emily's adventures

A new job!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 18:34:00 +0000

Wow, isn't it the truth? I mean, I just cannot quit getting new jobs, huh? No, but really, I started with my "new company" last January and here I am in a new job the following February? I am still at the "new company" - but I had the opportunity to apply for and transition into a new role, and I haven't looked back since.

I'm fairly certain that I never talked about the job I took last January, because I basically took an entire year off the blog world, and I hate that I've missed so many memories, BUT, I'm back. So to summarize, the job I took last year was working for the first boss I ever had. He was a phenomenal boss, but our work relationship had been strained due to a few circumstances at the old company. I went to work for someone new and stayed under that boss for 5 years, then my original first boss calls me, asks me to come and apply for a job at the "new company" and I worked that job until this past week. Again, great boss, good work, and I wasn't even looking for a job. Isn't that when the best opportunities come to light? Right when we aren't looking?

So the new job is something completely out of my comfort zone, it is pushing the edge of sales and something I never imagined myself doing. I figure, I should try it out, see if I can handle it and if I like it, and trying it makes me no worse for anything. I may fit, I may not, but if I didn't try it I'd never know. I got a 2 grade level promotion and from what I can tell, my new boss is pretty cool.

That's where work life stands now. Home life is pretty good and I hope to get some pictures of my precious kiddos posted soon. Other than that? Just another day in the life.

Disney on Ice!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:07:00 +0000

Back at the end of January, I took Cooper and Kampbell to see Disney on Ice. It was a great time, they had so much fun seeing Mickey and Minnie and the rest of the crew. This was a show with scenes from many of the Disney movies, Lion King, Aladdin, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and many more. Cooper hadn't seen all of these movies, so there were some parts that weren't as interesting to him as others, and the same is true for Kampbell, but over all, we all had a fantastic time. These two are at such fun ages! Here are a few pictures!

A Few Home Improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 03:11:00 +0000

In the last couple of months, we've made a few slight changes around our house. Nothing major, yet things that make the house more aesthetically pleasing, at least to me.

First, we've changed up the pictures on our picture wall, as I do annually, and I took the fabric off of the "J" and painted it chevron. Such a simple change, but I love it.

Second, I finally got the wall behind out couch put together, it's been pretty vacant for a few years and I'm absolutely loving the end result.

Third, Tim got our scrabble tiles made and we got them all hung in our front living room. This room has more changes to come, but for now, this is what we've got. I LOVE the tiles and that we've got our family name up there on the wall!

Fourth, we got a new dining table. We had a bartop table with benches and chairs, but Katy climbed on it constantly, and I really wanted a round table, so voila, this beauty was purchased. :)

Last but not least, Tim made this awesome bed for Cooper. Cooper's room has always had this cut out - and it was great for his crib when he was a baby, but since then, it's been awkward. Coop has been wanting bunk beds, but we don't want two beds in there, so Tim came up with this design. I have such a smart husband! Cooper got spoiled even more when Tim decided to equip the bed with a slide. Cooper's room is his favorite room in the house now. He's obsessed with it. His little sister is a big fan too.

Children's Museum Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 02:19:00 +0000

A couple of weekends ago, we made an early morning visit to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Both kids just love visiting the museum. We have so much fun with them. Cooper is getting more and more into the dinosaurs, and Katy is really loving the area for ages 5 and under. On this particular visit, Cooper got to go back to the "staff only" area to see and hear all about the projects that the museum paleontologists are working on currently. I just love these times with the family. .

My Kids and Selfies

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 01:55:00 +0000

My kids seem to be obsessed with selfies these days. Here is one of Kate while we were eating dinner tonight and a couple below of Cooper when he was playing with my phone one evening before bed.

It's been too long.....

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 20:07:00 +0000

I've wanted to post, needed to post, for some time now, and it seems that I've missed the entire fall season and now we're over a month into winter and I haven't posted a single event, picture or anything that we've done.

I desperately want to catch up, but I also don't want to miss what is going on with us now, so I may not ever go back and post the past, but it's time to get back to blogging, I've missed it and want to come back. Our lives are too important to be left undocumented.

So Happy New Year, Hello 2015 and here is to a new season.

Our Summer...... (Part 5 of 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:34:00 +0000

This is last month of the summer series.... Then to catch up on October, maybe some day...

September was a fun month. So many fun things.

