Kaitlyn received so many nice presents and everyone had lots of fun getting candy out of the pinata. Some of the boys were upset that they didn't get to hit the pinata. It was a pull-string pinata - much safer.


We even had time to squeeze in a picture of Great Grandma Johnson and almost all of her great grandkids. It was a bit of a challenge getting 11 children to sit still long enough to get a picture!

It was a very special day celebrating a very special girl!!

The day began with Kaitlyn and Kyle surprising us with breakfast. They had actually unlocked the pantry to get the cereal. The table was set with cereal in bowls, large cups of tap water (no ice) and a fork and spoon. They were so proud of themselves. It was adorable!

We had lots of party preparations to do for Kaitlyn's big birthday party on Sunday. Kaitlyn and Kyle assisted by stuffing the Dora pinata with candy. It was hard to keep Kyle from eating all the candy.

Kaedyn is starting to get into everything. I'm beginning to wonder if we have another Kyle on our hands. Yikes!! One minute she had a plastic baggie in her mouth and the next minute it was a piece of paper followed by puzzle pieces. Then she crawled into a basket in Kyle's room and couldn't get out.

Tomorrow will be filled with making the Dora birthday cake, cupcakes and other miscellaneous party food. It will be another busy day!

Well, I guess it was inevitable...we've been talking about doing a family website for years but just never got around to it. It always seemed too complicated so we're going to go another route. Kara and Daniel have inspired us with their Blog so we're going to give it a try. We have really enjoyed keeping up-to-date on Kara and Daniel's experience in Guatemala. Our life isn't quite as exciting but this will be fun.