Know what's funny?

It's funny that you can have a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day (name that book) for absolutely no conceivable reason and be close to a meltdown by the time your husband gets home from work.

It's funny that when you have a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day, sometimes all you need is to go get in your car and drive...somewhere. By yourself.

It's funny that when that somewhere is 20 minutes in a grocery store, all of a sudden picking up a prescription and wipes can almost undo your almost meltdown.

And, it's funny that when you get home after the reviving store trip and your husband has made you an omelet and chatters about how he made his infant daughter giggle repeatedly...you can almost forget what a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day you had.

(Well, OK. The ice cream you bought at the store probably did help a little.)

Remember this picture?



...And this one?

Oh. And these?



These are expressions I see multiple (times fifty) times a day. The one thing you don't get with the pictures is the audio. But if you did get it, it would sound something like a child yelling into a megaphone. Seriously. I don't know how his little lungs can project sound to that degree. (And he always seems to bellow the loudest when my ears are the closest or my patience is the thinnest. But that is a whole other issue right there.)

But I think it is interesting that he has gotten to the age where he is reserved around people he doesn't know and in situations that are not at home.

Don't get me wrong, at home he really is a little dear and is very fun and loving. But he is also quite fiery and has a solid little temper.

So today when my visiting teacher told me how good he is in nursery, that he is "just so mellow all the time," I can't help but smile to myself. This doesn't necessarily surprise me because I know how reserved he is with people he doesn't know well, but it is funny to me that there can be such a drastic difference between home and away. I think all children are like this, but it is fun that Everett has gotten to this age. Babies will cry if they need something no matter where they are or who they're with. I guess kids hit a magic age where their reactions change depending on the situation.

Note: everything I've said here does not apply to Sacrament Meeting. Everett has no sense of displacement there.

Mantra, etc.

I was recently in my sister's room before she left on her mission, and I spied a quote on the wall that I'd forgotten I liked so much. She introduced it to me years ago (she's just great like that), and I was happy for the reminder. It is sort of my mantra, if you will, be it ideal or not.

Be like a duck. Calm on the surface but always paddling like the dickens underneath.

--Michael Caine

I recently read (ok, begun) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. It is the first book I've read of hers and I was excited to have a reason to read it, but that is another topic altogether. The reason I mention this is because a few months ago I was bored and saw a link on a blog to one of those online quizzes--you know the kind; admittedly silly, time-wasting, but in a girlish junior high kind of way, very intriguing and fun. It advertised, "Find out which Jane Austen character you are !!!!!!!!!" or something similar to that, give or take a few exclamation points.

I took it and secretly expected (hoped) that it would say I was most like Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. When I looked at the results, however, I was surprised to note that it said I most resembled Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. At the time I wasn't familiar with her character, but since I have taken that quiz I bought the movie and read part of the book. I do not think I am like her in every way, but I do think I am like her in that I prefer to take steps to mask whatever stress, gloom, or funk I am in, and that sometimes I feel I would have to exaggerate my natural outward reactions in order to match how I feel inwardly--positive and negative.

Somehow it just feels easier to me that way. But I do have to remember sometimes that now I am married. Now I have made a commitment to someone that I will share myself with him, and I think this includes the down times as well, because he has also made a commitment to be the one to bolster me up. Sometimes I am worse at this than others, like those (hormonal) nights when I seep tears onto my pillow and try my best to hide it because I know Joel is tired and "what good would it do anyway" because I can't find the words. Or take this week, for example. I have been grumpy and irritable at the drop of a hat all week, and I have tried my best to hide it. I apologized today that I have been this way and was floored when Joel looked at me and said, "You've been grumpy?". I don't feel so bad about hiding this from him because I would rather not leak my foul moods on him.

Sometimes I need to be good about asking for help, but before that, I need to be good about recognizing when I need help. I'm still working on this one. Somehow I get too caught up in the ideal that I have to do everything and be perfect at everything. Sometimes I get caught in the trap of being too apologetic. Sometimes I try too hard to look like I am not trying so hard to float.

Sometimes, I try to be too much like a duck.

So, I was particularly grateful for Elder Uchtdorf's talk last night. I have heard many people express simliar feelings. It was uplifting and renewing and encouraging, and afterward I felt like writing him a hundred thank-you notes. Mostly though, I felt the strength come rushing back I thought I had lost from shouldering the expectation of perfection. It was tangible and sweet and makes me look forward even more to this weekend's General Conference.