1) Cooper has been loving Legos the last few months, so he's been wanting to play with them all of the time. We have bought several of the little $12 and $19 kits to build a specific thing with the legos, and we both have a great time building them. Well, the first weekend of September, we happened to be at my mom's and she gave Cooper this huge tub full of legos. Cooper and I built a helicopter (pictured below), then we started sorting. We probably sorted legos for an hour but got a lot of them organized.

2) Cooper officially had his first day of preschool! Such a big boy. Here he's pictured on our front porch, in front of his school and with his teacher. I cannot believe he's already in pre-K!

3) Katy all dressed up in a ruffle-y outfit. Had to get her in it once before she got too big!

4) The kids had grandparents day at their school - my dad got to come up and you can see, Katy wasn't having much fun. Poor Papaw having to wrangle these kids.

5) Our church had a night of praise and Cooper and I went. It was such a good time, He and I sang our hearts out for the Lord

6) Another weekend, we were visiting with family again and Dad, Gwen and I took the kids to the zoo. It was a good time. We rode the train, visited the animals and enjoyed ourselves very much.

As you can probably tell, Cooper still enjoys sticking his tongue out quite a bit.

7) Next up was Steph's birthday. This is the cake I made her. A funfetti cake from scratch from Sally's Baking Addiction. I think I tripled the recipe to make a three layer cake.

The 25 year old! :) I forgot the candles, so this would have to do.

The girls and I taking a selfie.

8) Soccer pictures and lots of soccer games happened in the month of September. Here is my cute boy and his dad with the entire team.

9) Apple orchard time! We like to visit Anderson's apple orchard to get our fill of honeycrisp apples, cider slushies and their home grown popcorn. YUMMY!

Katy had fun jamming her face through the play structure. Silly kid.

The must have token picture of the kids with the huge pumpkins.

10) You can never go wrong with playing in the neighborhood with the other kids. This girl has a blast, and so does her brother, if we could only get him to slow down long enough to take his picture!

Here he is one evening - he decided it would be a good idea to climb up on the dash of the van.

11) Olive Garden family dinner. Once the never ending pasta bowl started, we had to visit at least one time! :) The boys were doing the seek and find on the kids menu while Katy decided to light up the room with her sweet smile. I love these kids.

Our Summer...... (Part 4 of 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:20:00 +0000

August. I'm falling behind on posting these and keeping up with our lives right now. UGH - so much going on and so little time I seem to take to actually blog. I must get my stuff together!

Anyway, here is our month of August fun. Camping was a great time - if only for one night! :)

Kids selfies with mama.

Jamberry. I finally bit the bullet and ordered some nail wraps and I loved them! They lasted an entire week, and that my friends, is amazing for me and anything on my nails. Now, if only I can find some more time to do them again.

Our beloved Indiana State Fair! Here is Cooper fishing at one of the agriculture exhibits. He just loves this one. Maybe we should take him fishing for real someday.....

It was a cool day at the fair, so Katy had her blanket to keep warm.

Cooper just hanging out in a big tractor.

Riding a pony at the fair. He wasn't too happy at first, but then loved it after he got started.

My babies posing for a picture before school one morning.

The next few are a trip to the children's museum. One of our favorite places!

Our grandson was born! Rhys Lowell Bramlett! :)

Cooper starts soccer and Katy is goofy during his games! :)

That pretty much wraps up August. One more month to go! :)

Our Summer...... (Part 3 of 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 15:48:00 +0000

JULY.

Part three is all about July. We had a pretty fun filled month and here are some photos..

1) Independence Day. Here are Cooper, Katy and Kampbell in their red, white and blue. Just love how precious these three are - so difficult to get them to smile at the same time though! The Bram Fam came over and Andrew was home, so we had some food and celebrated. Then, I took Cooper into downtown Indianapolis for the fireworks show that night. We had a great day!

2) Katy climbing the dishwasher. Not sure what it is about my kids loving the dishwasher, but they both have loved climbing in it. Crazy kiddos.

3) Tim's surgery. Tim had a short outpatient procedure to remove some weird tissue things he randomly gets. This is him coming out of anesthesia. He's always funny when he starts waking up. He never remembers any of it later on though. Wish I could have gotten some video.

4) KB's birthday! Kampbell turned 2 on July 11th. She's such a sweet grandbaby and I love her so much!!

5) Friday night sprinkler celebration - no real reason, he just wanted to have some sprinkler time, so we did it.

