It's Only Just Begun

Last week was full of new beginnings for our family. My two oldest boys started school last Monday. Conner is in 2nd grade and Tate started Kindergarten. They are really enjoying it. They love to learn, play with friends, and ride the bus! In fact they wanted to ride the bus so badly that they refused to let me take them to school on the first day. I was rather concerned because they hadn't even had "meet the teacher" nor had they found their classrooms yet. (For some strange reason our school holds meets the teacher after school has already started- weird I know!) Anyway, since Tate was just starting K, I wanted to make sure that he found his way. To my dismay, he said, "Mom," "Conner will show me the way." What could I say to that. I am grateful that my boys have each other. All seemed to go well and they both found their classes just fine, even without my help. Will someone explain to me what happened to my babies!?! I just can't believe that they are off by themselves, totally independent and totally okay with it. I guess that I am glad that they are starting to take care of themselves. I pray that they will continue to grow and learn and always choose the right along the way.

Another journey that we started last week was our house. We finally broke ground on Saturday!!!! Even though we have spent months preparing for this moment it now is starting to feel ''real." Like it just might actually happen! Here are some photos of the guys digging the footings. A big THANKS to my brothers Eric and Paul for their hard work and to Rich for lining it all up. We really appreciate their willingness to help us out!

(Conner and Tate's creature. We kept him for 24 hours and then we released him.)

Experimentation #2

Here's another one just for fun!!

Experimentation

Okay, today I dropped my boys off at the Neilsen's to play and put Ethan & Grace down for a nap. The following was a conversation I had with myself. "Did you hear that?" "Hear what?" "Exactly." Since I had some "free" time (something that happens seldom to never) I decided that instead of doing the usual, (clean, cook, change out laundry,....) I'd do something that I've wanted to do. Here it is. My first go at Adobe Photoshop Elements. This took me forever!! I must be computer challenged. These pictures rock though. My Aunt took them at Davy's funeral. Isn't she cute! Enjoy!

Just An Update

It turns out that not only did my SIL have an infection, she also has a blood clot in her lung. After the doctors found it, they put her on some sort of blood thinner medication. They are now just concerned with whether the clot was a piece of a larger clot or if they have found it all. I guess that after you give birth women sometimes clot really badly. Supposedly that's what caused the clot to form. Anyway, we are just glad that it lodged itself in her lung and not elsewhere. Had it landed near her heart or brain it very well could have been fatal. It's also a blessing that she was in the hospital already so she could be treated right away. Thanks for your prayers and concern. The doctors anticipate that they will release her on Saturday if she continues to improve. Bella (3) and Chloe (4 months) got to see their Mommy today too which really has helped them (especially Bella) understand what is going on. Thanks again!!

Dearest Dave

For those of you who do not know, my little brother Dave Lee Johnson II passed away three weeks ago today. I am trying to write my feelings down, but have been struggling with the right words to say. I guess I didn't think this would be as hard for me to do as it's been since I got to speak at his funeral, but none the less I've struggled to acurately protray my feelings. I will be working on "the right words" for a while so check back because I'll edit this post later. For now just know that I loved my little brother more than I am capable of expressing (that's part of the problem) and even though a string of poor decisions cost him his life, he'll always be my little Davy.

We Need Your Prayers

On Saturday, my brother called to let me know that his wife had been admitted to the hospital because of an infection. Originally they thought it was mastitis (sp?-milk duct infection), but when the infection entered her blood stream and her blood pressure significantly dropped they determined that something else must be wrong. She has been in the Intensive Care Unit hooked up to every antibiotic under the sun since Saturday and is still not stabilized. Death is all to close to our family right now, and while we don't anticipate that happening, the thought is enough to do us all in. So, like Hillary Weeks says in one of my favorite songs, "I did what I could, I said a prayer." Please take just a minute and do what you can, offer a short prayer in behalf of our family, especially my brother Richard, his wife Shari, and their girls Isabella & Chloe. Thank you. I know that prayers work!

Exciting News!

Sheeze...a lot happens in 4 months. After finding the pictures of Jacob's birthday party, I was not only reminded that we were in the valley for that special occasion but that we were also there so Scott could take his PE (Professional Engineer) exam. After months of coming home from work to study (hard to do with 5 kids) and even some nights at the library, the day finally arrived. The eight hour test was on Friday, April 20th. Scott left with a feeling of comfort, knowing that he did his best in preparing for the test and had a prayer in his heart that the Lord would make up the difference. I'm happy to say that we found out in June that Scott PASSED!! He is now a Professional Engineer. Great Job Sweetheart, we are all proud of you.

