Johnsons' Journey

I think I am enjoying this spring vacation way too much, and am getting so very lazy. *lol* I need to get better about coming here to post, and I also need to get better about the blog-hopping thing… I don’t want Facebook to take over my blog, but sometimes I fear that is what’s happening! So not a good thing! … It’s just that I get more responses off facebook, than I do here on the blog, so I tend to go there… For the “attention”, I guess. *lol*

We had an OK weekend…

The boys had their bowling league on Saturday morning. They both bowled well, and got over their average in every game… We don’t know if their team won the games or not, because one of their team-mates was gone. We’re assuming that he post-bowled, and we’ll find out how the games went on this Saturday… Up until last Saturday the boys’ team (The Cougars) were in 1st place… I’m hoping that they still are, as it would make the boys SO HAPPY if they finished in 1st.

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Thought I’d better come by and check in again. I’ve been doing some digi-scrapping and working on my blog book. That always makes me neglect other things, like this blog. *lol*

The kids and I have another full week of homeschool lessons, and then we’re on a 2 week spring vacation! We can’t wait! It seems like we’ve been so busy lately, it’s going to be nice to have some down time… Then, after spring break is over, there is only something like 3-4 weeks of lessons left, and then their workbooks will be done for the year. It seems hard to believe it’s so close to being that time of year already! … I’ve even already put an order in for the state tests that Alicia and the boys will be doing. (This will be Amanda’s last year of not having to do the CATs. We always start doing them after 1st grade.)

We didn’t do too much over the weekend… We did go to the bowling alley both Friday and Saturday…

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I thought I’d better write a post before ya’ll think I’ve decided to give up on blogging all-together. *lol*

There isn’t too much going on around here. We’ve just been doing the homschool thing. The kids only have a couple weeks until spring vacation, and are getting excited about it. (As is Mommy *lol*)

We got some scary news yesterday … Remember last September-ish when there was a cougar sighting in the woods, right behind the house? … Well, turns out that the cougar is here to stay, because it’s been sighted again… While I like the quiet of this area, I wish we had found a house we could afford in town instead. I think I would feel a bit safer about letting the kids play outside.

I guess now we know why the stray cat population has gone WAY down… Poor kitties.

We’re not letting Buddy go outside right now, because I don’t want him to become Cougar-chow… Since we still don’t really trust him, we’ve set him up an area in the pantry, for when we can’t keep an eye on him… But while he seems to like his “room”, he wants to go outside, and is starting to get whiney about it. *lol*

On Tuesday, Alicia and Amanda had their last class at Dolce Dance… In some ways I think they are regretting their decision… But in the summer months, it will probably be for the best anyway, as we would have had a hard time getting there on time, because of Joe’s schedule… Thier bowling league starts in April… If they end up not liking it, then we’ll take them back to Dolce Dance in September. (The summer bowling league ends at the end of August)

Since the kids were done with school early yesterday, we took them bowling again. This time Joe wouldn’t challenge them… Which is a good thing, because he would have lost again. … Those boys are getting to be such good bowlers!

Joe will be late coming home today… He’s going to get new tires on the Durango. We’ve been needing them for a while now, and it’s going to be nice to have them done! … Then on Thursday a friend of Joe’s (John) will be doing some other work on the Durango… Something with the brakes, I think. Joe wants to get the Durango working well before all our summer camping plans, so he doesn’t have to worry about pulling the trailer. If he pulls the trailer as the Durango is now, we’d end up with a travel emergency! … Of course, the trailer needs some work too. One of the tanks has a leak, and needs to be replaced… Wish we “had a guy” who knew how to do that too, so we could get it done cheaper. *lol*

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far… Ours has been pretty good.

Yesterday, after the kids finished up their lessons for the day, we got the house all cleaned (as in scrubbing bathrooms, cleaning floors, etc). Then we just vegged for the evening… We like vegging.

