Introducing...

Ava Marion Johnson

Welcome to the world Ava! Khalil and Candi welcomed their little Ava on Friday, May 23rd at 8:19pm. Ava weighed a hefty 9lbs. 5.5 oz and was 21 inches long! Wow!...and check out all that hair on her baby photo! She is absolutely beautiful and we couldn't be more happy for Khalil and Candi. Ryan and I went over to visit the baby today. (Thanks again for lunch Khalil- it was very sweet of you to also take Ryan for a nature walk around the grounds!) Not only was I excited to see Ava but the visit was also a test. I was very curious to see how Ryan would act around a newborn. To my surprise, he was very well behaved and gentle with her. He didn't seem to care when she cried and even held her for a little at the end of our visit. Candi was nice to take a few photos...enjoy! (and yes the visit only made me more anxious to meet our baby Kara!)

Ryan with baby Ava- too cute!

Bobbi and baby Ava

(could my tummy get any bigger?)

Happy Memorial Day!

Today we honor all our service men and women for their couragious duty in serving our county. So many have died over the years fighting for the Freedom that is America. I served 8 years in the Army Reserves and this day will always have a special meaning in my heart. I was lucky to have avoided serving in a war, but my cousin, Jess did serve a year in Iraq. Thank God she came back unharmed. God Bless all the families of service men/women who have lost their lives serving our great country! We salute you!

Memorial Day is also a fun filled day with Bobbi's family. Every year (tradition!) we attend a picnic held at Nanie & Pop-Pop Delp's house. This year was especially nice because the weather couldn't have been more perfect! In years past, Memorial Day is either too wet or too cold! It is always nice to get together with family that you don't get to see much during the rest of the year. Ryan especially loved playing with all his cousins! Another tradition I've started is taking a picture of all the kiddies. It is neat to see how much they've grown each year! This year we also got all my sisters and brother together with our dad for a picture too. My parents are the proud grandparents of (soon-to-be) 11 grandkids! William is 10, son of Billi-Jo...Andres is 10, step-son of Rich...Madison is 8, daughter of Tara...Ian is 7, son of Bambi-Jo...Autumn is 6, daughter of Bambi-Jo...Billy is 6, son of Tara...Ethan is 4, son of Bambi-Jo...Joey is 3, son of Rich...Ryan is 2, son of Bobbi-Jo...Owen is 5 months old, son of Bambi-Jo...and baby Kara will join the family soon!

Enjoy the pics and I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend! :)

2007 Memorial Picnic

(top- Madison, William, Andres)

(middle- Billy, Ian, Autumn)

(bottom- Ryan, Ethan, Joey)

2008 Memorial Day

(top- William, Madison, Ian, Billy)

(bottom- Autumn, Ethan, Joey, Ryan, baby Owen)

Dad with his kids!

(Bambi-Jo, me, Dad, Tara, Billi-Jo, Rich)

one proud mama

Yesterday I had Ryan's last parent/teacher conference. I know, I know...what are you talking about? Ryan is only 2.5 years old??! I have to admit, the first time we had a conference when he was in the "tweenie" room, I thought the idea was a little crazy. But after leaving that 1st conference, I had a better understanding of where our son was developmentally. There were areas that he excelled in and some areas that needed some work. Ryan moved to the "toddler" room Sept. of last year and has had Miss April for his teacher since then. The Goddard School has a grading scale of N (not exhibiting) S (sometimes) and A (always). We had his first conference with Miss April in November and at the time, there were a good amount of areas that were marked "N" because he was one of the youngest in his class. The biggest was in his Language Arts section. After meeting with Miss April yesterday, I am happy to report that he has made a huge improvement in this field. Over the last few months, we noticed his language skills increase a lot. It's like he flipped a switch one day and decided to talk to us in sentences. He still has a "gibberish" kinda talk, but we are hoping this will clear up after seeing an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. The two areas that Ryan has always excelled in are Creative Art and Social Sciences. Nothing but "A's" across the board! Miss April made some wonderful comments on his report card. She stated that "he is a joy to have in her class, his smile is contagious and his friends love him! Ryan loves to sing songs, build with blocks and play in the dramatic play areas. His interest in learning has grown immensely!" At this point in his young life, he seems to be following in his mommy's footsteps with art and music. But he does have a good amount of Daddy in him too. He is obsessed with how things work and building/fixing things. He truly is a good mixture of us both (in his appearance and his personality). We couldn't be more proud of our little guy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Countdown Continues....

