Book Report Fun

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Whitley has a book report "project" due, the Monday after spring break. We decided to get it done early, so we wouldn't have to worry about it while we're in AZ. On Saturday we went and got a ton of craft supplies, and last night after dinner our dining room turned into craft central. Landon, Whit and I worked on her book scene, and Colton and Kennedy took whatever we didn't use, and created their own project. We had tons of fun, and in the end made quite the project!

I Am Thankful For...(#13)

...a hot bath.

Since my surgery I haven't been able to take a bath, and with the cold weather outside, I'm dying to. I have a follow up appt. with my Dr. Wednesday, and my only goal is that I can take a bath again! You don't know what you've got, 'til it's gone.

Pride on 3, Pride on 3

Okay, this is going to be another post about Whitley and soccer, and it's me totally bragging. However, it's not what you think. As I've stated before, we are raising the next Mia Hamm (ha ha ha) . At her game today, the other team STUNK! I think Kennedy's team could have beat them. For the entire 1st half, Whitley played defense. I think her coach could see that he needed to hold her off! Every single girl on her team scored a goal. The other team never scored. It was one of those kind of games. Anyway, in the second half when he finally let Whitley play forward, she was awesome. She was passing it to everyone else, and making sure that the girls that hadn't scored got the ball. She hung out at midfield through most of the quarter, just kind of watching the game. Don't get me wrong, she got in a goal or 2, but I was so proud of her. She could have scored at will, and she held back so she didn't just run up the score.

I just tucked her into bed and thanked her again, and told her how proud I was of her for how she had played in the game today. She thanked me and said that she felf sorry for those other girls, and didn't want them to feel bad, so she didn't really play too hard. See, there is a soft side to her. I just have to be patient!

A Little Culture

Last night we took the kids to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! Our stake was putting on a performance, and the tickets were free! I thought, what the heck, even if it's horrible, at least it's something to do! Colton did not want to go, and I wasn't sure how Kennedy would last. I knew that Whit would love it with all of the music.

As it turns out, it was fabulous. I was completely shocked at how well it was done. There is some big talent in our stake. All 3 of my kids LOVED it. Colton said at least 5 times afterwards how much fun it was, and how much he liked it. I think he was shocked that he had enjoyed himself. After the show, we took the kids to Perkins for some dessert. Kennedy ate her ice cream, and then promptly fell asleep in the booth- We had a really fun night, and I'm glad that the kids got to EXPERIENCE something new, again!

Muphy's Law

It never fails. I've been waiting for a week to wash my car, and 10 minutes after I get it washed, it starts to SNOW! Yes, that's right, I said snow. It's almost April, and it's a blizzard outside right now. YUCK. I can't wait to get to AZ, and soak up some of that heat-

Thanks for the help

Today is another laundry day. I try to do my laundry twice a week, otherwise is piles up on me. Monday mornings are the "big" day, after the weekend and all of the games. By Thursday, I have a smaller pile, but I do it just so that the next Monday is not such a nightmare.

Kennedy's job is to bring the laundry baskets from upstairs down to me, and help me sort the clothes. This is what she did this morning. She dragged all of the baskets to the top of the stairs, and then chucked all of the clothes over the banister one at a time-I love my stairs more and more each time something is launched down from the second story!

The A's

Colton got drafted to the A's baseball team. Their colors are green and yellow. He went to have his braces tightened today, and look what colors he chose! Green all along the top, and yellow all along the bottom. I guess is you have to have braces, you might as well have a little fun, right?

MAC DAY

I went with Lisa and Deb to have a makeover at MAC today. This is so not my cup of tea, but we had a good time. I do use and LOVE MAC makeup, so it's always fun to get more. Deb had never used MAC and had never had them make her over before, so we made her go first. It ended up taking forever because there was only 1 girl working at the time. Deb had on enough makeup for the 3 of us to share, but we did get some good tips, and we all spent way more money than anyone ever should on makeup! Oh well, we had tons of fun.

Comin' Home

CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULES-Our spring break is in a couple of weeks, and we bought our tickets to come home last night, YEAH! We'll be in AZ from Friday the 4th to Thursday the 10th. We had to come home early for soccer games and a scout camp out! Can't wait to see everybody!

