Happy Valentine's Day

These are pictures I took right before Christmas trying to get a good photo of the kids for our Christmas letter!

This is the one I decided on.



So it's Valentine's Day and so far so good! I got to sleep in a little this morning. The kids woke up excited for their class parties, after eating breakfast and the usual scramble to get ready Kevin checked and realized there was a two hour delay for school. The kids played quietly so they wouldn't wake up Koen and when the time came they watched diligently for the bus for about 30 minutes before I decided to check and see if school was canceled, it was!! They are all very disappointed, but I told them I was sure their parties would be held tomorrow.

Kevin of course still has to go to work, and I still have to open the scrapbook store! So I got the kiddos in the car and headed to wal-mart to pick up some behavior bribes for the day! When we get home we will try to get the house under control before Kevin comes home. Kevin and I were planning on having an evening out but unfortunately I was unable to find a babysitter so we will instead be having a quiet evening in.

I had a pretty big Stampin' Up! party a couple of weeks ago and that order came in today! It was like Christmas! I spent almost an hour sorting all the orders and figuring out who's was who's, all I can say is I wish more of it were mine!!

The first was my birthday and even though I spent the day without Kevin, it was over all a relaxing day. I was able to celebrate more with friends on Sat. and had a great time out shopping and then ending the evening with dinner out! My pregnancy goes well, I keep getting asked how far along I am and I honestly don't know. I hate keeping track of how far along I am because then it feels like time is moving so slowly, I like to instead just be surprised when the time comes!! I am still wearing my regular clothes although they are starting to get a little tight! I wish I could justify buying new maternity pants but I just can't bring myself to spend so much on a pair of jeans I will wear for less than 3 months! I almost caved and used my birthday money of some but then of course Michael's had to have a sale on paper and let's face it when it come to a choice between clothes and scrapbook supplies I will always choose scrapbook supplies!!! The paper I got is super cute and is going to make an awesome baby book for this beautiful little girl when she arrives!

Kevin has upped his running, the other day it raining "cats & dogs" but he went out anyway he came home looking a little drowned! Sat. if was freezing and he was tired, I could tell he didn't really want to go because he kept finding reasons to put it off. Finally he went and he came home looking like a popsicle. I am happy that he has set himself this goal and that he is sticking with it no matter the weather. I find it helps me to be a little more determined in my own goals.

Julianna wants to try out for a play so we will see how that goes! I really want her to, I loved being in plays when I was younger. She has been in a few and has really enjoyed them, the only downside to this play is that the production dates are the same week I am due and I am not sure how we will work that out yet. She is starting to enjoy reading more, she is on book two of the Percy Jackson series. I loved those books so I am glad that she is getting into them.

Kaiden told me the other day that he would like to start running again now that the weather is good! I am hoping that we can work that out for him. He is doing really well in school, and loving Cub Scouts. He has started reading the Artimaes Fowl series, I hope he likes them! He is my official picker upper, anything that is on the ground he picks up for me so that I don't have to bend over! He also carries all my stuff that is to heavy for me, I love that he is so willing to help me out. This morning he simply picked my shoes up off the floor and handed them to me, it was really nice.

Evelyn is such a sweetie pie, she always has kind and loving words to share. She is not really asking to do any extras right now. She spends her time scrapbooking as much as possible and is almost done with her first 12x12 album, she calls it her friendship album she is putting a ton of pictures of her friends in it. She also recently started reading the American Girl series about Molly, so far she is loving it. Evelyn will read a chapter and then have either Kevin or I or Julianna read her the next one. This system seams to really help her have the patience to read the longer chapters.

Keith is turning into quite the little jokester, he is always trying to catch me off guard and play a prank on me. He is also very helpful, when we are working on our chores he is always coming back after a task and asking me what he can do next. He loves kindergarten and he has a little crush on his teacher! He is so cute when he is getting ready for school he has to make sure he looks just right. Sometimes I catch him checking himself out in the mirror, once he was saying to himself "oh ya, I look good." it was sooo cute!

Koen has suddenly become very needed and clingy but only with me. He woke up in the middle of the night a few nights ago and climbed into bed with us, however he was not satisfied until I was holding him! He now like to sleep with me hugging on him, this is nice for a little while and then I get stiff from not being able to move. I like this phase because it gives me snuggle opportunities but I do hope it is a short phase. He is really into Curious George and I can park him in front of an episode anytime I need to get something done without him under foot.
Koen loved being in the tree!

It's a New Year!

So it is a new year and just like last year I will make the goal to blog more, add more photos and do more projects! Right now I am sitting at the kitchen table withe my kids, they are doing homework and it is (according to Keith) poring snow outside. I am hopeful we will get a SNOW day tomorrow and we can catch up on all the house cleaning that I don't seem to have enough time to do these days. We are all excited for this new year and the fun things that will happen in our family! We will all have some birthdays hopefully getting wiser and not just older, in May we will be having another baby join our family (a little girl), and in June we will go to the Johnson family reunion! That is not all! We will enjoy some time in northern Utah with the Gevas' and then we will get to go to California to visit grandparents and the rest of the Gevas herd! We are hopeful that we will also make it to Virginia again this year, School starts up again in August so we will see. I am hoping for a peaceful and laid back fall!! I am sure I will be disappointed! Well these are the plans we will see what happens!

Halloween!

So Halloween was good, the kids enjoyed the Trunk or Treat they got a ton of candy! On Halloween night Julianna had a friend over and we went out from 6-8pm. We will probably have candy until the end of the world it was ridiculous!

The Wreck!

