Johnsons' Journey

The girls have been watching the boys bowl in their league all season long, and have decided that they want to give it a go… I explained to them that we couldn’t afford to do both ballet/art classes as well as bowling, and that they would have to choose. They both decided to try bowling. (I told them that if they didn’t like it, they could always go back to Dolce Dance later.)

So, the girls only have a couple more classes left. This term at Dolce Dance ends at the end of the month, and we won’t be signing them up for the next one. Instead, the girls will be joining the “Summer Fun” youth league that starts on April 26th and goes through the end of summer.

Since they aren’t that good at bowling yet, they are going to join the bumper league. They are very excited to be able to bowl with their little friends, Cheyenne and Shelby. … Shelby is the owners daughter, and she is 4. She already bowls on the bumper league, and she and Amanda love to play together. Cheyenne is Alicia’s age, and they get along great too (Cheyenne’s dad does maintenance at the bowling alley).

They are going to have a hard time waiting for the summer league to start, but they are starting to bowl when we go on Wednesdays and Fridays, so that they can get some practice.

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for hair growth shampoo… I wonder if that would help thicken out your hair? Mine has gotten awfully thin since having kids… I’ll have to check them out!

The kids and I have been bad the last week or so… I guess we got spoiled by getting to sleep in those 3 weeks while we were on Christmas Vacation, and now we can’t seem to get ourselves up out of bed at a decent time. *lol* … So we’ve been getting a late start on our lessons all week long…

Part of me says, who cares? We’re getting school done, and the chores done, and that’s what matters, right? … Another part of me doesn’t like getting done with school later in the day… I feel like we’re behind or something. Maybe it’s the OCD in me that feels like we should be on a schedule, and if we’re not, we’re “bad” … But the lazy part of me wants to stay in bed an extra hour (OK, sometimes even 2 hours *lol*) … Gah! What to do!

Not much else going on… The girls had their ballet/art classes last night… I had a killer headache (like usual), so Joe said he would take them… This is big, because he HATES sitting in there with the other moms, waiting for class to be done. *lol* Poor Joe! … I am thankful he did it, though now he says I owe him big. *lol*

Yesterday was the cat’s birthday too… Our little Buddy is a year old now. The kids gave him (and Cuddles, to be fair) some soft cat food as a birthday treat (they usually only eat hard cat food), and sang him Happy Birthday. While the kids were singing, he looked at them like they were all off their rockers, and tried to squirm out of Josh’s arms… But then he happily accepted the treat (once Jared blew out the birthday candle and removed it from the food… He was a bit scared of that candle *rofl*).

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for weight loss supplements… Something I really need to look into!

In January the company Joe works for, CRinc (Container Recovery Incorperated), changed their name to OBRC (Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative). They bought out all the other bottleing companies in the state, which created more hours… For a while… We also entered the world of Tweens, as Jared celebrated his 11th birthday. He tells is that he is no longer a “kid”. *lol*

In February we finally got Jared’s room painted… While he had had his own room since the previous July, he had been sleeping on an air mattress (without complaint) on the floor. So anyway, we painted and decorated his room in a Jimmie Johnson theme and bought him some new bedroom furniture. He LOVES his new room! … We also spent the 21st at the farm to celebrate Joe’s Grandma’s 90th birthday (which was on the 17th)… I had an unpleasant experience when a breast cyct became infected, and I had to have it drained/removed… Don’t want to do THAT again! *lol* … And sadly, we lost a dear friend. On February 25th our friend, Gina Mewing, died of a massive heart attack… We still miss her.

In March we got a new kitty! Buddy, though while he can be a stinkpot *lol*, he the sweetest, cutest little thing. We’re all (with the exception of Joe) very attached to him, and love him very much. … Joe took a vacation in March, and we were finally able to find time to get all the kids in to see the doctor, dentist, and eye doctor… I don’t think the kids liked that spring break much! *rofl*

In April things were slowly starting to warm up, and we were able to go on our first picnic of the year, at Silver Creek Falls. The kids also worked hard and finished up their homeschool lessons for the year, and started their summer vacation early. That was nice! We also started taking weekly trips to the local swimming pool in town, hoping to teach the kids to swim… That wasn’t successful, but the kids loved going to the pool!

