Father's Day!

We had an awesome time celebrating our fabulous Daddy on Father's day this year (although the entire day Aaliyah would yell "Happy Mudder's Day Daddy").

We started out by making him a big old omelet and potatoes for breakfast including his favorite dessert apple turnovers (that Aaliyah and I had made last week) and letting him eat in the bedroom. We played outside, went for a walk, and hung out as a family. We then gave Daddy his gifts and prepared lunch. The kids and I (and the help of two of our neighborhood friends) made pretzels that spelled out "Daddy", we ate little football shaped meatball sandwiches and played a "what kind of ice cream is it" game. Then for the afternoon Brian got to go play golf with a friend and have some quiet, peaceful time on Father's Day.

It was not hard at all to celebrate him & I hope we did a good job showing him how much he means to us. We are pretty lucky to have a Daddy like him!!!

Catching up

ok, ok, ok - so I know its been too long that I have posted. I have no good excuses - except life has been busy. Mulu is done with school which allows all three Johnson Kiddos to be home full time! We have been having an awesome time already doing summer stuff, with summer schedules and basically summer life.

So I have posts lined up ready to catch up (Aria's 9 month update, Father's Day, etc.)


Here is a photo of Mulu's Kindergarten program "The Three Piggy Opera" - toooooo cute. And although this photo does NOT show it, Mulu had a great time and did awesome - knowing all the songs and little had gestures that went with it.




















Aaliyah and Aria on our last day of just the girls - we're all really excited to get the summer to be with Mulu!



















For fun & to compare - here is a picture of Mulu on his first day of Kindergarten - before Aria was born, before he could read and do math, before he became the confident Kindergartner he is today.



















And Mulu's last day of Kindergarten - after a full year with an amazing teacher, sweet new friends and 9 months of being on his own during they day. He has absolutely blossomed this year & is very proud of himself (as he very well should be)



















And, of coarse, b/c Mulu got his picture taken in front of the tree - Aaliyah wanted to also - so here is Aaliyah on Mulu's last day of Kindergarten (in her Dora pjs)




















And Aria too - although she wasn't too sure about getting her feet into the dewy grass so early in the morning.

Memorial Day Weekend!

Over Memorial Day weekend our family traveled to Northern Wisconsin (way up in the north woods) to stay at our friends' cabin and visit Brian's family for his Grandmother's birthday. We stayed three nights and four days of laidback family time. We had a wonderful time - filled with fishing, bike riding, laid back meals, family naps and campfires - oh . . . and only a couple ticks - (my not so favorite part of the trip).


Here are Mulu & Aaliyah checking out the view from the deck soon after arriving at the cabin. (Aaliyah in her oh - so - rugged camping clothes - she is truly a girls' girl)


























Aria taking a quick nap after a long walk. She did so well being out of her normal elements - and loved being outside for most of the days.























Aaliyah very patiently fishing off of the pier. She had a plastic blue fish on the end of her line to be able to practice casting & would squeal "look I got a blue fish - I caught a blue fish!!!!" everytime she reeled it in. I thought she was kidding at first - but her excitement proved to be real and she seemed genuinely thrilled to have caught her blue plastic fish every time!























Here is Brian and Mulu working on his fishing line. Mulu actually had a hook on his and tried his hardest to get a fish - but besides a couple tree branches and his sister's fishing line, his hook stayed empty throughout our trip. I was pretty impressed with his patience - trying many times and always wanting to go out & do some more fishing. Maybe next time Mama or Daddy will remember to get some bait before we get up in the middle of nowhere (yes - poor guy did all that fishing with nothing to offer the fish!)
























The Johnson Kiddos at their cutest!




















Brian and Aaliyah snuggling during our family naps - definitely key to keeping everyone smiling and calm during our weekend! Too bad we can't implement them into each of our days . . .





















Aria's turn!



















Mulu reading his books while the others slept.




















