Toy Story 3 on Ice

Darin and I took Cash, Riley and Tripp to see Toy Story 3 on Ice at the Sprint Center.  We loaded them all up in the car and told them we were taking them somewhere special.  We didn't tell them where, just that it was a surprise.  Cash asked if we were going to the zoo, then the mall and then he actually guessed Toy Story on Ice.  I couldn't believe he guessed where we were taking them.  He had seen the commercial on tv about a million times though so I am thinking that is why!  Whatever...they were super excited as you will be able to see in the pictures below!

 This is Cash & Riley when Buzz made his first appearance.  He flew in from the sky!  I have video below as well.  It isn't the best because it was so dark in there and hard to see, but you can hear them and how excited they were. 

 Riley and Cash and their $5 hot dogs!  I mean really...everything at those special events is so jacked up in price it amazes me.  You may opt for the cheap seats, but they will get you on everything else when you get there.  We made it without having to buy any of the million dollar toys they have there, but we all had to have something to eat and drink.  If Grandma Sue would have been the one to take the kids, she would have walked out with about $300 less than she came in with.  She can't say no.

So we had a great time, the kids loved it and Sarah enjoyed her time at home with Drew. 

All is well!!!

Playtime

Drew got a new toy! 

I had some gift cards to Target so I decided she needed a play gym.  I had one for the other kids when they were babies, but had sold it in a consignment sale.  So Drew got a new, pink one all to herself...and she loves it! 

The weather here has been awesome the last few days!  We have had a couple days that hit almost 80 degrees! 

Tripp loves playing outside, eating outside, whatever...he can't get enough of it! 

So do Cash and Riley.

Darin took them to get baseball gloves the other day.  He has been going outside with them when he gets home from work to play catch and practice hitting some balls. 

Don't get me wrong, my kids loved playing in the snow, making snow forts, snowmen, snow angels and going sledding. 

I mean they are products of parents from Iowa & Michigan.

We love the snow.

We love the seasons.

I have to say that I have always loved a big snowstorm.

Although, since I've had kids, I like winter a little less.

Having to bundle up 4 kids everytime we leave the house kinda takes a little joy out of winter for me.

Anyway, back to my point...

They have so much fun now that it is getting warmer and love that spring is here! 

Well, they do and they don't.

I was inside feeding Drew while they were outside playing. 

I took a peek outside to check on them and saw this...

I think they may be missing the snow just a little bit.

Wednesday

  I had big dreams of making all these fun green treats with the kids for St. Patrick's Day this year.  We attempted chocolate covered pretzels with green sprinkles first and that was enough for me!  Let's just say that melted almond bark and two 3 year olds makes quite a mess.

They had fun though!

Drew has been really good.  I took her in for her 2 month check up and she weighed just an ounce shy of 12 lbs and was over 23 inches long.  She is around the 75-80% for height and weight which is strange for me since all my kids have always been huge!  Even Riley who was the smallest of all my kids, grew really fast and was in the higher percentiles. 

Drew has a little, tiny head though...only in the 25%.  I figure Cash and Drew take after their dad on that one.  They all have cute, little heads.  Riley and Tripp didn't get so lucky.  They take after me and are blessed with my big headedness...yes, I know.  Not a real word, but you get the point.

One of our friends gave Tripp his Jerry's hat and it fits him like a glove as you will see in the picture below.  Yes, at 2 years old, Tripp can wear the same size hat as a 40 year old man.  We took him into Jerry's not too long ago, Tripp was wearing his hat and the waitress said she didn't realize that they made hats in kids sizes.

I just smiled and said "They don't.  That used to be Mike's hat." 

Awwww...my poor little buddy. 

My little buddy with a big ole melon! 

Snake Saturday

I really want to take my kids to the St. Patrick's Day parade tomorrow, but its not really as "kid friendly" as others. Its more of a parade that includes a bunch of people that took work off for the day and want to bar hop along the streets where the parade takes place. Probably not the best environment for 4 little ones under 4 years old!

