m&m's

today after lunch calla was the lucky recipient of some m&ms. she was counting them & talking to mike about them, when she picked up a red one & said, "dad, it doesn't have a 3 on it!" sure enough, it was a blank!

claiming her roots

yesterday the girls & i had a starbucks date...we were also trying to let dad sleep in. i had my first gingerbread latte of the season (it was worth the year long wait!) and the girls had hot chocolates.

calla was being crazy, making all sorts of faces & noises, when i said- "where in the world did you come from?!?!?!" greta's answer was priceless...

mom- we came from sweden!

we're expanding...coming sometime around may 6th!

we just told the girls, so now it's time to share the big news- johnson baby #3 is arriving sometime this spring (due date may 6th, which really means sometime in april for me!). the girls can't wait for "our new family" (calla) and to "help with changing diapers, pushing the stroller & holding the baby" (greta). we are so excited & can't wait to welcome this little one. the big debate now is to find out the sex or not!?!?! we have not done it before, but it's so tempting now!

for the love of the game

we have quite a bit of sports talk around our house lately. greta discovered baseball this summer & loved spending many an afternoon/evening playing with dad in the backyard...and with mom & calla...but it was really about greta & dad. it also helps that she has a yankee loving, world series watching dad so she is fully engaged in watching sports on tv now, too. this love is not only for baseball, it's for football, or really any sport that she can watch. the best part for me (the non-sports lover) are the things the girls say.

here are my favorites:

greta- dad, which team are you yanking for? (yes- yanking. not rooting, but yanking- i think this proves her dad is a true yankee lover)

calla- dad, do you want to watch some golfball with me? a better example of this is me telling calla it's time for bed & her replying with- um, i need to watch a little golfball with my daddy.

they base the teams they are rooting, excuse me, i mean yanking for, based on the name. for example- greta was yanking for the angels over the yankees because she liked the name better. now she is yanking for the yankees because the phillies does not sound very good. and yesterday in football is was the ducks over the trojans because- the trojans is a crazy name!

being a big sister is tough work!

today greta walked into the kitchen and declared- "mom, sometimes it's awful having a little sister!" when i asked why she said, "well, sometimes she gets in the way and hits & pinches. and when i was coloring my snow white picture she pushed my head down to the table." (sidenote- calla is a bit of a bully- she just hasn't figured out how to channel her frustrations- she's well- meaning, for the most part!). i then asked greta if she enjoyed laughing, playing house & dress up, snuggling up in bed together, etc with calla. she hesitated and nodded her head yes, but in the end left the room saying, "still...sometimes it's awful having a little sister." being a 4 1/2 year old is tough sometimes!

things i don't want to forget

that calla calls her big sister "det-ta" and granola bars are "mereal bars".

that greta asks every day - "am i going to school today?" it's nice to know she loves the place that much (and we hope this love for education lasts forever!).

and that tonight we watched "the sound of music" for the first time together and my heart was happy the whole time. what a fun memory, probably more for me then them (especially since calla decided to "go to work" in the middle of the movie), but still, i love sharing those moments with our girls.

it happened.

calla climbed out of her crib yesterday. she was supposed to be taking a nap, when suddenly she walked into the bathroom to see me. she is trouble with a capital T!

***just in case you were wondering- there were no injuries of any sort- she is perfectly fine. we are the ones who now need to figure out if it's time to transition to the big girl bed. i've been telling her once she learns to go potty on the big girl potty she can get a big girl bed- maybe calla will be so motivated she'll potty train herself overnight! :)

she's getting there...

greta has been asking me to teach her how to read. while i really look forward to doing this, we have some steps to take before getting there- like knowing lower case letters! in the process she is doing a lot of writing out words. she will ask me, "mom- how do you spell (fill in the blank)?" and then she will go on to write out all the letters. she knows to write her letters from left to write, in a fairly straight line, to form a word.

yesterday she was making a birthday card for her friend. she asked me how to spell LOVE, then wrote it out. next she asked me how to spell ARI- this is her friend. she wrote A-R-I and then paused to say, "but mom- that doesn't make sense- shouldn't there be an E on the end of her name?" someone is getting it!!! the hard part was me explaining the sounds...we might need a workbook of some sort to help us along the way, but it's amazing, exciting & fun watching her learn. she is such a sponge (calla, too) that i want to take advantage of this time...which is a large part of the reason why i quit my job. time to stay home and be with these girls - teach them more, play with them more, love on them more...doesn't get better than that!

rash, pneumonia, and ear infection- oh my!

