Johnson Jive

My Valentines

2012-02-16T20:58:00.000-06:00

Bowling!

2012-02-11T08:20:00.000-06:00

We've become big fans of Wii bowling lately. Sara has a day where she stays home alone with papa. No sisters. This week they went real bowling.

This kid got a strike too!

This apparently is an inherited skill. Her grandma has a fine skill of taking pictures and cutting off heads.

Bathed Beauties

2012-02-09T20:41:00.000-06:00

I braided the girls' hair after bath and showers tonight. Who are these pretty girls?

Makes a mama proud.

Big Girl Pants

2012-02-08T20:15:00.000-06:00

A certain little sister found her big sister's underwear this week.

All Star Lunch

2012-02-06T11:52:00.000-06:00

Today is the school recognition lunch for this month's All Stars. She got to have lunch in the principal's office!

Make that All Star of the Month!

2012-02-01T06:24:00.000-06:00

Laura was chosen to be on of her school's All Star of the month! Every month the school selects a few kids from each grade who received All Stars.

The special reward is lunch with the principal. And boy, is she excited. It's on Monday and it's already decided that she will bring cold lunch so she can spend more time eating with Mrs. Pav.

Her picture will be up on the school bulletin board with her grade too!

Way to go big girl!

Chasing Rainbows

2012-01-29T13:36:00.000-06:00

Our new entry door castes rainbows across our living room when the sun shines. A bonus I hadn't anticipated when we bought it.

Jenna has full understanding of a camera now. As soon as she hears it fire up, she says, "cheese"!

And this is what you get when you ask Laura for a nice smile.

And now, on to Laura's photography.

Name that movie.

Our All Star

2012-01-28T20:36:00.000-06:00

Laura's school recognizes kids when they're caught in the act of various types of good behavior. She received her first "All Star" star on Thursday for being respectful and making good choices. Way to go butter bean!

Papa's Baby Cheese Pizzas

2012-01-25T21:22:00.000-06:00

Finally Some Snow to Play With!

2012-01-24T20:27:00.000-06:00

It snowed yesterday. That coupled with warmer temps gave us a chance to play outside finally!

Does this snowsuit make my hips look big?

Extreme close-up!! Whoooooooah!

Time for snow angels (we were burning daylight...)

Coloring

2012-01-20T21:23:00.000-06:00

Sara received this colorable (is that a word?) playhouse from our day care provider for her birthday. Instant hit for all!

There was a little difficulty with touching though.

Peekaboo!

Here's a good shot of how Jenna has yet to get some of her front teeth. Molars are in though.

Thank you Toni!

Happy Birthday!

2012-01-18T21:18:00.000-06:00

Sara's actual birthday was on Monday. She was very excited to say the least. She was really working to contain it when she woke up.

One of her gifts was this Angry Birds shirt. She's a huge fan.

I took the day off of work and we headed for the Minnesota Zoo at her request.

There was a reading event with various activities.

As part of that promotion, the girls received magnifying glasses.

This penguin exhibit is new and fantastic. I handed the camera over and I came home to find MANY penguin pictures.

Then, on a wild hair, we decided to hit the Mall of America Nickelodeon Universe.

At this point, we were running into her nap time so she was looking tired but wouldn't admit to it.

The great part about them both being bigger is that Laura measured big enough to be Sara's chaperone on some of the rides!

The other objective of the day: eat Dippin' Dots.

In all, she had a great day! We visited the doctor yesterday. She's in the 25th percentile for weight and the 8th percentile for height. She my little one for a while yet.

Officially 2 days into being 4, she says everything followed by "because I'm 4 now."

Sara's 4th Birthday Party

2012-01-17T20:40:00.000-06:00

Sara wanted a costume party for her 4th birthday this year. She was going to be a princess.

She also asked for a Sleeping Beauty Barbie cake. My mom worked her magic.

Here's the birthday crew. We had a couple princesses, a muscled up vampire, Batman, Annikan (?) Skywalker, a kitty, a transformer, a flapper girl and a lumberjack. Oh, and papa was a chocolate lab.

Arts and crafts time! Princess bracelets or masks.

(I was a chef)

Presents!

Make a wish!

Our pals Henry and Austin modeled the princess crowns in the goodie bags!

Wishing for a Puppy

2012-01-10T20:52:00.000-06:00

There's been a lot of discussion about how much we miss having a dog in this house. We're weighing the pros and cons regularly. In the mean time, these pups were on clearance at Target.

They walk and yip when you push a button.

Good medicine - for now.

Only a Face a Mother Would Love

2012-01-09T22:06:00.001-06:00

Sticking with Crayons for a While

2012-01-05T07:25:00.000-06:00

I had to put the markers away the other day...

The Tangled Beauty Kit

2012-01-03T20:46:00.000-06:00

Grandma and Grandpa Rasmusson gave Sara a Tangled beauty kit for Christmas. Beautiful nails, lots and LOTS of lip gloss and nail polish. And a strand of beautiful Rapunzel hair.

The daughter who picks at her nails constantly wanted to wear the long nails. These lasted about a half hour before getting peeled off.

Sara LOVES the lip gloss.

Those lips are hydrated...

Ooooh, pretty hair.

On to the nail polish...

