Summer Wrap Up

Well, as it does every year summer vacation flew by way too quickly.  Usually it ends for us the very first week in August when Kent has to return to work, but this year we officially have  a kindergartener in the house!  More on that in another post.  Since Kent is so busy with athletics during the school year we cram as much as we can into the two short months of summer vacation.  Here's what we did:

First up is a trip to Oklahoma (one of two). Every year we make sure we are up at Kent's parents on June 15th to visit Nash's gravesite on his birthday.  We visit every time we go but make a point to be there on this particular day.   We always stop at Grandpa and Grandma's house and stay a night to break up the trip.

Sharing a popsicle with Grandpa.

Wish this one wasn't so blurry.  She thought that was so much fun.

Hangin' out in the pool.

Then it was off to Nana and Granddad's house.  

Of course the first order of business was to explore the backyard.

  

                                                               And no summer day is complete without an ice cream cone of course!

Smelling flowers with Nana.

Nana and Granddad got the kid's a blow up pool to play in and at first all Masyn could do was drink the water!

On his belly he goes!

And of course sister see, sister do.

After conquering the belly she had to try going down on her back.  It didn't go exactly as planned!

Then there's just plain old running through the sprinkler fun!

After that we came back to Texas for a week.  We could have stayed up in OK but we needed to check on our garden since we had spent so much time getting it ready.

What was ripe lasted about 2.2 seconds until Brayden and Masyn discovered them!

Tomatoes!

This is from a plant that was supposed to have been cucumbers.  That ain't no cucumber!  Turns out cantaloupe.  Probably the last time I buy plants on CraigsList!

Then it was back to OK just for a day so we could pick up Uncle Jake and head off to Idaho to visit Grammy, Opa, Uncle Kyle, and Aunt Rachel.  

 We walked along the Boise River one morning (Brayden had to show off his hair!)

Masyn was less than impressed.

Had to include it because it makes me laugh.  We gave the kids hot dogs (I think) but Masyn crawled over to the table, stole a rib off the plate, took a big bite, and she loved it!  My little carnivore!

Pool fun with Uncle Kyle and Aunt Rachel.

Jake, Kent, and I also went whitewater rafting but I don't have pictures yet since I couldn't take any.  Waiting on my disc from the rafting company.  I'll post those when I get them.  After Idaho it was back to OK for a day to drop off Jake, spend a night, then load up in the MV (mini van people!) to head to the NATA annual meeting in St. Louis.  We ended up needing to bring Mojo so we had to find somewhere that would accept pets so we ended up camping.  We got a cabin in at a KOA in Illinois just 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis.  Worked out great.  It was my first time ever to stay at a KOA and I will say it was so much nicer than I thought it would be.  We'll definitely do it again.  Warning:  I forgot my camera in OK so pictures aren't that great.

Our cabin.

Brayden's favorite part was the jumping pillow!

And what camping trip would be complete without S'mores!  

I took the kids to the St. Louis Zoo while Kent went to the convention.  Best part?  Admission is free!  You do have to pay for a few attractions but it's very reasonable and you can buy a wristband to get into everything which is what we did.  Here are some faves from the zoo.

He got to touch a stingray...so cool!  They also had people stationed in different parts of the zoo share some cool stuff which he loved!                                                                  

But his favorite part was the animal tracks throughout the zoo.  He is his father's son!

Masyn loved the train.

And of course it was the hottest day of the year, record breaking, for St. Louis the day we went, but they found a sprinkler to play in for a little bit.

Finally we ended up back in Oklahoma.  This time to stay at Grandpa and Grandma's house for a week.  Not just to crash for a night between our other adventures.  

Brayden opened a lemonade stand for the 4th of July.  My dad's house is right across from the park that they have all the festivities and along the parade route so it was perfect!  The kid made over $100....at a lemonade stand!!  He was so proud.  He's going to take half of the money he made and buy toys for Toys for Tots when Christmas comes around.

Lacy and Jeremy came over with their kiddos to play.  Masyn and Reagan fought over the water, but made up later.

Then everyone got popsicles before going to find a spot to watch the fireworks.

I had to include these because my dad put up this goal and it entertained the guys for quite some time.  I won't disclose the height at which it was set though!

So there you have it.  Our jam packed summer.  We also went bowling, pool parties with friends, the park, and we finally took Brayden to Hawaiian Falls (I forgot my camera though!).  It's my favorite time of the year because we get Kent for two solid months.  The end is always the worst part though because we lose him when he goes back to work.  It's a hard adjustment having Daddy all day everyday then him returning to work some days not seeing him at all.  Oh well, how many days until Thanksgiving?

Sooo....it's been a while!

What I have learned from finally starting a blog last year is that I am terrible at blogging!!  Haven't posted a single thing since September 2011.  Wow!  My last post was Masyn's 1st Birthday Party and she looked like this....

 (Party #1 I might add....Party #2 never saw so much as a keystroke!)  

and now she looks like this...

My, oh my, what a difference 8 months makes and how it flies!  

So, as of today I am rededicating myself to the world of blogging.  A lot has happened in the past 8 months and I'll post a recap later.  No, this isn't it.  This is more like my resurfacing post.  Not that I had done much blogging to begin with!  

Happy Birthday Masyn! Party #1

This last weekend we had a little get together at the house to celebrate Masyn's first birthday.  I call this post Party #1 because this coming weekend the kids and I are going to go up to Oklahoma to have some cake and ice cream for her with the fam up there.

