The Johnson Family Journey

baby love

2012-01-27T11:57:00.001-06:00

Sweet Gavin is now 8 weeks old! In just a few short days he will be turning 2 months old. It’s hard to believe that we have been living on minimal sleep for the past 8 weeks, but this little face makes it all worth it! I love that every time I post a picture of Gavin everyone loves to try and figure out who he looks like! Sometimes I hear Cole…other times I hear Blake…then I hear Brooks! Who knows!? I see both boys in him and I’m sure over time we will be able to tell what color hair he will have. If it will be straight or curly? Blue eyes? Brown eyes? Green eyes? It’s all too soon to tell, but I can tell you that I love this little guy! He’s starting to look more like a baby and less like a newborn. I’m hoping sleep is soon to follow! Blakey boy slept through the night for the first time at 8 weeks old and then consistently at 10 weeks old…come on Gavs! Lets do this!

my life

2012-01-20T22:53:00.000-06:00

Don’t you just love a sleeping baby? One of my favorite things to do is watch his little mouth while he sleeps. To see his tiny lips make little kissy faces in his sleep or the occasional smile that briefly appears just melts my heart. Gavin is now 7 weeks and growing and changing every day. He is a good little eater and that double chin is proof!!

You would think our dogs just love to play with our boys…well…they tolerate them. How can you blame them? Cole chases them while riding around in one of his cars and Blake loves to sit on them. Luckily, they are very good with the boys. There is the occasional bark when they do something they don’t love, but overall we are lucky they adapted so well to our babies. We’ve had Honey and Riley since they were just pups and at one time they were like our children. Honey is now 9 and Riley is 7. If they could talk I’m sure they would have said “You brought home another one!?” when we brought Gavin home from the hospital. Honey is very protective of the boys and if she doesn’t want Riley around them she has no problem letting him know.

I just love this big toothy grin! He’s a mama’s boy and I love it!! Those blond curls and big blue eyes!

Then there is this sweet little muffin who can sleep through his loud brothers playing all around him. I cherish my newborn snuggles!

My big brown eyed boy is a serious mama’s boy! He has the kindest heart when it comes to me. He found a blue car in the house the other day and forgot I had bought it for him ages ago. I’m not sure how many “thank you mommy” I got during the day along with tons of hugs for this simple little blue car. When I pick him up from school he always asks me how my day was and what I did while he was at school. He may look irritated from all of my kisses in this picture, but I know he loves it!

I just had to slip this picture in because that little toosh is just too much cuteness!

mr. grumpy pants

2012-01-19T22:33:00.001-06:00

This is what a tired, sick, teething toddler looks like who is getting his picture taken when he doesn’t want it! It’s so hard to see your child just not feeling like himself, but sometimes you just have to document the craziness of life. This is real life with a 19 month little guy. He’s even cute when he’s mad. He went down for a nap shortly after this and woke up a happy little guy…I promise! It’s a good thing I love him so much!!

This & That

2012-01-11T20:56:00.001-06:00

We’ve been enjoying A LOT of time at home lately. If the boys aren’t in school then we usually just hang out at home. I’m not brave enough to venture out with all three boys by myself yet. I almost went to Target today because I needed nursery water, but my good friend Kylie came to the rescue and picked me up a gallon so I didn’t have to pack everyone up. We moved Cole to his new room last night!! It isn’t finished yet, but half of his furniture got delivered yesterday so we moved him in! He loves it! I wasn’t sure how he would do leaving his old room since he loved it so much. I just really hyped up his new robot room and he only had a few requests. That he could bring with him: his fish tank, sound machine, blanket and clock. As soon as it is done I will post pictures! It’s coming along so nicely. The reason for the room swap is simple. Once Gavin is able to move upstairs he will take over the nursery. I didn’t want to buy another crib. Once Blake is ready to move into a big boy bed he will take Cole’s old room. The younger boys will share the two rooms that have a jack and jill bathroom. Cole moved into our upstairs guest bedroom. It has a queen size bed and it’s own bathroom. Since he is the oldest we figured he needed to have that room. We don’t think he needs a queen size bed, but that is what we already had and we wanted to keep it for when guests stay with us. We figure Cole could bunk with Blake during that time.

Here’s an update over the past week in pictures…

my heart

2012-01-09T21:27:00.001-06:00

How can I express in words how much I love this little face? Cole is the sweetest mama’s boy! It is not uncommon for him to tell me that I’m his best friend. While sitting on the couch the other night he sat next to me with his arm around me shoulders and would give me a kiss on my arm every few minutes and tell me how much he loves me. I mean…melt.my.heart!! I can’t imagine life not seeing this smile every morning. Don’t get me wrong, he also frustrates the heck out of me! He loves to pester his little brother {Blake} and chase after the dogs in his car. He also loves to kiss the baby and make sure Gavin is taken care of. He has such a big heart. This little four year old has my heart for sure!

Bend it like Beckham

2012-01-08T21:56:00.001-06:00

Cole started an indoor soccer league on December 4th. We weren’t sure what to expect since this is our first organized team activity we have been apart of. Cole was beyond excited to play with his best friend, Porter! We went out and picked out his indoor soccer shoes, shin guards and shorts! The shin guards did take a few modifications to fit his legs, but we made it work! Daddy took him to pick out his very own soccer ball…red of course…so they could start practicing. It’s so fun to see Cole run his little heart out!

Gavin was just 4 days old at Cole’s first soccer game! He just slept the game away all snug in his car seat.

a day in the life of Blake James

2012-01-02T17:22:00.001-06:00

This kid cracks me up! I just LOVE to watch him play and I’m pretty obsessed with taking his picture. The facial expressions he makes are just too much. I know this is some picture overload, but I just loved them all. Yes, he stayed in these pajamas ALL day and he may have went to bed in them that night…just sayin’. That’s kind of how we roll sometimes. We were upstairs in the playroom and Cole was watching a movie in the media room just next door and Gavin was napping in the corner. It was so fun to have a little time with my middle love. As you can see he is quite the ham!

Zzzzzzz’s

2012-01-02T10:14:00.000-06:00

We had a very sleepy house! We were hanging upstairs when I kept calling for Blake to come into the playroom. I thought he was ignoring me and went on the hunt to find him. He had fallen asleep sitting up in the media room! Sweet boy! That’s what he gets for waking up all hours of the night! One tired little guy. I ended up just lying him down on a pillow and covering him up with a blanket to let him rest for a little while.

It isn’t uncommon to find this little one to be catching some z’s quite often, but when I saw his little toes sticking out of his blanket I had to take some pictures.

Later that day, Cole asked if he could watch some cartoons in my room. His new favorite thing is to bring a pillow to the end of the bed and use the footboard as his foot rest. He even snagged Gavin’s blanket when he got chilly. Both Gavin and Cole took a nap in my room together while Blake and I played in the other room {since he wasn’t tired after his early morning nap}.

Honey fell asleep in the game room while there was mass chaos around her. I guess after all these years she is able to just tune it out. I’m pretty sure Riley was fast asleep right next to her.

Guess who didn’t get a nap today? Yep! you guess it…Mom! Usually everyone naps at the same time, but we just had a really random nap day.

one month | four weeks

2012-01-01T16:03:00.001-06:00

My Dearest Gavin Brooks,

Today you are ONE month old! Wow! I know I will be saying “I can’t believe it” A LOT over the course of your life. I love to just hold you and watch you breath. I have a hard time putting you down. You are such a little snuggler and I just eat it up. Adding you to our family has been such an easy transition. Your brothers are just smitten with you. It’s not uncommon for either Blake or Cole to come up and give you a kiss and then keep on playing. I can’t wait to see all three of you playing together one day! Well, not too soon since I want to cherish these days. It’s amazing how I fell in the love with you the minute I saw you!! I love you so much baby boy.

