Hide-And-Go-Seek

annie's new favorite game...besides sword fighting with daddy.



by the way, sorry about the weird camera angle, apparently you cannot record videos in vertical mode. whoops.

Don't Worry, Annie Got Cake Too

i don't want anyone to be upset, though it is funny to play back those videos and just hear annie in the background going "now i have some cake? i have some cake? can i please have some cake?"

here's evidence:

The Cake

so we had a little johnston-family birthday celebration for japper last night. i made a little cake and we let him have a couple of his presents. wow, so you know yesterday when i was saying how he and annie were different in many ways? well, that includes their "cake attack" strategies as well:

it was so funny to watch him just annihilate the cake. it didn't end well for my plate, however. i sort of forgot that part of the equation when i put the cake on a ceramic plate and gave it to a one-year-old. it was a fitting end for the cake, though. jasper simply got the best of it and down it went. i think ferris is still stuck to our kitchen floor where the cake landed.

here's part 1 video of the cake presentation:

and here is part 2:

here's a pic of the smile on japper's face when i introduced whole milk to him...and here are a few of the present opening process - he doesn't really get it yet. annie was on hand to help, though, of course. we'll have more after the partay on saturday.

The Big 1

dear jasper,

you're 1 today! i can't believe it. already. wow. happy birthday, buddy! what a year you've had. you were born into a crazy-goofball-of-a-family, you were exposed to sub-zero temperatures and snow, you had your first thanksgiving, christmas, easter, etc., you have gone on MANY road trips already, you've taken two airplane trips, you've farmed, you became a texan (though still a midwesterner at heart), you experienced hundred-plus temperatures, you swam a lot, you rolled, you sat up, you crawled, you sprouted teeth, you babbled a lot, you stood up by yourself, you laughed, you cried, you pooped, you ate real food, you drank real milk (that just yesterday), you played and played and played with annie, and on and on. you've really been quite busy, and it's only going to get busier because i see vertical movement in your future.

as of about two days ago, you decided that pulling yourself up was your new favorite activity. you resisted it for a while, but now - inspired by the desire to be IN the bathtub with your sister - you have figured out that it's much more fun to be on your feet. everywhere. in the playpen you stand so you can see what we're all doing, when i start the bathwater, you race to the tub and pull up as if i may otherwise forget to put you in, and when i come to get you in the morning or after your nap you are standing there, smiling, just hanging out. in fact, yesterday i put you down for your nap and 40 minutes later you were still awake so i went in there and...standing. i think you haven't quite figured out how to gracefully sit back down, so you usually have to just let go and hope for the best and because of that i think sometimes you just think it's better if you just stay standing. no risk for head injury or bum-bruising that way.

everywhere we go people are astounded by your happiness and by how laid back you are. you just go with the flow. you have a huge smile for darn near everyone and anytime of day. you can even make annie smile when she is otherwise inconsolable. now that takes skill, bucko.

in so many ways you are like your sister, but in many ways you are much, much different. you both were such good-natured babies, great sleepers, gigglers, etc. however, where annie was the kind of baby that never ate things off the ground, stuck her fingers in outlets, or pulled things off shelves, YOU - little japper - are exactly that kind of baby. you've had yourself a little electric shock already, you love to eat anything on the ground and you will grab and pull at anything within your grasp. it's crazy.

you are a perfect little being, japparoo. i love you so much. so so so so much. this year has gone too fast, but it's been a wonderful journey watching you grow and turn into a little boy.

i love you, i love you, i love you more.

happy birthday - love,

mommy

Singer

sneaking up on annie singing in her room...