Aaliyah (definitely our family dancing queen) groovin out while I was cooking dinner - I caught some of it on video for you to enjoy!

Water fun

The utility folks were flushing the water lines on the corner of our street & the kids had a blast watching it & eventually diving in. The temperature of the air was only about 50 degrees and the water was much colder - but they didn't seem to mind. Here are some shots of Mulu, Aaliyah and some of our neighbor friends.

A big couple of days for Mulu!

Big happenings this week in the life of our little 6 year old.

Yesterday, May 19th, Mulu lost his first tooth! Very exciting for him as his tooth has been loose for at least 6 weeks now and most other kids in his class have lost some already (a big deal for a Kindergartner you know). On Mother's Day Grandma was trying to pull it out with a hanky, but it wouldn't budge - and last night Mulu had enough and wanted it out. So I took Grandma's lead, grabbed Daddy's hanky and started yanking (with weak knees and a iffy stomach - just not my thing). We tried for about 20 min & finally it popped out! He was so excited. We told Daddy, called Papa & Nana and then I went out to my car to get my cell to call Grandpa & Grandma & he followed me into the garage and dropped it - eeeeek! So lots of tears came, and we all ended up on our hands & knees with flashlights looking for it (you would be surprised how many small things on a garage floor look like little teeth). We found it, called Grandpa & Grandma, put it under his pillow and had a successful Toothfairy exchange.

Here is one of Grandma's attempts


















Mulu in the bathroom after I got it (you can kind of see him holding it in his hands)


















Cute Jack-o-lantern grin!



















And the other big news. . . .

Mulu can now ride a two wheeler. Yesterday I took off his training wheels and he messed around on it for a bit (with me running after him holding his seat) and today after school he got on it and just figured it out! He is so proud of himself and can't wait to tell everyone! Only one day of trying the two wheels- I'm telling ya - this kid is definitely athletically inclined!

Here is a video of his newest accomplishment (and you can notice him look and smile at Aria in the stroller as he rides by - even when he is showing off in a big moment he is still a great brother!)

Adorable waving!

So here is my first attempt to include a video in a post. Aria's newest trick (and really her only) is to wave & she just figured out how to include the wrist action. Now she does it about a thousand times a day and is so dang proud of herself when she does.

Here is a video of her looking like a proper waving queen. It is really short & sideways - but I think its a darn good start. Next time I will know to not turn the camera sideways & make it a bit longer.

So just tip your head to the side and enjoy!

While the boys are away - the girls will play

So I know Mulu has been getting the short end of the stick with photos lately - he is at school all day, so I just don't have as many shots of him (isn't that usually the complaint of the youngest). So bare with me one more post as I continue the trend.

Every morning Mulu & Brian leave to go about their day (school & work) and the girls and I do our "thing" together. Aaliyah has swimming lessons one day and dance class another - otherwise we just keep ourselves busy and rarely spend a full day in the house (although Aaliyah is a pretty big advocate for pajama days).

Mulu will soon be done with school and home with us for the summer, so before things change up - I thought I would share some of our fun we have home together.


This is part of our morning routine - as the boys drive away together, Aaliyah stands in the garage and waves goodbye shouting "bye - love you - bye" until they are totally out of sight



Here is Aria in her jumper and Aaliyah helping to entertain her in the exersaucer.

Aria, Aaliyah & I playing jump rope. Aria holds one end, I hold the other & Aaliyah jumps. - Here is an action shot.This is actually the first time Aria was in the big bath with her sister. Aaliyah was quick to initiate her into the "dumping the bucket over your head club"- and surprisingly, Aria didn't mind

After playing outside - getting a photo of Aria looking cute in her hat
Ok Mama - enough pictures already!


Aaliyah is entering into the "not needing a nap everyday" phase - but this day I guess she really needed it - falling asleep hanging off the couch while I was folding laundry

Here is proof that Aaliyah is grooming Aria to be a princess also - I couldn't believe she let her momentarily wear her crown.and the girls - just being cute!