Anna's Couch

Here it is!................Her princess couch that she wanted!

She has it out like a sofa bed with her blanket, book, shoes, Barbies tucked under the blanket and her drink!  She is quite content now!  She received her birthday gift from her cousins, Aunt and Uncle from Alabama today.  She put the shirt on right away and her face lit up when she saw the necklace they gave her with her name on it.  She is a happy little girl!

Happy Birthday Anna and Happy Easter!

Not only is today Easter (one of my favorite celebrations of the year) but it is Anna's 5th Birthday today.  The time has gone way too fast for me.  It seems that the days and years are speeding up.  Yesterday she had a couple of friends over to play and we had a tea party for her.  The girls dressed up, I made raspberry tea, brownies, cookies, and fruit.  I let them use my white china and they had so much fun. 

Today started early for me.  We had two services at church in which I was blessed to sing at both.  Andrew and Anna were up way before I left so I got to see them have their Easter Basket surprise.  During children's worship, the kids got to hunt Easter Eggs with scriptures and candy in them. 

Anna chose to go to Olive Garden for her Birthday meal.  While we were there, Azalee Tatum, an elderly member from our church that knows all about my (Johnson) side of the family,  had heard from our preacher's wife that we were taking Anna to Olive Garden for her Birthday.  She and Ben were having their Easter lunch there and she found Anna and gave her a dollar.  After she left, Anna said, "Good! I can buy that couch at Wal-mart."  We laughed and said, you need at least 35 more dollars to get that couch.  She found a princess miniature couch at Wal-mart and wanted it for her bedroom.  We told her to wait and see what she got later at her party.

We arrived home and I had to take their Easter pictures in their clothes because I was not there when they got dressed.  I had planned to have the Easter egg hunt but Anna insisted it was time for her party.  So we made a few changes and had her party.  She was so excited to get the money from her Gran and Granddad and from Bud and Marva and realized she had enough to buy that couch!  Andrew gave her the Barbie vacation house.  We gave her a pink scooter.  Her Nana and Papa gave her clothes and her Aunt Shara gave her clothes and Barbie clothes for her Barbies.  She was proud of everything.  Except she really wants to go to Wal-mart for that couch.

Alan then hid the Easter eggs and the kids had fun trying to beat each other to the eggs.  We hunted once in the back yard and once in the front yard.  Now everyone is exhausted.

Tomorrow, I get to take off of work and go with Anna's class to the Fort Worth Zoo.  I have not been able to go to any field trips with my kids and worked out that I could go this time.  I am so excited.

Enjoy the photos!  Happy Easter!

Birthday Tea Party!

Happy Easter! Anna is wearing the dress her Gran bought her!

All of my presents and my princess castle cake!

The hunt in on!



Speechless

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

A Crazy Week!

Our week started by my school having open house Monday evening.  Then I come home to find Alan telling me the air conditioner/heating unit isn't working. OK.....so we call our home warranty and get someone scheduled to come fix it.

Tuesday, was Andrew's Art Show which I was looking forward to.  I picked up the kids from school, and grabbed two Rosa's Taco platters and headed home.  I put everything down and went toward the bedrooms and I heard water leaking somewhere and I noticed the carpet felt strange as I walked on it.  The hot water heater had a corroded pipe and was spraying water everywhere. I am vacuuming up the water and did not get to go to Andrew's art show.  Alan had a football meeting with parents at the school after the Art show, so he took Andrew to it and took a picture of his award winning art, while I am at home trying to clean up a huge mess and waiting on the plumber to arrive.  On top of that, I was coming down with a sinus infection and was starting to feel terrible.  It is nearly 8:30 and I have made another phone call to our home warranty people and discovered that they really had not called anyone for an EMERGENCY call.  So we end up in a hotel for the night.

Wednesday, Alan stayed home from school and worked very hard all day trying to clean up all of the water damage.  He used our carpet cleaner to suck the water out and he told me he used towels to soak up water and then would throw them in the dryer and go back to vacuuming again.  When the towels were done drying, he would start the whole process over again.  Finally, a plumber showed up and replaced the copper pipe.  I then come home to help Alan as much as I can but after awhile, Alan looks at me and says, "I'm tired and your sick, go to bed and I am going to go rest."  I didn't argue.

