Johnsons' Journey

Christmas baking

Since some of our neighbors sent over Christmas blessings, we decided that we needed to send over some goodies in return. I decided on making some cinnamon bread, which is basically cinnamon rolls, but made into a loaf instead of individual rolls. I only ever make cinnamon bread at Christmas. I always take one over to Joe’s parents’ house for Christmas Eve, and I make one for us as well. This year I also made 3 extra for our neighbors (and we have another neighbor a plate of homemade cookies). Hope they liked it!

 I also made chocolate chip cookies, glazed oatmeal cookies, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie… Lots of yummy goodness floating around the kitchen!

Christmas Eve

We had a mostly pleasant time on Christmas Eve… It’s hard to have a 100% good time when a few of the people there have a bit more to drink than they should. (I really don’t like my kids being around drunk people *sigh*) Of course everyone else says that those two were “slightly tipsy”, but I would say it was more than that… And even “tipsy” is not a good infuence on kids.

When we were first pulling into Jim and Elvina’s driveway, Amanda blurted out from the back seat, “Look! Grandma and Grandpa have ding-dongs on their door!” *lol* … I looked over there, and they had two large Christmas bells haing on the door… Ding-dongs… Too cute!

Amanda got to be one of “Santa’s Helpers”, as she and Jacob helped Grandpa pass out the Christmas presnts… This is the only decent picture I got of that, because Joe told her to hurry, and so she was running around at lightning speed. Most of the pictures I tried taking of her passing out the gifts turned out blurry. *pout*

We were sitting, with the kids, in the corner of the sectional couch… This year the kids’ gifts came in bigger boxes than normal, and soon we couldn’t see the kids behind the gifts. *lol* … Of course, they loved that! … It was really hard keeping track of who got the kids what. There was boxes and paper flying, and Joe and I had our hands full, holding onto everything. *lol* … It took a while the next day, but we finally were able to figure all that out.

We got Jamie and Jacob each a used/real bowling pin as well as a bowling t-shirt. (They’re the ones who got the boys into bowling.) … While I don’t know what Jacob and Jamie thought of the bowling pins (the boys LOVE the ones we got them), the adults seemed to think it was cool. They passed around the pin so that everyone could see how heavy it was, etc… And I must have heard “Where did Julie steal it from” many times. *lol* … I kept saying, “I didn’t steal them! I got them on eBay!”

After the kids were done opening their presents, it was time for the adult gift exchange… We had all bought a gift to put in the pile, and we had drawn numbers before we ate dinner… Joe drew the #1, and I was #9… You never know what you’re going to end up with, because half the people like to steal presents… Which is something I can never do! … In the end I ended up with both my gift (a set of shower gels), and Joe’s gift… A lady’s electric razor… You see, Joe had managed to get the digital frame, and everyone there knew how much I wanted it… But then one of the young “adults” stole it from Joe (with a smirky look on her face), JUST to get the memory card we put with it… She didn’t even want the frame, and gave it to her parents… THEN, the card wasn’t even the right kind for her camera, so that went to her parents as well…. This person happened to have the last number, and the only gift left was a lady’s gift, which Joe had to get…. So… Joe ended up with nothing for Christmas, at all. (Since Joe and I don’t exchange gifts.)

To say that Joe was angry at this person is putting it mildly.

You know what really kills me? … The gifts are supposed to be $25 dollars. But all the younger adults always spend around $10 (or less) on a gift, and then they are the ones that go home with the expensive stuff that the older adults buy… We were generous. That frame cost $30 and the memory card was an additional $11… Yet, half the time Joe and I end up with junk… Remember the USED pubic hair covered body massager I ended up with last year (that got thrown away)… And Joe doesn’t get a gift this year… It just doesn’t seem like it’s even fair, or a good idea… We should go back to drawing names and giving the person something they would actually want… For some of us, it’s the only Christmas gift we get.

Then there is one of Joe’s sisters and her husband… He works at a sporting goods store, and gets free stuff from them all the time, if the packaging is damaged or something… So they never even buy a gift for the exchange. They just grab something out of their attic and wrap it up… And he is the worst one when it comes to stealing gifts.