P.S. In case you missed the Relief Society Broadcast, or would just like a replenishing reminder, go here.

What I never thought I'd do...

Everett has a friend--"the other Everett" from our ward who is three weeks older-- over today for a playdate, and so since the boys are so happy together watching a movie and eating popcorn (if only for a few minutes), I thought I'd get a blog post in while I can.

You know how when you're growing up and you see a mother letting her kids do something you think you don't approve of, you think something along the lines of, "Well, I would never let my child do that." ? I was thinking the other day about all the things I do as a mother that I never thought I would do. Here are some off the top of my head:

1. I never thought I would let my child walk around outside with bare feet. But since Everett takes his sandals off the minute we get in the car, sometimes I just let him walk inside with them off. This means that they stay in the car and when we go back out to the car he has to walk barefoot again.
   
   
2. This was more when Everett was a baby, but I never thought I'd let him watch movies until after he was two. Hah. I don't know why I thought that was so vitally important, but then I got pregnant and had morning sickness and movies kept me sane. And now, well, I have a toddler who is a hundred times more energetic than me(surprising, I know) and movies help give us both some quiet, sitting-down, boisterous yelling-free time.
   
   
3. I always thought I would only give my children fruit or vegetables for a snack. Yeah, this was an impossible goal. I know there are a lot of mothers out there who manage it, but sometimes grabbing a handful of pretzels while we're running to go somewhere is the easiest solution. Or, sometimes I just don't have the energy to fight him to eat a few apple slices when I know neither of us will get anywhere, so I just give him what he asked for.
   
   
4. I never thought I would let Everett have a bottle (with only water in it) at night after we moved him to his toddler bed. That was a feeble goal. Fortunately the pediatrician has never had a problem with it, and so now I figure that if he's happy and healthy and generally happy to go to sleep, we're doing fine. That, and if he doesn't have it during the day (which he doesn't).
   
   
5. This doesn't have a lot to do with kids, but I always thought that I would get up and make a good breakfast for Joel and Everett every morning and we would all sit down to enjoy it together (insert appropriate sentimental music here). My family did this every morning thanks to my wonderful mother, but I suppose I've been holding off because usually when the boys wake up, Ashley needs to be fed and then I just end up getting Everett some oatmeal. Maybe when we have kids going to school we'll actually do this, but I'll probably say the same thing then, too.
   
   
6. I never thought I'd turn a blind eye to something Everett is doing that he isn't supposed to (like taking all the flowers out of my vase). But I do, all the time. I figure that if he doesn't know I know what he's doing, then I don't have to punish him, which would be really inconvenient seeing as I am probably feeding Ashley.
   
   
7. I never thought I would let my kid(s) eat on the couch. Everett has a snack on the couch almost every day. This will change in a few years because by then we'll probably have a new couch that I'll be paranoid about not staining. Right now we have a (very washable) slipcover on an old couch, which is great.

Well, I know there are more and I might add some later if I think of some. But I was wondering--what are the things you never thought you'd do...or think you won't do in the future? I'm curious to hear what they are. Maybe we can all have a good eye-rolling, forehead slapping, what-was-I-thinking, laugh together.

Special Bathwater

Yesterday I went to take a bath while Everett was still awake. Usually I try to do it when he is napping or when I know he is glued to his movie, but the water to our building was going to be shut off for maintenance so I had to get it in when I could.

So, I gave him a little plastic bowl with cheerios in it, I turned on his movie, and I plopped him on the couch in the hopes that he would stay occupied for ten minutes or so.

Not so. When he heard that there was water running he just couldn't help himself. I had left the door open a crack so I could hear the kids if they needed me, so Everett just walked right in. I just started washing my hair when I detected that something foreign was in the water. I turned around to look at the other end of the tub and Everett had dumped all of his cheerios in the water with me.

So, what did I do? I finished my bath. But don't worry, we got most of the cheerios out before I finished.

The whole scenario made me laugh, though. It was just a silly little thing that happened, but it's one of those things that when you don't have kids yet you don't imagine happening--you think that you'll always be watching them closely enough that these kinds of things will never go on.

But it did make me think that "Cheerios in the Bathwater" would be a good name for a book written by a mother about the crazy things that happen with kids.

Remember this picture?