yes, it's true- we were sick again. this time it started with pink eye over a week ago, which we nipped in the bud immediately (poor calla- she did NOT like those eye drops!). there was some coughing going on, but it seemed we were on the upswing, until...greta woke up saturday with a rash covering her body, we took her to urgent care and they listened to her coughing, took x-rays & concluded it was a form of pneumonia that involves a rash. off to get anti-biotics and greta is on the mend. sunday had us back in urgent care for mike- with, what he believes (we need to verify with his mom), was his first ear infection. another set of anti-biotics and hopefully this is it.

so now we are working to de-stress and change our diet. my cousin's husband is doctor, focusing on whole body wellness. he is going to analyze our diet (keeping a food diary) and then give us suggestions. at this point we are going to try everything possible to get healthy...which might involve many more things- to be discussed later...

who's the boss?

a few days ago i overheard greta telling calla- "calla, the big kids are the boss of you." i quickly jumped in and said-"greta, moms & dads are the boss- you are not the boss of your sister."

greta's response- "Mom, Jesus is really the boss of all of us."

WOW! i got trumped by a 4 year old!

too many ideas, not enough time

lately my craftiness is starting to get the best of me. as in- all i want to do is craft projects. i just finished an apron for a friend & now i have a laundry list of other things all vying for my attention! where to begin? i need to finish mike's father's day gift & i'm working on fixing up the girl's upstairs table & chairs. i think the fact the table top gave greta a giant splinter under her fingernail (ouch!) was a pretty good indicator that the table is not okay in it's current form. (i'll take some before & after shots).

but here is the problem- i also want to do this, and this, and i'd love to try to recreate anything from here, and i have several ideas (and fabric to use) for skirts for the girls. mike has 4, yes you read that right- FOUR - days left of school and then it's summer break! well, not really since i still have to work and he will be working, but it's going to feel so leisurely in comparison to life with him in school (just picture me with the girls 24/7 and that is basically life with mike in school). and i hope that during this break he finds a full time job that wants to hire him when he's done in december. and i also hope that i can use my free time to enjoy some summer cocktails & crafty nights. the fact that there will be an extra set of hands with the girls (and with chores- oh how i look forward to not doing every single load of laundry for the summer!) already has me relaxed and revving to go...craft/organization/beautification projects- i'm coming!

since they are gone

the girls went to my parent's house yesterday and stayed the night. they have done this before, but usually it's b/c we have something going on, we are sick, etc. yesterday it was really for no reason. mike is studying for finals (he's done in 8 days, not that i'm counting!) and i had no plans for the evening. a full night with NO plans!?!?! i can't remember the last time i had a night like that. at first i didn't know what to do with myself, but the night quickly filled up- hair (it keeps getting shorter), gym, dinner with mike and the rest of the evening was devoted to gutting through the mounds of girl's clothing we have acquired over the past four years. garage sale- here we come.

back to the reason for this post- last night mike got out the video camera and since we couldn't tuck the girls in to bed, we watched some video from dinner a few nights ago. it was another night of laughing hysteria & another night we didn't want to end. (i need to figure out how to post video!). then we were laying in bed talking about the girls & their funnies, so before i forget - and because we miss them - here are the current favorites:

calla- "green hair!" (we have our first official family inside joke)
greta- basing her decision to go to grandma & papa's house- "well, you know, they do have a really good mcdonald's in their town. it's probably even better then the mcdonald's in our town, so we should probably go to their house." (apparently mcdonald's play structures are a big determining factor!)
calla- when we ask her "what color are your eyes?" she rolls her eyes up to the top of her head & tries to "see" what color they are- this last for about 5 minutes b/c we are all rolling with laughter & she knows she is putting on a good show. it's her new party trick.
greta- "mazagine", in reference to magazines and "pale nolish" for nail polish.

the other new dinner time entertainment is cheering each other on when we're finishing up dinner. when the girls decide they are done, but still need to eat a few more bites, we chant, "greta, greta, greta, greta..." until she takes a big bite & then we cheer. same goes for calla (and mom & dad)- it's a great way for them to finish eating a few bites and we are all happy & laughing. much better then the old - "girls, please finish your food!" (in a harsh tone). it's amazing how we get creative with things as time goes on and learn through trial & error. parenting- it's a learning process! :) what we don't have to learn is that we love our girls & miss them when they are gone.

what dat noise?

calla has been using this phrase for the past few months. anything & everything she hears she asks, "what dat noise?" sometimes it's the train coming, a siren, honking...but sometimes we don't even know what she is hearing because whatever it is, it seems it's audible only to her. a toddler's curiosity is such an amazing thing.

