Word of the Week

This week's word is ORGANIZED. As in Emma's room is so totally not ORGANIZED. And it was driving me insane!!

It doesn't help that my child has more toys than our house can comfortably hold. And since a new house is not really in the budget at this time (thanks super outrageous preschool prices!) it was either get organized or slowly lose my grip on sanity.

Previously all of Emma's toys were thrown into storage bins. Which meant that anytime she wanted a specific Barbie, or God forbid a lost Barbie shoe, everything in the bins would wind up in the floor. And I really think she forgot about some of her toys simply b/c they were buried at the bottom. So, in comes this little baby:

And in order to maximize on play space this bad boy is taking up residence in her closet. Right now we're in the process of replacing all the interior doors in our house and I've got to admit that I kind of like the open concept of Emma's closet. And since there's no way to install doors and still have good access to this lovely and organized new toy storage device, I'm going to install a curtain rod and just hang curtains over the closet. For now.

This was my $10 solution to our hairbow dilemma. The ballerina plaque was 1/2 off at my favorite store in the world, Hobby Lobby. Add a little ribbon to the bottom and you have yourself a brand new bow holder. Now if I can just find the rest of the missing bows . . . .

This is Emma's dress up corner. The little plaque reads "Once upon a time" and is super cute. Now Emma can display her favorite dresses. I'm still trying to locate a good chest for the rest of her massive dress up collection, but the cute basket will work for now.

One room down, an entire house to go . . .ugh. I'm cringing at the mere thought of trying to organize Jeremy's side of the master bedroom. There may or may not be live organisms growing under his piles of junk . . .

1st day of School

The big news in our house this week was school starting. Of course, the kiddos have been still going to preschool during the summer but the schedule has been a little different. They've spent two days of every week at one of the grandma's houses and the preschool schedule has been a little different as well; water days, etc. Now we're back to hard core preschool where learning is the first priority. :)

As typical my kiddos wouldn't cooperate for first day of school pictures. This is the best I could get. Sigh.


(Don't judge my filthy car. It was clean before I had kids promise. Now I swear there is something growing between the seats and console. I think its living on the french fries that have found their way down there. I do plan to address this soon. Hopefully.)

I was a little worried about how yesterday was going to go. Seeley was moving up to the 1 year old class. Big changes included sleeping on a cot versus a crib. Miss Cassie said he did terrific though. And my anxiety was definitely reduced because Miss Cassie also happens to be a friend and I knew she would look after my little man cause she adores him. All the ladies love Seeley. :)

Emma was moving to a new class as well. For 3 of the 4 years she's been in daycare/preschool she has had the same teacher, Ms. Lisa. We love Ms. Lisa. The running joke is that she is Emma's school mommy, but it is so true in many ways. This year she has a new teacher and I think Ms. Lisa and I took it harder than she did. Her new teacher said that Emma got sad a few times during the day but she was able to distract her with a new project that cheered her up. Em is a little shy when it comes to new situations but at the end of the day her teacher said she did fantastic. All the ladies love Emma too. :)

One way I helped Emma get excited about her new class and teacher was by really treating it like a first day of school. She got new shoes (light up Skechers that she had been dying for), got to wear a skirt (very rarely do I allow this-it's just not conducive to playgrounds), and a brand new backpack from my BFF Mollie at Personally Stitched.

She thought she was hot stuff. I had to laugh on Monday morning because she was concerned that her friends wouldn't like her shoes. How funny is that? And isn't she a little young to be worried about that already? She packed her backpack herself the night before. And of course I repacked it on Monday morning with the stuff she would actually need instead of the 5 Barbies and other toys she had thrown in. Ha! She looks so grown up carrying it that I was definitely a little sad.

As it turns out her friends loved her shoes and her backpack so all was right in the world of my big girl. Seeley had a glowing report and lots of snuggle time from Miss Cassie. Not a bad first day of school!

Par-Tay!

I was complaining about the fact that I didn't have a good reason to dress up for Halloween any longer and the hubs said "Why don't we just have a Halloween party?"

Excuse me? Do my ears deceive me?

Did my extremely anti-social hubs just volunteer to let a ton of people come over to our house? Knowing full well that I tend to get a little crazy and overachieving when it comes to parties?

The only catch to his benevolence; he absolutely refuses to match costumes with me. No way will he be "the Ken to my Barbie" as he put it.

I can live with that.

And just to make sure he can't back out I've already started spreading the word informally and had an invitation made up yesterday from a lovely etsy seller.

So dear friends- start planning your costumes now and save the date. Your invitation will be in the mail!

Lovely little weekend

The newest member of the zoo officially has a name now: Pancho!! There is a long story and joke behind this name, but at least its better than Emma's recommendation, Retard. :) And in case you're wondering where she learned such foul language you can blame me. I may occasionally call Bella a retard when she does something unbelievably stupid or annoying. Oops. A long discussion about name calling followed, along with Mommy's promise to stop as well.

