And the Beat Goes On...

Happy Birthday, Joe Johnson

2011-12-23T19:47:00.002-06:00

2 and 4

2011-12-12T15:17:00.007-06:00

Saturday we celebrated the kids birthdays with our friends for lunch and our family for dinner. It was a beautiful day, and we had a blast with all of our favorite people. Thanks everyone for coming out, and those who couldn't make it, you were missed!

It was a camping party... so here's the cake we had with dinner.

We grilled out hamburgers for lunch which the birthday babies ate in the tent with Aunt Hay.

Then we blew out candles over some dirt and worms.

Then we roasted marshmallows for smores.

Next up we hunted some bugs. Here's when we released them from the backyard. Don't worry no one was harmed in the stampede.

Lots of running, playing, bike riding, etc....

The birthday girl did at least 50 laps back and forth on her bike.

Kale, Joe, and Finn (he's pitching) played some baseball.

After naps it was time for the family to come over. Here are both of my grandmothers shoved into one chair. Their choice. I think they might have been cold.

Mos and Joe checking out some of the presents.

Daddy and Joe playing his new guitar.

Today is Blythe's actual birthday so here she is blowing out her birthday pancake.

Happy Birthday, sweet babies!

Privileges of the Chief

2011-11-30T20:51:00.004-06:00

A couple months ago I read back through all our old posts. Don't worry, I'm embarrassed about it. However, I had forgotten the majority of things I had written about, and I'm also embarrassed to say I was laughing so hard at myself I was crying. Anyhoo, I realized that as long as the world doesn't implode this little blog will be a tribute to the ridiculousness of our family, and one day our kids can go back and read little snippets of the things we will forget to tell them about.

So that being said, this is for that reason and that reason only. This was just a little Corbin moment that made me laugh, so I'm writing it down (typing it down) so one day Blythe and Joe can have a little reminder of their grandparents.

My mom has been recollecting the little people stuff that we had when we were kids for the grandbabies. My sweet friend Jillian has amassed the greatest collection I've ever seen, and she passed down a couple things to my mom (thanks Jill, love you!). As with all things the new toys were the only ones anyone wanted to play with and I don't remember who even did this, but B or Joe put the firemen into the swing and the following conversation took place...

Me: "That's nice the firemen get to swing. I bet firemen never get to swing."

Lainee (my mom): "And I see the Chief gets his own swing."

Paw (my dad, Fire Chief of Wylie)" "As it should," he then switched to what I can only describe as the voice of the French guy in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and added, "Get down one of you knaves and push me."

Made me laugh. Love everyone involved. The end.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-01T15:12:00.002-05:00

Singing Joe Joe

2011-10-28T18:46:00.002-05:00

He writes his own music too.

From the Phone

2011-10-03T07:22:00.003-05:00

I emptied the pictures off my phone again and here's what I got...

Lainee got us some new costumes so I've been hanging out with Superman a lot lately.

Here is pouty time out face after someone hit superman

We had a broken pipe which caused us to be without water for 5 days. The upside? It made this fantastic mud puddle to play in.

We made a chocolate cake to share with some friends. I put it on the counter to cool and came back to find Joe helping himself to a taste.

I took Blythe to see Winnie the Pooh for her first movie. She couldn't have cared less. She just wanted popcorn.

We ate a lot of popsicles this summer. Notice how Joe's diaper functions as a juice catcher.

Carrots!! This was right before nap time and Joe appears to already be asleep on his feet.

I hope Mama Vernon Doesn't See This

2011-07-31T20:00:00.002-05:00

We just buzzed Joe's hair. I know, I know, I know, I KNOW... but the poor guy was so hot and sweaty all the time. Mama Vernon is going to kill us.

Help Please!

2011-05-04T09:16:00.003-05:00

We're trying to pick out backsplash tile for our kitchen which will also be on the wall behind the vent hood we're getting so I'll stop setting off the smoke alarms every time I make something on the stove. However, Caleb and I differ on what we like, Blythe changes her answer every time you ask her, and Joe just keeps pointing at the bananas. We're struggling because we inherited the countertops which are great, but probably not what we would've picked out. So anything we pick out tends to not really go with the countertops, but here's what we're looking at so far...

Option #1

Neutral stone tile with a glass & stone mosaic stripe running through it

Option #2

Glass tile with gold/bronze in it

Option #3

Good old white

So if anyone is out there and still paying attention to this blog, please cast a vote. We're stuck!

Time Flies

2011-04-11T08:36:00.005-05:00

I emptied the pictures off the camera and here's what I found...

Playing ball in the hallway. I don't know how it works when they all sit together.

SNOW!!

Helping with the laundry.

Sup

Blythe putting Joe to bed in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Sweet hugs

He thought he was pretty cool with this back pack on. This is one of his new faces.

This is his thinking face. It was hard work getting all the crayons out of the box.

Deep Thoughts, By the Johnsons

2011-02-25T18:41:00.002-06:00

"You can't even begin to wonder at the capacity at which I wonder." - Caleb

After a rough day at Expertus...

"It's just another day." - Caleb

"And there's always another one. Until there's not... and then who cares." - Court

Happy Birthday, B!!

2011-01-04T07:40:00.004-06:00

Blythe turned 3 on December 12th and she had decided many months ago she was going to have a snake birthday. I don't know where this idea came from cause I'm not much of a snake person, so it's not like we talk about or look at snakes. But a snake birthday is what she wanted so a snake birthday is what she got. Here is my attempt at a snake cake...

After Joe's party, we decided to just have a low key dinner at home with the grandparents. It was nice and laid back, much like us. Here's the birthday girl enjoying her snake cake.

This is Gramma K. She's my 98 year old grandmother. The birthday hat was a bit too big for Blythe, but fit her perfectly!

One of Blythe's presents was this digital camera. The rest of these pictures are ones she took.

The inverse of the one above...

Some of the party goers, Paw, Ben, and Grammie. She kept telling us all to get together and love each other. I'm guessing this was a product of those instructions!

Papa Tim. I will admit I had a hard time choosing one of Papa Tim. She took some great ones!

Mama J posing for the photographer.

This is what a lot of them look like. She has trouble being still when she takes a picture, but I thought this was funny.

Happy Birthday, Blythe! You are such a sweet and loving girl. We love you so much!!

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-03T08:07:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year all. I'm gonna try and be really good this week and catch up on the major happenings around the Johnson house. I don't really know what happened in November, so I'm just going to skip to December.

First up, Joe's First Birthday! Joe turned one on December 23rd, but we had his party on the 11th. I really had a hard time finding enough days in the month for all the birthdays in our family so in all future years I think we'll be having just one big party.

It ended up being a beautiful day so most of the party played outside. Here's the birthday boy enjoying the nice weather.

Joe started walking pretty early so he has now moved on to climbing. This is a little stool Mama J gave him to climb on.
Opening up some presents...
Happy Birthday, Joe Joe!!
Joe is such a fun addition to our family. He is pretty much the complete opposite of Blythe which makes life oh so much more interesting :) We love you, Joe, Happy Birthday!

Thanks again to the Sears!! I found myself without a camera that worked when it was time to cut the cake so these are all from their collection!

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T15:20:00.004-05:00

The one semi-happy picture I could get with both of them in it.

Then the lion fell over backwards (yes, I took pictures instead of helping him up)

The giant lion head made it so that he couldn't get up, which made him mad.

"Get this off my head, or I will be forced to hurt you."

So on to the giraffe. Who was super excited to discover she had a tail.

The rest don't really require explanation.

It's a little girl in a giraffe costume.

What more could you ask for?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Good Stuff

2010-10-23T20:22:00.002-05:00

Blythe spent the night with Lainee and Paw last night, and Joe missed her terribly. This morning he crawled into her room, over to her bed and started pulling on her covers. He was very upset when he couldn't find her. Around noon, Joe and I met my parents in Lewisville to get Blythe back. The minute she got in the car Joe started talking to her and screaming with joy. During one of the first pauses in his welcome back racket Blythe said to him, "I love you too, Joe."

I'm not ashamed to admit, I teared up a little bit.

Blythe Video

2010-09-06T09:08:00.003-05:00

The Macgruber of Hair

2010-08-19T20:44:00.004-05:00

Just got this email from Paw (AKA: my dad "The Chief") entitled "All's Well." Blythe is spending the night with them and apparently didn't want to wash her hair. Enter the chip clip.

Firsts

2010-08-07T18:34:00.003-05:00

We've had a couple firsts over the last week...

Blythe got her first haircut. She didn't really appreciate it, as you can see...

Here's the finished product.

Here's Blythe doing Joe's hair for him.

Sometimes that requires putting him in a headlock...

And last, but certainly not least... Joe cut his first tooth. I don't think you can really see it, but his bottom right tooth popped through on the 2nd!

Huh?

2010-07-16T19:22:00.002-05:00

Tonight we tried orzo pasta for the first time. For some reason, we were wondering if it's what is used in risotto, but couldn't remember the word risotto. We finished up dinner and Caleb went to give Joe a bath and I started cleaning up the kitchen. When I was putting the leftovers away it clicked....

