I love this time of year. It's getting cooler at night, school supplies are front and centre in all the stores, and every once in awhile you'll see a few yellowing leaves. Summer is on its way out, and it's time to get ready for fall! I'm not a huge fan of summer...I'm a big wuss about the heat, being out in the sun for even a couple of hours makes me all useless and sleepy, and the mosquitoes have been brutal this year. But there's something wonderful about the last couple of weeks of August - canning, pickling, buying new school clothes and supplies. I love this time of preparation.
Of course, I haven't done any canning or pickling this year...that would require me to have my crap together, which I don't. Maybe next year. Oh, I have big plans for next year...I'm going to do some container vegetable gardening, and hopefully I'll end up with something worth canning.
Emmett heads back to preschool in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait. Emmett/Seth cat fights are now happening with much more frequency...everyone is bored and cranky. It will be interesting to see what Em thinks of having afternoon class and taking the school bus from our new place. Hopefully he'll have the same teacher so something remains the same. Fingers crossed!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Random Cute Kid Stuff
I figured my facebook friends may be getting tired of my constantly kid-centric status updates, so I'm putting this here.
Seth has recently become a huge fan of "Blue's Clues"...Em loves the show so we watch it quite a bit. When Seth realizes that I'm putting on an episode, his face lights up and he says "Boo Coo!!!" while doing the "Blue's Clues" hand motion. Soooo stinkin' cute. I'm going to have to start hunting for some BC themed party decorations for a certain someone's 2nd birthday (yes, I'm already thinking about the kids' birthdays. Just ask my mother how party planning obsessed I was as a child...I haven't changed much!)
Emmett's latest obsession is Rhett and Link - a couple of guys who make up catchy songs about everything from velcro to Facebook. He especially loves this one, where they took the "Sham Wow" infomercial and made it into a song:
ShamWow Song
Now if you come to my house you can hear Em singing about how the sham wow "holds 20 times its weight in liquid" and that "the Germans always make good stuff", pretty much all day long. It's hard for him to sing the whole thing because he can't talk fast enough, but he sure tries! I usually sing along with him, which he looooves.
So there's my random kid cuteness for today. :)
Seth has recently become a huge fan of "Blue's Clues"...Em loves the show so we watch it quite a bit. When Seth realizes that I'm putting on an episode, his face lights up and he says "Boo Coo!!!" while doing the "Blue's Clues" hand motion. Soooo stinkin' cute. I'm going to have to start hunting for some BC themed party decorations for a certain someone's 2nd birthday (yes, I'm already thinking about the kids' birthdays. Just ask my mother how party planning obsessed I was as a child...I haven't changed much!)
Emmett's latest obsession is Rhett and Link - a couple of guys who make up catchy songs about everything from velcro to Facebook. He especially loves this one, where they took the "Sham Wow" infomercial and made it into a song:
ShamWow Song
Now if you come to my house you can hear Em singing about how the sham wow "holds 20 times its weight in liquid" and that "the Germans always make good stuff", pretty much all day long. It's hard for him to sing the whole thing because he can't talk fast enough, but he sure tries! I usually sing along with him, which he looooves.
So there's my random kid cuteness for today. :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Twenty-nine!!!
Twenty nine years ago today, my very scrawny (4lb 12oz), rather purple, and decidedly bald self entered mortality. Woo hoo! (Thanks for that mom, and sorry I was born before epidurals were readily available. You ARE the woman.) I've gone from "pushing 30" to "REALLY pushing 30", overnight. ;)
I remember years ago when a co-worker friend of mine turned 29, I thought that was sooo old and that I would probably feel as depressed as he was about the "big 3-0" being right around the corner. I was 23, I think...and you know what? You couldn't pay me to go back to 23! Sure, my stomach was still intact, I could go out whenever I wanted, and I even got to sleep in (I think I remember that...),but I am SO into the whole established, boring, responsible adult thing I've got going on now.
