Must Love Dogs

We have been dog-sitting this week for Jeff's sister. They have a cocker spaniel named Rocky. He's a really good dog, and Ashley is crazy about him. We've never had an indoor pet (except the goldfish), so she's been so excited about having him in the house. He's just her size and very tolerant of her affection.

Duckmaster Kay Kay

Last year, Nathan was the Honorary Duckmaster at the Peabody. Mikayla really wanted to have turn, but you have to be 4 years old to do it. She got her turn this morning (and just in time...they are moving tomorrow!) She was very shy and quiet, but I think she liked it. The kids' favorite part of the day was when the Duckmaster took them to the gift shop and let each of them pick out a rubber duckie to take home with them.

Kay Kay with the new Duckmaster (How old is this kid? Twelve?)

Duckmaster fan club: Mary Beth, Ashley, Mikayla, and Nathan

Little Miss Messmaker

I'm on call this week, and if we're home, I usually go upstairs when I have to take a call so that I can actually hear the person to whom I'm speaking. (It's difficult to have a serious conversation with a child begging for a snack or tattling on their sibling in the background!) Well, this has been a particularly busy call week so far. Last night, I was taking a call and left the kids unsupervised downstairs. Ashley promptly dumped out my purse and started putting on lip gloss. My camera was also in my purse, so I guess Nathan thought it was more important to capture the evidence first, then call for me later. Here's a picture he took:

Tonight I left my kids downstairs unsupervised (again), and they got into mischief (again). They got into a box of markers (why we had non-washable, bold-color markers in the house, I do not know) and colored all over their arms and faces. I was on the phone for at least 10 or 15 minutes, so I guess they decided to wash up after they tattooed themselves. I found them dripping wet, and there was water all over the bathroom floor. Nathan did a pretty good job of cleaning himself up, but Ashley was another story:

You would think that I would learn my lesson, but what else am I going to do? I had to hold her down and scrub her face to get it off, and then I threw the non-washable markers in the trash.

Alum Fork

We spent Memorial Day floating Alum Fork. For those not familiar with Saline County waterways, the Alum Fork just behind my parents' house and is one of the four rivers that combine to form the Saline River. The water was low in places, but the first half of the trip was really good. We only went 3 miles because we had the kids. This was Ashley's first float trip. She did okay, but she still doesn't like to be hot, wet, or dirty. This is precisely why I did not want to go to the beach this summer!

Even though we took the dry bag, I didn't risk taking the camera on the float, so here are a few pictures I took before we left.

Dazzling Display

Ashley, Audry, Jenna, and Nathan

On Sunday night, we went to the Big Dam Bridge with the Stanisors to watch the fireworks. Let me back up a few months...last July 4th, we wanted to go watch fireworks, but I was not up for the crowds downtown, so I suggested we go to the BDB to see if we could see any from there. It turned out to be a great spot. Even though we were far away, we could see the show really well. We could even see some fireworks from 4th Fest in Maumelle and some of the big houses overlooking the river had their own mini-displays (much more impressive the Roman candles and sparklers we set off as kids!) Fast forward to Sunday night...we had a picnic on the bridge, went for a walk, and then settled down to watch the big show. Well, I don't know if they changed the location from which they shot the fireworks or what, but we couldn't see a thing! We could see the outer rim of some of the big explosions. That's it! It was rather disappointing.

Florida Bound!

On Saturday, we had a "Going Away" party for the Amanda and family. They are packing up this week and leaving for Ft. Meyers on Sunday.

Fischer Family

Top Row: Renee, Granny & Papa Fischer, Mom, Me, Amanda, Josh, and Dad

Bottom Row: Lily, Jeremiah, Micah, Ashley, Nathan, Brandon, and Mikayla

Shake It!

The Johnson boys really know how to shake it. Check out this video.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, Jeff''s had a 3 and 1/2 week break between semesters. (Yes, I'm totally jealous.) He had some down time the first week, but last week, he played Super Uncle. While Renee and the kids were here, he took the boys to Chuck E Cheese and then to a bouncy house place in Benton. Tonight, he is taking Nathan and Brandon to see Speed Racer. (I don't know if any of you have seen the Speed Racer previews, but this is definitely one movie I'm going to pass on.)

Busy, busy week!

As you might have guessed from the pictures, the Johnsons are home! (Aaron didn't get to come this time, so I know looking at these pictures of his kiddos is killing him.) Renee - God bless her - drove from 8am Thursday morning until 2am Friday morning from PA to AR with all 3 kids! Yes, she's crazy! But we were all glad to see them. Renee, Amanda, and I had some "sister time" on Saturday while Mom and Dad watched 5/7 of the kids. (Amanda's were with her inlaws.)

