Nothing Truly Prepares You for Adulthood

It doesn't matter if you were raised by two parents, one parent, grandparents, or if you grew up in poverty or wealth, nothing truly prepares you for adulthood.  Nothing really gives you the answers to the hard questions or solutions for the difficult situations you have to deal with as an adult.  Eventually you realize everyone, no matter what their age, is still learning how to handle life.  About 6 years ago I thought I had it all figured out. I had two sweet boys, two loving dogs, and the best husband in the world. We were the perfect little family and being a mom was so easy! Now....well I've realized that I don't have anything figured out.  Now I have twice as many kids, we've added another dog to the mix, and our loving dogs are slowly making their exit from life.  I'm dealing with a child with high intelligence but speech issues, a child who is getting bullied at school, and our dog who can't use his back legs as he approaches the end of his life.  Guiding my kids through all this leaves me emotionally and physically drained. My kids have more questions than I can answer yet in their eyes I'm supposed to know everything.  Parenting is hard! I know that is so over said, but oh how true it is.  As a mom I'm constantly questioning myself, wondering if I'm screwing them up, and hoping they will learn the right lessons from me.

All I know is I will continue to parent out of love, and teach my kids to love above all else even when it seems like the world doesn't love them back.

~Peace, Love & Equality for all

Hooray for school!

Sound the trumpets! The day finally arrived! The first day of school! We met our teachers the night before and landed some great teachers so this year looks like it'll be a great one!  Of course there will be ups and downs, but I truly believe this year will end on a positive note. 

My oldest, we'll call him Doodle, is in 3rd grade this year.  Doodle loves cows, farming, nature, science, and aspires to be an astronomer when he grows up. He was elated when he found out 3rd grade would be switching classrooms for different subjects.  He said he felt like a college kid.. too cute! 

My second boy, we'll call him Dopey, is in 2nd grade this year.  Dopey loves Dopey the dwarf, baseball, soccer, video games, and extreme sports.  When he grows up he wants to be a professional baseball player! He landed the same teacher Doodle had for 2nd grade, so he thought it was awesome to follow in his brothers footsteps. 

And my youngest son, we'll call him Bluey, is in Kindergarten this year.  Bluey loves his bluey (blue blanket), trucks, cars, puzzles, patterns, dolphins, and horses. When Bluey grows up, he wants to be a dolphin trainer and make a book of the language of dolphins.  Bluey was excited to get the teacher he wanted for Kindergarten and is also thrilled to be starting his speech classes!

The start of the year has been awesome! Although to be honest, I am a little nervous for today. It is the second day of school today, and my oldest, Doodle is bringing his brand new lunch box and water bottle to school.  Both are hot pink.  He tried to pick out a hot pink lunchbox with me and his grandmother earlier in the month and his grandmother wouldn't let him get it.  (She was paying for it.)  I handled it wrong and tried to explain what his grandma meant, but it ended up sounding like I was taking her side. Finally to just end things I told him I'd take him shopping later where he could get whatever lunchbox he wanted. And that's just what my husband and I did.  We went out and let him pick whichever one he wanted. All the boys got to.  Bluey got a red lunch box with an orange water bottle, Dopey got a camo lunchbox with a star wars water bottle, and Doodle got a hot pink/orange lunchbox with a hot pink water bottle. He was so happy and at peace with it. Carrying it proudly up to the front to pay for it.  My husband and I smiled at each other because we knew we'd done the right thing by letting him get whatever made him happy.  It doesn't matter. It's just a lunch box. I hope he will always know exactly what he wants and never be ashamed of it.

I'm excited to watch my kids grow and blossom more this year because they truly are the most awesome kids in the world :)

Back To School.... Again!

It's that time of year again! I've been busy buying school supplies and trying to get the kids ready for school.  With all the rain here in Georgia, it's felt like we didn't even get a summer! Luckily for me, though, my kids are excited to go back to school. I think secretly they crave the structured setting and time away from each other.  I know I can't wait for school to start! I will have 3 in the elementary school, and my youngest will be doing home school preschool with me!

Happy Back To School Everyone!

Love this song! Mat Kearney - Closer To Love

Happy 4th of July!

I know I'm a little late with this post, but I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July! It was rainy here in Georgia ;( So all the fireworks were  cancelled. Big Bummer. But being the crazy parents we are, we just decided to have one of our awesome house parties complete with indoor camping, movie screen fireworks, 4th of July treats, crafts, and even a lesson on the Declaration of Independence!