You are getting on a pretty good schedule. During the day you eat every three hours and you are waking up twice a night. Most of time you go right back to sleep at night. You are eating a full 4 oz at each feeding and have 8 bottles a day. Such a great little eater! Mommy and daddy get so excited when you let out a nice big burp because you get very upset when you have trapped air bubbles. Right now you are a cross between both of your brothers! Sometimes we see Cole and sometimes we see Blake. Your eyes are starting to look blue, but it’s still hard to tell. I guess we will have to wait and see! Boy are you strong! You have even rolled over twice, though I don’t think you meant to. You can hold your head so high for a few seconds and then rest and then lift it right back up. I can’t wait to see how much you change over the next month!

I love you to the moon and back!!

1 months stats: 9 lbs 4 oz, 19 inches long, head 14”

Hello 2012

2012-01-01T08:53:00.001-06:00

New Years Eve with young children was very low key this year…well, last year and the year before it was too! I guess that is the new normal for us. We met up with our friends the Whiteheads and the Orlowskis for a yummy pizza dinner at Grimaldis! There was a bit of a wait so we played outside on the bronze ducks. Gavin hung out in Miss Tamra’s arms and was quite content. After dinner we went on the hunt for some ice cream {since the high today was 75 degrees and it was a beautiful night} BUT they were closed!! SO…we settled for some chocolate cake at a local bristro. The kids might have ran crazy around the place, but we were the only ones in the dessert area and the adults were able to enjoy a few more beverages. Cole and Landry were so cute with each other. They ran the entire way holding hands! Just precious. We thought Gavin would sleep the entire trip, but he had other plans and was awake and quite fussy. We were home around 8:30 and quickly put everyone to bed. We took a self timer picture of ourselves and then headed to bed around 10 since we new Gavin would be waking up in just a few short hours. Happy New Year!!

Santa came!

2011-12-31T09:39:00.001-06:00

This year was extra special having our complete family together. Santa didn’t go overboard and it was perfect! The boys had plenty to open from our families and a few extra gifts from mom and dad. The nice thing about having all boys and pretty close in age is that they are into the same things so Santa just put it all out. They had so much fun running in to see what the big guy had left them. Cole was extra excited because he really understood which makes Christmas that much more fun!

We left Santa some chocolate chip cookies {we forgot the reindeer’s carrots..oops!} and Cole wouldn’t let us forget milk for him to drink. Next year I promise to have plates for the other boys, but mommy just wasn’t on her game this year!

Blake even received his very own big boy chair!! He had a small chair that we used for his monthly pictures the first year of life, but it was time for an upgrade! He will be passing the little chair down to Gavin. This chair now has a nice home right next to Cole’s in the media room.

Gavin just hung out on the couch while we did our morning festivities. He was quite content just watching everyone.

Sweet big brother Blake is just crazy over the newest addition! He seriously loves to hug and kiss on him…a little too much! You really have to watch this one! He doesn’t know what “gentle” is yet.

We decided to take a Christmas morning dip in the hot tub while Gavin took a nap. The boys were so excited since we haven’t been swimming in quite a while. Now that I’m not pregnant, we were able to really heat up the water. It was so much fun and the boys were ready for naps when we got out.

Daddy cooked us a SUPER yummy meal of bbq ribs and all the trimmings to go with them! It was a very relaxing Christmas at home for us this year. Hopefully next year we will get to spend it with family, but I had my four boys and that’s all I need!

a quiet christmas eve

2011-12-29T20:01:00.001-06:00

We spent Christmas alone this year. Well as alone as you can get with three children. It was a little sad not to spend it with family, but it was really relaxing not to have travel or entertain. Brooks ran a few morning errands and picked up his annual scratchers for us to play! We were both losers and didn’t even win a dollar…boo!

We ordered three pounds of fresh Dungeness crab straight from Oregon for Christmas Eve dinner! Brooks’ family has been ordering from this place for years and it’s always delicious! Overnight shipping just about killed us, but it was worth it! Look how sweet my big boy is!! It was his idea to pray before we ate. We don’t usually pray {I know, it’s bad} so when he asked it surprised us. I quickly grabbed my camera without him noticing.

brush ‘em

2011-12-29T10:31:00.000-06:00

One of Blake’s favorite things to do is brush his teeth! He sits on daddy’s side of the bathroom counter and I put a dab of toothpaste on his toothbrush and he goes to work. Well, really I think he just likes the taste of his “training” toothpaste, but he’s just too cute doing it! He even spits in the sink which really is just making the sound and motion because nothing comes out. I guess watching his big brother he learned that’s what you do when you are all done. Blake even washes his little toothbrush out in the faucet. Unfortunately, he is the slowest teether on earth! He is 18 months and only has 4 teeth that have come in on the bottom and 3 on top {the fourth one on top is slowly making its way through}. So he doesn’t have much to brush, but he loves taking his turn in the bathroom!

Cole saw me taking pictures of Blake and wanted his picture taken too! So we brushed his teeth and snapped a picture. Look at those pretty pearly whites!

my budding photographer

2011-12-28T10:20:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Uncle Chris, I have a future photographer. This child loves taking pictures! It’s not uncommon for me to find my iPhone with about 20 pictures of random things around the house. A few things I have found pictures of are: the food in the pantry, the dog food bowls, trashcans, his cars and a ton of his face from the nose up! So for Christmas Cole received this sweet little camera from my brother. I can’t wait to see what he takes pictures of next!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T13:28:00.001-06:00

a day in the life

2011-12-21T18:33:00.001-06:00

With three boys we have our hands full, but then there are days like today where it’s pretty easy. The boys are extra sweet with their new baby brother. None of these pictures were posed because lets face it, when you want them to do something it never happens. They both genuinely wanted to hold Gavin and cuddle with him. I was there to capture it with my camera. Beware…picture overload! I wasn’t able to cut any out.

little old man!

2011-12-19T14:18:00.001-06:00

My sweet little love looks like a little old man. Actually all three of my boys have had an “old man” look to them as a newborn. I’m SO in love with this little guy and his brothers are pretty smitten with him too. So far life with three boys has been great! I’m lucky that I have a husband that is very hands on. He even shares the nighttime duties every single night. Little man has his last feeding at 10 pm and then it’s off to bed for all of us. He has been waking around 2 am to eat and then again at 5 or 6. Our goal is to make it to 2:30 and then again at 7 am to start our day. I know we will get there. We aren’t really sure who he looks like. Sometimes I see Blake..other times I see Cole, but most of the time I just see Gavin. I’m looking forward to see how he grows and changes the next few months. Right now I’m really enjoying all of the newborn cuddles I get! I have a hard time putting him down!!

annual “breakfast” with Santa

2011-12-18T21:09:00.001-06:00

Our friends, the Whiteheads, had their annual breakfast with Santa, but this year it ended up being dinner with the big guy due to some booking issues. Nonetheless, fun was had by ALL! Well, maybe not all {see second picture}. I’m hoping Mr. Blake has a different opinion next year. I think every child should have the obligatory crying with Santa picture and this one didn’t disappoint. Cole was very excited to meet Santa and since he was at Landry’s house it made it that much more special.

I thought this next picture was just too funny to crop. I had to drop him in Santa’s lap and remove him quite quickly. Santa was just trying to give Blake his gift, but he didn’t care.

Cole waited SO patiently for his name to be called! He was very excited to open his new batman helicopter. The kids sat and listened very well to the story behind the candy cane and why we hold it upside down. Then, we sang a few Christmas carols and the big guy was on his way back to the north pole.

We look forward to this party every year! Kylie definitely knows how to throw a Christmas party!

my angel

2011-12-17T20:34:00.001-06:00

Sweet Gavin’s announcement!

