Johnsons' Journey

Can you believe it?! My baby girl is 7 years old today… SEVEN! … How the heck did that happen?! Hasn’t it only been a couple years since I announced my pregnancy here on the blog, and now she’s SEVEN!? I can’t believe how fast she is growing up. If only I could grab time by the tail and slow it down… Because 7 years shouldn’t fly by as quickly as it has.

Amanda is still our little ray of sunshine… And she certainly likes being the baby of the family! In fact, she is always telling me that she wishes she was still a baby. *lol* While most kids are in a hurry to grow up, Amanda would just as soon stay little. I think it’s because of the extra attention she thinks she would get, if only she was younger.

She will be starting 1st grade in just a couple weeks, though she has informed me… more than once… that she would rather just do kindergarten again. She does want to hurry and start school though, because she says she misses doing her handwriting lessons. *lol*

Amanda’s favorite things to do are; playing outside with their little friends, especially Darian and Hunter. Though she still considers Shelby, from the bowling alley, to be her “best friend forever”… Amanda also loves her Barbie Dolls, stuffed animals, her baby dolls, and her play kitchen. But most of all, she LOVES Hannah Montana.

She also really loves music… She got a Hannah Montana CD player for Christmas last year, and when she is in her room, there is music playing. She listens to Hannah Montana, my old Amy Grant “Heart in Motion” CD, Taylor Swift, and Alicia’s Girl Pop CD. She also has a set of 4 CDs that has children’s Bible songs on it that she likes to listen to. Getting new CDs makes her very happy.

She also likes to dress up in pretty dresses and clothes, and loves to wear kids makeup and fingernail polish. This is a side that she does NOT get from her Mama!

She is still our little charmer. All the employees at the bowling alley just love her! She flits around the bowling alley, taking the time to talk to all of them, and she loves to draw them pictures as well (along with her sister). I’ve been told by more than one of them that the drawings are at their homes, hanging on their fridges.   … One of the ladies who works in the restaurant even gave Amanda a birthday present! She bought her a little Hannah Montana purse (see picture) with some craft supplies in it. She also gave her the balloon. How sweet is that?!

Happy Birthday little Pixie-Girl! I love you so very much!

Time for my weekly “catch-up” on our lives. *lol*

First thing I want to do is wish my newphew, Ryan, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can’t believe you’re 11 years old. Amazing! We love you, and we miss you! Hope you have a wonderful day.

So… What have we been up to for the last week?

On Thursday the 13th we took the kids to the pool to swim. There isn’t many more of these Thursday swims left before they change to the summer schedule, and we won’t be able to go anymore, so they need to enjoy it while they can! … And trust me, they are enjoying it. I wish we could go more often, as it’s such good exercise for them… While we were waiting for them to open the doors at 3:00, I was snapping pictures of the kids. I got a couple good ones. I didn’t get as many good ones as I would like though, because the sun was bright and there was a lot of squinting going on. *lol*

On Friday we met the Mewings at the bowling alley at 6 pm so that the kids could get some practice time in. They hadn’t been able to bowl in almost 2 weeks because the junior league had been canceled on the 9th. We ended up having dinner there, and the kids all had a good time bowling with their cousins.

When we left, the boys went home with the Mewings and spent both Saturday and Sunday night there… Debbie and Scott went to Ron’s funeral (which was in either Prineville or Madras, I can’t remember). Debbie thought the twins (14) would be bored on the long car ride, and didn’t want them to be lonely at home alone on Saturday. So our boys were recruited to keep them entertained… I missed them, but it sounds like they had a good time. Josh even helped do some of the cooking. (He sure loves to cook!) … Joe picked them up on Saturday morning, on his way home from work, so that they could come to church with us.

On Saturday Joe worked until 1 pm, and then when he got home he went out to do some yard work… I have no idea where he got the energy, since he worked well over 50 hours at OBRC and then worked an 8 hour shift at Safeway on Saturday… He was TIRED… But he wanted to at least get the lawn mowed. Then he and Alicia did a little weeding, but they didn’t get too far before Joe was finished and just wanted some dinner and his bed. *lol* … As for me, I spent the day doing some housework and then I worked on scanning and editing some of Joe’s Grandma Johnson’s old slides.