Well, I was going to let Joel tell how he got the marks on his forehead, but the amazing thing is that there isn't much to tell. Joel went to bed Wednesday night looking forward to his interview with Notre Dame Thursday morning. He had a strange dream during the night that he was at the interview and the person interviewing him all of a sudden started accusing Joel of lying about an answer he gave. Joel kept telling him that he wasn't lying but the interviewer called him a liar nontheless.

Then, Joel woke up Thursday morning to get ready for the interview. When he looked in the mirror he noticed the two marks on his head (they're more pronounced in person). He couldn't figure out what they were or where they came from for the life of him, and with all my brainstorming I can't either.

They were not sore, they were not raised bumps, and they weren't from a marker or anything else that could color his head.

It was pretty strange. We don't even have anything in our house that is that shape. All I can think of is that he was sleepwalking Wednesday night and ran into something.

The plus to all of this is that while the marks didn't come up in the interview, the person who interviewed Joel may remember him better because of them. He might think they are some sort of birthmark or something like that and it will help Joel remain in his mind a little. Who knows? If anyone can shed some light on this mystery, go right ahead!

Family Pictures

We got our family picture taken a couple of weeks ago. My parents wanted to get one with all of us together before my sister went into the MTC, so we were able to break off and get one with just the four of us (and the kids by themselves). Some of them turned out better than others. Joel and I don't look as good in the family one, but getting good shots of the kids is always tricky so we can't be too picky. Here they are:

(click on it to see it bigger)

(somehow this isn't the best picture of her, but I can't put my finger on it.
In some ways she doesn't look like herself.)

(of course the day of pictures Everett has a pimple on his cheek)

Not that I'm biased, but...

I have a perfect baby. The past two days she has slept twelve hours through the night and eaten five times during the day. She did not cry. She swung (swang? swinged?) happily all day long. I held her when I wanted to, not when she needed me to. She endured toddler hands (and feet, and rear ends, and head-butting) all day long with no more than slight squeals. She grinned, and grinned, and grinned, every time you cast a glance in her direction. She has been grinning since she was only a few weeks old.

And, though she isn't three months old yet, tonight she giggled. Repeatedly. Right at me, out of the blue.

Though I have heard many children laugh, and I have been through the first gigglings before with Everett, somehow seeing and hearing her giggle tonight felt like the first time I had ever experienced that in my entire life. It was renewing and revitalizing and enchanting and almost made me cry. I imagine it may very well be the same with the rest of my children.

(Of course later when I tried to get it on camera, she just gave me her precious little smiles and coos. Wait, "just" ? What am I saying?)

Nats (not gnats)

Thursday I had the opportunity to go to a Washington Nationals game with Joel and two of my siblings (thanks, Dad!). It was really fun, and it was my first major league baseball game. It's just too bad the team isn't very good. They were playing the Mets, and I swear there were more Mets fans there than Nats fans. It was pretty funny. It makes me want to go to Fenway Park and see a game there; if Joel has his way, this will become a reality as soon as possible.

Maddy and Me
People in my Freshmen ward called her "miniature Elise"

Here is our view, in case you forgot what a baseball field looks like.

Mack and Maddy were reading books so I told everyone to look interested.

This is what I got.

Aww. Joel and me. My siblings were so quiet it was almost like a date.

Oh. See those marks on his forehead? Let's have a closer look:

I'll give you three guesses as to how he got them.

Here's a hint: You'll be wrong on all counts.

(New) Tent

A couple of weeks ago I went to a thrift store near where we live and picked up a few things. Among them was this great tent that I just knew Everett would love to pieces. The best part was that it only cost three dollars, so if he actually did love it to pieces I wouldn't mind. One afternoon I set it up in the living room so he could play in it with all of his doggies (yes, we picked up a new one at the thrift store), and then I went about my business. When I came to check on him, this is what I noticed:

Wait, don't see it? Here's a closer look:

Is he doing what I think he's doing? Let's go around to the side and peek in this flap:

Just as I thought. Here he is, sleeping peacefully with his doggies, a full half hour earlier than I intended for him to nap. Oh well. At least I know he likes his tent.

Awww. I love sleeping babies.

I have a brilliant friend...

I enjoy Sacrament Meeting. I really do. It's just that, well, sometimes the time seems to go by rather s l o w l y.

I suppose this is what happens when you spend the entire time using every ounce of your faculties to prevent a (exceptionally loud) toddler from bellowing, screaming, demanding, running, climbing, crying, hitting, throwing, hanging upside down, grabbing and everything else that is natural but not exactly welcome in a quiet meeting.