~Peace, Love and Equality to all!

We started the day with a true Independence Day Breakfast!

Red, White & Blue Pancakes with "Sparkler" Orange Juice!

4th of July Cocktails!

Adult:
Blue Curacao, Sprite, Vodka, and Grenadine

Kids:
Cranberry Juice, Sprite, and Gatorade!





Indoor camping was the highlight of our day!

The kids played card games, read books, and played wii in the tent!

And when it stopped raining for 10 minutes, we "tie dyed" tees with squirt bottles mixed with rit dye and water.  The shirts turned out pretty awesome  and the kids had a blast making them!

We ended the night watching fireworks projected onto our tent! My kids have a pretty awesome dad who came up with the idea!

I found this poem about love, and what can I say? I absolutely LOVE it!

Halfway done!

Finally I have an update on our school dump zone! We have painted the walls, hung up the book bag hooks, and hung up the bulletin board and white board calendar.  We still have a lot to do , but it is looking great and functioning well!  The boys are excited to come home and hang up their book bags and even more excited to read the calendar and find out what tomorrow brings.

Painting the stripes on the walls proved to be a difficult task! Lots of calculations and making sure everything was level, but it turned out amazing! I ♥ it!!

I DID IT!

I did it! I finally got out the door to run with my toddler around the neighborhood. I've run before on my treadmill, but only occasionally and never for more than 15 or so minutes.  I really want to become a runner like all the rest of the young mommies out there bustin their butts to keep in shape.  I just have never enjoyed running or had any desire to run.  Now its different though.  I have a reason to run! I need to get in shape and I have a daughter that LOVES her stroller! My boys never really liked to stay in a stroller so it was the perfect excuse to not run.

So I went out and bought some new running shoes and shorts to get me started.  Now I had no excuse not to run. Sadly though two days went by before I finally got the motivation to go for a run. How did I get that motivation? I told my 1 year old we were going for a stroller ride, and then she quickly sat herself in the stroller staring at me and waiting for me to go.  Now I had to go. I couldn't be mean and go back on my word. So I grabbed my new shoes and a water bottle and headed out the door with the happiest little girl in the world.

Not only did it make me feel better to feel some fresh air and know I'm getting in shape, but it made my daughters day to go for a long, fun ride!

So get out there and go for a run or walk to feel the crisp, fresh fall air!  Don't forget to live 2 love and love 2 live!

4 kids makes it hard to blog!

Wow! I don't know how these super blogger moms do it.  Either their kids are perfect angels or they just never sleep.. or maybe they have some special set of super hero skills that I don't have. Anyway, I just haven't had time to blog in a while, sorry.  Hope you'll forgive my lazy blogging. I have made headway on our "school dump zone" however! We got the wall painted and the bookbag hooks put up. I'll try to post some pics later.  It looks awesome! Its amazing how much just adding some paint to a wall can change your outlook on things.  Now I just have to get the kids in the habit of using the hooks and the shoe bin!

Hope everyone has a fun Thursday!

Pinterest Project: Paint in Plastic Bag

So I've been meaning to try this ever since I saw in on Pinterest a few months ago.  I'm sure you've seen the pin.. Paint in a plastic bag taped to a piece of paper on a table. It's supposed to entertain your toddler without the added mess.  So here was our attempt:

I even put it on a coloring page so it would be more fun. (Or maybe that was my mistake?)

Well, after about 30 seconds of finding the paint in the bag fascinating. Baby L did exactly what I thought she would. She started screaming because she couldn't get the paint out! Turns out getting messy and actually finger painting is WAY more fun than playing with no mess.

My advice? - Let your kids have fun, let your kids explore and get messy because the learning experience is so much bigger than the mess they'll make!

Teacher's Gift

                                            Source: Unknown


This one of the cutest teacher gifts I've seen! I'm going to make this for the kids' teachers when we have teacher appreciation week! And here's how I"ll make it:

1. Get a tall, straight vase from the Dollar Store
2. Wrap pencils around it
3. Tie with ribbons
4. Add flowers and water!

Activity of the Day- Playdough and toothpicks

Hi everyone!

Well my camera lens is still messed up, but luckily I have another one to keep documenting my family! Yay! Today BabyL and I did the best activity! Creating sculptures with playdough and toothpicks! She absolutely loved this! And so did I because I was able to clean the kitchen without her pulling on my legs.  Of course it was also great because it helped her work on her fine motor skills in a fun, exciting way.  

