The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow!

Big, big, big changes for our family this year! Livie is attending public school, and LOVING it! She is very smart...they only have to take spelling tests when they get a word wrong on the pretest, and she has only gotten one word wrong so far this year! Emma is going to preschool two days a week while I work at a local coffee stand. Mike, Livie and I are all in the local production of Annie! Mike is Daddy Warbucks! More later, but I've gotta go to work....

Spring/Summer things!

Mid-June finds the Johnston family busy and looking forward to vacation and camp in July! I planted my veggie garden, but it is looking kinda sad. Some bugs have gotten to my beans, only 1/2 of my carrots have popped up, and I can't see ANY of the lettuce I planted. The peas are the only thing thriving, and it looks like I may have a few cucumbers. Next year, we are doing things differently!

Besides our usual things, I am now walking on Tuesday nights with three friends, part of a moms group on Thursday mornings, going to the summer reading program at the library on Fridays and considering taking the girls to Kid Zone at New Life on Wednesday mornings. Whew, I'm gonna need a break from my summer vacation! We are enjoying cooking out on Mike's new grill and enjoying the sunshine until 10:00!

We are very excited for the family reunion in South Dakota. We leave the 1st of July! I have not met most of Mike's extended family, and am told there are lots of kids for the girls to play with. It sounds like it will be a group of 30 +! We are planning on going to a chuckwagon dinner, Mt. Rushmore for fireworks on the 4th and other family fun activities! I am hoping to talk Mike into going to Wall Drug and the corn palace, but it might be too far away!

We spend most of July at camp, and this year I will be there more than Mike! Mom is coming the first week I am there to watch the girls because I will be the camp nurse and kitchen help! The next week, Mike is at camp, and mom will stay at our house. After that, comes Junior camp which I am the assistant director, followed by Livie's first chance camp in August.

Spring 2009

Spring is here! We have been enjoying being outside again. The girls already have their wading pool set-up, Mike has a new grill and we dragged a picnic table over from the covered picnic area. My veggie garden is starting to sprout and my flowers are blooming!

I am starting to plan for Emma's birthday party. All I know is it will probably be sometime in mid-morning on July 18th (a Saturday). She says she wants a monkey party and I finally figured out that she wants us to sing "Happy Birthday to you, you look like a monkey and you smell like one too" from Madagascar! I think it is hilarious that things we used to do in our childhood are fresh and new to my children.

We have a fun and busy summer planned. We will be celebrating the 4th of July at Mike's family reunion in South Dakota near Mt. Rushmore, and then spend almost the rest of July at camp. mike and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage on July 16! We want to go see Casting Crowns at the Missoula fair in August and I want to got to Washington and Oregon sometime around Week of Missions (by the way, does anyone know the dates for that?). We will need a vacation to recover from our summer!

In the fall, Olivia will be attending 2nd grade at Mission Valley Christian Acadamy and Emma will be going to Good Shepherd's Little friends preschool. I will either work as a barista or at Emma's preschool.....BIG changes. I am excited for them, but also wondering how I am going to get up and out of the house by 8:10 5 days a week! And to think I used to work the 7 am shift, and have an hour long commute! I don't miss those days.

Just a quick update on us, it has been since Feb! I enjoy keeping up with my friends on FB now!

A Great Week!

Wow, this has been a GREAT week. God has really blessed us. Church was awesome on Sunday. The preaching was great (I'm not biased or anything), the music was superb and everything just fell into place.

Monday, we did school even though it was President's Day because we had taken Friday off. Liv did really well. I went to work out with Judy like I do three times a week and came home to discover a piano in my living room! Mike's friend, Rudd is letting us borrow it! Yea! I have wanted a piano for YEARS!!!!! It looks so pretty sitting here in my living room.

I was able to do Em's room for around $20.00 thanks to the bargain section at Wal-Mart. I posted pix just for you, Synova! Let me know what you think.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love, Heidi

Rearanging Furniture

I absolutely love moving our furniture around. Partly, because I truely like change, but also because I am always trying to figure out the most efficient use of space. Today, I did Emma and Olivia's rooms...so much fun!

