Family Garden 2011

On Memorial Day we decided to go ahead and plant a small family garden. We thought it would be a fun family activity to plant it together and then watch it grow. Since we are renting - there wasn't a lot of space - so we decided to keep it simple.

We dug out a small space near the front door (where most people would put flowers) and we planted 2 tomato plants and 2 zucchini plants.

Elise loved hanging out and getting dirty with us... mostly she just liked EATING the dirt. :) She was smiling and laughing and cracking up - until she looked at the camera. What a goof.

We really tried to let Isaac help in each part of the process. He was a little hesitant at first - but got more and more into it as the project progressed. He liked spreading out the dirt...

and helping water the plants.

Elise got into the watering fun too.

Happy kids working outside with Daddy. :)

Throughout the day we kept talking about how fun the garden would be and how we are "Johnstons" and "Johnstons work hard and work together" - trying to encourage Isaac and help build part of his "family identity." Anyway, all of that talk seemed to really resonate with him. At the end of the day as we stood and looked at the garden he said to us "yep, Johnstons are hard workers. Look at our garden!" For weeks whenever someone came to the door he had to go out and show them his garden - where the zucchini were and where the tomatoes were.
So here it is... our little pride and joy!

Update: The garden did okay this year. The kids LOVED watching the plants grow and helping watering. They loved seeing the blossoms and the little baby veggies beginning to grow. We got 3 or 4 zucchinis before the plants got infested with some sort of a zucchini plant bug (bummer). And the tomato plants got a bit neglected (when I got morning sick... I just couldn't handle one more thing). But they still produced probably 5-8 tomatoes! Jeremy and the kids would pick them in the morning and seemed to have a great time doing it. We loved having a family garden and can't wait to do it again!

It's Bath Time!

The verdict is in:
She likes bath time.
Check out these smiles!

That's our happy girl!!

Where in the world are the Johnstons?

So... I know that we have been more than a little missing from the blog-world. And I apologize.

Here's a quick re-cap of what we have been up to...

1. Isaac will be THREE at the end of June. He is getting crazy big. He can write his name, loves puzzles, art projects, all sports, trains, cars, and talks non-stop all day long. He likes to sort and line up toys. He loves to read books. He has an amazing memory and is stunning us with all that he is learning. Oh - and he is obsessed with musical instruments - how could I forget that?

2. Elise is 15 months old. She is still not officially walking - although she has taken a few steps in the last week. :) She is the cutest little person on the planet! She talks and signs about 25 words. She is happy and playful. And she is the best eater - even though she just got her FIRST TOOTH yesterday. She says thank you whenever you hand her any thing, it sounds like "tank too" - cutest thing ever. She also loves lift the flap books and says "peek-a-boo" and laughs hysterically every time. Awesome.

3. We have also been wishing and trying and waiting for baby #3... no luck yet. Looks like God wants to teach us a little more faith and patience... again. We're just feeling very grateful for our kids and praying to be able to have another baby when the time is right for our family - and hoping that the time is really soon! :)

4. Jeremy is crazy busy at work. Enough said.

5. Jeremy is loving teaching early morning seminary - but also counting down the 2 weeks left until summer break when he can sleep in until 6 am. :)

6. I quit my job. It was just the right time. I feel grateful to have had the job, I learned a bunch - and now I am glad to be done with it too.

7. I was called as Young Women President in the end of January. Loving that. Learning a lot.

8. We moved. :) Just last weekend... 5 doors down from one smokey duplex (we smelled the cigarette smoke when our neighbors smoked - and it bugged us) to a smoke-free nearly identical duplex. It is still a move though - changing utilities, changing billing addresses, cleaning, sorting, packing, organizing, unpacking, etc...

9. We ran a family 5K around the Kansas City Temple (that is under construction). Great experience!

10. Jeremy passed the Kansas Bar and got sworn in to the Kansas Courts.

11. The kids and I went to Arizona in February to spend 2 weeks in the warmth visiting my family. Great trip!

12. We went to the Winter Quarter's Temple in Omaha, Nebraska. Fun day trip.

13. We have celebrated a very merry Christmas with Jeremy's family, a Happy New Year's, Elise's first birthday, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter... and we had a blast at all of those occasions!

We are very blessed and ever so happy. We love being a little family and thrive on our rare moments relaxing and playing together. We only find ourselves wishing for those long-lost days of "bored" Saturday afternoons. :)

Here's the bad news... I apparently cannot manage life and "keeping up a blog" right now. It nags at me to know that my blog is sitting here perpetually not updated. I know that it is silly, but I can't handle that little nagging reminder that I am constantly ridiculously behind. So, alas, I feel that it is time that I bid farewell to the blogging universe. I may be back someday... but no guarantees.

As a small consolation - I am going to try to post a few pictures on facebook when I upload my camera so that you all can still see the two most beautiful children on the planet grow. :)

I am going to leave this post up for about a week and then I am going to close the blog down. We love you all and miss you and hope that you are all doing well!!!

Sincerely,

Our Happy Family - Jeremy, Kendra, Isaac, & Elise :)

First Tooth!!!

At 15 1/2 months Elise got her first tooth today! Bottom Right. We're so proud. :)