I Am Thankful For...(#12)

...FUN FRIDAY!
What is FUN FRIDAY you ask?? Landon doesn't have to work on Fridays with his new job, so we spend Fridays together-just the two of us. Usually we get out of town, and do some shopping, eat lunch, whatever. I guess we must have been bringing the kids home a little treat or something, because they started calling it Friday FUN-FRIDAY! Now there's alot of pressure to come up with something for them.

I truly look forward to Friday all week long, and love being able to spend the day with Lan. I think it keeps me going. If I can just get through 'til Friday, I'll have a 3 day weekend.

Easter 2008

We had a wonderful Easter morning, as usual! The kids woke us up at 5am to go and see if the Easter bunny came. I kept trying to remind them that this wasn't Christmas, and that the Easter bunny only brought some chocolate, more or less. They always get summer gear! Swimsuit, sunglasses, cover- ups, that kind of thing! We had lots of fun dying eggs, and then searching for them this morning after the Easter bunny had hid them! Here are a few shots of Easter 2008 at the Johns home. I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter.

YUM YUM YUM

Today we needed to take a trip down to tri-cities for a few things, and there is this chocolate factory out in the middle of no where along the way. Every time Landon and I make this trip, we say we should stop in, and never have time to do it. Yesterday, we decided to stop on the way, and boy am I glad we did! This place was enormous, and had every kind of sauce, syrup, jelly, fudge, candy you can imagine! I snapped a few shots with Lan's phone just to give you an idea.

Needless to say, we bought way too much! It was way to temping to buy just a little of this and a little of that. We had alot of fun, and I'm sure glad we stopped to have this EXPERIENCE!

As you go into the store, there's this little "ride" that costs a quarter, that is for little kids. Like maybe a 2 or 3 year old. When I came out from taking a few pictures, I find my giant 6,8, and 11 year olds riding this thing! What a bunch of GOONS

I SURVIVED!

I don't know how, but I did! Let me back up a little bit. My kids have been fighting like CRAZY lately. I mean way worse than normal. We've had Whitley hit Colton in the mouth with a bat(she claims it was an accident), Colton drop his back pack onto Whitley's face from the top of the stairs(he claims it was an accident), you name it! I've had long heartfelt talks, angry rages, and nothing seems to be helping. So yesterday, Landon had to work in Redmond, and wouldn't be home until this morning. That, on top of the kids having a half day at school, on top of the fighting, on top of the crazy sports schedule for the night, I didn't know if I'd get through. Feeling inspired by my friends Rachel and Kirsten, I thought we could make cookies in the afternoon, and that way they'd be entertained and maybe not be fighting. I went and bought sprinkles in every color, tons of decorating frosting and everything to make it really fun!
Somewhere along the line, Kennedy decided that it would be much easier to make cookies without her pants!

We started off pretty well, and the kids were excited about making the cookies! Then, we had a few problems, and I started to wonder why I even try. (notice Colton below)

The girls picking out all of the Easter/Spring cookie cutters.
We got through the cookie mess, and we really did have fun. And of coarse, we had to sample our creations! Then it was onto "sports night".
As we got ready to go, I realized that every single kid had a sports bag packed with all of the "necessities" for the evening. The girls with their soccer gear, and Colton with his baseball stuff. We had a crazy night running from one practice to the next, and onto Kennedy's first soccer game, where she scored 5 goals. She is definitely taking after her sister!

We scarfed down some tacos at this little Mexican joint. And by scarfed, I mean SCARFED! We had 10 minutes to eat dinner, and then Colton had to be at practice. At one point Whitley said, "I bet everyone in here is watching us thinking we're huge pigs". We were quite the spectacle, but hey, we had dinner!

Once we got home, it was on to showers, and straight to bed-for all of us!!

A little chat with miss Kennedy

I just had a cute little chat with Kennedy. I know, imagine that! Anyway, Colton and Whit have piano on Wed. so Kennedy and I have a whole hour together. While we were riding home today, she was looking through Colton's scout book and she says to me, " this is a big book huh mom"? Yep, it's pretty big. She says "It's big like the Big Book of Mible". What? What is the Big Book of Mible, I ask. "Ya know, the scriptures??" Do you mean the Bible? "Yes, you know the Bible, and the Book of Mormon, duh" Then she says, " I love those books." (which shocked me because she's usually standing on her head while we read them). I do too, I say. I love that we can learn about Nephi and Alma, and all the old prophets. She says "ya, and we get to learn about Jesus and Heavenly Father too!"

