Annie Turns 6 - Slumber Party Style

waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in november, our little huge, growing-too-fast annie-banannie turned 6.

she had about as many parties.

first, there was the pre-birthday-birthday-party at aunt niki's house...complete with Almond Joy "Cake":

then, there was the actual birthday day mini-celebration with mommy, daddy and jasper complete with Cupcakery Cupcake.

it was the year of the Twinkle Toes. and of the Guitar. and of mommy looking puffy. or, as Annie would say, "mommy, you're fluffy like a cloud". i digress.

then, it came time for the big slumber party. annie had 4 of her best pals over to play and spend the night. there was pizza. there were coconut cupcakes. oh, no, scratch that. ferris ATE ALL THE CUPCAKES. I almost forgot. there were store-bought cupcakes. there was giggling. and more giggling. and there were movies to watch. and there was one incident with an almost-having-to-call-parents-to-come-pick-up-a-sad-little-girl...but thankfully her buddies all helped her through her little homesick hiccup. there were waffles in the morning. there were good times all around.

there was also a party with her cousins at mama and papa's house, but for some reason, i don't have a picture from there. my camera was on the fritz. we were going through a camera-divorce at the time.

then, one month later...

baby girl loses her first tooth!

...AND wins her class coloring contest!

so far, year 6 is turning out great. no shots at the doctor, money from the toothfairy, etc. we're on a roll.

did i mention this tiny, helpless, itty-bitty baby 6 YEAR OLD is reading now?! since when is she old enough to do that?! No more spelling things we don't want the kids to know. she's on to us. nothing's going to get past this little miss.

though, she did say to me the other day, "i wish i was big enough to help you mop the floor and do the dishes". seriously. she said it. and now i'm recording it - as i told her i would - so that there is PROOF. so if you stop by some time and see the 6 year old doing manual labor, please don't call CPS. she ASKED for it.

Jasper Turns 4...Spidey Style

...but i have no pictures of it because they were all taken with my phone. and i don't know how to transfer pics from my phone to my computer because i'm THAT technologically challenged. also, i don't own that cord.

oh look! i figured it out. phew. ok so there is jasper peter parker with his Spiderman cake. not too shabby for a self-proclaimed horrible cake artist. just don't look too close. that's the general rule when it comes to my cake-decorating endeavours. don't look too close.

so jasper thought that was pretty cool. not that he ate it. he had a little frosting, but that's about it. not much for CAKE.

he had fun at his party - we even got the Spiderman bouncy house...which i also have no pictures of. am i an award-winning mother or what?

anyway, he seemed to like his presents...particularly the iPad his uncle bought for him. i like it, too. and since i'm evil and i can't accept my 4 year old having an iPad, i always correct him when he says, "where's my iPad?" i say, "You mean MOMMY'S iPad?" and then he scowls at me and says, "It's MY iPAD!!!"

he's so bossy. don't know where he gets that.

so here's the deal: our little growing jasper is now 4. he's about an inch shy of being taller than his sister, he loves all things Spiderman, Scooby-Doo, Power Rangers and Star Wars. he says "Dude". he can be exceptionally sweet when he wants to be. example: some times he'll just come up to me out of nowhere and say, "Mommy, i LOVE you. and i love Daddy and Annie, too." and just yesterday we asked Annie to please feed Ferris and Jasper said, "I'll do it because I love Ferris. Ferris is my buddy. I love him." and then gave Ferris his food and said, "Here you go, Ferris-buddy." and then gave him a hug. so sweet.

then again, he can also be a little pouting, sulking, angry handful. why, just the other day he freaked out AT THE MOVIES when we got MILK DUDS (one of his favorite candies)...because we weren't getting two candies. honestly. i mean, on the one hand i get it. you gotta have your chocolatey candy and your sweet-sour candy. i get it. we have pretty much drilled that in to them every friday night for movie night. but still. we're taking you to the movies, little dude. we're buying you one of your favorite candies. you are NOT ALLOWED to throw a fit. but throw a fit he did. and then i find myself being that mom who says, "should we go sit in the car?" and "do you want to just go home?" knowing full well that i have every intention of staying for the movie. *sigh* but, as i often tell myself - and addison: he's just 4.
but he's my favorite 4 year old on the planet. i love him so much i could just squeeze the teeth right out of his smile. ok, that's a bit much. you get the point. love. that. child.

the end.

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.