Ben & Anna Johnson

Oh Santa!

2011-12-29T12:35:00.001-05:00

Well I guess Santa wanted Max to have a 4-wheeler. max loves it. To someone without kids this may just look like 5 photos of the same thing but it's so much more! Look at that tiny adorable face!

Christmas with the Johnson's

2011-12-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Another wonderful Christmas with the Johnson's and McCluskey's. Mike & Ron's attention to detail is amazing. Their home was decorated beautifully with tiny touches of Christmas cheer in unexpected places. Looking back thru the photos Ben took that day we noticed a few decor changes mid day! We also notice a whole lot of happy people! We got a lot of smiles in every photo. It's a good thing to notice - hey - we were really happy! So it was warmish you will notice Finn's bare feet. Also the picture Mema is so excited about is a tree made up of one handprint from each great grand child. I never realized her and Papa had 10! Happy Happy Christmas!

2011-12-29T11:52:00.001-05:00

Elmer The Christmas Elf

2011-12-23T17:49:00.003-05:00

We finally got our own Elf December 17th. We named him Elmer and he is a really good little elf. He doesn't get in to trouble like other peoples elfs. The most mess he has ever made was when he made a snow flake one night. I will miss him when Christmas if over but hopefully he will come back Dec. 17 2012.

2011-12-18T20:53:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Christmas at Olive Garden with my parents and family Sat. Max was so good. and it was great to see family.

2011-12-02T08:22:00.001-05:00

Some fun photos. We were just hanging out after dinner watching Star Wars. Max is all into his stuffed animals all of a sudden he has to have all of them with him all at once. So we did the ET thing. In the process his toy snake scared me and he said "we need to work on that" so he proceeded to desynstatize me from the snake by putting it in my hair.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T08:38:00.001-05:00

This year we have so much to be thankful for. We have seen our way out of a few jams, stayed very healthy and been able to fulfill all our needs and a few very fine wants. We both kept our jobs and our life insurance. We got to go to Disney World for an entire week! All of our family if doing wonderfully and thriving. There is so much love in our lives we can't possibly express it, it surrounds us like the air we breath. We are so thankful!

2011-10-24T14:29:00.007-04:00

Max's First Trip to Disney!

Well is was great! We did and saw and experienced as much as we possibly could in a week. We had a lovely hotel room on the 10th floor overlooking Magic Kingdom so the first night we had a wonderful firework show and every other night after. I have never seen a fireworks show like that before WOW. Ben got some great photos of it we will share later.

The first full day we spent at Animal Kingdom. They opened extra early so we took advantage of the small crowd and did the safari ride first then DINOSAUR a little too scary for Max and me. Then we did A Bug's Life (super awesome)

Then we stood in line to see Goofy and get our photo, his son's name is Max too! Then we headed to the Lion King show. We were a bit early and the Cast member suggested to sit in the front row to the left and maybe Max would be picket to be in the show and sure enough it worked!!! He got to shake an instrument and walk all around the stage in a big conga line. I have some video of that somewhere to be added later.

Then back to our hotel for dinner at Chef Mickey's where we got to meet and get photos with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy.

And that was just Sunday!

2011-10-11T12:43:00.002-04:00

Took my new point and shoot I got for our Disney trip. Not too bad. Max took some of these shots. I'll put all of the on Flicker some time this year ;)

2011-10-10T22:02:00.003-04:00

We were invited to a wonderful wedding this weekend in Bogart GA. My beautiful Nice Megan McNeil and her high school sweetheart Matt Hardy tied the love knot at the Thomas House and Gardens October 8. It was so nice to get dressed up and celebrate with family. The meal was so decadent and the wine was delicious and I got to dance with my husband my son and my dad! Very enjoyable!

We had some out of town family to join us too. Jeremy his wife Savannah and there daughter Skyla were there. Skyla is so lovely in her gown twirling on the dance floor. Her and Max get along really well. We went to the farm Sunday and played all day before they had to go back to Wisconsin.

I love my family!

2011-08-20T09:31:00.002-04:00

They boys decided to have a water fight and I saw a good opportunity to maybe get some fun photos. Yes that is a fake snake in Max's pants.

2011-08-14T12:21:00.002-04:00

Max Turns 4

We had a great time at Funopolis!
Enjoy the photos.

2011-08-08T18:37:00.001-04:00

First Day of Pre-K at his new school!