6) My Grandpa's birthday was July 13th and we went down on the 12th to celebrate with him. Wish I had more pictures, but these will have to do. Him with his cupcakes :)

7) The 13th we celebrated Kampbell's birthday at her house for a family party. She was having a "bee" themed party, so I made her this cupcake cake.

Here are a few pictures of the pretty one on her birthday :)

8) Cooper had swim lessons for 2 weeks during the month of July, here are a few pictures from that:

I just love this one. He's so handsome!!!

9) We took Kampbell, Cooper and Katy to a splash parkon the 22nd. It really wasn't warm enough for them to be playing in the water, but hey, it was summertime, so we had to make the most of it. Poor kiddos had blue lips when we were finished.

Again the smiling at the same time is rough.

10) July 28th we had the Sprinkle for Steph you can click to read more.

11) Another splash park visit with the Cooper and Kate after the sprinkle on the 28th. They loved this one!

12) Last, but not least, we bought ourselves a camper!! Read about that here.

Summer, Part three - OUT! Stay Tuned, Part 4 coming right up....

Our Summer...... (Part 2 of 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 16:26:00 +0000

June. We were fairly busy people in June. Let's get to it.

1) CHILDREN'S MUSEUM VISIT.

We have a membership for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, and we like to visit as often as we can. The kids and I have a great time, Cooper gets to play with things he loves to play with, Katy gets to follow him around, and it's a good time had by all.

On this particular visit, the museum had a Great Wall of China event, so they had a massive "Great Wall Slide." It is the same slide they have during Christmas time. We all enjoyed it.

2) Making Kate's handprints for Daddy's Father's Day present. For Father's Day this year, I decided to take the lead from something I had seen on Pinterest. A leather bound journal that we make Father's Day cards year after year for Tim. This is just one of them. In addition to this, we got him a seat for the pool, and a Samsung Gear watch. I think he had a pretty good Father's Day.

3) Garage Sale time. Tim went all out with the garage sale this year. We didn't sell much, and ended up donating a lot to Goodwill, but, it was a good excuse to clean out some things.

4) Family Game Night - SkipBo for the win.

5) Our "mini" vacation. We stayed with my mom, and took the kids to a few places in the Louisville area, the Zoo, Louisville Slugger Bat Factory, out on the Ohio river on a boat and then lots of visiting with family. Good times.

6) At the end of our mini vacation, we took a trip up north to get this little fella. The newest member of our family, a Havanese puppy named Snickers. This is the night we got him. Cooper wanted to hold him in the car. Both boys desperately needed haircuts...

So, the next day - they both got them. Here are the after photos.

Then, we ended our vacation at Monkey Joe's. Still a favorite for Cooper.

Our mini vacation was at the end of June, so that is a wrap for Part 2! :) Coming soon, part 3....

COOPER is FIVE!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:20:00 +0000

This guy is FIVE today. I can hardly believe it. I take that back, I cannot believe it. How is it possible, that five years ago, this little guy came into my life.

I could go on about this child for pages and pages, he lights up my life.

He is super smart, witty, and his personality shines bright (when he's not throwing some kind of fit, lol)!!!

Cooper has a passion for so many things. SPORTS. LEGOS. NINJA TURTLES. SUPER HEROES. The list could go on and on, but these things seem to be what he cares about the most right now.

He is a super fan of soccer right now. He still loves baseball and he plays basketball around the house whenever possible also.

Legos. Oh my. That boy loves him some legos. He plays in his room with them, because of the small pieces - we don't want them all over the house for Katy to get into them. Right now, he's got this massive lego house built on his lego table. He has beds setup inside for his lego men to sleep on, he's pretty much got the works going on inside this house, and he's pretty much built the entire thing all by himself.

Ninja Turtles. What kid isn't into them right now? Cooper doesn't watch the show, nor did he see the movie, but for whatever reason, he's LOVING them anyway. He loves hearing the theme song, thank you YOU-TUBE. He also loves to yell COWABUNGA whenever he can. Michelangelo is is favorite.

Super heroes. He has always liked Superman, but he watched the original Superman movie with Nana and Papaw Shawn a few weekends ago, and now he's liking Spiderman, Batman, The Flash and Superman. He knows their "real" names, you know, Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent. Ha. Every other day, he is either a Ninja Turtle or a different superhero.

Cooper is also into his Wednesday night activity at church, he goes to Awana. They sing songs, learn Bible verses, and learn about God. He has learned his bible verses so well, he recites them to me and sings them. I love that he loves our Lord.