Girls in a Sink

2012-01-01T14:05:00.000-06:00

As part of the construction this summer, I had deeper sinks installed. Jenna was crabby the other night and Laura was already in the shower so I decided to test out the sink. I remember taking sink baths as a kid. They were always so fun. Turns out my girls like it too. They splashed away and I was able to finish my cooking!

Christmas

2011-12-26T14:44:00.000-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year. It was full of magic and wonder of Santa.

Waiting for Santa

2011-12-24T15:05:00.000-06:00

The girls are very excited for Santa to come tonight. Earlier this week Laura and Sara received emails from Santa from the North Pole. It was confirmed they were on the "nice list". What a relief!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Dance Recital/Day Care Christmas Party

2011-12-20T21:24:00.000-06:00

Monday was a full day. We started the evening with a Christmas dance recital.

Jenna fared pretty well understanding her sisters were not in the same place as she was.

Miss Bobbi introduced the tiny dancers to start the show. Sara told her that she wasn't tiny.

Laura had to check her hair before her dance started.

After the recital we flew to the day care Christmas party just in time to see Santa.

This was a big deal for Laura. We had seen Santa a couple weeks ago but she didn't have the chance to tell him what she really wanted for Christmas.

I want an American Girl doll with red glasses...

I really, really like the red glasses...

Jenna was less sure of Santa but tolerated him with the help of a present and a candy cane.

Not bad!

Singing Jingle Bells!

Sara gets a big squeeze from our favorite day care provider.

Laura played with one of our provider's newest kids.

In all, a great time but man were we tired!

Dance Party!

2011-12-18T14:31:00.000-06:00

Grandma Rasmusson made some new dresses at my request. I handed her a picture and asked if she could replicate some $80 dresses. She made all three for $25!
These were to be play dresses but they're super fancy. They'll wear them for their dance recital tomorrow and then after Christmas they can wear them whenever they want.

We broke out the dance class cd's to practice the routines.

Jenna wanted to wear ballet shoes and Laura's were the only ones I could find at the time.

Concentrating?

Sara starts out her Christmas song pretending to be a sad little doll.

Laura's turn!

Seriously, the faces on this kid!

Can't wait for the show!

Sometimes They all Like Each Other At the Same Time

2011-12-17T14:21:00.000-06:00

And sometimes they all touch without screaming.

Faces only a mother can love.

Tired Girl

2011-12-13T11:52:00.000-06:00

Laura has been tired lately. Lots of growing, lots of learning, lots of playing and LOTS of fixing of hair. When she comes home after school, she crashes. Sometimes it looks like this, sometimes it resembles more of a ping pong ball bouncing around the house.

Christmas Prep

2011-12-11T20:48:00.000-06:00

We're getting pretty excited for Santa. We made some cookies this weekend, wrapped some presents and modeled Rudolf.

Jenna has begun to really pick up her speaking. Still a lot of gibberish, but she looks you right in the eye and tells you what she wants you to know.

Tonight was the Advent celebration at church. We were split into groups and then entire families took part in the program.

We were singing Angels...

And Santa makes an appearance.

She's been waiting and waiting to tell him what she wants for Christmas and then when the time come, she was busy answering other questions he had for her about Christmas. I hope she won't be disappointed. We should probably start a letter.

And there was a whole lot of this too. A new molar on the bottom is working its way in which is fun.

BTW, feel free to check the previous post to compare Santa cry faces.

Sisters

2011-12-07T11:35:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while I get the urge to compare the girls to see who looks more like who. There's no doubt that Sara and Laura look different from each other (in my mind). But who does Jenna resemble more? What do you think?

Jenna

Laura

Sara

Jenna

Self Portrait

2011-12-06T13:56:00.000-06:00

Laura's school art program is focusing on self portraits. I have seen the older grades' photos and have been amazed. Today I saw Laura's own self portrait. Not bad for a first grader, eh?

Itty Bitty

2011-12-04T21:21:00.002-06:00

I love this.

Glow Sticks in the Tub

2011-11-29T21:15:00.000-06:00

We were in need for some distraction the other day. I had read somewhere that it's fun to throw glow sticks in a tub with kids and turn out the lights. They're getting kind of big to all fit together, but they loved it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:23:00.000-06:00

Our Thanksgiving had a change in plans this year. We had planned on visiting family on the Johnson side and then unexpectedly my Grandma became very ill. She's 92 and we were told to come say our goodbyes.

While one great grandma was in the hospital, we stopped in to see one of the other ones back home. And this great grandma has a little dog named Angel that Laura adores.

Thanksgiving eve the big girls helped grandma make pies. Sara decided to make a bowling ball instead.

Laura's very first crust that she fluted herself. Looks great!

The First Snowfall

2011-11-20T14:09:00.000-06:00

About an inch of snow fell on Saturday for the first time this season. To say these two were/are excited is an understatement.

The Michelin baby was excited until she realized her mittens and snowsuit were more than she's used to.

We don't have a pup this year to run in the snow with, but the neighbor's dog sure wanted to come play.

Papa

2011-11-18T13:38:00.000-06:00

Sara has taken up photography. I think this is a pretty good one.

Grandma's Birthday

2011-11-14T21:30:00.000-06:00

We headed back home this weekend for my mom's birthday. The girls wanted to decorate the cake. Gooey frosting and LOTS of sprinkles.