I know I told everyone that we were just having cake and ice cream and it wasn't really a "party" just a get together, but I still need to do a little more advanced planning for these "get togethers".  I was running around like a mad woman.  I told Kent that when his parents got here they must have seriously thought I was on something.  I thought I would have more time during the week to put things together, but of course that's usually when you have a million things come up.  However, everything worked out just fine if you ask me.  The kids were running around everywhere, adults just hung out, I was spaced out dead on my feet, Kent was passed out on the couch, and there was a present free for all.  Perfect.  Just my kind of party!  Here are some highlights.

The Birthday Girl in the outfit I made her.  The cupcake took forever, but turned out very cute.

Somehow it turned into a tutu party.  We tried to get a cute picture of all the Johnson Girls and this is what we go...McKenna is back there somewhere!

BALLOONS!!

The cake.  I'll share my adventures in making this cake on a different post.  No I did not use the cupcake pan.

She's a pretty neat eater.

The family.

Still trying to decide if I should be offended that she preferred to eat the plate instead of the cake I made.

Okay, now she loves it!

Little messy.

All done...headed to the bath.

Checking out her new alligator push toy.

Had to try on her gift from Nana and Granddad.  TOUCHDOWN!

Worn out....

...and not the only one.

Forgiveness

Kent called me on the way home from the football game last night to say, "I'm bringing you home a surprise!"  Translation:  I'm bringing some leftover, sweet, yummy goodness from the game.  Normally this would be awesome.  However, I have been working really hard at eating clean and working out to lose weight (12 pounds last month thank you very much...hold your applause), and I have zero will power when it comes to sweets.  I just don't even really have them in the house.  So Kent says that I've done so well and it won't hurt anything to have just one little treat.  When I'm trying to lose weight this is usually what I tell myself the 6 or 7 times a day that I'm sneaking something!  This logic just doesn't do well for me.  After I talked to him I was so irritated at him for bringing temptation home to me and basically being a bad influence.  Then he walked in the door with these....

...he is forgiven.

I mean this isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle change and I should be able to have little treats...in moderation of course.  I only ate one by the way and it was so worth it!  In case anyone wanted to know that came from The Cupcakery, www.thecupcakery.com, totally recommend!

1st Day of Pre-K

Yesterday was Brayden's very first day of Pre-K!  He was super excited.  This will be his fourth and final year in the Weekday Preschool program so it's a little sad for me.  I remember how shy his was his very first day in Miss Mary's class.  He has never been one of those clingy, crying, won't let you drop him off kind of kids but when he was really small he was awfully slow to get into class.  He only went once a week his first year so it wasn't a daily routine and each week he was a little unsure about going.  The first few days of the next two years were the same.  He wasn't upset about going, but just really shy and kind of slow to go into the classroom.  Since he went 3 days a week both of those years he got over that shyness really quick and it was only like that for maybe the first week.  I guess part of me expected for yesterday to be the same...new year, new teacher, new classroom.  However, he walked straight into that class without so much as a goodbye or look back.  His teacher said, "Okay hug your mom and tell her bye.", but before she could even get that sentence out he was already across the room hanging his backpack on his little hook.  So I told the teacher bye and left.  When I picked him up he was just full of new information and talking, talking talking.   So happy his first day went so well, but a little sad at how big he's getting.  Of course, I don't get much time to dwell of that because we already have to start thinking about what to do with him for Kindergarten next year.  A lot of the schools are starting registration this fall already....crazy.

About to leave for the first day!

Okay I took this picture because we have one like it for every year he has gone to preschool here, and I was going to put this one next to the one from his first year, but I cannot seem to find it...sigh.

It's Soccer Season Again!

Saturday was Brayden's first soccer game of the Fall 2011 season.  Go Scorpions!  This is his second year (3rd season if you count Fall and Spring separate).  He's still on the same team.  I believe all former players returned and they added a few new faces since you can have a slightly larger team for U5.  The biggest difference this year is that they have added a goalie....which everyone wants to be.  However, I think they all came to realize just how boring that job is at this age on Saturday.  I love watching this age play.  It is completely chaotic and unorganized and it is primarily for the entertainment of us adults, but the kids have lots of fun too.

Brayden got to be a captain.  He also scored the first goal for his team.  Well, we count it as a score, there was a mass of kids at the goal and when he kicked it hit the post and sort of rolled in, but it was very exciting!  He also played goalie for a little while.  He did get scored on, but by one of his own team members so we're really not going to count that either!

I have to remind his coach to be very literal with the boy.  When he was on defense the coach asked him to scoot up a little and Brayden happily obliged...moving about 4cm.  After the coach asked him several times totaling about 3 inches he finally pointed to exactly where he wanted him to stand.  And stand he did for the rest of the quarter.  Unfortunately, the coach forgot to tell Brayden that he could still go to the ball anywhere on that half of the field and didn't have to wait for the ball to come directly to him.  If the ball came to him then he would kick it and then go back to standing in that spot looking very proud of himself for that contribution.

Kent didn't get a chance to go to the game so when he asked Brayden how the game was his response was, "Great!  I gotta snack!".  Of course, THAT was the highlight!  Looking forward to watching him the rest of the season.  They're so cute right now.

Warming up.

     

Captains

Of course Miss Masyn was there to cheer him on.

Goalie!  He is currently growling at the other team...nice.

On the run! 

After uploading these pictures I've decided that I definately need to get a much better camera if he's going to continue playing sports.  So if anyone is interested in contributing to my "Better Camera Fund" let me know!  Haha!

Check Her Out!

I'm a slacker, I know.  I thought I'd be a little better at posting, but such is life.  I've got a bunch of different stuff to post so I will do that over today and tomorrow, hopefully (depending on behavior of children!).

Anyway, we have a new walker in the house!!  She just takes a few steps (I think 12 is the high count now), but mostly she likes to celebrate herself!   Let me see if I can add video.

Please disregard the mess....we are currently in the middle of a much needed toy purge!!