Cooper always has something going on in his imagination. He's full of so many stories. He loves playing pretend and telling all kinds of stories about whatever he's into that day. When we read Berenstain Bear books, he turns into Brother Bear and we all turn into the rest of the bear family. ~~Cooper~~ Brother Bear loves to tell Papa Bear that he has to clean the windows on Fridays. It's one of the funniest things listening to him tell his daddy what he's got to do and when. Such a bossy guy.

See, I told you I could go on and on. I'm going to wrap this up, but I'm so excited to wish my first baby the HAPPIEST FIFTH BIRTHDAY!

I LOVE YOU COOPER JAMES JOHNSON!

John Legend - All of Me

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:00:00 +0000

I still cannot get enough of this song. Happy Weekend Friends!!

Obsession? Fascination?

Fascination or Obsession???

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 09:30:00 +0000

Today, I find myself wondering the difference. And I am trying to figure out whether I am fascinated by something or obsessed with it. Keep in mind that this could be just about anything that I’m referring to here. For instance, yesterday at work, some girls were talking about how much they liked Caramello candy bars. There were two of us who mentioned these other kind of caramel candy bars, specifically sold in fundraisers from schools, Caramel bars.

Then the two of us who remembered these kind of caramel bars proceeded to dig in on the internet and find out as much as we could about these bars, where we could find them, if we could find them, and WHERE.

Is this a fascination or an obsession? I think for a few minor moments there, it was obsession. Once we found out more about them, it was determined that someone would be going to a store to be able to find the closest thing we can to these candy bars. Then it was just a fascination. When my co-worker bought the candy and brought it in, we were all excited, but the obsession had worn off..

I'm not sure what happens to me sometimes though. When something happens and I am intrigued, sometimes I cannot stop until I've literally learned as much as I can about a topic. I remember the ENRON scandal back several years ago. I was literally obsessed. I couldn't get enough knowledge about how something like this could happen. I read and read and read until I just couldn't anymore. I still get this way from time to time. Sometimes the information available isn't enough to fulfill my obsession. Sometimes it is just a fascination - and I like to think I can keep from obsessing more often than not, but well, sometimes, it's just not possible.

How about you? Do you fascinate over things? Obsess? I know I must not be the only one out there who gets hooked on something!!!

Our Summer...... (Part 1 of 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 17:20:00 +0000

Since I've basically taken the summer off from blogging, I wanted to highlight it in the best way I know how, going through my pictures and tell you how our summer went! And actually, I don't really feel like we've had much of a "summer" - that is, the normal Indiana humid, hot summers that we're used to. We've had a few days so far of terrible heat, but mostly, it's been rather mild.

Mild summers mean not much pool time, which is unfortunate, however, we've been able to enjoy some other activities that we usually wouldn't because of the lack of heat. I suppose there are ups and downs to all of this cooler weather.

1) ANDREW GRADUATED!

The beginning of May started with Andrew Graduating from college! Congratulations Andrew, we are so proud of you!!!

2) Mother's Day Picnic

My brother's family and our family met up with my mom and her husband for Mother's Day at Clifty Falls State Park in Madison IN for an awesome Mother's Day lunch. It was good food, and great company. Since the park was a couple hour drive from our house, we didn't really do much else that day, but it was good to spend time with my Mom. I cannot help but show off the pretty cupcakes I made, and they were delicious!

3) Katy's Birthday & Party

Oh my little Katybug. We had such a good time for her birthday party and on her birthday as well. This girl didn't want anything to do with her cake, but she still had fun and we all had a good time celebrating her big day! We did her party on the Sunday before Memorial Day (which was also Katy's actual birthday) so that family could spend their actual Monday at home. Here she is in her birthday outfit. Precious, right?

Sitting with her cake and wanting nothing to do with it. Although it probably didn't help that she had several people watching her - she was just a tad bit uncomfortable I think.

I just love the way her cakes turned out.

4) First Swim of 2014

Cooper and Andrew took their first dip in the pool - and it was cooooooooooollllllllllllllldddddddddd.... But they had fun, swam for just a bit and got out.

This was during a point in time where Cooper was obsessed with sticking out his tongue.

Cooper really liked jumping in the pool this year.

5) On Memorial Day (Katy's actual birthday) we went to an Indianapolis Indian's game. We had Steph, Ryan and KB over for a late lunch, then headed to the game that evening. We brought blankets and sat out on the lawn. It was a good time. We didn't make it to the fireworks, everyone was just too tired and the kids were ready for bed.

