It's After Thanksgiving

the thanksgiving partying has ceased, annie is sick and staying home from school today, and i am hoping to start some semblance of a healthy-eating-working-out thingydoo that will result in 10 lbs. off my "food enhanced" belly...

good morning!

ok, hold on. i need my coffee. it's been a while.

mmmm. ok.

a little disoriented this morning, at last waking up in my own bed. we've probably slept in 4 different beds in the last week while on our journey up to the tundra for the holiday, so it was nice to get home and know we're not leaving again for...3 whole weeks. that's right, going for the world record on number of times of driving from texas to south dakota and back in one month's time. i don't mind though. addison drove with us this time around, so i really didn't have to do much. the only think i'll be annoyed about when we head up for Christmas, is the weather. the roads are sure to be icy and i'm sure to have anxiety. other than that, i am excited to head back up and see my brothers and enjoy the christmas holiday with them.

in the mean time, there is a whole lot of stuff to get done down here. must get tree. must decorate house. must shop for presents. must buy ornament for ornament exchange at work. did you know i work now? must buy teacher-presents. must clean house. need new vacuum. must stop eating. must exercise. must clean car. must pack car. again.

so, i work. i know, i know. you're all saying, "but gina, you retired!" it was just that the perfect opportunity came along at the perfect time and i took it. and i'm so glad i did. i am now a teacher's aide for the 4-year-old class at the Mother's Day Out program at the kids' school. it's twice a week, it's the same hours as annie's school, and jasper is right next door to me in the 3's. it's perfect. and fun. i get to work with a good friend of mine, not to mention all the other good friends i've made with the other gals i work with...i get to do all sorts of fun crafts that involve glue and paint and other messy things i would NEVER do at the house...and most importantly, i get to help nine 4-5 year olds prepare for kindergarten. these kiddos are so precious and it's so fun to hear the things they talk about, see the progress they make and watch their little sponge-brains soak up all the information we give them. so. much. fun.

and i have only cut myself with non-kidproof scissors 5 times since september. no biggie.

ok. stay tuned. i have some photo uploading to do so more pics to come. tomorrow, we tackle the kids' birthdays.

good to be back, ya'll.

Here's the Deal

i've lost my blog groove and i need to get it back. to all my readers reader, i apologize profusely for leaving you hanging. to my children, i apologize for not recording certain important events in your lives in the past days, weeks, months. ok fine. year. i've been so bad. but i'm vowing to be better. starting...after thanksgiving.

things i need to catch up on: mommy's new job, jasper's birthday, halloween, annie's birthday. and that will just scratch the surface.

stay tuned. if you're still out there.

Oh Dear

Rewind to Sparklers for a Minute

so jasper is generally suspicious, distrusting and otherwise frightened of new things. he generally requires time, patience and *sometimes* and little push to discover things we know he will love, but that he has already written off. same goes for food. you know. it's a theme in his little 3-year-old mind. he likes to figure out what he likes or doesn't like by himself in his own time.

contrary to his firm beliefs - and eqally surprising to us - he dove right in to the fireworks this year. the small ones, that is. he is still not cool with the big, loud ones, but smoke bombs are the best. thing. ever. snakes? amazing. sparklers? ohmygoshcan'twaittogetmyhandsononeofthose.

he was so excited. he took that sparkler and ran with it. well, he stood with it anyway. and then...and then...

he spent the rest of the evening either attached to aunt sarah, or doing this:

i'll let you start placing bets as to whether or not he'll pick up a sparkler next year.

Kindergarten. Or, How to Make a Mother Feel Old.

annie started kindergarten this week. i know. crazy. before i get in to it, let's look back at last year's first day of pre-k:

now look at this years picture. same jumper. shorter. same girl. older. and jasper. he still had a diaper on!

and then here is annie's first day of 2's:

ok, so at first i was very unphased by the whole thing. after all, annie had been in pre-k last year at the same school, 5 days a week, 8-3pm, so it didn't really feel so monumental to me. i mean, i had been reading status updates of friends on facebook who were lamenting and woe-is-me-ing about their kids starting kindergarten, and i was all "is there something WRONG with me that i'm not seeing the significance?"

and then i took annie to school.

on the way to school the first day, we plugged the ipod in to the car and i first played a little Black Eyes Peas "I gotta feelin'" - to get her pumped up. and then i skipped to the Glee cast singing "Somebody to Love"(which is amazing and is on my playlist over there to the right)...and i started crying. it wasn't the ugly-cry or anything, but i was glancing in my rearview mirror at my little girl sitting there, looking out the window, singing along with the couple of words in the song she knew and looking so grown up and i was overcome with emotion. when did this happen? since when was she old enough to go to kindergarten? nobody ASKED ME if it was ok for her to get so big. so quickly.