Not a Good Idea

so yesterday morning i had to go in to the doc and get some blood drawn for a lipid panel. you Spooner's know the routine...after all, i blame YOU (that's right, i said it) for any "elevated cholesterol" that shows up. this whole thing is such a pain for me - on so many levels. the main reason i did this is not because i'm worried about my cholesterol (though some think i should be) or my overall health...i did it because of our stupid - yes, stupid - health insurance. is there a bigger racket in all the world?! i am now beginning to see why this country is in need of health insurance reform. so anyway, i know you don't care about the details, but i'm venting, my blog, that whole thing...so you're getting them.

what happened was, we were applying for new health insurance because the group policy we were on through addison's work (and by group i mean 3 families) was too expensive because of one person's illness thing, blahdeblah. so, we figure we get a new policy and our rates go down. easy, breezy, lemon squeezie, right? not so much. instead, in the process of filling out the application i made the mistake - yes, mistake - of telling the truth. the question went something like this: "...have you ever been diagnosed, treated, counseled, made aware of, talked about, thought about, or dreamt about having any of the following..." and then you are presented with EVERY medical condition under the sun - one of which was "elevated cholesterol". oh, and immediately preceding the question you get the whole i-swear-by-penalty-of-law-that-i-am-telling-the-truth thing. like they might actually put you in jail or something. it's scary! naturally, i - being an honest person/bad liar - write down the truth. yes, once - ok twice - i was told i had "elevated cholesterol". fine. there it is. i didn't have my actual numbers and both of my doctors never told me anything but to change my diet...

well, we turn in our application, the people call me for a few "questions" (read: interview to see if you're lying) and we end up calling one of my clinics to get the actual numbers of my HDL/LDL/Triglycerides and then about a week later we find out they have denied me on the insurance. Addison, Annie and Jasper? All fine. Me? can't do it. nope. too risky...or something. they said they didn't have enough information and needed a more recent lipid panel, blah blah blah. they won't even do an exclusion rider. i'm so mad at them. i'm mad because a.) i realized that both blood tests i had done before were not real lipid panels because i hadn't fasted prior which definitely would have made some difference in the result, b.) because of a. i could have just left the whole stupid thing off my application and no one would have been the wiser, and c.) now i have to go get blood drawn, which for me is right up there with pouring acid in my eyeballs. who was it that said "honesty is the best policy"? they are WRONG. honesty means NO policy.

sigh. so here i am, back where i started this story. so i go to the doc to get my blood drawn. i have both annie and jasper with me, so they are just hanging out in the stroller. we go into the room and i have a seat in the chair with the arm thing that comes down in front in case you're a passer-outer. annie says:

"why you sitting in that chair, mommy?"

"because the nurse is going to come in and take some of my blood."

and she replies, in only the way that she can - all matter-of-fact and in her serious sing-songy voice: "i don't think so. it's not a good idea."

i couldn't agree more.

Annie-ism #8,909 and Japper's First Word

if someone were to ask annie what color this is, she would respond:

"oranges."

never "orange", always "oranges".

may she never learn the right way.

in jasper news, i'm 99% sure that he has said his first word - other than "mamamamama" and "dadadadada". ready for it?

dog. yep, that's right. ferris gets dibs on first word. every time jasper sees ferris he points and says "dah" and that is enough for me. i'm calling it. his first word is dog. silent g.

Pippy Toes

did you know they make shoes for kids with squeaks built into them? it's one of the funnier things to which i've ever been witness. we almost died laughing when we got annie dressed for the rehearsal dinner and all of the sudden there was this squeaking sound and i was wondering "where is that coming from? does annie have a dog toy?" and then i realized it was in sync with every step she was taking. toooooooo funny! they're called pippy toes. i love them. i think every kid should have a pair. wear them to church. how about the library? a whole room full of kids with pippy toes. seriously. there is nothing funnier. especially when they run.

Monthly Archives - Annie Month 33

dear annie banannie,

you are soooo talkative these days. it astounds me how much your language skills have developed. i wish i were better about writing down things you say right as they come out of your mouth, because there are so many funny little quips and too often i forget them before i get a chance to record them. the other day, for example, you and mama and i were together and - i don't remember the context - you said "It's exactly!". mom and i both looked at each other and just started laughing because how did you even know that word? i'm sure you'd heard daddy or i utter it at some point, but it still sounded so funny coming from your mouth. there are plenty of other examples of your linguistic discoveries, but like i said, i don't remember them all.