Cooper's always giving us some kind of show.

Happy Birthday Katy!

That wraps up our May! Parts 2-5 coming soon (I hope.......)

My Cooper

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:47:00 +0000

I haven't done a post in awhile about some of the quirks of my boy, but I feel like now is the time.

I've got pictures here all the way back to Easter so we're going to start with some of those, here are a ~~few~~ ton of my boy.

At Nana's on Easter morning doing some aster egg hunting.

At Papa's hunting the day before Easter.

At our house with "The Easter Bunny".

Being the best big brother!

Here is my big guy coloring eggs for Easter.

I took Coop and Katy to the park one day this past spring and he wanted to swing in the baby swings just like his little sis, he had such a good time.

This is the day we visited the indoor park at a local church. He had such a good time. He asks me if we can go back all of the time. I've got to find some time to take him back!!

Funny pose.....

Cooper played t-ball this spring, and the boy learned quite a bit. He had fun too, and that's the main thing at this age, exposure to the sport, and having fun! Here are some t-ball pictures of Coop. He played for the first time this year - and he absolutely loved it. We had to take pictures of him with everyone who came to his first game.

Here are my guys out on the field.

The whole team.

Here are some random pictures of my boy. He was obsessed with rolling his tongue for awhile. He had just learned to do it so he did it constantly.

In his PJs on the way to school for PJ day!

Being a catcher, as usual.

Cooper driving his car. He loves that thing. The battery died and we have got to get another one!

I know I've talked about what a sports fanatic Cooper is, but he's also a little smarty pants too. His school has this program called Express Kids where the kiddos who participate go out and learn songs to help them learn topics, this past weekend, he sang a Mr. Opposite song. It was so neat to hear the song and him singing it and know the program is teaching him through fun activities!

♪♫ Mr. Opposite has many friends, and many friends has Mr. Opposite. ♪♫

♪♫ I am one of them and so are you, so let's just sing them now, ♪♫

♪♫ Down/up down/up, ♪♫

♪♫ over/under over/under, ♪♫

♪♫ in/out in/out, ♪♫

♪♫ on/off on/off. ♪♫

Cooper is such a trooper in everything - that is not to say that he doesn't throw the biggest fits - because he does, but, in general, the kid is happy, and hilarious. He comes up with the funniest things to say, he picks up on things in peoples voices and he is just so observant about everything. He mimics people when they say things in funny ways and it's one of the most hilarious things that I've ever heard.

This summer, we got a dog, and we got him mostly for Cooper. He loves that dog so much, and even though he's not quite sure how much work the dog is, nor how to really take care of and love him (sometimes Cooper is pretty rough, so we've got to calm him down about the dog), he is doing a great job with Snickers.

Now that it's fall, we have Cooper signed up for soccer. He's had two practices and one game so far and he is absolutely loving it.

I feel like there is so much to talk about with Cooper - like the fact that he's obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even though he's never seen the movies and hasn't seen much of the "new" Nick show. He loves the old theme song of TMNT from what I was a kid, and he loves saying cowabunga. He even made a wish list for his birthday of all of the things that he wants. He doesn't ever want to stop talking about the turtles and constantly wants to go buy more stuff.

the list.... with pictures even!

Here he is showing off his new shirt....

I could go on and on, and I might in another post - but this has gotten fairly long, so I'll stop now. Hopefully by unloading some of this stuff that's been on my mind for months, I'll get back into the routine and post more frequently! Have a great weekend all!

Welcome to the World Rhys Lowell Bramlett!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 13:22:00 +0000

Last night, at 9:08pm, my grandson was born. Rhys Lowell Bramlett. He was 21.5 inches long and weighed 7 lbs 14 oz. He is so precious and his mama did a wonderful job!!

Stephanie and Ryan had a long day yesterday getting ready for the birth of their son. They were at the hospital bright and early at 6:00am. She progressed pretty slowly throughout the day, and then after a second dosage of epidural she started progressing, then after the third dose and getting sick, she was ready!

We were super excited to meet Mr. Rhys (it's Welsh, pronounced Reece) and visit with his mommy and daddy. We didn't know his name before he was born, so that was another exciting part of our evening! They waited to tell us until we were all in the room with them. It was pretty special.

Here are a few pictures.

