Johnsons' Journey

Well, what do you know… I am now 39 years old… Only one year left until the dreaded FOUR-OH … OMWord, I so don’t want to turn 40. I really, really, really, really, really, really don’t want to turn 40. It makes my stomach upset just to think about it. *lol*

Despite the fact that I am teetering on the top of the hill, I still managed to have a good weekend.

On Saturday we of course went to the bowling alley for the boys’ league. It was a position round, and their team won 2 out of the 3 games… They could have won all three, but their team-mate, Marshall, was having a REALLY had day. On the game they lost, Marshall only got a 50 (his average is 89). If he had played as well as he normally does, they for sure would have won all three.

Jared and Josh, on the other hand, both bowled really well. I think Jared is out of his slump, much to his happiness. In fact, while he still didn’t beat his top game of 170, he managed to beat his top series (the total of all 3 games together). His top series was 342, but on Saturday he bowled a 390… He also got his first turkey (3 strikes in a row), but sadly it was during practice, so it didn’t count. *lol* Poor Jared! … He almost got a hambone (4 strikes in a row), but he only got 9 down on the 4th one… One pin shy. *lol*

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Happy Birthday Jared! I can’t believe that you are 12 years old… Just can’t believe it! Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was holding you in my arms for the first time, soooo very happy that I was FINALLY a mommy? … Thank you for that Jared. Thank you for making me a Mommy. The waiting for you was sooo hard, but Jared… You were worth the wait. I couldn’t ask for a better son! I am so proud of the young man you are becoming. You are so responsible, polite, kind, and you have the biggest heart. I love you so much!

Happy Birthday!

In other news… The boys bowled SO WELL yesterday on their league game! Both of them got over 100 on all three games! … AND Josh has now beat Jared for his high series game. Jared’s high series is 342 (for when he got that 170 a few weeks back), and now Josh’s sigh series is 344.

Anyway, Jared (who’s average is 97) got 101, 120, and 118. Josh (who’s average is 75) got 115, 122, and 107!!! He was ON FIRE yesterday! He was so happy!

I am so glad that we got the boys into bowling. It’s been good for them. They are making friends, getting some exercise, and they are having a really great time.

We’re going to take the kids bowling again today, since it is Jared’s birthday. When Joe gets home from work we’ll head there, then we are going out for pizza afterwords. We’re meeting Scott, Debbie, and the twins there. The kids will be thrilled that they get to bowl 3 days in a row. *lol*

Well, I need to get some breakfast and then clean the kitchen. But before I go, I want to give a quick shout out for Manhattan Hotels. If you’re even in New York, you should check them out!

While our personal “birthday season” is winding down, it’s winding down with a vengence! There have been so many birthdays in the last few days! The 29th was my sisters and my friend, Talitha’s birthday. The 30th was Joe’s cousin’s son, Josh’s birthday. The 31st was Joe’s Uncle Larry’s birthday. Yesterday was Joe’s mom, Elvina’s birthday. And today is my Mom, Scott, Joe’s cousin, Carol and Joe’s Grandma Johnson’s birthday (and Jared’s is coming on the 10th). Sooo….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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Auntie Julie proudly holding sweet little Melody!

 Today is my niece’s birthday! Our sweet Melody is now 12 years old… My Oh my, where does time go? Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you!

As of last night, the kids and I are officially on Thanksgiving Vacation. The kids really worked hard to earn this extra week off of school, and are SO EXCITED. Most of them are mainly excited about getting to sleep in in the mornings. *lol*

We’ve been so busy with doing the extra school work, we haven’t really been doing anything else… There hasn’t been time for anything else. *lol*

I have gotten some more of my old blog posts moved over here… I just finished up through the end of January of 2003 … It’ll be easy until I get to 2005, which is when I was finally able to use a comment box instead of a tag board, so I will have comments to move over as well as posts. That takes longer (but it’s worth it).