you are starting to come out of your shell, too. you still have that initial shyness thing, but it's more of a manipulation, i think, than it is actual fear of new people/places. for example: you started preschool a couple of weeks ago and when i would take you in the morning you would be all crabby and sad about it. the first day you even said, "i can't go to school. i'm too shy. i'm scared." but then i pick you up 5 hours later and you are happy as a clam. i finally put it together after about day 4 when your teacher told me that though you act very clingy and shy in the mornings, by the time it is ready to pack up to go home, that same shy and clingy girl is announcing "i don't want to go home!". HA! gotcha! you are just playing us all for fools, annie girl. i've got your number. anyway, just yesterday when i picked you up from school you were all waving to the other kids and saying "Good BYEEEEE!" and then you ran up to miss susie and gave her a huge hug on her leg. oh yeah, you hate school. i can tell.

it's also pretty cool to me that you can now tell daddy and me about your day. we'll ask "what did you learn in school today?" and you'll say "yellow" or "the sun is a circle" or "birds live in a nest tree" or "i painted a puppy"...and we'll get home and there will be a picture of the puppy you painted in your backpack, or 2 little paper birds in the nests you made that day. it's awesome.

we just got back from uncle jay and now-legit-aunt sarah's wedding in chicago. it was your first foray into the flower girl world and, i have to say, you handled it perfectly. it was cute, entertaining, slightly distracting, but very sweet. you had issues getting into the dress...but then there were issues getting you to come OUT of the dress, too...you kind of took up the rear behind haley and kaelyn when it was time to walk down the aisle, but it was so perfectly you. you were sauntering, weaving back and forth, not really paying attention to where you were headed. then, when you arrived at the front, you kind of stoof there and stared at jay and sarah, then looked right, left and right again as you tried to seek out someone you were comfortable enough with to go to. you found daddy and went to him, however briefly, until you realized that your orchid bracelet had come untied and the only person who could fix it was i - your mother, the bridesmaid. so you took off. got past daddy and came right up to me and said, loudly, "mommy my brakelet broke." i tried to be casual about bending down to help tie it back on and then send you back to your daddy without totally disrupting the ceremony.

we took our [first] trip to the american girl store and you were fascinated. i was equally as fascinated - it is quite a racket...but so neat. it's almost like a museum. everything is displayed behind glass and then you can buy all of it of course. we got you a bitty baby and you seem to love her. papa helped you name her - matilda. it's very sweet - he did that to spite me, because he hates that name so much. because you were this close to being named matilda.

you love pigeons. you are utterly fascinated and enthralled by the rodents of the sky. you were chasing them all over the sidewalks of chicago and yelling maniacally, "i'm going to GET you! you can't catch ME!" and then mom would be following you saying, "they don't have pigeons where she comes from" because people were thinking you were the funniest thing ever. it was very entertaining for all.

you've sure done a lot of changing in the past month. socially and developmentally mostly, but also physically. i've let out the waist in many of your pants and those jeans that we had to cuff up twice last year? we no longer have to cuff them. sigh. you even say to me now "i'm getting tall, mommy. i'm big". you are, baby. you're getting so big.

i love you,

mommy

Happy Birthday!

yesterday we celebrated addison's birthday - the big 3-3 this year. when did that happen?

anyway, we had cheeseburger's and homemade french fries for supper, and then angel food cake - the birthday boy's favorite - for dessert. the cake was a hit with addison, of course, but even more of a hit with the kids:

tomorrow we head to chicago for jay and sarah's wedding. it's going to be so much fun and sounds like the weather is going to be beautiful. jury is still out on whether or not annie is going to actually put on the flower girl dress and take part in the festivities...i guess we'll find out in two days. i'm hoping to get to take annie to the american girl store on saturday and maybe get her one of the "bitty babies". i might be more excited about this than annie...yep, i surely am since she has no idea what we're doing. anyway, it's going to be fun!

Mary Quite Contrary

this video sure doesn't want to make itself seen, but i think after a whole day of trying, i finally got it to work. thank you for your patience.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary, mary quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
with silver belles and cockle shells
and pretty maids all in a row.

