We are at the end of December! The Johnson family has been enjoying the last days of 2017. Jeremiah has been home on vacation. Yay! It's always enjoyable when he is home. ☺
Our Christmas was easy this year. We spaced out all the running around. We went to my mom's on the 23rd. We hosted Christmas Eve dinner here and then went to Jeremiah's parents on the 25th. That day was a little out of sorts due to scheduling conflicts with his siblings. We had decided to have a family dinner this weekend so that we could all get together at the same time but several people from each family was sick! Mostly head cold type issues but I definitely do not want it so I was happy to cancel! We will try again next weekend.
We are experiencing a lot of the bitter cold and snow that is mentioned in the news. We have about 6 inches of fresh snow. I'm not sure how many inches were there before and it is still snowing. Jeremiah and Ryder are excited and they have been on the snowmobiles a lot. The township hasn't plowed our road much but Madi made it to work without issues...Oh, except she forgot her glasses!!! Jerm and I ran them down to her. Here are a few photos from the front porch. It is 14* outside as I type this!
I tried a new recipe...they were called Sprinkle Cookies. I like happy cookies and enjoy making them. I think these cookies are pretty but I am not sure that I will make them again. They weren't winners with everyone in the family.
Madi got me a pair of slippers for Christmas. Little lamb slippers! Meep! I love them. They are so soft and warm. I need them when the temps aren't above 20 degrees!!! Jeremiah said that 20* was a warm spell for us!
I hope everyone reading this has a Blessed New Year! Lots of love from the Johnson's in 2018! I'm excited to see the Lord's blessings this coming year!
Happy Independence Day to those of us in the USA! Celebrating the 4th of July for us is picnics, BBQ, swimming and family everywhere. Some new friends and the start of some new relationships are introduced. It is so fun to see how much the babies have grown since the last picnic (Memorial Day) and how big the mama's-to-be bellies are getting! The skills that the toddlers and younger kids are developing and how fast those tween and teenagers have shot up, they are going to be so tall!!! Where do those boys put all the food?
As much as I enjoy visiting will all the family...
I am not fond of the questions of why we homeschool.... We have been homeschooling for over 10 years and we do NOT plan on stopping. We love our life and our kids are not anti-social or under-educated. I am not questioning why you are sending your kids to public schools nor am I asking questions about what those teachers are teaching them. This list could go on and on and on...
I always hate to have someone ask me to try the new food they brought and ask me what I think of it. I am happy to tell them if I like it but it is hard to tell someone that it isn't something I like. I have to be tactical in my approach in telling them that it isn't my favorite thing to eat! I don't lie about it but I also do not want to hurt their feelings. I like to have the truth told to me so I try to tell others-politely...
Oh, what list would be complete without listing the family gossip!? I will admit, complete honestly here, that at one time I was into the family gossip and drama. That was long ago and I have since discovered that those same people also like to talk about me when I am not there. Oh, I KNOW that I have been under fire for being different in the family for years.
Try being the
A) only home schooling family
B) the family concerned with the safety of vaccines (we have dealt with reactions)
C) the family into natural health approaches and using essential oils
D) trying to eat mostly organic in the group.
I have learned not to partake in the chitchat anymore. I am not perfect in that but at least now I am more aware of what I say. We should try to build each other up, find the positive, that's what family does, right? I think age/time/experience brings wisdom but then again....some of the partakers in the chitchat are older than me! Maybe I learned my lessons faster...must be because we homeschool! Haha!
You know, we don't have to like everybody in the family but we do have to show respect to each other. Every person has a different personality. We aren't all destined to be best friends but there is no need to not like someone because they are different.
I love my family and enjoy visiting with them each time I get a chance. I know that I am blessed to have family and this isn't written from a mean spirit. I just hope that you see this as an opportunity to love your wonderful family, flaws and all. Build each other up and take the criticisms in stride even if "Auntie Mae" tells you that you have a big backside or that the shirt you are wearing isn't flattering to your skin tone! :0)
We have another afternoon of food and visiting. I hope you all have a blessed day and enjoy the crazy family you are part of because I will certainly be enjoy mine.
Madilynne is having a birthday soon. Several of her aunts and her grandma has been asking what to get her for her special day. I wrote up a short email and sent it to them. Madilynne saw the email and said it would be a fun blog post! Here it is and I didn't even change the mistakes!
