*We are loving the weather! It's so nice to be back outside with the kids in shorts and flip flops and enjoying our big back yard again.
*Last Friday, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Vanessa came up for a visit and we took them bowling! The kids had fun showing them their bowling skills and I think Vanessa enjoyed her first time throwing an 8 pound ball down a lane.
*Kirby and I are still doing P90X...we are on day 61! The past week has been rough to find the time and energy but we both are feeling good with our progress.
*Emma is almost done with Kindergarten~Wow! It's been a fast first year of school for her.
*Emma also has her gymnsatics show on May 22nd....can't wait to watch her skills in a show.
*I was lucky enough to attend a work conference up at Grand View Lodge in Nisswa, MN. I would highly recommend this resort! It was beautiful and there is so much to do there. I'm hoping to find a weekend this summer to take the whole family there.
*Kirby is busy umping HS baseball and is pretty close to getting that pool schedule set up for the summer. The kids can't wait for Daddy's pool to open up!
*Kirby and our family have recently been thrown a curveball and we have grown stronger in our faith, a couple and a family as we are reminded of what is important in life. It's comforting to know that he and I still share the same values and trust that everything will be okay in the end.
*Many of my friends and family members are expecting babies! There must be something in the water-I'll be sure to pick a different glass....May god bless them all and provide healthy, happy babies!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Warning-lots of pictures of family fun!
It was FINALLY time for our weekend trip to Duluth and overnight stay at the water park. The kids had saved up their xmas and birthday money and we finally found a weekend to drive north.
Our first stop was Canal Park for some serious rock throwing.
Then a trip out to the lighthouse.
The boys were busy trying to run up the wall to the light house...this picture is of me looking down at them.
After we checked in and did a little swimming...it was then time for some dinner. We headed down to Grandma's.
While we were waiting for our table, Tyler kept himself entertained.
Ryan kept himself busy while waiting for his dinner to arrive.
Tyler and Emma in a competitive game of dots...
Here's Logan and his manly little muscles...
The boys practiced their shooting skills..
Emma and Logan were worn out! But still had enough energy to watch a movie in the bunk bed.
Sunday was a beautiful weather day! We picked up Gunner and grabbed some lunch and drove down to Point Park for some fun on the beach.
Here's our water dog loving every minute!
The kids! We love them all very much!
Logan as cute as can be.
There's nothing like your toes in the water-toes in the sand.
Monday, April 12, 2010
How are we "judged"?
"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest."
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life
Many fine people have used some derivative of this thought in the past. I know I like to remind myself of the importance of only being as strong as our weakest link.
While in the teacher's lounge last week I had a conversation with one of our building paras about my dear daughter. This particular adult spends the first part of her day on a 1 to 1 supervision assignment of a very needy kindergartner that happens to be in the same class as Emma. The little fella had, no doubt, given Ms. B a run for her money as she eluded to him "just having another bad day." I immediately knew the munchkin of whom she is connected with daily because as I told her, Emma speaks of him often.
In fact, just the night before over evening supper, Emma was talking about how "Erik" lays down sometimes when Mrs. Sybrant asks the class to line up. She was sharing some of her classmate's other quirks but in a very "matter of factly" and informative way. I assure you her story was as respectfully stated as any 5 year could possibly do. I asked her what she thought about the young boy and his misbehavior. She replied, "It's O.K. dad. He just doesn't know any better. Ms. B sometimes has to help him and sometimes I try to help too." I then shared with my co-worker that in the past when Emma is playing school or doodling in her notebooks as she often does, we sometimes catch her writing the names of her friends in those books. I told Ms. B that my daughter often includes "Erik's" name in her list and that she truly considers him one of her friends. This little story of compassion brightened Ms. B's day and left me brimming with pride as well.
Well, after an unusually emotional Sunday within my own family, I got to school today feeling a little melancholy myself. The sunny commute paired with my littlest children bellowing sad country songs easily contributed to my feeling of "glum". It wasn't a sad state of affairs but a more reflective inward thinking about "the big picture" that was clouding my grey matter as I sauntered the early morning hallways on the way to the copy machine. Today though I was stopped by another building paraprofessional who happened upon a "feel good moment" during her playground supervision and wanted to share it with me.