I know one thing for sure… Next year I am going to sneak and buy something nice for Joe, so he will get a decent gift!

Anyway, enough complaining…

After the gift exchange was over, and desert was eaten, we mainly just sat around and chatted… I don’t remember how the subject came up, but Joe’s bad memory came into discussion…

Now, before I tell this story, let me say that Joe, the kids, and I like to tease each other… We are always teasing, and it’s a lot of fun… So when the kids say these kinds of things to Joe, they are not being disrespectful… We are just having fun, and Joe always laughs harder than all of us…

So anyway, we were discussing Joe’s bad memory when Jared said:

“Daddy’s like a goldfish in a tank, forgetting that he’s already swan around the tank. He’ll swim around it and say, ‘Hey, that was new!’… Then he’ll swim around it again, and say ‘hey, that was new!’ “… etc. Joe and I were laughing so hard, we could barely breath! *lol* It was sooo funny! … Maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, here is what the kids got from Joe’s family:

Jared:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• Basketball and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• T-shirt, a mini Jimmie Johnson calendar, and a mini Jared-Doll from the Pence Family
• A blue Snuggie from the Quamen Family
• A plaid flannel jacket and a Jimmie Johnson figurine from the Mewing Family

Josh:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• Wolf calendar, a glow in the dark wolf puzzle, and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• A Wolf book, a t-shirt, and a mini Josh-Doll from the Pence Family
• A green Snuggie from the Quamen Family from the Quamen Family
• A shirt and a Wolf plaque from the Mewing Family

Alicia:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• A stuffed horse and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• A “How to Draw Horses” kit, a shirt, and a mini Alicia-Doll from the Pence Family
• A leopard print Snuggie from the Quamen Family
• A fleece horse blanket and a Build-a-Bear kit from the Mewing Family

Amanda:

• $5.00 from Great Grandma Johnson
• A generic Barbie, a Hannah Montana CD, and pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson
• A stuffed Noah’s Ark (with 4 adorable animals), a shirt, and a mini Amanda-Doll from the Pence Family
• A pink Snuggie from the Quamen Family
• A Hannah Montana pillow and a Build-a-Bear kit from the Mewing Family

Christmas Day

We didn’t get home from Joe’s parents’ house until around 12:15 in the morning, so the kids slept in longer than they had planned on Christmas morning… But they were still very sleepy when they got up… But that didn’t stop them from wanting to get into their stockings ASAP. *lol* … We set them up in a row, and it didn’t take them long to discover all the goodies inside:

Here is what the kids got in their stockings:

Jared

• Some Jolly Ranchers candy
• A candycane full of hard candies
• A Jimmie Johnson keychain
• A Jimmie Johnson house key
• A Jimmie Johnson hotwheel car
• A wallet
• An ID tag (for his bowling bag)
• A mini bowling ball and pins
• A bowling ball towel

Josh

• Some Jolly Ranchers candy
• A candycane full of hard candies
• A green keychain
• A house key
• A wolf figurine
• An Allan Jackson CD
• An ID tag for his bowling bag
• A mini bowling ball and pins
• A bowling ball towel

Alicia

• Some Starburst candy
• A candycane full of hard candy
• 2 things of play-doh
• Cinderella slipper socks
• A pink mini flashlight
• Some mini horses
• Girls make-up
• An ID tag

Amanda

• Some Starburst candy
• A candycane full of hard candy
• 2 things of play-doh
• Hannah Montana slipper socks
• Hannah Montana flashlight
• Some mini horses
• Girls make-up
• An ID tag

After we ate breakfast, it was time to open presents… We always have them take turns opening presents, so that we don’t miss any of the expressions when they see what they got. We let Amanda open one, then Alicia, then Josh, and so on.

