Grandpa-Great Walter Keith Johnson
14 November 1918 – 5 November 2009
Grandpa-Great, Grandma-Great and Big Daddy 1993
Grandpa-Great, Einstein, Roo and Big J 2002
With the Chaos last year on his 90th Birthday
Grandpa-Great and “Shorty” 2008
Grandpa-Great, we will miss you.
Finally home, in the arms of his beloved bride.
Of course I couldn’t get sick while all the kids were sick and just laying around. Nope, I waited until everyone was healthy and back in school. It’s just so much easier that way.
I feel like I am getting back into a rut of the same things every week. I am going to search some online sites for recipes for next week.
It was so nice having Halloween on an otherwise empty Saturday. And since I woke up with a horrible sore throat and felt like I had been hit by a big truck I spent most of the day sleeping while Big Daddy kept the kiddos entertained, or at least contained.
When it was time to get ready for costumes and Trick or Treating I was ready.
This was a tough year for Big J. He felt like maybe he was too old to dress up and go Trick or Treating, he just wanted to stay home and hand out candy. But since we already had a costume ready he went ahead and dressed up as a zombie skeleton.
Einstein was a Vampire, but not one of those new sissy vampires….a good old fashioned Blood Sucker.
Here he is running into the mist.
Roo was Cap’t Jackie Sparrow.
LaLa was a Butterfly-Flower-Ballerina-Fairy.
The title kept changing, but it was cute whatever it was.
Ham was a bee.
In a costume that he wore when he was a baby and he was bound and determined to wear it and everyone kept calling him a girl. But who cares!
Big Daddy dressed up as himself…The World’s Greatest!
I took these pictures out by our misters so it would look really foggy and cool. It worked for some of the pictures, but by the time LaLa and Ham got out there the mist was pretty thick. Oh well, you try to be artistic and see what happens!
Finally it was time to hit the streets. By this time Big J decided that maybe he wasn’t quite too old to go Trick or Treating after all. He and Einstein stayed with us for a few houses and then they headed off with some friends.
LaLa was so funny. She would come running back from every house saying, “They gave me candy!” Life doesn’t get much better than that.
Ham was more fascinated by the decorations than the candy.
To speed things along he hitched a ride with Big Daddy.
The highlight of the night for Roo was Trick or Treating at her teacher’s house.
I was just glad to get back home and sit and hand out candy.
After the fun and excitement and candy Ham just needed to chill out with a book…in his leotard.
Oh, and my costume…a Drama Queen. Yeah I know, so unlike me.
Since Einstein’s birthday is so close to Halloween I have made a conscience effort to not mix the two, even if it would have been easier, then last year he asked me why didn’t he ever have a Halloween birthday. Duh…Why didn’t I think of that?!?
So this year the birthday was easy peasy.
Here is Count Einstein.
Ham had a fun time watching him open his presents and was so excited for him.
Ever since we got Big J a phone Einstein has been begging for one and since we found out we could add him to our plan for a very small monthly fee we recycled one of our old phones for him. As he was opening his gifts Big Daddy called his new phone and he was so excited to find the ringing gift.
And as usual the Birthday Fairy came through with a requested Wii game.
The Birthday Fairy totally rocks the gift giving.
Here are all the kiddos watching him open his gifts.
And everyone else too.
Here are all the great costumes.
One of my favorite thing about birthdays is making the cakes for the kiddos. I have had near disasters before, but I have always been able to repair or rework the cakes. This year I one of the layers crumble as it was coming out of the pan and with no time to re-bake I had Big Daddy grab a cake on his way home.
Getting ready to blow out the candles.
Wish granted.
He is so excited to be in the double digits now.
Einstein you are going to be a great 10 year old!
The day after Einstein’s birthday is Grandma Jo’s big day.
So we met up at her house on Thursday to celebrate with her.
Steven and Christina had decorated her house before they left town.
And Julie furnished Bosa donuts instead of a cake.
Here are some the kiddos enjoying the birthday treats.
Since Julie had some sick kiddos just Taylor was there to enjoy the fun.
Happy Birthday Grandma Jo!
Today Einstein turns 10.
He is:
Smart
Kind
Sensitive
Helpful
Mischievous
Silly
Dedicated
Handsome
Thoughtful
Loved
And I thought to myself, “Self, that looks like fun.”
Okay not really fun, but why the heck not put myself out there for the world to mock.
So here is my transformation…and don’t hate me because I am beautiful!
First thing in the morning, right out of bed.
As a matter of fact I did have a crappy night sleep and wanted to still be in bed…thank you very much!
Out of the shower all shiny and clean.
Well more freckly (is that a word?) than shiny, but whatever.
And finally after I have waved the magic wand and a few brushes.
I am so grateful for make-up.
And yes I do put on make-up every day and do my hair…even if I don’t leave my house.
Now getting dressed is whole different story.
Big Daddy’s brother and his family were down this weekend for a 10 year high school reunion. Sometimes I forget how old I am until I realize my 10 year reunion was over 13 years ago. How did I get so old?!? Anywho…
Since they were down for the weekend we spent some time with their little family.
Sunday night they came over and had dinner with us. We put 7 kiddos at one table and the 4 adults at the other table. I don’t know if the kids actually ate anything, but it sure was nice to have a somewhat quiet meal with other adults.
After dinner we just enjoyed being together.
Here is Uncle Steven snuggling with most of the kiddos.
The cousins had a chance for some togetherness.
So glad they gave me big smiles for this picture.
We also got a chance to meet our new nephew. He is really excited to meet me.
Actually, he is a really sweet baby and I got to spend a little time with a swaddled and sleeping baby in my arms so I was happy.
Then Monday night the whole family got together and had dinner and played at a park.
This is Big Daddy and his siblings.
This is the kiddos and Grandpa enjoying dinner.
This was another meal that I am sure not much was eaten before the kids were off to play.
Ham found the perfect slide and spent most of the evening just playing there.
LaLa explored all over the park.
And Roo enjoyed playing with the baby.
He would just smile and coo at her. It was really cute.
We did have a football game that turned into a cousin dog-pile.
Notice that LaLa is Queen of the Hill. Why was I not surprised?
This is what Big J looked like after coming out from the bottom of the pile.
All my kiddos and kidlets together.
Big Daddy and I spending a few seconds together.
These are all the cousins together.
Natalie 1, Taylor 3, Nathan 7, Big J 11, Roo 7, Einstein 9
LaLa 4, Ham 2, Warner 3 months, Thomas 4 and Henry 2.
I always enjoy when Steven and Christina come to town. I just wished they lived a little closer so we got to see them more often, but we will take a few weekends here and there.
This is how much the night wore LaLa out.
She fell asleep on the way home and when we got her in the house instead of going to bed she just crawled up in Big Daddy’s chair and went back to sleep.
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