I realized, Olivia has a really cute room with lots of personal touches, and fun things on the walls, and Emm'a room only has one thing on the wall, and it is Livie's stained glass window. Poor Emma, I guess I need to get working on her room.

Any ideas for a theme for Emmy's room? She has a fairly new quilt that has pink, purple, green, blue, and yellow, so there is some flexibility. Her walls desperately need new paint, she needs window decorations and wall decor. I am thinking of getting her name in big white letters, painting the trim and furniture white, and making some sweet curtains, but am wondering what color to do. Right now she has pepto bismal pink walls!

Olivia's room is blue with clouds and butterflies on it. I would like to paint her trim and furniture white too. SHe has darling pink gingham window valances. I think Livie's room is my favorite in the house, but I like my room, the living room and kitchen too. I like the yard too-does that count as a room?

Another new post, 2 in 2 days!

This is for all my friends who think I don't post often enough on my blog! I could write you a list of excueses, like good grief I homeschool don't you think I have enough to do, or I am so busy cleaning up after my dog eating everything in the house that I don't have time, but the truth is, sometimes I just don't have anything to write I think others would enjoy reading. I know that was a very long run-on sentance, Andrea, but this is how I talk, and I want reading my blog to be like having a conversation with me.

I am going to a mom's slumber party tonight, and am super excited. I got new glasses yesterday. It was really cool...the girls got to help make them. Oh...I know, I could post about my new diet, but that would just be me whining because going dairy and wheat free is HARD!!!!

So, I am going to attempt to set up a poll about what you most want to hear about...I'll let you know how that works.

Later! Heidi

Things Thor has eaten this month:

1. The zipper to my new olive/sage green hoodie.

2. Emma's new ballet slipper.

3. 3 sleeping bag zippers.

4. My Liz Claiborne purse.

5. A whole roll of toilet paper.

6. A small cabbage patch doll that was on my 5th Birthday cake (yes, almost 25 years ago)

7. Doll house furniture.

8. His collar.

9. Unidentified plastic doohicky.

10. Un-numbered q-tips

11. Board books.

12. Ballerina magnetic dolls.

13. Zippers from both Emma's and Livie's coats.

14. Not his chew toys.

Anyone want a Yorkshire Terrier cheap?

December 2008

Wow, December is gone? I'll share our highlights of the month with you!
EMMA's CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
Emma was an angel in the preschool's Christmas program this year. Olivia was the special guest Inn Keeper. Everyone sang so nicely, the angels got a little carried away with Go Tell It On The Mountain and teacher Teresa had to cut them off...but it was cute.

FAMILY VACATION TO MISSOURI
For Christmas this year, we drove to Missouri to surprise Mike's dad at his sisters house. We had a blast. Getting there took two days in icy, wintery weather. We finally arrived at dinner time only to find Mike's dad had already gone to the hotel for the night. We decided to go ahead and save the surprise for the morning. Boy was Grandpa shocked to see us! We had a great time together.

The first night, Emma and Olivia slept in the living room and for 20 minutes, Emma kept saying "Night, Night". Denise would tell her "Night Night, Emma" and it would continue back and forth. So cute.

Christmas was great. All Emma asked for was Barbie panties, and after 3 different wal marts in 2 different states, Santa finally found them...2 sizes too big. Emma didn't care how big they were, she was happy anyway. Olivia and Emma each got each other Barbie cars (and told each other what they bought!). Mike was surprised to get me a pair of shoes for CHristmas!

Olivia got an early Birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa....she got her ears pierced! She is such a big girl now.

The drive home took 3 days. We stopped by Wall Drug for the best coffee in the world, and only 5 cents a cup....such a deal! We drove by Mt. Rushmore and then spent 2 hours at The Reptile Museum. For pictures of all this...check out Facebook!

NEW YEARS EVE
We got home Tuesday teh 30th...just in time for an 80's New Years Eve party the next day! The girls and I got all dressed up 80's style and rang in the new year at the Smith house. We had tons of fun!

That's all I can think of now, and it feels pretty fragmented to me, and I need to go do math with Livie....so more later!