Today the boys had their bowling league… Both the boys bowled really well, and their team won all 3 games. If the boy’s team doesn’t come in first place for the year, then they will be a close 2nd! … There are better bowlers, but their handicap scores really help, especially when they bowl so much high than their average, like they have been doing the last few weeks… The league ends on March 27th, which is the day they hand out awards. I hope they both get a trophy! (I know they have more patches coming.)

After the kids were done bowling, Joe’s parents (who also had the twins with them) came out to our place. I did Jim and Elvina’s taxes (I think I am done for the year), and then I made a big spaghetti dinner for everyone. (Joe’s mom even went back for seconds! Yay! She must have liked it! *lol*)

After we ate, we adults sat around chatting while the kids alternated between playing on the Wii or going outside and playing basketball… Needless to say, between that and bowling, I think they got a lot of exercise today.

Well… I feel like vegging in front of a movie. I’ll catch ya on the flip side! … But before I go I wanted to give a quick shout out for cellulite cures… I need to go check that out NOW. *lol*

Joe has got to learn that now that the boys are getting older, he’s got to stop competing with them… Because it’s starting to not go well for him anymore!

Yesterday we took the kids bowling (though the girls decided that they would rather color, and didn’t bowl). Before we left, Joe decided that he wanted to ‘challenge” them. He knew I wouldn’t approve of them betting money on the games, because I don’t approve of gambling… So he and the boys decided that whoever lost the game would be cooking dinner tonight. Joe actually said that the winner wouldn’t have to, and the two that came in 2nd and 3rd place would make it.

I’m sure that Joe was envisioning himself kicking back while Jared and Josh made dinner.

That’s not quite what happened!

They ended up bowling 5 games… Jared’s series total was 564, Josh’s series total was 488, and Joe’s was 462. (Jared kicked some serious booty! *lol*)

Looks like Joe and Josh will be making dinner tonight.

Josh was sure excited though… He bowled his very first turkey (3 strikes in a row)!!! He was SOOOOO happy! And this Mama is SOOOOOO proud! They are getting to be good little bowlers!

Before I go I just wanted to give a quick shout out for eczema natural treatment. I should look into that, as sometimes I wonder if Amanda may have problems with that. During the winter she gets these dry rashy patches on the inside of her arms (opposite the elbows). It always looks like it itches! They always go away when the weather warms up though…

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!

Jared’s dry patch seems to be over! … He must be getting used to that new ball, as he’s been bowling really, really well the last couple of weeks!

In December while he was still using Jacob’s ball, Jared bowled a high game of 170, which was really good for him. I figured that it would be a LONG time before he would be able to beat that game…

I was wrong!

On Saturday he bowled a 180!!! And combined with his other two games (114 & 135 … Jared’s average is 99), he now has a new high series of 429!!! … That will earn him his 400 series patch. So cool!

Like last time, he seemed like he was in shock over the score. It’s funny how differently he and Josh respond to these things. Josh would have been bouncing with excitement, while Jared looks like he is in a daze, because he is in shock. *lol*

Josh bowled well too! His average is 84, and he bowled a 130, a 119, and a 78.

I am proud of them both!

Before I go, I just wanted to give a quick shout out for resumes… If you’re looking for work, check them out!

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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I can’t believe I haven’t posted on here since Monday… Shame on me! I am getting to be a lazy blogger… Which is something I don’t want to happen! *sigh* … Must get better… I must!

My main problem is that Blurb book I am making, from old blog posts. I would really like to get it done by the end of the month, so that I can buy it with tax returns. Yesterday I got up to page 240, and am up to mid May 1999 … It was then that I noticed a problem…

You see, I started the book a few months ago and got up to page 107, and then stopped working on it until a couple 2-3 weeks ago. Well… I accidently changed the font size, and didn’t notice until last night. *sigh* … I am using Tahoma, and I was using size 10 for the journaling, with size 12 for the titles. I am now making the titles size 10 and making the journaling a size 9… Gah! … I am SO MAD at myself!… I am OCD enough that the change in font size would drive me batty… But do you know how much work it would be to change all the font sizes, and have to reline up pictures to match the journaling. *sigh* … Not to mention that on this old laptop, the Blurb program takes up too much memory and is really sluggish.

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