Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Man, how things have changed in just one year...

2008 - Mom came over and held Savannah and fed her a bottle while Jeremy and I hurried, threw the tree up in a few minutes, and went on about our business taking care of a newborn.

2009 - Savannah and I started clearing out the empty space where the tree usually goes around 4:00. Jeremy got off of work at 5:00 and we started bringing in the Christmas tree and decorating the house with Christmas decor. Savannah was having the best time going through all of the decorations. I know her little head was spinning wondering what the heck her mom and dad were doing bringing in a tree?? Her favorite decorations are the SOS pad looking pieces that go on the lights, the toy dog that raps and sings Jingle Bells, and the strings of garland that hang on the tree. I should have known that she would take the red beaded string of garland and use it as a necklace. It is now 9:00 and we (Jeremy and I...someone couldn't stay up to finish) are finally done decorating...the inside of the house.

What a great evening! Savannah LOVES all of the lights! I can't wait for Christmas this year!

Helping da da put up the Christmas Tree.

Taking a break to rest on the tree skirt.

Always looking for jewelry.

Thanksgiving...

This time of year is always a special time for me. Figuring out when to put up the Christmas decorations, taking family Christmas photos for the Christmas cards, seeing the fam twice in a couple of months, cold nights at home with Jeremy and Savannah, planning on what I am going to buy everyone for Christmas, and the Christmas Eve services...what a great time of year. I know I said a lot about Christmas during my blog about Thanksgiving, but isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about...sharing what you are thankful for? In that case, here is the list... I am thankful for... ...my God. The security of knowing that someone has my back at all times! ...my life. Could life get any better than this? ...my baby. Yeah, life could get a little better. Give me a few hundred more of her! ...Jeremy. What a great husband! ...Jackie and Jenny. These two girls have really showed up and been such a wonderful support system for me during this first year of Savannah's life! Love you two girls so much! ...my family. Though we put the FUN in disFUNctional (just kidding mom), we sure do love each other and the time we spend with each other. ...my cousins. Gathering together at Mamma's house with my cousins is such a happy time in my life that I am so thankful for! ...friends. Quality is better than quantity at this point in my life and the quality of the friends I have is superb! You know who you are....thank you for being apart of my life! ...my job. You won't see this on many blogs, but I am truly thankful for my job. I absolutely love the people I work for, my job description, and how much they truly care for me inside/outside of work. ...Christmas Magic. The start of Christmas time! Starting November 4th and ending on December 25th is such a wonderful time in my life! ...Dr. Sultemeir. Truly, the best pediatrician in the WORLD at my beckoning call! ...Black Friday! Reading the ads on Thursday, standing in line at the wee hours in the morning, what could be more fun! ...my home. I love my home, the decor, the location, the neighbors (Muehlbergers & Browns), and the fact that I am 30 seconds away from work. ...my new kitchen floors. I won new floors at the Jr. League Christmas Magic auction. Yippee! ...gift giving at Christmas. I get way more thrill out of someone opening up the gift that I gave them than receiving a gift. ...the blessings that are bestowed upon me daily! The big man upstairs is sure taking care of the Johnson family!

SUUURRRPPPRRRIIIISSSEEEE!

This weekend was a very exciting weekend for my whole family. We have been putting many countless hours in hopes that this was going to be the best 50th birthday weekend ever for my dad. The surprise birthday turned out to be way more than I ever hoped for! All in all, over 100 people turned out for the party. We had tons of friends from Olney come in, wonderful family and friends come in from Wichita Falls, and we even had a few AMAZING family members drive all the way from Amarillo to help make my dad's birthday the best day ever! I want to send a special thanks to my dad's aunt, his cousin, and her daughter for driving all the way in. That means so much to us! Jackie, Jenny, Chris, and I loaded up the car (Jerm was on Savannah duty until the party) and headed down to Olney around 10:30 to set up for the party. Three hours later, we were anticipating the arrival of my dad. Around 2:20, he showed up TOTALLY confused, wondering why he wasn't on his way to Graham to the Wildcatter. Jeff pushed the wheelchair out to greet him and wheeled him in to see all of the friends and family that came to celebrate his 50th birthday. This has been the best weekend ever! Thank you to everyone that contributed in helping us make this the best surprise birthday party ever!!! The turkey cupcakes that I made for the party. I can't believe that they actually turned out!!! Rebecca and Serenity showed up early to help out! Thanks!