Church was nice on Sunday… The new youth pastor, Boone Noble, preached… I think it was his first ever sermon. He’s pretty young and is going through the seminar to become a regular pastor (I think). Anyway, he did really well. He didn’t look as nervous as I thought he would be… He just needs to use a few less “Umms”. But he was easy to listen to, and you can tell he has a passion for the Lord. He has the calling.

During his sermon he showed us this video clip from YouTube:

OMWord, this video really moved me! I ended up in tears (which made Joe give me some odd looks, as he couldn’t figure out why…) … It really puts things into perspective, how the things of this world will pull you away from Christ, and that you have to focus on Him… It’s an amazing video!

The kids had their junior league on Sunday… Josh wasn’t completely up to par on his first two games, but did really well on his last game (his scores were 84, 86, and 131). Jared bowled really well on all three games, getting a 136, 146, and a 113. Alicia seems to be improving some, and her ball isn’t hitting the bumper as much. In fact, she even got a strike that didn’t hit the bumper and got a free game card from Coach Mick for it, which thrilled her. She bowled an 83 and a 101, and Amanda bowled a 74 and a 79. (The bumper league only bowls 2 games… Alicia would love to do more, but Amanda is done after two.)

After two full months, Joe was able to bring the trailer home last night! … He took it to the repair shop on March 18th and brought it home on May 18th… Who knew it would take so long! *lol* … But anyway, it looks as good as new! In fact, you can’t even tell anything was ever wrong with it. Amazing! … It does need a good cleaning though, as it smells musty in there. I would like to open up the windows and air it out, but right now it’s raining to hard for that. *lol* … Anyway, the kids brought in all the towels, blankets, sleeping bags, etc in for me and I am currently running them all through the washing machine. Then tomorrow we will haul in all the dishes and cookware and run them through the dishwasher. The kids will help me clean the rest of the trailer on Friday… Because….

We leaving for vacation on Sunday! We’re going to Bevely Beach for 5 nights. We CAN NOT wait! It’s one of our favorite beach campgrounds (Detroit Lake is our all time favorite campground), and we love to go to the beach. Joe, especially, is needing this vacation. He’s been putting in a lot of extra hours and is very tired. A week of lounging around the campfire and on the beach is just what he needs. (Camping is one of his favorite things to do.)

I know what some people are probably thinking… If money is tight enough that you can’t afford school books, then why are you going camping? … Well, we paid for this trip with tax returns in February, when we made the reservations. The only things we’ll have to pay for is groceries (which we would have to buy anyway) and gas… And while it will take a lot of gas to pull the trailer to the beach, it will still be less gas than we usually have to buy, what with Joe’s commute into work every day (45 miles, one way).

The only reason money is a little extra tight right now is because we had to pay the deductible on getting the trailer repaired, as well as the repairs for a couple other things that the insurance didn’t cover. (While they did pay out almost $5000 on the repairs, we still had to come up with over $500 ourselves.) … Plus there was a couple other unexpected expenses (like new tires and brakes on the Durango). Once we’re caught up from that, we’ll be good to go.

And I feel weird that I have to explain this, but someone gave me a hard time on wanting to buy a new camera with our next tax returns, when we need a new mattress… So I feel like I have to explain that too… A good pillow top mattress will cost at least $2000… Which is more than twice as much as a new camera… Now the camera I have now is on it’s last leg, and it’s getting harder and harder to get decent indoor pictures (it doesn’t like indoor lighting, and doesn’t like to focus. It takes good outdoor pictures though)… I know that years from now, I will be more glad that I got good pictures of my kids, than I will be about whether or not our mattress made my back ache in the mornings.

