Merry CHRISTmas!

The Johnson's

Jeff, Jennifer, Slade & Honour

October...

Well, October was a pretty busy month...

Slade turned 2 on Oct. 13! :( Wow, I still can't believe my baby is 2! He is growing so fast and is so independent. I always tell everyone Slade grew up to fast ... he was really never a baby. I catch myself watching him sometimes in amazement. He is such a big help with Honour and when I ask him to hand me something or go get me something he happily responds with "sure" ... to cute! :)

On Oct. 27 Honour was born! Our house has been a little more hectic and crazy but loving every minute of it! We have had to learn how to adjust with 2 small kids and figure out routines that work for us. All is finally coming together and I can actually get ready for an outing in about 2 hrs. (Ha!)

A few pictures to share are below :)

Slade turns 2! Yes, this was the best picture we could get.

Boys, got to love them!

Slade and his buddy Gavin on his new birthday present!

"Honour Grace"

My two precious kiddos!

San Antonio

Well, we took our first family trip to San Antonio and had a blast. We spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying watching Slade have so much fun! Being parents is the most amazing thing ever! Sure puts more meaning into every thing you do!

Saturday we woke up had some breakfast and headed out to the San Antonio Zoo. Slade loves seeing all the animals and running around. He is a quick one though and scared me a few times. I like to just keep him strapped in his stroller! Ha!

Feeding the fish in the pond. Slade LOVED dropping the food down!

In the petting zoo trying to brush the goats hair. Every time he would get close the goat would run away! Ha! He just didn't understand. :)

It was nice and HOT!

Slade smiling "big" He cracks me up! :)

On Sunday we also took Slade to Sea World. We had the BEST time ever! We have been to Sea World a couple of times but it was like being there for the first time ever with Slade. It was so neat to see him get so amazed with every thing. Oh, and of course my son would fall asleep right before the "Shamu show" I had been waiting ALL DAY to see his reaction to Shamu and he falls asleep while were waiting for the show to start! Ha! We were able to catch another showing and he stayed awake! :)

He insisted on holding on to the side of the stroller. Slowed us down A LOT but it was so cute to watch! :)

He was amazed at the wall size aquarium and loved watching all the big fish swim by. They also had sharks in the tanks and he LOVED them!

We had so much fun and yes did LOTS of walking. Sea World was nice because they have lot's of shows which gave me a good reason to take some time and sit. Slade also enjoyed walking down by the river walk and seeing all the water. Fun times!

Chuck-E-Cheese

Yesterday Slade's Godparents, Collin & Summer took him to hang out & have some fun. It was National Godparents Day and they wanted to do something EXTRA special for him. After church we all went to eat and then they were off for some "special" fun! He spent the day going to Chuck-E-Cheese and then after lots of fun they also took him to Bahama Bucks! I think they just spoiled him a little! :) He was so excited about the trip and after the long mommy lecture I gave these two they were off with my son, ugh! Ha! I managed and I knew he would have so much fun! :)

He was on his way ...

Amazed at all the different stuff to play with!

Look at my child?? Ha! Yep, he wouldn't have gotten away with this if mommy & daddy had been there. Cute though! :)

Aunt Summer & Slade

He LOVES smoothies at Bahama Bucks! :)

Collin & Slade

He fell asleep on the ride home ...worn out from all the fun :)

Sleepy

While I was cooking dinner Monday night Jeff and Slade were playing around the house. Slade looks so forward to Jeff coming home in the evenings! When he hears his truck and Lance starts barking he will run to the garage door and say "daddy" until Jeff walks in! :) While playing Slade was feeling like a snack so he came in the kitchen and I gave him some cheerios to munch on while I continued to prepare dinner. I told him to go sit in his chair and while eating his cheerios and watching TV with daddy he fell asleep at 7:20! He was out for the night and there was no waking him ...

Notice the snack cup ... he never lost his grip! :)

Too precious!

May & Swimming

Wow! I cant believe it's already June ... where is the time going?? May was a relaxing and trying month all at the same time. Jeff finally graduated from the Police Academy which got us back to enjoying family evenings and weekends. It has been so nice having him home every evening and now I realize how much of a help he was! :) The trying part was that the week that we were supposed to close on our house the buyer backed out. Which left us 1/2 packed and a few things we had already sold that we would not be needing after the move. It was not a fun time and we are still very much in limbo right now which I can't stand because I am very much of an in order kind of person and my house is driving me CRAZY! Ha! O'well I try to stay positive and know that God sees the bigger picture. I know we will get through it!

This past weekend I decided we would take Slade swimming for the 1st time this Summer. He LOVES playing in the bathtub so I thought he would love the swimming pool. Well, not so much! He was not wanting to have anything to do with swimming. It will probably take him a little while to get use to the whole swimming idea. I'm sure he will be loving it by the time Summer is ending! Ha! However, he did enjoy just hanging out around the pool throwing everything in and eating! I can't wait for this Summer to be in full swing ... he is going to be so much fun this year!

Daddy trying to convince Slade the water is fun!

Slade and Aunt Summer enjoying some watermelon by the pool!

Trying to figure out what this is all about ...

Egg Hunt!

Saturday our community was having a Easter egg hunt put on by a local church. We thought it would be neat to take Slade and see how he would take to his first egg hunt. Much to my surprise he did great! He had no problem getting all the eggs and putting them in his bag. He also thought he was supposed to take the eggs out of the other kids baskets! :) It was so much fun to watch him run around and have a good time. His buddy Gavin also joined us and they were so cute together. It was such a fun experience!

Gavin wasn't too sure about the hand puppet! :) ... Slade was okay once he was asked to give him five! :)

Slade & Gavin coloring a picture of an Easter egg.