2011-07-13T15:49:00.003-04:00

Max is back for a few days

Max got another mini vacation after the beach. Friday night he went to spend the night with his Grama Maggie for 2 nights! They went to the Disney Store, gigi's cupcakes, Target, and the pool of course. Then Memike and Pops picked him up from maggies and did Fernbank and the children's museum. Max came back with all kids of loot and smiles.

Ben and I are soooo very greatful to the grands for taking Max for a few days while he is out of school. Thank you thank you thank you! We are very happy to have him back though - we missed him!

2011-07-11T11:05:00.002-04:00

Beach photo over the years
2011

2010

2009

2008

2011-07-05T09:40:00.013-04:00

Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina 2011

We had a great beach trip this year. There was a house full of relatives, kids and noise, sand, potato chips, Solo cups and fruit snacks, beer caps, light-sabers, tinker-bells, water balloons, beach towels and wet bathing-suits scattered like soggy confetti.

The house is one the Johnson's & McCluskey's have stayed in for years. I was there once back in '96! and not much has changed. It had a fresh coat of paint, some new furniture, accessories, sink and counter tops but it's still basically the same as it was way back when. The house can't be beat! It's right on the beach with it's own pool and large gazebo. Each room has it's own bathroom and TV so if you need to get away for a quite moment you can easily. It's very large and seems to accommodate us quite well. Plus there is the nostalgia of it.

The house wasn't without it's flaws however as any rental house will be. Our fitted sheet wouldn't stay on so each morning we were caught in it like a venus fly trap. Our towel-rack wouldn't stay attached to the wall and by the third attempt we just left it on the floor. But who needs a towel rack at the beach! :D And the shower stall was a bit small. I learned the hard way that I shouldn't even try to shave my legs in it. If you don't pass out from folding in half the door handle will knock you out on your way up. It's safer to just get in the pool and let the chlorine do it's job ;) But the beds were comfortable and the air conditioning worked great! We had it on 64º all week!

Max did great in the water this year. He liked the beach and boogie bored, digging for anything, and chasing seagulls. He thought the most beautiful shells were the Oyster shells with their gnarly twisted humps and ruff edges. There were so many seashells on the beach this year. Bannon (Ben's cousin) and her family brought each kid a beach bucket and shovel with their name on it. Such a cute and useful gift - Max loves his bucket and filled it to the brim with shells. Bannon also brought Mitch! Max really liked Mr. Mitch and they became good buddies. The boys all hunted crabs at night and dug holes in the beach and just generally had a great time doing manly stuff. Max also enjoyed the pool and even put his head under a few times when we made him. But his confidence went up and he was blowing bubbles by the time the week was over. One time I forgot to put his life on him and I guess he forgot he didn't have it on and went under but recovered nicely. I think we will continue swim lessons.

I'm leaving out a billion things but running out of time to type. The food was great! the weather was great! no one got too burt or too sick! No cars broke down (although we had to get a new battery for our car while we were there) A very successful vacation!

Conclusions:
Copestone spray on with SPF 100 make a great adhesive
We have a chip addiction when on vacation
Nate make a fantastic Nacho Libre
Pineapple upside down cake tastes just as good with chucks of pineapple!
Vacation is better with friends and family!

2011-05-22T10:30:00.002-04:00

Max's First Dentist Appointment

Max did great! they let him hold mr. thirsty and suck out his own mouth. They cleaned his teeth and no cavities! yea! he got his photo on a special "kids with no cavities" bulletin board and a bag full of stuff when we left. Hopeful now when he gets a hold of some floss we wont find all of it in a big pile on the floor! :)

2011-05-06T19:56:00.003-04:00

Max's 2nd Swim Lesson (forgot the camera the first time)

He did okay, he still isn't sure but I think he is enjoying it and beginning to trust the teacher.

2011-05-06T19:54:00.001-04:00

Our First Strawberry Harvest! (and they were good too!)

2011-03-08T21:11:00.003-05:00

Spring is in the air! An we (i.e. Ben) are gearing up for the gardening season! The garden is primed and ready and Ben has about 1 million or so seedlings getting ready to pop! I can't wait to see what the garden looks like mid August.

Just thinking about all those yummy fruits and veggies get's my mouth-a-waterin'! I hope the strawberries work this year and the yellow tomatoes he got me. I'm excited about those!

In the mean time we have spinach (doesn't it look so good!) and the broccoli is trying really hard! the garlic and lettuce is doing well too. YUM!

Anyone got any good homemade salad dressing recipes?

