Short Video

Every night we read Julie books, give her a drink of water, say prayers and put her to bed. Well, this video was taken a little while ago when I noticed that Julie was doing her bedtime routine for her baby doll. She gave the baby a bottle, put the baby in her bed, then climbed in bed with her to read her a book and then decided to say prayers with her baby. I thought it was too cute not to share. We especially like the last part in her prayer where she pauses to think if there is anything more she'd like to add before saying amen. So sweet.

Finally! A new post!

It's been forever, but here it is, a new update from the Johnsons. : ) We had a great Christmas and New Year's complete with family visits. Since then, we have gone back to visit my family a few times and my parents have come to visit us. We've also been visited by Ben's brothers and their families. Ben went out of town a couple of times so Julie and I were lucky to have my family to keep us company on those weekends while he was gone. Julie has been back at Mother's Day Out and continues to really enjoy it, as do I. : ) She also keeps us on our toes these days since she is very much into repeating everything she hears. She talks like a "big" person now, in sentences and everything, and continues to amaze us with how grown up she is, for an almost two year old. That's right, she'll be turning two at the end of next month. The time has literally flown by.
Here are a few pictures of the last couple of months.

This is Julie cheesing it up for a picture at her MDO Valentine's Day party.


She loves helping out with whatever I am doing and here she is vacuuming for me.


On one of our visits home she went for a walk around my parents land and had a really good time playing in the creek with my Dad.


Yes, we got some snow this year. Twice!


We spent an afternoon with my parents feeding the geese at Shelby Farms one weekend. I'm not sure who ate more of the bread, the geese or Julie. She would throw a piece and then say "Julie bite!" and proceed to eat the rest of the bread in her hands.


The park is always a favorite place of Julie's and here she is racing Uncle Dan down the slide.


Julie had such a good time with her cousins Claire and Ethan. She loves her family!!

New house coat!

My aunt and uncle, Doris and Larry, came up to have Christmas with us. And they gave Julie the cutest little sock monkey house slippers and a red house coat with the little monkey on the inside. Julie is so super cute in it. Thanks so much Doris and Larry! We had a great time visiting with you, and are so glad you were able to make the trip up. : )

Christmas Pictures

We had a wonderful Christmas. Ben, Julie and I had a little Christmas morning together on Christmas Eve morning just the three of us and then we headed to visit my family that afternoon for the long holiday weekend. Santa brought Julie an easel this Christmas and she really enjoys it. She loves the chalk board side. She'll ask me to draw something so she can erase it, and then she exclaims "Gone!". We had a great time with our family as well. We hung out at the house, shopped a little, played Wii alot and went bowling together. We of course ate too much and got some great rest. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.



Here is Julie finishing off the cookie that she left for Santa the night before that he didn't finish.


Here's Julie getting a first look at her Elmo chair that she loves.



And she played tea set with her new set that her Grandma gave to her with her aunts and uncle.

Julie's first Christmas tree

We didn't do a Christmas tree last year, or the few Christmases before, but this year we decided to since Julie is a little bigger now and can enjoy it. And she really does. She had a lot of fun putting ornaments on the tree, even if she did try to put them all in the same spot. : )



And then the next day she pulled her rocking chair up to the tree to have a closer inspection of the tree and it's decorations.



She says "Hi Tree!" and "Hi Lights!" to the tree (and lights) each day and she tells them bye at night before she goes to bed. She also gets to turn the lights on in the morning and off at night, which she seems to really enjoy. Yesterday she even turned the lights off at her naptime, because the tree needed to take a nap too. : ) I just love her innocent enthusiasm.

Presents? What presents?

Julie and I went to the post office this morning to pick up a package sent to us from Ben's parents. We brought it home and opened it up to put the gifts under the tree. I don't think Julie even saw the presents, all wrapped in colorful paper. She went straight for the packing peanuts!

She has really enjoyed the packing peanuts all afternoon long. I think as I am writing this that she has emptied and refilled that box with those peanuts at least three or four times. Maybe that's what we should have gotten her for Christmas!


Thanks Grama and Grampa J, for the gifts we will open tomorrow and for the peanuts that Julie is enjoying today! : )

Are we sure she's my daughter?

Today when asked what she would like for a snack, Julie didn't respond with "ne-ne" or "m-e-ups" like I assumed she would. No, she didn't ask for candy or M&M's, she asked for peas and corn. She loves her veggies!!