"Nick" is a 5th grader that is struggling to find his place in the world. His learning disabilities and awkward gait make him an easy target for bullying. He has a full mouth of teeth and loves to let the world know when he's in the room and that doesn't bode well for elementary companionship. But this morning it didn't matter. My para friend wanted to tell me how proud she was to watch a young 6th grader from my homeroom take "Nick" under his wing and include him in on the game of Football 500 that the elder kids were playing. My student acted as a protector of his fragile friend and worked hard to get "Nick" the ball and make him feel good about himself.Tears began to fill my eyes for the second time this Monday morning. The first was during my commute when my beautiful baby girl serenaded me in song and now the second time as I listened with pride of another example of a kid that "gets it".
Isaiah and Emma- I love you both so very much! Mr. & Mrs. Johnson, rest easy. You've done your job well. In a world that can sometimes be cut-throat and extremely selfish, our children's hearts are filled with compassion and caring for the last, least and littlest. They're concerned with the well being of the whole tribe/team or family - not focused on individual gain and recognition.
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life
Many fine people have used some derivative of this thought in the past. I know I like to remind myself of the importance of only being as strong as our weakest link.
While in the teacher's lounge last week I had a conversation with one of our building paras about my dear daughter. This particular adult spends the first part of her day on a 1 to 1 supervision assignment of a very needy kindergartner that happens to be in the same class as Emma. The little fella had, no doubt, given Ms. B a run for her money as she eluded to him "just having another bad day." I immediately knew the munchkin of whom she is connected with daily because as I told her, Emma speaks of him often.
In fact, just the night before over evening supper, Emma was talking about how "Erik" lays down sometimes when Mrs. Sybrant asks the class to line up. She was sharing some of her classmate's other quirks but in a very "matter of factly" and informative way. I assure you her story was as respectfully stated as any 5 year could possibly do. I asked her what she thought about the young boy and his misbehavior. She replied, "It's O.K. dad. He just doesn't know any better. Ms. B sometimes has to help him and sometimes I try to help too." I then shared with my co-worker that in the past when Emma is playing school or doodling in her notebooks as she often does, we sometimes catch her writing the names of her friends in those books. I told Ms. B that my daughter often includes "Erik's" name in her list and that she truly considers him one of her friends. This little story of compassion brightened Ms. B's day and left me brimming with pride as well.
Well, after an unusually emotional Sunday within my own family, I got to school today feeling a little melancholy myself. The sunny commute paired with my littlest children bellowing sad country songs easily contributed to my feeling of "glum". It wasn't a sad state of affairs but a more reflective inward thinking about "the big picture" that was clouding my grey matter as I sauntered the early morning hallways on the way to the copy machine. Today though I was stopped by another building paraprofessional who happened upon a "feel good moment" during her playground supervision and wanted to share it with me.
"Nick" is a 5th grader that is struggling to find his place in the world. His learning disabilities and awkward gait make him an easy target for bullying. He has a full mouth of teeth and loves to let the world know when he's in the room and that doesn't bode well for elementary companionship. But this morning it didn't matter. My para friend wanted to tell me how proud she was to watch a young 6th grader from my homeroom take "Nick" under his wing and include him in on the game of Football 500 that the elder kids were playing. My student acted as a protector of his fragile friend and worked hard to get "Nick" the ball and make him feel good about himself.Tears began to fill my eyes for the second time this Monday morning. The first was during my commute when my beautiful baby girl serenaded me in song and now the second time as I listened with pride of another example of a kid that "gets it".
Isaiah and Emma- I love you both so very much! Mr. & Mrs. Johnson, rest easy. You've done your job well. In a world that can sometimes be cut-throat and extremely selfish, our children's hearts are filled with compassion and caring for the last, least and littlest. They're concerned with the well being of the whole tribe/team or family - not focused on individual gain and recognition.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Personality.