Wow, maybe we are doing something right.

Lunch in Mayberry

Oh My Gosh! Landon and I had lunch in Mayberry today!! Okay, not really, but it sure felt like it. We had to drive to Ephrata, which is about 20 minutes from Moses Lake, to get our license plates switched to Washington ones. Anyway, being in downtown Ephrata felt like being in a movie. It was the cutest little place. We had to go into the courthouse for our plates, and it was straight from TV land.

After we got our plates, we were going to grab some lunch, and Landon suggested that we try some local place. I picked the nicest looking place I could find, and it ended up being delicious! I am totally taking Deb there on Wed! I know that my last post was about food, but I was just so shocked to find such a yummy little place, so close to home. I think I could spend a whole afternoon just wandering through all of the cute little shops there. Another new EXPERIENCE!

I Am Thankful For...(#11)

...GOOD FOOD!

I have had some really good food this past week, and I got thinking how much I had missed it! Now don't get me wrong, we're not starving to death by any stretch. But you really do start to appreciate things more when they're a little tougher to get to!

This past Wed. I went on another little road trip with a couple of friends. We did some shopping, and then of coarse had to go to lunch. We went to Olive Garden for their all you can eat soup and salad. This is a meal that I've had a thousand times, but man was it good this week.
On Friday, I drug Landon back to the Tri-Cities for some returns, and shopping that I didn't get to on Wed. He talked to a friend of his on the way there, and jokingly said we were headed to PF Changs for lunch. Well, I jumped on that. Said that sounded perfect. Once again, I was not disappointed. YUMMO

Finally, as most of you know, we left 2/3 of our stuff at our house in AZ. when we moved. I pretty much packed our clothes, and my kitchen stuff. (By "I" I mean the movers) When we got here, the kitchen in the condo was stocked, and we decided not to unpack our kitchen stuff so that it would be easier when we moved from here to our "real" home. I have been without my crock pot for almost 3 months now. Even I didn't realize how much I used and enjoyed it. So, last night, Landon and I went a diggin' through about 10 boxes marked "kitchen". We finally found my old crock pot. We never did run across my new one. I sure hope it made the trip! Anyway, I got up early and put a roast with all the fixin's in, and can't wait to devour it tonight.

As I thought of what I was truly thankful for this week, it just had to be GOOD FOOD!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I just have to give a big shout out to my dad today. It's his birthday, and I HATE that I'm not there to celebrate with him. Let me tell you a little bit about him. He's the best. He is as nutty as a fruitcake, and a giant teddy bear.

I have been sooo blessed with the best partents ever. They have always been so supportive of me, and now my kids. I don't think they've ever missed a football, soccer, baseball, you name it game. Let alone all of the music performances and recitals. My dad worked on the East coast alot while I was growing up, and so he was always traveling. However, I remember him taking red eye flights home just to be there for a game the next morning. Sometimes, those games were like YW softball. Not very important, but important to him that he was there! Those things did not go unnoticed. He played basketball at BYU and still holds the record for most rebounds there. He loves sports, and has passed on his competitive spirit to me.

My dad is a big guy. (I clearly take after my mom). He stands at 6'8" and weighs anywhere form 250 to over 300 (sorry dad), depending on his diet. He can lose weight faster than any human on the planet, and can put away a whole pie in record time. He is a complete nut. He never has anything serious to say. My kids have learned that pretty much anything that comes out of grandpa's mouth is going to be total BS! However, he is very sentimental as well. He would never admit that, but it's true. We harassed him for months, before I got married, about not ruining the ceremony by crying like a baby through the whole thing. He did pretty good.

When I was a teenager, my dates and guy friends in general were very intimidated by him. It's a wonder I ever got asked out! Everyone that came to my house, whether he'd met them before or not, was asked to rub his "dogs". He's always trying to get someone to rub his feet. He'd get my sister and her friends, when they were too little to know better, and they'd have the BIG DOG RUB-OFF!

My dad is my hero. He has the strongest testimony of anyone I know. I'm so proud he's my dad. I love you, dad. Happy Birthday!

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

Last night was our enrichment meeting, celebrating the birthday of the relief society. We had a nice, light dinner, and our Pres. talked about the history of the RS. For this ward, it was quite nice. Anyway, I must have some kind of sign on my forehead that reads "has no problem making a fool of herself". I somehow got roped into a costume as "granny" dwarf. Now this was a very small production, but I seemed to be the only one in any kind of a costume! This is starting to be a theme for me. I recall vaguely a game show host in my past!