1st 2nd Day of Preschool

she's not a baby anymore, folks. i mean, she is, she's still my baby, but look at how big she looks!

when we were getting ready for school this morning she said "i can't go, i'm too shy!" and i totally felt for her because i spent much of my life being that shy, too. it reminds me of the time we were out in the Hills, and we went to see the the Cosmos (see it! feel it! survive it!) and the guy who was doing the demonstration kept asking for volunteers and i kept hiding behind my dad because NO WAY was i going to get up in front of a bunch of strangers...and dad kept moving out of the way to reveal that i was perhaps the perfect choice for this demonstration. it was horrible.

and then i became an actress. go figure.

anyway, annie was too shy. she also said "i'm too scared" and my heart might have cracked just a little bit. it was the sweetest thing. we talked about how it's normal to feel scared but all the other kids were going through the same thing, and her teachers would take care of her, and i would be back after lunch and a story, and on and on. still though, as soon as we walked into the classroom she got on all fours and just grabbed my legs and tried to hide. that whole if-i-don't-see-you-you-aren't-there thing. so after much ado, jasper and i gave annie kisses and told her we'd see her in a bit while miss susie tried to distract her with the bookcase and annie tried to fight her way free...ahh yes. the perfect start!

i did run into niki as i was pulling out of the school lot and she said she'd peek in on annie. she called me about 5 minutes later and said that annie wasn't crying but miss susie gave her the ol' finger-across-the-throat thing and told niki maybe she should wait til next week to actually pop her head in - on account of the fact that annie had just finished crying and was working on a puzzle. too funny. i love it.

this school is the sweetest little thing ever. i think there are 8 kids in annie's class. she's going to love it and i can't wait for the first program. not only do we get to see pres and cody, but now we add annie in the mix - it's going to be so much fun!

Back from Vacay

phew. that was a marathon. we drove up to sd, dropped the kids with grandma, continued on to minneapolis, had a bocce extravaganza, dropped addison at the airport, drove to sd, hung out for a week on the farm, got in the car with the babies and drove back home to texas. phew! actually, the driving really wasn't so bad. the kids were amazing there and back. we left the farm at about 7-7:30 on sunday morning and made it to norman, ok by 5:45pm. by the way - if you are ever needing a hotel room in norman, ok you MUST stay at the la quinta. they just remodeled and seriously it is so cute and clean and fresh and bright and fabulous. here is a picture i took of our room (that's annie doing circles on the bed) but you can also go to their website and find the "vibrant room design" and that's what our room was. so nice. WOOD floors in the bathroom and entry way. well, laminate wood, but still. and only $79. i think we paid $100 in topeka on the way up north and that room was DIRTY and grody and yucky and below average. this room was pristine and awesome. ok that's enough about the hotel. seriously though, good move la quinta!

so anyway, we got home yesterday at about 1:30pm. it's good to be home. we were missing addison/daddy and he has a beard now so i guess he turned into a hermit while we were gone. hee. he says he's doing it for jay's wedding. you hear that, jay? hee hee.

our trip was so much fun. mom and i were talking about how we always have a little separation anxiety when we say goodbye. so true. it's the one thing about being this far away from my family that i just can't stand. the separation when i do see them again. it hurts my tummy a little sometimes. but hey, it's part of life, right? anyway, it was great fun. we were very busy. we went to the rogen farm on tuesday and visited and annie and jasper discovered momo the cat, much to momo's chagrin. poor thing. annie would just chase him around the house and say "i'm gonna GET you momo!" in her little mischievous voice. it was fun to get to see the rogen clan again and shally stuffed us silly with her chicken fettucini alfredo and peach pie. mmmmm.

oh and that reminds me - i need to give a little holla to all the cousins who are starting their freshman year at college: andrew, paul and dani - HOLLA!! i hope you guys are settling in and having fun. soak it in because before you know it you'll have been out of college for 10 years, have 2 kids and will have turned into a boring, old married person. :) hee hee. actually, it's not boring at all, but that's neither here nor there. the important thing is that you are having fun learning a lot.

i digress. can you tell i have my post-vacation-attention-deficit-typing problem? i can't seem to stay focused on one subject. that's what happens when it's been so long since i've updated. i apologize.

back to the trip: so we played around the farm all week and had a great time as usual. a friend of ours - who also did some of our wedding photos - took pictures of the kids for me, we got annie's hair cut, we shopped a little, we hung out and did my favorite thing of all: sipped gin and tonics on the front porch. ahhhhh. mom and i tackled 3 puzzles and would have finished that 3rd one if a certain 2 year old tornado would not have gotten her hands on it. maybe she was upset that we weren't doing a puzzle SHE could do or maybe she thought she could help us...only annie knows the truth. all i know is we had the thing pretty well put together and then i went to go get jasper up from his nap and when i came back downstairs the puzzle was destroyed. and i mean destroyed. it was as if she had the little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other - like in the cartoons - and she chose to listen to the devil because his plan sounded much more fun...

