Santa Baby

We had Aria's 3 month picts taken and have a two inch stack of fabulous proofs. Here is the best of her Santa pose - I'll share more later.

Mama is kissing who? ! ?

We got our first big bunch of snow this past Saturday night, so we packed up the Johnson kiddos to go to Brian's folk's for some sledding. Feeling festive with the wintery views we started to listen to Christmas music in the car.

Keep in mind, last year the kids knew some Christmas songs, but Aaliyah wasn't quite two and Mulu was only with us (and only learning English) for 7 months, so they were limited to the basic kids songs that were led by adults.

As I was zoning out in my own little world Mulu bursts into laughter - loud, cackling belly laughter. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on - and he was laughing too hard to be able to talk, but after a bit, between guffaws he started repeating "Mama kissed Santa Clause!", "Mama kissed Santa Clause!", "Mama kissed Santa Clause!". This revelation of what the song had been saying caused him to laugh so hard he was crying and Brian & I had to laugh along too.

Aaliyah was quiet through this whole thing (which I concluded to her not paying attention) and minutes later when the car was quiet again Aaliyah bursts out with "she was leaving - Mama kisses when she goes goodbye"

I love the way little kids minds make try to make sense of things!

"elfed"

The Johnson Kiddos were "elfed" - enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1128614912

ps - its really quite fun if you have a moment - to add some smiles to your day

Family photos, a haircut and more

At recent gatherings and getting ready for Holiday Cards, the families have been taking group pictures -



Brian's side of the family


my side of the family

and the our family's feet - everyone thought I was a bit nuts wanting to do this - but I thought it was fun - and turned out great. Daddy, Mama, Mulu, Aaliyah and baby Aria
today we got Aaliyah's hair cut. The girl's hair grows VERY fast so we took off quite a bit this time - its very cute and will be much easier to brush in the morning. This is after her nap - but I wanted to share

Aria being her cute-self

Daddy kisses are the best!

Thanksgiving Day

Some photos of Thanksgiving Day for you to enjoy.

Daddy and Aria snuggling

Mulu & Aaliyah dressing up in Mama & Daddy's clothes and shoes (it was really cute when they did it, until we walked into our closet and saw the aftermath of their attempts to get a hold of the clothes they wanted)

Sister love

Aria with one set of her Great Grandparents (she has 3 Great Grandpas and 5 Great Grandmas - lucky lucky girl) Aria tired after eating too much turkey - j/k
Mulu sticking his head out of the cats' little house. With his black turtle neck on it looks like a magic trick

Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving I asked the Johnson kiddos (those that can speak at least) what they were thankful for. We do "thank yous" before meals, so they knew what I was asking. It was quite a fun moment, so I thought I would share:

This is verbatim so you can fill in the prepositions as you like


I am thankful for:

Mulu: "that it can snow anytime"

Aaliyah: "trick-or-treating"

Mulu: "that our mailbox has an eagle on it" (I didn't know this, but I went and checked & by golly he is right)

Aaliyah: "Halloween" (see a pattern? - the girls always got candy on the brain)

Mulu: "football win last week, Brett Favre" (Daddy was really proud of him for this one)

Aaliyah: "Aria & Daddy"

Mulu: "oooh this is special one - santa brings jumper and new toys" (last years' loot)

Aaliyah: "peanut" (? - no idea)

Aria just sat and looked cute during all of this.

and of coarse Brian and I filled in with "Family" "friends" "smiles" and all the boring stuff, but the kids were more creative and fun.

Date night - and Packers

Sunday night Brian and I had an actual adult night for the 1st time in a long time, AND it was not a ballet event. Well actually, we got the tickets free because of a ballet connection, but Brian wasn't "working" and we could just have fun- so I can truly call it a "date night". We got a hook up to see Cirque du Soleil here in Madison and it was a great show. I thought it was a bit early to be leaving Aria for the 1st time, but the tickets were free and she was in great hands. All three kiddos did great with Nana & Papa at the house here and we were only gone about 2 1/2 hours - so it was probably good for all of us.