Plus, if I can get my (multiple) pillows set up just right, my back doesn’t hurt that much… But it’s never a guarantee. Some days my pillows will be perfect, and other days I don’t get them just right and I will still wake up with an aching back (which for some odd reason, the workouts help! *lol*). On the days I wake up without a back ache, I have a hard time making the bed, as I don’t want to mess the pillows up! *rofl*

Jared is still reading like crazy! He is on the 7th book in his series now, and only has one left (which he wants to save for our camping trip, to read before bed in the trailer)… I’m not going to be able to afford to buy him some new books until the first paycheck in June, so he’s going to be stuck! *lol* … He has picked out the next series he wants to read though… We got a lot of suggestions from family and friends, so we went through those and Jared wants to read “The Red Rock Mysteries” next… There are something like 16 books in the series, so we won’t be able to get them all at once, but I will order 2 or 3 of them next month.

Anyway, I got away from my point… When Jared started reading book 6 of the Eric Sterling books (which we bought used, because they are out of print), he noticed what looked like the author’s autograph on the title page, written in ball point pen (The author is Ernest Herndon). So I googled his autograph and actually found a copy of it, and it does look close!

So Jared has an autographed copy of the book! How cool is that?! … He was thrilled, let me tell you!

Well, I guess I’ve rambled on long enough… I’ll try to post again on Saturday, before we head to the beach on Sunday… Catch ya’ll on the flip side!

When am I going to learn to blog a little more often? I remember the days when blogging daily was the thing to do… Guess those days are past. *lol* … Maybe they will be back someday. Maybe I am just on a semi-blogging-break? Who knows… Guess time will tell.

We’ve been keeping busy. In face, May seems to be flying by at lightning speed. It’s really insane! I want things to slow down, so we don’t “miss” summer vacation.

On Thursday, after Joe got home from work, we took the kids to the pool again. This time the Mewings didn’t meet us there, because Debbie had to get Jacob fitted for his tux*.. Anyway, Joe and the kids still had a good time, but I admit I got a little bored sitting there on the bleachers by myself (usually I have Debbie to talk to). I was wishing that I had brought my book along… After about an hour and a half, my back was starting to ache from sitting there with no back support. So I ended up grabbing the keys from Joe’s swim bag and waiting for them out in the Durango.

*Both Jacob and Jamie were invited to be a part of the wedding… Not one of my kids got such an invitation… I admit that Joe and I were a bit hurt that they had both of the twins in their wedding, and didn’t ask so much as even Amanda to be a flower girl. (They didn’t have a flower girl at all) … *sigh*

We didn’t do much on Friday… Just kicked back at home. It was a nice, quiet evening. … We love quiet evenings!

On Saturday morning, after Joe came home from work, I cut everyone’s hair, so they would look all nifty for the wedding. Then we kicked back until 2:30… The wedding didn’t start until 4:00, but it was in Portland, so we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves long enough to get there… And it’s a good thing we did too, because traffic on 205 was TERRIBLE. Thankfully, we made it there with about 10-15 minutes to spare.

The wedding was at some ritsy golf/country club… And let me tell you, we were MORE than a little uncomfortable being there. They even have a DRESS CODE posted by the door… Since we weren’t members and didn’t belong to the club, they weren’t totally strict about it with us. (Like you aren’t supposed to wear denim of ANY kind there, but a lot of people, including Joe, me, and the boys) were wearing it, and they didn’t say anything… BUT… I guess Bob tried to go into the bar to buy a “shot” for Kyle (the groom), and he was refused service because he was wearing jeans. They also made Randy (Joe’s cousins’ husband, who was taking photos of the wedding) tuck his shirt in… When Joe heard that, he quickly went into the bathroom and tucked his own shirt in. *rofl*

The wedding itself was nice. Both Kyle and Leann looked so happy… Though, it was pretty warm in there, and poor Kyle was sweating up a storm in that tux. *lol* He kept having to wipe the sweat off his forhead. Poor Kyle! … Also, Leann’s maid-of-honor has a toddler son, who she should have found a babysitter for. She did have a friend holding him in the audience (she was sitting right behind Amanda), but for half the ceremony, he was screaming his head off. I guess he kept kicking during his tantrum, and kicked Amanda on more than one occasion. Then, she put him down and he made a bee-line to his Mom up front, and was then trying to get into everything. Mackenna was constantly messing with him… I kinda thought it was rude of her… Her friend should have at least had the decency to take him out when he started crying, so he wouldn’t disturb the ceremony. I felt bad for Kyle and Leann.