Lots and lots of sprinkles.

We went to the local pizza place in town for supper. There was some shooting...

and horseback riding...

and ski ball (skeeball?) (check out that form!).

Jenna played with this bus ALL weekend. Santa is now on a hunt.

Happy birthday Grandma! I hope you can have some cake with your sprinkles.

To close out the night we wrestled them all for their Christmas card. Not bad for herding cats!

Footie Jammies

2011-11-11T11:45:00.000-06:00

Laura has been begging for footie jammies for a month or so now. I finally picked up a pair yesterday and then everyone had to wear theirs.

I have to pinch myself from time to time when I realize how fast their growing. And the fact that they all belong to me.

I look at them and I remember just a short time ago I was carrying around 10, 7 1/2 and 4 1/2 pound babies.

Girls in a Box

2011-11-10T21:28:00.000-06:00

Our microwave died this week. So with a new microwave came a new box to play in. This makes me continue to wonder why I ever bother spending money on toys.

Favorite Places

2011-11-09T11:42:00.000-06:00

Laura and I were out one morning and stopped for coffee. There was a large chalk board that asked customers what was their favorite place to travel to.

Amongst Egypt, California, Italy and a host of others is Spring Valley, MN. This girl loves grandma and grandpa's.

Riding a Horsie

2011-11-06T12:01:00.000-06:00

Halloween

2011-11-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

We started our Halloween off at our church's Trunk o' Treat event.

Jenna refused her cat costume. She gave a distinct "uh uh" (no) and ran. So out came the lamb hat.

Sara planned on being a leopard for Halloween and then yesterday she decided to resurrect Barney from last year. Jenna really should have been a crab since that matched her demeanor a little better. She knew what candy was and wanted to eat every piece in sight. So that was fun.

We took Jenna around for a bit and then took her back and put her to bed. Then it was big girl time. They loved the trick or treating. Barney refused to ride in a wagon because the tail was in the way. Plus Barney had a few episodes of needing to use the bathroom. Lesson learned: dance suits are NOT permitted under costumes. Potty breaks require a full de-robing.

They had a great time!

Halloween - Check!

2011-10-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

Laura wanted to be a princess for Halloween this year. Instead of purchasing a new outfit, we tapped Grandma R.'s sewing skills.

Sara received her dress for a birthday present so she just had to wear hers too.

She used remnants from an older princess dress we had and then made the new one in Laura's requested color blue.

Sure, they are beautiful, but how good do they look when you twirl?

(Because real princesses have to twirl.)

Twirling test complete! We're ready for Halloween!

A Weekend Away

2011-10-23T20:48:00.000-05:00

Jeff and I took a trip this weekend to Winona, MN. Without the girls. As in the first time ever overnight without the girls. We both went to college in Winona so it holds a special place in our hearts. We decided to go to the WSU Homecoming this year and met up with Jeff's college roommate and meet his new wife.

We all stayed in this bed and breakfast called the Alexander Mansion. It was beautiful.

The B&B was enormous. And wonderful. Over 9,000 square feet of ornate everything. We stayed in the Judge Thomas Wilson room which was like a small apartment.

This (stuffed) guy was in the library. I'm not a fan of stuffed stuff, but I was impressed.

We had our 4 course breakfast in here. The final course was ice cream. To say we walked away full is an understatement. The entire experience was wonderful and I highly recommend staying here if you're ever in the area.

We had a fantastic time and it turns out that we survived without our girls and they survived without us!

Cheeeeese!

2011-10-18T20:28:00.000-05:00

I love how those Spongebob teeth shine when she says "cheese".

The only sad part about this picture is that the dog is no longer around to "sing" with the harmonica. He was a good singer for the howling type.

Jenna has it down. You see a camera, you say "cheeeeeese". Or in her way, "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".

Construction - Finished!

2011-10-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

We're still waiting on the final inspection, but we're calling this project finished. It has been a very long road, but it's oh so nice. Here's a few before and after pictures.
Before...

We had the big "L" shape. Lots of play area and a make-shift bedroom. We talked of renovating this space the moment we moved in.

Note the hole in the ceiling due to the leaky tub. We lived with this hole for 2 years not knowing how to fix it without re-sheet rocking everything.

After...

Closet it gone with new wall covering sewer pipes (with access door to main line installed). Access to upstairs plumbing enabled through trimmed in drop tiles.

Looking into the bathroom. I could totally make snow angels in this bathroom, it's so big. As in so big, I'm not sure what else to do with the walls.

We put tile in this bathroom versus linoleum. It echos. A lot. Perfect for little girls who are plenty loud already, but find it extra fun to sing as loud as possible.

The make-shift bedroom. We needed an egress window and closet to make this a legal bedroom. We wondered if closing it in would make it dramatically smaller. We envisioned this space to be Laura's bedroom when she becomes a teenager.

Poor Sammy. Throughout the entire construction he would sit downstairs. We were messing with his world. And wow, either our house is totally haunted by the sight of all these orbs, or moving everything around kicked up serious dust. I'll go with the latter.

After...

The space is refreshingly larger than than we anticipated. Sure, we can never fit a king size bed down here, but you can walk around the bed! And it's cozy.