2011-03-08T20:22:00.003-05:00

I've been feeling the guilt of a working mommy these days. Max has been sick with a cold since Thursday, maybe some of it is pollen. I'm so thankful that it isn't the flu but I was feeling guilty that I wasn't there to comfort him soooooooooo on my way home from work Friday I got him a pillow pet and some cooling gel forehead packs. Here is a photo of him and Froggy-hopper-hallway-man, named by max of course.

It's tuff when your little stuffed up child is crying mommy please don't go, stay with me just a little while and your husband is sick and needs to work and needs a break. It makes it hard to leave them even just for 9 hours. I don't hear many mom's talk about this stuff. Most of my friends are stay at home or part time. My mom did it and I know it broke her heart to have to take me to day care on Saturday mornings. But we do these things for a higher purpose and hopefully a higher paycheck higher status at work and more money for the college fund. And to our children we promise to spend more time with our grandchildren while you are off at your job putting in the work.

I'd like to send out a very special Ata-girl and Ata-boy to all those parents who work outside of the home all day and miss there kids and spouse! Keep up the good work and god bless!!!!

2011-03-05T10:29:00.004-05:00

Things have been very busy for Ben and I lately. March is when all the yearbook files are due to me. So I spend most of my days at schools helping them finish up last things. Trying not to say things like "so why weren't you working on this 3 months ago?" Oh well It will all work out it always does.

I have two wonderful days at home now to relax and get some stuff done around the house. I really wish it wasn't raining but I guess it gives me an opportunity to finally post something on this blog. Like these adorable photos of Max in his new overalls!

Ben is doing some amazing things with the garden and he has also started to bake our own bread! yep - you read that correctly Ben is baking bread! I couldn't be happier it is so yummy! and We are saving $ doing it. Ben is an amazing guy!

Hope to send picts of garden soon.

2011-02-26T15:21:00.002-05:00

2011-01-22T21:28:00.001-05:00

2011-01-22T21:16:00.001-05:00

2011-01-22T21:10:00.003-05:00

Don't worry Max didn't fall in this one he was break dancing - I hope I can get the video uploaded. It was really funny!!

The Laundry basket was a big hit!

2011-01-22T21:08:00.000-05:00

2011-01-12T19:44:00.005-05:00

Doing a little catching up
Here are some photos from Thanksgiving at Dad's place in Bostwick GA

Dad giving his gradson Max and his great grand daughter Skyla a ride on the golf cart.

Skyla thinking about doing some driving herself! You go girl!

Max seeking a yummy treat (probably chocolate)

Max giving Skyla a little assistance with the airplane.

2010-12-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

2010-11-30T13:15:00.002-05:00

2010-11-12T12:25:00.001-05:00

He has such an electric personality.....

2010-11-02T10:31:00.002-04:00

Scroll way down to see more picts and my notes on Halloween 2010.....

More Halloween picts.

2010-11-02T10:23:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween

We decided to try a trunk or treat this year. We went to a local church and went from car to car in the parking lot and collected candy. The minister called me a dunce due to my witch hat so we will probably not be going back as witches apparently are not welcome. ;)

I like going house to house better anyway especially in my own neighborhood where I know almost everyone. It's fun to see them and check out their neat decorations and to show off my adorable little buzz light-year. Also neighbor hood treak-or-treating allowed the boys to run from house to house thru the side yards - a sight I wouldn't have missed for anything! Max's candy bag must weigh at least 3lb. 1/2 way thru he asked me if I would hold it for him. I said I would for 1 box of dots and a peanutbutter cup ;)

2010-10-29T16:09:00.001-04:00

Halloween Countdowns at WiddlyTinks.com

2010-10-19T10:28:00.004-04:00

2010-10-19T10:08:00.006-04:00

Neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Contest.

Max Sharing Stickers

What is she doing with that little pumpking?????

OH! The masterpiece: pumpkin eats pumpkin

Pumpkin Carving Contest

The Banducci's put on a great Pumpkin Carving contest! The Johnson family was humbled by there first place trophy. Thanks guys!

2010-10-17T18:09:00.004-04:00

Park N Ride to the festival

First Pony Ride!

2010-09-30T13:25:00.003-04:00

Max's New School Photos.
I can't believe how grown up he is - how much he says and does - he is amazing! I'm so excited I get to watch this little boy become a man! I wonder all the time what he will be. He doesn't seem that into music but he loves tractors! Maybe he will be a farmer...

2010-08-31T22:56:00.002-04:00

My Son makes me laff! What a joy he is!!!!

2010-08-31T22:53:00.002-04:00

We harvested all but 4 of our carrots this weekend. Yum!