I know the problem is that we don't have anything that is very good at keeping his attention in an appropriate way. I do know this, I do. So why haven't I done anything lately to remedy this problem? That's a good question.

But then I caught wind of a fabulous idea from one of my blogging/college roomate friends. You see, she's so with-it that she is already planning an amazing quiet book even though her daughter is only five months old.

And it's taken me almost two years.

Now that I've read her plans, I'm done making excuses. I'm going to get this thing done. Like, today. My spiritual sanity is counting on it.

Thumb-Sucker?

Ashley is starting to suck her thumb more and more, now that she is discovering that those things moving around by her head all the time are actually hands with juicy fingers. I don't know if this will become habitual or not; Everett sucked his thumb a few times when he first discovered his fingers, but it didn't last. However, it very well may with Ashley because she seems to be a lot more persistent with it.

Also, her hair is getting so long it is a little crazy in places. You can't really see it in the picture but there is a piece that curls and flips by her right ear, and she has a few tufts on top of the back of her head that stick up all the time. Crazy, crazy.

Da Beach

We just got back from an exceptionally fun-filled weekend at the beach, thanks to my wonderful Father who rented a beach house in Delaware so his children could have this experience together before Amanda leaves for her mission. It has always been important to him that we have these kinds of experiences, and it is thanks to that that I have been able to travel to Europe and Hawaii, among other places.


The owners of the house left some things we could use at the beach, including some beach toys. Everett loved these and spent all his time digging, collecting rocks, and smashing sandcastles.

Oh! A new bucket!

Wait a second, there's some stuff in here! What can I find?

OOOHH! a DINOSAUR! And a SHOVEL!

Pretty soon everyone went to work to build the best castle.

Everett decided that the "best castle" is a castle that is meant to be demolished. And boy did he go after every mound of sand he could find.

Then he decided to be constructive and help us cover Maddy with sand.




Hmmm. Something seems to be taking shape here...Something rather fishy...





Oh yes. What is it? A giant man-eating...goldfish? How scary.




How scary, indeed. Just look at the expression on that poor girl's face.



Oh, and here are the masterminds. The morbid masterminds.


It was quite a windy day so Ashley sat in her car seat wearing a strange conglomeration of clothing--a long-sleeved nightgown, yellow pants, and a cute little sundress that had no semblance of matching her pink spandex speedo hat.



All in all, everyone had a great time. I even got to take a moonlit walk on the beach with Joel, complete with the opportunity to practice our yelling. The wind was blowing so hard that we had to express ourselves at a louder volume than normal. Still, we got to go together and that is what counts, right?



It was a relaxing and enjoyable trip, and it was a great way to bid farewell to the summer.


.....wait a second. How did that get in here?

And who is that posterboy on our beach?

OH! Is that...Mack? Fifteen-year-old Mack?
Wow. No wonder all the girls like him.
And gee, he doesn't even work out, folks.



And in case any of you have heard about seeing the "DC Mormon Temple" from the freeway in Maryland, this is what it looks like from inside the car:

It isn't the best picture because I didn't take it when you can see the most of the building, but you get the general idea. It is a beautiful Temple, inside and out.

Blog Header Tutorial

Since one of you asked how I did the header on this blog, I decided I'd post about it and then you can all see. That way if you want to do it, you will know one possible way.

First, take a look at this website. I really like how he made the header long and skinny but I didn't find a graphic I liked that lended itself well to those proportions.

When you get to the part in his explanation that talks about adding the URL in the html section dealing with the header, this is what you'll have to do if you do it my way:

First, find an image (photograph, clip art, pirated design, whatever) that you like. Copy it somewhere onto your computer as a JPEG image. If you aren't sure how to change it if it isn't that way initially, I can't be much help except to suggest that you use a generic photo program on your computer and see if there is way to save a copy of it separately as a JPEG image.

Then, log into (or create a free account) with photobucket.com. This is a great website because you can upload images and edit them, add text, etc.

I uploaded the grey flowery image and then used the "edit" function in photobucket to add text (first I used a photo program on my computer to change the dimensions of the photo so it was a little flatter and wider, but you can do this on photobucket itself).

Then, when you see the thumbnail of the image you've created you will notice that you can copy the URL at the bottom. This is what you will paste into the html section of your blog dealing with the header, as LaCour's tutorial suggests.

The only hiccup with this procedure is that I couldn't get it to still name my blog "the Johnsons" because essentially it didn't recognize the text in the picture as separate from the picture. What I had to do was name it " . " so that extra text wouldn't show on my header. This is why our blog is shown as " . " on the browser.