Instead of recessed lighting like the rest of the downstairs, we opted for sconces since the soffit would hinder the lighting across the room. It was a great choice. It's soft and relaxing. I'll spare you the closet picture, since it's essentially full already, but it's so nice having a storage space for seasonal clothes. And the giant bucket of play clothes.

Before - looking south. That's my laundry folding table in the back, where I also kept all the tubs of various sized clothes for the girls (now in the big closet).

This furniture went upstairs since it was in much better condition from minimal use over the years.

After...

Upstairs furniture was shampooed and brought downstairs. Jeff's TV stand from freshman year in college was retired. The laundry table was moved into the laundry room and at long last my sewing machine (which I hope to give more attention) found its very own space.

We all love it - especially this little one.

Rub-a-DubDub

2011-10-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

More Play in the Leaves

2011-10-10T20:56:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year. All the expensive toys in the world are no match for a pile of leaves.

They made leaf beds. You can see that Laura was about to dump another pile on Sara's head.

Laura's turn. She was squirming as I attempted to dump leaves on HER head.

Didn't taste good, did it.

Saturday with Brody

2011-10-09T20:55:00.000-05:00

My 4 year old nephew Brody came to hang out with us on Saturday and man, did we have fun.

We took a walk up the street to a wooded path to see the bridge over the little creek.

And to have leaf fights.

Stop, as in stop growing kid. Jeez.

Then they rolled down the hill.

We also rode round and round the yard on these things. He's a ton of fun wrapped up into a 4 year old little body.

He took a digger on the trike and when I offered him a band aid, he scoffed and asked me if it was a GIRL band aid. Sorry man. That's all I got here.

Mama's Birthday

2011-10-06T06:34:00.000-05:00

It was my birthday on Monday. My parents came up on Sunday bearing cake and ice cream.

There are 36 flames on that cake. The room was getting warm.

There was no shortage of smoke to prove it either. Just ask Laura.

I Dressed Myself

2011-09-30T11:41:00.000-05:00

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge this outfit. Laura is all about her own style these days and as long as it's reasonable for the weather, I'm letting her fly. But wow.

I'll add that she's doing her own hair these days as well. Lots of pig tails. She has chosen to grow out her bangs.

Last night we successfully got them into French braids. She's a striking young girl when she's not so silly!

Chalk Bodies

2011-09-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

Today was a glorious day in Minnesota. We made the best of it by drawing chalk bodies on the driveway. This is papa's specialty.

Right before we went inside for the night, we found a huge dragonfly on the driveway. It's wings were damaged and Laura scooped it up to put it into the garden.

Sara is a little creeped out by flying things, particularly bugs. You can see that she's keeping an eye on that thing. Laura on the other hand walked all over with it. She's truly our fearless one.

Eveland Family Farm

2011-09-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

We took in the local pumpkin patch at Eveland Family Farm on Saturday. I found this place last year and it's very close to our house. I love the variety of squash and gourds in addition to the pumpkins.

With Jenna on the move these last couple of weeks, photo ops of the three together is nearly impossible.

The farm has a handful of animals which we also love.

Papa's favorite - the pigs. In the early days of our relationship, he wanted 5 kids and a pink farm pig. We settled on 3 kids and NO pigs.

Don't do it Jenna!

The other thing I love about this farm is all the little wagons that the kids can pull (their sister) around.

Drumming the pumpkins.

The small pumpkin pile was great fun to climb on.

Crawling the Walls

2011-09-24T09:44:00.000-05:00

These girls have been crawling the walls lately. Crabby, fighting, sick, screaming and crying. Super fun. The other day I kicked them all outside. After about a half hour Jenna and I went in to make supper. (Read I make the supper, she watches Baby Einstein and stays out of my hair.)

I dug out our old kennels to sell. I haven't even put this out on Craigslist because it's so much fun.

Sara found the heated water dog dish.

Fresh air has done them good. Much happier kids leads to much happier parents.

This is a page out of Laura's photography album. This is our upstairs bathroom and she thinks this picture is so beautiful.

Clowning Around

2011-09-20T20:16:00.001-05:00

The girls and I went to an event on Saturday where the give away were clown wigs and noses. There has been no shortage of fun with these. As well as ridiculous discussions.

"Where's my nose?"

"Don't drop your nose down the laundry chute!"

"Laura, give her the other nose."

"The other nose broke. It split in 2."

Then the next morning while the big girls were sleeping, Jenna wanted to try it on.

Let the Dancing Begin!

2011-09-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

Dance classes kicked off last night for the Johnson girls. To say that Sara was excited is an understatement. You wouldn't guess it from the picture, would you?

After I took this picture, Jenna sat in front of the door and said "cheese" over and over!

First up is Laura. The class got off to a slow start being it was the first day, which makes it tough for her. She's a get up and go kinda girl and if she's not engaged, her mind is running elsewhere. She was a little disappointed where wasn't more "dancing" yet.

She had fun.

About 20 minutes into Laura's 45 minute class, Sara started asking when hers started. Over and over. But then it was her turn and she never looked back.

And this one. On the move the entire 45 minutes. Exhausting, but look at her go!

Brody the Toady's Birthday

2011-09-12T11:58:00.001-05:00

It was my nephew's 4th birthday on Saturday. Grandma always makes the birthday cakes and this year Brody wanted Yoda.

Wrong end Dude.

