The Fourth of July - It Happened!

So as I mentioned previously, I decided to take all the ivy out of a large portion of our backyard, to grow a garden. Little did I know that all this ivy was holding up a 80 year old wall. Needless to say, the wall fell down. And since it was during the crazy spring/beginning of summer rainy time we had this year, we had to fix it before dirt went spilling down everywhere and into the lake. So, feeling overwhelmed, we decided to not have the 4th of July party. However, once it got close to the 4th we were saddened by the fact that all of our friends would not be around to celebrate with. So with a couple of days till the big event - we put out an invitation. Amazingly with such little notice - people came! Yeah! My family came up from CA on the 3rd of July so they were all here for our Independence Day too!

The boys and Kivi lighting off Roman candles on the dock.

View from the dock. You can see the lovely wall that Peter built to the left of the stairs.

Buggy and her nieces enjoying the traditional s'mores and root beer floats.

Eben and Hayden got to light off the big fireworks that Tammy brought.

We waited a little too long to take the family pic. Oh well, at least we got it!

And right here will be the 2010 Sparkler Picture, which I'm waiting to get from Mashel!

It was a fun, busy day. Colder than years past, the dads didn't even go in the water - but it didn't stop the kids. Lots to eat, friends to see, and fun fireworks to watch. God bless America!

Baby Showers and Basketball

Baby Showers

Berg is so blessed - he got to have 2 baby showers! I can't believe it! He's baby #5 and he gets to have that spot in his baby book filled out - if I ever get to that. I know this is a rarity for a fifth child. The first one was thrown by the wonderful Schocks on June 12th - a murder mystery party! I was Muffy, little miss perfect, married to Derick (Peter) a loser and an obnoxious jock. It was so much fun - I love these kind of parties and the food was delicious too! I love our cool friends!

The second one was at our new church Lake City Community. They throw baby showers for all the new member/attenders who have babies. So Kristy and I got to have a duel baby shower for Julia and Berg who were born about 6 hours apart. It was a freezer meal shower so instead of traditional gifts the ladies gave us dinners, which was the most awesome thing!

Basketball

On June 19th Peter played in the Helmets vs. Shields basketball game. We sat up in the stands with a sign we had made for him and cheered and ate candy the whole game. The kids loved it! And the police beat the firefighters for the first time ever! (I think.) It was a great game - until the last minute of the game, when Peter's lip met the back of another player's head.

After the game, Dada had to go to the hospital to get his lip super glued back together.

And here's one more pic of Dada and all his babies on Father's Day. The kids made him cards, breakfast, picked him flowers and tried to let him sleep in until we had to go to church. (Eben is seen in his recent attire - a lab coat and goggles with no lens which he's been wearing every day for almost 2 weeks now.)

New Things

New things are happening here at the Johnson home.

Eben and Kivi have both learned to ride a 2-wheeler! Well, Eben learned about 2 years ago and then took a sabbatical until now. And Kivi decided she was done with training wheels and wanted to ride on her own after learning that once you can start and stop by yourself you get to trick out your ride with a bell, basket and cool handle bar ribbon thingys. They love to race up and down the driveway now that we've figured out a no crashing system and removed the huge bush that was causing most of the crashing into each other. We got a lot of videos of them riding, but no still shots, I'll have to get some. For now, here's Bubba and his scooter riding helmet that he wore for a couple days straight - everywhere...

like to the Seattle Science Center! Nonnie took us while she was here helping with Berg. Actually, she was helping with all the rest of them which was a huge help! The kids loved it and we didn't even get to see the whole museum. But that's ok because Nonnie got us a membership - since it is now actually more affordable to buy our family a year long membership instead of a day pass.

Tummy time is a new thing for Berg - and the kids are all enthralled with it too! He's like a little magnet as soon as I lay him down on the floor they all flock to him.

Eben's learning to help out more and more around the house! Although he is definitely a boy (crazy) and does boy (weird) things, he's also learning to be a great little man. On June 3rd Dada taught him how to mow the lawn and he did a wonderful job!

Eben also lost his two bottom teeth on June 12 and 14! He thought the Tooth Fairy didn't come because he didn't have any money under his pillow and his tooth was still there when he woke up - but when he looked later in the day - low and behold - the crazy Tooth Fairy had come! She must be invisible and overworked.

Introducing...Baby Berg!

May 17th our 5th baby was born. We named him Berg Taylor Johnson. (It means rock in Swedish.) Here is the story of his birth:

The 2 weeks prior to May 17th I had not slept well. My hips had separated and laying down did not help. So on May 16th Peter suggested that I sleep in his big dada leather recliner - sitting up. He slept next to me on the couch. It worked great until 3am when I woke up with a numb rear end from sitting all night. So we went down to our bed. I, however, could not fall back asleep. At four I got up feeling restless and realized all the things I had not yet accomplished before our baby was to be born. So I went around the house, finding the video camera and looking for baby clothes kind of stuff. I remembered Peter saying I stayed awaked the night before our other births and I thought, "This baby might come today".