tonight over dinner she took her token "what dat noise" phrase and changed it up on us. greta was telling me a story about gymnastics and how after class (mike took both the girls so i could finish getting dinner ready) she saw "a guy with green hair and no shirt on- so you could see his ovals." apparently this is her word for nipples, and when we all started laughing calla said her new "what dat noise" phrase - "what you talk-a-ing about?" then we started laughing at her & it was all downhill (or uphill, depending on how you feel about uncontrollable laughter) from there. mike & calla started imitating each other, saying "what you talk-a-ing about" over & over, and then greta asked, "why are you guys argu-u-ing?" it was one of those nights where i wanted dinner to last forever. we frosted cupcakes after dinner for no reason other than sometimes you just need a cupcake with sprinkles and princess graham crackers on top. it was just one of those nights- love it!

how could i forget my camera?

this past weekend was full of all kinds of fun adventure- and since i failed to have my camera around for any of it- you will just need to use your imaginations (plus a few links here & there) to get an idea of what the weekend held.

friday we headed to the gym in the morning, where the girls played with their church/school/gym friends. i then cut my hair (it seems i officially am a short hair girl. no matter what i do i can't seem to grow it out- so now the question remains- when will i officially have "mom" hair? or do i have it already?) while the girls played with more friends. then we headed to gymnastics that night and finished off the evening by going out to pizza with our gymnastics friends.

saturday we hung out at home all day & then had our first family bike ride! greta rode by herself across the streets and was awesome! calla fell asleep in the trailer and i relearned how to ride a bike after all these years (i can't even remember the last time i rode, but now that i have one of these i want to ride all the time!). it was awesome. rode to the fountain where we had a picnic and the girls played until they were soaked. well, calla was soaked, greta was not really into the fountain as much as riding the scooter we borrowed from our neighbor.

sunday was church, followed by a day spent in mcminnville in the carlson's backyard. saw friends, celebrated jakob's 4th birthday and enjoyed every minute of it. after the party and dinner we headed to my parent's house, where the girls got their first scooter, and greta received a lovely nightgown, which she is trying to convince us is really clothing.

monday we went out to a fabulous breakfast in portland with my family and grandpa. i sometimes am a complete genius and this was one of those times. i brought bead necklaces the girls could work on while they were waiting for their food (gotta love the michaels dollar bins). so they sat and created some plastic bead beauties while we waited for our food. the funniest part about the meal is that greta ordered a monte cristo- she cracks me up sometimes! we left there to head home & hit our local outdoor water park otter beach. i was not sure if the girls would love or hate it, but hours later i was pretty sure it was a hit! we met up with some friends there and it was a fabulous day, especially since mike joined us (we aren't going to see much of him these next few weeks as he finishes up school). after hours playing we went out for ice cream cones at mcdonalds (and enjoyed the play structure too), then we were off to friends from church for a bbq...a perfect end to a pretty perfect weekend.

now i really am kicking myself for forgetting my camera! but at least we can remember all the fun things we did for the weekend & we have a few visual aids to help out.

Spring sing, Belle & Calla

now that i've committed to keeping up the blog, it's time for some photos!

last thursday greta had her spring sing at school. it was about 15 minutes of the kids singing various songs & it was probably one of the tamest programs i've seen. no one did anything crazy and it was structured- kind of a big surprise and i have to admit, sort of disappointing! i totally look forward to the chaos that comes with a kid's program, so i was waiting & waiting for some sort of disaster and while it was still really nice, i wanted to see a meltdown or one kid singing & dancing out of control. at the same time, it was SO fun watching greta up there. she was so excited to see us & very diligent about making sure she followed the moves and that she sang loud & clear.



i also took greta to her first play. we went to see beauty & the beast. her friend scarlet (who is 12, but greta refers to her as her friend) was in the play and greta loved it. took a little getting over the scary beast, but she turned to me during the play and said, "mom, this is a really, really good movie!" everyone near us got a good chuckle out of that one.


then there is calla. it seems like poor calla gets neglected on this blog when it comes to story telling. and it's not because we lack stories about calla, i think it's more that she can't talk much. she's getting there, but her stories involve more physical activity and i don't know if she wants us to mention all the bullying she does on here! :) i will say my absolute favorite thing about calla is that she laughs- all the time, about everything. if she falls down - she laughs. if she is talking to greta - she laughs. if she is being a monster - she laughs. if we say it's time for...(fill in the blank- dinner, bedtime, getting dressed) - she laughs. everything she does- she does it with a laugh. life doesn't get much better than that!

what's your name?