Kirby and I take Logan to a 3-5 year old ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) class every Thursday night. We've done this for about 2 years now, the first year it was both of them, this year it's just Logan because Emma is in school.
It's nothing fancy, just 8-10 kids with their parents doing some activites, crafts and singing some songs for the first half. The second half, we leave the kids with the teachers and sneak off to the other room to talk about parent-ty stuff.
Most weeks, we start with a joy and a concern of our child/children. It's kind of like confession as we all go around and share our stories from the last week of a struggle, something that made us smile, something that made us question ourselves, etc, etc.
At least one parent will elude to the fact that their child's personality is really coming out by what they have said or done in a situation. Many times, they can't figure out where their child heard that phrase or heard how to use the word correctly.
Which brings me to my point....where do their little personalities come from? Logan-for example-has been 'testing the waters' as of late. What do I mean? I mean flat out defiance of what is being asked of him. My little boy would lived and breathed for everyword that came out my mouth asking him to do whatever......Has now turned tothe reply of , "No. I don't wanna." At times it's funny...but only when he's acting big and tough in front of Kirby. So, where did he learn this? Where did he see this attitude?
It's nothing fancy, just 8-10 kids with their parents doing some activites, crafts and singing some songs for the first half. The second half, we leave the kids with the teachers and sneak off to the other room to talk about parent-ty stuff.
Most weeks, we start with a joy and a concern of our child/children. It's kind of like confession as we all go around and share our stories from the last week of a struggle, something that made us smile, something that made us question ourselves, etc, etc.
At least one parent will elude to the fact that their child's personality is really coming out by what they have said or done in a situation. Many times, they can't figure out where their child heard that phrase or heard how to use the word correctly.
Which brings me to my point....where do their little personalities come from? Logan-for example-has been 'testing the waters' as of late. What do I mean? I mean flat out defiance of what is being asked of him. My little boy would lived and breathed for everyword that came out my mouth asking him to do whatever......Has now turned tothe reply of , "No. I don't wanna." At times it's funny...but only when he's acting big and tough in front of Kirby. So, where did he learn this? Where did he see this attitude?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Just outside my back door....
Well, it was a busy-fun filled-sunny-crazy-family focused long weekend for us!
Let's start at the very beginning......
While I was at work (bringing home the bacon) Kirby and the kids and an adopted friend of Tyler's went out to our neighbors land and found some fun.
Kirby cooked lunch....White Castle (pretty sure that's not on the diet but I guess everyone needs a splurge right?)
Next was some time letting the 13 year old practice some future driving with the 4 wheeler.
Emma and Logan went on the hunt for some geese...
Logan was a little more persistant.
Reilly and Tyler practiced some target shooting.
Emma took a spin on her big green tractor (thanks Johnsons!)
Big and Little going for a spin..
Finally Friday arrived and Mama Bear took some vacation time to hang out with the family. What better place than Chuck E Cheese?!?!?!?
Notice Logan's new haircut. (I miss his hockey hair but he's still cute)
Emma intense on a horse riding game.
Tyler throwing some serious heat.....
Logan driving the Monster Truck.
A little air hockey....without the hockey hair.
After some good fun, decent pizza and some shopping...it was time to go home and dye some easter eggs.
This is one of my favorite pics....
**I don't remember what we did on Saturday. I think it was everyday stuff like laundry, riding bikes, and spending time under one roof. Those kind of normal days are fine with me.
Easter morning! The Easter Bunny came and went!
Tyler getting his first taste of candy........
Then it was outside for the egg hunt!
Emma scored big!
Tyler scored big!
And even Logan scored big!
I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to hear my children's voices when they are excited. Listening to them scream and yell when they found a new egg in a hiding spot was the best Easter gift for me.
After a busy day of hunting, baseball, basketball and kite flying.......it was time to snuggle in for the night. Logan loves to be right next to Tyler whenever possible.
See proof below.
Sometimes it's just good to be at home.
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