Alicia’s drawing class was canceled this week. I guess Jay (her teacher) was sick. She came with Amanda and I to her ballet class anyway, but I think she was bored. *lol* She is too old to take interest in all the baby/preschool toys they have there. I thought maybe she would want to watch Amanda’s ballet class as they practiced for their recital, but she never did.

While we girls were at the ballet class, Joe took the boys out to dinner at McDonald’s. It was Josh’s birthday, and he *really* wanted a hamburger for dinner. So they did that and got some ice cream (since it was Josh’s birthday), then Joe picked up a Papa Murphy’s pizza for the girls and I when we got home.

The boys and I got all the fall decorations down on Wednesday, and Joe put them under the house. He then pulled out the Christmas decorations… The boys don’t have a league bowling game on Saturday (the bowling alley is hosting some special all ladies bowling tournament thing this entire weekend), so we are going to decorate for Christmas early! The kids and I are so excited! … We just need to buy some hot chocolate. The kids insist that we have hot chocolate while we decorate. *lol*

We don’t have too much else going on… We are taking the kids bowling tonight, for Cosmic Bowl, but that’s about all… Just looking forward to a LAZY next two weeks. Yay!

Happy birthday to my brother, Rudy, and to our nephew, Shandon! I wish you both lots of love and well wishes for a great birthday and year!

We had a decent sort of weekend…

The Cougars; Josh, Marshall, and Jared

On Saturday the boys had their junior bowling league at Molalla Bowl… They bowled well, though Joe and I didn’t get to see much of their last game. Joe’s sister, DeeDee, and her husband, Bob, came to watch. They talked to us for the entire 3rd game, so we could watch the game. I had to keep tabs toward the end though, since I was the one writing the scores down at the end of each game.

I almost missed the scores for the 2nd game though, since I was a bit distracted… On the lane next to the one the boys were bowling on, was a group of older boys… They are 14+ and BIG. Well, this kid Dakota (who has been in the news recently), had a mishap… When he bowls he swings his arm back so high, that he almost hits the signs and screens above his head, from behind. It’s crazy!… Anyway, when he swung his arm back, his bowling ball went flying out behind him, and almost hit one of his team-mates. The kid that almost got hit is the kind of kid who has his iPod attached to his ears All. The. Time…. Anyway, he just sat there stunned and kept yelling, “DUDE! …  DUDE! … DUDE!” … Like I said, distracting!

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I know I don’t really pay much attention to the news and what’s going on in the world (too lost in my own little world *lol*) … But can someone tell me WHY Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize? Did people hate Bush so much, that they would give it to Obama, just because he won the election? I just don’t get it.

But… This isn’t a political blog, so back to our regular scheduled programming…

The school week went well… Not really anything new and exciting to report…

We are proud of one thing though… We’ve just finished our 5th week of classes this year, and so far we haven’t missed a day of school for anything. This is a first for us. We’ve never gotten a full five weeks without missing a day of school… Ever. I don’t even know if we’ve gone 3 straight weeks before. *lol*

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Conversation of the day (from last night):

Mommy: “Today is your last day of being 5, tomorrow you are going to be 6 years old!”
Amanda: “Oh good. I am bored of being 5.”

*lol*

I wanted to drop in and wish my precious Pixie-Pooh a very happy birthday! My baby is 6 years old today.

SIX!

When on earth did that happen?

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Ever since Amanda was tiny, she’s been fascinated by those dance revolution things they have at places like Chuck E. Cheese’s. Here she is at age 2, trying to play with one at Chuck E. Cheese’s (when we went for Josh’s 6th birthday):

And to this day, she still loves to watch people dance on them…

Well, her 6th birthday is coming up in August, and I know what I want to get her.

PS2 Dance Revolution

Playstation 2 has a Dance Revolution game that you can hook up to your PS2 console. I want to get one, along with an extra mat (so that 2 of the kids can dance at the same time)… I think it’s perfect, because not only does Amanda love to dance and loves music, this would also be very good exercise. You can’t go wrong on that, huh?