"Risotto." I yelled from the kitchen. (Keep in mind the whole "what is that they always mess up on Hell's Kitchen?" conversation took place about 30 minutes earlier.)

"Huh?" Caleb replied, thinking I said "where's Joe?" Since he was sitting beside him in the bathtub, and I should be aware of that, it seemed like an odd question.

"Risotto." I repeated

"Ah, risotto." Caleb replied as confirmation.

To which Blythe, who was in the bathroom helping give Joe a bath, replied "In the bathtub."

Apparently, "risotto" and "where's Joe?" sound the same to young and old alike.

The Beefus

2010-07-08T20:16:00.003-05:00

Joe is almost 7 months old and I have no idea where half a year has gone. So here's what he's up to these days...

Taking baths in the sink...

He likes to stand up, but is still pretty wobbly on his own. He's alot more stable when holding on with his mouth apparently...

Blythe likes to give zurberts (I have no idea how to spell that), but she quickly learned to pin his arms down to keep him from pulling her hair. Give it another 5 months and we'll have a pretty good wrestling match up on our hands.
We've been swimming, cause it's Texas and grossly hot.
Hanging out on the porch with Daddy...
Today he figured out how to sit himself up which is fun. He also chased me all the way into the kitchen in about 3 minutes which is impressive when you're army crawling!
That's our boy, it's all going too fast. People aren't kidding when they say it goes by in the blink of an eye! There Lainee, I promise we are taking pictures of him.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-07-04T21:08:00.002-05:00

Father's Day kind of came and went around here. We're horrible at keeping presents once we've gotten them, so Caleb opened his present the week before the actual day. We went to eat lunch with my dad on the actual day and saw our Johnson dad on Saturday. Nothing fancy.

I'm reading Gospel-Powered Parenting by William P. Farley and I came across this paragraph tonight...

"Fearing our heavenly Father is something like fearing a good earthly father. I feared my father. I knew that he would inflict whatever pain was necessary to instill in me obedience, loyalty, hard work, and perseverance, among other things. But I also hoped in his love. I felt secure in his presence. I knew that he would not reject me - that no matter what I did, he would never stop loving me. I could not disappoint him. I could grieve him. But I could not motivate him to withdraw his love from me. Many reading this paragraph did not have a father like this. Whether you did or didn't, this is what God's love is like. This is what fearing God is like."

This is the dad I had, and I've never really understood what a blessing he is. So Thank you, Dad, for being the kind of man books are written about! I love you so much. Happy Father's Day!

Well said, Mr. James.

2010-06-23T21:18:00.003-05:00

I am currently reading The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. As a book lover I thought this was a fantastic compliment...

"The women one meets - what are they but books one has already read? You're a whole library of the unknown, the uncut. " He almost moaned, he ached, from the depth of his content. "Upon my word I've a subscription!"

- Mr. Merton Densher

Despite having a name like Merton, the boy can still make a girl's heart melt.

While Mat Kearney plays...

2010-06-12T17:37:00.002-05:00

We're in the process of making dinner. Technically, we're in the process of cleaning the kitchen so we can make dinner, but whatever. Joe is having a rough week. I think we're about to cut some teeth, but thus far he's just chewing on everything in site and fussy when he can't find something to chew on. He was sitting in his swing while we be-bopped around the kitchen and got mad when he dropped the spoon he was chewing on. Caleb doesn't like the noise he makes when he's not really crying, but just kind of fussing and many times will go "Son!" in an exasperated voice when we can't seem to make Joe happy. On this occasion, Caleb calmly said, "Come on, Man." However, Blythe yelled, "SON!" causing Caleb to laugh hysterically which made Joe stop crying for the time being.

Good Morning

2010-06-09T07:41:00.002-05:00

Here's who I've been hanging out with since about 5:45 this morning.

6 Years!!

2010-05-24T08:39:00.004-05:00

Saturday was our 6th anniversary! In the morning, we ran a 5k. That was Caleb's choice of activities and I would be lying if I said I was super excited about it. It was fairly successful. We didn't walk at all which is good for me and I think I ruled out the idea of me ever doing a marathon or probably even a half marathon. I just don't like running that much (Sorry, Em). We worked around the house all day, pictures of that to come, and then that evening we went to dinner for my activity of choice... sushi!! We went to this restaurant here in Denton, Keichi, with only 10 seats and he makes all the sushi fresh right in front of you. I will say my favorite thing was the tenderloin mozzarella roll. He pulled out a blow torch and braised it right in front of us and I think the rest of the people sitting there were jealous cause they all wanted to know what it was. We then headed to Greenhouse for dessert before heading back to the house. Thanks to all the grandparents for watching the babies and letting us celebrate! We love you!!!There's a picture of the red hair finally, although it's faded quite a bit. Thanks to Caleb for being my best friend and partner in crime. I love you so much and am so proud to call you mine!

Blackberries!!

2010-05-19T21:29:00.003-05:00

Tonight, Blythe and I ate the first blackberry off our vine! We washed it off and I handed it to Blythe to try. She took a bite and handed it back to me. I took a bite and gave it back to her as we walked up to the porch. When we got up the steps she handed it back to me and I popped the rest into my mouth. Apparently, she was handing it to me to hold while she climbed onto the swing and was super mad to find I had eaten the rest. I apologized profusely and pointed to all the other berries and told her as soon as they turned black we could eat them.

She told me, "No mommy eat them all. Blythe eat some. Mommy share."

I apologized again and told her next time I would share better.

It was a really good blackberry though.

Josephus

2010-05-15T16:21:00.003-05:00

Joe has been staring at his hands for the last 20 minutes. Moving his fingers, turning his arm over, just staring. Every once in awhile he goes "huh." I was going to write something about how nice it must be to be so easily entertained. Then I realized I've been staring at a baby stare at his hands for the last 20 minutes. So apparently, I am that easily entertained.

Home!!

2010-04-26T18:04:00.004-05:00

The backyard smells like honeysuckle.

All the flowers are blooming (Caleb might be a better gardener when he's absent)

The floors are redone!

It's good to be home!!

Good Morning

2010-04-21T07:32:00.002-05:00

The water has been ridiculously calm this week. It almost looks like a lake. I'm guessing this guy is having a good morning. The sun is just coming up and he's got the whole beach to himself. The only person maybe having a better morning is Sasquatch. She still hasn't figured out how to catch birds, but man, she loves to try!

I've Been Hit

2010-04-15T13:26:00.002-05:00

We learned pretty quickly the hazards of changing a little boy's diaper. I don't remember having any accidents since the first month. Until today that is. He just got me... good.

I would be more mad if he hadn't let out a fantastic giggle/shriek of delight at the moment of impact. If I didn't know better I would think he had planned it.

Shark Attack

2010-04-10T08:53:00.004-05:00

I love the beach. However, I'm terrified of the ocean. I don't get in past my knees if I can help it. Caleb thinks my fear of things that can eat me is ridiculous. Yesterday he dared me to find a shark attack in Galveston that they didn't happen. Not only did I find multiple shark attacks in Galveston, but there has actually been 2 fatal attacks! The most recent death was in the 1930's, but he did not specify how recent it had to be. He still tried to tell me how rare they were and yada yada yada, but they happen and he can't say they don't.

This morning Caleb went for a run with Sasquatch. When he got back he walked up to me with this weird smile on his face and said, "There's about a 4 foot shark washed up on the beach maybe a half mile down from the house." Um, yeah.... not going in the water.

Oddly, I immediately wanted to go see it. In much the same way that I love to watch Shark Week on the Discovery Channel!!

That's my dad's foot for a little scale. His tail was buried so there's a little bit more you can't see too.
What's the point of this story? It is proof that Caleb doesn't know. All those times he says things with such authority that people just believe him... HE DOESN'T KNOW. He's lucky this shark didn't eat him.

Even as I write this Caleb is still trying to tell me he's right. That this shark didn't attack anyone and was probably killed way out at sea, but that is not what he said. He said there were no sharks in Galveston. WRONG.

And here's a picture of my blue eyed babies. If nothing else they have the same eyes. I don't know why, but Blythe doesn't like to smile in pictures. She prefers a version of Blue Steel.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

2010-04-04T20:40:00.002-05:00

Joe rolled for the first time today. Go Sephus!!

p.s. I dyed my hair red.

Lolita

2010-03-29T20:48:00.003-05:00

Once upon a time I decided I would read all the books on Random House's 100 Best Novels. It occurs to me that this must have been about 4 years ago because I was still working at the time. It has taken me this long to finish the first book I decided to read. Lolita nearly killed me. I have a weird thing about not finishing books no matter how much I hate them. Yet, I still stopped reading Lolita twice and went on to read many many other books before making another attempt. I finally just barreled through it last week.