recently we noticed that when calla was asked her name, her response was "two". i decided to teach her the difference between her age & name. so i'd say- calla, how old are you, "two" she would say. then i'd ask her name & she'd say "two" again. i explained the difference- you are two years old but your name is calla. can you say calla? can you say calla johnson? she would repeat it all after me and i'd ask her the questions again.

me- calla, how old are you?
calla- two
me- calla, what's your name?
calla- greta's sister.

hilarious & of course we laughed, which made her laugh, which made it take weeks to get her to actually say her name. she will still say her name is greta's sister if she wants to get a good laugh out of us. it's amazing that at two she is smart enough to know she is putting on a good show. and also very telling that she refers to herself as greta's sister- even though she is the bully (we often hear greta wimpering b/c calla is literally attacking her), she still idolizes her big sister.

back at it!

today was the first day in weeks when greta was greta. she was laughing, giggling, making boats & rainbows and butterflies out of her apple and it was SO fun to have her back! we even made kool-aid playdough tonight and she played with it for hours just cutting shapes, building people, animals, making up stories- it was awesome. aunt kaitlin sat with both the girls and played with them. calla even got into it (she is still pretty sick so it was nice to see her enjoying herself a bit). we made rice krispie treats, had a pillow fight & played belly bumpers. calla is still really sick, but she had a bit of life in her. mike took calla to the doctor today who prescribed anti-nausea meds to try to help her get healthy. she is still so weak & can't seem to keep anything in her. the only good part is that she wants to cuddle and i love when she crawls into my lap and falls asleep while i'm holding her. nothing beats that & those are the moments when i think that they will not be little forever. i have to savor every moment of it. i'm so thankful for a little bit more health today. and tomorrow we'll have a little bit more...we're getting there!

greta's first dentist appointment

today greta had her first dentist appointment. i didn't even think we would make it to the appointment b/c of the week we've had (i'll get to that), but she made a quick recovery and we made it! let me tell you- she was not a happy camper about the fact we were heading to the dentist. huge tears filled her eyes and she was so sad as i said it was time to go. i didn't talk much about beforehand, since the one time i did mention it she said, "scaredy cat!", which i'm pretty sure means she was scared. we went today and read books while we waited and then walked back to have the BEST experience! the dental hygienist was a rock star! she knew just how to work with kids & greta was laughing and smiling the entire time. even when they told her she has two cavities (for real- how much did i feel like a bad mom when i heard that one) she was unfazed. she thought the whole thing was fabulous and doesn't think going back for her cavities is a big deal- i will just need to brace myself for that one!

now- the last week. what a crazy one! my mom was admitted to the hospital 10 days ago for an infected colon. turns out it spread to 100 feet of her large intestines and the dr explained it to her as if she had burned all the skin off her arms and needed to let it heal - that is the type of healing her colon/large intestines needed to to. she was in the hospital for 4 days, released, home for two days and is now back in the hospital for bacterial pneumonia and severe asthma. it's scary, but it appears she is doing okay and will be released sometime soon.

ps- the night after my mom was admitted my purse was stolen out of our car. i don't even want to go into details, but it's a big, huge, inconvenient mess! the worst part is of course the camera with all the pictures. bummer.

in the midst of all of this the girls got the worst flu EVER!!! we've had throwing up/diarrhea for the last week and i'm hoping, praying, crossing my fingers, disinfecting the ENTIRE house in hopes that we can be done with this. it feels like i have washed every towel & clothing item we own b/c of the girls throwing up on everything and i just want some health to return. greta missed a birthday party that was planned around her being there. her friend asked her mom "couldn't greta just come to the party with a bucket?" (about the cutest thing ever!) greta had the biggest crocodile tears when i told her she couldn't go to the party. i realized at that moment that i can handle a lot when it comes to me and our crazy life, but when things happen to my kids i get mad. it just doesn't seem fair. why greta? i know it's life, but it was the hardest part of the week for me- watching her be so sad. and calla has been furious with us & bursts into tears b/c all she wants to do is a drink a BIG huge glass of gatorade, but we have to ration it out so she doesn't throw it all up. again- so sad.

in all of it, we've been able to have some fun & i sit and think how thankful i am for our family and that we can take care of each other. i realize so often how good we have it, doesn't mean life is easy or fair, but it's good. for this i'm very thankful. as my friend steph reminded me this past week- count your blessings, even when things are bad. it's so true.

okay- off to cut some fabric for an apron. one of these days i'll post pictures of some of my projects, but this blog has become more of our place to keep track of things so we can remember them down the road. our online journal, as measly as it might be, imagine if we didn't have it. the girls have their baby books, but i like thinking there is something beyond that. now i should just get better at keeping this up!!!