In May we were able to work on Josh’s room, and get that painted. We went with a forest green/wolf theme, which he picked out. His room looks great and Josh loves it! We also had Jared, Josh, and Alicia tested (using the California Achievement Test), and they all tested 3-4 years above grade level! We are so proud of them!… Our kitty, Cuddles, (who DOES NOT LIKE Buddy) celebrated her 5th birthday… We went on a couple more picnics, this time at Feyrer Park with the Mewing family… At the end of the month we went on vacation. We took a week long camping/road trip to southern Oregon, and visited 5 different animal attractions. It was exhausting, but we had a blast!

In June we finished up our vacation trip, and came home to recooperate. *lol* Then, while poor Joe worked, the kids and I just lazed around the house enjoying our summer vacation and the warm weather… We LOVE summer around here!!!!

In July we changed our usual Independence Day routine, and spent the day in Estacada with our friend, Earl, husband to our friend, Gina, who had died in February. While we liked the celebrations in Molalla better, Earl needed is then… We went down to Lebanon, Oregon to camp at Sunnyside for the Johnson Family Reunion… As for the rest of the month, we did things to keep the kids cool, like going to splash parks, the river, and the lake to swim… The boys also joined an 8-week free kids’ summer bowling league at Molalla Bowl, and were bitten by the bowling bug. They are now COMPLETELY, 100% addicted to bowling. *lol*

In August Amanda celebrated her 6th birthday. I had a hard time accepting the fact that my baby was 6 years old! She wanted to go camping at Feyrer Park, so that’s what we did, and we had her birthday party there too. At the end of the month, over Joe’s birthday, we spent a week at Detroit Lake, which is our favorite campground. The kids spent a lot of time in the lake, and enjoyed playing with their cousins, who were also there. It was a great vacation… I also spent a lot of time getting things (like lesson plans) ready for the new school year to start.

In September we started our 7th year of homeschooling. So far it’s been one of our most successful years yet, and things couldn’t be going more smoothly in that area. Jared and Josh joined the USBC junior bowling league for the first time, and are really, really enjoying it. Bowling has become a staple in our house… Who knew?! *lol* … We also found a new dance studio in town (that opened in March), and we were able to sign Amanda up for ballet again. Dolce Dance also offers art classes, so we got Alicia signed up for that. The kids all love their new activities, which suit who they are… Joe and I celebrated our 15th anniversary on the 10th. We had wanted to do something special, but things didn’t work out. We ended up just doing dinner… Maybe we’ll be able to do something special on our 16th. *lol* … Oh, also the boys and Joe went on a “boys only” camping/hiking trip with Scott and Jacob and went on a 6-7 mile hike around the 10 falls at Silver Creek… They LOVED that!

In October Alicia celebrated her 8th birthday… Since it had worked out so well before, we had Josh and Alicia celebrate their birthdays together. We were going to have the party here, but then Joe’s niece and her fiance bought a new home and wanted everyone to go there for a party. So we combined forces and had the birthday party over there… We were so busy with school, ballet, art classes, and bowling, that time got away from us. As a result we never made it to the pumpkin patch or the Howloween celebration at the zoo… But the kids didn’t seem to miss it too much. *lol*

In November Josh turned 10 years old. My second child is into the double digits… Someone bring me a tissue!.. We got the house decorated for Christmas, which is always fun! … It was another busy month of bowling, ballet, art classes, and homeschool… We did take two weeks off for Thanksgiving vacation, which sped by… We had a lot to be thankful for this year!

In December Amanda had her second ballet recital… While I’ll admit that the one she was in last year was better, she still looked cute up there, in her bunny costume, amid the chaos. … The kids spent the first part of the month working hard so that they could enjoy an extra week of school off for Christmas vacation (which we are currently enjoying)… We also had a very nice Christmas, just staying home as a family.

Yes… I’d say that 2009 was a good year for us. The Lord has been good to us! … Here’s to 2010!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that 2009 has treated everyone well?! We’re all doing fine and dandy over here in our neck of the woods… We’re still enjoying our country living out here in Molalla… Though I have to admit that I did question it a bit when there was a cougar sighting in one of our neighbor’s yards in September. It took me a while, but I finally was able to start breathing again, though I am still nervous about letting the kids play outside. *lol*

We’ve been keeping pretty busy lately… Joe’s still driving truck for OBRC (they renamed Crinc this last January), and he’s also working for a Safeway gas station on the weekends. Sometimes working 7 days a week can take a toll on him, so he requests a weekend off every now and then, so he can get some sleep. Poor guy!

