I'd like to thank the Academy....

I got a wonderful surprise the other day in the form of a Stylish Blogger Award from my friend Carter!  What an honor that I should receive such an esteemed award!  I'd like to thank God, the Academy, my family, my.....oh.  I guess I'm getting a little carried away.  Anyways, thank you Carter for the nomination!  I shall treasure it always. 

So, after receiving this award, I must now list 7 random facts about myself.  Here goes nothing!

1. I LOVE to read.  I've always loved reading for as long as I can remember.  Going to the bookstore when I was young was the biggest treat for me.  My favorite books to read when I was growing up were the R.L. Stine Fear Street books.  I would read them over and over again until I could finally get a new one!  Even to this day, scary murder mysteries are my favorite books to read.
2. I studied sociology & criminal justice in college.  I have always been fascinated by criminal behavior and often you'll find me watching crime documentaries on TV.  Maybe one day I'll put that degree to good use!
3. I am and always will be a Daddy's Girl.  My dad died when I was 12 years old and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss him!
4. I am TERRIBLE at math.  Always have been, always will be.  I think my life would be better without it! Thank God for calculators!
5. I love, love, LOVE pickles.  I think every meal should be served with a pickle.  Mmmmm!
6. I am addicted to my blackberry crackberry. As soon as I see that little red light flash, I have to pick it up right away and see what's going on.  I sometimes just pick it up and look at it for no reason. It's a sickness I tell you! 
7. I love my little boy more than life itself.  My life has never been more wonderful or fulfilled than it is now.  Being a mom has changed my life so completely and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  (as if yall didn't already know that!)

Now, I would like to pass the Stylish Blog Award to...............(drumroll please!!!)......... my friend Melissa! 

Life Lessons

 A few days ago we learned about the earthquake that has brought so much devastation to Japan.  To watch the news and see what the Japanese people are experiencing is absolutely heart wrenching. If you're anything like me, you just feel completely helpless.  Even when I'm praying for these people, I'm at a loss as to what to pray for....how will they find peace? comfort? protection? It just seems like such a hopeless situation. At some point we just have to trust that God knows what He's doing even though we can't fathom it. 
We also had a local tragedy last night.  A young mother was shot and killed, along with her two very young children.  The man who shot them (the mother's ex-boyfriend) then killed himself.  This happened just a few minutes from our house...we even heard the sirens all night, not knowing what had taken place.  We didn't know this girl, but it still really hit close to home for me.  Just thinking about the senseless murders of those people just brings me to tears, especially the children.  Who deserves that?? My heart breaks for the family that is now picking up the pieces of this tragedy.  Their lives will never be the same.  It's so hard to understand why things like this happen to people.
These events really got me thinking about how fragile our lives are.  In an instant, everything can be taken from you.  We hear all the time that we are not promised tomorrow...and I think we forget that. We are always putting things off because we assume tomorrow will come. We put off mending our "broken fences" because it'll be there in the morning. We put off telling people how we feel because they'll be around later.  We think we have all the time in the world, but the truth is, we don't.  As cliche as it is, we should be living each day as if it were our last!  Life is too short and too precious to waste by being hateful, carrying around resentment in our hearts, and letting petty, unimportant things ruin relationships. We shouldn't miss an opportunity to tell someone we love them, to right our wrongs, to mend a broken relationship, or to do something nice for someone else.  Seize the day! Seize every moment! Make this life count because it's the only one you've got.

What's with the screaming?

All you parents out there know what the most irritating sound in the world is.  Yes--your kid screaming at the top of their lungs while you're riding in the car.  I.CAN.NOT.STAND.THIS!!!!  My son has been an expert of this since the very beginning.  He has never been a huge fan of the car and we have spent many a car ride listening to horrifying shrieks from the back seat that make you want to rip your ears off and throw them out the window. (too much?)
Fortunately, the older Bryson gets, the less frequent these deafening car rides are, however we do still have them occasionally.  Today was one of those days.  For an entire 20 minutes this child screamed his head off over who knows what.  Oh and to make matters worse, you know what he screams the whole time?  "MAAAMAAAA, MAAAAMAAA, MAAAAAMAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Never Daddy.  Always Mama.  Ahhhh toddlers.  I'm thinking an investment in some high quality ear plugs is long overdue. 

Baby bear, baby bear...