Holiday Couples Bunco

2011-12-12T11:04:00.001-06:00

We had our annual holiday couples bunco and it didn’t disappoint! Us girls are going on our fourth year of playing and just last year we decided to ask the guys to join us for our December bunco. I remember hearing lots of moans and groans from most of the guys, but once they played and realized how much money was up for grabs they were hooked! They were more competitive than us girls. We had 26 people all crammed in one room with lots of food, drinks and fun! The older boys stayed at home with my in-laws and we took baby G with us! He slept through the first half of the night in his car seat in the middle of all of the chaos and then after I fed him at our break he spent the rest of the evening enjoying being passed around and held. My girl, Kylie, came up with this adorable photo booth for us to play with! We all had such a great time! Unfortunately I wasn’t a big winner.

my heart grew {times} THREE

2011-12-07T21:28:00.001-06:00

Here is the story of how my little Gavin entered the world…

We were set to induce on December 1st. A week before my due date. Our family has some fun birthday dates: Cole- 8/1 Mom- 3/1 Gavin- 12/1; Blake- 6/15 Brooks- 8/15. Brooks and I woke up at 3:45 am to make it to the hospital by 5 am. We got checked in and hooked up and the fun began! I received my epideral around 10am before my contractions got too painful. After that it was pretty much just a waiting game. I had a few friends arrive around 11:30 and during the time they were visiting I was checked and told I was only at 4 cm dialation. They really helped pass the time. The boys got out of school at 2:00 and my inlaws brought them over. As soon as they walked in the room my nurse showed up to check me. She was surprised to find me at a 10! She even called over another nurse just to double check. We visited for a bit with Cole and Blake. They weren’t too sure what to think of the hospital. Blake didn’t want to come near me and Cole was very concerned with everything. They had me “labor down” for about an hour and my doctor showed up around 3:20. I was feeling so much pressure with each contraction. My doctor barely had time to get dressed before Gavin was born with ONE push. Yes, one easy little push and I heard the sweet cry of my baby boy. He was born at 3:32 pm and weighed in at 6lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long.

That night my boys came back to visit and they were so excited to meet their new brother. I loved getting to hang out with them for a little while. Brooks ran over to my favorite mexican restaurant and we scarfed down some delicious dinner. After not eating for an entire day I was starving! They boys went home with Brooks’ parents and a few hours later I sent daddy home to get some rest in our bed. Since post partum was so full {they had 15 babies in the nursery} I ended up spending the night in labor and delivery.

Gavin’s future girlfriend showed up to visit. I think it was love…can’t you tell? Sweet Hayden was born 2 months ago and we have big plans for these two.

It felt a little over kill with all of the wrist bands and I couldn’t wait to get them removed.

After spending one night in the hospital we were released at Gavin’s 24 hour mark. I couldn’t wait to get home to see my boys and sleep in my own bed. Gavin is such a little love and I’m already madly in love with him. It’s funny how that works. He is one lucky little boy. He has two older brothers that love him so much. They are very sweet with him. Blake is a little too sweet at times and wants to hug and kiss all over him. Cole is my helpful big brother and wants to help feed him and burp him. I’m so lucky and feeling very blessed to have THREE beautiful little boys. I can’t wait to see what this next year holds for us!

Who do you think he looks like? I will work on a comparison post. When he was born my doctor instantly said he looks like Blake. I have to agree, but then sometimes I see Cole….I’m sure he will change so much over the next few months. Right now I’m just enjoying my last newborn.

introducing…

2011-12-03T12:01:00.001-06:00

Gavin Brooks Johnson

3:32 pm . 6 lbs 10 oz . 19 inches

our party of five….

more to come….

so much to be thankful for…

2011-11-27T09:35:00.001-06:00

Cole’s school put on their annual Finger Food Feast! Last year, he instantly spotted me from the stage and cried most of the performance from his teachers arms. This year was a completely different story. As we were walking in, Cole was taking the stage and was SO excited to see mommy and daddy! He couldn’t stop jumping up and down and waving…I mean, look at that grin!! He was so proud of himself. He had been practicing the words and movements to the songs at home so I knew he was ready. I don’t know if it was the pregnancy hormones, but I cried the entire performance. He was just too cute up there. I loved seeing the joy coming from him. We had a few people that remembered last years finger food melt down come up to him afterwards and say what a great job he did! We left Blake in class so that we could really enjoy watching Cole and not have to chase him around. When it came time to eat I went and grabbed him so he could see Cole. If I do say so myself I think Cole is the cutest little Indian up there!

They had assigned seats and we got so lucky that we were right in front!! These were just two of the projects out on the table. Look how silly Cole looks with the big black glasses on. The back said he was 8 pumpkins tall. While watching him on stage I realized one of the awesome things about being short…he will most likely always be in the front row so I will have a great view to take pictures!! The items listed on his thankful list: blankie, my car, Gavin, my family.

I also had Brooks snap a picture of me before I headed out to a birthday dinner for a friend. It’s not often that I have my hair and makeup done at the same time and this needed to be documented. I’m thankful that I’m almost to my due date! We are scheduled this coming Thursday to be induced. I can’t wait to meet the newest member of our family. It’s been fun this pregnancy with Cole. He gets it this time around and talks about Gavin often and will randomly just kiss my tummy.

For Thanksgiving, we spent the day with our good friends, the Whiteheads. Since we didn’t have any family coming to town and they stayed home as well we decided to spend it together. Not the best family picture, but it’s all we have. Please note that Blake was not in the mood for picture taking…well, that continued throughout the day. The only thing we can chalk it up to right now is his teeth. He is working on two top teeth and they are giving him such troubles. Cole was great all day! He loved getting to play with his buddy Landry.

The Whitehead Family with their newest edition, Hayden. AKA…Gavin’s sweet little girlfriend.

Kylie set up a little table for just Cole and Landry to eat at. They did great! We deemed Cole’s plate a “happy plate” because he ate it clean! Blake ate at the table with us, but unfortunately this was the last picture I took all day!! Don’t you hate when that happens?

Kylie and I shared the cooking which was nice and we were a team on dishes. The guys watched football and the kids played {well, Blake cried}. We eventually called it a night when Blake was just inconsolable. Luckily the Whiteheads just live on the next street over so it was a quick drive home. Dressed everyone for bed and then Brooks and I got to spend some quiet time together. I also had to snap a quick picture of my new car! When we found out we were pregnant with number 3 we knew we were going to need a new car. My previous car was an Infiniti QX56, but we had captains chairs for the 2nd row and that just doesn’t work with 3 car seats. We had been looking at all of our options {except minivans} Sorry! I am sure they are fabulous, convenient and awesome…but I just couldn’t do it! Brooks went down by himself on Tuesday night to “talk” to the sales guy and test drive one more time. I got a call around 8:30pm to load the boys up and come down to sign paperwork and trade my car in. I have to say I love my new car! I have the best hubby! It’s still going to be work with 3 car seats, but we will make it work.

the comforts of home

2011-11-25T18:03:00.001-06:00

Cole and Blake have been rough sleepers the past few months. If one sleeps through the night the other makes sure to wake us up. Needless to say we have had a few mornings where somebody ends up in our bed.

Sweet Blakey boo has been having the hardest time teething. He just can seem to pop them through and they are giving him an awful time. He has ended up with us quite a few nights.

The other day I put both boys down for a nap in their own beds. Normally they both fall right to sleep and take a good long nap. I take the opportunity to get some rest myself. All of a sudden this little guy shows up in my room and tells me he wasn’t sleepy…ummm, I beg to differ! I asked him to just lie on my bed while I rested. When I woke up he was completely passed out and proceeded to take a two plus hour nap.

As we were getting everything ready for Thanksgiving, Cole asked to watch some cartoons in our room. He piled all the pillows up at the end of our bed and kicked back to relax. Brooks came and found me to show me how cute he was!

imitation

2011-11-11T14:08:00.001-06:00

is the best form of flattery, right!? Well, I stumbled across this hand painted wood sign on pinterest and I was in love with it! The colors were so me! Once I saw the price {$70!!} I knew it was out of my price range so I took matters into my own hands. I borrowed a friends silhouette and used it as a stencil. I think it’s a pretty good copy cat of the original! I think these might be my Christmas gifts for the teachers at my boys school this year!