I think I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the last year of my twenties...life is busy but really good and I'm enjoying it.
I remember years ago when a co-worker friend of mine turned 29, I thought that was sooo old and that I would probably feel as depressed as he was about the "big 3-0" being right around the corner. I was 23, I think...and you know what? You couldn't pay me to go back to 23! Sure, my stomach was still intact, I could go out whenever I wanted, and I even got to sleep in (I think I remember that...),but I am SO into the whole established, boring, responsible adult thing I've got going on now.
I think I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the last year of my twenties...life is busy but really good and I'm enjoying it.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Seth's First Conversation
James just told me about his first conversation with the Seth-meister, and it was so cute I had to share!
(First thing in the morning, James sees Seth's awake and goes into his room)
"Oh, you're up...hi!"
"Hi!"
"Do you want out of your crib?"
"Yeah"
(James picks him up)
"Wheee!"
"Do you want to go see Mommy?"
"No"
"Really?"
"Choo!" (as in "choo-choo")
"You want to play with your trains?"
"Yeah"
So he's up there playing with trains right now. What a little character!
(First thing in the morning, James sees Seth's awake and goes into his room)
"Oh, you're up...hi!"
"Hi!"
"Do you want out of your crib?"
"Yeah"
(James picks him up)
"Wheee!"
"Do you want to go see Mommy?"
"No"
"Really?"
"Choo!" (as in "choo-choo")
"You want to play with your trains?"
"Yeah"
So he's up there playing with trains right now. What a little character!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Summer Updates
Wow, that was an incredibly lame title. Let's move on, shall we? ;)
As of tomorrow, we will have been in our house for a whole month! It's flown by, for the most part. Home ownership has been an interesting experience. When we moved in, we of course had a to do list of a million little projects that we wanted to tackle asap. However, we seriously underestimated how difficult it is to get anything done with a couple of ankle biters "helping" (ie putting drill bits in their mouth and running off with instructions). It's going to take a loooong time to get everything done that we need/want to do, but we're getting there (thanks to the help of friends and family!).
We had our first big "mishap" last week - our old, crappy dishwasher finally gave out and flooded the kitchen and down through the basement (and over our phone box, which then shorted out). While it was a bit of an ordeal, I now have an AWESOME new dishwasher (and after over 7 years of hand washing, I can't even tell you how psyched I am about it!).
As busy as we've been around the house, we've tried to get out and enjoy summer as much as we can. James' union had a family picnic at Fort Edmonton Park last week; we got free entrance to the park, tickets for the old timey midway, and a BBQ with bison burgers and ice cream - score!!
Then this weekend we hit Taste of Edmonton, where the kids practically tackled me for my coconut gelatto and baklava. Poor Seth tripped and scraped the right side of his face down a stone wall, leaving him with the unfortunate nickname of "Two Face" (I know, I know...we're bad people. ;)). A little more coconut gelatto and he was happy and running around again, even though he was still bleeding a bit - that kid is such a trooper!! 48 hours later and he's healing really well - it's amazing how fast kids heal.
We've also started attending our new ward - we really like it! I can't get over how many kids are in this ward - they have more Sunbeams than our last ward has in its entire primary! Em is still pretty unsure about attending his new primary by himself, so I've been tagging along, but he went to Sunbeams solo today and did well, which is encouraging. Sethy just turned 18 months and has attending nursery for the past 2 weeks. He never showed one bit of hesitation; he saw those toys and it was "Dad who?" I can't believe my baby is old enough for nursery (but I'm definitely not complaining!!).
As of tomorrow, we will have been in our house for a whole month! It's flown by, for the most part. Home ownership has been an interesting experience. When we moved in, we of course had a to do list of a million little projects that we wanted to tackle asap. However, we seriously underestimated how difficult it is to get anything done with a couple of ankle biters "helping" (ie putting drill bits in their mouth and running off with instructions). It's going to take a loooong time to get everything done that we need/want to do, but we're getting there (thanks to the help of friends and family!).