Each night before Bryson goes to bed, he asks to read "Baby Bear".  You know:

We love to go thru and talk about the different animals, and Bryson likes to argue that the Blue Heron is not a Blue Heron but a BIRD.  "No mom, das a bird!" He doesn't quite understand that a heron is actually a bird.
Anyways, last night we read the book as usual, and for those of you who are familiar with the book know that on the last page, all the animals are listed out.  Instead of reading them, I pointed to each one so Bryson would name them.  Usually when I do that, he names them by their short name (for example, instead of "striped skunk" he just says "stunk").  Last night, however, my sweet little baby boy named every single animal just like it was written in the book (well in Bryson language anyways). "a wed fox, a prawee gog, blue heron, scweech owl"...etc etc etc.  OMG. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen....and being the sap that I am, I understandably burst into tears afterwards! I can't even explain it, but this overwhelming feeling just came over me that my little boy is growing up so fast! Before I know it, he'll be reading books to ME!  Sigh.  The time passes so quickly when you're a parent.  I learn that more and more each day! I've just got to soak it all in while I still can.
Here's a couple pics from the past week:

Picking out a Toy Story sticker

Sideways cowboy hat

 Also, for those who are interested, I've started a new blog, purely for my crafting stuff.  Check it out!
Crafting My Way

Stamp project

Have you ever inherited something that you just don't know what you're going to do with? When my dad died years ago, I inherited his stamp collection....his very extensive stamp collection. I have spent years trying to figure out what I should do with this thing. He spent so much time collecting and organizing these stamps that I have felt guilty when thoughts of selling them come into my mind. So, I thought I could do something to kind of commemorate how much they meant to him and also make a keepsake for myself at the same time.

I sorted through some of the stamps in the large box I have and picked out some of my favorites. His collection is made up of so many stamps from all over the world and there are all kinds of cool/funky ones. It was hard to choose! I bought a canvas from the craft store, painted it black, and proceded to lay out the stamps to make a collage of sorts. When I was happy with the layout, I used Mod Podge to glue each stamp down. Once that dried, I put a few coats of Mod Podge over the top to seal them.

This picture was taken before I put my final coats of Mod Podge over the top, but you get the idea. I'm still trying to figure out where I will display this in the house. It's not the greatest masterpiece but it will definitely serve its purpose in honoring my dad's hobby.

New Directions

Have you ever been randomly inspired to change things up in your life? This totally happened to me last week. I was at work, surfing the web (on my break of course) for cheap decorating ideas for our church. One thing led to another and I suddenly found myself browsing the blogs of random women who write about crafting, baking, recycling....etc. I found myself amazed because I didn't realize this world of blogs existed! Suddenly I was reading awesome ideas on how to recycle every day products into works of art, how to make every day home items yourself, and how to create amazing crafts using little to no money! I was immediately inspired to start trying these things myself. I love to craft when I have inspiration and time...but it's something I rarely do and it's usually around the holidays when I do it. I like to find an interesting craft/ornament/something to make for others or for myself....but once the holidays pass, so does my crafting time. Reading these various blogs really sparked my passion for making pretty things. I didn't realize how EASY it is to make something beautiful....and I didn't realize how happy it makes me to be productive in that way. Taking time out of my day to do something that really makes me happy and that I completely enjoy (aside from spending time with my family/friends) doesn't happen very often. Crafting is something I've always wanted to do more of but have never taken the time to do it. So here it is--my belated New Years Resolution: to work on a craft at least once a week..(as time permits of course). I hope to keep up this resolution and hopefully will make the time to occasionally blog about my recent projects. I'm excited to start doing something for ME that is not only fun, but also productive.
Yay for positive changes in the Johnson household!! Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year...and all that jazz.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year! We had a great Christmas this year and Bryson really enjoyed himself. He of course got more stuff than he knows what to do with! We made Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve, set out our plate for Santa...and wouldn't you know it, the big fat man came to see us!



As you can see, Bryson's big gift was his kitchen which he absolutely loves. His little imagination is really taking off and he's really starting to "pretend play" which is so fun to watch. The stuff he comes up with just absolutely amazes me. Every day is something new!
We are still struggling a lot with his toddler attitude, but hopefully we'll make it thru this phase soon. Some phrases we hear pretty frequently now are: "I bad boy!" "You don't tell me no!" ----Yeah. Don't really know what to do about that! Sometimes when we are telling him not to do something he even comes back with "Excuse me??" (which is what I say to him when he says something bad) Ohhhh boy oh boy. Oh and did I mention we are now referred to as "Mom and Dad"? Very rarely are we Mama/Mommy and Daddy anymore. I feel like we have a little mini teenager in the house sometimes!

(Blurry pic of Mr. Attitude himself sitting in time out)
One new thing that we did this Christmas season was we took our first family trip to the movies! We went and saw:

Bryson did SO good and sat thru the entire movie! He loves movies so I was pretty confident he would do great. We all really enjoyed the movie...it was so cute! ....and yes...I even shed a few tears at the end. I'm such a sucker for Disney movies. Anyways, we will definitely have to purchase this one when it comes out on DVD. It's a keeper! Such a cute twist on an old fairy tale.
Here's Bryson watching the big screen while enjoying his bag of popcorn:

And of course, last but not least:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!