{iphone picture}

taking you back…

2011-11-08T22:35:00.001-06:00

As I’m catching up on Project Life I came across these pictures of my two favorite boys having fun together. I thought they were too cute not to share. Just to see the pure joy on their faces as they race around the house is priceless.

{taken July 2011}

All aboard!

2011-11-07T12:17:00.001-06:00

We had a blast celebrating our neighbor, Ryder, turning 2 this past weekend! This party was postponed two weeks since the birthday boy was sick so Cole was chomping at the bit for the big train party to come. He woke up saying “I’m so excited for Ryder’s train party!!” Blake on the other hand wasn’t so sure about the fun train. He was ok riding in mommy and daddy arms, but he just wasn’t himself that morning. I think a combo of a cold and teething. Cole on the other hand had so much fun! He got to ride the train up and down the street as many times as he wanted…then the party moved to the backyard for some play time and a piñata!

the johnson boys in their finest

2011-11-02T13:31:00.001-05:00

It’s a bird…no, it’s a plane…no, it’s SUPER COLE! How cute are those chubby little thighs in his rain boots?

Now, that’s determination!! I couldn’t believe that this little cutie was game for some pictures.

It’s a very rare moment that I can get some pictures of my oldest with a genuine smile. There was a little bribery mixed in, but whatever works, right!?

Next up was this little guy. I was just hoping for a few pictures of him sitting and look cute. Well, he wasn’t on the same page….SO I pulled out the mini m&m’s. They pretty much back fired on me…

Say what? I can’t have more than one at a time?

What if I turn on the water works? Will that help?

Okay then. What about the sweet puppy dog eyes? Will they work on you?

Fine then. I will just take this matter into my own hands….

Success and a smile!! He got his way…even with his sweet little bull dog smile and random number of teeth in that mouth. Yes, we are 16.5 months old and have two teeth on the top and three on the bottom. We just broke ground on that fourth tooth on the bottom right. It’s been a long and bumpy road in the teething department.

trick or treat

2011-10-31T22:08:00.001-05:00

We just got back home from trick or treating and aside from one minor mishap {losing my youngest child for a minute…yes, heart attack!!} we all had a great time! Cole had a blast running from house to house! After every house he would ask if we could go to one more. He just couldn’t get enough. Once we got home he had to sort through all of his treats and line them up. His favorite was the kit kat! Blake was a mess tonight! If you didn’t keep your eye on him every second he was gone! Pretty scary once it turned dark so that is when daddy made his departure from the group and headed home to hand out some of our own candy to the kids. I just loved seeing all of the kids running about the neighborhood. We had so many trick or treaters this year. It just makes you feel like you really live in a family neighborhood. I’m already looking forward to next year and coordinating ALL 3 boys costumes!!

a spooky good time

2011-10-30T15:03:00.000-05:00

The boys got dressed up in their finest halloween costumes to attend our annual neighborhood halloween party. This isn’t an official neighborhood get together…just mostly our friends. If I do say so myself I think I have the cutest crime fighting duo around!!

Batman and his sidekick Robin!!

the baby

2011-10-30T11:51:00.001-05:00

Well for about another month you will still be our baby. I can’t believe you will be a big brother soon. You have become such a big boy and I feel like you are losing your “babyness” everyday. You are so very independent, but still love your snuggles from mommy. You love to copy your brother, but you have no problem letting him know when you are done. You will have so much to teach baby Gavin.

I feel so blessed to have you as my second born. You have added so much to our family…the good and the crazy!! I guess it’s safe to say you will always be MY baby, but you are no longer a baby. You are a fun, outgoing, on the move, totally crazy toddler. BUT for the next MONTH you will be “the baby” of our family.

pumpkins…finally!

2011-10-28T10:53:00.001-05:00

Even though we made a trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend, I didn’t get a single picture with a pumpkin so I had to make a visit to a local patch with the boys. When I pulled up the sign said they didn’t open for another four hours AND they had a field trip showing up any minute so I snapped a few pictures of my boys in all the pumpkins. Unfortunately they weren’t that into posing and smiling for me so this was the best forced smile they could muster. Bribery didn’t even work, but oh well..this is real life! Blake leaning on his brother was completely his idea which I think is adorable.

Fuzzy

2011-10-27T13:09:00.001-05:00

On Monday, Cole’s school set up a little pumpkin patch so that the kids could get the chance to pick out their very own pumpkin. Cole’s class took them one step further and decorated them with fun shapes and lots of blue glitter! Cole was covered in glitter, but he was so proud of his pumpkin.

This is Cole’s very first fuzzy that he earned!! What’s a fuzzy?? Well, it’s a sparkly little pom pom that his teacher let him pick out because he had a really great day at school. Last week, this little reward system was implemented in Cole’s class and he really wanted to earn one. Unfortunately there were a few reasons he didn’t get one which caused quite a few tears, but it was a good learning lesson. On Monday, he got in the car and told me that he didn’t earn a fuzzy. I asked him why and he told me that he wasn’t a good listener. He said that Ms. Christy told him to walk and he ran. I was pretty excited that Cole was able to relay back to me what had happened. I brought it up to his teacher the next day and she said that they stopped doing fuzzy’s because it was too hard on the kids, but Cole would have earned a fuzzy on Monday! Oh man! This kid just can’t catch a break. His sweet little heart thought he wasn’t a good boy that day, but really he had one of his best days yet. Well….on Tuesday as I was picking Cole up his teacher pulled out a jar with lots of fuzzy’s in it of all colors and sizes. I guess they brought them back and Cole earned one!!! He was beyond excited!! Of course he picked out the biggest, reddest, sparkliest fuzzy in the bunch. We got in the car and he had to call daddy and tell him all about it!! It’s been residing on his night stand.

out on the farm

2011-10-25T15:35:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my dad came to visit! We were all excited to see papa and Cole was super excited to go to a pumpkin patch with him. Luckily, one of our sweet friends was having her second birthday party at the BEST pumpkin patch around! Unfortunately I didn’t get a single picture with any pumpkins. We were too busy feeding the animals, riding on a hay ride, taking a trip around the farm in the barrels and eating yummy cupcakes! The boys weren’t sure about the animals at first, but quickly warmed up to them. There were goats, sheep and cattle.

The hayride was so much fun for the kids! We tried to round up as many of the party goers onto one hayride. Cole and his BFF, Carsen, were SO excited to get to ride together. These two are just like brothers. They love each other like crazy, but they also have their disagreements. Luckily, today was a “love” day for them! They have known each other since they were born.

This is sweet Zoe…the birthday girl!

Daddy was such a good sport taking Blake for a ride in the barrel train. I don’t think momma was going to fit with my big belly! Everyone loved the ride, even if daddy said it was a bit of a sqeeze for him.

We will need to make another trip to the pumpkin patch to get some pictures with some actual pumpkins, but it was so fun to share this with papa.

Blake @ 16 months

2011-10-24T16:10:00.001-05:00

I haven’t done one of these posts since Blake turned ONE so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the youngest Johnson while he’s still the youngest…you know, the next 5 or so weeks…YIKES!

