Book Worm

Emily loves to read. She loves books and anything that has to do with them. She absolutely loves going to the library with me and gets so excited about it. As soon as she finishes helping me drop our old books off, she runs to the children's area and straight for "Monkey George." She knows right where the bright yellow Curious George books are and she will pull a stack out and read them till I insist it's time to go and convince her we can continue to read them in the car and when we get home. Of course it doesn't always work and it still takes some persuasion, but I can eventually get her out of the library without drawing too much attention.

The other morning I heard her in her room and went in to find her sitting next to her bin of books and reading. She’d pulled out every single book and read it, stacked it up next to her, then read each one again as she put them back in the bin.

And of course her favorite book right now is "Princess Baby" by Karen Katz.

If any of you have any favorites let me know - I'm always looking for goodies. And if you're on the look out as well, you can check out my other blog (with co-conspirator Marli) at The Little Book Nook.

My Cute Daughter

She was watching a movie the other afternoon so I could get some things done. I don’t know where the association came from, but she thinks she needs to have “the big blanket” to watch a movie. After a little bit I looked over at her and she’d made a little bed on the floor in front of the TV and was watching Jasmine & Aladdin fall in love (those are already her favorite parts) and cuddling up with her teddy bear.

So not only does Emily love it when the princess ends up with the prince, she loves babies too. On Labor Day we were at my parents house and the kids were downstairs watching a movie with Mama Newman. I came down later to see Emily holding Lucy. Here and there Lucy would start to fuss and Emily would pat her arm, say “It’s ok” over and over again and occasionally add a “calm down.” She’s such a good little mommy.

I watched my niece Sara the other day and those two girls were so cute. They played together really well and it was so fun to see them interact. Sara loved Emily’s “big girl bed” and Emily loved Sara’s polly pockets. They had so much fun and kept talking about it a few days later Jenn and I had to do a repeat. Ahh, there’s nothing like little girls!

I admit it...

I think I’m in a blogging slump. It’s not that I haven’t had things to post about, I’ve really had plenty. I just can’t seem to find the time to do it - and if I do somehow have the time then I can’t seem to find the motivation to do it. I feel like such a hypocrite. I was totally one of those people who would check blogs every week and hate it when people went months without updates. I don’t think I’m that bad. At least I hope I’m not. I also hated bloggers that would then post a year’s worth of pictures and info to make up for it. But alas, here I am doing that too - again.

Things you’ve missed because of my blogging slump:

One hot & boring weekday Marli, Stacy, and I towed the kids to Bouncin’ Off The Walls. The kids absolutely loved it. They played hard for two solid hours and completely used up their energy – and that’s saying something for Emily. She took such a great nap afterwards. It was a lot of fun - of course I was the designated parent that got to go in and “supervise” the kids because I wasn’t 7 months pregnant or towing a 6 month old - but I think I’d definitely be up for going again. And hopefully I’ll remember socks next time. Thanks for saving us Marli!

We had a family party at our cabin a few Sundays ago. Jeff and I were just talking about taking Emily on a hike when I noticed that she was looking at me with the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look & she started dancing and shaking her hand. Using those “motherly instincts” I quickly realized that she had touched the light bulb on the lamp that was next to us & burned her finger. Jeff raced her to the kitchen sink and ran it under water. She was such a good little girl and didn’t cry at all. Of course she was extremely cuddly and didn’t want to play anymore either. She insisted on keeping ice on it to make it feel better until we got to Papa Holbrook’s to put medicine and a band-aid on it. It’s definitely looking better now but you can still see where the burn was and her skin is still a bit red. We felt so bad about the whole thing but she was such a brave girl and she has now learned not to touch light bulbs.

Last Saturday we had a primary activity. Since I’m in the presidency and needed to be there, Emily got to come along. We had a water slide and water balloons for the kids. Of course the slide was a hit (and also very slick) and Emily was able to get her first taste of water balloons. I think her favorite part was lunch though. She sucked down all of her Capri Sun and most of another and as you can see by the picture, she loved the pizza too.

And one more thing:
Labor Day weekend Jeff joined some of his family in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a few days of male bonding – in other words lots of sports, food, and very little talking.

