Merry Christmas!

We hope that you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

With love, The Johnson's

December 18-22

December 18

It was a Johnson family girls night out tonight with a dinner at PF Chang's and The Nutcracker! 

Noelle & I excited for the show to start. 

Shortly before intermission, she conked out in my lap, but I'm pretty certain she enjoyed what she did manage to see!

Meanwhile... the bowls went bowling. 

December 19 

I spent much of today making cranberry almond granola to give to our neighbors. We have such great neighbors and we are so thankful for each one of them. It's not everyone who can say they love their neighbors, but we are happy we can! :) 

December 20 

Rodney took Noelle to see her first movie at the theater today... Tangled. She loved it... 

They even got to see it in 3D. 

December 21

Today was the 3rd Annual Gingerbread House making day with cousins! This was the first year Parker had his own house, although Daddy ended up decorating much of it (and as we found out, has a hidden talent for gingerbread house making)! Noelle was quite independent and into decorating her house all by herself. Mommy did get to help with the icing, but the candy placement was all hers! We were so happy to have Daddy join us for the festivities this year! The past 2 years he's had to work because it's been snowy/icy! 

Here's the finished products: 

Noelle's: 

Parker/Rodney's: 

December 22

Today was a splendid day full of sugar cookie baking and decorating. Love doing this together as a family. So fun that both kids are old enough now to really get into it. 

Floured faces which brought lots of laughter from all of us. 

And... ahhh relaxing by the fireside. Such wonderful family time together today... enjoying the fun that comes with the season and moments that I never want to forget. 

December 14-17

December 14

Today we spent some time making some ornaments! Cupcake ornaments! Using mini cupcake wrappers and pom poms and some glitter glue. The kids really had a great time making them! And now a few of them are on our tree! 

December 15 

"Parker, come sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas!" 

Here are a few of my wishes for the two of you, using some Christmas words: 

Hope: That no matter what life brings your way, I pray you will never lose hope and that you will always put your hope in the Lord Jesus.  "May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord is in you." Psalm 25:21 

Love: I pray that you will always show love to others before yourself, that you would always know that Mommy & Daddy love you no matter what, that you would never question our love for you, and most of all that you would know and understand the fullness of God's love for you. "Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39 

Peace: I pray that the peace of God would always be with you. That you would rely on Him for peace, no matter what you might be facing in your life. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Joy: I pray you will always have joy in your heart. That you would aspire to be joyful not, just happy. "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11

Believe: I pray that you will not only believe in yourself and your abilities, but that you would believe in the Lord and live your life in a way that pleases Him. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

December 16

An early gift from Santa (aka Cap Fed Debit Scorecard Rewards) arrived today... Mario Kart for the Wii! We decided to open it right away instead of putting it under the tree. It's definitely a hit! And, fun for the whole family! :) 

December 17

A look into the little details of everyday life: This little guy pretty much refuses to sleep in his own bed. He goes to sleep on the floor by his bed every night and then at some point in the middle of the night will come and get in bed with Mommy & Daddy... just a little celebration of who he is at this point, loving him just the way he is, knowing that one day he'll grow out of it! 

December 12 & 13

Whew... December is starting to get away from me! We've been busy finishing up Christmas shopping, finishing up Bible Study and Preschool for this year which means putting together gifts for teachers and friends, making ornaments and goodies... such a fun time of year... and we still have another week!!! :) 

Although I'm getting a little behind on my Dec Daily journal, I'm not worried... It's still going to come together... I just ordered a group of photos last night and I'm planning to have some time over the weekend to get a few pages done and hope to get my blog posts caught up too so that the most important part is recorded... so here's a start... 

December 12

{No photo}

Tonight we went for a drive to look at Christmas lights. At first we were going to drive down to the Plaza and look at the magnificent lights there... but by the time we finished up dinner it was a little late to make the trek there, so we opted for neighborhood lights in Olathe. One thing I noticed as we were driving around was the kids excitement over all that they saw, at every turn and it didn't really matter to them that we didn't see the Plaza lights. The most important part was that we were together and enjoying the beauty of the lights as a family, listening to Christmas music and enjoying this wonderful time of the year! 

December 13 

Mmmmm... pancakes... in the Johnson home, we LOVE pancakes... it's such a fun breakfast and the kids LOVE helping. This morning Parker and I were up earlier than Noelle & Daddy and he asked to have pancakes. It's not a usual thing we have during the week but, a Saturday morning tradition. However, today since he asked and we had the time, we went for it! Yum Yum! 

December 10 & 11

December 10

Tonight we took the kids to see Santa! They were both excited, but I was unsure if they would be as excited when it came their turn to sit on his lap. Noelle was very hesitant last year and Parker cried. I expected the same hesitation this year, but I was pleasantly surprised... 

Waiting patiently in line... 

Big sister leads the way as they approach Santa... 

Bravely climbing onto Santa's lap... 