Jacob turned 4!!

April 18th was a long awaited day! Jacob is officially four years old. He really enjoys his new bike and the Peter Pan movie he got.

Four things that I love about Jacob:
1. His smile and sensitivity. Jacob has a gorgeous smile, it really turns heads. Combine it with one of his incredible hugs and you have a winning combination. Jacob has a fine line between his emotions and is able to express his feelings accurately. If he is happy, you know it, if not, you know that too and he doesn't mind talking about it.
2. His love for his siblings, especially for the ones younger than him. He is always watching out for them.
3. His love for music and art. Jacob is a great singer- he might not always know the words or even the tune but that doesn't keep him from trying. Out of all my kids, Jacob is the one that is constantly getting into the crayons, paint, markers, glue, glitter...... This can be quite scary at times but I do love that he loves to create.
4. His ability to try until he succeeds. Jacob is a very strong headed child. When he wants something he is going to figure out a way to get it. Often this causes power struggles between himself and others (especially me) but it also shows his character. He is a leader and a winner. He doesn't give up or give in and I think that is a wonderful quality.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYBUB! (as Grace calls him)

(I can't imagine that I didn't take any pictures but I seriously cannot find them. I lost a memory stick for my camera awhile ago. I hope that they weren't on it. I'll keep looking and post pictures later if I find them.) -Okay I found them and when I did I realized that I had forgotten that we celebrated Jake's Birthday at my Mom's house. He was so funny, all he wanted to do for his birthday was make a cake with his Grandma, a cow cake to be exact. Well my mother and I were not sure what exactly he meant by a cow cake so we talked him into a lizard cake. He seemed to be perfectly happy with that. I think that he just wanted to spend some one on one time with his Grandma!

The Summer in a Nutshell

May was full of Tee-ball games, pre-school graduations, a trip to Conner's class zoo, and camping. Yes, keeping up with the kids schedule is a lot of work all in itself. Swimming lessons and lunch at the park started in June. In between the swimming lessons session we went to the valley TWICE! Scott has had to travel a ton- way more than I bargained for. Thankfully, since it was summer time, I was able to go with him to the valley (he usually flies out of Sky Harbor on Monday and back in on Thursdays) and stay with my parents. The kids love going to Grandma & Grandpa's house and actually the low key "mini vacations" (all we did while we were there was swim) helped me start to feel better. Grace also celebrated her second birthday on June 27th. She enjoyed being princess for the day- truthfully she is our princess everyday, just ask her brothers. They'll tell you that she's our, "pretty, pretty princess!" July came so quickly- sometimes I really wish that I could turn back the clock- we had Scott's brother, Curtis, & his family come and stay with us over the fourth, went to the valley TWO more times, (once for another "mini vacation" and once to take care of some family business that I will post about later) went to Greer for the Johnson family vacation, and then finished the month at Curt & Jeannine's for the Skousen family get together. Can you just say exhausting!! And now it's August. Do you think that things will slow down once school starts? My guess is no, things are just going to get crazier. School starts, soccer starts, Grace needs to be potty trained, and we are starting to build our NEW HOUSE!!! Yep, it's official, I have become a General Contractor in order to save us some money. So with all of the added blessings/stresses, I have determined that the only way to make all of this work is to rely on my Father in Heaven and just take one day at a time.

(I hope that these pictures will help all of you that are so far away feel just a little bit closer.)

Conner and his paper mache vulture

Ethan (or Efee as Grace calls him) learning to eat

Jacob at his pre-school program

Tate at his pre-school graduation

Conner & Tate Tee-ball May 2007

The boys with their cousins - Camping over Memorial Day

Grace, Jacob, Tate, & Ethan enjoying free lunch at the park!

Grace's 2nd Birthday

The Fourth of July

My Dad teaching the kids to play the piano during one of our visits

The Kids at my family vacation in Greer (Grace, Haylee & Tate, Ryan & Ethan)

Long Time, No See

I know that it has been a long time since anyone has seen a post from me. Of course there is always a story behind everything. To keep it brief, I'll just say that I have suffered from major postpartum depression or maybe just depression in general. (My fifth has almost done me in) That combined with a myriad of other overwhelming challenges had left me unable to cope with all of life's daily excitement. I decided that since crawling in a hole was really not an option, I needed to remove some of the "extras" for a time. Unfortunately, blogging and a few other very enjoyable but not completely necessary things were neglected. I am happy to say that things are starting to look up:) so I will try to ease my way back into blogging. Wish me luck as I start this journey again. (I will try to do an entry for each of the months that I missed- We did have some exciting things happen too that you might want to know about!)