The egg hunt was over and they were discussing what they got! Ha! Too cute! :)

Catch Up...

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything and now I need to play catch up! It's been a busy past couple of weeks. March 10th we went out to eat with Slade's Godparents ... it was 2 years to the day that I had found out I was pregnant with Slade. They had a star named after him and gave us all the paperwork confirming it at dinner! It was really neat and will always be a special piece in Slade's room! Slade is already 17 mo. and growing way too fast. He keeps us busy and is just so much fun. I just enjoy hanging out with him and loving on him every chance I get:)! We recently found out that baby #2 is in the making! We went to the Dr. yesterday and the expected arrival date is Nov. 7th! We are SO excited and Slade will be a big brother! Wow, that sounds so crazy:)! We also got our first offer on our house and all the paperwork was written up yesterday! Please be praying that everything goes smoothly and that this will be it!

I didn't have any pictures to go with this post but Slade over the past couple of weeks has figured out how to use expressions. Here is his I'm not happy with you look ...

He cracks us up! Now, when we get on to him he gives us this mean look with his eyes all squinted and it takes all we have to not crack up laughing! Oh, fun times:)!

Mohawk!

I took this picture of Slade last night while he was playing in the bathtub. I thought it was too cute and had to share! :)

V-Day

This year Valentine's Day was a little more exciting! Slade being in MDO we were told he would need a decorated shoe box for his "first" Valentines party. Aunt Summer was excited to be able to take part in this. I have to say it looked pretty amazing! Slade came home with his box filled with cards, candy & cookies. They had strawberries & Chick-fil-a at their party, Slade's two favorite things to eat! :)

Thanks Aunt Summer ... you did a great job! :)

Saturday, the big day Slade wasn't feeling to well. He was suffering from some major pain caused by 3 teeth that are trying to break through. I did enjoy just sitting on the couch holding my baby something he doesn't ever let me do. Ha! After his nap he was feeling a little better and decided he was ready to leave the house. He went to the garage door and said "bye-bye". I said you want to go bye-bye? He then replied with "Dad ... Na-Na" that's what he picked to call my mom and dad:). I went to pack his bag so we could go over for a visit when I heard the door open. I walked in there and he again said "bye-bye" funny little kid, he was ready and tired of waiting.

Aunt Summer showed up a little bit later and brought Slade lots of goodies and it was so neat to watch him get so excited pulling everything out one by one. He's favorite being the food of course! :)

A few special things from Aunt Summer! :)

Slade's version of chocolate covered strawberries...

(strawberries & chocolate graham crackers)

Enjoying some hugs & kisses (watermelon)

Paint

Slade is very hands on when it comes to exploring new things. He watches very closely and it only takes him watching you 1 time to know what to do! My mom has been painting her house over the past couple of weeks and Slade has become very fond of a paint brush. He likes to act like he's painting everything. Well, earlier today while I was at work I received a text from my mom saying, "Slade's art work with paint" ...

Slade's Masterpiece

There was a good ending to all the mess ... it all came up!:)

Collin

Well, Saturday night we went and had dinner with Collin, Slade's Godfather. On Dec. 3 he was in a very bad car accident (the very day I told him we had chosen "him" to be Slade's Godfather). He has been through many very serious surgeries and we are just thankful to still have him with us today. God has big plans for him I'm sure! Collin and I became really good friends through my pregnancy and the way he took to Slade was only a God thing. Him and Slade are crazy about each other and I just enjoy watching their bond growing stronger!

Dinner at El Fenix

Saturday night Slade got a very special present from Collin ... Little Tike's Police Car! :) Jeff is in the Police Academy and so this was a pretty neat gift that we all enjoyed. When Slade saw the box he got so excited and started smiling and clapping his hands, funny little kid!

Slade was so excited!

This has quickly become a favorite around our house. Thanks Collin, We Love You!

Saturday

We started off with our Saturday tradition heading to the Whole Foods Market. We needed a few things for the upcoming week and Slade enjoys hanging out in the buggy and munching on some yummy snacks! :) After about an hour of shopping it was time to head home for the fun part of putting everything up and Slade was ready for a nap. I did a few things around the house and once Slade woke up it was time to get ready and head to the Dekold's for a night of dinner & hanging out! The boys had so much fun playing and following each other around, it was so cute! :) The BEST part of the night was when it was time to go and we told Slade and Gavin to say bye ... they went and gave each other a hug! Awe! It was just precious.

It had been a long day ...

Slade also picked up a few new things over the weekend. He figured out how to open the safety locks on the cabinets. He is just too smart! Looks like we will be replacing them with the magnet locks! :) He also said "Yes sir" and "No mam" ... Wow, where does the time go! :)

Hello & Welcome!

Well, this is my first official blog! :)

January is flying by fast ... Slade is already 15 months and growing by the second. It is so amazing to watch how fast they learn. Just yesterday out of the blue Slade picked up 2 new words (Romo & Bubba). We have a fish that's in Slade's bathroom named Romo. Well, yesterday while at grandma's he pointed to my sisters fish and said "Romo". Too cute! :) Then while I was home for lunch we were playing on the floor with my little brother Alex who we call bubba and just plain as day Slade says "bubba". We couldn't believe it! I think Alex was on cloud 9! :) He said I've been waiting forever for this day. Ha!

Slade started Mothers Day Out this month and while I thought it would be hard for him, I think it was harder on me and my mom. He seems to be doing good and we will be trying the next class starting this week because of Slade's birthday he can stay down but since he is more advanced they think he will do better in the next class ... we will see! :)

Slade's 1st Day of Mother's Day Out! :)