Johnsons' Journey

Christmas Cuties

Good Day Everyone!

It’s that time once again to get the address book out, and send ya’ll our yearly Christmas card. We hope it finds you all well and good. This year has been good to us, and we hope that yours was great as well.

Joe is still working for Container Recovery. He’s been with the company for 5 years now, and he enjoys it. He always says he has a plush route, and that he doesn’t work very hard… Unless I ask him to do something… Then for some reason his job gets so much harder… “Do you know how hard I work Julie?”… Hahaha! He needs to make up his mind!!! When not at work Joe spends him time watching TV, or playing with the kids. I keep telling him that he needs to get a hobby, and that no, watching TV is not a hobby! Hahahaha! When I suggest he read a book, he gets this horrified look on his face…. Oh, he is doing one new thing this year. He’s become an Awana leader/helper. He seems to be enjoying it. So on Sunday evenings Joe and the boys head off to Awanas, while me and the girls keep the home fires burning.

I am still enjoying being a stay-at-home-mommy… But this year we added a few more twists to it! Of course the biggest one was the addition of our newest little blessing, Amanda. But I’ve also started homeschooling the boys. Last year, a month or two before Christmas, I started making up a little preschool for the boys. Josh was only 3 at the time, so we just did colors and shapes, that sort of thing. But Jared was almost 5, and was flying through everything I could think to throw at him. He new and recognized all his letters and numbers, could spell (and write) all of our names, and could count past 100. And when I went to a homeschool meeting on 12/5/2002, I discovered that what I was working with Jared on, was already at kindergarten level….

So anyway, I started talking to Joe about how much the boys and I enjoyed our little made up homeschool, and that I really wanted to continue to homeschool them. But Joe was concerned about the costs of the curriculum. So one night I prayed to God, saying “If you want me to homeschool, could you please provide the money for the curriculum.”…. Two days later we received a letter from the IRS saying that we were eligible for the additional child tax credit… We were going to receive a check for $846.00 from them…. I told Joe about my prayer, and he says, “Looks like we’re homeschooling.”

Since Jared was already at kindergarten level anyway, I went ahead and ordered the kindergarten curriculum from Alpha Omega on Christmas Eve. It came right before his 5th birthday, and the following Monday he started. And he did awesome. So now this year Jared’s in the 1st grade, and Josh is still in Preschool. I work with Josh for 30 to 45 minutes in the morning, and then after lunch Jared and I spend 2 to 3 hours doing his work. I can’t tell you what his favorite subject is, because it changes daily! Hahaha… But he is taking Math, Language Arts, Spelling, History & Geography, Science and Bible. Between school and Awanas, Jared is keeping his mind busy… And doing AWESOME in both! He’s astonishing his Sparky leaders in Awanas, with his photographic memory, and is learning even more Bible verses in his Bible class at home.

Josh is also doing well in Awanas… He is a Cubbie, and loves it. He also loves doing school with Mommy, though he doesn’t like to write the letter “S”! Hahahaha…. Makes it kinda hard to write his name! Josh really likes to color, and does a very good job at it, trying very hard to stay in the lines. I just need to work on how he holds the colors and pencils. The boys are really into Rescue Heroes, and are still really into playing with their toy animals. The newest thing they are into are dinosaurs. And Josh is really into the nasty things… Like toy bugs, snakes, lizards, etc… YUCK!

Alicia has grown so much this past year. She had her 2nd birthday in October. She is talking very well, except when she’s excited. Then it’s a little harder for her to get the words out. But all other times, you can really understand what she’s trying to say. She’s very smart, and is already picking up some of the colors and learning to count… Jared and Josh must be teaching her, as I really haven’t had the time to work with her myself! She loves to play with her Loving Family dolls, and her big dolls as well. I was afraid that with two big brothers she would become a tom-boy, but she is all girl. She even has a love for Teddy Bears, and sleeps with so many, you’d think there wouldn’t be any room on the bed for her! Our newest thing with Princess is the potty training thing. We’ve just started getting her into it, and she’s gone a few times. I think she’s starting to understand, because she’s started to tell me when she is going (in her diaper)… She’d probably be doing better if I had more time to work with her one-on-one with it. It’s easier in the evenings when school is over and Daddy is available to hold Amanda.

Amanda is our newest little blessing. She was due to come on September 3, but I developed pre-eclampsia, and the doctor took her early on 8/16/03. Because the pre-eclampsia can cause low birth weight, she was only 5 lbs 2 oz when she was born, but it never slowed her down. Her apgars at birth were very good, at 9 and 9, and one of the doctor’s that delivered her said she was a feisty one! … She’s now almost 4 months old, and has grown so much. She weighs 11 pounds now (weighed her this morning Ü ), and is something like 24 inches long now (she was 18 1/2 inches at birth). She is very alert, and likes to watch her brothers and sisters play. She smiles and giggles all the time, and is starting to reach toward things. I’m thinking she’ll be grabbing for toys by Christmas….. Just wish she’d leave my hair alone!!!! All the kids absolutely adore our little Pixie-Girl, and I’m sure she will be quite spoiled… By all of us!

Not much else new going on in our little lives. Just pluggin’ along with the day to day routine, and enjoying our time with the kids. If you would like to keep up with our daily goings-on (and you have a computer) you can visit our little home on the web. I even have a blog (online journal) which I post in almost daily…. Though you may find out more than you want to there! LOL!

Wishing you all a Cool Yule and a Frantic First!!!!

Hugs
Joe, Julie, Jared, Joshua, Alicia and Amanda