He was in his glory the whole day.

Jenna decided to formally start walking as well as begin her mountain goat stage. She's everywhere and really excited.

Blaine was very excited about all the new Lego Star Wars kits.

Sara doesn't move more than about 2 feet from Grandpa the entire length of our visit.

It was garage sale day in my home town. Laura found a pair of coveted toe socks for 25 cents! She's been wanting some for a while. I believe they will make their school debut tomorrow (after I sew the hole in the toe).

No birthday would be complete without some wrestling with Grandpa.

Nearing the End

2011-09-09T10:31:00.000-05:00

Remember the big ceiling holes in the back of the living room?

They now look like this...

The windows were trimmed out. This is the spare room window. Good lighting as you can see. The wall color is actually antique white, not yellow.

I was planning on hanging a floor length curtain from this window, but it looks so beautiful as it is, I may find a short sheer to just provide a little privacy and preserve it's wood shelf/casing appearance.

Here's the bathroom window. I love how these turned out. We need a curtain in here for sure to shield our neighbor from our clear glass shower...

Next week we get a new side entry door in the garage, a couple of rain diverters get installed, an air vent gets added in the living room and an access door is installed for the main sewer line. After a few cosmetic touch ups, this project will be done!

To Remember our Pup

2011-09-08T07:15:00.000-05:00

Jeff and I talked about what we could do to recognize the years we had Bear and to help the girls remember. We settled on a canvas collage. This is a bit dark (consequence of taking a cell phone picture at 5 a.m.), but it captures the essence of who he was and how he was loved.

Construction Update

2011-09-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Quite a bit more progress this week - thank God.

New back storm door. Here's the old....

Here's the new! Although we miss him like crazy, Bear won't be poking his nose through this screen!

We made the most progress down stairs. The doors and the trim went in. We shampooed the carpets last weekend and yesterday, the furniture was moved back in. What we have left now is the windows in the spare room and bathroom need to get trimmed in, the two access holes you can see need drop tiles and we need an access hole drilled to get to the main sewer line. There's a few other finishing details, but we'll essentially be done!

This bathroom is huge. I'm slightly upset that it trumps the upstairs bathroom. I decided to accent with red since it blends into the red living room.

The shower is finally in and functional. Guess who got to take the virgin shower?

Papa's Birthday

2011-09-01T21:20:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was papa's birthday. After the school open house we grabbed some Chinese and then came home to chocolate zucchini cake.

They weren't going to sing the birthday song with me until I told them they couldn't have cake until they sang. See what kind of threats I have to throw out with these kids? Come on!

Yum!

Ready for 1st Grade!

2011-08-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

We had first grade orientation last night in Laura's new classroom. She is very excited to get started!

Her desk is right next to the teacher's so that might be a good thing. She got all her supplies arranged in her desk. She is very excited to move up to a student desk from the tables they had in Kindergarten.

We found her locker too. There are only 3 classmates from her K class in this 1st grade class. Unfortunately none are her good buddies. She sits with 3 other girls in the current desk arrangement so we'll likely be hearing about these new friends next week.

We haven't discussed the first day outfit, but I would bet it will include this monkey shirt she picked out and has been begging to wear for a couple weeks (I hate monkeys). Also, she's very excited to finally wear her new silver/purple tennis shoes.

The orientation presentation was really interesting and we got to see a snapshot of how they will be learning. Jenna was not at all interested during the presentation and happily stacked tubs of disinfecting wipes. Sara just carried around a giant tub of wipes and talked about getting home to see WipeOut on TV. That kid has a serious addiction.

Toads!

2011-08-27T21:33:00.000-05:00

Why is it that after years of no toads ever on this property, the buggers are in my window wells. As far as I can tell, they started showing up after construction started.

Let's race!

A Good Boy Gone

2011-08-25T07:16:00.000-05:00

We said goodbye to our big boy Bear yesterday. He was 93 pounds. His legs and arthritis were too much for him to handle any longer and we decided to put him down. On a whim 9 years ago we decided to make a drive to check out some chocolate lab pups. I always wanted a chocolate. He was the only one of about 9 pups that followed us everywhere biting at our shoelaces until we brought him home. He was 7 weeks old.

He was a squirrel chaser, a chewer of sticks and a digger. He loved to fetch balls and frisbees.

He was a good boy until the end. He was a bulldozer but very gentle with the girls. He endured their clambering without a groan. I ran countless miles with him. He gave us lots of love and laughter and he will be missed. RIP pup.

Jumpin'

2011-08-21T20:44:00.000-05:00

We went to my parent's house for the local small town summer celebration. One of the highlights was an inflatable bouncer.

Even Sara was getting some air!

At one point Laura crashed into her knee. She cut the knee and knocked her top tooth loose!

Sara said, "Mama, watch this trick!"

Pup Tent

2011-08-19T07:49:00.000-05:00

Or is it pup in a tent? Bear got real sick on Wednesday this week. Trembling, rapid heart rate and drooling. It was scary to see our pup in distress. After some x-rays we were able to see that he doesn't have any sign of cancer but is full of arthritis. His symptoms are those of pain. So we have him on some pain meds in hopes that he can start feeling better. He appears to be having some difficulty (more than normal) pushing up off his back legs so I suspect that arthritis is the culprit. Poor boy.