I was a bit overwhelmed not sure what to do with them. Recipe one, sauteed in olive oil with fresh home grown garlic and rosemary and store bought honey. very good. So if anyone has any good carrot recipes please send them my way.

2010-08-15T09:46:00.003-04:00

AAAAR MATE!
MAX TURNS 3!!!!!

What a Fun Party!
Thank you to GramaMaggie and MeMIke & Pops for all their help in putting on such a wonderful party for Max! We couldn't have done it without you guys!!!! And thank you to all our amazing friends and family who traveled over and hour on a Saturday morning in the rain to help Max celebrate his birthday! And thanks to all the hoodies who treat Max like he was their family, we love you all!

It was a nice intimate party due to the rain we all ended up sitting on the floor playing games with the kids, dressing them up and drawing on mustaches. Once the rain stopped we got to enjoy the muggy outdoors a little too. All in all it was great!

Thanks again everyone! Enjoy your pirate photos. We will send hardcopies in the mail.

2010-08-15T09:33:00.003-04:00

The Ship

Well..... I googled "how to build a pirate ship out of cardboard" and got my self into a big job. I found this site Mr. McGroovy's this amazing site shows parents how to build amazing thing for kids to play in and on. So I decided to try to build the ship and with Ben's help I did! About June we asked Lowes (sorry Uncle Gabe) to start saving us refrigerator boxes, we needed 7! Then the weekend Max was staying with Maggie I cut out all my pieces. then it took a few nights here and there to put it together saved the last assembly for the morning of the party.... then it rained. We kinda new it would rain but we weren't sure what else to do but just put it up and enjoy it. When it finally stopped raining the kids did get to enjoy it and i have to say as sad as I was to see my creation dissolve in the rain it was still all worth it.

2010-08-15T09:31:00.003-04:00

The kids got all dressed up in pirate gear. mustaches, hat's patches and more.

2010-08-15T09:14:00.005-04:00

The Cake & Pirate Pops

Thanks to all the grandparents who made this amazing cake possible!

I found the recipe for these cute rice crispy treats "Pirate Pops" on line and had to give it a go. They were really fun to make and eat! I think I might have found a new fun medium!

2010-08-15T09:11:00.002-04:00

Here are a few of our wonderful guest who posed for a pirate picture! My apologies to those I missed.

2010-08-06T15:45:00.002-04:00

Turning 3

I can't believe my little snuggle bunny is turning 3. Seems like just yesterday we were accident proofing everything! Now we have no gate on the stairs! He moved up to the 3's room at play school yesterday. Max has about 4 or more kids who all went together from the 2 room to the 3 room so he has lots of friends already. He will have a big boy cubby and the teacher wants us to fill with pictures of his family - cute! I like the teacher a lot. He is making good headway on the potty training. He has great table manners and has been sleeping thru the night a lot in his big boy bed! He makes up these crazy stories about working in a big building that has an elevator, going to his office where he makes news, riding a motercycle, helicopter, train... he rambels on and on and if you listen really close you might get every 3rd word. I've recorded some of it on my phone to listen to any old time.

I look forward to this year of 3 to 4 and all the new things. I do miss the baby though.

2010-07-13T13:37:00.005-04:00

I don't think I posted anything about Kem's wedding yet.

Ben got some great shots! here are a few of my favorites. To see all the wonderful photos Ben took click Here.

2010-07-12T22:16:00.005-04:00

The lawn care specialist / agriculturalist

Our yard looking so nice and cleaned up I had to take a photo
(where are all the toys?)

Ben's magnificent carrots!

More tomatoes than I can eat!

And only 2 cucumbers!

Kind of a boring post.... Ben and I decided instead of taking a romantic trip to the mountains while Max was in Atlanta with his grandmother we would stay home and do a little yard work instead. Mowing, weed eating, harvesting, adding pine straw so pretty!

'

2010-07-06T11:00:00.011-04:00

Jack and Fran thru a great little 4th of July party for us kids and some neighbors on July 3rd. They had a cookout and the weather was so nice we had dinner outside!

The cookout was followed by fun little fireworks for the kids like race cars and snakes and sparklers. Once the sun wend down the real show began! We all sat in a big long line and watched as these amazing fireworks were set off in the field in front of us. They were so close that we ever felt a little paper and cardboard shrapnel!

Ben got some great photos as usual - enjoy!

I think this photo is my favorite! (click to enlarge)
All the firework photos can be found on our flickr site, see link to the right.

2010-07-03T08:08:00.012-04:00

HARVEST!!!