They spent Friday night at the Detroit Tigers baseball game and watched an ok game, an ok fireworks show, and a spectacular spark-lit fire on the field.


Saturday was football, football, and more football. They played a few rounds themselves, tailgated all afternoon, and then joined over 108,000 fans in the Big House to watch the U completely cream Michigan State – ummm, well that is till the 4th quarter when the men in red decided they apparently didn’t want the easy win and thought they'd give the Wolverines a few shots at a “W”. (Let's hope this isn't a sign for the season). The guys then celebrated the win with dinner and staying up late watching Sports Center to hear all the news about the game that they’d just spent all day watching.

Sunday was mostly a day of travelling, but they did find time to stop at the Ford Museum. (Of course it couldn’t be an official guys trip without adding a few cars). Jeff arrived home about midnight on Sunday and actually had to work on Labor Day. Sweet Emily finally got to see him Monday afternoon for a brief moment before he had to race out the door to another appointment. Her response to her daddy leaving again? “No!! Daddy don’t go!” I believe those were my thoughts too.

(And yes, I am the one posting about this to try and document it because we all know that Jeff would never actually take the time to do it).

When you're busy doing things to blog about, how do you find the time to actually post them?

It's been a busy couple of weeks. To make up for my last post this one has plenty of Emily (which a certain grandparent happened to notice was missing in my last post).

Lisa gave Emily her first haircut (minus the few bang trimmings she's already had) when we were at Sunday dinner. Emily was a very good girl. She held perfectly still and was so excited to have Lisa do it. Only Lisa could be amazing at cutting hair and amazing with kids. (And did I mention she's amazingly talented with the piano and gorgeous to boot?)


A lot of our time the past two weeks has been spent out back. When the slide & the car were too hot to play with we'd pull out the chalk. Emily has loved decorating Gma & Gpa Holbrook's retaining walls, sidewalk, and garbage cans, so I thought I'd give her a go at our own house. Of course we don't have as much to color, but she still enjoys herself.

We are also making a few tiny steps towards potty training. Emily has a full set of princess underwear and I've got a good supply of prizes for when she actually goes in the potty. Here she is showing off her Cinderella underwear and her most recently earned prize - a candy bracelet.

Last weekend we had a ward party at the park. Emily loved playing with all the kids and climbing around on the playground. They had popcicles for all the kids and even made balloon animals and stuff for them. Not the best picture of Emily posing with her flower, but I at least slowed her down long enough to take a picture of her with it.

Last Wednesday we decided to hike Doughnut Falls. Jeff ended up carrying Emily most of the way up, but she hiked down by herself. Part way up the trail we came across a moose and her two babies. We quickly stopped and started backing away when she started walking towards us. After a few steps she turned off into the trees and went off with her babies trailing behind her. As soon as she was gone we realized we probably should have taken a picture of it. But in such a situation I think we were smart to go with safety first.

Emily loved the water when we reached it. She willingly put down all of her rocks and sticks so she could touch it. It was a fun hike and we're so glad we live close to the mountains and can enjoy their beauty.

My sister Jenny and I went to my parents house to let the kids play the other day. They had a blast swinging in the hammock and playing on the water slide. Emily is now very good at climbing up the slide and she's started washing the grass off her feet before sliding down. It's pretty funny. Sara wasn't very interested in the slide, but loved the hammock and I was able to get a few shots of her. It was a fun afternoon and we finished it off with a yummy lunch. Thanks mom!

Sara, Sam, & Emily

Washing her feet off

Sara playing in the hammock

Saturday we had the annual Johnson Family Reunion. Emily was very excited for it because it was at Eliza's house (Jeff's cousin). The only way I could get Emily to stay in her bed and take a nap that day was telling her we couldn't go to Eliza's if she didn't sleep. Worked like a charm. We had a good dinner (thanks for putting it together Laurie) and we got to visit with family we hadn't seen in a while. We got to see all the new babies and find out about new ones that are coming. I'm so glad I married into this family. They are amazing!

Emily, Cousin Emily, & Niki


Swinging with Eliza

Swinging with Papa Holbrook