Nathan Pics

More Ashley Pics

Windy City

I guess we really are getting old. All that I have talked about in the last few days is the weather. As for today's weather report, it was sunny and about 70 degrees when I picked the kids up from school today. However, the wind was gusting out of control! I don't know the exact MPH, but it was nearly gale force. In spite of this, we went to the park. You can hear and see (by Ashley's crazy hair) the roaring wind in this video:

Arkansas "Snow"

No snow in the South, only sleet and freezing rain. It's not too bad yet, but I'm sure all the grocery stores are sold out of bread and milk by now! The kids' school is closing early today, and Jeff's on his way to pick them up. I'm at work and on call this weekend. Luckily, it is supposed to warm up tomorrow, so we won't have to deal with this too long. Make a snowball for us in PA!

Nathan & Ashley It's Snowing

Jeremiah and Micah got new batman costumes. They were dying to leave a message for Nathan and Ashley!

Do not adjust your monitor...

This is the actual color of the cupcake (yes, cupcake) batter that I made following one of the DD recipes. So far, I have made several of the main dish and side dish recipes. Overall, they have been pretty good. I have found that adding some of the vegetable purees that it suggests to the foods I ordinarily cook to be very successful (i.e. cauliflower in the scrambled eggs and squash in the boxed macaroni and cheese). Today is my first attempt at a vegetable-laden dessert. This morning I thumbed through the cookbook and decided to make the "Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes". It sounded good. I will give you a report on how they turn out. I added some food coloring after I took this picture to try to make the batter resemble something blueberry flavored.

Treasure Hunting

We went to MV this weekend for Jennifer's birthday. She got a GPS for Christmas and wanted to try some geocaching. She got the coordinates and clues for 2 locations near their house, and we took the boys on Saturday. It was bitterly cold but still a nice day. We found the first cache, but were unsuccessful with the second. Here's a picture of Nathan holding his treasure.

And then there was one...

Sadly, we lost one of our goldfish, Nemo, last night. He wasn't quite dead, but he was belly-up and very near the end. I told Nathan that we needed to set him free because he was sick. Nathan did not handle that news very well. He got upset, which made me get upset. He was mostly concerned about our other fish, Marlin, being sad if Nemo left. So, I suggested that we set him free in the goldfish pond at church. The parking lot by the goldfish pond is closed right now, so we won't get to "visit" him until we move to the new church. He was okay with that. If you wonder why we were so concerned about a silly goldfish, it's because we've had the same ones for over 3 years! I know, it's crazy. I bought them at Wal-Mart for 27 cents each just after Nate's 2nd birthday when he was in his "Finding Nemo" phase. It's not like I've taken good care of them, they just had some amazing longevity.

Arrrrgh!

I took Nathan and Jenna S. to see the new Veggie Tales movie - The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - on Sunday afternoon. They liked it. I thought it was just okay. I guess the Veggie Tales have gone secular, because there were no outright Christian morals in this one. (I think the king was supposed to be God and maybe the weird ball thing was the Bible?) I'm sure I am supposed to be boycotting this movie or something. Oh well! The kids had a good time and watched the whole thing.

Yee Yee for Ashley

God is good all the time, all the time God is good...

On Friday we set off to Wal-mart to do the "big job". So with list in hand and all three little Johnson's in or on the buggy we set off. I noticed after my first two areas to shop that Micah didn't look good. He was just laying in the buggy lethargic. I tried to get him to eat something thinking maybe it was low blood sugar- He gets really grouchy when he doesn't eat and I can't figure out where he gets that from!!!!!!!!!!! But he wouldn't eat and he said he needed to go home. I knew something was wrong so I just put my list back in my purse and headed to check out. I picked up a few random things that were on the main isle and as I was checking out he starts throwing up all over the floor and ALL over me. I stayed calm and made it out to the Jeep and I found this sweatshirt in the back. I'm not a fan of "Christian shirts" but I've never been happier to see one in my life! As it turns out someone at the Outreach had given it to Aaron and it obviously never made it into the house.

Hi!

Renee sent some pictures of her kids to my kids in the mail today. Ashley LOVES her very own picture of Lily. She's been carrying it around and kissing it. Nathan said that the picture of all 3 Johnsons would be perfect for the "faridgerator".

Park Pics

Crazy Weather

What is up with this crazy weather? The high on Wednesday was 36 and yesterday it was 76! We (and at least 500 other people) decided to take the kids to the park yesterday afternoon, and Jeff and Nathan both wore shorts. I took some pictures at the park, but I left the camera in the truck. By the way, Jeff went back to work today. His month-long vacation is over, and his first class starts on Thursday.

Splish! Splash!

Why won't 5 year olds look at the camera?

Jenna S. had her birthday party this afternoon at Rick's Dive Center. The pool party in January was a big hit with the kids. Ashley's nap this afternoon was exactly 4 minutes long. (She fell asleep in the car on the way to the party and woke up when I took her out of the car seat.) Needless to say, she was tired and grouchy this evening. She fell asleep in the highchair holding a piece of pizza. I wish I would have taken a picture of that.

On a totally unrelated note, since the Johnsons have moved to PA, Nathan has become a Steelers fan. He was hooked after he watched them playing in the snow a few weeks ago. He and Jeff are downstairs watching the playoff game now.

Taste Test

Chef Nathan

Well, we tried out one of the recipes: Meatball Soup. Nathan helped me make it, and it was actually very good! It was basically glorified spaghetti with meatballs, but we all liked it and got in an extra serving of vegetables. So far, one for one on Deceptively Delicious! BTW, Nathan's cute apron was a Christmas present from Renee. Now he wants a chef's hat!

This is for you Jeff . . . .

Since my wife forgot how to post to her blog I am going to post some pics from time to time. It is currently about 20 degrees outside and we are enjoying a little snow. Here are some pics from our Christmas in PA and AR. ENJOY, especially you Jeff.

Me (Aaron) and my beautiful daughter Lily

The adults enjoying some picture time before utter mayhem begins with the kids opening presents

Renee and Lily celebrating Christmas PA STYLE

Andrew and Allison enjoying Christmas in PA

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008!
We rang in the new year in Dallas and then watched the Hogs play (and I use the term loosely) in the Cotton Bowl yesterday. We had a good time, in spite of the game, shopping and hanging out with some grown-ups (and again, I use the term loosely!)


Kevin, Charity, Me, Jennifer, & Tyler

Jennifer in her vintage (c. 1950) Razorback cape

Deceptively Delicious

So I saw Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) on Oprah several weeks ago promoting her new cookbook. The concept is to puree vegetables and "hide" them in whatever you cook (from chicken to brownies) in order to get your kids to eat more vegetables. Well, I was sold. I requested and got the cookbook Deceptively Delicious for Christmas. I bought a lot of vegetables and got my puree on one night last week. My kids will both eat vegetables, but only a select few, so I tried some things they won't eat like squash and cauliflower. (If you've never cooked a butternut squash before, it can be a little intimidating. The smallest one I could find was over 4 lbs!) So, here are some "before" and "after" pictures of my first attempt. We've been out of town, so I haven't actually tried any of the recipes yet. I will let you know how it goes.

Welcome to Moe's!

We went to Moe's twice last week. Once with Jeff's sister and kids and then on Sunday after church. It is our latest restaurant fad. I'm sure we will get sick of it soon and move on to something else. Though Nathan is not a terribly picky eater, all he wants at "Mexico restaurants" (as he calls them) is chips and cheese dip or salsa. Ashley has taken to the cheese dip as well. Here is a picture of her happily covered in it, and another of Jeff cleaning it up.