sigh.

when i picked her up after that first day i asked her how it went and she said, "Good! I think Kindergarten is going to be much more funner than pre-k." and then i smiled because at least she's not yet big enough to have perfect grammar. i don't want to correct her, either, because i like it when she says "more gooder" or "more funner" and i know that, sooner than later, she's not going to say that anymore. nor will she say "free" for "three" or "firsty" for "thirsty". and then she won't be little anymore. and i will be sad. and i will start looking at baby pictures again. and my ovaries will kick in to overdrive. and i will tell addison i need another baby. because our babies aren't babies anymore. and then i'll think about how old i'll be when the new-pretend-baby is out of college and then i'll say nevermind, i'm good. but then i'll still be verklempt mourning the loss of the baby/toddlerhood in our lives and...and...you can see the vicious cycle of middle-aged-womanhood-insanity this becomes...

but look at them. practically adults. mercy.

Once Upon a Time the Summer was Over. The End.

summer came.

we played.

we came home.

mama came.

then she left.

it was hot. it's still hot. school starts in 12 days.

Limerick for a Sad Blog

There once was a blog called "Pumpkin Juice"

Whose author was away reading Dr. Seuss

She tried not to stay away, but summer came - Hooray!

And her schedule has just been too loose.

Stay tuned. You've been ever so patient.

The Butterfly Treehouse

this year for her birthday, we bought annie the Butterfly Treehouse. she had seen (like a good little tv-viewer) the ad for it a googillion times and when we saw that they sold them at barnes & noble, we snatched one up for her.

she could not have been more happy, but then of course we realized it was november and we would have to wait until spring to order our little caterpillar larvae so the butterflies could actually survive.

fast forward to last month when we finally got around to ordering her larvae, watching them go from little caterpillars to chrysalides to - at last - beautiful butterflies. it was actually pretty neat-o to watch the whole thing happen and also to watch it happen through the eyes of a 3 and 5 year old. it's like magic. real magic.

once all the butterflies were "born", we gave them some flowers and sugar water and watched them for a couple of days before we had our butterfly-release-ceremony. where, by ceremony, i mean we opened the treehouse and let them go.

annie was really bonding with one of her butterflies in particular. the one with the broken wing. she thought he didn't want to leave her. and i'm going to stick to that story forever.

When Soccer is Over, Then I Play Golf?

jasper has been nothing if not vocal about his feelings toward soccer. big thumbs down. i have a feeling much of it is age-related, but out of 10 or so games, he has played exactly ONCE. last week. for some reason, he finally decided to give it a go and take to the field.

he actually did a pretty good job...he would run - no - he would sprint as fast as he could after the ball and then stop, look around, pick his nose, play with dirt, etc.

my personal favorite is this clip. you can see he's a little unsure and then he's like "oh, ok, i got this" and then there are those last few precious seconds where he's checking in with daddy. heart, you melt.

after that last game, jasper said to me, "When soccer is over then i play golf?" the sport he actually enjoys playing. well, it is in his genes, after all. and so, the johnston family sets out to reconnect with the driving range in the hopes of somehow making contact with a ball...

...but in the mean time, mister-not-interested-in-soccer sure does know when the game is over and it's time for a snack!

Field Day

yesterday was Field Day at annie's school. it was 105 degrees in the shade with little to no breeze to speak of. ok, maybe it was only 90 in the shade, but my point is: the heat is on in texas.

jasper and i showed up at around 9:30am to check in on the kids and the goings-on at field day. the first thing we came across were the kids playing 3-men-in-a-boat...or something like that. whistle blows, kids run and then they have to act like an animal or they have to row the "boat" or what-have-you. it was pretty entertaining. i only wish i had video of them all acting like cockroaches. too funny. annie was the last girl standing and one of the last 4 standing. that's my girl.

next, they dug for shells and then did a pass-the-wet-sponge game. already, at 10am, they were more than content squeezing the wet sponge on themselves for a quick cool-down.

they then moved over to do some team relay racing and then it was slip 'n' slide city for all our tribe members. I'm pretty sure annie had fun. you tell me:

after drenching themselves completely, they were off to the sno-cone stand to have a sno-cone and attempt to dry off before the last two races prior to lunch break. all this and it's not even 11am yet. did i mention the heat? sweat. running from my head, pooling in my belly button. not pretty.