Don't get me wrong, I see why it's on the list. It is beautifully written. He's very lyrical. He loves his adjectives and details. He could spend entire paragraphs describing a mole on a leg or the curtains his wife had chosen for the living room. Yes, it was as boring to read as that sounds. I would very often do the thing where you are reading but not really taking in any information. The beauty of this book was it didn't matter. He spent so much time describing things you could zone in and out and really miss none of the actual story. The story itself probably takes up 20 pages.

It is still the story of a man who loves a 12 year old. As a girl and a mom to a young girl it still oogs me out to know there are people out there who think like this. It has a sad, but not unexpected ending. So I'm glad I'm done with it, not really glad I read it. I had to read the entire Twilight series again just to regain my love of books. I'm not proud of that, but it's the truth. Next up... A Bend in the River. Obviously, I'm doing this in no particular order.

The Name Game

2010-03-16T11:12:00.002-05:00

This is a very touchy subject with me since I just named a child of my own. I hearby declare, it is my belief that no matter what a parent tells you they are planning to name their child you should smile and say, "Aahh, I love it!" I don't care if they like the name Flipsy McGoo, YOU LOVE IT. Because at the end of the day, the parents are the only ones who have to like the name. It doesn't even really matter if the kid likes it. They will one day grow up and get to name their own kids whatever they like.

I thought we were being pretty safe with the name Joe, but apparently not. I have just returned from a Lowes trip where the delightful man helping me told me with utmost certainty, "Joe? He doesn't want an old-fashioned name like that." Oh really, old man. I guess in the 2 minutes you've been standing here with me, my 3 month old son told you that?? As I get older my propensity towards violence seems to be increasing, cause I wanted nothing more than to kick this 80 year old in the shin.

So I reiterate, YOU LOVE IT. Strangers don't care what you think, and you're just gonna make them mad. And if you're family or close friends, they then have to decide whether to keep a name they like, but will know for the rest of their kids life you don't or to choose a different name and know for the rest of their kids life it's not what they wanted to do. It sucks the fun right out of the naming process. I now get why people don't share what they are going to name their kid. If we have more I will probably think very hard about not sharing our plans. And if I ever say a derogatory comment about anyone's baby naming plans you have my full permission to punch me right in the face. Hard.

Update Ahoy!!

2010-03-09T13:44:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures of our latest adventures, in no particular order...

Seriously, the belly on this kid is outstanding! I'm starting to feel bad about putting him in horizontal stripes :)

I don't know why, but he always seems to be wearing this shirt. I promise we change his clothes on a semi-regular basis. This was taken on his 2 month birthday!
We went to the Dallas Aquarium randomly last week. Monday Caleb walked out of his office and goes, "Want to go to the aquarium on Wednesday?" To which Blythe and I answered "YES!" For the next 2 days she kept telling me, "I go see fishes with Daddy!" And we did. The place was packed and it kind of felt like being herded through like cattle, but she loved it. I think she would have stood with her little nose pressed against the tanks all day.
I was trying to get her to smile and so I said, "Show me your teeth" and this is what I got.
Thank you, Aunt Chrystal, for our fun new tutu! She's been flouncing around the house in it as much as possible!

Tummy time!!

Blythe has been showing more signs of being jealous of Joe. She wants to be rocked and held and wants to ride with us like Joe does. She's pretty cuddly so we don't mind the extra holding time! Here we are riding around the house together.

Smiley Joe

2010-02-13T15:18:00.001-06:00

Negotiations

2010-02-08T13:03:00.004-06:00

Caleb: Want to go down to Rev's house with me?

Blythe: Yeah!!

Caleb: Ok, we're gonna need a sweater and boots.

Blythe: Red shoes.

Caleb: No, it's cold outside, we need boots.

Blythe: No, red shoes.

Caleb: Boots

Blythe: Red shoes

Caleb: Boots

Blythe: Red shoes!!

Caleb: Do you want to go in the car with Daddy?

Blythe: Boots!

Bjorn Borg Eat Your Heart Out

2010-02-01T19:26:00.002-06:00

What happens when Daddy puts on the headband

Fun with a Box

2010-01-28T21:08:00.005-06:00

In the past week we've had 2 big boxes delivered to our house. These have now been taped together, had some door handles cut out, and become a fort for Blythe. With both of them it's big enough for me to sit in there with her. We've colored the walls and she just hangs out in there having tea with her baby and tonight I found a cup full of beans in it. I can't tell you how many times in the last week I've heard, "Mama, get in the box!!" I don't know how much longer we'll keep it around cause it's pretty big, but it's been fun while it lasted!! Here are some pictures from this morning. She was eating her breakfast in the box.

And here's Joe hanging out watching the fun. Check out that belly!! At a month old he's weighing about 11 pounds, which means he weighs half as much as his 2 year old sister!! And he seems to have a perpetual mohawk going which I think is fantastic!!

Stephanie Southard Photography

2010-01-05T09:39:00.002-06:00

My amazing friend Stephanie has started her own photography business and yesterday she was sweet enough to use Joe as a test subject. Unfortunately, Blythe was not a very cooperative model as she would just start crying anytime Steph would ask her to do anything, but Steph still managed to get some good pictures of her! She put some of her favorites up on her website, so check it out and give her a call if you want any photos taken!

www.stephaniesouthardphotography.com

That Didn't Take Long

2009-12-29T09:58:00.003-06:00

I think Joe has already gotten bored with us.

This morning his sweet Dad told him that he was looking less and less like an alien, so that's nice. I'm enjoying his jowels in this picture. Like a little uninterested bull dog!

He's Heeeeeere!

2009-12-25T20:26:00.003-06:00

Joe Caleb Johnson

Born December 23rd at 10:55 am

7lbs. 7oz., 20"

Minutes old... Yes, we're sitting on the bathroom floor, it's a long story.

The lovely Amy (holding Joe) who has now delivered both the Johnson kids and McKayla standing behind her.

Having some hat difficulties on the ride home. He didn't seem to mind since he was asleep.

Hanging out with big sister Blythe who already adores him and wants to hold him all the time. We've been having trouble finding a hat that will stay on his head, but suspiciously this Tech hat keeps appearing even though it slides right off.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers during labor and Happy Birthday wishes for Joe!

D-Day

2009-12-21T19:36:00.002-06:00

Today is my due date and, as most of you know, I'm still pregnant. I went in for my appointment today and we are 100% sure that I will go into labor and have a baby, but I can't give you a lot of details outside of that. Baby Joe and the Lord Himself are the only ones who know when this kid is coming and neither of them are talking!

Here are some reasons I love the women of the birth center...
Two weeks ago, Becky and McKayla (Becky owns the birth center and McKayla is their office manager) told me I had the look about me and they thought I would have him anyday. So last week when I walked in still pregnant McKayla gave me a big hug and goes, "Well, we called that wrong!" McKayla is British and thus has the cool British accent that makes everything sound better. This week when I walked in, still pregnant mind you, she just goes, "What are you doing?"
Since it is D-day, Amy did the usual blood pressure, listened to Joe's heartbeat, and measured my belly and weight, but then also checked my cervix to see what, if anything, was going on. She then helped me back out of the chair and turned her back so I could get dressed and goes, "I'll give you a little privacy." Which made me laugh. This is the woman who delivered Blythe and just checked my cervix so me putting my jeans back on is one of the least intimate things we've done together. So I just replied, "Really Amy, at this point in our lives together, what's the point?" And we had a good giggle.

Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and emails checking up on me. Sorry, I'm being really bad about returning said sweet calls and emails cause I really don't have anything to report. Still pregnant, he's still kicking the tar out of me every chance he gets, and Caleb is still pretty jumpy anytime I call his name.

Happy Birthday, B!!

2009-12-13T09:10:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Blythe turned 2! We had a little party at the house with pizza and a banana monkey cake. Mine didn't quite turn out like Martha Stewart's, but I have a feeling that is a common occurrence, so I'm not too upset about it.Blowing out the candles

Rocking out on the new pianoThe reaction to opening presents

Thank you to our dear sweet family and friends who celebrated with us. Ya'll made Blythe's day, as you always do!! Love you guys!

Baby Joe

2009-11-24T14:24:00.003-06:00

I had my 36 week appointment today and Joe seems to be on the move. He's already dropped which is why I'm not measuring that big, so for everyone who keeps seeing me and saying that I'm not very big... there ya go! He's not playing around though, so I was advised to take it easy for a week. I did not know this, but apparently boys lungs develop a little slower than girls, so he needs at least another week. I really don't think he's coming in the next week, but we're playing it safe anyway. Besides, I'm never one to argue when told to sit down and take it easy!!

I also went to the chiropractor for the first time in my life today. Little known fact about me, I hate having things popped. I don't pop my fingers, and I hate having my back popped or anything else. For this reason, I've always been a little wary of the idea of being adjusted. However, in the last month, the rib that Blythe moved when I was pregnant with her has been really sore and uncomfortable. The very first thing the chiro did caused a big pop that made me grind my teeth together, but after that no more popping and Viola! Rib back in place after 2 years!

