A Week in Review

Things have been super busy around here

so we have not had much time to take pictures

or update the blog.

Here is what we've been up to this last week, enjoy!

Wednesday was Western Night at WNKOF

Here is a picture of my lil' cow pokes

all dolled up in there western gear.

The kids always have a lot of fun.

Micah has decided to be in the children's choir this year.

I am sure there will be some exciting performances

in the coming year!

Asa is finally able to sit pretty well all by himself.

We had a bit of a delay after his accident

because (A) I did not want to put him down and

(B) I would not let him fall.

So A + B = C

(C) Asa always assumed someone would catch him

and would dive at anything he saw

He is doing very well sitting now

and loves to sit and play his piano just like Wally.

Here is Asa and Wally enjoying their bomb pops.
Asa has been a bit cranky this week

and has been battling ear infections.

If you have not met Wally yet,

he is the international student that we have

the opportunity to host this year.

He has been a very good big brother to our crew.

We have been quite surprised.

I think we really just expected him to sleep,

eat, go to school, and study.

But, on the contrary, he plays with our kids a lot

and is really quite helpful and you might even say

protective of the kiddos.

(Like when Lily is about to fall off of the chair she is standing on

or Asa pukes in his bed and we don't know it)

I guess God knew we needed an extra set of hands around here :)

Grandma Peanuts (Geoff's mom)

used to pray with the kids when they spent the night

and she would ask God to let all the angels protect them...

"especially Wally"...

I think that is kind of ironic, eh?

Except, I think Grandma Peanut's "Wally"

was supposed to be a fish.

Oh well!

We are just hoping Wally can survive

a whole school year in our house.

It's pretty crazy around here!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AND LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TOOTHLESS WONDER SAYS...

"Are you 100% glad I've got a tooth gone?"

Micah has been waiting a long time for this.

It has been loose for a whole month.

He finally just pulled it out today.

Now it's on to 20 questions about the tooth fairy!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Asa just wanted to let you all know that he is doing lots better.

Thank you all for your prayers, please continue to pray for his healing.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

I am not a crafty,

but I was brave and went to sewing night at Jaime's house.

She was very kind to let me use her machine.

I was sure I would break it since my only sewing experience

was in jr high home ec. I think I fared OK.

I at least finished my bag and it only took 6 hours!

Thanks Jaime, Amy, and Jodi

for your patience.

Here is the pirate bag I made for Asa

I think he likes it and it fits him perfectly!

( yes, I already know I am a dork!)

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Well, we just got back from our family vacation

to the Northwoods of Wisconsin

(for those of you who don't know, that is where the hodags live)

...Go Hodags!

The kids did really well on the way up despite the 11 hour drive

and Geoff NOT getting lost twice ;)

Micah really enjoyed fishing this year and talked non-stop,

asking plenty of questions.

Gabi loved fishing too, Lily not so much.

Besides fishing, the kids had lots of fun

with their grandparents and cousins.

We visited a local wildlife park, did some shopping,

and ate lots of ice cream.

We found it very difficult to take pictures of our adventures,

with four kiddos there is just never a free hand!

Maybe next year Lily can be our photographer.

Uncle Mikey took some pictures you can see on his blog

http://michaelabbeybrooks.blogspot.com/

The trip home went well too.

We decided not to drive straight through on the way home

So we stopped just north of Milwaukee in West Bend

at a Country Inn and Suites

It was nice, I love hotels that include breakfast.

After we went swimming in the pool

and were figuring out our dinner plans,

I noticed a suspicious pair of pants under the chair.

They were obviously stragglers from a previous guest, YUCK!

We mentioned it to the front desk

and they graciously let us switch rooms

to the king size suite (I mean SWEET!) next door with the jacuzzi tub.

Asa missed out on all the yummy vacation treats,

but, now that we are home, we have started Asa on cereal.

As you can see he did pretty well,

guess you don't have to teach a Johnson how to eat!

He was helping mommy by the third bite.

Never a dull moment

My mom watched the 3 older kids for us Saturday night

so that we could go out to dinner and to a friends birthday party.

It was a nice evening, we had a lot of fun with friends, but made sure

to still be in bed by 11:30 pm because we were supposed to serve in

the nursery at church the next morning. But I should have known with the way

things have been going around here that the peace and quiet would not

last long. I was jolted awake at 3:00 am to the sound of Geoff's

"Kung-fu"ring tone, I answer the phone only to here my mom say

"Micah's having a hard time breathing, I am taking him to the ER" click...

FYI, my mom lives an hour away.

Micah was diagnosed with asthma about a year ago,

but has never had an asthma attack.

He just has had a slight wheeze at times when he was sick

and occasionally has a cough at night.

So, of course, I had forgotten to pack his inhaler.

I had however remembered to pack it up with his stuff for soccer camp

that was starting on Monday though.

So at 3:10 am we were on our way to Kokomo.

We talked to my mom on the way to get more details,

and she assured us he was going go to be OK.

By the time we got there Micah's big concern was

whether or not he would have to go home with us or

get to go back to grandma's.

We are very thankful that he was alright. We let Micah go back to grandma's house and headed back to Lafayette and were back in bed by 5:30, and yes we did manage to make it to the nursery the next day. Barely. We were out of Coffee!

So here are some interesting facts for you:

Last time my kids spent the night at my parents house, it was my dad who ended up in the emergency room. He went to return a video and got t-boned on us 31 and ejected 20 ft from his vehicle. Thankfully he too was OK. No major injuries not even a broken bone. Not sure that my parents are going to want to watch my kids over night any more though.

Asa's name means "healer" or "physician" so when he was born we joked with the doctor and anesthesiologist that he would be a doctor when he grows up. He is already becoming quite familiar with the emergency rooms. He has made 4 trips to the ER in his 4 months outside the womb (thankfully he was not the patient on any of them).

We made 3 trips to Kokomo and back in a 24 hour period. So that means we spent around $60 just in gas. And I thought hiring a babysitter for 4 kids would be too expensive!

Pirate Party Polka

Just wanted to share some pictures from Micah's birthday party. Everyone was a good sport about playing dress-up and we had a blast! Thanks for humoring me!

Grandma Pirate

Birthday Boy

Action Shots




























Pretty


Pirates























Scary


Pirates

























Grandpa


Pirate