jasper and i went home to have some lunch and cool down before heading back to the school for round #2. the afternoon is when the kids competed in individual events...for ribbons. annie's first event was the running race. check it out:

little punk took FIRST PLACE! she could not have been happier and i could not have been more proud. she carried that blue ribbon around like it was gold...that is, until the "Football Toss" (which she didn't even sign up to do, but did it anyway). she did not receive a ribbon for her football toss...she came in a close 4th, but...no ribbon = crying. then she did her limbo and she got in too big of a hurry (and, ahem, would still not put down that blue ribbon)so she didn't place there, either. almost more tears. finally, it was time for "Jump the River" and thank the lord in the name of all that is good and holy, the girl got a 3rd place finish. phew.

all was going just swimmingly as we made our way back to the gym for the awards ceremony. coach was giving awards for "Best Sportsmanship" both for the day and for the year. annie's best friend, emma (that's her up there with the red ribbon), won the year award - i know, GREAT, right!? and wouldn't you know, annie turned around to me - crying - and pointing at emma's award...and then she wanted to know why it was she didn't receive the Good Sportsmanship Award...

Pony Rides and Berry Picking

we have some friends down the street who also have a ranch out in the country. a ranch with horses.

they invited us out one weekend, just after they had two of their mares come to foal (you'll have to take my word on the foals though. they were VERY cute. i just forgot to photograph them.) so we could see the new babes and also get the kiddos up on a pony to ride.

which annie took very seriously.

not jasper though, no sir. he was too hung up on this sudden notion that the horsies were going to bite him.

so he just watched from the side lines until it was time to pick blackberries. now that is an activity he can stand behind.

The Fair

the county fair came a couple of weeks ago and since it was about 50 degrees warmer than it was last year for the fair, we went. twice. the first time we went for the sole purpose of meeting annie's bff, emma, and going on as many rides as we could fit in. it was a near bust, however, because as we approached the fair grounds on that thursday afternoon, a giant, gray cloud was also approaching. no sooner did we begin to turn in to the parking lot than the skies opened up and it started pouring. so too, did annie's eyes. we turned around to drive home with a sobbing little girl in the back seat who insisted she could still have fun in the rain. a few minutes later, emma's dad texted us to let us know the rain had stopped and the sun was back out and to stop being such wusses. so we did. we turned around - again - and went back to the fair and the girls giggled and screamed with delight and held hands and ran and jumped and giggled some more.

and all was right in the world. even jasper went on the little roller coaster. he was so-so about it, but he sure loved all those car/motorcycle/boat rides that go in circles.

oh, and you know the fun-house maze where the walls are all plexiglass and you can't tell where you're going until you run smack in to a wall? annie and emma must have done that thing about 5 or 6 times...and almost every time one of them hit the wall. HARD. we were laughing so hard because they would stop and be rubbing their little heads, all the while still giggling and having fun. i guess the fun trumped the pain.

two nights later we went back out to the fair for the sole purpose of attending the BBQ Cookoff. our neighbors and good friends, matt and kristin, are cookoff pros. kristin's dad is on one of the teams, so they have their own booth where they invited us to come hang out and eat, drink and be merry. upon entering their area, they showered the kids with this:

(and please excuse that naughty finger in the back ground. aheam. addison.)

...which the punks thought was awesome. don't worry, they have a daughter who is 5 months old, and when she is a little older, i will be returning the favor. seriously, though, it was great fun. we were fed the most delicious BBQ, potater salad, munchies, beer and jello-shots. it was a great time. we only learned one very important thing: next year = no kids. there is too much adult fun to be had.

when the punks grew too punkish, we decided to call it a night, but not before annie went on the ferris wheel. now, the first day we arrived at the fair, annie mentioned she wanted to ride the ferris wheel...until we got up close and then she said, "Maybe I don't want to ride that right now". and that was the end of that. however, as we were leaving, she said again that she really wanted to ride the ferris wheel. so, she and daddy stood in line, hopped aboard and rode and boy did she have a great time. perhaps you can just make out jasper and i sitting on the ground, enjoying a snow cone, which is right where jasper wanted to be.

Jasper Starts Soccer...or not

jasper started his first go-round with soccer a couple of weeks ago...and in his words, he is, "...done with soccer".

he practiced great, he seemed happy, and then all of the sudden, when it was time for the game to start, he came running to me and said, "mommy, i'm done with soccer".

thing is, if he would actually try, he might find he has an aptitude for this game. he's a pretty good dribbler, if you don't count the times he bends down to use his hands.

but come on, you have to be able to set up for the perfect goal shot, right?

