We've got a Walker & the Barn Raising

Hello Everyone,

I hope this post finds you well. There have been some happenings in the Johnson household. This past Thursday, ANJ was in timeout. His sister was determined to play with him nonetheless(is that supposed to be one word?). So she just got up and started walking over to him. Now she has been on the cusp for weeks it feels like. However, that night she finally decided to put it all together. I caught the first incident out of the corner of my eye. She walked past the stairs to get to ANJ. But, she walked. After that she was so excited that she just kept getting up and trying again. Over and over. It was really exciting to watch. We did get video of it... However, I couldn't upload it. I am not sure what I am doing wrong but I am not going to try to figure it out now. So here is a picture to show you of the event. She was most pleased with herself. We were very proud as well.

Now she has been practicing with some frequency the last few days. It is exciting to see this happen. I am also a little bit sad. The baby days are almost over. Although I do not miss the sleepless nights, I am going to miss that chubby baby face. Since I know this is the last time we will be traveling this road, I keep trying to remember everything. I know that I won't but this is a huge milestone and I am really excited for the new world that is opening up for her. Now, she can truly get into everything. Scary.

In other news, we have begun a project to build a shed out back. The Johnson boys worked on it all weekend. Thanks to the family for coming out to help put this very large item together. Turns out they got some of the directions wrong and had to redo certain parts a time or two but it all worked out. I think it is going to be a very lovely addition to our backyard when it is done. They are working on it tomorrow as well. In celebration of our "barn raising", me and the other women were out front putting together a fish fry. Now we had never done one before so there was a bit of a learning curve. However, once we got over our technical difficulties we were able to fry stuff up! Now you know I love fried food. It was too late in the day for pepsi but the food was good. Here are some pictures of the event.

Here is the barn... I think it will be very nice once it is all done. It is going to be a huge help to us. Thanks to all who helped make it possible.
Are fish fry's supposed to be in garages? I am not sure but that is where it ended up. Here are Dennis and Chris enjoying the food. You can see the kids in the background.
Here is the baby, not walking but enjoying the fruits of our labor.... I thought she looked cute.

Here are the bigger kids. They sat at their own table. Check out my niece's awesome fashion sense. I am most impressed. I think I actually had some leggings like that when I was 15. Who knew if I had just held on to them......

Here we are cooking it up. Do you love my apron? A consultant gave that to me as a gift. I love it!

And to those of you wondering it is a challenge to do a fish fry in a suburban neighborhood. Especially out in front. I think every neighbor decided to take a walk today and we had to explain ourselves repeatedly. However, when it was time to eat they were all noticeably absent. Is that a coincidence? Not sure.

Last but not least ANJ's team picture from soccer. This isn't everyone but it's most everyone. They played a great game saturday. ANJ walked off the field and refused to play but hey, they are 4 year olds right?

So off to sleep I go. Later.

-gcj