A Happy Father's Day

"Our feet are small,

our eyes are wide,

we make a mess,

we like to hide;

And when our busy day is done,

we thank the Lord there is someone

named Daddy who is here to teach

and help us, life and dreams, to reach."

~Happy Father's Day, 2013

Happily Ever Johnson

This Father's Day, 

Baby J-Bear is thankful for her Daddy's safe arms,

Buddy Bear is thankful for Daddy's love of basketball,

E-Bear is thankful for Daddy's love of Superman,

and G-Bear is thankful for Daddy's jokes and hugs.

I am thankful for the love of my life,

the father of our children,

a great protector and leader for our family.

Happy Father's Day to dads everywhere!

Happily Ever,

Queen B

Truck Tunes

Our kids love trucks.  

A very generous friend recently gave us this DVD called "Truck Tunes" by Twenty Trucks.

It is a twenty minute video featuring "Ten cool songs about ten cool trucks!"

My kids can sing all ten songs almost by heart. 

They can do the truck dances too,  like the "Forklift Boogie:"

"Lift it up,

 put it down,

back it up,

turn around."

Sheer genius, I tell you.

Today, we hit the jackpot.

A nearby school is remaking it's baseball fields.

Today, while driving home from swim lessons, we drove by the once verdant fields to find them full of mud and ......TRUCKS!!!!

Excavators, front end loaders, pavers, scrapers, bulldozers, dump trucks!!!!

My kids almost bubbled out of the car with excitement.

So, for the rest of the week, you can find us behind the fences at the ballfields. 

We'll be watching the beloved trucks in real-time action.  

The construction crew is going to feel like a crowd of celebrities when we're done with them.  

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Just when you think we celebrated allllll our birthdays,

June rolls around and it's time to celebrate T!

Happy birthday, Super Dad!

This year, the Bears and I decided to throw T a "firefly" birthday party.

When T was a little boy, Nana used to tell him that his birthday would be "after the fireflies come out."

T and I still take great delight in watching for fireflies as his birthday approaches.

This year, the spring has been so cold and snowy that we still haven't seen any fireflies!

We decided to fix that for T's birthday.

Our blinking Christmas lights did the trick!

There is no celebration like a birthday celebration with our crew.  Buddy Bear gets so excited to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out the candles.

He had been practicing throughout the day!

Thankfully, between an early birthday dinner with Nana last week,

and our family celebration this weekend (Chicken fingers! Ice cream cake! Hooray!),
there have been plenty of candles to blow out. :)

Happy birthday, T.

You really do light up our lives.  

I am so thankful to celebrate another year with you.

Swimming in the Arctic

Would someone please tell me why I thought it would be a good idea to sign my kids up for swimming lessons in an outdoor pool during Minnesota's Arctic spring?

We start swim school today.  

It has been raining for two weeks with temperatures in the sixties.

I don't think the pool is heated.

I have to get in the water for Buddy Bear's lesson.

Oh my.

Last Days of School!

We've made it, folks.

Tomorrow, when wake up, we won't have to go to school.

Congratulations to G-Bear and E-Bear, who have finished another great school year!

E-Bear and G-Bear with adoring fans in tow during last week of school festivities.

Last week, we enjoyed the traditional end-of-school festivities.  E-Bear's Preschool Sing-Along was definitely a highlight.  E-Bear and his classmates enjoyed their "5-minutes-of-fame," as described by his teachers.  E-Bear had a whole section of adoring fans in attendance:

E-Bear's fan club

Even G-Bear chose to leave school early to watch her brother perform.

E-Bear was so proud to receive his diploma.

Proud preschool graduate

 He got lots of hugs from his fan club after the show.  Buddy Bear was an especially enthusiastic fan.

A big hug from Buddy Bear!

Everyone wanted a picture with Mrs R and Mrs G after the sing-along.  We are so blessed that two Bears have had them for preschool teachers.  When we left for North Carolina two years ago, I was really disappointed that E-Bear would never get to be a part of Mrs. R's class. This year has been an amazing gift for E-Bear in many ways!

The Bears with Teachers Mrs. R and Mrs. G

We are proud of the compliments E-Bear received from his teachers and his friends.  

"I can't wait to go to Kindergarten, Mom," said E-Bear.  

"But I can't quite decide, because I don't want to leave Mrs. R and Mrs. G yet."

Speaking of loving our teachers, we are all going to miss G-Bear's teacher as well.  G-Bear has loved her Kinder experience, and for that we have to thank Mrs. C.  G-Bear got a big hug on her way out of school the last day.  No longer a Kinder, G-Bear is onto first grade!