On Sunday, everyone came to Fellowship with us for the first service in our new building. It was fantastic! We then had lunch with the Krebs and Stanisors bringing our kid-count up to 11!

On Monday, Renee, Lily, Ashley and I did some shopping. It is amazing how easy it is to get out with just the two little ones! Renee and I talked about how overwhelmed we used to get with just Nathan and Jeremiah. Now it seems like a piece of cake!

Last night, Jeff introduced the Johnson boys to go-carting. They had so much fun! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera.

Mission Impossible!

We always try to do it...capture the impossible shot of all the kids looking at the camera without any nose-picking, hand-waving, or fit-throwing. It never happens. We didn't subject a professional photographer to our clan this time around though. We just took some pictures in the backyard before church on Sunday. Even though we didn't get the money shot, I must admit, they did pretty cute!

We are family...

...I got all my sisters with me. (Sorry, I just had to quote it!)

Preschool Graduation

Here's a few pictures from Nathan's Preschool Graduation last night.

Nathan's class before the ceremony

Nathan is on the 2nd row, 5th (?) from the left

Receiving his "diploma" from Ms. Betsy and Ms. Melinda

Hard Core T-Ball

I took Nathan and Ashley to watch Brandon and Mikayla play T-Ball in Benton last night. Let me just say, our WLR YMCA league is a bunch of powder puffs compared to this league. Brandon and KayKay's team, the Eagles, was pretty much what you would expect from a group of 4 & 5 year olds - cute and disorganized. But the opposing team was hard core. First of all, only in Saline County would you find a T-Ball team whose team color was camouflage. They were called the Bucks and had these fancy deer silhouettes stenciled on their batting helmets. They didn't hit off the tee, and a few of them hit line drives so hard that they just about took out some of the Eagles. The game was cut short by rain, so we all went out for some pizza. KayKay and her pink glove - too cute!

I love how serious Brandon looks in the picture. Maybe he's going to be hard core, too!

Speed Racer

Jeff took Nathan to ride go carts this evening for the first time. Nate loved it so much he had to call me between rides to tell me about it! At first he rode with Jeff (see video below), and then he took a spin around the junior track on his own.

I don't even want to know how Jeff shot this while driving!

Extra! Extra!

One of Jeff's many roles at UCA is the editor of the newsletter for the speech pathology department. I have critiqued both issues so far, and they were very good. He used his publishing software to make this cute little newspaper for me for Mother's Day. I really enjoyed it. If you click on the picture, I think you can read some of it.

My Mom Is...

I went to the Mother's Day Art Show at Nathan's school this morning. They showed off all their art work and gave the moms their Mother's Day presents. Earlier this week, the teacher asked them to answer some questions about their moms. Here's what Nate said:

1. Her name is Rachel.
2. She's as pretty as a daffodil.
3. She is 32 years old.
4. She has blue eyes and blonde hair.
5. She is 24 feet tall.
6. Her favorite color is rainbow.
7. I wouldn't trade my mom for a beaver.
8. I love my my because she is the best mom in the world.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Beware of the Mini Cheez-It!

My kids were unsupervised while snacking on some mini Cheez-Its this evening. Later Ashley sneezed out some bright orange funk! I know, it's gross. I don't know if it was an accidental lodging or not. Apparently she had spilled her crackers, and then I caught them both laughing hysterically and eating off the floor like dogs. Again, I know it's gross. At least I had mopped the floor yesterday. Maybe that makes it a little less gross...maybe.

First Game

Here's a couple of pictures from Nathan's first T-Ball game tonight. He did a good job batting and had a lot of fun. As for paying attention and running fast, he still got some work to do.

JUST BE QUIET!

The incessant chatter of a 5 1/2 year old can be enough to put you over the edge! Here's a small sample of Nathan's dialogue when I picked him up from school today: "Today we played with yarn at school Nicholas said look a kitty ball yarn starts with Y we're learning on Y this week I bet Clifford would play with a huge ball of yarn maybe I could get inside it a giant could pull me on a string of yarn that would be funny we had the most green yarn today green's my favorite color..." I swear, I don't think he stopped long enough to take a breath!

Sunny SW FL

Hey this is my first ever attempt at blogging but it's always good to expand one's horizons. Anyway, Amanda and I (along with Brandon, KK, and Virgie) are all enjoying the beautiful scenery here in Ft Myers, FL. This is our final trip to Ft Myers before we relocate here. This week we have been house hunting, job hunting, and location hunting. We are so excited about the opportunity we have here. We also took some time for some fun. We are staying right on the beach so Virgie and the kids get down to see it (or the pool) almost everyday. Virgie has been a lifesaver for us. (thanx, Ms Virgie!) We also visited a shopping center that had some really cool trampolines. Amanda and the kids had a fantastic time. The video quality isn't great but I just have to show everyone how athletic Amanda really is. (sorry honey) anyway our trip is almost over but we can't wait until we are at home here.

