The Johnson Clan

This past week has been full of summer time shenanigans. We’ve been going to library activities, parks, play dates, etc.  Cora and Ruby love all crafting opportunities, so it’s been a major theme lately.  The library started a program called “Messy Monday”, where they set up a messy activity at the park next door. That had our names written all over it. This week was painting. We painted rocks, banners, and our faces.  This pretty rose garden for some reason is also a big hit for my girls. They always want to walk through it when we have the chance.  Darcy loves having her big sisters around 24/7. She follows them everywhere and tries to do everything they’re doing. Sometimes they let her.  Today she came up to me with a very concerned face and sat on my lap. I asked her what was wrong and she pointed to her nose. I felt her nose, and could tell that one side was hard. Great. I was just telling Clayton the other day that she was going to be our kid that gets som...

It was Chance’s birthday yesterday and he didn’t have any plans. He says that in Africa they don’t really celebrate birthdays. So we invited him over for the evening and made his favorite foods. Meat (apparently the best is some kind of piece of a cows head but I wasn’t feeling that adventurous), potatoes, homemade bread sans butter or any kind of spread, vegetables, and a coconut dessert. Cora and Ruby generously let him borrow their 5 candle. He loved it. Happy birthday Chance!  Also, Darcy looked so cute and big with her pigtails. 

They started today and will continue every morning for the rest of the week. Both girls say they don’t like swimming lessons, to which I just keep reminding them that learning to swim is really important and they can do hard things. Today they just worked on putting their heads underwater. Maybe tomorrow they’ll leave the step? 

On Thursday Cora came up with this great idea to plan a party. She got out her paper and pen and started writing a guest list that included her cousins, aunts, uncles, Mimi, and Batman. She wanted to make a cake, play Spot It and Scary Bingo, have an Easter egg hunt, dress up in Halloween costumes, and put out our Christmas tree for decorations. And so Chrismeasterween was created. And I said yes, we should have this fabulous party! So Friday night everyone came over and we followed Cora’s plan. She was over the moon. I just love that she planned the whole thing and was so excited about it. Now Ruby wants to plan a party, but this time it will be for her neighborhood friends and spooky themed. 

Our ward was planning the annual father and sons camp out, and Clayton felt excluded so he planned an annual father and daughters camp out for him and the girls. This year they camped out in Scott’s backyard up in Salt Lake.  Before leaving Cora and Ruby made a list of all the things they wanted to do on the camp out.  1. Swim 2. Hike to a waterfall 3. Play with dolls 4. Bake a pie 5. Play games 6. Pull Batman’s teeth  7. Visit Becky 8. Pull one of Batman’s hair 9. Break Batman’s stuff 10. Eat breakfast with Batman 11. Wake Batman up 12. Watch a show 13. Play on his playground  I think they were able to do everything except for break his stuff.  Tommy and Ruby were about to race, and Ruby told Tommy that the secret to why she was going to win is because she has “girl speed” 💪 Darcy and I stayed home together. It was crazy how quiet our house was with just the two of us. I kept thinking this is how it’s going to be when the twins are in school and it’s just me ...