This year we started buying presents last January, and then throwing them up in the closet and basically forgetting about them… As a result, we accidently bought more than we normally do. … Not that the kids were complaining! No, they were quite happy with the extra haul. *lol*

One of the things we gave Alicia was a craft bag… We had originally given one to my niece, Melody, for her birthday in November. Melody loved it so much that we decided to get one for Alicia too. When Amanda saw Alicia’s craft bag, she said, “Look! You got an art bag like Lemonade!” … Lemonade? She thought Melody’s name was Lemonade! … … You can tell that my brothers’ family lives in Canada, and that we don’t see them often, if she can’t even remember her own cousin’s name! Good grief! (She was 2 when they moved away.)

The boys were THRILLED with their new bowling balls! They couldn’t believe that they got them already, since we had told them that they would have to wait for tax returns in February… They were so cute about it too. Josh kept carrying his ball around and wiping it down with the bowling ball towel he got in his stocking. As for Jared, he was seen wheeling his ball and bag around the house quite often throughout the day. *lol*

We also got the three older kids some wooden carving things that you hang on the wall. Josh got a wolf head, Alicia got a horse head, and Jared got a carving of Cuddles, which is his cat… They guy who makes them is VERY talented, and you can tell that it’s Cuddles… Anyway, Jared LOVES his carving!

We ordered the carvings before we got Buddy (and received them the day after we got Buddy, in March) … I want to get one of Buddy now. … Oh, and we also found out that Ed can make cars too, as he did one of Jim’s Mustang for Joe’s Dad for Christmas. I wonder if he could do Jimmie Johnson’s car??? The decals might make that too hard…

After the kids finished opening their presents, I got the ham into the oven and then helped the kids open all the packages that their gifts came in… It doesn’t take long for a clean living room to turn into a COMPLETE DISASTER, especially when there are four kids in there! *lol*

Dinner turned out soooo yummy! I made ham, scallopped potatoes, corn, and homemade dinner rolls. All of us ate more than our share, while we watched the new DVD the boys got (from the girls), “Night at the Museum 2″… It was good, just like #1 was… Joe didn’t watch it with us though. He isn’t into that kind of movie, so he ate in the bedroom and watched TV in there… He did watch “Santa Buddies” with the kids later, when we had our pumpkin pie and cookies.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing day… Especially since Joe volunteered to clean the kitchen for me. (This is something he does on Christmas, because I made the dinner and have already spent a good deal of time in the kitchen, with all the baking…)

Here is what the kids got for Christmas:

Jared:

• Jimmie Johnson lamp
• Jimmie Johnson waste basket
• Jimmie Johnson hoodie and baseball cap
• Jimmie Johnson 2010 calendar
• A wood carving of Cuddles
• A bowling pin and bowling t-shirt
• A bowling ball and bowling bag
• The DVD: Night at the Museum 2 (from the girls, to share with Josh)

Josh:

• Wolf lamp
• Wolf 2010 calendar
• A wood carving of a wolf head
• A CD player
• A Monopoly PS2 game
• A bowling pin and bowling t-shirt
• A bowling ball and bowling bag
• The DVD: Night at the Museum 2 (from the girls, to share with Jared)

Alicia:

• A computer chair
• A craft bag with markers and a sketch pad
• A set of rubber stamps (to go in the craft bag)
• A set of 10 horse books and a stuffed wolf from the zoo
• A set of fleece horse sheets
• A wooden carving of a horse head
• A horse 2010 calendar
• The DVD: Santa Buddies (from the boys, to share with Amanda)

Amanda:

• A Hannah Montana CD player
• A Hannah Montana camping chair
• A Hannah Montana 2010 calendar
• A Hannag Montana barbie
• A Hannah Montana comforter
• Hannah Montana sheets and a valence
• An ABCs of Amanda photo book
• The DVD: Santa Buddies (from the boys, to share with Alicia)

New phones

We’ve been with Verizon Wireless for 2 years now, and we’ve had the same phones since we signed up… Since our contract was up for renewal, we figured it was time to get in on the renewal sales and get ourselves some new phones… of course, a lot of that decision was due to the fact that Joe got his Christmas bonus (so we could afford it), AND we are getting Jared his first cell phone for his birthday…

Since Jared is now babysitting for us, we decided that he needs a phone (we don’t have a land line, just our cells). That way I can keep mine with me, and he’ll still have one… Also, since we don’t pay him to babysit, the $10 a month for an extra line seems fair.