I decided to take a photo of the lovely harvest we picked last night. I'm like a proud moma. I think we are going to have more cherry tomatoes than I can eat!!! Anyone have any good Salsa recipes?

We finally took out the volunteer pumpkin plant. The vine bore bugs have eaten it up. We got one tiny lil cute pumpkin out of it before that happened. I have no idea what to do with it.... It's weird to see it with all those sumer vegetables. The garden looks a little empty without the large green leaves and bright yellow flowers. I think Ben plans on trying pumpkins again when the season is right. Who ever heard of harvesting a pumpkin for the 4th of July!!!

2010-06-25T12:40:00.002-04:00

I didn't even know I planted morning glories! I'm so glad I did! The white part of the flower in the morning is celestial and glowing and ever night they twist close and sleep till morning again.

2010-06-25T12:33:00.004-04:00

A path emergies...

Well maybe not that easy but free! I have been wanting to do something about all the grass that has been growing up between out garden boxes. The are hard for Ben to mow between and slugs and spiders love the tall grass and my exposed tootsies! I had dreams of a very zen stone path type of thing but settled for something I could do sooner and free.

First I got the weed-eater and cut the grass down to the dirt. Then I took a bunch of scrap cardboard and laid it down over the path. Cardboard is great stuff in gardens & landscaping! it makes a great weed barrier because it's s thick and biodegradable, breaths and is mostly free and lying around anyway. Then I covered all that with pine-straw from the woods. Not the cobble stone path of my dreams but certainly an improvement!

2010-06-25T12:30:00.002-04:00

YOU CAN'T FIND ME!

Isn't this a great photo! Ben got this one just at the right moment! Just when you think your child is a genious (see privious post) they go and do something like this.... Apparently Max really thought he was hiding and could not be found by me, little does he know. This photo is one for the archives!

2010-06-25T12:24:00.004-04:00

Someone made a poopie in the potty and, as promised, received one space man with real buttons! (dern! i was going to give him that for his birthday!) OH...and hasn't poopied in the potty sence!

2010-06-25T12:02:00.006-04:00

A few more images of our garden.

I"m so proud of or little garden although compared to most people around here it's not much to look at. I was talking to my dental higenist going on-and-on about this cool garden we have and how many of each veggie we have. The I find out she has a 1/2 acer garden with like 40 corn plants and no end to the cucumbers, squash, tomatoes etc. Makes our garden seem silly but being so small we sure do appreciate each little corner of it and each little baby veggie that pops up.

Strawberries have tiny drops of water on the tips of their leaves each morning.

Max's Garden consisting of leftover plants like squash and carrot and one spiderman watch.

Our baby Green Pepper (sorry for the sideways photo)

Cherry Tomotoes

Big Boy Toms

2010-06-20T10:50:00.007-04:00

Our garden is looking very lush. Ben has done a great job of checking on it every day. He says that looking at the garden helps him think. I also feel very zen when working in the garden. The automatic water sprinkler was a super investment for this year, however the grass in our garden path is getting out of control. We have been thinking about what to do about that, maybe a gravel path?

here are a few more images from the garden.

Our cucumbers all have funny little home grown shapes.

Our voluntary Pumpkin plant has 2 baby pumpkins! Unfortunately Squash vine bores have gotten to the base and the entire plant will die soon. At least this will hopefully keep them off our real squash!

Hello Mr. Bee! Thanks for working hard in our garden!!!

2010-06-20T10:45:00.006-04:00

All ready for Halloween!?!

Aunt Sandy found us these great halloween costumes! Have you ever seen such a thing? It has a small fan inside and the costume seals all up and inflates!! It's the funniest thing I have seen in a long long time! Max was excited to get suited up but lost entrist really fast. Hope you can see the video Ben and I were cracking up! Hope he will ware it come October.

Thanks Aunt Sandy for always thinking of us! You give us some of the neatest stuff! We love you!

BAM

2010-06-17T09:45:00.002-04:00

To a wonderful Husband who is a wonderful Father.

2010-06-16T16:31:00.001-04:00

Next up Wedding photos!!!!

2010-06-16T16:27:00.004-04:00

And here is the Max OIB Series....

2008

2009

2010

2010-06-16T16:23:00.001-04:00

And a few cousins...

2010-06-16T16:21:00.002-04:00

A few photos of Max from our beach trip to Ocean Isle Beach, NC this year.

2010-06-10T09:02:00.002-04:00

Beach Trip 2010

The family went to Ocean Isle Beach, NC again this year for some rest and relaxation. It was so good to see all the little cousins playing and interacting with each other. Finn 4, Max 2, Reese 1, and PRose 11 Months.... almost stair steps.

