February and March have kept us pretty busy, as usual. Work has been nice and busy, the kids are growing like crazy, Jonah is walking, and Zachary is playing t-ball.

T-ball is a little interesting. Zachary has good days and bad. When he’s good, he’s really good. When he’s bad, T.V. and video games get taken away (which does happen ;)). This past Saturday he went 3 for 3 (2 of which were coach-pitch), played “pitcher” and stopped all but one ball that came his way. Unfortunately, last night, he had to constantly be reminded to focus, pay attention, and stop throwing dirt. That’s life at 4 1/2.

Jonah

Jonah is getting bigger everyday. He started to do the Frankenstein walk–hands straight out and all stiff-legged. He gets about 5 or 6 steps then drops back down to his hands and knees. And why wouldn’t he? He moves like the speed of light on all fours! He’s sneaky, too. You’ve got to worry when you can’t hear him–he’s like a ninja. Much of his time is spent:

• trying to keep mommy from working;
• making his big brother laugh;
• climbing on, in, or over, anything in his path.

Right now his vocabulary consists of turtle, uh-oh, cracker, cookie, pretty and juice. These are the words I know he understands and speaks back. He definitely mimics and jabbers incessantly (he has to, to get a word in edgewise with this family.
Zachary

Zachary continues to be his wonderful 4-year-old self. His vocabulary never ceases to amaze me and we’re working on his “sight” words. He has twelve words he knows and can read (STAR WARS not included) and we’re adding more every week. It is the most amazing thing to see your child begin to read.

Zach has started at the pre-school program offered by the elementary school he might be attending in the fall. Of course I’m biased, but I think he’s way ahead of the other kids. We may be sending him to private school with his cousins Amanda and Megan–it’s sad that private school is one of the only alternatives to a good education in this country.

As you can see from the pictures, it’s not all schoolwork for Zach. He has become quite the little builder with daddy. Over the last month they’ve built a rocket and an “earth mover” from tinker toys, and a real birdhouse in the garage. Mom is even working in the garage, refinishing an old dresser.

Wildlife

With spring approaching it’s not unusual to see a variety of wildlife out my office window. The lizards are always in abundance and entertaining, but lately we’ve had some furry friends explore our yard as well. With the cat that chases birds on the roof of our garage, the raccoons that are out in the afternoon, the owl that hoots as loudly as possible at night, and a myriad of other wildlife, our yard has become quite the hot spot!

Chris’s Birthday

Chris celebrated his 38th birthday (I know, can you believe it’s 38 years??) over last weekend and this one. Last weekend Mary was in town and we had a great dinner at Vincent’s with Mary, Pam, Dave, Ivonne, Amanda, Megan, the boys and me. Tonight we’re going on a dinner cruise on the St. John’s River. I’m really looking forward to it. It should be a nice night. The weather’s cleared up nicely.
Heading into March

As we head into March, Zachary continues to love T-ball. We had opening ceremonies this morning, but they were shortened due to rain and his first game was postponed. That’s not a bad thing–the beginning teams need all the practice they can get!

Work is still keeping me and Chris busy. Thank you eCollege–I love my job!

That’s about it for the first two months of the year. Look for updates after Zachary’s first T-ball game.

Love to you all!

“Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t.” – Richard Bach

What an autumn the Johnson’s have had–cross-country moves, new sports activities, birthdays and holidays–”plenty of stuff to keep us busy. For those of you who like to cheat and read the last page of the book first, you can go straight to the pics (Eye Candy). You’ll get a nice treat (no tricks 🙂 )

For those of you who don’t like to know the ending first, here’s the rundown on our autumn activities:

Mom Moves to FLA

It took two years, but mom finally made it to Florida. We’re thrilled she’s here, but it has definitely been a challenge. She hates the heat (we’ve had record highs this summer), she doesn’t drive (our public transportation sucks), she’s stuck in our back room (no comment needed), and Florida is not Denver (which she likes to remind me of). Hopefully the two reasons she moved will make up for it all!

On the upside, she was hired at the first place she went in for an interview. She’s working at a tractor rental/repair place. Long live John Deere! Now we’re on the lookout for a place for her to live. I think once she’s on her own she’ll see more of the postives of being out her. It’s gotta be hard going from leading a very solitary existence to being thrown into “insta-family” with no independence and even less privacy. As long as we all remember these are temporary inconveniences, we’ll be ok.

My Birthday

Well, I am now closer to 40 than I am to 30. You’d think that would be scary, but I really don’t look at it that way. It’s kind of a surreal concept for me. Once again we gathered at Kobe. This time it was the adults–Me and Chris, Dave and Ivonne, Ray and Kristen. Dinner was great as always, and Chris and I even got to go throw some darts and St. Andrews Tavern.

It was quite nice to go out since we don’t get that opportunity much anymore. My friends in Denver are gasping right now–they can’t imagine the Johnsons not being out–but alas, ’tis true.

Soccer

We signed Zachary up for his first official sport in October and he loves it. He’s so cute in his little soccer (Puma, of course) getup. He’s on a 3-4 year old team, which is a mixed experience. On one hand, he’s one of the only 4-year olds on his team so he’s bigger, faster, and more coordinated than everyone else. In practice he does better at the drills and seems to have the ball more than the other kids. During the first game he scored all five of the team’s goals and kept the other team from scoring quite a few times. The green team won 5-3.

The downside is that the other kids don’t give him a challenge so when he does get to play with kids that are his size and at his level, he gets frustrated since he’s used to being the “star.” At four it’s difficult to explain good sportsmanship sometimes. He’s having fun though, and it totally wears him out so it’s easy to put him to bed early on Tuesdays and Sundays!

The Fall Festival

We visited Mary Magdalaine’s fall festival this year and had a blast. Little carnivals can be so much fun. What’s not to love about greasy, over-priced food, rickety rides, and lots of people? Zachary has definitely become a thrill-seeker. He rode every single ride he could, and wanted to on some again. I thought I was going to be sick after going on the spinning dragons with him and Chris. I lauged so hard I almost wet myself. Then Zach and grandma had fun on the ferris wheel. I was a little concerned that he would freak out once it got to the top—it was a big wheel! He did great, waving and yelling at us.

My favorite part, though, was the bumber cars. What a blast. We rammeed into each other with the single-mindedness of Earnhardt Sr.!

Halloween

Finally, Halloween arrived. It rained during the day, but as the sun went down, the weather became perfect—mid-70s and very low humidity—just right for trick-or-treating.

This year Zachary was a ninja and Jonah was a bumblebee. We went trick-or-treating in Uncle Dave’s neighborhood. It’s like a block party every year. There are hordes of people out—kids, teens, adults. Everyone has fun, every other house is done up, and the candy is great! Zach now has enough candy to rot even George Washington’s teeth.

For the most recent pics, go to Eye Candy. With the blog design comes a newer and better way to give you slideshows. I signed up for Flickr (LOVE IT!!) and am able to show you our family in about a third of the time now. Woo hoo! I hope you all enjoy.

Happy November.