We also found out that since Joe works for Safeway part time, we get 20% off our Verizon bill, and any phone assesories we buy. Pretty nifty, huh?

So, on Saturday (after breakfast) we left the kids at home with Jared and drove into Canby, to the Verizon store… MAN, was that place packed. We were in there for at least an hour, maybe more. It was crazy.

Joe originally just wanted something plain and cheap, because he is pretty hard on his phones. So he picked the cheapest one there… Later, after we got home, we got to looking, and that phone was BEYOND cheap! It didn’t have a camera, and you couldn’t even receive picture text messages! I told Joe that I didn’t think he would be happy with it, and we decided to take it back and exchange it…

By this point we had already hidden the phone we got for Jared (he won’t get it until his birthday party), so all of us went back to Verizon after taking the kids bowling. The same lady who helped us before (who was in a rish earlier, because the store was swamped) helped Joe pick out a much better phone… And the funny thing is, after getting the rebate on it, it was cost HALF of what the cheap one cost! … More phone for less money… That’s my kind of phone!

It was really hard having Jared in the store… He kept looking at the phones and asking when he would be able to get a phone. He came to the conclusion that he would have to wait until he had a job and could pay for it himself. He kept wanting to hold mine and Joe’s phones… I was laughing inside, knowing that a week later he will be getting his.

Josh isn’t going to be happy about it… He always thinks that he deserves whatever Jared gets, but this is one time that it won’t be the case… I DO NOT think that a 10 year old needs a cell phone! Especially one that is homeschooled by a stay-at-home mom. The only reason Jared is getting one is because he is 1) two years older, and 2) babysitting for us.

Anyway, want to see the phones we got?

This one is mine. It’s a “LG enV3″ … It has a qwerty keyboard, and Joe let us pay the $10 extra a month so that I can go online (only because of the 20% discount. *lol*) … The camera is a 3 mega pixel, and even has a flash… It’s really, really, really cool! So much better than my old flip phone. *lol* … I’ve been having lots of fun being able to check my gmail and post on facebook when we’re not at home. Fun!

This one is Joe’s. It’s a Samsung Intensity… It’s not quite as fancy as mine, but it’s still really nice… Instead of flipping open like a laptop, like mine does, the keyboard slides out the bottom… Since we were using the text messaging more than we should, Joe went ahead and got both himself and me (but not Jared) the messaging package. Joe has been REALLY enjoying that keyboard, as he always HATED texting with the number pad thingy. *lol* … In fact, he sent me quite a few messages this morning, when I was just in the next room. *lol* He was like a kid at Christmas with a new toy. So cute!

This is the one that Jared will be getting on Saturday. It’s a Samsung Sway. We didn’t get him one with a qwerty keyboard, because I don’t think he should be texting… We’re going to tell him that he can’t do it… Maybe in a year or two we will add that to his phone, and upgrade his phone… But for now, I want him to learn that it’s not a toy. You know?

But it’s still a cute little phone. It has a 2 mega pixel camera… We will let him pick out his own ringtone, and we’ll get him one of those micro SD cards (I already have one, but Joe needs to get one too), so that he can have any pictures he takes go onto the card and not fill up the phone memory.

I can’t wait until he sees that phone!!!

Bowling

Since the boys both got bowling balls for Christmas, they were DYING to go bowling and try out those balls! *lol* … We left the house at around 3 pm yesterday, and went to Molalla Bowl.

The first thing we did was to get Sean (the owner) and ask him to drill the balls for the boys. He started measuring Jared’s hands and fingers first, but I wasn’t really paying attention at first… but when I did look over, I noticed that Sean was looking at Jared’s right hand… Jared is LEFT handed!… I’m like, “Jared, you gave him the wrong hand! You’re left handed!” Jared gasped and said, “Oh ya!” and Sean gave a half laugh and crumpled up the paper he was writing down the measurements on. Whoops! … Good thing I caught that one before he started drilling the ball!!!!!!