We had our first big "mishap" last week - our old, crappy dishwasher finally gave out and flooded the kitchen and down through the basement (and over our phone box, which then shorted out). While it was a bit of an ordeal, I now have an AWESOME new dishwasher (and after over 7 years of hand washing, I can't even tell you how psyched I am about it!).
As busy as we've been around the house, we've tried to get out and enjoy summer as much as we can. James' union had a family picnic at Fort Edmonton Park last week; we got free entrance to the park, tickets for the old timey midway, and a BBQ with bison burgers and ice cream - score!!
Then this weekend we hit Taste of Edmonton, where the kids practically tackled me for my coconut gelatto and baklava. Poor Seth tripped and scraped the right side of his face down a stone wall, leaving him with the unfortunate nickname of "Two Face" (I know, I know...we're bad people. ;)). A little more coconut gelatto and he was happy and running around again, even though he was still bleeding a bit - that kid is such a trooper!! 48 hours later and he's healing really well - it's amazing how fast kids heal.
We've also started attending our new ward - we really like it! I can't get over how many kids are in this ward - they have more Sunbeams than our last ward has in its entire primary! Em is still pretty unsure about attending his new primary by himself, so I've been tagging along, but he went to Sunbeams solo today and did well, which is encouraging. Sethy just turned 18 months and has attending nursery for the past 2 weeks. He never showed one bit of hesitation; he saw those toys and it was "Dad who?" I can't believe my baby is old enough for nursery (but I'm definitely not complaining!!).
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Is it July yet?
June 2010 will probably go down as one of the cuh-raaaaziest months in history for the Johnson family - cleaning, packing, painting, cleaning, moving, unpacking, and more cleaning. Oh, and all of the lovely paperwork and running around that comes with buying your first place. A few things I've learned over the past few weeks:
-People are filthy, filthy creatures. Well, at least some of them are. My SIL Brittney took some "awesome" before shots of our place. Let's just say I discovered that the inside of my kitchen cupboards were an entirely different colour than I thought after I took to them with a magic eraser.
-Once you venture into home ownership, it is probably easiest to just sign your paycheques directly over to Home Depot. It's a good thing the kids are always up for a run to "Ho Depot" as Emmett calls it (snicker, snicker), because we've spent a lot of time there recently!
-Mormons really are the best movers on the planet. A bunch of people from the ward showed up on Saturday morning and swarmed our old place like a hoard of locusts, leaving nothing in their wake. All of our wordly belongings were out and loaded in the truck in 45 minutes!! The entire move was over in 3 hours...incredible.
-There's nothing quite like the feel of brand new carpet under your feet. Emmett actually told me the other day the was going up to his room to lay on "his carpet". ;)
-Being able to walk around your bedroom (versus shuffling and frequently banging up your shins on pointy furniture) is a wonderful thing!
-Seeing your old place all empty is a weird feeling. While I'm so happy to have moved to a place of our own with double the space, we have a lot of great memories from our little basement apartment. We moved there when Em was just a newborn, and that's where we brought Seth home from the hospital. There was something just a little bit sad about scrubbing scribbles off of those walls for the last time.
Tonight I'll be finishing up with the old place and handing the keys back - there's one chapter of our life over. Then it's on to a busy summer exploring our new neighborhood, completing a million little reno projects, and just getting down to the business of enjoying our new place!
-People are filthy, filthy creatures. Well, at least some of them are. My SIL Brittney took some "awesome" before shots of our place. Let's just say I discovered that the inside of my kitchen cupboards were an entirely different colour than I thought after I took to them with a magic eraser.
-Once you venture into home ownership, it is probably easiest to just sign your paycheques directly over to Home Depot. It's a good thing the kids are always up for a run to "Ho Depot" as Emmett calls it (snicker, snicker), because we've spent a lot of time there recently!