So instead, my sister and I took them to the Snake Saturday parade down in Brookside this last Saturday. The kids had a lot of fun, we saw some great floats and even got some candy!  I might add that I started bringing my own candy when I take the kids to a parade now. 
 I learned my lesson after last summer during the 4th of July parade when it was a bunch of floats of people running for office who didn't throw out a single piece of anything but paper with" vote for me" on it.  I always associated parades with fun floats and being pelted with Dum Dum's and Double Bubble, but that was then and this is now.  Guess a 500 piece bag of candy is a little more expensive now or something like that. 
So when you have 3 little ones that expect to get some good loot at a parade, its best to bring some back up...unless when the parade is over, you can get those 3 kids in full force meltdown mode all the way to your car which is parked 5 miles away without breaking into a sweat. 
Just a suggestion.



We were all pretty tried after the parade.  When we first moved into our new house we used to find Riley asleep in the hall every night.  She hadn't been doing that in a while until last Saturday after the parade.

We found her asleep like this with some her animals set up around her. 

I like how she put her dog on Bambi's back. 

Pretty cute.

And a thank you to everyone who prayed for little Andrew.  He is already at home recovering which is really remarkable!  I took this picture from their blog because I love it.  It is Andrew and his cousins, Evelyn and Jayden. They are my other cousin, Jason, and his wife, Rachel's children. I think it shows them all perfectly...Andrew with a smile on his face, happy to have his cousins there to visit him.  Jayden holding a dinosaur (we learned when we saw him over the summer, he was a dino lover!) and Evelyn, checking out Andrew's scar.   Everytime we have seen Evelyn at a family get together she is so cute and sweet...just like in this picture.

So anyway...I love it and hope Jen doesn't mind that I "borrowed" it! =)

So keep praying for a speedy recovery for Andrew...and for Craig and Jen! 

You can check out their blog at http://thehuegelfamily.blogspot.com/

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Pray for Andrew

Don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to get this post up.  My cousin, Craig and his wife, Jen are in Iowa City today.  Their son, Andrew is having heart surgery.  Please keep them in your prayers!

You can visit their blog here...http://thehuegelfamily.blogspot.com/

2 Months Old

Little Drew is smiling all the time now!  Riley loves to try and make her smile, Cash still loves to take care of her and Tripp...he is still not digging the whole "I am not the baby anymore" deal.  Hopefully he will come around soon because she is pretty cute!

Back & Burnt

We made it back from our cruise!  It was a lot of fun, but I really missed the kids.  There was one day that I wasn't able to talk to them at all which made me really sad, but a little Miami Vice on the beach helped cheer me up! =)
There was a group of 27 of Darin's coworkers at MHC and their wives/significant others on the cruise.  Everybody was a lot of fun and we were all glad to be enjoying the warm sun on a boat with nothing to do, but get a tan and eat good food!
MHC had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in everyones room which was fun! 

Our stops were Key West and Cozumel.  We walked around Key West and shopped.  We only had a few hours there so we didn't have time to do much except walk around.  We went to Margaritaville and also found the World's Smallest Bar which was fun. 

In Cozumel we went to a private beach and spent the day there.  I got pretty burnt on the first day of the cruise so I didn't do much but sit under the umbrella and read my book.  That was my first vacation in the sun that I actually used sunscreen and sat under the shade instead of frying myself silly and never applying a drop of any protection from those crazy hot sun rays.  I have always been a firm believer in "fry now, the swelling will go down once you get home", but not this time.  This pasty white skin hasn't seen any real sun since I started having kids 4 years ago and I think the shock of my old sun worshipping ways would have been too much to handle.  I swear I used 30 spf and tried to stay a little covered up and I still screamed out in pain later that night (and over the next couple days) when anyone touched my shoulders.  No good.  And now I am home and peeling.

So we had a great time and the kids were good for Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks again to them for taking care of our babies while we were gone!  We wouldn't have been able to go and enjoy ourselves otherwise!  It takes some special grandparents to drive 15 hours to come stay with their grand babies for a week so their mom and dad can go on a vacation...especially when those babies are 4 under 4 years old!  They had fun going to the zoo, Monkey Bizness, having a birthday party for Aunt Sarah and much more!  I see

 they also acquired a few new toys while we were gone and Tripp seems to think he gets a surprise every hour of the day now.  I think there was some major spoilage going on in the Johnson home.

Oh, and there will be no beach pictures or anything of that nature seen on this blog.  I mean, it was big for me to get in a swimsuit 7 weeks apres baby especially around people I had to see again.  But, I am certainly not about to post those pictures on my blog for all to see.  Nothing like a cruise with a bunch of fit, tan people to get you motivated to start your "loose the baby weight" regime.  Bring on weight watchers and the diastasis recti repair!!!