Monday, June 28, 2010

Playhouse Project Done, Jungle Gym Started!

June 27th, 2010 - When the kids and I returned home from our visit to Illinois we found that
Daddy had been hard at work. He completed all the finishing touches to the playhouse and it was now ready for the kids to move in! He did a fabulous job!
He had another surprise for us! He had started the kids jungle gym. We had two separate swing sets which he torn apart to build one massive play area. You know my husband, he doesn't know how to do anything small!

Surprise! Roxy is 30!

June 27th, 2010 – My sister’s 30th birthday is on July 5th so I decided to surprise her with a 30th birthday party with all the family together and some of her friends! I have to say she makes it very difficult to try to pull a fast one on her. She was over an hour late to her own party. Both my mom and her husband were in charge of getting her to her party but neither one couldn’t seem to convince Roxy that she didn’t need to go for a sit down lunch and to DQ afterwards! I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, she is always running late! =) For anyone that knows me well, running late or being behind on something gives me anxiety!!! The anxiety was worth it! She was SURPRISED!
A picture of the entire group at the party! It was nice to get everyone together!
The party was at the Ronald Reagan Boathouse (old concession stand) at Lowell Park in Dixon, IL. Roxy and I have always loved this park. We spent a lot of time there as kids growing up!
MaKayla and Caden working on a art project
My Grandpa Johnson and Grandma Elaine
Joe, sister Laura and Julia
Grandpa and his granddaughters. If you look you can see the tears in his eyes! What can we say we are Grandpa's girls!
Noah having fun with the balloons!
Great Grandma Elaine and MaKayla with antennas
MaKayla and Grandma PJ!
Nana & Papa
Zach and Uncle Markus
My sister Jen and her family with Roxy and Abigail
Noah enjoying some peace and quite by the Rock River
Stephen and Roxy
"Cool Baby" Abigail
My sister and I
Great Grandma Johnson with Logan and Zachary

My Sister Came for a Visit

June 26, 2010 – My sister Roxy and her family came for a visit. The last time the entire family was together was in June 2007 for my sister Laura’s wedding. It was the first time for many to meet baby Abigail for the first time which was a real treat. I went to see my sister and family in May. That is exactly how it worked out three years ago as well. I went out to see her and then see came to visit us right after that. I have to make sure that another three years don’t pass by before we see each other again! Papa and baby Abigail meeting for the first time
Roxy and I went down to my Mom's for a visit. Here we are with "Magma" as I call her or "Grannie" as Roxy calls her.
sisters
Roxy and I joined our Mom to watch our brother Markus play in his band Market Zero. He is the drummer and backup singer. It was our first time to see our lil bro play. I was quite impressed and proud of him!
My brother Markus and me
Markus is action
June 27th, 2010 - Nana and Abigail enjoying some bonding time
Abigail was showing us her fancy foot work

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Relay for Life!

June 25, 2010 - My Step-Mom Bonnie did a fabulous job with leading a group "Bonnie's Bosom Buddies" in Relay for Life in Rochelle, IL. She is a breast cancer survivor so it was an honor to be able to support her in the mission to find a cure for the disease! Our booth was the biggest one on the football field and we ended up raising a lot of money! Relay for life started at 5pm and was to end the following morning at 6am but the weather had a different plan for us. We ended up having to tear down our booth and pack up at midnight because of a large storm and wind coming our way. Good thing we did but soon after we got back to my parents the storm hit. The reason that Relay for Life goes though out the night is because, "Cancer Never Sleeps"
My sister Laura and her daughter Julia
We had purple hair extensions for sale in our booth which was a BIG Hit! We also had a quilt raffle, rug raffle, other raffles, bake sale, card sale and face painting. I think I might be forgetting something but you get the idea.
I contributed by doing face painting. $1 for a small and $3 for a large. At first I thought it was a dive because no one came by. To market my services I painted my nephew Caden and he drew in the crowd. The line was so long that I had to recruit my sister Laura to helping with the painting.
Here was one of my mater pieces. I know the whiskers are off but that is what you get when I have a line of 15 people deep.
Me, My Sister Jen, Step-Mom Bonnie & Sister Laura
My nephew Caden is helping me take the lights off the booth

Monday, June 21, 2010

Happy Father's Day!

June 20, 2010 - Happy Father's Day to my Dad, my Knee, Dad Morris and Grandpa! I love you all very much! I hope your day was as special as each of you are to us!
The kids kicked off the morning by helping to make Daddy breakfast. We couldn't do breakfast in bed because he was up and working before we even got up.
The kids each made Daddy a card
Noah is a cool dude in his shades
I took advantage of the beautiful day to get a family photo in our front yard. Thanks goes to our neighbor Joe for putting up with us in trying to get a picture with all of us looking. Great job Joe, I appreciate all your efforts!
Daddy with his princess and his little man
Noah with Eek a Mouse & Daddy
I thought this was cute of them playing together
They look like they are up to trouble!
Daddy's girl!
A princess pose!
Later in the day, the kids gave Daddy their gifts. A personalized beer glass, perfect!
The kids are carrying a bird house they painted for Daddy
Painted with love for Daddy!
Daddy loved his beer mug!
He really loved the hand painted bird house. Each of the kids picked out two paint colors. I bet you would never guess that MaKayla picked pink and purple. Noah picked blue and lime green. I did help them a little but for the most part they did the work. We found a sponge that MaKayla created the polka dots with. I gave Noah the choice of line or polka dots and he choose line. The bird house looks like something that would come from Wonderland. The kids did a great job and were very proud of their art!
I painted the bottom with their names and the year
Both helped Daddy mow the lawn. I love it when they mow because it gives me a break all to myself!
A butterfly landed on Noah's arm but he was unsure of it harmless visit
Daddy power washed his truck. MaKayla thought that the toy car needed a wash too.
Daddy with his gifts from the kids. It didn't take him long to pour his first beer in his new glass.
June 18, 2010 - Noah is a bit of a messy painter. He didn't like have a blue hand and I had to keep wiping it off for him.
MaKayla & Noah are hard at work paining a bird house for Daddy for a gift for Father's Day.
MaKayla wanted to dress it up by adding pink polka dots. The project took much longer than I had anticipated! We had to let it dry between coats in the hot sun. We ended up finishing five minutes before Daddy came home from work. We had to hide it while it was still wet. Talk about cutting it close!!