Of course, we already got her one thing… We found a Hannah Montana shorts outfit at Kmart, and bought it in a bigger size (so she can wear it next summer). She’s going to love it, since she has gone WILD for Hannah Montana. *lol*

When I order this Dance Revolution thing, I’m also going to get the PS2 Disney Channel version of Dance Revolution and put it away for Amanda, for Christmas. It has Hannah Montana songs on it (as well as other ones from the Disney Channel). She’s going to LOVE that, and I will have a hard time waiting for Christmas to give it to her. *lol*

Dance with Hannah!

Today I feel Just Dandy!
Reading: “Eternal Passage” by Elaine Schulte
Today it was cloudy and in the low 40s

We had a nice day yesterday. Joe totally spoiled me rotten, and it was fun! He got up with Amanda when she woke up at 6 in the morning (I’m usually the one to get her in the morning), and he made me breakfast burritos for breakfast. Then he got the kids fed, bathed and dressed while I did my workout (The 3-mile walk with the hand weights for strength training). After I took a shower we went to Target. My friend Roberta gave me $15.00 for my birthday (which she really shouldn’t have done) with strict instructions to spend it on myself. So I bought the 4-mile “Walk Away the Pounds – Express – Super Challenge”, plus some 3 pound dumbbells, as my 2 pound ones aren’t a challenge anymore. We also ended up having a snack at Target, then came home.

Once Joe’s parents called to tell us that they were home, we headed over there. We chatted with them for a while before we headed off for our date. We had planned on taking Amanda with us, as she has stranger anxiety issues (and I had never left her before), but Joe’s parents insisted on keeping her as well. (Which is funny, as she always cries when Grandma holds her) So before we left I strapped Amanda into her car seat, and covered it with a blanket, so that she would take a nap and hopefully be in a good mood for them while we were gone… They lucked out and she slept the whole time we were gone!

After leaving there we headed to Tachos for dinner, as I hadn’t had Mexican for a long time (yummy!). We had a nice quiet dinner, and had a nice heart to heart chat. It was really nice, but strange not to have the kids with us! We both had a beef enchilada and taco combination plate… YUMMY!

After dinner we went to Value Village, as I had a ton of clothes to turn in, and needed some new (smaller ) shirts. I was thrilled when Joe found a school desk, complete with chair, for only $10.00. So we snatched it right up!!! The boys can both use it for school, as I teach them at separate times.

Can I Die Now?

After we left Value Village, we headed back to Joe’s parent’s house. I was having baby withdrawals, and was glad to be heading back to see the kids. When we got there I noticed a few more cars in the driveway…. Surprise, everyone was over for my birthday… I wanted to find a hole in the floor to crawl into. Joe and I have been married for over 9 years now, and this is the FIRST time anyone has made a fuss over my birthday… I was SOOO embarrassed! Thought I would just DIE of embarrassment when they brought out the cake and sang “Happy Birthday”…. I think next year I will be out of the state….

Today at church (I didn’t go, but Joe and the boys did) the Pastor stopped Joe. He asked him if he would be interested in taking some special classes that the Pastor wanted to give for the younger men of the church…. Seems he wants to start grooming them to one day take over the church…. It’s to train them to become Deacons some day…. NEVER in my wildest dreams would I have EVER thought of Joe being a Deacon. When he told me that I was completely floored, and Joe said that he was too. He says to me, “If they want me to someday become a Deacon, I better start reading my Bible more!”…. But I just don’t see it… Joe’s not a leader…. But whether or not he ever does become one, we both agree that the classes would be good for him… But a deacon???????

Well, I have some organizing to do in the “class room”, plus my lesson plans to do for at least tomorrow. Have a great night!

Today I feel Just Dandy!
Reading: “Eternal Passage” by Elaine Schulte
Today it was rainy and in the low to mid 40s

http://www.junglemom.com/Images/Icons/WeatherIcon-Rain.gif

Oh… I am getting so old… *sighs*… I am 33 years old today. I sure don’t feel 33 years old. Yesterday Joe said to me, “What does it feel like to be 31 years old?”… So I give him “the look”, so he says, “32????” (This is with the worried expression! )… So I gave him yet another look and said, “Joe, I am 32 years old, tomorrow I will be 33.” Then Joe says, “You’re going to be 33!!!!!”… Way to go Joe, make me feel ancient! He can’t talk, he’s 36 years old! Men, I tell ya….