I hope this explanation made sense. I know I can get far too wordy sometimes. If anyone wants to know more I can try to answer questions but my knowledge of these kinds of things is more limited than I'd like it to be.

But it's kind of fun to have something unique. I'll have to keep looking until I find exactly what I'm wanting.

This has gotten longer than I thought it would, so if my father-in-law has made it to the end of this post, I'll be surprised.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words...

Ever since I posted about our Labor Day weekend, Joel has relentlessly reminded me that I didn't post any pictures of him. The reason for that was that I was at my parents' house when I posted so I only had the pictures my sister took. Why she didn't take any of him, I don't know, but I figure he'd better take it up with her.

Even so, I'm all about appeasing the man who provides for me in so many ways. On that note, here are the pictures I took of Joel. Most of them are unremarkable but some are kind of nice.

Enjoy! (that means you, honey.

Labor Day weekend, one week late

As usual, I am finally posting about something that happened almost a week ago. It has been on my to-do list every day, but so has keeping Everett from putting all the toilet paper in our house in the toilet or up his nose; maintaining control over his sister-hitting; and keeping him from climbing up on the counter (again) and shoving the microwave off.

And yes, I was successful with that. But since I wasn't with my blog posting, here I am, finally getting around to it.

I had envisioned this to be some sort of sentimental yammering about how great it is to see the sights of DC with my family, and how much more meaningful it was because we are doing this partially because of my sister who is leaving on a mission on the 17th. Instead, I think I will just post some pictures of our trip to Arlington National Cemetery and the picnic we had on the way home. I figure that since you all know what the Washington Monument looks like and you also know what we look like, you don't need to see much more than that. Besides, this post is getting too long already.

Anywhere Everett is, just give him a stick and he'll be happy. I know what he is thinking just by looking at this picture: he knows he is not supposed to put things in his mouth...so he is looking at me and acting like he is going to put it in his mouth. Terrible Two's, here we come.

Everett has fun with his Aunts and Uncles. Apparently they're cooler than me? Because they do "the rock" with him?

Who looks more alike:

Maddy and Me?

Amanda and Me?

My Mom and Me?

(by the way, you can't tell but you can see the Potomac behind us in those first two pictures. We found a neat outcropping of rocks and had fun enjoying the view. I spent time imagining that it must have been someone's favorite spot to come before the Europeans even inhabited this area.)

Arlington National Cemetery

It's easier to take Nick places when he rides in the wheelchair. Mack pushed him the entire time in the hot sun and up hills and did not complain once.

Everett rode in his stroller about two thirds of the time, thanks to crackers and a sippy cup (my secret weapon). The rest of the time....well, as you can see, he had no fun whatsoever.

Uncle Mack is the only one who is privileged enough to have a name Everett can pronounce fully.

That probably has nothing to do with the fact that they have so much fun together. Not one bit.




And, though it was hot, it wasn't as bad as Saturday. If it were, we'd all look like this in all the pictures:

(hey, it was hot, it was a long day, and we made Maddy walk all of 50,000 miles just so we could see a few stone buildings. What did Amanda want to see the Washington Monument and all that other stuff for, anyway?)

Les Miserables

Last night my sister Amanda and I went to see the production of Les Miserables at the Wolf Trap theatre in Vienna. The best part of the night was that we were able to have some good time together before she leaves to serve a mission in Taiwan. We ate at a good little Indian place (they served naan with dinner at no extra charge) which hit the spot for me.

I love Les Miserables. It is filled with beautiful, powerful music and profound lyrics. A thousand lessons and sermons could be drawn from the story of Les Miserables, but my favorite thing about the story is that it is about imperfect people trying to do the best they know how.

Javert is supposed to be a type of villain for hunting down Jean Valjean, but really he is doing what he believes to be the lawful thing. And when he is given the opportunity to apprehend Jean Valjean or take his life, he doesn't. I like that the "villan" is so three-dimensional.

The next thing I need to do is actually read the book. Now, isn't that just a clever idea?

Sweet...

Everett sure loves his Aunts and Uncles. He is the king of the house when we go visit my family because he gets so much attention and everyone is dying to do anything to see him have fun. Here are a couple of pictures they took of Everett and his Aunt Amanda messing around with a pair of sunglasses. I think they turned out pretty cute, especially the bottom one. I love candid photos.