Oh my sweet little cuddle bug, you sure keep your mommy and daddy on their toes! When you were a baby I would say that I could have ten of you because you were just the easiest little thing. I’m eating those words! I don’t think I could handle more than one of you. I love you more than life itself, but you keep me busy! You know exactly what you want and you won’t take anything less. There is no reasoning with you. I guess it goes with the age, but I am tired. You are able to communicate what you want, but I think once you have more words it will ease things up a bit. When you are hungry you lead us to the pantry and you know exactly what you want to eat. When you are thirsty you take us to the cupboards with your sippy cups. Your favorite thing to drink is apple juice or anything from a juice box. For snacks you are a huge fan of grapes, pretzels, nutri grain bars {you could eat 3 a day if we let you} fruit snacks, cereal, animal crackers and cheese. You went from our easy eat anything eater to our impossible to feed dinner child. Breakfast is your favorite meal. The second your feet hit the ground in the morning you are ready to eat! I think your favorite thing to eat would be oatmeal with a banana mashed into it. You only have 5 teeth {two on the top and 3 on the bottom}. Even though you only have a few teeth you can eat anything! You LOVE school!! They LOVE having you! It’s so sweet to pick you up after a long day and see how happy you are to see me and as we leave you wave and say “bye” to all of your friends and teachers. Night time is hit or miss with you! We have no idea why you will wake up in the middle of the night, but it’s not uncommon to find you in our bed in the morning. We are working on breaking you of this habit before baby Gavin makes his arrival. Another one of your lovely little phases you are going through is screaming. You scream when you are happy, when you are mad, when you are frustrated, when you are excited, when your brother is bothering you or when he’s just touching one of your toys. Yes, you are in a screaming phase. You could rival any little girl with the lungs on you. I just love you. I can’t imagine life without those blonde curls and blue eyes. You have added so much to our family in the short 16 months you have been on this earth.

swimming with daddy

2011-10-18T08:16:00.000-05:00

I love the random days when Brooks makes it home earlier than normal! Luckily tonight I had dinner on the table as he walked in the door so we were able to get a little swim time in! I had taken the boys earlier in the day, but of course I heated the spa just a bit so we weren’t freezing. Cole wanted to go swimming with daddy and Brooks was happy to oblige. Once they jumped in together, Blake couldn’t get out of his clothes fast enough. I loved watching the boys jump and splash and play together. I know a lot of these pictures are very similar, but I couldn’t help but post them! I just loves these guys!!

iPhone love

2011-10-17T16:30:00.001-05:00

I recently made the switch to an iPhone and iLove it!! I really enjoy when others "dump" their phone pictures so here are a few of mine!

our backyard oasis

2011-10-09T13:38:00.001-05:00

I’m excited to say that our backyard is DONE! Well, we have a few more plants being delivered Monday to fill in some empty gaps, but other than that we are swimming! We officially moved our patio furniture out of the garage and into the backyard. A few years ago we had a covered patio installed and it was one of the best investments we have made. I can’t tell you how many days we have spent out there as a family. The patio is not pictured, but it’s a very large space that holds lots of furniture, our bbq and smoker. Well now we have even more to do in our backyard.

When we first moved to Texas I thought everyone had these huge backyards…I mean, hello we’re in Texas with lots of open land, right? Well, not where we live. Our backyard is definitely not a sprawling yard I had envisioned, but I think we have the perfect layout for the space we do have. The hardest decision we had was our decking and patio material. We originally had stamped concrete put in with our patio, but hated it! It was SO slippery and the boys fell all the time on it. Plus, we never could keep it clean looking. We finally decided to take the plunge and do flagstone and I LOVE it!! It’s not slippery at all and it looks great!

We made sure to put in a very large swim step so that the boys would have a place to sit and play. It’s perfect!! I can take them out in the late afternoon and let them splash around while I sit on the edge.

Over on this side of the patio deck will be two lounge chaises next summer. I haven’t found “the ones” I love yet, and the cost of those things is ridiculous!! Not in the budget at the moment. BUT I can envision lots of lazy days lounging under an umbrella reading my kindle…while the boys are napping of course!

We have two boxers and we needed a place for them so we also had a dog run installed. We are now training them to use that space to go to to the bathroom instead of the grass. So far so good! It will also be a good place to put them when we have company over. They get very excited to see new people and love to lick and jump. This isn’t a ton of grass, but for us I think it will be perfect. It’s big enough to throw the ball around or even have a bounce house.

The last thing to be installed will be our pool gate. We will be gating off our patio area with a removable mesh gate. It’s not going to be the prettiest thing to look at, but it’s much prettier than the alternative…something happening to one of my precious boys. They will be here next week to install. Thankfully we can take it out if we have company and put it back in when the pool isn’t in use. The boys have been very good around the water and we haven’t had anyone fall in, but safety comes first.

So far we LOVE it and we just know that we will get so much use out of our new backyard. Brooks has informed me that I better love it, because we aren’t moving for a very long time!

halloween tour

2011-10-09T13:15:00.001-05:00

I love to decorate for the holidays! I decided to keep it super simple this year. I’m sure y’all are just as obsessed with pinterest as I am!? Well, I stumbled across a gem of a decorating blog this year {house of smiths} and was instantly obsessed with the way she decorated her kitchen shelves. Brooks and I attempted to make these shelves last year when we found a tutorial and it was a big ‘ol MAJOR fail so this year I just bought the real deal at Ballard Designs. I have to say I’m SO glad I did!! These shelves will be the place I do most of my decorating for all the holidays.

This wood trough was another pinterest find! It cost me around $5 to make and I can fill it with flowers or in this case little white pumpkins! It’s low enough to keep on my table while we eat. I always hate having tall centerpieces {which look really great} BUT I have to remove every time we eat so that we can see each other. This is perfect! I must admit it is VERY “rustic” aka barely held together with some nails, but I love it and I made it myself!

I don’t love the scary side of halloween, but I do have all boys and they love spiders so we hung some oversized spiders around the house in and doorways.

Like I said, I like to keep it simple and add touches of halloween here and there, but not change my entire house. I leave that for Christmas!!

breaking it in slowly

2011-10-05T07:21:00.001-05:00

I am happy to report that our pool is *almost* done!!! I will wait to post pictures of it until everything is finished. Last week while filling the pool/spa the boys couldn’t wait to jump in. Hence the naked 4 year old and diaper clad 15 month old.

This past weekend we really broke the pool in!! Luckily before this nasty stomach bug or food poisoning hit our household! Trust me…it wasn’t pretty around here. We spend Saturday and Sunday swimming. Of course the one weekend our pool is ready to swim in it’s in the 80’s and our freshly filled pool was pretty cold so we heated the spa up just enough to keep warm while we jumped back and forth between the two. The boys loved it!! It was SO nice not having to load up the two boys, ALL of our pool toys, snacks for the afternoon and drive over to our community pool to spend an hour or so swimming. We just hopped out and took some naps or ate a little lunch on the patio. Heaven!!

I think it’s safe to say these two boys are happy campers! I know we only have a few more weeks left of swimming, but I know we have so many fun memories to look forward to next summer…not to mention that Brooks and I have some date nights planned with the spa and a bottle of wine…of course after Gavin is born and after Gavin is sleeping longer than 2 hour increments.

just us

2011-09-22T22:24:00.001-05:00

One of the positives of living in Texas away from our entire family is that we have to rely on one another. I think it just brings us that much closer. I can’t express in words how much I love my family!!

boys being boys

2011-09-21T20:49:00.001-05:00

With the Texas temps reaching well over 100 degrees the past few months it has been too miserable to play outside during the day. Finally it has been somewhat bearable to journey outside so the boys and I played in the front yard. We blew some bubbles and just enjoyed the afternoon.

This is the look you get when you ask Cole to show you his muscles! Ha!! Pretty intimidating if you ask me…

Blakey boo had too much fun going to the front door and then “peek a booing” through the bushes. He thought he was just “too funny” as Cole would say.

What is it with brothers loving to tackle each other? It always ends so well! Actually I think Cole was trying to hug Blake, but it always looks more like a take down than a hug. Nonetheless these boys have lots of fun and I’m usually the referee.

7 months/28 weeks

2011-09-18T11:25:00.001-05:00

I can feel the time clock ticking down…ahhhh!! I don’t think we announced this on the blog, but we have a name!!

Gavin Brooks Johnson

We wanted a name that went well with Cole and Blake. Coming up with a 3rd boy name was really hard for us!! We just couldn’t agree. I loved Cruz….Brooks loved Cooper…we both loved Ty, but I just felt like I couldn’t give my child a two letter name. I still love the name though. Then we talked about Gavin. We both loved it…it wasn’t too popular or too out there, plus it was a nice and short name like the other two. Next up…the middle name. We had NO idea! My good friend, Kylie, called me up and said “I don’t know why, but at 2:30 am it came to me…BROOKS! Instantly I knew it sounded perfect. I love family names for middle names and the moment I told the hubs the idea he was sold! So we have a Gavin Brooks on the way..our little GBbaby.