We were prepared to put him down today with a cancer diagnosis. We'll see how he feels after being medicated a couple days. It broke my heart to think of putting him down at only 9. Funny how you prepare yourself for that day but when it's here, you're not as ready as you thought. I hope he continues to rally. He's added a lot to our family.

A Construction Update

2011-08-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

It was a paintapalooza weekend. From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, I spent about 9 hours painting every surface you can see.

Here's a little before an after.

Before...

After....

I need to add 1 more coat of red to a couple of places to even it out. 6 coats to make it look consistent.

Here's the bathroom before (primed only)...

After... The paint is a light brown. The tile was set today. On Thursday it gets grouted.

Here's a side look at the west wall of the bathroom before.

A peek at the shower tile.

It's coming along! We still have quite a few things left to do, but once the tiling get finished, we can put the fixtures up and put the carpet back. Then little Jenna can finally move around down there again. Poor kid screams to be put down every time we go down to look.

The Faces of Sara

2011-08-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

This is what I got when I said "show me your eyes".

Bouncers

2011-08-13T13:16:00.000-05:00

Laura and Her Papa

2011-08-11T06:23:00.000-05:00

Angry Birds

2011-08-07T21:37:00.000-05:00

Fun in the Mud

2011-08-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

Who needs a swimming pool when you have a mud puddle?

Sharing Mama's Phone

2011-07-30T20:41:00.001-05:00

As much as they fight, they love each other just as much.

Pig pile!

2011-07-28T07:44:00.002-05:00

Vacation Bible School

2011-07-27T14:21:00.000-05:00

It's VBS week at our church. I was able to make arrangements at work so that both the big girls could participate. I found this today rolled up with a rubber band tied around it.

This is by Laura with her signature heart faces. If you can't decipher the Kindergarten spelling, this is what it says:

I love you God and this is my prayer.
Dear God thank you for this world and me
and all the other things.
Amen.

Workin'

2011-07-26T10:34:00.000-05:00

I'm working from home a couple mornings this week to get the big girls to bible school. Jenna insisted on helping a little bit. Clearly she's been watching on how to operate the computer.

Laura had an accident with the computer the other day. Something happened and the whole cabinet the laptop was in toppled over onto her. She ended up with a nasty bruise behind her ear, but is otherwise OK. The laptop on the other hand is not OK. That is going to the doctor, so until we figure out how to get that fixed, you'll have to deal with my children's devil eyes.

The County Fair

2011-07-22T08:37:00.000-05:00

We took in the local county fair. At 100*+ heat index. We were crazy. We stopped to listen to the music. I felt bad for the musicians. There were 2 people in the audience before we got there. We did a little dancing. The camera was a little fogged up after sitting next to the icy sippy cups.

In the bunny barn, we got 4-H tattoos!

It was unbelievably hot. For sure the hottest the baby ever has been. We got some milk shakes.

We took in a few rides and then headed home.

Jenna LOVES the merry go round.

The hot sunset was fantastic though.

The City Pool

2011-07-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

We beat the heat yesterday by visiting the local city pool. The girls loved it and are begging to go back.

The little girls stayed in the shallow end and played with the bubblers.

Laura was a (dead) fish.

Afterwards we stopped and got some ice cream. Jenna ate her first very own ice cream cone.

That's a tired baby.

Mmmm, Dilly Bar.

Hi Sara.

Monday

2011-07-19T10:43:00.000-05:00

It's super hot here. As in I forgot to let the camera defog before taking pictures. We're at my parent's house this week. The girls are in heaven.

This is my mom's garden. It's typically beautiful but with this tropical weather, it's going gangbusters!

The pumpkins are taking over.

It's Tuesday morning and we dropped Laura off at camp. She's in the pink sitting on the left.

The little girls, my dad and I went to one of my favorite local spots - Masonic Park. It's a pavilion and a river. It's beautiful.

Sara was fussing because with the humidity the grass is still wet and that makes for a hot Sara with wet feet. They found a raccoon track in the mud.

Kicking Back and a Construction Update

2011-07-18T08:45:00.000-05:00

Girl and papa day chillin.

I seriously love this look. It's from generations of scowlers. I also think she's really starting to grow into her big girl look.

I spend good money on this therapeutic bed for that dog and who uses it? The non-geriatric cat.

We had a couple days of work on the house last week. All of the plumbing and electrical went in and passed both inspections. There's some additional work that needs to be done to level out the new cement area in the bathroom.

Here's the shower.

On the opposite side of this wall is the former closet area that hid the plumbing. We're going to wall it in with a small access door at the bottom. We'll add some access ceiling panels so we can get at the tub plumbing if we ever need too.

Opposite and to the left of the shower is where the sink will go.

This is the north wall of the bedroom. There will be a huge closet to the right.

We're off to my hometown of Spring Valley, MN for the week. Laura is going to bible camp at Good Earth Village and we have other fun things to do. Stay tuned for small town fun!

Toads

2011-07-13T09:27:00.000-05:00

I grew up finding lots of toads around our house. Since I've lived in my current home (about 10 years and 2 hours away from my hometown), just last year did I finally find one. And just once through the whole summer. And I have lots of gardens. It could be the 100 pound lab that runs the yard that scares them off, who knows. But since we had the new egress window put in a couple weeks ago, I've been finding them. 3 of the 4 times have been inside the 5 foot deep window well. Do they jump in? I have to extract them (or maybe it's the same guy) from the inside and then after a little play time with the girls, they get placed in a garden.