We're battening down the hatches around here. This weekend we need to get the bassinet put in place and the Christmas tree up and we'll be as ready as we'll ever be! Thank you to the Sears for all the baby boy clothes a little one could ever need!! I was going to include a pregnant picture with this post, but I couldn't find one. I'm almost always the one with the camera and if I don't have the camera then I have B and you can't see my belly anyway. It's on my list of things to do, but Caleb keeps wanting to take pictures when I'm eating a brownie or something equally picturesque. He says that would be a true picture of pregnant Courtney, but I don't think ya'll need to see that.

What We've Been Doing

2009-11-08T17:37:00.006-06:00

Here's some pictures from our adventures of late...

We went to the State Fair with Grampa and Valera (AKA Pa and Lala)

Here she is having a chat with the blue ribbon barrow. A little disconcerting, the sign said this pig had been sold to Tom Thumb for $10,000. The pen was right by the Helping Hands activity so "Hey kids, here's a pig... you can buy him at the grocery store soon!!"

Here we are in the Helping Hands place. It's really cute, they go around and plant seeds, pick vegetables, feed chickens, gather eggs, but from the get go she had her eye on this tractor. Being a Ram

Pa causing a ruckus at the bird show

Next up... we had a day at the zoo

My tour guide for the morning

She was more excited about the animal statues than the actual animals themselves. Probably because she could hug them.

Playing in a giant turtle shell

And finally... as a Bumblebee for Halloween

Yes, she was a bumblebee last year as well, but it still fit.

Our sleepy bumblebee at the end of the night.

Hope this appeases the Grandma!!

The Ricardos

2009-11-02T08:04:00.002-06:00

I am now about 32 weeks pregnant. My belly is getting big and my body is getting tired of carrying the extra weight. Joe is really active, especially at night, and it's been frustrating trying to go to sleep. I end up tossing and turning trying to find a comfy position and unbeknownst to me this has been annoying to Caleb.

Last night, the usual routine of trying to get comfy was going on and in the thrashing I accidentally banged my knee cap into Caleb's. This progressed into what can only be categorized as a slap fight which ended when Caleb's grotesquely overgrown pinky toe nail threatened to amputate my leg below the knee.

Caleb: "I don't know why sleeping in the same bed is a requirement of marriage."
Court: "You want to get two twin beds like Lucy and Ricky?"
Caleb: "No, I just want you to get your own single bed over there (guestures toward the corner)."

We then scooted to the far edges of the bed and held hands in the middle... which would have been a sweet moment if it hadn't been for the "I want you to go sleep in the corner" comment that preceded it.

I'm Nestin'!!

2009-09-14T07:58:00.004-05:00

Blythe has officially switched over to her big girl bed to make room for Joe. Oh yeah, we're having a boy and his name is Joe! I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this already knew that, so I'm not too worried about forgetting to put it on here. We set up Blythe's new big girl bed a couple weeks ago and she loves it! Had I known it would be that easy to get her to take naps and go to bed in it I would've switched her long ago. She now pretty much tells you "Night Night" and waves you out of her room. We inherited this bed from the Johnson's and at one point in time it slept all three of the Johnson brothers. Right now that ladder goes to no where, but it will eventually have a top bunk. Blythe is using the trundle so another bed can go on top of hers. This made way for the crib (AKA Joe's bed) to fit in the same room, because Caleb is still officing out of the guest bedroom. This last week we moved the mattress back up and put the mobile up. Blythe never really cared about the mobile when she was a baby, but she loves it now. She spent most of one afternoon sitting in the crib just playing it over and over again.
Next on my list... going through and finding what clothes we have that aren't pink. Luckily, between Em and Erin I'm not too worried about my boy clothes supply!!

Blythe's Newest Musical Venture

2009-09-08T09:14:00.002-05:00

Mac "Genius"

2009-09-04T12:17:00.002-05:00

Caleb dropped and broke the screen on his Iphone. He was in Houston from Sunday to Wednesday and couldn't get an appointment at the Apple store or they didn't have the right part to fix it, which is how we ended up at the Apple store in Charleston Thursday night.
Caleb went on ahead and Hayley, Blythe, and I brought up the rear, so when we got to the store he was already sitting at the help desk sharing a hi-five with his genius. I wandered up as they were reading off a serial number which included letters. This sparked a conversation about the military alphabet. They had to repeat the letters to make sure they heard right and the guy said "Sorry, I don't know all that Alpha, Bravo stuff." I made the comment that very few people outside the military probably knew the whole thing so he could've just made something up and we wouldn't have known. Caleb and I started to go through them until we hit G... actually Caleb skipped from E to R because he couldn't think of Foxtrot and I guess he thought no one would notice the half of the alphabet he didn't know. I threw out Gamma and Caleb quickly ruled that out because he said Gamma rays were not discovered until after the military alphabet was put into place. There was a pause after this statement and I noticed the 3 geniuses nearby kind of knodding their heads. I took this opportunity, as I often do, to let these poor guys know that Caleb is full of crap. He has no idea when Gamma rays were discovered, but he says things like this with such resolution that people just assume he must know what he's talking about. He doesn't say, "No, I don't think Gamma rays were discovered yet." He says it as a statement... as fact. So what I find interesting is that people are not mad when they find this out. The general reaction is laughter, and then this group of yahoos were impressed. They all made comments about how they totally believed it, or how they thought it sounded right. So then our personal genius said something about how he wondered when they were discovered, and there was another pause before we all realized we were standing in a room full of computers. So while our genius looked that up, the other 7 of us (by this time we had 4 geniuses and 2 other customers involved in the discussion ) took over under bets. Caleb said he thought it was the last 30 years and then the geniuses and other customers ranged between 20 and 50 years. I said I thought it was gonna be something ridiculous and they were all off.
SURVEY SAYS: Gamma rays were discovered in the 1850's by some French dude. I win.
Also: G is for Golf.

An interesting side note: The 2nd customer that joined us came in a little late for his appointment because he said his uncle had just been shot somewhere in Charleston. I know nothing else about this other than he's OK, because none of us could be pulled away from our all important Gamma ray discussion.

Day one in Charleston. Walked up and down King street 4 times, seafood dinner on a rooftop deck, and Apple store shenanigans... good times.

Blythe's First Plane Ride

2009-09-03T12:14:00.003-05:00

Greatest Wedding Entrance of All Time

2009-08-21T07:23:00.002-05:00

Syd put this on Facebook, and I stole it, but it's such a happy way to start the day!

Pickle Heaven

2009-08-16T19:43:00.002-05:00

You are looking at my favorite food. These are Aunt Tate's pickles. Aunt Tate is my mom's aunt and when I was little I would eat entire jars of these pickles in a sitting. Who am I kidding I still do it. Sadly, Aunt Tate passed away years ago, but she left us with the amazing gift of the pickle recipe. I have made them 3 or 4 times since receiving this gift, and actually my sweet mom gave me 8 jars for my birthday one year. However, while always being some of the best pickles I've ever tasted, they were never quite up to Aunt Tate par.

For our 5 year anniversary this year Caleb got me a pickling cucumber plant. It has gone crazy and I have been swimming in cucumbers just begging to become the greatest pickles of all time. I have just opened the inaugural jar, and brace yourselves, I think I've done it!!! If my taste bud memory serves me correctly, these are bonafide Aunt Tate pickles, ladies and gentlemen!

The interesting thing is that for the first time I did not follow the recipe exactly. Which brings me to this topic of conversation... I sometimes have to wonder if the older generation is simply just forgetting the actual recipe and passing down what they think they are doing, or if they want to hold the title of, for instance, greatest pickles of all time, so they finagle the recipe so that you get something good, but not great.

Case in point #1 I have been blessed with the greatest mom-in-law a girl could ever ask for. We share a love of many things and she's just one of the coolest ladies out there. She makes something called dream cookies. Caleb loves these cookies and he doesn't really like sweets so it's a big deal. I was given the recipe when we got married, but have failed many times to make them correctly. I love you Gwenda Cheree Johnson, but I'm going on record that I believe you to be witholding dream cookie recipe information. I believe one Alli Cooper will second that statement.

Case in point #2 Grammie Lou is a fantastic cook. She blessed me with a cook book of all our family recipes when we got married. However, it includes such things like her recipe for roast. Which includes a list of probably 10-12 different spices/herbs followed by the words, "Just throw any combination of the above ingredients into the pot." No amounts, nothing. I will admit though most everything I've made out of this book tastes great, so I can't complain too much.

I got a little off topic there, my apologies. Anyhoo, I'm swimming in the greatness of Aunt Tate pickles. Still have more cucumbers to pickle and I make no promises about sharing any of them even though I'll have close to 20 jars by the time the plant stops producing. Ya'll wouldn't like them anyway so don't get mad at me.

Caleb's Final Is This Weekend

2009-08-08T15:52:00.003-05:00

He claims this is studying...