Easter Happened

oh yeah, easter.

i get so behind in blogging that it then becomes too overwhelming a task, so i just ignore it altogether. and so it goes with writing, cleaning, exercising...hmm...perhaps i should confront this little procrastinator-goblin taking up residence in my person.

or not. instead, i'll just continue in my i'll-get-too-it-sooner-or-later ways and will now begin writing a blog about things that happened almost a month ago that we are no longer interested in. sound good? awesome.

so we drove up to sd for easter. 30 minutes in to the trip jasper decided to christen the car. with his vomit. it was just a one-time thing, and he was considerate enough to not make it a projectile thing, so we were back on the road about 20 minutes later. the remainder of the trip was uneventful, save a few "close calls" with the range burning in oklahoma. and by close calls i mean there were ranchers burning grass somewhere in the distance and i could see smoke - somewhere in the distance and ok, ok, fine i was panicking a little. (you may remember the incident last year)

needless to say, we made it fine and just in time to have a beautiful 70-degree day on our hands. followed by lots of wind and rain and 50-degree days. typical early spring in SD.

and so, on easter morning the kiddos hunted for their easter baskets, found them eventually, ate some chocolate, played with their new jump ropes and plastic frogs and then we piled in to papa's truck to cruise on down to iowa for the main event.

as usual, we ate 75,000 varieties of the most glorious egg-bake ever. we also ate 10,000 varieties of the most delectible cinnamon rolls ever. and fruit salad. and egg-shaped jello. and candy. and cake. and cookies. and my mommy's delicious potater salad. and oh, the deviled eggs (don't tell anyone i totally messed them up this year and forgot to add mustard...i don't think anyone caught it) ;) and...what else? coconut cake. seriously. and, um, mimosas. can't be a proper catholic without readily available booze, right? the point is this: my family is da best.

the kids had their egg hunt, wherein annie and jasper nearly pilfered all the eggs before the little-little ones could get to them...

the kids got to climb up in to one of uncle buddy's big john deeres...and boy did jasper think that was awesome!

when we were on our way back to mama and papa's house later that evening, annie fell asleep promptly, but jasper. jasper. he was on fire. he was all hopped up (excuse the easter pun. i'm here all night) on sugar and he kept us woefully entertained the entire way back. here's a mere snippet of the comedian-in-the-making:

i wish i would have kept rolling a little longer because it was so ridiculous. mom and i could not stop giggling, which only fueled his fire. hm. reminds me of someone else i know...

so the rest of the week was spent doing manual labor. of course. because i can't just visit my parents, they make me do work, like remove a million branches from the shelter belt and whatnot. it's funny, we enlisted the kids to help and jasper maybe picked up one branch, got a sticker in his sock and said, "i'm done with this" and ditched us. annie did a little better but then she, too, got a sticker and then she was over it as well. huh. perhaps i should have played my "sticker" card.

besides that, we did a little shopping, took a visit to the falls where we had some lunch, chased a goose and then tried to get the punks to pose like this cute statue:

as you can see, they weren't really getting it.

we took them to mckennan park and showed them where addison and i were married. then we swung and swung some more. and is swung even a word?

the punks also spent a day with aunt shally - at the movies, making cookies, coloring, etc. that was the day mama and i did our shopping and lunching. mmmm...food...

and then we went home. the end. happy belated easter everyone!

Sowing the Seeds of Love

a couple of weeks ago we planted our very first garden. annie - as you may recall from the theme of her 5th birthday - is garden obsessed. she loves everything about gardens and has been asking us over and over again if we can have one. between my black thumb and addison's lack of motivation we just kept putting it off. and before i get in trouble, let me just insert here that i, too, had a serious lack of motivation. finally though, addison was hit with a giant gale-force gust of motivation and took us to the store to find a garden box, dirt, plants and seeds.


annie helped build the box and then jasper drove his gator to bring over the bags of dirt. it was almost like when we visit mama and papa at the farm and help mama pull weeds or find rocks and put them in the gator.



annie had fun burying her legs in the cool dirt and and helping spread it around...

then the two punks commenced the "stomping of the divots dirt"...(little "Pretty Woman" reference for you there)


and at last, we have ourselves a little garden, featuring carrots, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, basil and tomatoes. wish us luck!