Oh Sweet Mullet...

...or is it a rat tail? Hmmm. I can't decide if I should cut it. Maybe I'll braid it first?! :)

Bloggy love,

ABC...

We got Abby a special tablet to work on her letters. She is having lots of fun & spelling quite a few words now. It's totally ruining our ability to sneak anything by her, but it's cute that she is working so hard at it. We have to practice with either the purple or pink pen...surprise, surprise!

Bloggy love,

GG Jane's Project...

Well, Abby is getting LOTS of mail! :) It's very fun. GG Jane sent her a 'project' to do. Abby loves a good craft! Daddy is very engineer-like when doing them (right Mich & JJ??), so it is always interesting. This project proved to be quite difficult. Mommy & Daddy couldn't even get the pompoms to stick. The good news is that now we have Elmer's Glue...Abby LOVES to glue...pretty much anything!

Bloggy love,

Nursing Uncle Ben Bunny...

Okay...just about cried I was laughing so hard. We just spent the last half hour taking things out of one refrigerator to put into another. (We had a freezer incident & now all our meat is thawed that was in there!!! ARGH!) Keep in mind that this is the 3rd thing I have called about. The same guy came & probably thinks I'm crazy. He might think I like to change out big appliances for kicks! Anyway, the Koreans that have come to our house are totally freaked out by Indy...our killer GOLDEN RETRIEVER! :) So, we put Indy in his dog crate. Needless to say, I put Bekah for a nap & started to cook unthawed meat...forgot he was in there & he started to whine. Abby asked why he had to be in there and I told her she could let him out. She looked at me matter-of-factly & said, "I can't right now. I have to nurse Uncle Ben Bunny." Yes, she named her big bunny with the pink bow after my brother -- she loves him (both the bunny & Uncle Ben). It just totally cracked me up! On some level I am happy she does it -- maybe I'm instilling the importance of breastfeeding at this tender age! HA. When we were in WY she also asked Brad's sister, Aunt Erky, what Dylan ate (he's 1) & Erica told her all the things he liked to eat. Then Abby said, "does he eat your booby too?" Very nice that her terminology is so technical. Reflection of our good parenting, I'm sure. Alrighty, off to cook up some meat...I guess if we knew more people, we could have a meat party. Oh & it would help if we had furniture... :)

Bloggy love,

That's my girl...

I wanted to get a picture of Abby to put on skype...this is the one she picked out! What a turkey! Brad told me tonight that she is her mother's daughter. Just for fun, I asked him what he was talking about & he said he was referring to the sassiness. I know not of what he speaks...

Abby & Indy at the window. Not sure what Indy finds so exciting, but he does like to look out our 10th floor window! :) Two weeks into our Korean adventure, Abby still runs to the window to watch the planes take off!

Bloggy love,

The Owl!

Bekah's new thing is to roll her head around into very uncomfortable looking positions in order to see the TV or other loud things (read Abby!). She is getting very close to rolling over, but whew, it sure looks very painful. Doesn't seem to bother her, so that's why I have dubbed her "The Owl" :)

Bloggy love,

Bekah's Bumbo

How cute is she in her big girl Bumbo chair?!! Thank you Auntie Sar! :)

Bloggy love,

Sisterly Love??

Abby has become VERY interested in her role as Big Sister! She is really good with Bekah most of the time, but as you can see here, she gets a little carried away at times. Today, she helped me give Bekah a bath -- it was hilarious! Bekah kept kicking her feet HARD & splashing like crazy; then, she'd laugh give this huge laugh and smile at Abby! Abby put her feet in & they were both kicking...very cute. No. I didn't get video of that. :) Couldn't leave them alone in the bathroom together. Abby might decide to put her goggles on her!

Bloggy love,

Under Contract...

A friend reminded me...I forgot to tell everyone that our house is under contract!! Praise God! We are so relieved & happy. The closing is scheduled for sometime between July 25 & August 8; we're praying for it to happen ASAP (obviously!). Thanks for all your prayers!

Bloggy love,

Chicago FUN!

The girls & I spent the last night in CO staying at the La Quinta by the Denver airport by ourselves. My cell was dead & poor Gibby was sick and couldn't stay with us, so I was a little tense about the flight the next day. We went to the pool, ordered in food & had a little slumber party. Whew. The trip leading up to Chicago was so stressful to me that I felt a HUGE relief to see Mich & J at the airport waiting for us. It was awesome to have Auntie Beth's help getting car seats for the girls last minute & being so gracious about having all of us at their house...including Indy dog! :) We really had a blast seeing them and Uncle Jeff & Aunt Beth cooked shrimp scampi at my request...YUM. We're really going to miss them...Michele is going to be a SENIOR in high school when we get back. Yikes. Thank goodness for technology!

Miss these girlies already!