Here are some photos of our Kayaking trip. I was nervous but it all turned our great. Max really enjoyed it but wanted his own boat. We had a god paddle and no one got dumped but we never get dumped. We only got wet trying to get out because a big boat made some waves and the water went right in our boat at the last second and drenched us all... except Max!

More photos to come. We have a camera full and some wedding photos to deal with too so we might be a little slow getting them all posted.

Glad to be home!

2010-05-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

A boy and his safety goggles.

2010-05-17T12:28:00.002-04:00

Max loves his daddy! He is always putting on Ben's shoes and hat and saying things like "I missed you real bad" and "you are my best friend" so sweet!

2010-05-17T12:24:00.002-04:00

Long story short we received a bunch of cupcake decorating stuff! A BUNCH!!! so one rainy day we got a box of cheep cake mix and Let max go to town decorating cupcakes! What an artist! What a mess!! it was fun.

2010-05-11T15:15:00.001-04:00

"I gotta twig... and I aint afraid to use it..."

2010-05-11T15:14:00.003-04:00

Ben catches Max mid air!

2010-05-11T15:14:00.002-04:00

MeMike & Pops with the grands

2010-05-11T15:12:00.001-04:00

2 are better than one!

2010-04-25T20:46:00.002-04:00

Before

After

The long awaited haircut.... cute no matter what!

2010-04-06T21:51:00.005-04:00

Before

After

Close up

The Garden

Well finally the long awaited garden has been planted! Sunday I took all my little tender plants and put them in there appointed spots. We have a sprinkler set up in the middle hooked into a timer so they will get about 30 min. every morning for the next week. We also had to come up with a make shift fence for the dogs, it's not pretty but it does the job and keeps them from running through. So far so good Everything survived the transfer from cup to ground and even the lettuce has a few new leaves. One problem we are having with the organic compost is it keep growing! our weeds are pumpkin vines and squash, tomatoes and peppers! we could just grow our compost!!! hahaha. I know it doesn't look like much now but it shows some great promise I think!

2010-04-06T21:48:00.002-04:00

Lettuce!

So Ben started this lettuce quite a while back - I wish I had photos of it in the snow! Some how it survived and we cut it an ate it! It was gorgeous and made enough salad for two meals Our very own organic lettuce! I'm so proud of my hubby!

2010-04-06T21:37:00.003-04:00

Okay got some catching up to do....

These are from a few weeks back. Having a great morning with Max on the trampoline - one of those happy moments I will remember forever. The weather was perfect! No pollen yet and not too hot we rolled around and jumped and played and sometimes just laid there watching birds and airplanes. We just had a good ole time hanging out together. Max had the great idea to get the camera so we did... enjoy.

2010-03-23T21:52:00.001-04:00

Happy Anniversary To Us
Ben and I have been married 5 wonderful years on March 26th

Romantic Snow Globes by WiddlyTinks.com

2010-03-23T21:44:00.002-04:00

Our Plants are coming along very nicely! The Squash is the biggest and the green peppers are the smallest.

Here is a cucumber plant that is having trouble letting go of it's shell.

2010-03-21T21:14:00.000-04:00

Don't be alarmed! It's still the same blog we just changed up the look a bit!
Hope you like it.

2010-03-21T20:35:00.001-04:00

Max and I went to Touch A Truck at Heritage Park Saturday morning. There were huge cranes, a fire truck, a bomb squad robot, helicopter, tractors, motorcycles and big orange dirt moving things! He LOVED it! He wanted to drive everything of course. He ended the trip with a nice hay ride that almost put him to sleep. Then we came home and had a picnic in the back yard while we did some light water color painting before our nap. It was a nice Saturday.

2010-03-21T19:30:00.002-04:00

2010-03-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

Seeds in a cup full of dirt with water and sunshine for 5 days....

2010-03-14T10:05:00.006-04:00

Is it time to mow the lawn! Spring is here! We all had a great time mowing the lawn and taking pictures of each other.

2010-03-06T13:49:00.007-05:00

Farmer Ben

Our Garden Boxes

Our Babies

Plants to come...

A Shocking Discovery!

Nice Weather!

YAY! Fianly some nice weather! Whooo hoooo.

While Ben and I talked veggies in the back yard today Max jumped on the trampoline (with extremely close supervision) and his hair got FULL of static. Bless his heart everything he touched shocked him for a good 5 minuets.