How am I feeling? Oh man! This pregnancy has been physically exhausting. I mean, I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m chasing around 2 little ones all day long. A few weeks ago I had so much energy! I was doing way too much {I’ll thank pinterest for that one} that I could barely move by the end of the night. I’ve had horrible pain in the buttock region {doc says it will probably won’t go away until after GB is born}, but I’m trying not to complain. I love the miracle of life and I’m just trying to enjoy the last few months of my last pregnancy.

Yell- Oooooooooo

2011-09-16T16:02:00.000-05:00

If you didn’t know the hubs is a HUGE Oregon Ducks fan!! Ducks fan you say? He’s from Portland and the whole family loves the Ducks…well, except his brother in law is a Beaver {Oregon State} so there is a little friendly competition when we get together. Last year when the Cowboys Classic was announced that LSU would be playing Oregon at Cowboy Stadium, Brooks’ aunt got on it and bought three tickets to the game! We were all excited to have Aunt Sharron fly out to visit for a few days and take us to the game for Brooks’ birthday. The boys didn’t go to the game, but that didn’t stop daddy from dressing them in their finest Duck gear.

These college football games are nuts!! AND those LSU fans are cuh-razy…plus it didn’t help that they had been tailgating ALL day! I can’t tell you how many times we were called “tiger bait” and even had bread thrown at us! ha! My unborn child was even referred to as tiger bait by a lovely drunken LSU fan that passed by.

Brooks had warned me that there would be A LOT of standing at this game, but I don’t think I realized how much standing there would be. It also didn’t help that I had a very large guy in front of me that didn’t like to sit so I watched most of the game from the huge jumbo tron. We ate lots of yummy food so it made it all worth it!! The nachos were delish!

Unfortunately the Ducks didn’t have their finest game and were beat pretty badly, but that’s ok. We got to spend some fun time with Aunt Sharron and a kid free evening!

pretty soon…

2011-09-15T20:13:00.001-05:00

I was uploading pictures from my point and shoot when I came across this little family picture at the pool this summer! Living in Texas if you are outside during the summer you are most likely near water. We are excited because next summer we won’t need to visit the community pool because…..

We will be swimming in our very own pool in our very own backyard!!! We are very excited!! Since this picture was taken most of the patio and decking has been completed! It won’t be long before we can spend the last few weeks of summer {after all we do live in Texas and we were in shorts at Halloween last year} swimming! I’ll be back when it’s all complete to share more pictures!

another first

2011-09-14T16:07:00.000-05:00

The hubs thought it was time for our littlest man to get his first haircut. I had such a hard time cutting those sweet curls, but he was growing wings out the side of his head and I gave in. The Blakester and I headed over to see Miss Vanessa {who cuts Cole’s hair} to get a little trim.

He really enjoyed playing at the train table while he waited for his turn. AND pulling every toy off of the shelf. Don’t you just love how these kid places have so much “fun” merchandise to buy right at the kiddos eye level…?!

Look at that face!! Not sure what to expect. I think if he could talk he would be saying “umm, mom, why are we here without brother?”

It didn’t matter that he got to sit in a really cool race car. The tears started flowing and that cape didn’t make things better.

I think this is a subliminal message to me about what he was thinking….not happy at all!!

To make up for the torture I put him through we headed down to Cold Stone for some yummy ice cream! Not a huge difference in the hair department, but he still had those sweet curls…whew!!

Hopefully the bribe worked and in the future hair cuts aren’t so rough!

first day firsts

2011-09-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

The day I’ve been looking forward to has finally arrived!! BOTH of my boys are off to school! Cole couldn’t wait to start back and Blake had no idea what fun was in store for him. I’m not ready for both of my boys to be gone full time so our new schedule is perfect! Cole is in the 3 day a week four year old program and Blake started the 2 day Mother’s Day Out program. It’s so nice to have a few hours a week to myself to prepare for another little Johnson to join the crew.

The boys had a great first day and Cole loved that he got to ride in Daddy’s car. I’m really happy with their teachers and I think it’s going to be a great year! The day back report for the boys were wonderful! They both had a super fun first day! I hope Cole’s passion for school continues for lots of years to come!!

oh daddy…

2011-09-12T21:25:00.001-05:00

Both of my boys LOVES books! So when Cole told us he wanted to read us a book we all piled in his bed. He chose “Llama Llama Misses Mama.” Every page started with… “one day…” It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Blake and I left to go play and daddy stayed back to finish reading. As you can see Cole read to him until he fell asleep. Oh daddy…..

just because

2011-09-11T22:12:00.001-05:00

I’ve been such a blog slacker lately and I’m IN LOVE with this face I decided to devote an entire post to my precious “baby” boy! Yes, I’m aware that all of these pictures are pretty close to the same thing, but I had such a hard time narrowing down which ones to include. His personality is larger than life and he’s such a little love. When I look at those baby blues I am so thankful you are mine. What a smart little man you are! You amaze me everyday.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago…since then he had his first haircut!! Post to come…

the SCARIEST moment of my life.

2011-08-26T13:11:00.001-05:00

Brooks and I have been through some tough things in our “parent lives,” but last night takes the cake. Blake gave us the biggest scare. He was running a fever ALL day and the highest I measured was 102.6. He’s also getting his top two teeth so we chalked it up to teething since the only other symptom he had was a runny nose. We dosed him with Tylenol all day, but nothing was bringing it down. Plus, he just wasn’t himself…totally clingy and sleepy all day. I even gave my pediatricians’ office a call to double check if I needed to bring him in. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there so we decided to wait until the morning to take him in to the office.

I debated going to a friend’s gender reveal party because I hated to leave my baby sick, but Brooks could handle it and bedtime was right around the corner. I got home around 9 and was told it was a typical night and everybody was asleep. I changed, washed my face and sat down to check ~~facebook, pinterest~~ emails. Around 10 Blake woke up and I went upstairs to rock him. He fell right back to sleep and I noticed he still had his fever, but the moment I laid him back down he was crying again. Not uncommon for Blake to have to cry it out for a little bit. For the next 30 minutes he fussed on and off and I finally sent Brooks up to check on him at 10:30 as we were going to bed. He returned with a lifeless Blake in his arms twitching. I immediately called 911 and Brooks stripped him down and got a cold washcloth to try and cool him off. We had a feeling he was having a seizure, but didn’t know for sure until later. For what seemed like an eternity we tried our hardest to keep him alert and get him to focus on us, but he was just not there. The 911 dispatcher had me on the phone and I continued to check his breathing and running outside to see if the paramedics were there. FINALLY the seizure stopped, but his eyes were rolled back and he wasn’t moving. Brooks laid next to him talking to him and watching his breathing. Once we heard the sirens I felt some relief. A fire truck, ambulance and police car all showed up and put me on a gurney and Blake in my arms. They got all of his information and told us he probably had a febrile seizure, but they needed to take him to the hospital. I rode in the ambulance with Blake {in my pink polka dot pajama pants and a lovely XL black shirt that was Brooks} Luckily I had time to throw a bra on.

Brooks called my neighbor Amanda to see if she could come watch Cole, who was still sound asleep upstairs, but she didn’t answer so he called Kylie next. He got ahold of her as Amanda was calling him back. They BOTH showed up to stay at the house with Cole so that Brooks could join me. How awesome is it to have friends like that? We don’t have family here in Texas, so they are the next best thing! Thanks girls!!