So at 4:45am I woke up Peter and told him, "I know it's early, but I think were going to have a baby today." Which shocked and startled him and got him out of bed really fast. A little bit later I had a contraction and went down onto the ground in what Peter calls the "it's happening" position. So I called the Birthing Inn, where we were going to have the baby. Then I have another contraction. Peter automatically switches gears. He decides to start the bathtub. We've been down this road before. And I'm so proud of him. In the past he would've tried to get me in the car. But he knows. So I put on a swim suit top, get in the tub and Peter calls Shari to come take pictures, cause this thing is gonna happen here. 3 more contractions and out comes a beautiful baby boy at 5:35am! He was perfect. The delivery was perfect. God is so good! I prayed through each contraction, praising Him, thanking him for our baby that was coming and asking for a quick, painless birth. We were truly blessed! I don't know how it could have gone any faster or more smoothly. Shari even got there in time to take pictures and video tape!

Here's Berg just coming out of the water. I still think he's a girl at this point. I kept saying, "she" and "her".

The rest of the day, from there on out, was very strange. No one knew what to do with us. From the Birthing Inn not letting us come, to the firefighters originally not wanting to transport us to the hospital and the hospital not knowing what to do with us. They wouldn't admit Berg or even look at him, they said only the mama would be the patient. Finally we asked if we could just have him weighed and they said ok, as long as we realized anything they did for him was complimentary. So strange. So we mainly went to the hospital for a really expensive breakfast and then came home before noon.

Dada and Mama and our new baby boy. Later Shari and Crystal came to St. Joe's where they both had worked before and then we got lots of things, like footprints, height and head size, and lots of pads. By the way he weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces, was 19 inches long and had a 13 inch head.

We came home around noon and the kids were so excited to see their new baby brother.

They each took turns holding him and kissing him and trying to get used to his new name.

He is such a sweet baby. So content, quiet, a good eater, and he's let us sleep for 6 hours straight every night!

We are so excited that he's here and he's a part of our family!

Thank you God for our beautiful baby Berg!

Nesting

The last few weeks have been "nesting" time for us. Priority for me was to get furniture! Peter was done with our flowered couches and ready for something different, plus, they were starting to deteriorate rapidly. So we sold them in one day with no new furniture plans. We went a couple of weeks sitting on lawn chairs and then I, highly pregnant, was ready for something soft to sit on. We found these:

Peter got the big daddy leather recliner he's always wanted, I got a cute paisley mama chair and we actually made $100 selling our couches and buying new ones!

Peter built a huge chicken coop for our now large birds. It's two levels, one to nest and roost in and the bottom is covered with wire so they can scratch in the sand. The kids let them out every day and shepherd them back in the evening. They are great at it and love playing outside with them.

This is our new family vehicle! It's a bus! We got it on May 14th in Seattle and went to go see my sis who just moved up here from California. Our first stop in Pioneer Square in our brand new bus and we had a man try to get on and get a ride!

I've also been doing a ton of gardening! I love it! My latest project is clearing our all the ivy between our house and the lake. It's a ton of ivy! Hopefully one day we can plant a vegetable garden there.

Also, I haven't shown any pictures of our beautiful cement counter top, which my magnificent hubby made himself! It's been a really long process, but soooo worth it! They are perfect! Recently he's been working on putting the slate backsplash in, so it's finally looking finished in our kitchen!

We also got the nine month sibling/belly picture taken! My photographer sister Shmee came down from Seattle, where she now resides, and somehow got all the kids to smile. Hurray!

Evesdropping

Jasper - Opal, you are a cow. Opal, you are a goat.

Kivi - Jasper, actually did you know that it says in God's Holy Word that we are sheep?

Jasper - No, we are not sheep.

Kivi - Yes we are sheep. And you do you know who is our Shepherd? The Lord Jesus Christ!

Bee Day!!

The bees are here! On Saturday Peter took all the kids to Trees and Bees (while I was at the MOPS Summit) and picked up our "girls" (that's what bee people call them), all 7,000 of them. Peter said it felt kind of strange loading all the kids in the van with a box of buzzing bees. Here's what they looked like in their box:

We were planning on putting them in the hive that day, but when I got back, it was raining, so we had to wait until after church on Sunday to move them to their new home.

First, Dada helped the kids rub honey all over some of the frames, so the bees would like their new home.

Then after spraying them with sugar water (Eben's job) and jarring down the box so all the bees fall to the bottom, we got the queen's box out of the bee box and put it in the hive. Notice Peter has the Beekeeping For Dummies book in hand so we could read the process step by step.

Next, it was time to pour all the bees into the hive. As I was pouring them in, I felt wet drops on my hands and we realized Eben was still spraying the poor bees and me with sugar water. So many of them flew to my white suit, and it was a stickier process than it should've been, but it all worked out.

I look like a real beekeeper. Or at least a real first time beekeeper.

All our girls dispersing into their hive before I replaced the last frames. The ones on top are all surrounding the queen in her box, trying to get her out by eating away at a marshmallow that worked like a cork on her little cage.

Shari took this video and the pictures and she was so great, she got right in there, practically inside the hive.

Now we have a week to wait until we can peek at them again and see how our bees are doing in there. Last night Jasper asked, "Are you so excited about your bees Mama?" I said I was and he replied, "I am so excited too!" I hope our whole family will come to love these bees and appreciate their hard work. Thank you Honey Baby for my bees! (I know you already love them too!)