Check it out... Sasquatch is getting her PhD!!!

Things I Love About Blythe

2009-07-28T19:24:00.002-05:00

1. She follows Caleb around the kitchen closing all the doors and drawers he leaves open. This makes my heart happy and proves she is mine.
2. She is showing all the signs of being an organizational guru. Yesterday, she was playing in our shower while I got dressed, and when I took a shower last night all the bottles that are usually all over the bench were neatly stacked in the corner.
3. She can shake it with the best of them and loves all music. However, last week a Britney Spears song came on and she immediately started going "No No No NO NO" until I changed the station. This proves she is Caleb's.

Just a few things that have made me smile in the last couple days. We go for the sonogram on Monday!! We are kind of stumped on names at the moment, especially if it's a boy. Caleb likes Johnny and I like Smith... but Johnny Johnson and Smith Johnson are just too mean.

Givin' the People What They Want

2009-07-20T21:16:00.003-05:00

Blythe Walking Her Dog

2009-07-05T12:53:00.002-05:00

Caleb's Man Crush

2009-07-03T07:59:00.002-05:00

As I type this he's playing an Ode to Roger Federer on the piano. I think this may be where his recent obsession with bandanas has come from.

I Have a Complaint

2009-06-26T12:20:00.002-05:00

I've grown up in Texas, went to A&M, so I am no stranger to the giant truck. They no longer annoy me. I usually just ignore them or at the most roll my eyes. If you want to spend that much money on gas and get a stepladder to get your girl in your vehicle that's your choice. My complaint is this. If you are going to drive such a monstrosity then MAN UP AND DRIVE IT ALREADY! I just got stuck behind one of these guys who practically came to a full stop before gingerly going across railroad tracks. Railroad Tracks. Are you kidding me? Your wheels come up to the bottom of my window and if you weren't in my way me and the CRV wouldn't have so much as batted an eye at said railroad tracks. If you're gonna drive like that get your self an Oldsmobile some blue hair and slump down until you can barely see over the wheel. At least then I would know what I was dealing with.

18 Months O' Fun!!

2009-06-23T08:06:00.008-05:00

A couple weeks ago Blythe turned 18 months old! In the melee that has been our June it kind of got overlooked, but here is a little insight into all her toddler glory.

This is her serious face. She gets very intense when she is sorting things or coloring or such.

I think she must have just woken up in this picture. She's getting pretty tall, and can climb on the couch, chairs, and piano bench all by herself. She then gives herself a round of applause if you are not quick enough to do so yourself.

She loves being outside and we try our best, but it's just so stinkin' hot these days. Here she is on her tricycle. That's a piece of bamboo which Dad is pushing from behind. Her legs are almost long enough, but not quite there.

Potty training is going good. We still aren't very good about being consistent. We pretty much just go when she says she needs to which means some days we go 3 times and others we go 27 times. I think her main motivation is to get her diaper off so she can streak through the house like so....This I'm throwing in for Caleb. He, all the sudden, is really into bandanas and wants Blythe to wear one all the time. Sometimes she'll leave it on, but in this picture she looks less than impressed.
I think the biggest change is the chattiness. She is talking a lot! Many words we can understand and then there are entire monologues in which I have no idea what we are discussing, but she is so serious about what she's saying that I just act like I do. Some of her favorite words are Sas, Mama, Dad, cheese, juice, outside, shoes, and apple. Lately, she has been yelling at Sas to stay which is funny cause she usually does it when Sas is asleep and thus not moving.

That's our girl! She's so much fun and makes us laugh all the time. We are so very grateful for our little blessing. We love you, B!!

The Triathlon

2009-06-07T19:05:00.003-05:00

Success!! I had two goals for this triathlon...

1. To finish.

2. To do so without throwing up.

With those parameters in mind it was hugely successful! This weekend, myself and two of my wonderful friends did a sprint triathlon in Austin. A sprint tri consists of a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run, in that order. This morning at exactly 7:42 for me and Hayley and 7:45 for Cassie (affectionately dubbed C-Mase) started the swim. Here is Hayley and I's wave taking off...

The biggest problem or hurdle was that the race took place in Austin. This made the course hilly and I would go so far as to say borderline MOUNTAINOUS. I would guesstimate that about 1/2 a mile of the 12 mile bike ride was flat. The other 11-1/2 miles were up and down. Some hills were long, some were steep, and some were ridiculously long and steep at the same time... Good Times!!

All said and done it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes which is not impressive. In comparison, the two rock stars who were doing it with me finished under 2 hours. Cassie finished in an hour and 35 minutes and Hayley finished in an hour and 55 minutes. They are amazing!! The one good thing about coming in last (other than getting to go much slower) is that when you finish you have quite the cheering squad yelling for you! Here I am about to cross the finish line, and I'm pretty sure those are Hayley's hands clapping for me!

Here we all are after we finished. I should sleep good tonight and if you see me in the next couple days I'll probably be walking funny cause my legs feel a bit like jelly. In the end, I'm proud of myself for finishing and unbelievably relieved it's done with!

Preggers...

2009-06-03T09:36:00.003-05:00

That's right folks, we've done it again! I'm officially 11 weeks pregnant and have had my first appointment. We heard the heartbeat and everything is perfect with the baby. This time around I have been much more sick than with B which has really thrown me off. I'm hoping to almost be done with that part though nearing the end of my first trimester.

I'm due December 21st, adding to the mayhem of Decembers for us. Poor Caleb, even Sasquatch's birthday is in December. We're still getting settled in the house and now have some stuff to accomplish with B before the new addition arrives! We've been half-heartedly potty training for awhile now, so we'll have to get serious about that. And she's gonna have to give up her crib and become the big girl in the house it looks like.

What's funny is one of the first things to cross my mind when we found out was how MacFest was going to work that soon after the baby. So don't you MacFesters fret... you haven't been forgotten!

My New Hero

2009-05-29T09:55:00.002-05:00

Tasty

2009-05-14T14:42:00.004-05:00

Our New House!

2009-05-06T10:00:00.002-05:00

We've moved! We moved in last Tuesday, Wednesday morning Caleb left for Houston, Thursday afternoon I left for Menard with my parents, and then Friday Caleb met us down there for Brandon's wedding. It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but the weekend was really fun. Unfortunately, in the car swapping my camera was left at the ranch with Sasquatch, so I don't have any pictures, but Valera was gorgeous, Brandon was smiling, and it was an all around perfect weekend.

So the above is the house. I kind of hope Grammie doesn't look at this, because that is one of the nice dining table chairs on the front porch. I guess Caleb and Clay don't like to sit on the swing together so I keep finding it out there. We are slowly getting unpacked and settled in. The fantastic thing is the house doesn't need any work. We'll probably paint in the next month or so, but that's about it. Contrary to that fact, Caleb insisted he needed work boots for this house. I think it may have to do with all the cowboys we were around last weekend, but whatever the reason he got him some work boots. Here he is in the backyard surveying the projects and giving Squatch's head a scratch...

The Christmas Tree skirt that wouldn't die...

2009-04-21T14:37:00.003-05:00

Caleb and I got married 5 years ago this May. That same year I fell in love with a Pottery Barn tree skirt. As we all know, Pottery Barn is a little expensive so the $65 or $75 price tag seemed a little high for something that I would only see about a month of the year. Being the new little wifey that I was, I said to myself, "I can make that for waaay less." So in September of 2004, I started working on a tree skirt for my Christmas tree.

Well, today, April 21st, 2009, I finished it. That's right it took almost 5 years for me to finish it. Turns out, I had to hand sew the ribbon on which took forever! I would get bored or frustrated and stop working on it for a year at a time. Caleb has been randomly bringing it up since I started it too. Just every once in awhile he'd throw out a, "How's the tree skirt coming?" Sometimes in the middle of June he'd ask about it. It would make me so mad and about 2 years after I started it he told me to just go buy the thing, but I refused. In retrospect, I would've paid $100 for the stupid thing, but I had to finish it on principle alone!

So without further ado.... TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Don't look too closely, cause the lines aren't all straight, and as you can see it doesn't actually even form a circle. Maybe one day I'll add some more panels, but most likely my Christmas tree will just always be in a corner. How ya like dem apples, Johnson!

2009-04-09T08:29:00.004-05:00

We've been at my parents for almost a month now and it definitely has its perks. Caleb and I are getting lots of free babysitting which means we've gotten to go on many dates! Blythe is also enjoying having Lainie and Grampa around and will definitely miss them when we move out!

Using Grampa's new rolling cooler as a wagon. I think Grampa is enjoying this just as much, if not more, than B!

A flower planting assembly line. She got a little impatient when Gramps wasn't ready to take the flowers from her.Talking to the gnome. She was a little wary at first, but they're friends now.
Bath time in the sink.

Pretty sure this is against every safety regulation out there...

Dancing in the kitchen with Lainie.