Such a precious baby boy!! Look at those cheeks and big eyes!! He looks so much like his big sister!! :)

Welcome to the world Rhys, YOU are so loved!!!

Meal Plan Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:43:00 +0000

Well, I've joined Weight Watchers again..... Which means that meal planning is again necessary, which means I will again try to post our meal plans for the week to keep myself accountable.

This week we went with easy meals that we know aren't too terrible for us - just to help get me back in the mindset for all of this food tracking that I have to start doing!

So, we're not really setting up which day we'll have what, but here are the meals that we decided on....

In no particular order:

Pork & Veggie Stir Fry with white rice
Chili (on one of the cooler days)
Spaghetti
Rosamarina Chicken

We're having stir fry tonight. You'll notice that we only have 4 meals listed. We are fairly certain we won't be home one of the nights this week for dinner and here is the reason. We are about to have ourselves another grand-baby! Stephanie is scheduled to be induced on Wednesday if she hasn't gone into labor on her own at that point. We're looking forward to meeting the new little mister in our family.

That's it, simple and sweet. Meal Plan Monday.

Our Exciting Purchase.

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 17:23:00 +0000

As I've previously mentioned, we were working on something that would provide our family fun memories for lots of years. We wanted to make a purchase that would give our family some much needed away time every once in awhile that didn't mean spending ridiculous amounts of money. So, we invested a little bit into a small pop-up camper!

Before we had Cooper, Tim and I had a massive travel trailer that had two slide outs and was completely unnecessary to our lives. We had to store it at a location about 15 minutes from our house, and the inconvenience plus the cost of storage was a big deterrent from us even using the camper. I think we only used it once or twice before we decided it would be best to sell it.

But you see, the thing is, is that we like going camping. I grew up going camping during the spring/summer/fall months with my family. I think we had a travel trailer from about age 8-10 on. I wanted my kids and our family to have this experience, and Tim agreed. So, we searched Craigslist high and low and visited some and finally found one that was in great shape and also met our budget. And it also had to have an air conditioner, I just find it difficult to sleep without one of those when the temps get higher than say 74 degrees........ We are storing the pop-up in our garage for now, which makes it super convenient and saves us the storage costs!!

My dad still has a camper, and my mom has one also. I remember those weekends when we'd go camping. I just loved it. Riding bikes around the campground with my brother, campfires where we roasted s'mores, hot dogs, and whatever else we could think of roasting, hiking with my parents, participating in the DNR programs, and much more. My grandparents also had a camper, and I remember how fun it was to go camping with them, so I am happy that my kids will get to experience this as well.

So, we took her on a one night camping trip a couple of weekends ago, and it was a success. We learned very quickly that we need to stock the camper up with many things that we did not think about, but we made due, and it was a good trip. Only one issue on our way driving home, but all in all, a great test camping trip. We are scheduled to go on a three night outing over Labor Day weekend and we couldn't be more excited!

Without further adieu, here is our new weekend fun mobile!

Do you ever go camping? Is this something that you would ever consider? I'm just tickled pink that we actually own this camper, it's perfect for our little family at this stage in our lives! :)

Surprise! Sprinkle for Stephanie!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 16:53:00 +0000

This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to be able to go together with Stephanie's mom and MIL to host a surprise sprinkle for her. We started planning back in May or so for this little event, and though some folks weren't able to make it, I think it turned out nicely.

We got the private room in Steph's favorite restaurant and got everything setup. Steph's mom made the flower arrangement below, It was super cute with silk flowers, rolled "flower" bibs and socks for Mr. Brambino. Yep, Brambino is the little guy's nickname. We won't find out his real name until he's born. They are keeping tight lipped about it! What we know is that he has the same initials as Ryan and his middle name.

Anyway, back to setting up.... Carla (Ryan's Mom) made the cutest little gift packs for the attendees. Everyone received a travel sized Bath and Body works lotion and a small candle. They were so cute. Since Brambino's room is nautical themed, we went with a nautical theme for the cupcakes, which I had ordered from a local bakery.

It wasn't the most elaborately decorated party, for sure not as decorated as her shower for Kampbell, but that was okay, it was food, fun, friends and gifts, and that's what was most important. Here is the setup of the room.

Once we finished eating and devouring our cupcakes, Steph opened her gifts, and we took pictures to document the event.

Ryan was such a good sport and hung around for the festivities, and he did such a GREAT job scheming to get Stephanie to the party without having a clue what she was walking into. Thanks Ryan!