Jared did very well on his Lifepac tests yesterday. I didn’t need to worry about his Language Arts test at all. He aced every single one of those tests, even the Spelling words…. I feel like a moron though… Spelling is the area that he hasn’t been doing as well in, getting a “B” instead of an “A” like his other subjects. Well on his 6 year check-up his doctor asked how the homeschool was going, and I mentioned that his spelling was a little off. So he said something about giving him the list of words, and letting him practice for the week… Now why didn’t I think of that? I remember taking home spelling lists to study when I was a kid. Poor Jared wouldn’t know what his spelling words were until I gave them to him… *sighs*… Sometimes I am such an idiot, and probably shouldn’t be educating my children! My only excuse is that I am new at this homeschooling thing, and still have allot to learn myself… So anyway, this time he got the list and spelled all 10 of the words correctly.

I did make another mistake with Josh too. Yesterday we were working in his workbook, and he was learning to write the lower case “p”. Well, he made this one that was just perfect. So I told him so, and he asked, “Is it really good?” and I said, “Joshy, it’s darn good.”… Well after the next “p”, I told him it was pretty good, and then he says, “No, it’s darn good!!!”.. Ooops! Better watch my mouth in front of the kids!

Well, Joe is making me breakfast (cool, huh?) and it’s smelling REALLY good! I think it’s just about done, so I will take me leave for now!

ETA at 11:37 pm:

Yesterday a friend gave me $15.00 for my birthday (You shouldn’t have done that Roberta! LOL!) And told me that I had to spend it on myself. So today Joe took me to Target and I got myself a new workout video!!! I got Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away the Pounds – Express, 4 mile Super Challenge” and I also got myself some 3 pound hand weights, because the 2 pound ones are so not a challenge.

Even though I had done the 3-mile WATP with the weights today, I couldn’t wait to try out the 4 mile walk, to see what it was like. So when we got home this evening around 10:30 – 10:45 I got into my workout clothes, and popped in the tape…. Now my feet are killing me, my calves are on fire, but WHAT A WORKOUT!!! It was great! It’s nice and fast paced, so it went pretty quickly, even though it’s about an hour long. There are quite a few new variations of moves that I haven’t done in the other videos, and that makes it more interesting and fun. And you know, knowing that today I walked a total of 7 miles makes me so proud of myself!!!!! (Though my legs may never be the same! )

All in all it was a great birthday. Thanks to Roberta, I got new workout stuff (My SIL calls them torture devises! ), Joe and I got a kid free date (They insisted on keeping Amanda with them… They lucked out as she slept almost the whole time we were gone), plus we got in a trip to Value Village. I had 2 kitchen garbage bags full of clothes that were now WAY too big on me, and it was so great to give them to Value Village!!! And Joe bought me 3 new shirts from Value Village too… And for the 1st time in more years than I can remember, I actually bought size Large shirts… No more 2X or 3X shirts for me!!!!

PLUS, today I wore my size 12 Levi’s!!! Oh, I admit, I need to do a tad bit more shrinking for them to really fit, as they were a bit on the snug side, but boy did it feel good putting those pants on!!! I think back to September, knowing that just 4 1/2 months ago I was wearing a size 20 – 22, and now I am just about down to a size 12, and I can’t believe it…. I never thought I would see 155 on the scale again, and now I can’t wait to leave it behind! Of course, I am still 50 pounds from my goal of 105, but now I KNOW that it’s doable!!!

Of course, being my birthday, my food intake REALLY sucked today! I don’t know the exact calories, but I did the best I could picking similar food items in my “Diet Power” program I have. I also guessed high, so I more than likely actually consumed less calories than it shows.