First 1/2 Summer

I was thinking about separating these pictures by event, but it's just not happenin'.

Too many!

Let's start at the beginning of the summer ...

Samuel had his end-of-the-year band concert.
He will miss Mr. D, but is excited to be in Wind Ensemble this fall.

He tested and got first chair in clarinets.
You can see him in the middle sitting down with the black glasses.

Early this summer we went to the annual SRC picnic! We got to meet Daniel's new co-workers and got to see old friends. And as always the food was awesome!
Ethan of course went for the first ball he could find.

And started kicking it

We went for a walk around the park
and got drenched in the rain.

We made it back in time for Samuel to finish up the pinata!
Blew it to bits.

For the picnic they gave us free tickets to the attractions in the park.
A fun one was the train!

Ethan was a water fiend that day.

Samuel's funny faces.

We were at the caboose

We got tickets for miniature golf too...Samuel's a great shot.

The clubs were a little short for D.

Ethan wouldn't let go of the colored golf balls we gave him.
After D shot, Ethan ran after his ball and tried to find it in the castle.

Determined

"Where-go?"

Grandma and Papa Johnson came into town for a week and this is the only picture I got of their visit. Sorry Grandma, it's only one, but it's a good one. :)

Ethan loves Momma's lasagna!

"I like it A-LOT!"

Father's Day = an afternoon of cooking.

D got a personalized cheese cake from scratch.

Then the boys wrestled for a while.
As you can see, Ethan's winning streak is still intact.

Ready for lift off!

Up, up and away!

"I love Daddy's sound effects!"

Daddy's tuckered out

But Samuel's ready to go!
C'mon horsie!

I love footie pajamas from Children's Place.
I got these on sale and I LOVE them.

Momma busted out the bubbles

Ethan loves bubbles!

I don't usually let him rome without clothes, but we went out to water the grass and his diaper started to swell, and eventually I just took it off.
There's no point.
So he got to run around naked for a little bit.

I came home from the gym one day and was craving shrimp!

So we pulled out the new BBQ-er, and our old table into the back yard
and made shrimp and chicken kabobs with fresh pineapple and veggies!
Soo good.

This is Ethan's first Kabob.
He really liked the pinapple, just like his daddy.

Samuel's ready to eat!

And here is the remnants of our feast!

For the 4th of July we went to the Circus, just like last year.

The pre-show was Awesome!

They didn't have this guy last year.

Daniel had to lift E up above his head to reach.
I think it rocked his world to see a guy that tall.

Over-all, this year's circus was nothing compared to last year's Bello-bration circus by Barnum & Bailey. I guess they rotate different circus themes each year and I just didn't like this year's as much as last year's.

But we got clown noses!!

This picture reminds me of last year's...

Ethan was only 6 months old!

Speaking of Ethan's age....

Can you say: NURSERY!

Yup, my son's in nursery.

This was taken July 5th, 2009, after his first day in nursery.

Which he loved!

And this is his first ever colored picture that he brought home for me.

It's still hanging on the fridge.

Ethan was quite the socialite this summer.
He got invited to a handful of birthday parties and had a great time!
Here he's at Ryah's 2nd birthday.

They had punch balls!

And yummy food.

This is us with Ryah's little brother Jace.

This Summer! First of many posts

I came into the living room one day and this is what I saw...

Hilarious!

I had put up the blue string to keep the books on the shelf.

But it did more than keep in books!
Poor guy couldn't get down without help.

Cibolo Nature Center

One Saturday we hopped in the car and headed north to Boerne. Our car window was broken and wouldn't go back up and just our luck, it started to rain. More like it started to pour.

But Alaskans are NOT scared of rain!

So we kept going and got to the Cibolo Nature Center for craft day. They had moved most of the activities under gazebos to protect them from the down pour

Even though it was raining it was still nice and warm. Here's Ethan just when we arrived.

Ethan got to make his own bracelet!

He did really well putting on the pony beads!

Samuel made one too!

Lots of sidewalk chalk

Ethan did his first painting!

All by himself.
Check out his look of concentration.

I painted his name and wa-la!
What masterpieces!

Samuel has a very steady hand.

Lovin the sidewalk chalk...again.

Trying to share

The rain kept coming so they put away all of the crafts.
But that didn't stop us!
So we hit the trail!

We were the only ones out there because of the rain and we loved it.
Living in such a big city, it's been a long time since
we've felt that kind of peace.

Ethan took off and was King of the Trail, and Samuel found a great walking stick.

Ethan likes to hold hands now.

Pictures on the bridge. Poor Samuel is getting his hair pulled.

Ethan had a messy diaper and we had to change his outfit when we got back to the car.

We felt a breeze and busted out the kites.

We found a deserted field and got some pretty good runs,
besides the kite getting caught in a tree.

So Daniel shimmied up there to get it.

He got a little beat up in the process.

Samuel was a pro!

Heading back to the car...

Ethan konked out on the ride home with my jacket to keep him protected from the rain.
What an adventure!

A few months ago...

Ethan is getting bigger. He knows what is "HoT" now. He likes to turn on the oven light and peek in when I'm baking.


He grabbed the empty pop can out of the garbage. He looks so cute palming it with one hand like that.

Samuel got honored at an academic awards ceremony and got a medal and everything. He's in line along the wall waiting to be recognized.

And here I am, in the back behind the rows of seats, with Ethan literally running circles around me.

Helping Momma with laundry.

Then crashing in my arms. Love it.

Lesson learned

A few weeks ago Samuel was bored on a Sunday. We believe in keeping the sabbath day holy, so we try to focus our activaties on things that will help us to grow spiritually. So I asked Samuel what he could do that would help him to grow spiritually. He decided he wanted to build something. I said that he could as long as he could connect it to a spiritual principle.

So he decided to build a catapult.

Daniel and Ethan even joined him out in the driveway, lashing branches together.
It stood about 3 feet tall!


I told him (jokingly) that he had to draw me a diagram and make a presentation. He got really into it and drew me a number of ways to figuratively use a catapult in a spiritual sense. This is one of the many uses. "HF" being Heavenly Father, "s" being satan, and our more powerful weapon against the small stone of money troubles, being tithing.

Love it!

Solo Competition

Samuel took part in a solo competition at his school.
He got all dressed up one Saturday morning and we piled into the family vehicle
(only with a bike rack on the trunk).

He had been practicing the piece for months, with an accompanist and everything! but he was still a little nervous.

This was his first time in front of a judge by himself!

We knew he would do well. He got in line and tapped his leg nervously as he waited for the flutist to finish. I was so proud of the way he sucked it up as he entered the room, looked the judge in the eye, introduced himself, and counted off with the accompanist. It wasn't flawless, he's only in 7th grade, but it was awesome!
He got a ONE!
(That's good in band-speak) and he was so proud!

He did so well we went to celebrate, at his favorite restaurant - HuHot.

Ethan loved it too! He sat the whole time in his seat, never crying to get down.

He even wiped up his mess!

After that I took him outside to burn off the extra energy.

Here he is, doing what he loves to do - run. Up and down the corridor. Back and forth. There and back. Endlessly. Much like the adorable Lilly, he's an "Energizer Bunny".

Da Park!

Ethan-ator loves the park! He could swing 24-7!

Here he is in his new basketball outfit.

"Are ya comin' Mom?"