It was a fun time and I'm so glad we were able to surprise Stephanie and celebrate her and the incoming new edition to their (our) family!!

Another weekend in the books!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 17:02:00 +0000

Another busy weekend at my house!

Saturday my mom and Shawn came up, Shawn went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Nationwide race and to hang out at the track and mom visited with us all day! :) It was spectacular!! It seems like the only times we really get to visit with mom at our house in our "lives" are when she's cleaning for us, or up to help us in some other way shape or form, and it was so nice to have some time to really visit with her on our homestead. She did watch the kids for me for a few hours while I co-hosted a surprise sprinkle for Stephanie, hopefully a post on that to follow later in the week.

When I got home, I suggested that we take Cooper and Kate to another splash park, one that was closer to our house. It wasn't as nice of a splash park but the playground was pretty great, and the kids had a blast. (which is the whole point anyway!).

Then we went to Sam's club to stock up on a few items, then back home! We got dinner and then Tim was home from his umpiring camp. He was there all day Friday, most of the day Saturday and Sunday as well.

Sunday ended up being a big lazy stay at home day with lots of laundry. I played with the kids, we watched tv, played games, took naps, got baths. and then once Tim got home, we did manage go out to dinner.

This picture cracks me up, my kids, like brother like sister, both decided to sit on top of their picnic table at home to watch tv.

Have a great Monday!! It's already half way through in my neck of the woods! :)

Our Weekend.

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 16:48:00 +0000

We had a fabulous weekend at the Johnson household! Filled with fun, friends, family and busy times!

We are still working on this thing as I mentioned Friday, but unfortunately it didn't work out over the weekend.

Saturday was a very fun and good day. Tim had to umpire some baseball games for a big tournament that was going on in town this weekend, and the kids and I did our chores so that we would be ready for the rest of the day.

Then I took Cooper to see Planes Fire and Rescue. This is the only picture I got, but this boy is so into the movie, he didn't even notice me taking the picture.

Saturday evening, my friend Jill brought her two boys, Max (Cooper's age) and Wyatt (Katy's age) over to play. The boys definitely had a blast together. This is a picture Jill took of them riding Coop's car.

On Sunday, we missed church due to lack of sleep, but were very busy after all of us finally woke up! We got some retakes of Katy's birthday pictures taken, went grocery shopping, went on a picnic with Stephanie, Kampbell and Andrew, took the kids to a splash pad and playground and then home for more playtime for them/chores for us.

It was a busy and fun filled weekend for sure. I just cannot wait for more weekends just like it. Cheers to this week also - swim lessons, dinner with friends and more fun with my kids and hubby are on deck for us, what do you have going on this week?

FRIDAY!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 17:08:00 +0000

I don't really have a big or major topic to write about - but I wanted to write, it's FRIDAY, the weekend is almost here and I'm super pumped about this weekend.

We've got a potential thing going on that I'm hoping will all work out and will provide some major fun and memories for our family over the next several years.

Plus, tomorrow and Sunday should be filled with some memory filling fun as well. I'm excited.

I'm thrilled to be spending some quality time with these two hooligans as well..

Have a happy weekend folks! :)

Accountability Huh? What? Who? Where?

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:12:00 +0000

Well, I guess I could say accountability flew out the door. I should say that the entire post that I wrote on June 3^rd flew out the door. Why? I have no idea. Laziness, no motivation, and excuses are three reasons, although not good ones.

Yes, Katy has been teething, yes work has been extremely busy, yes we had a vacation tucked in there somewhere, but honestly, there is zero reason for me not getting up and walking on the treadmill, eating better or making time for myself. For some reason I seem to be just going through the motions of life right now. I don’t know if I’m a little down in the dumps, or if it’s just a stage in my life right now, but for whatever reason, I’m just unmotivated to do anything other than spend time with my kids and watch tv or read.

This really needs to stop. What will it take for me to realize that I made life changes for the better once upon a time – and I can do it again?

I have so many things I want to blog about to catch up on, I want to get back to some fitness level where I recognize myself, and I want to be happier in general. I know these things can happen, I just have to find the motivation, so that is the key, finding the motivation.

There are times that I’ve thought I should just stop all of this blogging stuff, that it’s just one less thing to worry about, one less thing to have to keep up with, and one less thing in general. But you know what? I like that I can look back and see what’s been going on with my family. I like that I can look up and see what Katy was doing at 5 months, what Cooper was doing at 2 years, etc. I only wish I had continued blogging after I had Cooper and before he was a year old.