One thing was funny though, and that was that Leann put the ring on Kyle’s RIGHT hand, instead of his left one! *rofl* … I didn’t even notice. Joe’s sister, Debbie, pointed it out to me later. *lol* … Oh well, at least they will have something to laugh about later.

The reception was long and loud, but (almost) everyone seemed to have a really good time. (I don’t think Joe’s Grandma and his two uncles, who live on a farm, were too impressed with the country club thing, nor all the LOUD music… Don’t get me wrong. I liked 99% of the songs, they just played them LOUDLY.) … They had a big buffet thing set up (Gene paid $17 a head for that meal!), so everyone ate first. Then the DJ went up and had Kyle and Leann dance to the first song, which was “Then” by Brad Paisley. Then Leann danced to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland with her dad, Gene. And then Kyle and his mom, Cyna, danced to “Because You loved Me” be Celine Dion…

After that, it was an open floor, and there was dancing for the rest of the evening… You should have seen Amanda. She was in HEAVEN. She danced, and danced, and danced. *lol* She was even dancing with Kyle’s mom and dad. It was pretty cute… The nieces and nephews were all dancing silly together, and even Jared joined in with that. (Josh and Alicia would have NOTHING to do with that. *lol*) I got a lot of it on video. Wish I could get it off the camera to show you, but it’s on a VHS-C tape. (OLD video camera *lol*)

We didn’t leave until close to 9 pm… On the way home, we had this conversation:

Julie: “I’m not one to cry at weddings, but I did tear up when Gene and Leann danced to “I Loved Her First”.”
Joe: “Ya, that’s a great song!”
Josh: “I cried too… When my cake was gone!”

… Silly boy!

There hadn’t been much food there that Josh, Amanda, and I would actually eat, so we ended up hitting Taco Bell on the way home (I was really hungry)… It turned out to be a bit of a mistake though, since the Diet Pepsi there isn’t caffeine free… Drinking caffeine that late at night is NOT a good idea! I wasn’t able to get to sleep until almost 3:30 in the morning! Ack! … I was SO TIRED in church the next morning. *lol* … I was mostly able to pay attention.

I think I mentioned that Joe’s cousin-in-law, Randy, was the one to take pictures of the wedding… Joe’s family has always considered him a bit of a photographer, so they always ask him to do things like this… Anyway, the last time I saw his was in February of ’09 at Joe’s Grandma Toepfer’s 90th birthday party. At the time we were talking pictures/cameras, since we are both camera-happy… I told him that I was dreaming of the Canon Digital Rebel, and he said he was too.

Well… He has one now! *green with envy*

OMWord, what an AWESOME camera! I can’t wait to see how the wedding pictures turn out! (He told me that he took over 1000!) I was seriously drooling over that camera. *rofl* … Funny thing is, Joe told me that I should set rewards for myself when I first started the weight loss journey. When he said it, I asked him if I could get a new camera when I get 50% to my goal, and he agreed instantly. I later showed him a Canon camera at Walmart (not a rebel) and told him that I would get that one, because even at $400, it’s much cheaper than a Rebel… Anyway, when we were coming home after the wedding, I was telling Joe how Randy and I had been talking about how we both wanted a Rebel, and that I was drooling over the one he has now… And Joe says, “Maybe we should just break down and get you one with tax returns next year.”… REALLY?!?!?! … I am *thinking* that I will be 50% to my goal sometime this fall, maybe a little sooner if I keep losing as quickly as I am now (trying not to hope too much about that )… But I am willing to wait until February, if that means I get a Rebel!!! … Anyway, if I remember correctly, his was silver like this picture I found. I don’t know if I’ll get a silver one, or a black one… He did have a fancier lense on his, but you can buy all sorts of different lenses for it. His was probably one he bought and switched out… That’s something I would have to learn about later, because I know NOTHING about that!

Sunday was a quiet day… Other than church in the morning, we didn’t do anything (even though it was Mother’s Day) … The boys did volunteer to do the lunch dishes for me though, since it was Mother’s Day… But other than that, they were off playing, and Joe was in bed sleeping the afternoon away. I just ended up watching movies and scanning old slides… What I really wanted to do was work on Kyle and Leann’s album, but I have to wait until Randy and Dorothy get their photos to me… And I am feeling QUITE impatient about that! *rofl* … I guess it does take time to go through an edit over 1000 pictures. (I just REALLY want to work on that album, while the memories of the day are still fresh in my mind.)

