last saturday/sunday

The Johnson five plus Grandma, Sheri, and Carson all headed to the Gaylord water park last Saturday. The clouds loomed over the late morning/early afternoon so we stopped for lunch at a bar and grill, and as we ate, the sun shined through and we were ready to swim.

I loved her faces coming down the slide. Her tongue usually out.

We love having Carson with. Even though there's a bit of an age difference, he plays so well with the boys and LOVES Harlow!

Of course we wouldn't get through an afternoon without a little sibling abuse. Paxton and Harlow were both at the top of the fish slide, Harlow first, and Paxton ran out of patience and pushed her down. So.....timeout at the pool. I asked Harlow to go by Paxton so he could say he was sorry, which he did not want to do (obviously, look at those mean eyes!). So what does the poor girl do? Hug him and tell him its okay, guilting an apology out of him. Nicely played sister!

On Sunday we played around the house for awhile, cleaned the vehicles and garage, climbed Hermann the German (realizing we hadn't even been there yet this summer), and went to Grandpa and Grandma's to ride the four wheelers.

Harlow stayed at the bottom while me and the boys went up. Both of them claiming they weren't scared one bit, and I don't think they really were, at least not enough to stop them from going up. But Paxton did mumble to himself, "Why did I even do this, it's the scariest thing ever!?", as he clung to the stair railings for dear life. And right before the last flight of stairs, Hudson said, "That's okay, I'll just wait down here for you guys. It's funner here." Not a chance buddy! So we all made it to the top, on a VERY windy day!

Vacation Bible School

Both of the boys went to Vacation Bible School all last week and THEY LOVED IT!!! They went to Jamie's church and spent the entire week with their cousins, Grandma Sharon, and new friends. I dropped them off at Grandma's in the mornings (we usually stopped for donuts and juice first) and it never failed, every morning I heard their request of, "You can just drop us off Mom, you don't even have to come in."  Needless to say, they were always so excited about their day, both at VBS and at Grandma's. Hudson would always ask if I could come a little later everyday, there was always just so much to do at Grandma's with his cousins; ride the golf cart and go-cart, play with the kitties, dress up in scary masks/costumes, go swimming, to Schell's Brewery and Dairy Queen, but most importantly, EAT EAT and EAT some more! Grandma Sharon has GOOD food at her house! In VBS they made arts and crafts everyday, learned and sang songs, and made new friends. Dropping them off that first day, I could tell that they were both a little nervous (and I cried when I left, obviously) but with their older cousins by their sides, they braved through the unknown. A HUGE thanks to Morgan and Declyn for watching out for them! And an even BIGGER thank you to Grandma Sharon for watching them all day every day for 5 days, for feeding them and letting them have so much fun! 

At the VBS performance at church on Sunday- Kendra, Paxton, Morgan, Hudson, Bryce, and Declyn

I was a blubbering mess at their performance (so pardon the shaky video)! Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would stand up there in front of a church full of people and perform their songs, singing and actions. But both of them did (especially Paxton, you can clearly hear his voice at the end!). I was beyond proud of them! And we're still singing those songs (even me all.the.time!). This is a long video (I zoom in eventually), but again, so proud!

My favorite part about this one is at the end, Paxton nudges Hudsy on the shoulder and if you look real close, and can even hear a little bit, he asks him if he wants to play Transformers later. Hudson kind of gave him a look like, "You're asking me this now, are you kidding me??"

videos lately

Here are a few short videos I've taken of the kids lately......

Harlow was trying to help Paxton get his swimming trunks on. This was a snapchat video so its pretty short, and I missed Harlow saying at the end, "There!" like she just accomplished something great! 

Hudsy just being silly. He's always asking if I'm taking a snapchat picture/video because he knows those disappear right away and he wants it to stay on my phone forever.

Possibly the cutest squishy cheeks to ever dance!

Harlow was loving the Merry-Go-Round at Valleyfair until Jamie said, "Here comes the guy" and scared her death. He was talking to me, because I had my phone out and was already warned by the ride operator to put it away, but I'm pretty sure poor Harlow thought he was out to get her, you can see the fear on her face.

This is my daughter...crazy, strong, and fearless. Daycare told us that she could flip around on the bar/rings, so Jamie put ours up and sure enough, she swings around like a monkey. I keep telling her she's too little and that it scares me, but then she just does it more and hangs upside down saying, "What Mommy, this??".