So anyway, he retook Jared’s measurements and drilled his ball. Then he went to do Josh, and he laughed and said, “What hand do you throw with?!” I said, “Don’t worry, he’s right handed.” *lol*

After the balls were drilled we went and got some dinner… We love the diner they have at the bowling alley. They have LOTS to choose from, and it’s really good too. One of the only decent places to eat in Molalla. *lol*

Then it was time to try out those new balls! … I wanted to video tape them bowling with them the first time, but wouldn’t you know it, the batteries died on my camera right before they started bowling! Grrrr! … BUT, luckily my new cell phone takes video clips as well, so I was able to get it with that… But it didn’t do well with the lighting, so it’s pretty dark… But at least I got the first throws for both of them (as well as Daddy’s) during the pre-game practice:

Up until yesterday both the boys have been bowling with an 8 lb ball… But they both moved up. We got advice from both Sean and Coach Mick, who were both pro bowlers, and we ended up getting Josh a 10 lb ball and Jared a 12 lb ball… And that 12 lb ball feels heavy to me! … I thought they would both bowl some bad games, but I was mistaken.

Josh got one good game out of it, though his other two weren’t as good… He’s having a harder time adjusting to a new ball. (He had used a house ball, but there was one certain ball he would always look for, so he was used to it)… His average is 73 (with a high game of 105), and yesterday he bowled a 54, an 81, and a 67… His first game was bad, but his last game wasn’t too bad. It was just barely under his average… So he didn’t do too shabby!

Jared did awesome, especially considering he moved up 4 pounds! His average is 97 (with a high game of 170), and he bowled a 97, a 123, and a 118! Isn’t that great!?

Both the boys said that the balls didn’t feel much heavier (if any) than the other balls, and both Sean and Mick said it was because they were drilled to fit their hands. I guess that makes a lot of difference.

Joe, on the other hand, didn’t bowl his best games! *rofl* … He did OK with his first game, getting a 102 (his average is 98, with a high game of 147), but on his 2nd game he only got a 61…

Now Joe and the boys have a lot of fun doing this big competition thing, that’s all in fun. Joe always says he’s going to wipe the floor with them and tried his hardest to get higher scores than them. It’s funny because whenever Josh gets a good frame, he comes and does this funky hand thing to Joe and says, “Beat that!” … Anyway, after Joe got his 61, Josh calmly walks up to Joe and says,

“Whoops!”

OMGoodness, Joe and I about fell off our chairs, we were laughing so hard! The people a couple of lanes away were giving us odd looks, probably trying to figure out what the joke was. *lol* It was SOOO funny! … After we calmed down, Joe leans over to me and asks if I have any tips for a better game. Jared heard and said,

“Daddy, you need to hit the pins with the ball.”

Yep… I would consider that a good tip!

The people at the bowling alley must think we are nuts, laughing as much as we do while we’re there! (BTW, Joe’s last game was a 90.)

Basketball

Jared got a basketball from Joe’s parents for Christmas. He was pretty excited about it, because he’s been wanting to get one for a while now… At the entrance to our sub-division there is a community basketball court, that the kids can play on… Unfortunatly, the punk kids are always ruining the hoops, and so they are currently all bent out of shape… And I think they’ve pretty much given up on replacing them, because the punks waste no time in ruining the new ones… Why don’t parents teach their kids to have some respect for other people’s property?!?! Stuff like that really makes me angry!

Anyway, for the last two days Joe and the boys have gone down there to shoot hoops. The girls went down there today for a while, but got bored because all they were doing is watching, so they came home… But Josh and Jared are loving it! Joe said that they are both making some shots, but that Jared is doing better than Josh…

… That’s probably because of Josh’s muscle disease. His pediatrician said that Josh would probably never do really well in sports… Luckily, it never seems to bother Josh. He’s just there to have fun!

Well, I think I’ve jabbered on long enough! This post is already over 4100 words, so I guess I better shut up now. *lol* … Night all!