The kids and I are still home schooling. Things have been going really well. We had the older three tested in May, and they are all testing 3-4 years above their grade level. We are so proud of them for working so hard! … Last year they talked about maybe wanting to try public school, but one by one they all changed their minds. They just don’t like the idea of being in school all day. *lol*

Jared and Josh have joined a junior bowling league… Who knew that they would love bowling so much?! *lol* … They are really, really enjoying it, and want to go bowling All. The. Time. They have league games on Saturday, and we take them to Cosmic Bowl at least every other Friday evening. Jared has become obsessed, and talks about bowling practically non-stop. They even go onto YouTube and look at videos with bowling tips and things. So funny! (and so cute!) … Jared will be 12 next month, and Josh just turned 10.

As for Alicia, she has always loved drawing, coloring, and anything crafty, and she seems to have a talent for it. So we were able to find her an drawing class in town, which meets every Tuesday. Her teacher, Jay, it great, and a very good artist himself. Alicia is learning a lot, and is loving it! (Alicia is now 8 years old)

Last year Amanda was taking ballet classes through the Molalla Community Schools, but they stopped doing those kind of programs. Luckily for us, a new dance studio opened up last March, called Dolce Dance (that’s actually where Alicia’s drawing class is too). So this fall we signed Amanda up for ballet there, and she loves it. Her new teacher, Claudine, is really wonderful with the girls and seems to have a soft spot for our little Pixie-girl. :) She has a recital coming up on the 18th, and we can’t wait to see it.:) (Amanda is 6 years old now… My baby is growing up! *sob*)

Joe gets 3 vacations a year now, so we spent a lot of time in our trailer this summer. :) … In August we spent a week camping at Detroit Lake, which is our favorite campsite… In June we took the kids on a road trip/camping trip through Oregon, and we visited a bunch of animal parks. We visited the Wildlife Safari, Wildlife Images, the Sea Lion Caves, the West Coast Game Park, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium… As well as a few other non-animal stops. It was an exhausting week, but it was also quite fun! We even stopped off in Roseburg so I could show the kids my old stomping grounds, as well as my favorite park, and while we were at the beach, we spent an afternoon at Sunset Bay state park, where we would go when I was a girl. It was so nice to see it again!

Well, I suppose I’ve jabbered on long enough… Here’s wishing you all a very Merry CHRISTmas! Hope 2010 brings you nothing but happiness!

Love to you all!

Joe, Julie, Jared, Josh, Alicia, and Amanda
(and the cats, Cuddles and Buddy, too!)

Joe and I went to Walmart yesterday, to do the grocery thing. We left the kids at home because we wanted to get the last two stocking stuffers we need for the boys… While we were there, we bought a pointsettia for our neighbor, Thelma… She’s the one who’s always sending over goodies for the kids… Anyway, when we got home we let the kids each pick out a Christmas card from a box set we bought, and then Joe and the kids went to take it to Thelma (while I put all the groceries away).

They didn’t come back empty handed.

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Well, I suppose I don’t have too much to yammer on about… We haven’t been doing anything exciting…

We’ve been doing some extra school this week… Joe’s parents want to take the boys to a highschool football game on Friday, and then have them spend the night. They told Joe that they would be by to pick the boys up sometime between breakfast and lunch, as they want to take the boys out for lunch. That means there won’t be time for school on Friday, at least for the boys… But since the boys are getting a 3 day weekend, I thought it was only fair that the girls get an extra day off as well. So, we’ve been doing a little extra every day, so that we’ll be a day ahead by the time we’re done with school tomorrow.

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Feels like it’s been a crazy week… I’m glad it’s over… Though it’s not really over I guess, at least not until tomorrow evening… I can promise you this, I am going to be one LAZY broad on Sunday!

We started out the week with an extra day off school… I was out of both color and black ink for the printer. We had gone to Bimart over the weekend (the only place in town that sells ink), but they didn’t have any black ink… So, I couldn’t print any of the worksheets, tests, etc that I needed for lessons, so we took Monday off school… Which broke our record of longest stretch of homeschooling without missing a day. *lol* … Joe hit the Target in Wilsonville on his way home from work on Monday, and we were able to get back to lessons on Tuesday.