Ok, Madilynne is hard to buy for! Really hard! K already asked about gifts and I had no idea what to tell her. After pondering it some more since WE have to get something for her I have some thoughts. These are not actual gift suggestions but something to look for if you so desire. I mentioned gift card or money to K and that is still a strong suggestion but some things she likes are:
Anything Vintage/vintage looking
Anything chicken related- she loves her chicks. I found a pair of rubber boots with chickens on them and she went crazy over them.
Anything recycled, environmentally friendly... She found a rug made of recycled material and just had to have it!
Anything vegetarian themed. She is loving finding pro vegetarian stuff!
If it's different, she will most likely love it
Amazon! She finds a lot on Amazon so gift cards to there is good!
Anything music themed
Cats! She still loves her kitties!
Again, don't worry if you can't find anything like this- it's hard. Go with money or gift cards. I just thought that since some of you like to shop, you may want to know some likes. She truly likes the odd stuff. If you see it and think "why would anyone want?" it's a Madilynne gift! LOL And just to be clear- in our family it is perfectly ok to ask for money or gift cards. No one will take offense at that suggestion.
Our home has been busy as usual. We had a full weekend with Easter and Ryder's birthday all mixed into a busier than usual weekend. My "baby" isn't a baby anymore at over 6 feet tall and only in his early teens! He has more growing to do! He requested several different birthday cakes this year. He asked that my mom make him a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. She was more than happy to make it. He wanted a Chocolate Chip Cookie "cake" from Walmart and asked me to make a Funfetti Cake and a Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Icing! He has been having leftover cake for every meal since his party!
Easter was a great day of celebration. We attended church services on Sunday morning. After church we headed home to make a dessert for dinner with Jeremiah's family. I made a Pistachio Pudding Salad. My mother-in-law requested it so I told her I would make it. It really is good if you like pistachio pudding. (Side note here: my younger brother liked pistachio pudding as a kid but didn't like the little nuts in it so my mom and I would sift out the nuts and make a smooth pudding for him!) My In-laws had most of the food prepared so there wasn't much to make. Jeremiah's aunt made collard greens. I will say that I lived my life having never eaten greens before until Thanksgiving 2014. I have only ever tasted hers and they are delicious. The meal was rounded out with ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, spinach salad, a cheesy hash brown dish, maple baked beans, macaroni and cheese, broccoli cauliflower salad and rolls. I am sure I am missing some items. Dessert was several peach and apple pies along with ice cream, cookies, quick breads, and the pistachio pudding salad.
Spring is coming quickly! We have some daffodils blooming at the entrance to one of the pastures. They look so "happy" blooming there! :-) We are starting to see some of the trees coming into bud. Ryder and his two friends like to make maple syrup each spring and they were able to get some boiled before the buds came.
We went to our local Aldi's store several weeks back and I picked up some of the plants they had for sale there. I was very happy with them. They are very healthy and sturdy. We purchased two Spider Plants, two Boston Ferns and one Wandering Jew. After getting them home and seeing how nice the Wandering Jew was I wished I would have gotten two of them. I wasn't sure how nice they were at the store.
I like doing bits and pieces of random thoughts from our life. This is one of the easiest ways for me to blog!
::We host Christmas Eve at our home for 20+ family and friends. My dad's side of the family always gathered on Christmas Eve here on the farm. After the work load got to be too much for my grandma my Aunt and Uncle hosted. One year they both had to work on Christmas Eve and asked me if I could host it. We had already moved back here to the farm so it was easy to do. We have been hosting it ever since. It is so much fun!
::Our Christmas shopping is done for the most part. Jeremiah and I have a couple small items that we would still like to get for the kids but overall everything is done. We made all of our exchange gifts this year. This has been a tradition for several years. I think that it is harder for some of the extended family members who aren't necessarily crafty to come up with ideas. I think it may change to make your gifts or purchase local, handmade gifts.
::Speaking of those gifts, they are also all wrapped. Jeremiah and I have a custom of waiting to wrap all the gifts on Christmas Eve after everyone has gone home and the kids have gone to bed. We usually start around midnight after we have the kitchen cleaned up. We will have a couple items to wrap but not many. We can't break the tradition!
::Today and tomorrow we will be doing most of our holiday cleaning. I would like keep Wednesday open to finish any last minute cleaning and to do food prep. If I can get work done prior to Christmas Eve it makes the day less hectic and more enjoyable.
::Ryder has been fighting off a sore throat and Madilynne has a runny nose/sinus crud thing going on. It isn't bad/severe but enough to keep them sidelined a little. Hopefully after another good night of sleep they will be much better.
::The school books have been put away for Christmas break. We will get back to school in January 2016!
