crazy hair day

Mulu's elementary school (he is in 2nd grade) had crazy hair day - this was our attempt (seeing that I didn't have hair paint like he initially wanted). He said it was a great hit - and that people laughed at him but it was ok because he was trying to be funny :)

its a little hard to see with the dark background - but we did dozens of little tiny pony tails all over his head.




top view

Pie Crust 101

Before Thanksgiving day Aaliyah and I got to go visit my Grandma (Aaliyah's GREAT grandma) Hubacher to teach us how to make her perfect pie crust. It turned out to be a very special day for the three of us (and we ended up making lots of wicked good pies.

Here is Great Grandma showing Aaliyah exactly how much ice cold water should be added



Aaliyah posing with some dough



Aaliyah's turn to roll it out



We made a mini pumpkin pie just for Aaliyah. She ended up taking it to preschool to show her teacher and friends - they cut it into little pieces and they all got to try some.

Here is Aaliyah and Great Grandma posing with the mini pie - (this is Aaliyah's wink smile)




The three bakers - not bad for a self timed photo

Very Thankful . . . .

As we are approaching Thanksgiving I am in awe of all the blessings in my life. Over dinner the other night I asked everyone to mention one thing they were thankful for. This is what I got:

me: being surrounded by love

Brian: our family

Aria: my brother and sister (we helped her with this one - although she may have been able to come up with "the muppets" all on her own

Mulu: that the Indians helped the Pilgrims

Aaliyah: money

tee hee

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Fall

We have had a very busy and fun beginning to fall

Here is Aaliyah, Aria, Mulu and cousin Charlie at the pumpkin patch





playing in the leaves - Aria (sorry about the runny nose)



Aaliyah - with a hat on (it wasn't that cold, but I wasn't going to let her fabulous curls be infiltrated by the leaves/dirt/nature in general)


Mulu loving the leaves (and he worked very hard helping to rake them all up)


some fun Halloween desserts



presenting the Johnson kiddos as: a zombie ninja, Kermit and Ms. Piggy



our trick-or-treating gang


Daddy and Aria

Aria's Professional Photos

We had Aria's 2 year pictures taken professionally - here are some of the best shots

Aria is 2!

Ok, so this really isn't new news - since she turned two in Sept - but I am slowly catching up.

So . . . . our little miss thing is two. I am so lucky to be able to be the mom of such a sweet little girl. Aria loves to make people laugh - almost as much as she loves laughing herself. She is still really easy going and fairly mellow little girl. She loves her brother and sister, can't wait for her Daddy to get home from work everyday and continues to be a "Velcro baby" - which makes me smile.

She is running and climbing and a little daredevil. She tries to keep up with the big kids, and most of the time she can. She loves playing babies, singing songs, playing outside and loves anything Muppets (from the Muppet Show, not Sesame St). Hence her birthday invite:



Here are some pictures of her birthday party.


Here is Aria starting to get into opening her present - and Cousin Charlie close by for reinforcements if needed



Daddy and Aria - who is wearing her new hat and bow



this was hands down her favorite part of the party - everyone singing "Happy Birthday" and her blowing out her candles



Aria shouting "TWOOOOOOO" when asked how old she was. She was stuck on saying "one" (because up until now that was the correct answer to the question) so I had to make 2 a big deal. So we practiced - "Aria how old are you?" and Mulu, Aaliyah and I would yell "TWOOOOOOOO!!!!" to make it fun - she learns quickly



some of the party goers having fun outside

End of Summer

ok, ok, ok, finally catching up on summer -

big news! We are moving (or hopefully moving!) We have an accepted on a house - contingent on the sale of ours - so we have spent the last month painting/cleaning/organizing/beautifying our house for sale. It's a bit slow at the moment - but we are all REALLY excited about the new place and are trying to be patient until it all works out!

So . . . the end of summer

For Brian's Dad's birthday we took a family trip to Mt. Olympus - amazingly fun day - but had so much fun I forgot to take a lot of picts - but here are two


going into Mt. Olympus - Aaliyah and her buddy holding hands on our way in.



Daddy, Aria, Auntie Lex and Cousin Charlie on the train ride (this as a big hit)



My Grandmother - so the kids' Great Grandma Hubacher with the Johnson kiddos and my cousin at the zoo.


too cute




Mulu about to blast the ball at one of his coach pitch baseball games


Mulu on his first day of 2nd grade



Brian, I and Mulu on his first day

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