...but in the end, it wasn't so fun. when i told her she had to tell mom she was sorry, her eyes got all welled up and her lip popped out and she was so sad. hee. not that i'm laughing at her, but the girl can turn on the waterworks at the drop of a hat. come on!

what else? lots of kite-flying, gardening, sandpile playing, tractor riding, rockpile climbing, sleeping beauty watching, horseyback riding (courtesy of papa's back), etc. it was very busy and not busy at all...all at once. perfect.

i took a bunch of pictures so i put them on the kodak website if you want to check them out here, you can.

so i took off early sunday so we could get back and get settled for annie's first day of preschool today...only to get there and find out she actually starts TOMORROW. ha! off to a great, organized start! it was a nice dry-run though, because we were out of town for the meet-and-greet day so we didn't get to go and get all the info, so this way we got to meet annie's teachers "miss susie" and "miss dawn" and see her little classroom and all that. it was so cute. i'll write more about it tomorrow when we have the REAL first day.

that's enough for now. i can't even stand to keep typing anymore, so i can't imagine what it must be like reading my spastic-brain-writings. time for me to peace out - i have to check on jay and sarah and see if everyone survived their respective batchelor/batchelorette weekends...

Monthly Archives - Jasper Month 11

dear jasper,

i'm sorry this letter is late, but we have been on vacation and when mommy is on vacation she doesn't generally feel like updating the blog so...

happy 11 months to you, little man! the milestones you have reached this month are many: you started eating solid food, you have started to point at things you want or see, you have started to (maybe) use the sign language sign for "more", you pulled yourself up to a stand just a few days ago (!), you started actually crawling instead of army crawling, you are vocalising more, you have 6 teeth now, and on and on. it's been a big month for you!

when you pulled yourself up to a stand it was one of the funniest things i've ever witnessed. see, you love the bathtub. loooove it. the other night at the farm i was getting annie ready for her bath and i was actually not going to put you in the tub, (i know, i'm sorry i even considered that an option) but then you crawled right over to the tub, grabbed the edge and just pulled yourself up like you were going to throw yourself into that tub by yourself if you had to. your feet were planted about a foot away from the tub so you were leaning in all funny but you were so proud of yourself. then you got a little cocky and you let go with one hand and lost your balance and fell over. too funny. and yes, you did get to take a bath that night. how could i not let you get in after all that hard work? you just sit in the tub and flap your arms up and down and splash and splash and splash and usually i end up looking like i took a bath with you because you splash so much. it just makes you smile and giggle so much, and that makes me smile and giggle too, so i don't mind being soaked.

then, the other day you just decided to crawl somewhere to get a toy instead of doing the army-slide-crawl thing. it was so cute! i'll try to capture you on video while you're still new at it, because you don't quite have it mastered yet and you look like you are being sooooo careful. you take these teeny tiny little dainty steps and it cracks me up. then, you realize how long it's taking you to get anywhere, and you flop onto your tummy and finish the trek the faster way.

right now you have a cold. it's so sad because you have a little touch of laryngitis, too. you will start crying only you have no voice, so there is hardly a sound and it's the most heartbreaking thing you've ever heard. it's starting to get a little better now, but man was it sad. it pissed you off, too. you could just see that it was annoying you to not be able to just scream your head off. i think being sick and being in the car for 2 days was not a big party for you. i don't blame you. you did an awesome job, though.

speaking of our trip - i really can't believe how good you were in the car. that's a loooot of driving for a little squirmer like you, and you handled it like a pro. you just babbled, giggled at annie, and napped. you were SO good. i hope you are going to be that good when we get on the airplane to go to uncle jay's wedding.

anyway bubba, your personality is really starting to come through these days. you're funny, goofy, sweet, a little bit of a mama's boy (but i promise i won't let it get out of control), and just a delightful little baby to hang out with. i love you more than i could ever write in words, little peanut.

love, mommy