Ben and I have started getting the gardens ready. Ben's compost and a few bags of new soil have been turned in already. We have seedlings popping up in our kitchen window sill and have mapped out where we will plant everything. I"m excited about planting sunflowers this year . Sunflowers are so pretty and i've never grown any of my very own. We are planting too much but it will be fun, Big Tom's, lil Toms, zucchini, cucumbers, green peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes, Jalapino's, spinach, broccoli and I'm sure I'm leaving something out. The only thing we have left to get are some tomato cages and we will be all set.

Now for a nap :)

2010-02-19T12:48:00.003-05:00

Max's new teacher at daycare and a visit from a big green friend.

Had to share these small stories cause the are so cute. We don't have too many new photos or events lately. Ben has a few new snow photos on our flicker page. Hopefully we will have some stuff - don't want my blog to get tooooo boring!

Enjoy the stories.

Ben re-heated Max's pizza today for lunch and I guess one of the slices of pizza was missing the tip. Max pointed at it and said "daddy, you ate my pizza, you ate the best part!"

Max was walking down the stairs with Jacki (a neighbor) and Lorenzo (Jacki's son) Max and Lorenzo sept about 5 hours together Monday of this week but today as the 3 of them were walking dow the stairs Max turned to Lorenzo and said "Hi, I'm Max"

Max has gotten a taste for Cheetos from daycare and we told him all week we would put them on the grocery list for him. Today Ben and Max went grocery shopping and bought cheetos. When they got home Ben said would you like some and Max replied "no, save them for mommy" I can't wait to come home and eat them together!

2010-02-15T09:55:00.003-05:00

We had a nice visit with the Raymers a few weekends ago. The boys are getting so big.

I couldn't send the girls home with out new hats!

2010-02-03T18:25:00.003-05:00

Love must be in the air - this bag on the floor looked like a heart to me so I took a picture.

2010-02-03T18:19:00.001-05:00

Max is fianlly big enough to fit into his Flight Jacket he got last Christmas - aint he cute!
I feel the need... the need for speed!

2010-01-15T14:05:00.011-05:00

Happy Anniversary To Us
Ben and I have been married 5 wonderful years on March 26th

Romantic Snow Globes by WiddlyTinks.com

2010-01-12T17:56:00.002-05:00

Lowes Build & Grow

Max is an official member of the Build and Grow team now at Lowes. This was the second time he has been and I hope that we get to go many many times more!

2010-01-12T17:51:00.002-05:00

Christmas 2.1
Back to the Johnson's to celebrate Christmas with all the Great Grandparents! Finnley gave Max an old tricycle. Max always enjoys his Great Grandfathers company. I would also like to note what a great photographer my husband is!

2010-01-09T17:35:00.003-05:00

Christmas at the Olsen's

our 3rd and final Christmas was spent at the Farm with Jack and Fran, My brother Kem and his fiance Carla and my sister Sandra and her husband Stan. Max was the only kid at this one and bless his hart he was not feeling well still. The only thing he ate was icecream and lot of it! Oh and M&M's (what happens at Grandmas stays and grandmas) Max got this wonderful airplane bike from Ben's Uncle Gordan and a whack a mole game and some cloths. I got a bunch of neat stuff including a musical instrument made out of a gord and ben got a great new tripod for his camera. Fran cooked an outstanding dinner with some old favorites like my Grandma Olsen use to serve and Sandra baked a delicious chocolate Cake. Max started a round of Jingle bells and we all sang it while cleaning up the dishes - it was nice and I think we sounded great!

2010-01-09T17:08:00.002-05:00

More photos from christmas. The sponge bob bandaid was just for fun to make him feel better and you can see in one photo he got ahold of the underarm thermometer. After Christmas he saw the dr. and they gave him antibiotics for the ear infection and something for his cough. He was a little trooper!

2010-01-09T16:51:00.002-05:00

Well I"m finally getting around to Christmas no. 2 at Maggies. We arrived on the 24th after out morning at Mike and Ron's. Max fell asleep and since he was so sick we all sat in the car with him (maggie too) and let him sleep for an hour or so while we softly chit chatted. That evening we decorated a cho choo train ginger bred house and all went to sleep. About 1am Max woke up getting sick. Mom helped me clean him up and we tried to give him tylenol but he wouldn't take it so.... we had to resort to other means ( ew - I know!) all I can say is thank Gawd! my mom was there!!! after that we all slept till a respectable hour in the morning. Mom made us a great breakfast and we watched Max open presents and eat candy off the ginger bread train. He seemed to be feeling much better just a tiny fever and he took his medicine no problem! We got mom a Snuggie in pink that she loves and a home made gift that Max made of a hand print in clay painted and decorated. It was a wonderful christmas and I'm so glad we all got to spend it together.