Harlow and Mommy had a little love fest while waiting in line at the car wash. I love her sweet voice. I pretty love everything about her I guess. (Notice her "so much" is really "po much". She replaces a lot of sounds with a "p" sound, like c, ch, s, f. My favorite thing she says is "this is pun (fun)!!" 

Valleyfair on my Bday

We went to Valleyfair last Friday and it just so happened to be my birthday as well. Hudson was thrilled and a little surprised that I "picked" to go to Valleyfair for my birthday. Since we always let them chose what they'd like to do and where they'd like to eat on their birthdays, Hudson said, "You're picking Valleyfair for your birthday?!?!" The morning started out with McDonald's breakfast brought in by Jamie, so we decided to stick a candle in my breakfast sandwich and the kids sang and opened presents.

We squished in the car (Grandma and Sheri too) and headed to Valleyfair. Harlow thought she looked just like Mommy with her sunglasses on.

Like every year, we met the Friederichs and the cousins rode rides until they couldn't ride anymore.

Even this little one! She loves rides, begged and pleaded to go on the big rides. As we were standing in line for a kiddie ride she turned around and saw the rollercoaster, and pointed to the kiddie ride and said, "I don't wanna go on that one, I wanna go on THAT one (pointing to the rollercoaster)!" We kept telling her that she isn't big enough and she'd say, "Pleeeeeeaaaaase".

Look at that pure joy!

Thanks for a great day Friederichs (and Logie!!)!!

She gets pretty silly after a day in the sun and no nap!

professional pictures

It's been awhile since we've visited Marsha Jones Photography (Grandma Marsha), and so thankful we did. Look at these three gorgeous kids together! Our main objective was to get Harlow's two year pictures done, but Marsha was kind enough to take a few of all three together and snap a good one of just the boys alone too. 

This was her attempt at posing with her hand on her hip. She needs some more coaching (ahem...calling all Ahlness girls!!).

So when did these boys grow up?? Man, they're practically teenagers!

L.O.V.E.

gymnastics

Harlow ended her gymnastics lessons a couple weeks ago. She loved it, although I think she would've and could've done a lot more than the coaches allowed. Thankfully on her last day she was able to jump on the tumble track and trampoline, she had been dying to do that every week! For safety, the coach asked that she hold hands while jumping on the tramp which Harlow did not like! She wanted free reign to do her straddle jumps and seat drops. Every week she impressed her coaches (and other parents) with her strength and abilities. I think she might be a natural gymnast, and a freaking cute one!

Her "TA-DA"!!!! I love how she flips and poses her hands. 

Mario Kart Bday

Hudson had his Super Mario Kart birthday party this past weekend. It feels like he turned 6 years old forever ago, and so far I am LOVING this age of six!!! It seems like he is a different kid! He has sweetened and matured right up! No more attitude, no more temper, no more eye rolling....well, at least for the most part! (Unfortunately, it seems he has passed all of that on to his little brother, but more on that another day.) 

Sheri and Carson made Hudson a candy train. At first he wanted to keep the train in tact forever, but he just couldn't resist and started eating the candy that night. And here's a picture overload of just Hudson and Harlow, but seriously, they are all so freaking cute I had to include each and every one! 

Like seriously....heart melted right there! Even more so because no one asked them to do it, sister just wrapped those arms around him and squeezed! 

It's become tradition to do fireworks at Hudson's party. He is obsessed with them, and so is Grandpa so they make a great pair. 

Maddi and Zev got Hudson this giant inflatable ball for Christmas but we kind of kept forgetting about it until now. Not sure who had more fun, the little kids or big boys?!?! I think Hudson and Paxton might have both been inside at this point, until Mommy put an end to that. I know I'm no fun, but what are the odds that they crack their heads open on each other....probably pretty high with Jamie and Zev rolling them around! I also have a picture of Maddi climbing inside, but I'll spare her and keep that off the blog. Plus, at that time the ball was on the trampoline and shortly after she climbed in, the tramp broke...literally! I think 3 adults, 2 kids, and a giant ball were just too much to handle.

Happy 6th Birthday Hudsy......love you like crazy!!