We almost officially have a house. We close on the 27th, but that weekend is Brandon and Valera's wedding so we won't actually move until the 9th. We love the house! It's actually the house of the people who out bid us for the Woodland St house. They are friends of Em and Clay, so when they came down to tell Emily they were moving she immediately told them we would probably be interested in the house. Yes, when I say "came down to tell Emily" I mean they walked down the street. It's, I think, 5 houses down from Em and Clay and around the corner from Hayley which are HUGE perks to an already really cute house! So now I owe Em for meeting my husband and finding me a house!

Where did we go???

2009-03-22T12:59:00.003-05:00

We are at my parents in Wylie. Today marks a week since we packed up and moved. We have, yet another, offer on a house in Denton, and should hopefully have an answer in the next couple of days. If this one doesn't work out I think we will be renting a house until we can buy something we really love.

We're trying to relax and enjoy the built in babysitting while we're here, but are looking forward to having a place of our own!

B's New Shoes

2009-03-10T17:18:00.003-05:00

Today we went to get B's first pair of real shoes. Gramma Lainie gave us a gift certificate for Christmas, but since Blythe wasn't walking yet we waited to get fitted. She took her first steps about a month ago, but just started really walking around about a week ago. Here are some pictures of her first walk in her new shoes...

Thanks Gramma Lainie!!

Dirty Baby

2009-03-04T20:07:00.005-06:00

Blythe spent most of the afternoon in the backyard digging in the dirt. Mama J will be so proud!
Dirt on the hands....
Dirt in the mouth...

Dirt in the air...

Dirt on the head...

Milestones

2009-03-03T20:51:00.004-06:00

Tonight, Caleb put Blythe to bed and we sat down to watch Biggest Loser. We were talking about all the stuff going on and brought up some of the milestones we're about to hit. So I said, "I think the baby is weaned, we're going to Vegas this weekend for our first night away from her," then Caleb adds this... "and I dominated some math today."

We all have our pride points, apparently Caleb's involves his math skills. He was taking someone else's interview assessment test for a management position too. Cheater.

He would like me to add that I was watching Biggest Loser and thus he had to watch Biggest Loser, because he loves me and wants to be in the same room with me no matter what is on the TV.

After saying the sweet thing about wanting to be in the room with me, he then told me he was at least 17 times faster at the internet than I am, and also that I don't say things correctly. Jerk.

Then he made me change the above to say "at least" because he thinks he is probably more than 17 times faster. Uber-jerk.

You must admit... together, we are funny. He claims he's the only one who is funny. Super-uber-jerk.

Welcome to the Madness

2009-02-27T17:04:00.004-06:00

We are now about 18 days from being homeless and I think it's finally starting to set in. This is effecting us differently as I'm starting to pack with a little more fervor and Caleb is trying to buy any and every house that is for sale. We still have not decided if we're moving to Denton or to Wylie so Caleb is trying to buy a house in both cities.
When we got the contract on the house, we were pretty settled on building a new home in Wylie. This was going to take 7-9 months so we needed to rent something in the mean time. Last weekend, we went looking for something to rent in Denton. We figured we could have the best of both worlds... rent in Denton for a bit before moving to Wylie. While driving around Denton we saw houses for sale on Locust, across the street from Hayley and around the corner from Em and Clay. For sale, mind you, not for rent. Next thing I know we're looking at a 1948 siding house that needs a lot of work. Probably needs to be leveled, most likely needs a new roof, and definitely needs a paint job. The lady living in it now has so much stuff shoved into the 1800 sqft that it was overwhelming. I was shocked when Caleb wanted to make an offer as he has said he didn't want to have to redo another house, but none the less, he was ready to buy it then and there. I think it was Wednesday we signed paperwork, but held off sending it because we had a couple questions about the seller's disclosure.
Thursday night we went to Wylie for Valera's birthday dinner. While there, Grammie told us that Choice Homes had declared bankruptcy. We had looked at a couple of Choice Homes in Brandon's neighborhood before settling on a different builder. So last night, Caleb is ready to buy one of those thinking we can get a really good deal. When we got home, he emailed the lady we had talked to before and talked to her on the phone today. Tomorrow we are going to see the house across the street from Brandon and Valera (after we drop off some stuff at our storage space, which is in Wylie).
Meanwhile, at around 2:30 or 3 this afternoon, he tells me to go ahead and send in the offer on the Locust street house. I have stopped asking questions. I am simply packing boxes and waiting for Caleb to decide in which location to unpack them.
He has explained it like this. Before this house had sold he was reluctant to do anything. Now he knows this house is gone it's like having a loaded weapon, and he is choosing to shoot at anything that moves.

Tickling the Ivories

2009-02-23T11:49:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we inherited a piano from Grammie's Coppell house and Blythe loves it. Here's a quick picture of her and Caleb playing. Thank you, Grammie!!

Oscar Night

2009-02-22T20:49:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I like to send Caleb text messages from my computer when we're both in the house. It cracks me up. He won't answer back because he doesn't want to waste texts. It's really funny at night after Blythe goes to bed because then he can't even yell to answer me. Tonight, I was doing this and started laughing, but also needed to cough and I almost died in the process. It's no longer that funny.

That was a lie. It's still hilarious.

SOLD!

2009-02-18T07:42:00.003-06:00

We have a contract on the house, signed it yesterday. We are set to close on March 17th. Now all we gotta do is figure out where we're gonna live. Blythe and I started packing yesterday. I am learning to speed pack because Blythe still really likes to move things in and out. So if you are putting things in a box, B is right there taking it all back out. Or if you are trying to empty a drawer, there she is dutifully putting everything back in. Should be a fun month... I can't imagine what kind of junk is hidden away in this house!

Hola

2009-02-11T13:15:00.004-06:00

So my dad requested I update this thing. I told him I didn't have anything to say and he pointed out that's never stopped me before. Valid point, so here goes.

1. I love Olivia Munn. I think she's hilarious.

2. My new show that makes me cry every freakin' week... Biggest Loser. It used to be Extreme Home Makeover but I stopped watching cause it just got a little to over the top for me. I can't even remember what I was crying about last night, but I'm pretty sure I teared up at least 4 times. Redonkulous.

3. I took this picture outside our gym the other day. I thought it was funny. If you put fog lights or whatever these are on a Hummer it just says Umme. As in, "Umme, why are you driving such an enormous car?"

I'm it!

2009-01-22T07:29:00.003-06:00

Em tagged me, here's the scoop...

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

This was taken December 14th, so B is 2 days old. We were trying to take a picture for her announcement/our Christmas card... hence the bow on her noggin'. She's so tiny compared to the person who is unloading all my shoes from the shoe rack right now.

I only know 4 people with blogs, so I will tag Kale and Erin, Mike, Hayley, and Ben. If I had to guess I would say only one of them will do it, but you're it!

Michael Irvin and Me

2009-01-14T11:16:00.003-06:00

If you're in Dallas you've probably heard that Michael Irvin was almost car-jacked going to the gym. Here's the thing... we go to the same gym. I drive down Marsh and cross George Bush which is the exact same place it happened. I guess I can rest in the fact that nobody is gonna be that interested in stealing the CRV. Unless, of course, they know that it has a picnic table built into the back. That's useful to anyone.

Did I miss something?

2009-01-07T18:42:00.003-06:00

Today I was watching Kitchen Renovation on HGTV and they were redoing a kitchen to be eco-friendly. However, they all kept pronouncing it echo-friendly. It was driving me crazy. They weren't British either. Did I miss when that changed?

Really cool kitchen though...

MaccFest '08-'09

2009-01-02T09:49:00.007-06:00

I know I'm skipping some holidays but I've decided to go in reverse order. So I'll run down our Christmas festivities at a later date.

Wednesday night we hosted the greatest New Year's Celebration there is in the upper Carrollton area. We had some of the same characters and a couple MaccFest virgins... welcome Hayley!!

Here's Blythe in her party dress before everyone arrived. She has legs... I promise they're under there.

We will begin with the menu, since eating is the most important activity of MaccFest. The appetizers were the traditional things wrapped in bacon, Mike made a caprese bake, which was fantastic, and guacamole from the Sears. Dinner was, in my opinion, our best ever. We had mushroom stuffed beef tenderloin, which as always took longer to cook than expected. Mike made some scalloped potatoes with bechemelle sauce. Mike was banned from saying the word bechemelle in my house because my limit is 27 and he hit at least 34. Kale and Erin supplied brandy glazed carrots and hazelnut green beans, both of which were delicious. Then after a short rest we had Kale's smore brule for dessert which was amazing!

We played Wii golf and Texas Hold "Em, laughed alot, finished off the guacamole shortly before midnight, and toasted in the New Year's with red wine, because we ran out of champagne at like 10, which was ridiculous. This marked the first year I actually was awake for midnight and I'm pretty proud of myself.

Here's Kale and Finn playing Wii golf.

A little Texas Hold 'Em action... notice Blythe has her own pile of chips to make it fair

This was just cute. Everyone was in the living room and these two were in the kitchen looking guilty.

