The Imagination of a Child

Last night was a pretty laid-back night for us.  At 5:30, we went to a 2nd birthday party at Jump for Fun.  Ella is too scared of bounce houses to actually have any fun, so she spent the majority of the "jump time" sitting with me.

After the pizza, soda, cake, and presents, we went home.  First, we had a dance party.  YEAH!  Nick actually joined us this time.

After the impromptu dance party, Eli went to sleep.  The rest of the family stayed up late to eat popcorn and watch Tangled.  Around 12, we finally all decided it was time for bed.  SUCH FUN!  I love staying up late with the family.  :)

Here's a few random pics of the kids:

Can I just say how ADORABLE it is how seriously into each other they are?

Oh, I can't not blog Ella's comment the other day.  "Daddy is my favorite Prince Charming guy of all."  I said, "Yeah, Daddy is my favorite Prince Charming too."  :)  

I told her she was such a big girl the other day because she put on her own shoes and socks.  She asked that since she's so big if she could have a ring like mine....I looked at my wedding ring and told her that one day a boy would give her a ring of her own when they got married.....so then she started talking about how when Eli grows up, he will give her a ring.  I tried explaining that he is her brother, but she got frustrated with me yelling,"I KNOW!  HE'S MY BROTHER AND HE'S GOING TO GIVE ME A RING!!!"  Whatever I guess.  :)

I tried making this post the other day, but something happened with my pictures, and I gave up.  I believe this should be dated 2/6/12.

What I saw:

The story:
"A mosqito bit me and I yelled at it, and I cried a little bit, and I fell down on the ground, and made snow angels. And then the mosquito cried too."

Hmmm....so I guess it'll remain a mystery. What an imagination Ella has!

In other news:
Eli sits up so well now. He is so big and getting stronger each day.  He's still not moving anywhere yet though. I guess he's more like Ella than just what's in the face. He's another picture of him doing what he does....

Random

Ella has a new pet.

This is Tinkerbell.  Papaw Johnson caught her in the woods on a very cold day.  He just knew that Ella would love her because she is all pink and purple, Ella's favorite colors.  Ella has her in her room now and keeps her safe.  If you tap on her lid, she flutters her wings and flies all around.  (Looking back, a video may have showed her off better....)  Ella LOVES her. 

And here is Eli just looking adorable as ever.  <3

Around the Johnson House

I thought I'd make a list of things you might see or hear if you were to come to our house on a random day.

1.  You would most definitely see a mess of toys and dog fur.  And then you'd hear Nick say, "Can we PLEASE just clean the house?"  I do clean it!  It just seems to get cluttered again immediately afterward.

2.  You'd probably see Ella singing and dancing.  This video features her best A Capella rendition of "The Cupid Shuffle."  She butchers all of the lyrics, but she's just adorable, so who cares?

3.  You'd see and hear Ella delighting Eli with her antics.  A simple balloon can bring so many smiles.

4.  You could watch THRILLING games of peek-a-boo.  You don't even have to look away or hide.  Eli is so excited just at playing a game!

5.  And then fights for Eli's attention.  "Say DaDa!" "NO! Say MaMa?  MaMa? MaMa!"  This is almost always followed up by "NNNNOOOO! Say El-La! ELLLLLLLLLL-LA!"

6.  At Memaw and Papaw's house, you'd see Ella climbing into the cage with Paisley and Cabella.  They're so black, you can only see glowing eyes next to her.  We tried turning on the lights for a better picture, but then you could see the dogs and Ella's face was just a white, washed-out blur.  I settled for this one. 

7. You'd hear Ella say, "Mommy, you make my heart soar!" Then see her smile with both dimples.  LOVE THAT GIRL!

8.  You'd hear Scout's tail thwacking on everything in the house. Followed by Ella scolding her, "Scout! NO!"

9.  You'd hear Ella talking (NONSTOP!) about her cousins or camping out and how much fun she has with her friends. 

10.  You'd definitely see me stalking the children in an effort to photograph or videotape their every move.  I can't help it!

1st Snow of the Season!

Since Thanksgiving, Ella has asked me nearly every morning, "Did it snow today?"  and every day, the answer has been "Nope.  Not today.  God didn't send us the snow yet."  She thinks that snow only happens at Christmastime and was upset that Christmas came and went without any snow. 