Wipe Out

2011-07-10T13:59:00.001-05:00

We're big fans of the TV show Wipe Out. On this hot Minnesota Sunday, the girls decided to make their own Wipe Out TV show. I was the audience.

First up is contestant Laura - who thinks she can run and balance on top of the beach ball of doom.

Wipe out. Over and over and over.

Next up in the baby pool are Sara and Jenna.

Contestant Sara - What happens when you try to pour water on your head?

Ah yes, cheesy hair.

Not to be outdone by her older sisters, contestant Jenna, how much water can you consume while splashing?

Contestant Jenna's mother forgot to buy swim diapers.

And now for the grand finale...

Tada!

That concludes the show for today. Well done girls! You all win a popsicle.

4th of July

2011-07-07T11:52:00.000-05:00

We had our annual 4th of July celebration with some good friends of ours. We have been celebrating together for the last 3 or 4 years. It's so relaxing and lots of fun. We each of 3 kids, all of the same age so it's doubly exciting to do this together.

Grace and Paul test the slip n slide. I tested it a couple days prior and my hip still hasn't really forgiven me.

Laura adds the slide.

Sara assumed her usual role in gatherings. A distant scowler.

Jenna and I hung out together quite a bit as the big kids played.

We have fireworks on the driveway. Here is the staging area.

Audience is ready.

The girls and I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Little Charlie was nibbling on a couple of them. The dog vacuum was very aware of chunky crumbs.

Cough.

Grand Finale!

First Trip to the Lake

2011-07-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

Finally we had a fantastic weekend and we had the time to get to our favorite lake. The girls were beyond excited.

Sara splashes mama (and the camera).

Sara was too nervous to go very deep (beyond her knees). Instead she hung out on the shore with Jenna and me.

This kid is such a goof.

Jenna loved the water. She ate lots of lake weeds despite my constant watch. And sand. And rocks. I figured that was one way to finally cut that top tooth she's working on.

After an hour and half, they were begging to go back before we even left the parking lot.

Jenna June at 12 months

2011-06-28T12:57:00.000-05:00

We took the big girl in for her 12 month pictures on Saturday. It's hard for us to believe she was a 4 pound baby.

Construction Progress

2011-06-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

We had some more progress on the house last week. The new counter top was installed. Oh how I hated this green thing. It matched the linoleum. Never ever match your counter top to a color in the linoleum.

Ah, a million gazillion times better.

The plumbers came and dug more and roughed in all the plumbing.

It has an island!

Bear loves how cold the concrete is.

Next up is the plumbing inspection takes place tomorrow. Thursday they pour the concrete and then we'll see some real big changes.

Cat and Dog

2011-06-22T21:30:00.002-05:00

Construction

2011-06-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

We are braving new change in our house. After a hard look at what it would take to move to something bigger, we decided to stay put and make the changes we've talked about making since we moved in. We're adding a 4th bedroom and a 2nd bathroom among some other improvements.

This is our downstairs before. Either we have a LOT of ghosts in our basement, or moving furniture really kicks up the dust.

And this is after day 1 of demolition.

They ripped out all the studs too. They'll apply a water resistant barrier to the walls. We put an egress window where this window used to be.

The closet that covered up the plumbing is gone. That will be replaced with a much smaller structure.

A Shared Birthday Party

2011-06-15T20:30:00.000-05:00

We decided to have a shared party for Laura and Jenna this year. Laura had a school party and we scaled the party to family and Godparents.

Jenna wasn't happy about her party hat.

Grandma Rasmusson made the birthday cakes.

The kids colored T-shirts.

The big kids blew up balloons and then let them fly. Over and over and over again.

Sara wore her best party dress. I was impressed. She wasn't jealous at all about not having cake or presents.

Jenna received a baby wagon.

Cake time

Mmmm cake. She smashed it and she ate a good chunk of it. Of our 3 girls, she's the only baby that truly dug into and ate a birthday cake. The others just poked.

Tossing a Baby

2011-06-12T13:24:00.002-05:00

Girls on a Couch

2011-06-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa's

2011-06-07T20:53:00.000-05:00

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday to spend the night. Sunday was our nephew's 6th birthday party. Grandpa has a special game he plays with all the grandkids called "the trap game". He takes a thin blanket, wraps the kids and then swings it. They all love it.

Don't pick your nose Sara.

He swings them several times and then throws them on the bed and proceeds to say, "Meat! Meat! Where's the meat?!" all while nibbling on their bellies. They totally live for it.

I don't know how he has the upper body strength for it.

Jenna was cruising all over their house. (Doesn't she look like her big sister?)

Then Jenna decided she needed to get in on the trap game.

It took a couple tries to get her to lie down long enough to get the ends picked up but she loved the swinging.

Afterwards, it was bath time. Jenna had a sink bath and the big girls got in the big tub.

Last Night of Swimming Lessons

2011-06-03T20:27:00.000-05:00

The girls have been in swimming lessons on Wednesday nights for the last 8 weeks. I try to get them in at least once a year. We have been taking lessons at the local YMCA. The girls made huge progress this time. We've been working with Sara to swim with a life vest. She gained a tremendous amount of self confidence and can now swim independently in a life jacket. She is less apprehensive about dipping her face in the water.