The kids were supposed to bowl in their league on Sunday, but we get a message from Mick that it had been cancelled for the day, because Mick hasn’t been feeling well… He’s been down for 2-3 weeks now… I don’t know what’s wrong, but I sure hope it’s nothing serious… He was complaining of chest pains, but that was like 3 weeks ago… I am assuming he’s been to the doctor, but I don’t really know anything else.

Our summer reading program seems to be going well… We had planned on donig it Monday-Friday, but we never seem to get around to it on Mondays and Thursdays, which are the days I do laundry. *lol* … So we have done it 3 times a week for a couple weeks now… Before we started, I told Joe that Jared was really excited about the program, and Joe told me that Jared was “just excited to please me”. … Joe doesn’t like to read, and he’s always called me a “sick woman” for reading as much as I do. So he completely doesn’t understand the any of our kids would actually like and want to read… Anyway, Jared (who doesn’t know Joe said that) has proved him wrong. He’s been reading extra and has already finished 3 books. *lol* … If he keeps this up, I’m going to have to find him another set of books to read, and fast! … I wish I had more boy-type adventure stories already on hand, but all my junior readers are more for girls, since they were mine. *lol* (and trust me, Joe never had any )

You know… Joe has NEVER read a novel from cover to cover, not even for school. If he needed to read one for school (even in high school), his MOM WOULD READ IT TO HIM. Good grief!

Hmmm… Anything else going on? … Oh! Yesterday was our kitty’s birthday. Cuddles is now 6 years old. She was happy to celebrate her birthday with a can of soft cat food, which is a rare treat… We made sure to give Buddy a can too, and half way through the meal, they switched bowls. *lol* … They always do that. It’s so funny! (And no, they still don’t get along. Cuddles HATES Buddy with a passion! But that doesn’t stop her from wanting to sample his treats! )

Well, it’s time to eat some breakfast and start my day! Catch ya on the flip side!

Hey there! It’s time for my weekly check-in. … Remember the good ole days when I used to post every day? … Of course, that’s when the kids were little and I had something to write about every day. *lol* … Now that the kids are older, they spend more time playing with each other (or by themselves) in their rooms or outside, away from us. Makes for a less interesting blog…

The kids finished up their CATs on Tuesday. I got them photocopied and mailed back on Thursday… They tell us to photocopy them, just in case they get lost in the mail or something. That’s never happened before, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, you know? … Now we have to wait 2-3 weeks for the results… That’s the hard part!

Thursday was a bit of a busy day… In the morning, after my morning chores (and after breakfast) I made a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies… I used to make cookies for everyone in Joe’s family for Christmas, but with all the older nieces and nephews moving out into their own places, it got to be a little overwhelming. So now I make some for everyone on their birthday. (Joe and the kids like it better this way, because they get homemade cookies more often *lol*) … Anyway, Joe’s nephew, Jason’s birthday was on the 21st. The cookies were for him. He lives in Beaverton, but was going to be a Papa Murphy’s on Friday… His mom, DeeDee, works there with Joe’s other sister, Debbie. So we gave the cookies to Debbie on Thursday, and she took them to work to give to Jason. (I made sure to give a few to Debbie too, since she was our “messenger”. )

Thursday was also the family swim at the Molalla Aquatic Center, so we made sure to be there by 3 pm. Debbie and the twins were there too… Also, Joe’s parents were in town, so they came to watch the kids swim too.

Anyway, you should see how well the boys are swimming! … Though I’ve noticed that sometimes Josh forgets to kick his feet. *rofl* In fact, I added a video and you can see that in it… But Jared is doing really well. He can even do a double backwards summersault, which is pretty cool. The boys also think that jumping into the pool from the side is a whole lot of fun.