Sniggle Time

This past weekend was daylight savings time. Now, we haven't participated in daylight savings for almost 10 years. I have always hated it. It's confusing and half the time you loose an hour of precious sleep! Anyway, my kids were completely fascinated by it. They kept asking if this clock was right, or that clock was right. Monday morning, Colton asked me if we had to change all of the clocks back! Very confusing for them. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this, is because since Sunday, it stays dark in the morning well past 7am. My kids have all been sleeping in. By sleeping in, I mean they're not up by 6am like they usually are. I've been waking them up all week. Except for today. Around 6:30 Kennedy came slowly creeping in, and crawled in bed with me. She is the only one left that still does this with me on a consistent basis. I love this time I get to spend with her. She gets right up in my face, and curls up in a ball, and we just sniggle and chat! After we'd been talking for a few minutes this morning, she said to me "mom, did the poop fairy come in the night and take a dump in your mouth, because your breathe stinks!" Being the adult and good mom that I am I said "right back at ya, kid". She's such a special little girl. After that, she went into the bathroom, where Landon was getting ready for work (he slept in today) and helped him shave! This might be her most favorite thing to do! I think Landon is just grateful that he uses an electric razor!

Baseball Tryouts

Colton had his baseball tryouts last night, and has them again tomorrow. It was windy and absolutely freezing last night. I don't know how they stayed outside! I was worried because he didn't play last year, so I thought he'd be a little rusty. I am slightly competetive, so it's so hard for me to watch, because I see so many things that he could do better or different. With that said, he did really good. I was really proud of him. He didn't miss a ball, and really didn't make any mistakes. Let's just hope tomorrow night goes as well!

I Am Thankful For...(#10)

...our new friends Deb and Dean Weldert. You've heard my post before about Deb, and the great friend that she's been. I finally had Landon get a shot of them at the soccer game yesterday. That's their little boy Travin in the middle. He's Kennedy's age.
Deb has been such a great example of a friend to me. She is Colton's primary teacher, and Whitley's friend Jalin's mom. We met them at church, and she invited us to their house for dinner for the next weekend. She called me twice that next week to see if I needed any help. She's helped me find my piano teacher, soccer leagues, dentists, doctors, orthodontists, you name it. The transition here has been hard, but I can't even imagine what it would have been like without Deb and Dean!

Whitley's first soccer tournament

Can I just say that Whitley is AWESOME. She had her first soccer tournament with her new team in Spokane today. She just has a natural talent with soccer. She just got it, from the very first time she ever played. She understands where she should be, and when it's better to pass or shoot. She an awesome goalie, and played that for the first half of her game today! They won their game 2 to 0. Guess who scored the 2 goals for her team??? Yep, Whitley! I'm so proud of her, and love watching her kick bootie on the soccer field!
This last picture is Whitley with her new best friend Jalin. They met at church the first week we moved here and have been best little friends ever since!

Sleepless in Seattle (or Moses Lake)

Okay, so we've been a little out of sorts lately, with me being down with the surgery. Last night, around 6:30 Colton remembers that he has a report on Ben Franklin due this morning! Now, he has started on it, but is not finished. He hadn't studied his spelling words at all. I don't think he'd even looked at them. Oh, and his math homework wasn't quite done either! These are things that I'm usually on top of. So, I knew we were in for ANOTHER late night! We got the girls to bed, and Colton finished math, and went over his spelling. Around 8:30 I layed down, and fell asleep! I missed Survivor, and The Apprentice. Thank heavens for my DVR!

Sometime in the middle of the night, Kennedy came in with a bad dream. Now, I haven't been upstairs since my surgery because it KILLS my back. So, Landon takes her back to bed. A few minutes later, she's back and just sort of wandering around our room. I hear her leave, and then she's just whimpering on the stairs! Landon is out like a light. So, I get out of bed, and SLOWLY make my way up the stairs to her. I get her in bed, and she asks me if I'll stay for a little bit. How do I not??