our budding chef

this past weekend was gorgeous- when i say gorgeous i mean 70, clear skies, feels like a summer day gorgeous- days meant to be outside ALL day long (which is what we did minus naps)! yesterday we came home from church and decided it was a perfect day for a picnic in our front yard. i got out a blanket and was about to get lunch started when greta said, "um, wait a minute- what if i make lunch?" mike & i looked at each other with huge smiles & i asked if she wanted me to help, her response- "i think i can handle it." how do you keep a straight face with that one? she proceeded to head to the fridge and get bread, turkey & cheese ("not the cutting kind b/c i'm not a grown up and i don't know how to cut the cheese. just the kind with the wrappers"- to quote her exact words!). she brought it all outside, layed down all the bread & did it. greta made her first meal at age 4! at least i think turkey & cheese sandwiches count as a first meal! we are so proud. :)

gorgeous hookers

this is really a two part blog post, but i couldn't help the title.

for whatever reason prayer time with greta has become a very sweet and also often hilarious thing.  she always wants to pray for maja & all her friends and family.  then we have nights where we wander into praying for all sorts of things- her bed, her nightgown (she only wears nightgowns- she is girly to the maximum), etc.  one night she was looking around in her room for things to pray for.  "i pray for my pillow, my covers, my books, my door, the walls, the hookers...(anything said after that was not heard by me)"  i'm pretty sure if you're reading this you are thinking what i'm thinking- "the hookers!!?!?!?!"  she had me in stitches with that one and i asked her what the hookers are, to which she quickly responded, "mom, they are the hooks on the walls.  you know, the hookers."  right- how did i never realize those hooks on the walls were in fact hookers?  

and gorgeous is just her new word for everything and it makes her sound so grown up- it kills me.  we were coloring today and she kept stopping me to say, "mom, i love the way you colored the prince's crown- it's gorgeous."  or last night at dinner when scarlet was sitting in her thrown  and greta said, "scarlet- your chair is gorgeous."  everything is gorgeous these days and i love it.  she is a little lady.

i just hope she doesn't put together the two and start referring to her "gorgeous hookers"- i'll save that one for my blog title! 

cee-cee and sas-see

for the past several months calla has been working on her vocabulary.  it broadens daily, but a few words have stayed the same: cee-cee and sas-see.  when it's time for a nap, for bed, for comfort - calla is quick to say her two favorite words: cee-cee and sas-see, translated to blankie & paci (pacifier).  it makes me wonder if that is what she hears us say.  when we say, "calla, time for bed- let's get blankie & paci" does she really hear- "calla, time for bed- let's get cee-cee & sas-see"? and now the question is, since those words have stuck- do we start referring to them as cee-cee and sas-see?  i'm thinking yes. 

happy birthday lady

it was calla's birthday on tuesday, march 10th. she turned two. T-W-O! it's so hard to believe it's been two years. march 23rd is my dad's 60th birthday & also the two year anniversary of the day calla came home from the hospital. how thankful we are that she is a healthy, vibrant, growing, loving, head strong, determined, giving, giggling two year old girl.

just a reminder of what we had two years ago

mike, greta, sarah & calla (bathing in the "sun")

and now!

we love our girls and this week we are celebrating calla. dinner with friends on tuesday night & a family party on sunday. happy birthday big girl!

resurrecting the blog!

it's time to get back to blogging! we have been running around like crazy, but i realize that is just life. since my last post (way back in november!) we have been to seattle a few times for maggie's shower & wedding, in new hampshire for christmas & new years with the johnson family, the applequist family came out to oregon for a visit, we had mike & greta's birthdays, a weekend to mcminnville with the halversons & carlsons, several trips to portland- and calla's 2nd birthday is next week! it's been a fun-filled few months. greta started ballet (she now wants to be a ballerina when she grows up), both girls started music class, and calla is soon going to be able to do her own gymnastics class. we go every week for greta & calla just sits there DYING to run out and do all the stunts. when she turns 2 she gets to go- it's so soon!

calla is clearly stubborn & her new favorite words are "mine" and "no, me" (as in, leave me alone- i want to do this myself, especially when she's getting dressed- she wants NO help!). she is also a total riot and cracks up herself & us all the time. greta has decided that along with being a ballerina she wants to be an artist, which she daily shows us with her art projects & coloring within the lines (with the "right" colors for each part of the picture). she could spend hours coloring. they both want to climb on the furniture every chance they get, which finds me nervous at times they are going to hurt themselves, but i love that they are willing to try crazy things. greta practices her "handstands" all the time & calla can be found mimicking pretty much everything greta does. we love our little girls!

we'll post stories soon, but that is life in a nutshell!

Pictures from sarah

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