Now that's a mouthful!

Come Home Fisch!

My mom has been travelling the country for the last 2 and 1/2 weeks doing things with my sisters (first she was in Pennsylvania for 9 days, and now 8 days in Florida with Amanda), and it is really cramping my style! I'm just kidding. It sounds like she has had a really good time on both trips. Josh told me that he would post some pictures of their trip to Ft. Myers on the blog. They are planning to move in June if everything works out. I'm not thrilled about my sisters living 900 and 1100 miles from home, but at least they are both going to be in places that are nice to visit. We can play in the snow in PA and on the beach in FL...not bad.

Home Depot

Aaron went to Home Depot this morning to buy a new weed eater. The boys went with him and they were offering a workshop for kids where they made these wooden flowers and painted them. Apparantly they have these workshops for kids every so often on Saturdays at no cost. The boys loved it and they said they made them for me for Mother's Day.

Kindergarten registration

I took Jeremiah yesterday to register for kindergarten. It was actually fun for both of us. He's excited about school and I'm excited for him.

Mom's trip to PA

Aaron and I went to Florida last week and Mom flew here to watch the kids. Here is Mom's journal of what they did everyday:

Tuesday
Up around 7:00 Cereal for breakfast
Watched Jungle Babies the movie Jeremiah bought at Goodwill yesterday when he and Fisch walked home from there while Micah and Lily took a nap. We played with toys. We went to Pet Smart & Target to look at toys. (We stayed a very long time) Went to Dollar Tree to buy a toy Micah got a grab Bag & Jeremiah got Army Men.
We ate lunch at McDonald’s and stayed a long time there too.
Came home for Micah and Lily’s nap while Jeremiah watched the movie Renee rented before she left The Rescuers Down Under.
5:00 the kids went with Allie @ Andrew
8:30 Home and Bed

Wednesday
Micah and Lily were up by 7:00 and Jeremiah was up at 7:30 we made pancakes for breakfast then I took the boys to Wednesday School. We came home for lunch and we had sandwiches chips and milk. Lily and Micah took a nap while Jeremiah and I had quiet time. After nap we had a snack and went to the park but it started to rain as soon as we got there so we went to Toys Are Us. It was Micah’s day to choose and he likes this store. We did not buy any toys we were just looking and again we stayed a really long time.
We went home and had pizza for dinner, and then some neighbors came by. They were Barb from next door and Shannon and Michael. One neighbor came by who had a 3 year old. We played outside until dark then we went in for a bath and we watched Ice Age before bed.

Thursday
We were up by 7:30. We played until 9:00 and then we went to BK for breakfast and played on the playground for a little while. When we left there we went to Recreation Station and stayed there until 1:00. After that we went to Goodwill and bought Rescue Hero’s movie for Jeremiah to watch while Micah and Lily took a nap. We went back to the Recreation Station and then we went to Giant Eagle to buy some bread of course we stayed there and played for a while. It has a cool drop of play area for the boys. We drove through Captain D’s and went home to eat. We played outside with Michael until dark he was washing the car so you know Jeremiah had to get wet. Two cats came over for the fish that was left from dinner. Micah loved them.

Friday

Up at 7:30 and had cereal for breakfast. We played at home then we went out driving around looking for carport sales but we did not find any. We had lunch and ice cream for dessert. On the way home I told the boys that I had to stop at Wal-mart to get Lily some diapers and that they could pick out a toy for being so good while Mom & Dad were gone. Micah got some little men from some cartoon, and Jeremiah got a transformer. It broke while he was taking it out of the package. He was upset but he handled it pretty well. I told him that we would take it back after Lily woke up from her nap. He wanted to go to Target instead and he got 2 Spiderman toys. We came home and played outside with the new toys. We had grilled cheese sandwiches, green beans and corn for dinner. They took a long bath and went to bed. Everyone is sleeping now. This is my favorite time when I can just watch these wonderful kids resting after a hard day at play. Thank you for letting me share their life. Love, Mom

Batter Up!

Nathan had his first T-Ball practice last night. Though he was a little nervous about it beforehand, he did pretty well once they started. He's so easily distracted and non-competitive (definitely NOT a quality he inherited from me!) that he's just not really in to the game. We'll see how it goes. The first game's on Tuesday.