As soon as we got to the ER Brooks was there walking in behind us. They were getting all of his vitals and doing a blood draw when he finally woke up and started crying. It was the BEST sound ever! They did blood, urine, stool and a chest xray to rule out an bacterial infection causing the fever. They are treating it as a viral bug, which means nothing you can do but wait it out. He got some IV fluids and a precautionary antibiotic just in case. His rectal temp was 104 and we were told it was most likely a febrile seizure caused by a sudden spike in body temperature. It’s very common in kids his age and they are most likely a one time deal. We were home around 2 am. On the drive home Brooks looked at me and said “Blake is sleeping with us tonight!!” I couldn’t agree more. As soon as we laid him in our bed he was out and snuggled right into me. I just laid there crying staring at him for I don’t know how long. Thanking everything that he was just fine.

In the moment of not knowing what was happening to my baby, my mind just automatically went to the worst possible place. The panick I felt was like nothing I’ve experienced. I thought I was losing my baby. Thank goodness for 911. Now we know what to look for and how it works, but lets hope we will never have to experience it EVER again!! Thank you to ALL of the text messages, fb comments and calls! It means so much to have so many people concerned about our little boy.

our BIG boy turns FOUR!

2011-08-07T21:45:00.001-05:00

Cole has been counting down the days until he turned four! He knew the order of everyone’s birthday that came before him until finally it was the day of his big party! We decided to keep it easy and have it at a local gymnastics studio. He had a blast with his friends!

Before we left for the party both boys had to test out the super hero gear! Blake especially loved wearing the mask and cape.

The last birthday Cole will celebrate with just one brother! I seriously love these boys!

Brooks’ parents came down to help celebrate with us!

Our goody bags we gave away were Cole’s favorite…cheese popcorn!!

Once his friends started to arrive he was so excited! Porter even wore his super hero cape like Cole!

Cole thought it was fun to jump off the top {crazy boy} until he lost his glasses on the way down.

Blake LOVED the balloons that all the kids got to take home! We tied one on each wrist and he thought it was hilarious!

You know it’s a good party when you crash out on Grandpa’s shoulder.

I have tons more pictures of all the kids doing the fun gymnastics activities! I think it’s safe to say the kids had a good time and what’s even more important is my boy had the best fourth birthday ever! He’s still talking about it a week later!

sweet boys

2011-08-07T21:25:00.001-05:00

Blake’s new “thing” is feeding himself with his fork or spoon! Let’s just say that things can get messy, but he loves it!

My other sweet boy woke up early from his nap and found his way to mommy and daddy’s bed to finish it up. I just love watching him sleep!

Hot Deal!!

2011-08-04T22:22:00.001-05:00

Don’t you hate hearing about an awesome deal AFTER it’s over?? Well, I’m passing this one along! US weekly Magazine is on living social! ONE year for $30!!!! Follow the link and buy! I just did!!

US WEEKLY LINK

happy birthday!!

2011-08-01T21:11:00.001-05:00

family date night

2011-07-31T07:40:00.001-05:00

Not too long ago we met our friends {and neighbors} the Whiteheads over in Fairview for a family date night! We ate a yummy mexican dinner out on the patio and then took the kids over to the fountains to get out some energy! Well, the mommies took the kiddos over while the dads ~~paid the bill~~ drank some more! Kylie is also pregnant and due in October so it’s fun having a friend to share our pregnancies with! Plus, Baby #3 has a built in girlfriend! Are arranged marriages still acceptable?

These two little cuties waiting patiently for the water show to finish so they could just back in the water!

Blake came down with a fever that night {we’re pretty sure it is from teething} so he needed some extra love from Miss Kylie. She was happy to oblige him!

We finished off the night with some Italian Gelato! It sure was yummy and the perfect ending!

Half way to D-Day!

2011-07-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

I’ve made it to 20 weeks for the third time in my life! It looks like with each pregnancy my belly gets just a little bigger. Also, why do I look different in every picture!? The name game is finally getting narrowed down! It’s so hard when it’s the same sex and you have used up some of your favorite names already. If I like a name, Brooks doesn’t love it OR if he likes a name, I don’t love it. I’m not ready to announce a name yet, but I think we have one we both like so far!! From here on out I’m going to try and enjoy everything about being pregnant since this is my last time…EVER!

{cole} {blake} {baby boy #3}

lucky number 7

2011-07-24T21:06:00.001-05:00

I am so lucky to be able to say that seven years ago today I married my best friend. It was a beautiful day! What makes me even happier is to know that today was even more beautiful. I got to spend it with my husband, our 2 amazing boys and expecting our 3rd little blessing. I am truly blessed. I met Brooks 10 years ago at the age of 19. He signed me up at the gym and the rest is history. I just knew I was going to marry him from the moment we met. There was something special about this guy. Boy was I right! He is the BEST husband and daddy. I couldn’t have picked someone more perfect for me.

Last night we spent the evening at dinner, just the two of us! We snapped a few pictures before we left and the boys really wanted in on the picture fun.

Today we did something our family has never done. We went to church. It wasn’t a holiday. There wasn’t somebody that was “making” us go. WE decided together to make this an important part of our lives. Nothing like a little self timer pic on the stairs. Luckily the boys were game!

family date night

2011-07-08T14:00:00.001-05:00

I have been sorting through my pictures to get caught up on project life and I realized I never posted our family fun pictures! We took the boys bowling and had so much fun! Cole loved it and Blake mostly hung out in his stroller watching us. He was perfectly content eating and watching the action from the sidelines. We knew once we set Blake free we would be chasing him around the lanes all evening….and we were right! Towards the end of the last game we let Blake walk around and he loved exploring everything!

Cole liked giving Blake the speech about watching your fingers when you play with the bowling balls. They might get pinched!

AND…how perfect is this picture of the boys and me!? I mean it says it all. Nobody wanted to stop the fun and take a picture with mommy!

After bowling we weren’t quite ready to go home and the weather was finally at a decent temperature for some outside park time {8:00pm!!} I don’t think there is anyone more fun than daddy at the park!! Everyone laughed and ran and played so hard that they were ready for bed when we got home. The best part was we were the only ones there! Had the entire place to ourselves!

our new family picture

2011-07-07T15:13:00.001-05:00

We recently had our family pictures taken and I LOVE them! Here are a few! Check out amrphotography! Angela was awesome! I just love great photographers and I love switching it up and trying someone new!

who’s that BIG boy?

2011-07-06T18:07:00.001-05:00

I feel like I woke up and over night Blake has turned into a big boy and is no longer a baby. He’ll always be my baby, but he is definitely more grown up! He wants to do everything his big brother is doing. He’s even started watching morning cartoons. Now, Cole can watch television for HOURS if you let him, but Blake is only interested for a few minutes at a time. I love when he crawls into this big leather chair with ~~Cole’s~~ his sippy cup. Have I mentioned he loves big boy sippy cups? Mostly the ones with straws and drinks his milk every morning out of a regular cup and a straw. We gave up all bottles a few weeks ago and he didn’t mind one bit! No more baby food either…just the good stuff! He does a pretty good job with everything we give him even though he only has 2 itty bitty bottom teeth.

mmm mmm good!

2011-07-03T22:37:00.001-05:00

Since we have never taken the boys camping I decided to bring camping to the boys! What says camping better than s’mores!? They were delicious! BOTH boys loved them! They were sticky and messy and so much fun! Blake was even able to get in on this sweet treat with only two teeth {seriously, when will he get more teeth?}

lazy days of summer

2011-07-03T22:27:00.001-05:00

I don’t know about you, but my boys LOVE to play in the backyard in their birthday suits! After a few pictures I decided they needed to put on some clothes so they didn’t hate me later in life for having black mail pictures. We spend most of our weekend bbq’n and swimming in our awesome baby pool! We gave daddy his birthday gift a little early {a month and a half early!}, but we figured he would get lots of fun out of it. We surprised him with a new smoker! He’s been wanting one for years. His first meal he prepared was some ribs! The boys loved them!

the {actual} birthday party!