G-Bear with Teacher Mrs. C

We are tremendously blessed by the teachers, friends and overall school experience of this past year.  Nonetheless, I am surely the happiest person on the plaza on the last day of school.  Before us, the summer stretches, full of opportunity and (hopefully) time together.  I couldn't be more delighted to have all the Bears home.

Hip, Hip....Let's hear it for the Tenth!

Old Nassau looked good this weekend.

It has been along time for many of us,

but some friendships stand the test of time.

While some things stay the same,

many things have changed.

One of the highlights is always the P-rade.

It is like taking a few steps back in time

 with a few thousand best friends.

After an arch sing, several brunches, many catch-up sessions, a fireworks show, and about a million steps around campus, we arrived home exhausted, yet also exhilarated and encouraged.  Thank you, dear friends who made the trip this year!  We treasure the time to catch up and reconnect.

Guess what greeted me at the airport?

"Mommy, Mommy!  RAAAAAAhhhh!"

Reunions is sweet, but Goin' Back can't compare to what we have here at home.

One month with J-Bear!

Happy one month birthday to J-Bear!  She turned one month yesterday, while T and I celebrated my tenth reunion at Princeton.

She was a trooper, and may receive the award for youngest Tiger Cub in attendance! 

She even made it to the Tigerlily alumnae arch sing.  

She is the first Johnson bear to sing with the Lils :).

J-bear made the whole trip look easy, but as you can tell, we are all exhausted after a fun weekend.

We are so thankful for our first month with you, J-Bear!

Happily Ever,

Queen B

PASS!

Thank you, Jesus,

I passed the last Step of my licensing Board exam!

This afternoon we toasted with pear juice after I got the email.

A toast to the Boards passed!

This was the third and final exam, and after taking all three while pregnant,

I am glad that I won't have to do any of them again.

I have to thank T for his constant encouragement, 

Nana, MoMo and Papa and the many friends who offered up abundant prayers,

little J-Bear for putting up with all the butterflies in my tummy during the two day exam,

Buddy Bear for the practical testing of throwing up on me as I walked in from my first exam day,

and G-Bear and E-Bear for sticking with me through thick and thin, not only during medical school, but everyday since.

Most of all, thank you, Lord, for helping me leap this last testing hurdle. 

Getting pretty crunchy around here...

Queen Butterfly:

"Daddy, can I cut the grass?"

T:

"Why, yes you can." 

Last week, we finally joined the ranks of lawn mower owners.  The beautiful lawn of our rental house was getting a bit shaggy.  So, we splurged at Menards for a push mower that was on sale.  T finished his first pass across the yard and we were pretty impressed with our purchase.  Sure, there were a few tall stragglers here and there, but all in all, it did a great job.    

Seeing the delight in my eyes, T commented:

"We're getting pretty crunchy around here, Queen B."

The next day, T had several helpers in the yard.

You may notice that it was a face painting afternoon at our house.
Behold, garden angels 'Queen Butterfly' and 'Super Hero Dude!'

G-Bear helped to trim tall stragglers with her scissors,

while E-Bear used his shovel to empty mower clippings into the compost bag.

As I watched the action, I almost bubbled over with delight.  

 No need for oil, gas or electric with our intrepid crew!

Happy Memorial Day from the Happily Ever Johnsons!  

We are so thankful for our country, this land that we love!  

May this summer be full of green and lots of time outdoors.

Overheard in the house this week, Postpartum Edition

With the arrival of J-Bear, you never know what you'll overhear in our house!

Here are a few of my favorite excerpts.

"Gee, Baby Pah!"

~Buddy Bear, our connoisseur of pacis, offering to give Baby J her pacifier. 

"My favorite thing to do is hold Baby J."

~G-Bear

"My taco tastebuds have DEFINITELY grown in!"

~E-Bear, who has enjoyed the meals prepared for us by T during the past few weeks.

"Nana, do you want to see ANOTHER kid??!"

~G-Bear, welcoming Nana to our home

 for her visit to meet Baby J.

"I love lasagne.  

Nana said you get your lasagne taste buds when you get your taco taste buds."

~E-Bear, who has enjoyed the meals prepared for us by friends during the past few weeks.

"I see?  I see baby?  I see baby, peeeeeees?"

~Buddy Bear, asking to see and hold his little sister.

"Nana, when we have another kid, you'll have to drive in your own car."

~E-Bear, noticing that the number of available seats in our minivan is decreasing :)