So we left Indianapolis later in the evening and we were due to arrive home by 11:30. I was relieved since we had church the next day and there is always a lot that goes with that. We were waiting at a red light heading straight and when the light turned green I went. I noticed that there was a car that was turning left but I thought they were pulling forward and that they would yield. When I realized that she wasn't going to stop I tried to swerve to avoid the accident. She hit our car with her front end just behind the sliding door on the driver's side. I pulled off the road and immediately checked the kids. Keith had hit his head pretty hard and was upset about that, but the rest of them didn't even know what was happening. They had all been asleep when the accident happened which is good. I have pretty bad whiplash but other than that every one seems fine. Koen was the next closest to the impact but he is also fine. The police showed up and took our statements, we got home around 12:30. I was to wound up to go to sleep and it was 2 am before I was finally able to sleep. I am so thankful that we are all ok, in the light of day I realize how close we were to having a serious injury. If she had just hit us a few inches either way Keith or Koen could have really been hurt.

The Museum with Tim & Angela!

The kids loved the whole museum, my camera ran out of battery half way through so as you see all the fun you have to double it!
Keith and Zack as tera cotta warriors!



Evelyn in the Egyptian archeology exhibit.

Digging up rocks!
Grant loved the Frogs!
Keith and Zack had a great time picking up the rocks and dropping them on the conveyer belt that then took them back to the rock pile! Evelyn figured out what was happening and decided it was a waste of time!

Keith and Zack had a pretty great time together! They really liked the scuba diving


They also really like the train!


Keith Loves his cousin! He was very cute when it came to Zack he was always making sure that he got to have a turn and see everything. When they walked into the Dinosaur area he was very comforting he told Zack "don't worry, don't be scared, they are just bones they are not alive." so cute.

Koen and Grant could be twins they were so cute together!
The boys loved learning about the Dino jaw bones, they paid attention the whole time!


Getting ready to enter the museum we decided Kevin needed a turn as bumble bee!

It was a pretty great day, the kids loved the exploratorium they spent the majority of the time there, unfortunately my battery had died by then. We also were able to enjoy dinner and a pizzeria with Tim & Angela before heading home, it was great to see everyone!

It's RACE Time!

The pictures are backwards for the Marathon going from bottom to top the 5k goes from top to bottom!

We got up at about 6a.m. and had breakfast at our hotel, we then went and parked for the race. We had to walk about a mile to get to the starting line and it wasn't cold but there was a pretty icy wind so we had to try to bundle up! We all stood in line for the porta potty that took about a 1/2 hour, it was interesting to see so many people gathered in one spot just to go to the bathroom. After using the facilities we tried to keep warm as we waited for Kevin's race to begin! Kevin did a little warming up and then it was finally time, we were able to get a good spot to see him start but after that there was no really good place to see him again. Kaiden's 5k started 30 mins. after Kevin so he warmed up and stretched and then got into his starting spot, he wanted to be up front and being small he was able to get right on the line! He started his race and again we were able to see him really well but we were not able to see him out on the course. Evelyn had to pee really bad so while we waited for Kaiden we ran back to the bathrooms, we didn't make it! I didn't have time to go back to the car before Kaiden finished so I decided we would wait and go to the car after, Evelyn refused to wear Kaiden warm up pants so that was frustrating. Kaiden finished and they announced his name and age as he crossed, he got his finisher's metal and then jumped passed the ropes to me because he was having a hard time walking. His thighs and groin muscles were hurting, he stretched out and kept walking around but he seemed to be in pain for the next two hours. He was happy with the effort he gave he said he felt like he shaved 3 minutes off his time, he did get a new PR. Evelyn decided that her pants were dry and didn't want to go to the car, she wanted to be able to see Kevin at mile 17 and if we went to the car we would miss the first bus to the cheer zone and therefore miss Kevin. So we decided to head over to the bus stop, we waited there for about 20 mins. before the bus showed up, Koen fell asleep and stayed asleep for the rest of the race. We arrived at the cheer zone about 10 mins before Kevin came running by looking like he was just out for a jog! He looked really good and the kids were so excited to see him, he was in 6th place at that point. While we waited for him to loop back around Kaiden fell and skinned his knee, and Evelyn and I both stepped in dog poo! Koen blissfully slept through everything! The cheer zone was in the shade so of course we all started to get cold again! The bus came back before Kevin came back and I had to decide if I wanted to stay and see Kevin and mile 21 risking that we would miss him finish or go back and for sure see him finish. I figured he would appreciate it more if we stayed so we did. He came back by about 3 mins after the bus left and it was another 25 mins before the bus came back, I was sure we would miss seeing him finish. When we got to the finish line the time on the clock was still under 3 hours so I was hopeful that we hadn't missed him, we got in a good position and waited. After about 2 mins. the kids were convinced he had already finished and we were wasting our time. I was sure we hadn't missed him yet, we waited until 3hours 10 mins. and the first girl finisher was crossing and then I decided that we must have missed him some how and we went looking for him! He crossed the finish line at 3 hours 13 mins he literally rounded the corner as we walked away!!!! We were able to catch up with him in the shoot! He looked pretty tired but he seemed fine. We went and ate our Lunch and then met up with Tim and Angela! It was a pretty great race!

Koen was super tired after the 5k so he took a little nap!





Kaiden had a good strong start and he ran hard the whole way finishing at 22:35! He came in 20th over all there were over 600 runners. He took 1st in the 10 and under age group.
Kaiden at the start of the 5k



Kaiden coming toward the finish. He is the one in the red shirt. Super small rounding the corner.Kaiden crossing the finish line of the 5k





Kevin coming back around at mile 21 he still looks great! The kids were so excited to be able to cheer for him!Kevin running past at mile 17 he looks great!!

waiting for the bus to take us to the cheer zone at mile 17 and 21!

Waiting for the Marathon to start.