And then there was Thursday.  It was supposed to be just a dusting, but the forecast kept changing so quickly, and we ended up with about an inch.  It was just an inch, but thanks to MoDot dropping the ball, it created havoc for the morning rush and cancelled schools everywhere. 

The awe in Ella's voice was so cool to hear. "MOM! IT SNOWED!  IT SNOWED TODAY!" Here are some pictures from that day.

First, I taught Ella how to make a snowball.

 

 Then she turned and started throwing snowballs at me.  I didn't get a picture because it was really, REALLY cold, and I was running away.  New rule: Throw your snowballs at Scout. Poor dog....she puts up with so much abuse.... :)

 Say "Hi" to Daddy!

Before we went back inside, she insisted on making a snow angel.

 Sadly, since there wasn't much snow, here's how the snow angel turned out.... Still, Ella loved it.

And because I realized that I have so few pictures of Eli, it's my 2012 resolution to take more pictures of him.  Here's one, but there'll be more to follow:



I <3 being a mom. :)

Oh and this....

I forgot to add these.  The other night, Nick went out with Jeff for his birthday.  The kids and I cuddled up in our bed for a night of cuddling and Christmas specials.  It was awesome. :)  I loved every minute of it.

This is how many of our mornings begin.  I wanted to record the sound of Ella laughing.  The tinkling sound of little-girl laughter has to be one of the best sounds in the world. I feel like there are a lot of times in our regular life when I think, "Twenty years from now, I HAVE to remember this.  I don't want to forget a single second of our kids being this age."

Just a few things in Dec.

I think that my kids are so stinkin' cute that sometimes I just can't help but get out my phone and snap a quick pic of them in regular life. :)

In the mornings when Eli wakes up, we usually turn in the TV and let him sleep next to us in bed in hopes of getting maybe an extra 1/2 hour (or even 15 minutes) of sleep.  Yes, I know that this makes us awful parents, and yes, we did do this with Ella too.  Pretty soon, Ella toddles in, and I tell her to get up in bed with us too (again in hopes of getting more sleep, but this rarely happens b/c now we have 4 people in a queen size bed).  (Which by the way, 3 people seem to be crammed into my side, and every time I ask Nick to move over, he claims he's on the edge of the bed....except I can CLEARLY see at least 6" of space [maybe not "clearly" since I have terrible eyesight without the aid of glasses or contacts, but I digress....] !)  Anyway, this picture was taken in all of their adorableness one morning while we were trying to sleep through it.

This is Snowflake, one of Ella's favorite Christmas presents.  Yes, I realize I haven't blogged about Christmas.  I'll try to get to that soon.....Anyway, this present is from Aunt Kristin & Uncle Tony, and Reagan has a matching puppy.  They both love them.  The dogs have a purse carrier too, so that Ella can really show off in true diva-fashion. :)  (Oh, she's also a HUGE fan of the Little Mermaid jammies that she insisted I wash immediately for her to wear to bed.)

Lately, Ella keeps saying she has a baby in her belly.  But then she takes it a step further and says she's having a baby and needs to go to the hospital.  I'm not sure where this is coming from suddenly, although it could be thanks in part to Baby Jesus, as she has been requesting we start calling her Mary occasionally....Tonight she said, "Before Eli was in your belly, I stayed there for a little bit.  And then you went to the hospital and you laid down like a mother-dude and had me."  I was a little nervous at how she was saying that I went to a hospital and laid down to have a baby....I mean, where is she getting that (along with the term "mother-dude")????  I asked her to show me what it looks like to "lay down like a mother-dude" and have a baby.  This is what she showed me.

Last week, Kristin and I took the kids to the zoo to see the Wild Lights display.  It was SO cold.  Aunt Nancy sent these hats for the kids (Eli wore a reindeer, Reagan is the kitty, Ella is a puppy, and Brady is an owl), so we thought that this was the perfect occasion to use them.  I barely had any sensation in my fingers to take pictures, so these are the best that we got.  Still though, I think they show what a good time we had.

 This was Ella's first trip to the zoo.  I feel bad about it.  I always want to take her, but Nick wants to take her too, but never when it's hot, and it's a whole mess.  So anyway, there obviously aren't many animals out on a cold, winter's night.  She did get to see the penguins though....and she was amazed at the smelly penguins house.  Aunt Kristin bought us a membership for next season though, so I will be SURE to use it for our family.  Here are some more pics:



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