The finished room right before the guests arrive.

Savannah testing out the wheelchair before her Pa arrives.

After the party, Jeremy and Chris rounded up all of the balloons to set them free "in honor of dad". hahaha

The old man UPS man that looks JUST like Dad!

The wonderful family members that drove all the way from Amarillo! Thanks guys!!!

The Fedex package from Jeannie and Eddie and the birthday hat from Mom. Dad = not excited about the hat.

Mom's friend Jeannie and Savannah's friend, Serenity.

The guys letting the balloons go!

hahaha!

Having a great time with the wheelchair.

One of his fabulous gifts. A package of Depends! hahaha!

Night with the Browns

My good friend Mindy was out of town for the week, so one of those days, I got to watch the kids for a little bit. We started off our fun afternoon by playing with the sidewalk chalk. Michael needed to be on the big step and he thought the girls should stay on the ground.

They LOVED the sidewalk chalk!

I can't believe that I actually got all three of them to sit there and take a group photo! haha. Next, Jeremy came home and put up the bouncy house for them to play in. This was a huge hit!

Finally, when it was dark, we went back over to Linda's house and Michael coordinated this game with all of the hats!

Towards the end of the night, this is how I looked most of the time. I'm not sure Sara Jane felt good, so I was her backup mommy for the night! Savannah, being the jealous type, wanted me to hold her as well. It feels good to be so loved! haha. I left their house around 8:00 to put Savannah to bed. My little sister Jenny got there around 6:00 to babysit and me and Savannah stayed around to play with the kids! When Savannah and I left around 8:00, Sara Jane cried non-stop when I walked out the door. I just assumed she was not feeling well. At least I know that Sara Jane loves me! haha. I put Savannah to bed and planned on going back over there to put Sara Jane to bed, but Jenny had already rocked her to sleep. Hope she is feeling better!

Huge birthday weekend!

This has been a pretty HUGE weekend for us! Let me start from the beginning. On Friday, Savannah and I woke up and got ready to enjoy our ritual breakfast with my dad at IHOP. Savannah and I have breakfast with my dad every Friday that he is on vacation...except this time we were joined by a few other members of my family. My mom and my two sisters joined us on this particular Friday. We had it all planned out. I told my dad that randomly, my little sister Jackie wanted to join us for breakfast. A couple of days later, I called him and said, Jenny got her feelings hurt that she wasn't invited, so now she is going to join us. Then, Dad called me and said, "your mom found out that everyone was going, so now she wants to go". That covered everyone! We were all there! After a DELICOUS meal at IHOP, we told my dad that we were going to drive over to see how Phoobie's house was coming along. That was a lie, but atleast it pointed us in the right direction. We are traveling down 287, when all of a sudden, we yell out, "TURN!" That particular turn led us into the Harley Davidson parking lot. He had NO idea what was going on! I told him that on his 50th birthday, I wanted to take his picture next to a Harley Davidson. Of course he didn't think this was weird considering I have a camera attached to my eye at all times trying to find the next photo op! We walked into the store and minutes later, my dad was completely surprised by the news that we had rented him a 2009 Fat Boy Harley Davidson for the day! It really was the best deal EVER! We rented him a brand new Harley for 24 hours for only $99! AWESOME! I think my dad and mom ended up driving around 160 miles that day! My dad called me the day he had to turn it in and said, "This had to be one of the best days of my life!! What an awesome thing to hear! Here are some pictures of the day! While we were waiting on the paper work to be finished, Savannah enjoyed some of the doo rag.

Running nowhere in every direction...

This past Tuesday, I have joined a bible study called "Running Nowhere in Every Direction". Jeremy is involved in the morning men's bible study. I am so thankful for this bible study for many reasons. I really enjoyed the 11 women that were there that night, I love Ashley Whitfield, and I did a lot of soul searching that night. If anyone needs this particular bible study, it is me! It dawned on me that that is exactly what I am doing...running nowhere in every direction! In the middle of my soul searching, it dawned on me that I need to cut back a little on all of the things that I have committed to. I came home on Tuesday night and talked with Jeremy about this and we have decided to implement a family night. So, every single Wednesday night is now the Johnson Family Night. Nothing can come in the way of family night! So, for the first weekly family night, we headed over to IHOP. The reason we chose IHOP is because kids eat free from 4-9 and that is one of the only types of food that Savannah will eat right now. I am so thankful for our first weekly family night! Cheeks loaded up with pancakes!

