November and Awaiting Baby Bear

According to iPhoto (which is how we remember anything a week after it happens), we either didn't do much leading up to our new family addition, or we just failed to take pictures.  A very pregnant Abby agreed to be with me in our church musical, which had a four show run two weeks after the baby came, but more on that later.  We rehearsed through November. 

On Abby's birthday, the kids got up at 0500 and decorated the house for her for a little breakfast surprise party.

This photo of Berg and Pella is here just to remind me in years to come of how they are.  They can be seen spontaneously doing this five times a day around our house.  While I know this will likely not always be the case, hearing them tell each other that they are best friends on a regular basis is just too dang cute to handle.

 About two weeks before baby, we made a mid-week run out to NW Trek.  We've found it an excellent place to both see animals and to utilize the wide, smooth, sloped blacktop walkways to Heely.  Hat's off to my little Opal who mastered her Heely's on this trip.

Harvest Carnival 2014

As always, Abby found a way to dress all eight of us in the same theme, all while keeping the kids both excited about it and convinced that it was their idea.  This year, we went with Despicable Me 2, featuring both good and evil minions.

 Abby assures me that she in no way picked this costume theme due to my natural resemblance to Gru.  Sadly, my kids are more honest.  One woman at the carnival asked me how I got my legs so skinny for the costume.  I assured her they were au nauturel. 

 Hats off to my wife for taking black duck tape, felt and Goodwill clothes and turning us into this!  It was a fun night.

Warning: Husband Blogging

Hi all.  

Every few years, Abby allows me on here for some catch up blogging.  So sit back and enjoy a smattering of photos and captions that in no way compare to my lovely wife's discerning and carefully chosen posts, but which will, more or less, catch you up with the Johnson's.

-Peter

Corn Maze Day!

October 27th was Corn Maze Day for our family! Poppie and Nonnie were up here and they came along too! The girls wore fall dresses and we shot our traditional fall kid picture:

and one with Poppie and Nonnie too!

The theme this year was Jurassic Jungle and all about dinosaurs. Not my favorite but it was still good fun. Nonnie let the kids all pick out candy sticks which they sucked on during the whole maze. We found dinosaurs, volcanos and fossil digs along with our check off spots. Once we found all of our destinations we retrieved our candy prizes and ate them!

Eben's Wii Birthday!

This year Eben decided to have a Wii party to celebrate his 11th birthday. We were going to have the party in our church's Friendship room, but it had gotten painted right before we were going to set up, so we ended up using the youth room and it was probably an even better space for this event.

Eben chose his favorite colors purple and red and his favorite snack foods. 

Peter set up four different Wii stations all around the room and Eben switched the games throughout the party.  The older boys' favorites were Mario Kart 8 and Wii Party.

Everyone else loved Just Dance which ended up being on two stations and people who didn't even have a Wii remote even joined in.

Eben decided he wanted brownies a la mode instead of cake this year.

The whole Wii group.

After we awarded the three Wii champions, the people who had crazy hats on signifying they had won the last Wii game, he opened his presents!

Eben, we can't believe you are 11 already! You are a wonderful, red-headed, weird, computer genius. You are a great example for your little siblings. You are amazing at stepping away from whatever you're doing and obeying with joy. Technology makes you giddy and you love anything computer related. You are on two different serve teams and help out around church.  You are becoming a very servant-hearted man, getting firewood, starting the car and taking care of chickens. You are very motivated when you want to be ofter waking up around 5am to finish school work and always getting done before Fridays so you can go to Computer Clubhouse. We love you and your wacky ways! We know you will use your talents and funny humor to bring others to Christ! Happy 11th Eben! 

October Stuff

The kids love, love, love building with blocks. Especially these stick blocks. We made a special trip to Ikea just to buy some for Jasper's birthday only to find out they don't carry them anymore. So we finally special ordered our blocks so that all the kids had enough blocks to build with at the same time. They have come up with some great creations too! Here is Kivi's house and the train that leads right to Safeco field!

On Oct. 17 and 18th Peter took me away for my 39th birthday to a B&B in Olympia. We spent our time hunting - for bargains at all the Goodwills and kefir! We found both! The car was completely filled with treasure by the time we were done. Peter actually only searches for three things at thrift stores; Heelys, Charles Wysocki puzzles and ski gear. He did really well and found all of them multiple times.

Oct. 21 - One of our midwife appointments. We are so glad we found Dawn and Sarah! The appointments are in Dawn's cute remodeled basement turned doctor's office and the kids are welcome to come and learn and do. We took Opal, Jasper and Kivi to this one and they got to find Baby Bear's heartbeat.

Berg is learning so much! I often forget this man is four already and capable of learning so many new things. We are working on knowing numbers, writing his letters and making a letter book.

Jasper's Great Wolf Birthday!

Johnson tradition dictates that a seven year old can go to an amusement park and an eight year old can choose between a normal birthday party or going to the Great Wolf Lodge. Last year Jasper chose Legoland and this year on Sept. 28th we spent a whole day at Great Wolf Lodge with our friends the Schocks!

We got Jasper his own compass to play the Compass Quest this time with the boys instead of the normal MagiQuest, which the other kids played. We actually were pretty excited to find wands at Goodwill! The people who worked at GWL were not as pleased that we had wands that haven't been used since the year they opened and didn't have our names on them. 

  

The kids switched off going into the water park so that Dada and Mrs. Schock each had a little group of kids to go on the slides with, while I sat in the lobby all day long with the little people. The littles tried the water park once for a short time and that was about it for them. I don't even think Berg got in the water. We spent our time playing MagiQuest, coloring, eating snacks, watching movies, and watching the lamest show on earth. ("There's nothing to be scared of here, just trust in mother nature." What kind of message is that? The song gets stuck in your head for hours.) Peter actually stayed in that hot, stuffy water park with different groups of our gang for about 8 hours!

After a pizza dinner, we got the three different flavored cakes that Jasper picked out from the store (he specifically asked for store bought cake - ha!) and sang "Happy Birthday" to the waterlogged 8 year old!

He opened his present - a nerf gun!

And he received the traditional "Birthday Kiss" from Mama and Dada!

Jasper, you are such a "cool" guy! We love spending time with you and watching your enthusiasm for life. You are super friendly. You love to build with blocks, making houses with your sisters, marble runs with your brothers or robots out of mega blocks and all sorts of Lego creations. You have the loudest laugh when we watch movies, you're the loudest anytime actually. You are still working on being gentle, and are not as rough as you used to be, but still jab us with an occasional elbow or knee unintentionally. You have written many great stories and have amazing math and dance skills. You are reading the Magic Tree House series right now and really like it although you still can't read in bed, not because your not allowed, but because you fall asleep within seconds of your head hitting the pillow. (Which by the way, still has to be perfect, like the rest of your bed before you get into it.) We love you and your quirky ways! We know God will use all of your talents and great personality for His glory! Happy 8th Birthday, Bubble Baby!