BUT, you should see Alicia!!! She hasn’t had a single swimming lesson, but she is teaching herself how to swim! Don’t tell Josh I said this, but she’s even swimming better than he is. She was practicing on Thursday, swimming from the side of the pool to where Joe was, and he would move back a little every time. She’s doing so well! … The only thing that all 3 of them need to work on is coming up for air while they are swimming. They always stop and stand up to breath… Guess that will come with time, right?

Ignore the bad quality of the video. I forgot to take my camera, so I used my cell phone instead. The audio was so bad on the videos (sounded choppy), so I added some music over the top… Then, since the song was longer, I decided to add some still photos as well. *lol*

The boys only have two more swimming lessons left (next Tuesday and Thursday)… They ended up with a new instructor on Thursday… Alaina, the original instructor, went to Florida for some choir competition. We don’t know if she will be back in time to finish the lessons or not… But it doesn’t matter, as the new one is nice too. This one is a guy, probably a high school student as well. (Most of them look to be high school or college age, though not all of them… A lot are probably from the high school swim team. The high school is right across the street from the pool.) … Anyway, he seems to be really good with kids, though Josh says that he is, “a little bit of a dork, but not as bad as Daddy.”

The kids’ summer bowling league starts this Sunday at 6 pm. The kids are soooo excited. Alicia has been counting down the days. She is so happy to be starting “her league” finally. By the end of the fall/winter league, she was getting more and more interested in doing it for herself… Especially after seeing the boys get their trophies. *lol*

The kids will be getting a lot of practice time too. There is a nation-wide program called “Kids Bowl Free“, and Molalla Bowl is a participating lane, so I registed the kids. … All summer long from May 24th through September 6th (I think those are the right dates) the kids get passes to bowl 2 free games a day. Obviously we won’t make it there every day, but if we hope to make it once or twice a week. Also, we can pay a one time fee of $25 and we would get free passes for up to four adults too… Joe hasn’t decided if we want to do that or not, but I think we should. It would be a great deal.

I’ve been working on my Blurb book some, getting old posts ready to print into a book. (I have May 1992 through early 2000 finished.) One thing I am missing though, is a bio for Joe. I have a “pre-blog bio” as my first post here… Telling what my life was like before I started journaling. (No need to make it longer, as the blog itself can fill in the rest of my life. *rofl*) … Anyway, I really want one for Joe too. I thought it would be cool to have a “pre-married” bio, as I have pretty much covered his life since then, on regular blog posts… So I started to write one the other day. The problem is, that while I can get all the important details, I can’t make it “personal” … So I have asked Joe to help. I don’t think he’s too thrilled about it, but he’s not kicking his feet too badly. *rofl* … To help him out, I made some “memory/idea starters”. I took a spiral notebook and on the top of each page (for about 10-15 pages) I wrote things like “memories from high school”, and “memories from hunting with Larry and Ronnie”. etc. I am hoping that it will help him remember things, and then I can piece together a post from that… It will probably take him a LONG time to get them all done (Joe’s the king of procrastination), but I will let you know when it is posted, in case you want to read it.

Another spring project I have going is to scan Joe’s grandma’s slides… I’ve had them for a while, but never got around to scanning them. I need to get them finished so that I can give them back to Joe’s sister. That would be nice, since it would mean one less box in my closet! *rofl* There are 9 reels of slides, which has 100 slides each… So it’s going to take a while to get all 900 slides scanned and edited… Then there will be trying to figure out the years of the pictures. I’m sure Joe won’t be too much help. *rofl* … Also, there are a lot of pictures of Joe’s cousins, but he should be able to help me figure out who is who.

We start our summer reading program on Monday. Jared and Alicia are excited about starting, but Josh isn’t quite so much. *lol* … We’re going to have to get a morning routine going so that we can make sure we’ve got breakfast, chores, and the kids have their showers in by 10 am. We want to read from 10 to 11 (Monday – Friday), then I will do my workout and shower at 11:00. Then the rest of the day will be free time for us… I told the kids that they can stay up late on Friday, and sleep in as long as they want on Saturday (unless we have something planned). We’ll see how this schedule works next week.

Well, I have want to catch up on my blog hopping, and then get back to those slides (after doing my workout, of course. *rofl*) … Catch ya’ll on the flip side!

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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