I used the cheap toothpicks which are less sharp so she wouldn't hurt her fingers.  We made towers, silly faces, creatures and much more.  When my older kids come home I'm going to see what fun stuff they can come up with too! This was such a simple activity, but it really helped her practice picking small things up as well as having gentle hands. She found out that if she pushed too hard, the toothpicks would break!

What fun things with playdough do you do?

The New Look

The blog got a makeover! Yay! Now it is super cute, fun, and pretty to match the fun stuff I'll be blogging about. Hope you like it!  I'm sure I'll be changing the look with the seasons to keep you and me from getting bored.  Here's a little update with the Johnson gang.

School's been going great for the kids, but crazy for me! I still do not have my desk organized or our school dump zone put together.  I decided I wanted to paint the wall before hanging anything so now its a matter of picking out colors and finding the time to go! Somehow I always make things more difficult, but they usually turn out awesome in the end.  And to top off all the craziness, my awesome camera broke :(. So I have to get that fixed to upload any pics of the fun stuff I've been doing.  So bare with me! I'll be back to blogging soon!

Hope everyone has a great week!
Don't forget to Live 2 Love and Love 2 Live!

Money Saving Tip ~ Cut your sponges in half! Such a simple way to make your money go twice as far! And... half a sponge fits in your hand easier too!

Live 2 Love & Love 2 Live!

School Dump Zone- Before

So here's the wall we are turning into our School Dump Zone. A place for the kids to hang their bookbags, put papers needing signatures, and dump their shoes off.  I also got a dry erase calendar so they have a calendar with just their school activities and schedule.  (Our other calendar has bdays, my stuff, my husband's stuff, and much more on it).  

I'm trying to do this on a minimal budget considering we are a one income family living off love (or a teacher's salary). I found this wire organizer in one of our closets being used to store games. I decided shoe organization was a much better purpose for this and cleaned it out! To my happiness, it fit perfectly! (That space is really small and everything else I'd tried would stick out!)  I am going to paint it, however, because my 3 boys really don't like putting their shoes in a pink bin!

So, this is the start! Can't wait to show you what it ends up looking like!

Back 2 School

It's that time again! School started to today and as much as I was looking forward to it, I've realized that I'm not at all prepared for it! My "School Dump Zone" I so meticulously planned all summer still hasn't been put together, my desk is still a complete mess, and I haven't gone through the kids' clothes and eliminated all the horribly stained items yet! Needless to say, I have a LOT of work to do! Luckily I will only have 1 sweet little toddler home with me so I can get it all done.  I'll post some pics of the wall I am transforming into our school dump zone soon! Hope everyone has a wonderful start of the school year and I can't wait to share all the fun projects I'll be doing  after I get organized!

~Don't forget to Live 2 Love & Love 2 Live!

Olympic Party!

Our Olympic party was a HUGE success! The entryway held our two torches, the Olympic games events schedule, A London 2012 sign, and decorative Olympic rings made out of huge coffee filters!

                                                                               

A closer view of the entry way.  The Olympic games consisted of coin "shot put", gymnastics, standing broad jump, balloon archery, "canoe" sprint, and balloon volleyball! Our canoe sprint was the hit event~ We turned a hotwheels track into a river by using tinfoil and raced boats (bouncy balls) down it!

 Our parade of flags on the mantel with Team USA in the middle! 

 This was our Olympic photo booth complete with international dress up clothes!

And of course you can't forget to hydrate the athletes! 

We also had AMAZING food made by my culinary genius husband! Unfortunately it was all gobbled up before I could take any pics of the yummy dishes. Our international menu consisted of London's specialty fish-n- chips,  chips and salsa, spinach and feta mini quiches, all American pigs in a blanket, and Olympic onion rings! Tasty, tasty!

Everyone had a blast and received a gold medal in the end! Now we need to keep the excitement going to cheer on team USA these next two weeks!

Olympic Party Planning

So... We're back home again, and crazy me decides we need to throw a family Olympic party for the opening ceremonies. Yes, I am deciding this one day before the opening ceremonies and, yes it is just for our own family... BUT when you have 4 kids in your house its always enough people for a party! So instead of organizing and tackling the daunting task of putting our house in order for the start of school, we are planning decorations, fun food, and our very own crazy-fun indoor Olympics!  I will post pics of the party once we get it decorated and in motion! When you are livin' to love and lovin' to live, sometimes fun parties come before boring organizing! If you aren't planning to have some fun for the Olympics, I highly encourage you to! And its never too late to start :)!