Build-a-Bear

Oh my...Auntie Beth couldn't believe we hadn't been here before! Abby went right to the *pink* bear & her first experience began. She kissed the heart & made a wish (once we explained what a wish was!). The girl was really good with her & then Abby was off...and I do mean off! She ran to the beds and the clothes and the shoes. She was CRAZED! She had so many outfits pulled off the racks that she was dropping them! :) Abby named the bear 'Alea' and now sleeps with her and likes to take her places with us in the stroller! I think we've created a monster!

Okay, leaving GG Jane was really hard. She was sad & I don't do well when she's crying. Sure do love her & will miss her like crazy!

Next stop...KOREA!

Bloggy love,

Johnson Family Reunion -- Dubois, WY

This picture pretty much says it all...Abby & Daddy had an awesome time! Abby LOVED riding Lady & looked forward to it each day. I must admit that I was not in my best form. The drive from Colorado Springs to Dubois was supposed to take 8 hours. This is without traveling with a breastfeeding infant -- oh, who doesn't like to travel! ARGH. Anyhow, we made it, but Bekah & I weren't really able to get out much (everyone should probably be thankful for this!). I really didn't want to mess up her sleep anymore than it already was...we left for Korea 3 days after the final leg back to Denver. Gibby also got strep throat, so that was a bummer. All in all it was a good trip. We were glad to see everyone before we left the country. I just hope I get copies of someone elses pictures b/c these are all I have!!

Abby, Daddy & Lady

Cousin Dylan..."Hi" :)

Amanda & Avery

Bloggy love,

Colorado Fun!

Okay...let me preface this post by saying that I have been doing a BAD job of taking pictures. I just now figured out that I took NO pictures when we went to see my family in Shelbyville before we left the country. I did a pathetic job in Colorado as well, but here are the few I did take!

Here's Abby jumping on the trampoline...she got nervous when other kids were on it, but Parker was quite the little protector. Abby has some super special cousins!

FIRST SLEEPOVER!

Abby asked me if I thought we could stay the night with her cousins. I do believe she wanted us to stay too, but we jumped on the chance for her to try a night away (wish I could say we did something!). We didn't think she would make it, but she proved us wrong! It was a little bittersweet! :)

The PJ Fashion Show!

Sleeping? Not hardly. Aunt Heather had to read LOTS of books!

Another fun cousin...Isabelle

Don't want to leave Bekah out! :) Here she is lounging on Gibby's couch. She's getting big!

Bloggy love,

The BIG Cardinals Game!

Hello, hello!

Catch up! That's what we're playing now. These are from the wonderful night that Abby & Daddy got to walk the ball field at Busch Stadium. Because Brad coached Mighty Ball Soccer, Abby was supposed to play T-ball for free. Due to the big move to Korea, she was unable to do so, but the great guy in charge let them walk the field anyway!! We were so thankful for this special opportunity.

For those that are unaware, Abby has a FAVORITE Cardinal player. It's Yadier Molina. She can tell you that: he's the catcher, he wears the #4, his brothers also play baseball (Benji & Jose'), his wife's name is Wanda & he is a slow runner! I need to get all that on video, but as you can see, I'm a bit behind. :)

As you can see, the Cardinals gang had lots of fun! Mommy had fun too; she (& Bekah too!) went to a good-bye party that people from Daddy's work had for her. Thanks everyone for the fun send off -- we're gonna miss you all!

Bloggy love,

KOREA!

We are here! Well actually, we've been here since the 10th of July! The first few days (nights!) were pretty rough, but we are feeling human again. Bekah is the last of us to normalize, so I am probably going to be working on that this week. Brad will be working different hours, so I'll have the nights to let her cry a little. She was doing GREAT (10:30pm - 6am) before we started all the craziness, so it's just a matter of time. I'm not looking forward to the process, but the results are going to be worth it. How many times as a mother will I utter those words...

Our apartment or condo or whatever you want to call it is very nice. We're on the top floor of our building (10th) & the view is awesome. We can see the flight line & the mountains in the background...it's truly the penthouse view. :) Abby runs to the window every time she hears a plane -- that's going to be tiring for her! The dog is doing okay. He isn't fond of loud noises, so besides trying to run us into oncoming traffic when he freaks out, he's good. He likes to be on the balcony & he does look out our window (not sure what he's looking at). We are still getting the walking down...Brad usually takes him in the morning & most nights. He sometimes has to cross his little doggy legs when the girls are napping! He's a good boy! Abby has taken to walking him around the hallways; it's nice to be the only people on our floor right now!

It's been fun to investigate the base & the town off base. I'll let you know all sorts of interesting details, but just wanted you to know we had made it here!

Bloggy love,


p.s. No pictures for now...can't find my USB cord!!! ARGH.