I’ve thought about buying T25 or P90x3 or something similar, to give me SOMETHING, ANYTHING to do other than the treadmill. I think that it would be something that the entire family (well minus Katy) could actually get into, and enjoy. Cooper wouldn’t really be “doing” much, but I think he’d enjoy dancing around trying – and at only 25 minutes per day, surely we could keep up with that….. Now to get Tim on board with that. I think I’ll work on it.

If you read this, I could use some encouragement to make some changes in my life that are for ME. I’ve obviously talked and talked and talked about it, but it’s time for change. I thought getting a new blog design may help with this, and well, I’m actually blogging so we’ll see. Now to get moving on some other aspects of my life. Because there is more to life that the TELEVISION once the kids go to bed, right?!?!

Accountability & Being "Emily"

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 17:08:00 +0000

Yesterday, I talked about how I wanted to find more time for things some things I've put on the back burner in the recent past, including blogging, exercising etc.

What I didn't really go into though, is all of the feelings I have been having lately. First and foremost, Who am I? That may seem silly to ask that question, but honestly, the more and more I think about who I am, the less I like myself. I know that overall, I am a good person, but how do I identify myself? I'm Tim's wife, Cooper & Katy's mom, I love Jesus, and I'm a step-mom, daughter, Mimi and then some. The problem? Well, I don't really know who Emily is without all of the other people to identify me. I have interests, things I like to do, things that make me feel good, and people I like to talk to - but it seems while Katy has been an infant, I've lost many of those things.

I want them back. NOW. I want to take control of my life, and demand that I be taken care of by myself, my husband and my kids. I'm not asking for them to cater to my every need, but a bit of time to myself for me once a week would be good. I know not every week will there be time for me to have "me" time, but I need it. I think everyone needs it.

So I plan to get my butt out of bed at 5:30 or earlier in the mornings and get on the dreadmill.... I did it today, and even though it's just one day, it felt like old hat. I was in the habit of waking at 5:30 to go running before I got pregnant with Katy, and now, I'm going to do that again. I'm going to get back in the habit of rising and exercising. It sure makes the entire day seem more enjoyable/rewarding.

I plan to start eating healthier, at least better than I have been. I did great during the cleanse, and for a couple of weeks after that it continued, but in the last couple of weeks, it's not been great. I need to fix that. I want to plan meals, and do some major meal prepping on Sundays.

I plan to get back to regular church attendance. I need to go to church. I cannot just read the word a few days a week and not do something more. The kids need to go to church too, and now that Kate is one, I feel better about leaving her in the nursery.

I have big plans, and what I need, is you, the people reading this blog, to help hold me accountable. Can you help me accomplish these plans?

Time

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:24:00 +0000

I'm not sure where my time goes. I feel like overall, I don't really waste that much time, but honestly, I have said it time and time again, I cannot keep up. I don't even want to compare myself to some people who can accomplish so much more than me in the same amount of time. That would just make me feel even more like a slacker!

Life lately has been more work, more baseball, more kids stuff, more family stuff, and less everything else. Including blogging. I really want to make this hobby of mine a bigger priority in my life. I want to make exercise a bigger priority also. I'm just so darn tired by the time those kiddos go to bed that all I want to do is finish my normal tasks and go to bed. Exercise will give me more energy though, so I need to make it a priority and GET UP in the mornings. I used to do it. Why is it so difficult for me now?

I haven't even written up a post about Cooper's tball yet. Nor have I written about Katy's 1st birthday party or the fact that she is now 12 months. Someday, right? Hopefully sooner rather than later.

This past weekend we were out of town for our niece's high school graduation. This week will be semi busy, tonight is Tim's final high school baseball game for the regular high school baseball season. Tomorrow night I hope to visit with Bill, Mary, Erica and Mel. Wednesday or Thursday I need to grocery shop, We have nothing scheduled for Friday and the only big plans for the weekend (so far) are dinner with friends Saturday night and church on Sunday.

I'm going to *try* to get my butt up tomorrow morning and walk on the dreaded treadmill. It's not everything I want to do, but it's a start, right? I need to start somewhere.

I'm not really sure why I'm writing all or any of this, but I need something to get me going, to get my rear in gear. So, maybe, just maybe, posting this out in cyberspace will kick me up a notch, in exercise, productivity and potentially energy? I'm sick of being a slug, it's time to start living and doing.