2011-07-01T14:41:00.001-05:00

We almost didn’t have a first birthday party for Blake because this pregnant mommy just didn’t want to deal with it all, but I’m so glad we were convinced otherwise! I was going to do a small bbq in our backyard when my awesome friend and neighbor, Amanda, offered up her pool! With triple digits here in Dallas it’s hard to do anything outside if you aren’t near a body of water. We went with a vintage surf theme and mostly invited our neighbors to keep it small. Even with a neighborhood party we still had around 30 kids and adults! Everyone was there to celebrate our precious boy and it felt so good!

{the invite with obvious info changed for privacy reasons}

We put together a hot dog bar for dinner…complete with chili dogs, sauerkraut, onions, jalapenos, pickles and all the normal trimmings! It was a hit! The kids loved it, but I think the adults loved it even more. It was so easy and so yummy! I made the cupcakes and I think they turned out very cute. Half of them were supposed to be the ocean with a shark fin swimming and the other half were a desert island.

For the goody bags I stuck with simple! I purchased some beach balls and made a cute little sign that said “thanks for coming…I hope you had a ball!”

Normally when we go to a pool party the only people in the pool are the daddies and the kids, but that was the reason I kept it small so that everyone felt comfortable getting in their bathing suits! Even the mommies got to get in which was so fun!

Sweet Miss Presley was offering her boyfriend a little snack. She did give him his first kiss back at Christmas. Blake loves the older women…

My parents bought the boys a joint birthday gift which was this really cool picnic table from PB kids! We brought it over so some of the older kids had a place to sit and eat. The younger kids were at a smaller table which I didn’t get a picture of.

I’m not really sure what got into the birthday boy, but he was not a fan of us giving him a cupcake and singing. As you can see from his reaction he was not pleased, but still cute in my opinion. I love a good crying picture.

Luckily he thought it tasted yummy so the tears stopped and he chowed down.

Big brother enjoyed his chocolate cupcake. He had been waiting all day for one of those.

How cute is this little boy? He is just counting down the days until he turns 4 and gets to have his own party! He’s already informed me that he wants it to be a cars birthday party!

The highlight of the pool was jumping off of the rock waterfall. All of the big kids loved it!!!

Daddy was enjoying his adult beverage while supervising the little swimmers!

Thank you to everyone that came out to love our little boy. You helped make his day extra special and a HUGE thanks to the Dennett's for letting us take over their home!! Y’all are awesome!

water babies

2011-06-30T14:46:00.001-05:00

Cole started swim lessons a month ago and we had our 4th lesson today! Since he only goes one time a week we have to make sure we practice in between. To say Cole was afraid of the water was an understatement. He was perfectly happy sitting in a chair next to the water or maybe splashing on the step. I knew we needed to get him lessons since I can’t have two babies that can’t swim at the pool. Up until his lesson last week he would cry and hold on for dear life to Miss Lauren {his teacher}. Well, after class last week we headed over to his BFF, Carsen’s house for a little pool time and he became a different child!!! He LOVED the water! He wore his puddle jumper and was able to swim all over the pool on his own! We’ve had this same life jacket since last summer, but he would freak if you let him go in the water. I think seeing his friend so confident in the water really helped. By the end of the day he was letting me push him under the water and kick his feet to the step without any floatation device!!! It was awesome and he loved it! So this week he was really excited to show Miss Lauren his stuff. When we arrived he told me “I no cry, mommy! I’m a fish!” He did great! I know we are on the road to swimming…finally!

After swim class we headed to the beach/splash park to meet up with a friend and her two little ones! We have this awesome area in town that is a beach sand park on one side and the other side is a splash park. It has a little boardwalk and beach chairs for the mommys and lots of sand toys for the kids! The best part is that it’s free of charge and there are tons of kids to play with. They even provide beach towels to everyone. The boys had a great time! It was just really hot!

sweet brothers

2011-06-29T15:21:00.001-05:00

How I love these two boys! Now that Blake is getting older they are able to play together. They are just so cute when they are getting along and Blake doesn’t want a toy that Cole wants. Some days I feel more like a referee, but I sure love these moments of brotherly love. They really do love each other.

let them eat cake

2011-06-23T10:13:00.000-05:00

As you know Blake turned ONE last week!!! We spent the day at the aquarium {post to come} and that evening we invited our friends, the Dennetts, over to eat a little cake and celebrate our sweet boy!! His party is this weekend so the cake was just a little test run. He wasn’t quite sure what to do at first, but daddy helped him along. Thanks Nana for the cute birthday gear!

Blake even shared his cake with some friends that really wanted in on the messy action! I don’t know what was more fun, eating the cake or making a mess out of the cake!

Nothing like a dip in our “pool” to clean up! That hose is the best money we ever spent! It keeps the boys entertained for hours….seriously! Nobody was prepared to swim so diapers/undies it was!

it’s a….

2011-06-22T13:45:00.001-05:00

Well, for the last few months Cole has been telling me I had a girl in my tummy. I was secretly hoping he was right. I mean, my motto was “hope for pink, but plan for blue!” So we went to the doctor this morning for my 16 week check up. We weren’t scheduled for an ultrasound, but my doctor is awesome and snuck me into get a little sneak peek. As soon as they pulled up the babies legs it was VERY clear and I just knew it was a BOY! And BOY was I right! We are having a 3rd baby boy! I’m over half way to a basketball team, but the Johnson family is done in the baby making department. We feel so blessed to be having another sweet baby and just pray that he is healthy. After all that is the most important thing. How could I be sad about having another Cole or Blake?! Luckily our good friends, the Whiteheads are having another girl just 10 weeks before me so I will get my girl fix.

I think Brooks was a little relieved when we saw the obvious boy parts because he was really worried about having a girl. Not because it was a girl and he’s used to boys, but because he knows how broke we would go if I had a little girl!! I guess I will remain the Queen of my castle!

celebrating daddy!

2011-06-21T18:40:00.001-05:00

We started off the morning with cards for daddy! Yes, I’m aware the picture of the boys looks more like a mug shot, but I don’t have ANY of them together. That is on my to do list. Ok, back to daddy. We took him to a super yummy brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Jaspers!! The boys were awesome and the food delicious! We came home and took some naps and then headed out back to swim in our “pool” and bbq! Daddy made his famous ribs! Well, famous to us! I love family days like this…lazy, family fun!

Before we left for brunch we headed outside to try and get some pictures of us with our boys! Cole’s expressions crack me up! No two are the same!

…and since this mommy hardly has make up on or my hair done {please disregard my awful roots} I got in on the picture fun with my boys! We all know that mommies never get to be in the pictures. Of course, the boys want nothing to do with the camera when it’s my turn…such is life.

There is nothing I love more than to watch these THREE boys together! They seriously crack me up!

How cute is this little bum? I just had to document it!

We love you SO SO much daddy!! You are one in a million!

save a horse…

2011-06-20T22:03:00.001-05:00

Ride a cowboy?! OK! So not an appropriate title for my three year old, but it’s the only thing coming to me tonight! Brooks and I took Cole to a really fun birthday party on Saturday where he got to ride a horse!! If you remember this post, we weren’t sure if he was even going to attempt the horse. On preparing for the party I kept telling Cole that he was going to get to ride a pony and he told me “no, I no ride a horse, I ride a cow!” What a crazy kid! When we got to the horse camp we realized he had to wear a helmet and I wasn’t sure if any would fit. Lucky enough for us they had one that did!! We finally convinced Cole to hop on for a ride and he LOVED it! He even went for a second ride. He did have the choice to ride the little pony or the big horse and he chose the big horse! We were so proud of Cole that he overcame his fear and tried something new!!

happy DADDY day!!

2011-06-19T08:35:00.001-05:00

Today we celebrate the daddy in our life! We all love him so much and don’t know what we would do without him. You have changed many diapers…done many late nigh feedings…and more baths than I can count. It’s the little things that count. The boys are so lucky to call you their daddy and I’m so lucky that you are my “baby’s daddy!” WE LOVE YOU!