::We will be going to our local nursing home to help the residents celebrate Christmas. The kids, along with another family, will be singing songs and playing instrumentals for the folks there. We go visit them every month and the kids sing, do crafts or play games with them. I think they bless us more than we bless them!
Here I am again with more random thoughts:
::I has my nails professionally manicured two weeks ago. It was a gift for my birthday many moons ago. I am impressed and can totally see why ladies go and have them done regularly!
::The kids and I have been helping my mother-in-law clean out her mom's house. Grandma L. passed away this summer and the time has come to clean out her things. This job has been a lot of work. She kept so-much-stuff!! We have to go through everything. I made a decision that I wasn't going to keep so much stuff. I have been trying to pitch or donate stuff since this summer but I am even more convinced to remove unnecessary items from our house now.
::Madilynne and I have been testing out some new recipes for Christmas jar gifts. I love, love, love Mason jars and would like to make them for our handmade Christmas gifts. So far the recipes we have made are so-so. I haven't found anything that is jumping out at me saying this is awesome; give me away! LOL Any suggestions? :-)
::Jeremiah and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary recently. I am very blessed. We started dating when we were 16 years old! Amazing really!
::I really enjoy Christmas lights and Christmas music! I forgot how much joy these bring to me. We recently put up our lights outside. It was time consuming but worth it. Jeremiah found a radio station that was playing only Christmas music. We had the music blasting from the garage while we decorated!
::Our homeschool group classes have ended for the year. We will meet again until February. The break is nice but we are always eager to start classes again. Some of our best friends have come from meeting them through our homeschool support group.
I feel like writing something today but I just don't know what, ever have a day like that?
::We are experiencing some beautiful weather today. It is very windy and the electric has flashed on and off several times but the sun is shining and making the world a happy place.
::I am married to the best guy in the world! (Not saying that your hubby isn't great to you but...ya know?) Jeremiah would turn the world upside down for us if we needed him too. He goes above and beyond to provide for us.
::Last weekend Jeremiah put some new windows in our living room. They are so much nicer than the old single pane windows that were there. We have several more windows downstairs to replace but we will get to those when he has time.
::Our wood pile is getting bigger and bigger. Jeremiah and Ryder have been cutting and splitting wood each weekend for several weeks. Madilynne and I go and help to load it and haul it home. It isn't enjoyable work to me but we are working together as a family and that counts! The boys seem to really enjoy it though. Maybe it has something to do with using a powersaw (chainsaw) and the wood splitter! :-)
::I have been home this week and had time to de-clutter a bunch of areas of our home. It has been awhile since I have had time to tackle these areas but they are cleaned up now. I have more areas to tackle but I am happy with the results right now.
::I am happy that I have a washing machine. I have been doing a load or two every day to get the laundry caught up. I have finally scaled Mt. Laundry and it feels really good to see empty laundry baskets at least until tomorrow!
::Madilynne has been cooking and baking. She found several recipes online and makes them. Some are good, some not so good! We have several desserts available and many leftovers! I like the break from cooking.
::With Madilynne cooking so much, I am happy to have a dishwasher! It has saved so much time with the clean up! Yay! I am not a fan of washing dishes.
I have several random thoughts that don't quite merit an actual post but I decided to blog about them anyway!
:: I have not been craving anything pumpkin. My fall food choice, fresh apples. I have really been hungry for apples. I have also decided that I don't care much for a Gala apple. I bought a bag of them because a friend recommended them but it just doesn't have that "right" apple taste. I am not saying it is a bad apple, just not my favorite. I don't really want to eat the apples baked into anything, just fresh with a good crunch! So yummy!
:: I do not like it when people decorate for fall and throw random Halloween décor into it. It looks like they couldn't decide what to decorate for and jumbled it together. Several of my neighbors have a decorative touch and assembled beautiful displays of fall flowers and pumpkins. Lovely!
:: Speaking of Halloween, it is my least favorite holiday. I don't think that I have ever, ever liked it. I don't understand people's attraction to being scared and dressing up like something icky. However, I like candy and enjoy candy corn this time of the year, only the orange, yellow, white candy corn combo though. When you throw the brown on the candy corn...it looks rotten and I can't eat it... Well, ok, I have eaten it but it just doesn't give me the same satisfaction!
:: It snowed here in my neck of the pines yesterday and has turned really chilly. The last time I looked at the thermometer it was 28* out. It is going to return to more seasonable temps this week (50's-60's) but I wasn't thrilled with the snow. Usually the first snow makes me happy and I get a cozy feeling but that didn't happen yesterday. It did make Ryder very happy though.