2010-01-01T18:12:00.003-05:00

2009-12-28T13:16:00.003-05:00

Christmas #1 with the Johnsons.

Poor Max not feeling well, fever and such but we couldn't miss Christmas!

2009-12-21T16:05:00.005-05:00

List making... Shopping... wrapping... hiding.
Who did I forget? Will they notice?
Ah! Christmas!

I really am excited this year for Max! this is going to be a wonderful Christmas for him. He knows all about opening presents. And saying WAAAAAAAAOOOW when he sees something cool. I'm sure there will be some lessons on sharing as well.

I had to empty a linen closet to hide all the gifts. I wasn't sure if Max would be tempted to open them. Never had to hide gifts before but I know it's something my parents did and now I suppose it's my turn. We'll need a better spot next year and as he gets smarter, taller and sneakier.

We didn't see Santa this year for photos. I totally intended to it just never happened. I kept waiting for a Monday off to avoid the crowds and missed my chance! Seems like everything got very buys towards the end of December. They may have done Santa photos at daycare so maybe we will get one of those and I won't have the guilty mommy feelings for missing a year.

We were going to try and do hand made gifts for Johnson Family but the idea was canceled due to short notice issues. Now what am I supposed to do with that oil painting of Reese? Oh well It doesn't look like her anyway, pressure is off ! SHEW!

Just 2 more days of work then the wonderful craziness begins... I feel full and tired already just thinking about it. :) Cheers everyone! and Merry Christmas!

2009-12-14T10:16:00.003-05:00

Our Little Tree

We went back to Jacks Christmas tree farm again this year. We got a smaller tree and I really like. I love the hodgepodge of family and homemade ornaments.

Ben did some experimenting with setting on the camera and got some cool light show stuff. He is so creative!

Yesterday we were invited to our first cookie decorating party! It was..... fun and messy. I'm so glad Max has some neighbor hood friends so fun to walk down the street for a visit!

2009-12-10T16:27:00.004-05:00

I'm so glad Max's school picts turned out so cute. We had a ruff morning that day and he didn't want to got to school. Instead of arguing with him about what shoes I let him wear the boots and threw shoes in his bag. His hair was a mess we had all woken up late and I grabbed the first sweater I could reach and headed out the door in a mad dash.

As we walked to his class room and I reassured my tearful boy that everything would be okay I noticed a photographer setting up... ut oh! Yep! Picture day! What you didn't get the memo!

I told his teacher the sweater was cute and his shoes are in his bag. I was very surprised to see he had his fireman boots on in this picture but also very glad! I love them and the story they remind me of - it all turned out perfect!

2009-11-25T13:00:00.002-05:00

A Star is Born!

Kaitlen Raymer was born on her mothers birthday Nov. 24th, 2009. She arrived very quickly, didn't even give the Dr. a chance to get there! She is 7lb. and georous. Mom and Baby are both healthy and excited to go home today. Gloria says she looks more like her dad and has dimples on her cheeks.

Here is a photo Ron took with his iPhone.

2009-11-02T18:30:00.002-05:00

Halloween was good. Maggie came and went trick-or-treating with Max and spent the night. Max was a skeleton and he did such a great job of waiting his turn and saying trick or treat and not getting scared. Now all he ever wants in CANDY! We had to explain to him that Halloween is just once a year.

i didn't get very many good pictures, I did get some video that was cute.

Happy Halloween everyone!

2009-11-02T08:32:00.003-05:00

Truck Weekend in Athens!

Athens puts on an event for the all the boys in Athens each year called Truck week. Ben and I weren't sure what to expect maybe just some big trucks but it was so much more! There was a bomb squad robot and a mobile command center, a city bus and even the Athens city sewer camera on wheels. The Fire-truck, bulldozer and garbage trucks were his favorites. He got in the garbage truck and grabbed the wheel and said "bye mommy" and asked me to close the door.

We both brought cameras and Ben's photos are much better than mine so I'll try to get some of those on here too.

Sorry I've been so slack on the blog lately. October starts the end of the year craziness of saving money, working hard and attending lots of parties and festivals. I know Christmas will be over before i know it and I have so much I want to do. Work has been a bit crazy too. I have 6 schools that I'm helping to do there yearbook and more new schools we are visiting to try and get there business. I do like getting out of the office but the travel days make the desk work pile up. Okay enough about me! Enjoy the photos of my wonderfully funny and adorably handsome husband and son.