As a result of missing school on Monday, we had to play catch up all week long… Since they have 8 different subjects, we picked two subjects a day to double up on, so that by today they would be caught up… We almost made it too, but we didn’t have time to finish up today. The three older kids still have Heritage Studies to do, and Jared also has Science (he’s the only one who does Science 5 days a week). We’ll finish those up on Sunday, so we can start Monday fresh.

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Tonight Amanda wanted to go “watch” Alicia do her drawing class… Actually, that’s just what she said… They have some toys in the waiting area, and Amanda has been dying to get her hands on them. She never gets to play with them, because she is always in her dance class.

Anyway, Alicia’s drawing class is from 4:45 to 5:45, and while she is doing that, a pre-dance class (for 3 and 4 year olds) is going on from 5:00 to 5:30. Well, tonight only one little girl showed up, and she didn’t want to dance by herself, so Claudine (Amanda’s ballet teacher) came and asked Amanda if she wanted to join the class (for free)… As you can imagine, Amanda was THRILLED. She didn’t have her ballet shoes or anything with her, so she just did it in her socks… She got lucky though, as she just happened to wear her stretch leggings, which were comfortable for dancing.

Alicia is really enjoying her drawing lessons… I had been afraid that she would be too shy to talk to Jay (her male teacher), but she isn’t having any trouble at all… Last week he asked her to bring in some of her “work”, so we went through all her drawings (color crayon) that I have saved, and took over some of her best. He took the time to look at all of them, and told her that they were all very good… She was just beaming.

I need to buy some cardstock… We have a binder, like what you would bind a calendar with… I want to take the kids’ drawings and bind them into “books”, so they will be easier to save. I’ll do one for each of the boys and Amanda… As for Alicia, she has done so many, she will need a few volumes. *lol*

Well, I must run… Tonight is Josh’s turn to watch a movie with me, so I need to go get ready for that… We always watch a Monk together, because it is now his favorite show… Which surprises me. I didn’t think ANYTHING could take the place of Smallville in his eyes. *lol* (He’s a big Superman fan.)

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for motorcycle covers… My BIL, Bob, is the big motorcycle fan in this family. I should send him that link! *lol*

Alicia, ready to go to her first art class.

Alicia went to her first drawing class yesterday, and she loved it!

She was so excited when it was time to go, and by the time we got there she was still grinning from ear to ear. Lindsey (the owner of Dolce Dance) even said to her, “You sure look excited!”, to which Alicia just nodded her head and kept on grinning. *lol*

The art teacher is Jay, Lindsey’s husband. He seems very nice, and was great with Alicia… She was his only student last night. I guess there are a few teens in his teen/adult class, but so far Alicia is the only one signed up for the kids’ class.

Last night Alicia learned a little about shading and making things look 3 dimentional, instead of 2 dimentional. He taught her a little about shadows too.

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I am really trying to get better at posting every day, but it just doesn’t seem to happen… I used to be so good at it too! Of course, that was when the kids were little and spent more time doing things with me, or around me. I had something to write about then. *lol* … Now they would rather spend time with each other, playing in their rooms, than be with me… Comes with growing up, I guess.

Joe and the boys were quite happy when they came home from their all-boys camping trip on Sunday. They really had a good time… They ended up not hiking the entire 7 miles, since Jacob and Josh’s legs were giving out, but since they walked from the campground to the beginning of the trail (and back), they probably walked around 6 miles as it is (they showed me on the map where they walked, and they did most of the trail).

They did get rained on a little, but it didn’t seem to dampen their spirits at all (no pun intended). Josh even told me that the rain felt good when they were on their hike, since it cooled them down. Joe and both the boys took lots of pictures, but they are still on the camera. I’ll load them onto our Flickr accounts soon.

Alicia starts her drawing class tomorrow… She CAN NOT wait! We bought her a sketch pad and some drawing pencils from Walmart, so she’s all ready to go… But, OMWord! Drawing pencils are expensive, huh? *lol* They didn’t come in a small pack, only in a 10 pack with an eraser and pencil sharpener. I think it was around $10 for the pack… So, I am only letting her use them for her art class. I don’t need her using up all the pencils and the sketch pad in a couple weeks… Because believe me, she can do it! *lol*

Not much else going on… Just doing the homeschool thing, and some digi-scrapping (though not as much as I would like to… I can’t scrap while I homeschool *lol*) … Catch ya on the flip side!