She jumps, she swims...

and she sings. Noah does it all. She is a real little person with questions and ideas and very senstive feelings, but with the suborness of her daddy. We went to breakfast yesterday and she had pancakes. I asked her to eat like a lady and that she had to use her fork and hot her fingers (like every other mom with a four year old) and she looked me inthe eye and picked up a pancake piece and ate it. We took her panckaes away and told her she had to appologize if she wanted the rest of them. She wouldn't. She waited hours. It wasn't until she woke up from her nap that she was ready to appologize and when she did she asked for her pancake.

This picture is from last month at her swimming classes. She is offically a fish.

Making wishes

This was taken the weekend before last when we were in Dana Point for a wedding.

Top Ten Things I Love About My Kids This Week:

1. To listen to Noah sing and wonder how she learned all the words.
2. The way Isaiah asks for a hug if you've just given him a kiss, "A hug too."
3. The way Noah pretends to be a snow tiger and Isaiah pretends to be a bird (except when they lick me.) She crawls around and wants to be pet and he jumps on me and says, "Chrip, Chirp" and pretends to eat bird seed.
4. When Isaiah thinks he sees nana's house and says, "My grandma is in there," and Noah informs him that he's wrong, "She's at home in Las Vegas."
5. To watch them swim. They're both so good at it and love it so much. Although I'm beat from all the catching and racing around the pool to hold and help them.
6. To see them sleeping when I check on them at 10pm, 11pm, and 6am - like a stalker.
7. When Isaiah says out of the blue, "I love you too."
8. When Noah tells me my dress or hair is beautiful. She told me the other day I had hair like Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
9. To see them sitting on the couch with their daddy watching Noggin or Sunday Morning Politics.
10. To hear them have full on conversations in the back of the car or in their bedroom at night.

Golly, gee I love the heck out of them!

Blessings... every night.

Tonight after keeping Isaiah up way too late partly due to having friends over and partly because he was having such a good time running around in my t-shirt with Noah and Ali, until he threw milk on every body - but I digress. So tonight at bed time with one of the biggest boo-boos he's every had like a hickey across his belly, we say our prayers (Our Father) and then stretches his hands out with spirit fingers and says "I bless Ali, Jonathan and Johnny." He's so sweet about 95% of the time and the other 5% he's a two-year old boy who jumps and runs and pushes it as far as he can.

My kids, the cats.

Noah does not want a pony or a unicorn or even a princess dress (well, she already has the princess dress.) What Noah wants is a small dog or cat and after a visit to the vet where she had the privilege of meeting about ten kittens, she now wants a kitten, or a cat for that matter. And since we didn't get her a cat, she has become a cat and has convinced her brother that he is a cat too. They meow. They ask for milk. They pretend to scratch. They crawl around and hide in their cat house. They have cat names. Noah is either Princess Flores Kitty or Princess Ada Kitty. Isaiah is Spike. They answer with "meows," and curl up on my lap and ask to be pet. Isaiah also pretends he's a shark and tries to bite me when he kisses me. I much prefer him as a kitten.

The DIfference...

The difference between mommies and daddies is when mommies get home from date night they go straight to check on the babies and when daddies get home they go straight to the bath room. Every time.

Grand Daddy Derf Does Stop

Just LIke Mommy

I have a few minutes before the kids wake up from their naps. And yes, I'm trying to get Noah's four-year-old self to nap until she's 18. The dogs are barking like they're mad, not angry but crazy and I need a shower. Play group starts in 45 minutes and thank goodness, I'm not hosting. I am hosting a pantyhose party tonight. Which should be nice and it'll be a treat to treat my friends to all the sweet treats of dessert wine and dessert. So this is Noah at four years and a couple of months. She is a pure delight, save for a few times a day when she pulls on me and I have to let her know, "I don't like having my _____ pulled or pinched or stepped on." I used to wonder back when she was in the heat of her terrible twos, where are all the delightful moments? I remember weighing everything and thinking that the majority of the time I'm just a laborer for the family (the kids, the dogs, Broderick.) The rest of the time was split between shear frustration and anxiety with delight peppered in just enough to keep me on the safe side of crazy. But I have to say that the moment, to the day, that Noah turned four - it all changed. She understands consequences, she is able to communicate what she needs and finally has the ability to connect her good behavior with a happy home and a peaceful mommy. I think it's partly due to Ms. Martha and me having the time to properly discipline and support each of my children. I also think I'm more laid back as the mother of a second child and I truly believe that me and Broderick are co-captains of Team Johnson, although I'm really more of the captain and he's the co, but whatever. I feel supported, and appreciated by everyone in this house - well except for the dogs whom I have got to find the time to play with. Anyway, this is Noah a few weeks ago at swim class. She's a swimmer. I would still be in the pool with her, but she can swim across the pool on her own! We're so proud of her courage to try new things. Dang, these dogs bark ALOT!!