Amarillo

This past weekend, we bummed a ride with mom and dad to Amarillo to visit some of our favorite people on earth. Ben, Lindsee, Tyler, and Cailee! Such a great laid back weekend away from Falls Town for a little bit! We arrived on Saturday and loaded up the kids in two cars and went to Ruby Tequilas to eat dinner. Immediately following dinner, we hurried and made it to Old Navy and Kirklands for a little shopping. We topped off the night with some Marble Slab Creamery ice cream. When I say topped off the night, I literally meant that we were done with the night after that because Savannah had an EXPLOSION in/out of her diapers. She is teething (molars and front teeth) right now, which is causing some MAJOR diarrhea! We woke up the next morning to some yummy doughnuts (do-do's). Tyler and Savannah woke up at the same time and started playing immediately! They played their little hearts out the whole weekend. That morning, I was coming around the corner and I heard Tyler say, "Vianna, you are my best friend". That was the sweetest thing I have ever heard! We got cleaned up and headed down to the rodeo to see the Budweiser Clydesdale's. They spent a full hour playing in the little kids area at the rodeo. It was so cute! We headed down to the mall after the rodeo to do some shopping, playing, and slurpee drinking! Soon after the mall, around 6:00, mom and dad came to pick us up and we headed home. I am so thankful that we are able to see our cousins more and more. I am so grateful for the time that I had growing up with Ben. So, I have been making an effort to let Savannah and Tyler play together more and more.

Mother's Day Out

November 5th was Savannah's first day at Mother's Day out. When I dropped her off that day, I had the heaviest heart. I felt like I could cry at any moment. I sat there and talked with Kay Talley and Louise, which by the way, used to keep me in Mother's Day out. While I was crouched down talking with them, Savannah let go of my arm and walked over to the toys to play. At that point, I crept out of the room real fast before she could see me. On my way back to work, I was contemplating turning around and going back and getting her, but...I didn't! Now, three weeks later, this is her third Mother's Day Out and she LOVES it. Don't get me wrong, she has a COMPLETE meltdown when I drop her off, but after a few minutes, she is up and playing. Today when I picked her up at 2:30, she ran to me with a HUGE smile on her face and showed me her sippy cup. Every time I pick her up from anywhere, she always likes to point out things to show me. She turned around and started following this little boy her height/age and she started patting him on the head like he was a little baby and she was so much older. It would appear that she was having so much fun! Every week, I love to get her art work that she does during the day. This particular day, they had made hand paintings with feathers on the hand to look like a turkey. The whole theme of today was to be thankful. There were three pieces of artwork that she has brought home today. They are pure master pieces to me! What do I do with them? Put them on a wall like wall paper? Frame them and hang them up? Who knows what I will do? All I know is that I love them! More and more, every Thursday that comes around, I am loving Mother's Day out even more. I love the fact that she is learning about the different Christian concepts of life at such an early age. So thankful for the wonderful ladies that are teaching my daughter such wonderful things!

Michael...

That's all I have to say and Savannah starts kicking her legs in excitement! Michael Brown, our next door neighbor, is one of her favorite people on earth! Those two play, laugh, and spend most of their time hugging! Wouldn't that be funny if those two got married one day and have been playing together all of their lives? hahaha!

The Dallas Zoo

On November 7th, we loaded up after Sara Jane's birthday and headed to Dallas to Serenity's birthday party at the Dallas Zoo. It was beautiful weather for the zoo! Great day of cake, animals, and fun!!! Just arriving to the Dallas Zoo and telling Ms. Serenity Happy Birthday! Cake time!!!

Hope we didn't get the flu from this swine...

Awww...sweet picture of the friends!

In the bird area. It was a netted area where birds would literally land on you and sit there.

Pa...seriously...there is a bird on my shoulder!

Bird on the cowboy hat.