The Johnson Family

So, I have reached the max storage capacity that blogger will allow for this blog address. I have been debating starting a new blog and finally am giving in and doing it. I need a place to write, share stories and an occasional picture or 50 :-)

Here is the new address...

http://thejohnsonfamily2.blogspot.com/

keep in mind, this is a work in progress and I have to relearn setting up a blog.

Thanks for following along and checking in from time to time!


Crystal

As soon as Owen said he wanted a Ninja birthday party, I started pinning ideas and immediately knew I wanted to have his party at some kind of Martial Arts studio/school. I spoke with a parent at our preschool about the Tae Kwon Do school her son attends and called the next day to set up an introductory class for the boys. Next the thing you know, I've signed both boys up for 11 months of Tae Kwon Do and booked a birthday party.


25 of our best little friends (a great mix of new and old including 4 new friends from Owen's kindergarten class) were able to come.

I ordered invitations from Itsy bitsy Paper by Lindy to send out and I made some homemade Ninjago invitations for the boys in Owen's class (these actually came out pretty cute and I could have saved myself $30 had I thought to do them in the first place.)

A super delicious cake from City Bakery Cafe and Lego candles my aunt sent for the kids a while back that I held on to.

Homemade favor bags with Ninjago eyes filled with chocolate pretzel nunchucks, origami throwing stars, sticky ninja dudes, and Cliff Jr. Bars.

We filled a jar with Legos and had the kids guess how many were in the jar. The kid with the closest guess got one of the newest Lego mini figures.

I found a code sheet online where you could decode your name to determine your Ninja name... Owen loved this!

Owen and I made a box out of  Legos for the utensils and I used leftover plates and napkins from previous birthday parties only having to pick up a few table cloths and small pack of napkins.

I sent my friend Andrea an e-mail a few days before Owen's birthday and asked if she could make him a Ninja shirt...and she said yes!


The venue provided pizza and water for the kids as part of their birthday package... we kind of over ordered and had enough pizza for the kids, parents, and 3 whole pizzas left over to bring home. Feeling a little Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle over here....


Have I mentioned how much I love birthday parties :-)

Fall is by far my favorite time of the year. I just wish the colorful leaves would stay on the trees a little longer! We have been so so busy the past few weeks, well months as it seems, that Danny and I are really trying to make fewer plans and spend more time doing fun things as a family on the weekends. We have made Sunday's our family in the woods day and we try to find a new waterfall, swimming hole or hiking trail to discover. We have also revisited some of our college favorites as well. The kids have seemed to really enjoy it!

This past Sunday we took a trip to Edneyville, NC to a small farm where we always buy our pumpkins. The kids enjoy running around, picking out pumpkins and looking at the animals and in the meantime, I try my hardest to get one half way decent picture of all of them :-)

 He doesn't get nearly as nervous as Owen and definitely doesn't over analyze every situation like his big brother. He's more of a "go with the flow" kind of kid and most certainly doesn't get to worked up over change (not saying he doesn't get worked up over things... that he does!)





 He found these sunglasses somewhere in the car this morning... Yep, he's one cool kid!
 She came along for the drop off. She kept saying "Owee?" I think she was confused to be at Owen's old preschool without Owen.

 HE knew exactly what to do and was so excited it was finally his turn!

Ready....
 Steady....
 GO!

 He pumped his hands...
 hung his lunch on his little hook and took off his shoes...

 posed for a picture with one of his amazingly wonderful teachers (and owner of the school)...
 found a few friends...
 and never looked up....
 2 down. 1 to go.
*When I picked Ben up from school today, his teachers said he did great! They did mention he starting acting sleeping around 11:30am and wanted to take a nap. He hung in there though. It wouldn't have surprised me to find him sleeping in the reading corner or under a table or sitting straight up somewhere though.

Here's to a wonderful school year for both my boys and lots of baby dolls, tutu's and special time with my sweet Audrey.

OWEN's first day of Preschool

 We loaded up and drove over to the school, which is about 5 minutes from our house, parked and the WHOLE Johnson family walked Owen to his room.