Laura passed her class and moved up a level! She is dunking her head right and left which his huge progress! She's like me and doesn't like to get her face wet at all.

Jenna for weeks has happily hung out by the benches. This last week she decided she needed to be in the water. We're lucky it was on the last day she needed it. Lots of work, that one.

She just wants to crawl and unfortunately goes and goes deeper.

She's a future fish too. She loves the water.

Hey Big Stander!

2011-06-02T11:56:00.000-05:00

Jenna's sleeping lately has been rough again. Very restless. She only has 2 teeth and I keep thinking that it's the top ones which are clearly moving. But pain reliever provides no relief for any of us. I told Jeff last night that she must be on the break a new motor skill. She has begun to pull herself up in the crib, but not really anywhere else. We've not anticipated it because Laura was 14 months when she started walking and Sara was 15 months. But this one. This one looks like she'll beat them both. She'll be a year in 2 weeks.

Pardon the husband's cell phone photography skills. But these are what I got to see today. Love it.

Unrelated, I'm totally loving the new fridge.

Sprinkler Fun

2011-06-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

Memorial day was one of the nicest days we've had this year. We celebrated by breaking out one of the sprinklers.

Laura's Birthday

2011-05-30T07:51:00.000-05:00

Laura's birthday was on Saturday. The big 6. It was a really busy day. My parents came up for the day for some house projects as well as a little birthday celebration.

She received some headbands that she's been begging for.

Her big present was this Barbie 4 wheeler. She loves the Barbie Jeep but she's almost too tall for it now.

She was eating a cookie when we opened the garage to reveal the surprise!

Grandma Johnson also stopped by and gave Laura these big girl golf clubs. She also gave Laura Grandpa Johnson's old golfing hat. He's been gone for many years now so that was special for mama and papa to see too.

She wanted Dilly bars from DQ instead of birthday cake.

We had several big projects going on. We put new doors on all the bedrooms plus the hallway closet. We had my parents finish them since they have the time and shop to do it. They turned out so nice! What an amazing difference. Other projects were a new refrigerator delivery, We painted the back door and my mom finished up some wall mudding in the bathroom that we needed to fix. We also moved around some furniture in preparation for a remodel we have coming up in a week.

I took a break in the sunshine with my best little girl. We played on the old closet door.

Then the big girls joined us. I love this picture.

After it was all done, Sara and Jenna played a game of "mean cow" with grandpa. I'm not sure why the cow was mean, but he was.

Uno!

2011-05-26T20:55:00.000-05:00

A Big Girl Party

2011-05-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

Laura had her first ever school friend birthday party on Saturday. She had two friends come. She wanted a slumber party birthday party so everyone wore PJs.

First up was bike riding.

I put up a little tent down stairs and they played with flashlights. Sara was in the middle of it all and they did a great job of including her. Oh the screaming...

Our activity was to color pillow cases with fabric markers.

Look out, here comes Jenna!

Sara, Laura, Anna and Carly

We had some pizza and pop while watching a little bit of Cinderella.

Happy Birthday! Carly, Laura and Anna

Big Day for a Big Girl

2011-05-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

Laura came home on Thursday begging to take her training wheels off. She was determined to figure out riding on two wheels. With papa home on Thursday and Friday, she was able to work on it before school.

When this kid makes up her mind she's going to do something, she doesn't rest until she does it.

Two days later and she's riding on two wheels. She's so excited. We're so proud.

Her cheerleader.

This must be documented. Jeff's mom is notorious for chopping heads off of pictures. Looks like it's genetic.

Celebratory popsicles.

Working the Garden

2011-05-16T12:51:00.000-05:00

The weather finally cooperated enough on Sunday for us to start working in the garden. I fired up my new (to me) tiller with minimal help over the phone from my dad and we commenced to digging.

Every year rabbits eat my garden. Not this year. I put a fence all the way around. They'll have to fly in to get at my plants this year. The girls loved it.

We planted peas and green beans. We'll plant cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, zucchini and some lettuce. We already have a good crop of rhubarb up and the raspberries are all growing too.

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestickmaker

2011-05-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

Papa had to sleep for his night shift the other night and all 3 needed a bath. I braved it. I stuck them all in at once and crossed my fingers.

This one is my favorite. There isn't anything better than seeing your kids laugh with each other. Sara is singing Amazing Grace as loud as she can.

And then the goofing around really kicked in.

This is Jeff's doing. These goofy faces. See that scrape on her nose? She'll tell you papa pushed her off the couch. That's a little bit true.

Did you want to see that face a little closer? Well here you go.

My little sweetie played so nice amongst the goofballs.

Mother's Day at the Park

2011-05-09T20:58:00.000-05:00

Pictures that don't need words

2011-05-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law came for a visit on Thursday. She wanted just one picture with the girls.

LOL.

This one appears to be the best...

So here you go Ma. I'm not sure which one to send to you! Maybe I'll send all.

And She's Off...

2011-05-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

Whew. Where did this week go? A certain someone finally figured out how to work the arms and legs at the same time. Unfortunately that is also happening at night so there not much sleeping going on between the two of us.