Big Day

 Lost in the shuffle of holiday preparations, we had a BIG day here at the Johnson house!

 

This girl

Emily, aka dearest child number 5, graduated with her Associates Degree from Normandale.  We are so, so incredibly proud of her hard work. She even made the Dean's list every single quarter there! Even though there isn't an in person commencement ceremony, we want to celebrate her accomplishments here!

She will be taking a little time off from school to earn money for the next stage of her education.  She plans on pursuing a bachelor's degree in special education in the not-too-distant future.

Congratulations, Emily! You are amazing!!

Friday Fotos

 I think Friday will be my day to post random pictures from my week. Maybe I’ll offer explanations, but maybe I’ll just do a visual “highlights” post. 

It’s been a good week!

Decision Fatigue

 I am suffering from a serious case of decision fatigue! You know, when you have to make so many decisions each day that your brain just refuses to make any more.  

On top of the normal, what should I wear, what should I cook for dinner decisions, how will we juggle three cars between five drivers? Now we have - where can I safely go, who can I safely see, what mask goes with my outfit? Okay, that last one has NEVER crossed my mind...until now. 

 This is a problem today because...CHRISTMAS! 

 I have to make decisions about presents!! Yikes! This has literally caused me to freeze in my tracks. It doesn't help that we don't even know what we are doing for Christmas. Who will we see? Where will we see them? How are we going to eat all our favorite Christmas food stuffs if we aren't all together? What will I do with the plethora of stocking stuffers I am rapidly accumulating in my basement if I don't get to see these people?

Anyone else having a hard time completing their Christmas shopping this year? My misery would love company!

Musical Monday

I feel like Monday is a good day to post lovely music, so hear is a link to a truly beautiful song.  Enjoy!

Ashes by Tender Central 

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Just when you and I both thought I would never blog again, along came 2020 and, just like the pandemic, here I am!

No doubt some of you are wondering "Why?" Why start blogging again after all these years?  It has been six years since I blogged regularly and a lot has changed here in my little "zoo" and everywhere else.  In those six years, I occasionally had a thought or two that I might want to share, but then life moved on and it was forgotten.  Then my dear sister-in-love, Monica, encouraged me to start up the blog again, and here I am! 

For my first post, I thought I would catch you up on the past six years...

Let's see...

Maybe this is best done in bullet form -

• My kids all got older, but Chris and I stayed surprisingly young 😉
  
• Evan and Erin have given us two beautiful granddaughters (with a grandson on the way!)
• Molly got married to Danny after dating for almost forever
• Nina started her career as a massage therapist (she is the best massage therapist I've ever been to - and that is a completely unbiased opinion)
• Nina moved out
• Aidan & Emily both graduated from high school, but are both still living at home
• Marcus is in public high school (Junior)
  
• Raelea is still homeschooled (Sophomore) and has taken up the violin
• Zoe is in public middle school (8th Gr)
  
• I bought a house in Minneapolis that I run as a short-term rental (Airbnb, VRBO)
• We traveled around before the pandemic shut that down (England, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, and various parts of the US)

I am sure a lot more has happened, but for now the above list will suffice.  And now for good measure here's a picture from our Christmas tree hunting today.

Welcome back!

I'm Having An AMAZING Day!

Today!  What an amazing day!

Despite getting to bed after midnight and having a less than restful sleep, I was able to crawl out of bed at 5:30 this morning with a  hug from my ever patient husband waiting for me.  After finding out that I forget to prep the coffee pot last night, I was able to quickly grind those beans and start the wonderful, magical coffee pot.  Whilst the coffee was brewing I had the privilege of making lunch for my three kiddos who go to public school

After all that, I hardly felt worthy to sit down and get to read my Bible AND pray with my hubby before he left for work.  Do you believe it?!  It wasn't even 6:30 AM and I was already SO blessed.

The morning rushed by as I got to ride along while my permitted-driver child drove herself to work, deftly handling the construction zones on the way!  What a privilege to teach yet another child how to drive.  Back at home, I was able to hang my laundry for the day out on the line, thanks to the abundant sunshine and warm weather. Just looking at that laundry makes me smile!

Despite a late start, I was able to complete the school with the two at home AND correct their work from yesterday that I hadn't finished. That is a blessing, indeed!

After a very tasty lunch of amazing left-overs, I had time to do a 30 minute work-out where I only collapsed in exhaustion half a dozen times. To top it off, I was able to do the work-out without any modifications, a first since I injured my back a couple weeks ago!  YAY for my chiropractor and a God who loves to heal our infirmities - AND my shoulder that's been giving me trouble hardly hurt at all!

There's still more amazingness left in my day, so I need to end here.  I have groceries to pick up, children to drive places, dinner to make....

It's going to be an amazing night!

Sappy Mom Post

Maybe it's becoming a grandma, or maybe it's having two daughters graduating in a few months, or maybe it's middle-age hormone adjustments.  Maybe it's all three.  All I know is that I've been all sentimental lately.

Something about staring at my beautiful little granddaughter, brings me back 21 years to when her daddy was a baby.  Her parents love her so much.  I remember that feeling as a new mom, discovering how much I could love another human being.  Surely, I thought I couldn't love him any more than I did that day he was born.  I was wrong.  The older my child got, the more I loved him. Then more children came and I loved them so much, as well! 

How it works is, you love them more when they are grown up and moving away from you than when they first came to you.   So, my kids (if you are reading this), cut your mom some slack if she seems kind of clingy lately.  This mom job is tough.  You just wait and see!

And as long as I'm on the subject of love and kids and sappiness, I might as well just keep going.

You know how wonderful it is when your little toddler or five year old says they love you?  They're so sweet.  They believe you are perfect.  They think you've hung the stars and the moon and that you can do no wrong.  It is a sweet thing to hear, but they love who they think you are, not who you really are. 

Do you know what's sweeter?  To hear your teenage child say, "I love you, Mom."  Because they no longer think you're perfect.  They are quite certain of that.  They don't even think you're right much of the time.  You embarrass them.  You correct them.  You blog about them.  They've seen you get angry.  They've seen you fail.  They've seen you give up.  They've seen you in your leopard print bathrobe.  So when they say they love you, they love who you really are, and that is FAR sweeter.