Telling Santa what's on their wish list for him to bring them... 

December 11 

Today was Noelle's preschool Christmas program... 

She started off a little bit in a daze... but then... 

she perked up once a song she liked was being sung! Such fun!!! 

December 9

I had the greatest pleasure of spending the afternoon with this special friend today. My friendship with Nichole goes way back to Middle School. We've enjoyed many slumber parties, cheerleading & show choir together in high school, we attended the same college together. After losing touch after college we ran into each other at Target a few years later and began hanging out again. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding, I took photos of her intimate family only wedding, she visited me in the hospital when both my children were born. We've enjoyed many long conversations over dinner at Panera, coffee chats at Starbucks, browsing Anthropologie's pretty things and laughing about old times. Now she lives in New York City and we are separated by more miles than either one of us would like. After over 2 years of seeing each other we had a fabulous afternoon together. You know that you have a true friend when you can spend that much time apart and then pick up right where you left off. It doesn't matter how many miles separate us, or how many years we go between visits, Nichole will forever be one of my very best friends. I miss her already, but am so very grateful for our time together today! 

December 7

Parker has been totally into looking at the Christmas toy ads this year. Pointing and saying things like: "Ooo, what's that called?", "Ooo, I want to play wif that!", Ooo, wook at that!". Tonight I captured this sweet photo of him with his Papa scouring the Toys R Us ad, showing him what he might like for Christmas. He told his Grandma "Um, I want an airplane. You can go and get it at the store. We will tell Santa that's what I want... come on, wet's go!" I love his enthusiasm and the wonder in his voice over it all. He is at such a fun age... I'm loving {just about} every moment! :) 

December 4, 5 & 6

December 4

The kids & Daddy had a jammie day while Mommy joined in the hustle & bustle to do some Christmas shopping.

December 5 


I am thinking I will end up doing one of the extra stories from the 3rd for this day. We had a birthday dinner and celebration for 4 family members on Rodney's side, but none of the photos turned out great, and for some reason they aren't even uploading to the blog, so... hmmm... moving on.


December 6

"Mommy, is it Summertime yet?" Quote of the day from Noelle as she's getting dressed this morning. She wore her swimsuit around the house all day!

December 3

There are truly some great memories from today... I'm not exactly sure which story I'll tell for my album from today, but I wanted to record some memories from today so I don't forget... 

1. drinking hot cocoa with the kids... the way the two of them slurped theirs down with true joy and pleasure. Noelle sneaking marshmallows from the bag once her cocoa was gone. 

2. dancing in the kitchen with Noelle to Christmas music, teaching her a little jump and kick dance... the laughter it brought us both. 

3. making paper snowflakes. watching Parker cut with real scissors for the first time. The intense concentration he had on this for a good 10 minutes or so while Noelle & I were dancing. All the wincing I was doing while watching him, hoping and praying he didn't cut his fingers...  he was being quite careful, his technique just isn't quite there yet, but he was definitely focused and enjoying himself. 

4. finishing up the decorating... hanging the stockings, stringing lights through the garland, setting up the nativity scene, pulling out a few more candles. 

5. Noticing the way the kids had arranged their Little People nativity set... 

It stopped me in my tracks really... seeing the way they had pointed every character (minus the missing wise man) to look at baby Jesus and the reminder to me that this is exactly where I want and need my focus to be this Christmas season... on the Savior. The entire reason for the season. 

Isaiah 9:6-7

December 2nd

This is the treasure Noelle brought home from school today. She is always so excited to show me what she makes at school, barely even getting into the car before she's got her backpack opened up and is pulling something out that she's created or that a friend has given her. It's so sweet to see things like this come home from school with her and to see how proud she is of her work. And of course, we are so proud too! ;)

This year I am doing a December Daily album. I did one in 2008 and loved it! Last year I fizzled out over a couple of days but this year I am determined to complete another one. So, I have decided to use this blog to keep track of photos/documentation for some or all of my album. The idea is that you tell one "story" of each day in December up through (or even after) Christmas to document this special time of year. If you want to follow along and see my album as it unfolds, I'll be posting those on my other blog (www.thispaperedheart.blogspot.com). 

I'm excited to share with you our December adventures this year and hope you enjoy being a part of them too! :)

Edited to Add: I just found this really awesome free download I thought some of you might be interested: http://aholyexperience.com/1000/AJesusAdventCelebrationDevotional.pdf

Welcome December!

We are so excited December is here! On Saturday we went and chopped down our Christmas tree at Cedar Valley Forest. Here's a pic of the kids posed in front of our tree! 

And here is the excitement our first day of December has brought... a broken TV... it was attacked by a little boy and his plastic golf club... the golf clubs found their fate in the dumpster to be taken away by the trash man on this Wednesday and will hopefully be burned in the incinerator... the boy's life however, was spared... looks like Santa will be bringing the Johnson family a new television for Christmas.