Ringing in the New Year. Christine, Alli's sister, made it just in time.

I will give the quote of the night to Mike, and sadly I think I might have been the only one to hear it. This group tends to all just talk at once and on at least 3 subjects at any given time, so it gets pretty confusing. We were discussing Ben and Kale's height and the hardship that comes with it. This turned to an inquiry into their basketball skills, which I think it was said neither of them had any, but during this Mike threw out this little gem in defense of Ben's skills, "He once jumped over an Asian guy." No one even paused or acknowledged it, but it made me laugh, so hears to you Michael Gregory Feris!

The following day me and Hayley laid around until about 3 in the afternoon, watching a Biggest Loser marathon on Bravo. The boys went to play golf and when they returned I made them put the kitchen cabinets back up. Then we ate the leftovers, which I think were better the second time, and played another round of Texas Hold 'Em.

Here are the boys putting up the cabinets. I just enjoyed how much Mike was helping in this picture.

I think this might have been my favorite MaccFest yet, and I'm extremely excited for next year as I think we decided to make it a formal event, so we can dress up! Thank you everyone for coming and cooking. We love you guys!!

She's a Fast Learner

2008-12-28T09:49:00.003-06:00

This morning we're just hanging out in the living room and Blythe was doing one of her favorite past times which is unloading Caleb's wallet. She used to take everything out, but this morning, she went straight for the cash. She left everything else, but took out $45 and headed for her car where she proceeded to hide it in the hood. She's been taking it in and out, adding stacking cups etc... for the past 20 minutes and is still going strong. Somehow she has learned that the cash is the good stuff. I've never been so proud!

As you can see, she has also picked up on how to mug for the camera. This is her, "I'm hilarious!" face.

Sick Baby

2008-12-20T13:42:00.002-06:00

I Fired the Realtor.

2008-12-17T08:21:00.002-06:00

If you are like me you will read the above title to the tune of "I Shot the Sheriff." Monday afternoon marked the third time our realtor forgot to tell us someone was coming to look at the house. At around 4:30 I was about 2 minutes out of the shower, luckily it's cold enough that I got dressed right away. The house was a mess from a full day of living in it. I'm pretty sure the entire toy box was dispersed around the living room and I hadn't even made the bed. Sasquatch was inside with no collar on. Caleb said they knocked once and then were unlocking the door. Before he could do anything the door was opening and Sasquatch was running towards it. By the time I came out of the bedroom they were already in the kitchen and Caleb had Squatch in a headlock on the living room floor. Needless to say I'm pretty sure the house didn't make a great impression and I was furious. After the second time this happened I had called the realtor and told him as calmly as possible that we really needed the warning since all three of us are in the house all day long. We are never show ready without being told to be. So as soon as they left I called him up and asked if I had missed a call from him that day. His reply was, "Oh yeah, did someone come look at the house?" I went off. Apparently, I was scary enough that Caleb and Blythe left the room. However, he didn't even put up a fight so I didn't get to release all my wrath. Yesterday, he came to get the signs and the lockbox off the door and I caught him at the door otherwise the coward wasn't even gonna knock.
So let it be known... I do not recommend John Perrault as a realtor.

Henry Paulson

2008-12-14T08:34:00.002-06:00

Interesting notes on the Paulson Era...

One thing to keep in mind, Paulson is the former CEO of Goldmans Sachs.

AIG is Goldman Sachs largest daily trading partner, something to the tune of $20B in obligations to Goldman Sachs. If AIG failed, it would crush Goldman Sachs.

In his proposed plan to Congress regarding the $700B bailout, he included this little note.

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Sept 30, 2008: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was the only Wall Street executive allowed to attend the Federal Reserves AIG bailout talks.

You Might Need a Drink Before Reading This One

2008-12-10T20:31:00.004-06:00

http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122887075956093233.html

For Erin, here is the Abstract:

On Monday, The US Conference of Mayors met on Capitol Hill to ask for a $73 Billion "Infrastructure" bailout.

That bailout includes almost $100 million in tennis courts and $94 million for a parking garage at the Orange Bowl.

The mayor of Arlington, TX needs $4,000,000 to expand their Tennis Center.

Obnoxious.

Blythe's Birthday Party

2008-12-08T10:16:00.009-06:00

Sunday we had Blythe's First Birthday Party!! Her birthday is technically Friday, but we thought Caleb was going to have to be overseas so we moved it up. The trip got moved back, but the party remained where it was.

Our families came over and we ate some food, opened some presents, had some cake, and mostly just laughed at Blythe. I'm not sure what we used to do when the family got together before she was around. Now everyone just stares at her, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Some of the highlights are as follows...

She got a rocking chair and monkey from Mama J and Papa Tim.

A walker from Mommy and Daddy. Currently being pushed around on her knees. We're gonna work on the point of the walker later today.

A firetruck (she's chewing on a firewoman below) from Grandma Johnson and Papa Tim, and an octopus that sings when you throw stuff in it from Lainie and Pops aka the Chief aka Grandad... we don't quite have an official name for him yet.

Then it was time for cake...
The first taste didn't go over so good...

But after a couple more tastes she didn't mind it so much...

She was highly uninterested in eating any cake. She's very much a lover of salt like her Daddy. She licked some icing off her fingers and then went back to the toys.

Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate. We love you guys!!

True Love

2008-12-07T20:36:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to brag on Caleb for a moment. A couple nights ago I got up with Blythe around 3 in the morning to feed her. When I came back to bed Caleb had been lying on my side so it would be warm when I got back. Now that is a good man!! I love you, Cabe!!

OOOOOOkay

2008-12-05T21:37:00.003-06:00

Yet another wild kingdom episode in the Johnson household tonight...
Monday they started to put a new roof on our house, and tore off all the shingles. Tuesday they ran out of new ones, so they finished up Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday night we began hearing noises in the exhaust vent over the stove. We called the Chief, because he's the handy go to guy, and he said it was probably just the flap on top loose and blowing in the wind. All day Thursday we kept hearing noises and it didn't sound like a flap on top of the house noise. It sounded like something sitting right on top of the hood in our kitchen. Thursday night Caleb climbed onto the roof and, lo and behold, no loose flap. So we're thinking if a bird has flown into this vent it's been in there at least a couple days now and is probably getting close to death. So tonight after another whole day of scratching and flapping noises, Caleb pries open the exhaust tube and peeks inside only to find himself eye to eye with a giant mouse.
For the time being, he closed back the tube and we prepared the kitchen for battle. Towels under all the doors, gloves on our hands, and tried to get Sasquatch to pay attention. When everything was ready we opened up the tube again and waited. The first attempt the mouse made to climb out Caleb tried to grab it, but it freaked out and fell back to the bottom. We then got a stick and put that into the tube... sort of a ramp apparatus for the mouse. This time it made a run for it with gusto. It jumped out of the tube, bounced off the coutertop and then hit the floor where Sasquatch quickly took interest. It got hurt bouncing off all the hard surfaces from such a great height, so it wasn't really running. This gave Squatch the chance to play with it in the kitchen. Then we had to try and keep Squatch back, get the mouse in a towel, and throw it out the back door.
One of these days I'm going to get the video camera for one of these episodes. We get all jumpy and scream and yell and I'm sure it's hilarious to watch. When we finally got the mouse outside, my heart was beating like crazy.
Here the story goes from slightly entertaining to kind of sad. The mouse was injured and Sasquatch just kept playing with it. So Caleb went to the garage and emerged with a big stick. I stayed inside for the rest of the story, but there was yet another mouse casualty in the Johnson house making the score Johnsons 2 - Mice 0.

Eco Sites

2008-11-23T21:24:00.003-06:00

www.carbonrally.com

Take a challenge or post a challenge to reduce your carbon footprint.

www.catalogchoice.org

Opt out of the catalogs that you don't want/need.

Peace Out Mac

2008-11-13T18:36:00.003-06:00

Tonight I am boxing up the Mac and shipping it off to its new home. I have never quite forgiven it for dying on me last month, so I have sold it on Ebay. I feel very good about my decision, and have already used the money to buy a non-Apple laptop that will arrive the day before Thanksgiving. If you put that together I will be sans computer until then, so won't be quite so Johnny-on-the-spot with email. Bon Voyage Mac.

Here are some random pictures of B. Taking pictures of an 11 month old is a sport unto itself. She's quick and wants the camera, so most of my pictures of her end up like these...

http://www.bailoutsleuth.com/

2008-11-11T09:09:00.001-06:00

Adding together the $170 billion that the Treasury Department has currently agreed to provide banks in additional capital, the $150 billion that the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are providing to AIG and the $2 trillion that the Federal Reserve has provided banks in emergency loans brings the total assistance to $2.32 trillion.

If the estimated savings from the new tax breaks are included, the assistance would climb to $2.46 trillion. That total does not include other measures not focused directly on banks, such as Treasury Department's $200 billion in support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration's $300 billion HOPE for Homeowners program.