Here is a picture of us before we left

Aria and I snuggling before we left - no tears before we left and I didn't call while we were out - so I was proud of myself. (note: Aria is wearing the outfit that Aaliyah wore on the plane when we brought her home from Ethiopia - its crazy to think we are cycling through her outfits already)

Mulu, Aaliyah and a friend at a Packer game party - ok, they are actually watching a movie - none are really into watching football yet.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin carving night - Mulu proudly posing with his jack-o-laterns (he learned in school that once pumpkinds are carved they are jack-o-lanterns, so he now corrects us when we call them pumpkins) Sometimes Aaliyah is too cool to smile for pictures - this was her intentional serious face
Aria in her pumpkin outfit
Cousin Charlie not too happy about being a chicken



The Johnson kiddos before trick-or-treating

Tinkerbell
Darth Vader
and little baby monster (it was the warmest costume of the bunch and does not at all reflect her personality :) )
Before we left for Trick-or-treating

More cute photos

No real theme again to this one - just cute updated picts to keep you in the loop

Here is Aaliyah in a pool showing me her hand stand in the water. She has a life jacket on - so I don't think it came across quite like she was thinking - but its still quite fun.

We wanted a family picture of all five of us. Here was our first attempt - all three kids are a little rough.

2nd try - getting closer I think - maybe with some more practice we'll have a good shot for our Christmas card - or should I be hoping for one for Easter?!?!
Cousin Charlie and Aria - yes, putting them in matching outfits has already begun!

Aria's first smile caught on film - she's got a great laugh to go with it - imagine a little squeaky toy.

Big brother Mulu snuggling with Aria. He is so good with her - always asking what he can do and wanting to hold her lots. (and she's a lot more fun now that she can move her head to follow him)

The girls. Its so fun to see Aaliyah with Aria. She wants to show her everything she does "Aria, watch me" and then asks me if I think she liked it.

The Johnson kiddos - three kids really are a lot of fun.

One month old

On October 13, Aria was one month old. Here are a few of the latest shots of her for you to enjoy. She is getting a little more pudgy each day - although she still has skinny little chicken legs. On her one month "birthday" she did a bit of baby babbling that we caught on video camera and has now started to smile when talked to. She loves watching her big brother & sister and they are so naturally kind to her and both love helping her. She is still a great sleeper, but is getting more alert now during the day which makes her a bit more interesting for Mulu & Aaliyah.

All three Johnson kiddos together - its amazingly difficult to get a good photo of all three - this was the best we came up with -

Aria all tuckered out
all bundled up on our 1st cold day - you can see what she thinks of the whole Wisconsin winter thing.

More Pumpkin Patch photos

Here are some other photos that were taken by others on our pumpkin patch day.



Uncle Dave and Aaliyah searching for the perfect pumpkin
Mulu - bound & determined to carry his back on his own.

Daddy helping out Aaliyah with hers The gang
Cousin Charlie with the pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch

We spent last weekend enjoying the non-autumn weather at a local pumpkin patch. When we went last year it was about 40 degrees F and both Mulu & Aaliyah were decked out in full winter garb. We knew we couldn't do that with a newborn this year, so we decided that the 1st nice weekend that came by in October would be our pumpkin picking weekend. Little did we know it would be 85 degrees F!!! So here are some of our favorite photos of our very fun and sweaty day!

Mulu posing in front of an elk enjoying a smushed pumpkin. He was excited, but very unsure, when the elk came up that close.

Aaliyah and her friend in the kitty and baby bunny barn. We ended back at this location multiple times throughout our visit at the farm - kitties and baby bunnies were a huge hit with the girly girls.

Me & baby Aria "watching" the puppet show. You can see she is loving every minute (her experience was very similar to being at home - eating, snuggling and sleeping - with a diaper change or two thrown in)
Mulu & our friend in the wagon on the way out to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins.
Daddy and Aaliyah scrubbing Aaliyah's pumpkin.
Our newest "little pumpkin" - By the look on her little scrunchy face I'm sure the pumpkins weren't quite as comfy as they look.
As everyday goes by, Aria is awake a little more (which is making Mulu & Aaliyah happy -she is much more fun when she can look at them). Here is a picture of her looking over Daddy's shoulder - you can see her beautiful navy/grey eyes.