Seeley likes to sit in Emma's chair and push her out of it. Sibling rivalry begins.

Nap time! Bella is a sucker for nap time. The fact that I woke her up taking pictures earned me her annoyed look.

Following nap time we had dress up time. Emma has a mountain of dress up clothes and accessories. I believe this particular look was called "Special Princess". I didn't quite understand her explanation of the differences between just a regular princess and a special princess, but she clearly knew.

Seeley even got in on the action by wearing some of Emma's shoes. He's obsessed with these because they light up. It's a little hard to tell but they are clear with rhinestone butterflies on the straps. Very manly and macho!

Climbing is See's favorite new trick. He will climb anything! I returned to the kitchen from a 30 second bathroom break and found him on top of the counter. Lovely! He learned very quickly how to push things over to stand on top of and then climb; nothing is safe any longer.

His first "crash". He did a nose dive at Nanny's house right into the dirt and gravel while playing in the backyard. The new joke is that Nanny beats him. Or just pushes him down. She has been devastated that this occurred under her watch! :)

Look at my little man! He is just getting too big too quick. He doesn't even look like a baby anymore, but he still gives the best snuggles. He is definitely a Mama's boy. When Daddy tries to get in on our snuggle time he'll give Daddy a quick hug and then shove him away like "Ok, that's all you get big guy. Mommy is all mine!" And if Daddy and Mommy try to sneak in a hug Seeley will come and push us apart then grab onto me and hug me tight.

Hubs and I actually went on a date Saturday night. Wow right?! The last time we went on a date was last November. 2010. Yikes! I tried to take a picture but hubs was having none of it.

Sunday we had a dirty day. :) We decided to skip church and just sat around playing and being lazy in our pajamas all day. Before you call DHS the kids were not actually dirty, they had baths Saturday afternoon. We just let them keep their bed hair all day Sunday, which Emma absolutely loves. :) Teeth brushing is still mandatory.

Surprise!?

So according to the dictionary the word suprise can mean either (noun) an act or instance of surprising or being surprised or (verb) to make an unexpected assault.

I'm still unsure which category this little guy falls into.

Meet the newest member of the Johnson Zoo: Jeremy's 8 wk old male chihuahua puppy. Who is yet unnamed. And according to Emma is her puppy.

Last night Jeremy walks in the door from a quick trip to Walmart and says "Surprise!" while holding this little guy. Last time I checked chihuahuas didn't come with a bar code so my first response was "What is that?!" Followed by "Where in the hell have you been and what have you done?!".

I'm thinking he has bought me a puppy. Because typically, when someone is holding something and says "surprise" it usually is a gift for someone else. But no, the puppy is for HIM. A brand new puppy in OUR house purchased without my knowledge. Surely this goes against the marriage rules, right?

Being the sweet wife that I am, and after loving on this adorable little guy, I accepted the newest member of our household graciously. And knowing that I get a free pass in future helps. As I told the hubs, this free pass entitles me to do something major without consulting him first, AND he absolutely cannot get mad or say one word about it.

And in case you're wondering, Bella does not yet appreciate her new friend. There was a lot of growling at the puppy and sulking. She spent most of the evening on the back of the couch pouting.

How to be the best mom EVER

1. Sacrifice the hubs as a playground for the kids and dog.

2. A mini faux hawk and lots of snacks.

3. A trip to Dollar General for a magic wand and "Rapunzel hair".



4. Naked time. Followed by santitizing time.

Congratulations, you're now the BEST MOM EVER.

Or at least that's what Emma told me last night.

Camping Misadventures

So what do you get when you take a 3 and 1 year old camping? A migraine, lots of bumps and bruises, and a ton of laughs!

We took Emma and Seeley on their very first camping trip to celebrate the 4th of July a few weeks ago. The last time Jeremy and I had gone camping was many many years ago with my BFF Mollie and her hubs. We did it old school too-tents baby!! This was pre-kids, back when we only had 1 dog, and I could still fit into my skinny jeans. That should tell you how long ago that was! Sigh.

This time we were a lot smarter and made good use of my mom and stepdad's camper. So we weren't exactly roughing it what with the a/c, television, and internet. :)

We learned several valuable lessons, so for all my friends with kiddos listen up:

1. If the swelling goes down and the finger will still bend its probably not broken. Poor See!

2. Sand on the bottom of your shoes leads to bruises on your chin if you happen to slip on the playgound equipment. Poor Em!

3. Only take a 1 year old camping when the weather is cool enough for plenty of outdoor time. So in other words, not during the summer in Arkansas! :)

4. Even a neurotic chihuaua can be a good camper. Who would have thought?

We were so thrilled to have made it back home without a trip to the emergency room that we have sworn to never leave home without a fully packed first aid kit ever again!