-Mormons really are the best movers on the planet. A bunch of people from the ward showed up on Saturday morning and swarmed our old place like a hoard of locusts, leaving nothing in their wake. All of our wordly belongings were out and loaded in the truck in 45 minutes!! The entire move was over in 3 hours...incredible.
-There's nothing quite like the feel of brand new carpet under your feet. Emmett actually told me the other day the was going up to his room to lay on "his carpet". ;)
-Being able to walk around your bedroom (versus shuffling and frequently banging up your shins on pointy furniture) is a wonderful thing!
-Seeing your old place all empty is a weird feeling. While I'm so happy to have moved to a place of our own with double the space, we have a lot of great memories from our little basement apartment. We moved there when Em was just a newborn, and that's where we brought Seth home from the hospital. There was something just a little bit sad about scrubbing scribbles off of those walls for the last time.
Tonight I'll be finishing up with the old place and handing the keys back - there's one chapter of our life over. Then it's on to a busy summer exploring our new neighborhood, completing a million little reno projects, and just getting down to the business of enjoying our new place!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
House Update
So it's officially super official now...we're homeowners! We got the keys to our place on Tuesday, and well, I'll be honest - it was little underwhelming. We bought the place knowing it was going to need a good cleaning and a lot of paint, but it was BAD. We knew that the sellers' dog liked to pee on the upstairs landing, but they had obviously been covering up the smell somewhat with incense, because once they stopped doing that the smell was overwhelming. I emptied a full bottle of Febreeze into the carpet and that only kept the smell at bay for about 4 hours. Good times. I can now say with almost complete confidence that I will NEVER own a dog.
So needless to say, that first day was pretty discouraging, but it's been a very busy week. The nasty carpets have been ripped out (thanks so much Carl, Kryssy and Rod!!), which has taken care of 95% of the smell issue (the other 5% will be tackled when I get a chance to scrub the heck out of everything). My hideous dark pink bathroom is now a white (and soon to be turquoise) bathroom. And other projects are well underway...we had planned to tackle the ceilings and painting later, but my parents came by on Wednesday and offered to help us take care of things now. My dad, bless his heart, has been breaking his back scraping the filthy popcorn texturing off our ceilings, and after that it will be time to clean everything top to bottom and seal it all with Killz. Yaaaaay Killz! We're going to paint the bedrooms and hallways a neutral colour and worry about personalizing them later.
I've been a bit worried about how Emmett would react to the move and how much of what was going on he understood. As usual, he has surprised me - no anxiety at all, and he asks quite a bit to go see "our house". In fact, he said our bedtime prayer last night and said "Thank you that we could see Grandma and Grandpa, and go see our house." Love it!
The house is a construction zone right now, but it's going to look so great when it's done, I'm so excited! It's really nice to see the kids excited too, I know we're all going to love having more than twice the space we did before.
So needless to say, that first day was pretty discouraging, but it's been a very busy week. The nasty carpets have been ripped out (thanks so much Carl, Kryssy and Rod!!), which has taken care of 95% of the smell issue (the other 5% will be tackled when I get a chance to scrub the heck out of everything). My hideous dark pink bathroom is now a white (and soon to be turquoise) bathroom. And other projects are well underway...we had planned to tackle the ceilings and painting later, but my parents came by on Wednesday and offered to help us take care of things now. My dad, bless his heart, has been breaking his back scraping the filthy popcorn texturing off our ceilings, and after that it will be time to clean everything top to bottom and seal it all with Killz. Yaaaaay Killz! We're going to paint the bedrooms and hallways a neutral colour and worry about personalizing them later.
I've been a bit worried about how Emmett would react to the move and how much of what was going on he understood. As usual, he has surprised me - no anxiety at all, and he asks quite a bit to go see "our house". In fact, he said our bedtime prayer last night and said "Thank you that we could see Grandma and Grandpa, and go see our house." Love it!
The house is a construction zone right now, but it's going to look so great when it's done, I'm so excited! It's really nice to see the kids excited too, I know we're all going to love having more than twice the space we did before.
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