I get her to sleep, and start back down the stairs, where I find Colton sleeping on the landing! It's like 5:30ish, and he had gotten up for the day, and only made it half way down the stairs. So I get him up and back to bed, slither back downstairs and crawl in bed just as Landon's alarm goes off. He informs me that they'd been up until 10:30 finishing Colton's report! Let's just hope that Colton learned his lesson on procrastination, and know that we'll all be in bed by 7pm tonight

Kennedy's Birthday Bash

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

So, after a long day of driving, I was pretty trashed and really sore last night. We had some dinner, and then Landon and Colton were off to Scouts. (Poor Landon takes Colton to scouts, and then just kills an hour and a half around town, before he goes back to pick him up-it's easier than coming all the way back home, and then turning right around to go back for him) ANYWAY-Kennedy kept asking me when we were gonna do her presents. I was trying to talk her into doing them tonight, since the boys wouldn't be home until almost 9pm, and the girls go to bed by 8pm and I didn't think I could even get up off the couch. She went to pieces! So, I let her open the presents from her aunts and uncles, thinking that would pacify her until today! She loved them, and I sent her upstairs to shower. However, she still kept telling me that she should be having her presents that day since that was her "real" birthday. While she was showering, Landon called and I was telling him how upset she was, and he had already been to buy the pinata she was after, and was headed to Walmart for the skateboard and guitar (I thought we were done with what we already had for her). He tells me to keep the girls up and we'll party when they get home! So when Landon and Colton came home, they brought the cake and pinata and all the presents, and we partied until almost 10pm. We did talk her into eating the cake and hitting the pinata tonight, so that they didn't fill up on sugar right before bed. Kennedy had a great time, and hopefully it will be an EXPERIENCE she won't forget!

So Sad

My mom went home today. I have been feeling VERY homesick for the last couple of days, and I think it's because I knew this day was coming. She was going home, and I wasn't! It was so nice to have my mom here. She helped me out so much! I think she has a whole new respect for my and my laundry! Anyway, I had a follow up appt. in Seattle, and I cried off and on all the way there. Just when I thought I had it together, I'd start up again. I sure hope this year goes fast-

My BABY is 6!

We have been on the countdown to Kennedy's birthday for several weeks now, and it's finally here! She woke me up this morning at 5:30am to make sure that I was getting up to make pancakes, and that she got sprinkles in hers! Kennedy is the light of my life! She makes me laugh, and scream every day! She is such a strong spirit, and has no problem getting heard! She has the quickest wit of any child I've ever been around. She definately keeps up on our toes with the things she asks and says! (I'm sure you've seen the random stuff she says on my blog) She's very independent (I wonder where she gets that) and is very determined to do the same things that the "big kids" can do. She tries my patience every day, and I have learned so much from being her mother. Happy Birthday Kennedy! I love you

Ten things I love about Kennedy

1. Her adventurous spirit

2. Her quick wit

3. She loves to sit and have me read to her. Now that she's starting to read, it's really fun

4. I love that she wants so bad to do what's right. She's the first person to tell you if you've said a bad word!

5. I love her innocence. She hasn't been out in the world to much to loose it yet

6. I love that she's playing soccer now. She tries so hard to run as fast as she can. Most of the time, she's checking out her uniform!

7. I love that she sleeps on her stomach with her bum up in the air

8. I love her red hair. I think it's the most beautiful color of red. It makes her even more unique

9. The fact that she's old enough to be "real". No more strollers, diapers, up in the night. She's just one of the kids

10. I'm so thankful for her healthy body. When she was born, she had some complications, and we didn't know what the results of that would, or could be. She's never had one problem. She's as strong and healthy as she should be. I love to hear her Dr.'s tell me that she's a miracle baby. I love my little miracle!

I Am Thankful For...(#9)

...Landon. He's the best. He has been so great this week helping me. In and out of bed, pain killers in the middle of the night, you name it. Taking care of all of the "yucky" stuff that is involved with surgery. Even with his weak stomache, he's done it all.

Whitley got this pricess cookbook for Christmas, and she loves to "cook" from it. So Friday night she sits down with Landon to plan out a menu for the weekend. Before I'm even awake Saturday morning, they've gone to the grocery store to their needed supplies. When he gets back, he takes Colton right over to the batting cages to get a little practice in before baseball tryouts this week. Then it's right back outside to a game of tag.

Today, he and Whitley made quite the spread for all of us to eat, and most of it was pretty good. He's such an awesome dad, and has picked up so much of the slack while I've been down this week. He is my best friend, and I feel blessed every day because he's a part of my life.