Thursday, I went to the doctor and got two shots and two prescription and yes I still went to school.  I have UIL coming up............there is NO WAY I am missing any chance to rehearse my Junior High Ladies!!!!  The air conditioning man showed up after lunch to fix the air/heating unit.  Meanwhile, we are still trying to dry up the carpet in the hallway and the office.

I am expecting tomorrow to be much better. 

On a much happier note, Anna received her Bible at church for saying all 66 books of the Bible On Sunday February 20, 2011.  Eric and Mica Ribble ( Portis Ribble's Nephew) presented her with the Bible. Mica is the interim Children's Minister until we hire a new one.

Andrew received an EXCELLENT ribbon this year for his "Lion" art work.  I had no idea how much his Art work had improved.  This is the first piece I have gotten to see all year.  I can't wait to see what he brings home in May.  Way to go Andrew!!!!!

A Snow Week!

Remember when I said that it never snows when I am around?  Well, that is no longer the case. Not only did it snow early Tuesday morning, but it stayed below 12 degrees for three straight days and then on the fourth morning (this morning) it snowed again.  We have been stuck inside our lovely home for four straight days.  We finally made a break for it a few minutes ago to go to Sonic and to Walgreens.

We have slept late, played games, watched movies, exercised, drank hot chocolate, have bible studies, played super heroes, played on the computer and cleaned house.  I am quite sure I have left something out.  Today the kids finally got to go out and play in the snow.  The sun is out for the first time since Monday and it sure has made a difference in our house today.

We have all realized how much we miss going to school too.  Here are some of our pictures.  Oh and my Walgreens trip was very thought out.  The picture below will show what I bought and I only paid $1.40 and still got back $5 in cash rewards :-)  That made my day!

Dad is making Auntie Anne's Cinnamon Rolls

Andrew is a puppy and Anna is taking him for a walk.

Church was canceled Wednesday because of the icy roads, and the kids literally will cry if we miss church on Wednesday night.  So I created a bible lesson and activity for them.  That seem to work for them.

We studied Hebrews 11:1 and talked about having faith in someone (God) you can't see.  They drew pictures of the wind, air, gravity, a skeleton, and a heart.  These are things Andrew and Anna came up with that you can't see, but you know it is there.

Snowball fight!

Holiday in the Park

We had season passes to Six Flags this year.  So we thought we would take the kids one last time today for Holiday in the Park before they close for the year.  Everyone else apparently had the same idea.  It was so packed that you could barely move through the crowd.  Even parking was bad.  In the three and half hours that we endured this chaos, the kids only rode a grand total of THREE rides.  The lines were so long even for the kiddie rides.  I stood in line with Andrew and Anna for 40 minutes to ride the Trucks only to see them go around the track three times. 

After we all four decided we had enough of this crazy place, we left the park and went to Boston's to have pizza.   Yes! even I got to enjoy gluten free pizza.  Anna and I actually shared it.  Even though it is a small pizza, I can't eat it all. 

Then to end the trip, I begged Alan to let me run into Whole Foods Market (my favorite grocery store) and look for some gluten free goodies.  Hmmm.......that may have been a mistake!  I found chocolate covered doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, and freshly baked chocolate cupcakes with icing!  I came out of the store with a big smile.  Then my kids thought they had the right to have my very own gluten free treats!  Of course, I set them straight and told them they get cinnamon rolls baked for them EVERY Saturday morning and they can go to the doughnut shop and get what they want when Dad wants too.  By the way, the chocolate cupcakes were AMAZING!!!!

Playing wth Gifts

Playing with Christmas gifts will never be a problem with Andrew and Anna.  They both received many things and have had a blast playing with their own gifts as well as each others gifts.

Andrew gave Anna a School/Teacher play set.  Boy has she been teaching away.  You can almost tell she is a mini Mrs. Rachel (her teacher) in just how she speaks and mimics her. Very Cute!

Andrew got several boxes of model airplanes, cars etc from Alan's Mom and Dad and now Andrew and Alan are putting them all together.

Making play dough cakes, cupcakes etc. with the set that Gran and Grandad gave Anna. Andrew is examining the play dough through a microscope he got in his stocking.

Anna has become the four year old Cake Boss!  She made everyone of these cupcakes with her play dough set.  Anna informed me that these cup cakes are NOT gluten free because they are made of play dough.  That is almost scary that she knows that.

Andrew is showing Anna how to work his Air Hogs that he got from Gran and Granddad.