I apple-ogize

2008-11-10T07:57:00.002-06:00

I have to take it back. They explained the whole bench thing on Saturday night. Apparently, the Tech kids all stand on the stadium benches. When they all start jumping up and down and what not the benches break. So when a bench breaks they simply pass it out of the way. Makes sense. So I apologize (yes, I know how to spell it).

However, I really want them to catch on film the moment one of these benches breaks with 20 people standing on it. That's gotta be at least a little funny!

I Blame Yale

2008-11-04T07:22:00.001-06:00

This will be the first time in 40 years that Yale will not have one of its former students on the ballot as president or vice president. Not since Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew battled Hubert H. Humphrey and Edmund Muskie in 1968 has Yale been shut out.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T13:01:00.006-06:00

It's Bumble B!!

I must also comment on the Texas vs. Texas Tech game. Not on the game itself but on the insanity of the Tech students. Did anyone notice, sometime in the 1st half, the students passing one of the stadium benches down?? Lets walk through this...

1. Those benches are bolted down. So either you had to use a ridiculous amount of brute force... or you somehow smuggled some sort of drill into the stadium. Either way it took some planning.

2. Those benches hold 20-25 people. So you had to convince 19-24 other people to remove the bench they were all sitting on. Who are these people that when some drunk frat kid goes, "Let's tear this bench out!!" you all go, "Heck ya! Lets tear this bench out!!" And are probably a little mad they didn't think of it themselves.

3. It was their own stadium. Why are they always destroying their own stadium? If you're so excited tear somebody else's stuff up... idiots.

Useless Conversations

2008-10-14T17:40:00.002-05:00

This past weekend we drove to Houston and back on Saturday for one of Caleb's childhood friend's wedding. Rachel Blythe Durr, now Parker, to be exact... and yes, it's where Caleb got our little one's name. It was in Kingwood, Tx which is where Caleb grew up for the most part. We have been there before, mostly for MacFest, so I've gotten the tour, but that did not stop Caleb from pointing out everything again. "I once stopped to tie my shoe over there." "One time I sneezed over there." You get the idea. He has also been driving to Houston a lot for work, so this caused the useless pointing out of landmarks to continue on our journey home. I eventually commented on how chatty he was being, which somehow lead to us trying to figure out what percentage of our conversations together were useless. After much debate we decided on 65%.

We had left Houston at 8:30pm, so it was getting pretty late and we pulled into a Sonic for a caffeine boost. We apparently were in the only part of the US of A that didn't have a Starbucks. As many of you might know I used to work at Sonic, so anytime we go Caleb likes to quiz me on how things work. I decided to have a M&M blast, which caused Caleb to ask me what it was. I told him it was like a sundae. He told me I was wrong, which considering I'm like the queen of ice cream seemed weird. He claimed that a sundae consisted of 5 main ingredients: ice cream, chocolate syrup, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. Well, we ALL know that's just incorrect. So I went on to tell him that the Sonic menu alone had at least 4 other kinds of sundaes and those didn't even begin to cover the whole world of sundae toppings. He asked what those would be so I went on to list out some of the choices: strawberry, caramel, hot fudge, and even pineapple. "Pineapple?" he asked. Yes, pineapple, like on a banana split, I told him. He replied, "So I could hit the button and say I would like pineapple on my sundae." "Yes, you could say exactly that." He then tried to say this horrific joke, "Well, I only like pineapple on my Mondays." Only, much to my delight it didn't come out like that. It had at least 3 extra "s's" in it. I can't even really write what he said, but here's my attempt. "Well, I onsly like pisnesapples ons my Mondays." After I stopped mocking him, I pointed out that this would be a fantastic example of the 65% of our conversations that are useless.

I couldn't make this up if I tried...

2008-10-02T13:41:00.003-05:00

Last night we spent the night at my parents. They installed our new countertops yesterday and it stunk. I rocked Blythe to sleep and put her to bed and when I came back to the living room there was a really old copy of Pilgrim's Progress on the end table. So I pointed to it and asked, "What's with the book?" Turns out Caleb had never read it. Somehow that had come up and my parents were lending him their copy. Now, hold that thought for a moment.

My family has what I like to call Corbinisms. Things we say all the time, that I don't even realize are strange until I say them in front of people outside the Corbin family and am met with silence and worried looks. One of the most used sayings is, "Get in Ida!" Way back in the day when cars were just replacing horse drawn carriages my great Uncle Elzie and great Aunt Ida were getting used to their new car. The story goes that Ida was a little slow getting in this new fangled contraption so my Uncle Elzie would just start the car and get moving before Ida was completely in the car. This would leave her hopping along beside the moving vehicle trying to get both feet in and the door closed all the while Elzie would be yelling, "Get in, Ida!!"

Back to last night.
I asked what was with the book and this was my dad's answer. I would call it a conversation, except it wasn't. He just kept talking. At times, the other 3 of us were talking over him or laughing about something, but he never really stopped his story. So here is what he said as close to verbatim as I can get it.

"You know that has Ida Parr's name in the front of that book. Ida as in "Get in, Ida!" Did you know that we lived with the Parrs while Daddy (my grandpa George) built our little house. The house that later became the first library in Coppell. It was not the greatest of houses. The floors were so slanted that you could sit against one wall, roll a ball to the other wall and it would come back to you. It wasn't very tight either. One night I got up to go to the bathroom and got stung on the toe by a scorpion. We had one of those crank phones too. (He is pantomiming holding the receiver to his ear with his left hand and cranking with his right.) You would say, 'Mrs. Barfnecht, connect me to Pleasant Corbin please.' My Uncle Pleasant Corbin lived across the street. He had a motorcycle with a sidecar. He also had a pet goat and he would put that goat in the side car and ride around with it."

His soliloquy ended there. What else can you say after you've given the mental picture of a man named Pleasant riding around on a motorcycle with a goat in his side car.

Sweet Jump

2008-10-01T14:11:00.001-05:00

http://view.break.com/580815 - Watch more free videos

Bailout Details

2008-09-30T09:34:00.001-05:00

There are 3 main reasons why I think this bill failed. 1) The $750B could be used to "repurchase assets troubling the US Financial System." This doesn't mean US assets. The Treasury had full plans of purchasing Europen and Asian failing assets. 2) During the Savings and Loan crisis, 4,000 banks failed. During the current crisis, it is less than 75. 3) Henry Paulson -

A quote from Congressmen AKIN of MO, "My colleagues, a week ago we were approached by Secretary Paulson, and he told us that there was a crisis and that he had a solution. He gave us the horns of a dilemma, two sharp, shiny points that we could impale ourselves on. One, that the financial system was going to collapse and implode, and the sky was going to fall. Certainly we wouldn't want to choose that. The other, we could write a $700 billion blank check. Those were our two choices.

The Details: - and I predict...Henry Paulson will go down as the single worst Treasury Secretary in the history of America.

• Provide up to $700 billion, starting with an initial $250 billion, to allow the Treasury Department to purchase troubled assets, mainly in the area of mortgages, that are weighing down the U.S. financial system.

• Give the Treasury Department, working with experts chosen by the government, the authority to fashion the asset purchase program. Treasury officials have suggested that a key approach will be the use of "reverse auctions" in which financial firms who succeed in selling their assets to the government will be the ones willing to take a lower price than other bidders.

• Impose restrictions on the pay and benefits received by executives whose companies are selling some of their bad assets through the government's purchase program.

• Require the Treasury to provide details of its purchases within two days of the transactions; various oversight boards would be created to monitor the operation of the program.

• Give taxpayers ownership stakes in companies whose bad assets are purchased. After five years, if the government is facing a loss in the program, the president would be required to submit a plan recommending how the money can be recouped from financial companies.

• Establish a program for banks to buy government insurance that would cover the principal and interest on certain troubled assets, rather than selling them outright. Premiums would vary depending on the assets' risk profile.

You're right, Clay, this isn't funny... it's freakin' hilarious!

2008-09-24T20:22:00.003-05:00

Caleb is telling me that there shouldn't be a comma before Clay... only after. I think it should be the way I wrote it... anyone want to chime in on that?

Happy Birthday, Cindy!!

2008-09-24T07:23:00.003-05:00

Technically, yesterday was Cindy's birthday, but I got this picture today, so I'm a day late, excuse moi.

Once upon a time, Cindy told us she had a stand up bear cake pan. Janet and I were skeptical, as you might imagine, that such a fantastic invention existed, and it didn't help when Cindy "couldn't find it." Much like if someone told you they had a pet leprechaun, but then couldn't find it. But Cindy found the cake pan and so for her birthday (plus one day) Janet and I decided to make her a stand up bear cake. I baked the cake, and then Janet, whose taking cake decorating at Hobby Lobby, iced him. I think he turned out pretty cute.... TAAAA DAAAAA....

NBC News at 10

2008-09-22T22:01:00.002-05:00

"A banana chases a monkey, and both end up in jail."

Apparently, the police "didn't think the prank was funny," but I find the fact that this was the top news story HI-larious!