The baby ticker on the side bar states 30 days to go! We are finally in the 9th month and baby Kara could decide to come any day now! We would prefer her to stay in for at least another 2 weeks (even better...just come on her actual due date 6/22) so we can finish up everything that needs to be done. I am now extremely uncomfortable and in the last week have had some signs of the baby preparing for delivery. We are currently at 1 cm dialated but I am not worried about that because we were stuck at 1 cm with Ryan for over a month! I believe Kara has also "dropped" because I am able to breath easier and it looks like I am carrying lower now, along with tons of pressure down there. I keep reminding myself that when she arrives, all the yucky pregnancy symptoms will be well worth it! We can't wait to meet our little bundle of joy!

Weekend in Review and...

ANOTHER COUNTDOWN BEGINS!


Today marks only 2 weeks of work left! June 1st is my last day with Madison Apartment Group. I plan to stay home for at least one year with Kara as I did with Ryan (with the exception of a part-time job working some nights and weekends- still not sure what that might be yet?). In Jan. '07, I decided to go back to leasing apartments and have been working in this field for the last year and a half. It was a very difficult decision to start Ryan in daycare, but the Goddard School put those many anxieties to rest. I absolutely love their curriculum (Ryan has a structured day just like he would in Kindergarten someday) along with the fact that they teach him Spanish and Sign Language!
Ryan loves "school" and I do feel bad for taking him out now (he is done the end of July) but hopefully we find a really neat pre-school (something that won't break the bank!!!) this fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Community Yard Sale ~ 2008

Saturday (5/17) was the Annual CTCA Community Yard Sale. We live in a development that has over 100+ houses and this was our 3rd year participating in the yard sale. Our Community Association puts it together and only asks everyone to donate a small percentage of our sales to go towards a fund for future family events. This year was another success. We didn't make a ton of money, ok maybe enough to fill up a tank of gas, but we did get rid of a lot of little things that were just clutter in the house! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Welcome Home Clouser Family!~

Our good friends, Jen & Brent Clouser just moved into their new house this weekend! They sold their 3 bedroom starter home and bought this 4 bedroom BEAUTIFUL home in Exeter. It is located right down the street from the Exeter Township schools (Reiffton & Jr. High). It has a 2 car garage, spacious floorplan, fenced in back yard and awesome deck! The previous owners (the house is only 4 years old) were very clean and had painted the house in nice neutral colors so they were able to move right in! Their daughter, Lily, is very excited about the new house and loves that she has a playroom for all her toys now! Ryan and I went over today to see the house and I was amazed how clean this house really was!! Ryan loved playing with Lily (teaching her that hiding in closets are tons of fun all the while giving Jen a heart attack when she couldn't find the kids!- gotta love boys!) and I loved just being able to hang out with Jen & Brent. With living on the "other side of town" now, we don't get too many opportunites to see all our friends in Exeter. I really miss living there!! While we were gone, Chris was hard at work on Ryan's Big Boy Room! He only has to work on the new shelving for Ryan's closet and install new doors. The furniture arrives on June 5th- can't wait to see it all come together soon! Look for an update once the room is finished--hopefully before Kara decides to arrive! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is MOMMY DAY!! I hope all the moms reading this post had a wonderful Mother's Day and got some much deserved love and attention today!

My Mother's Day was great this year! The boys let me sleep in and surprised me with breakfast in bed (they brought up orange sweet rolls they made and a large glass of yummy cold milk!~I know some would say that's not a good breakfast! But to an 8 months pregnant mama who can't get enough milk and sweets!- it was a VERY good breakfast!). They also made me a card and flower! It was so creative and I was touched that they made a gift that will last forever instead of buying flowers that will only live for a week or so!

All was going well until Ryan decided he didn't want to sit on the bed with me anymore and flipped his legs over the side to get down. As he was climbing off the bed, he accidently hit the tray that was holding my breakfast and knocked my milk over! Well we all know that carpets and milk DO NOT mix so Chris quickly cleaned up the mess while I took Ryan into his room to get dressed for the day. I also had the "you have to be careful and pay attention to what you're doing" talk with him but at 2 years old, he doesn't fully understand. As the old saying goes, "No need to cry over spilled milk"...but it was sad because it looked so yummy and it was the last glass of milk in the house. (until we went grocery shopping this evening) Do you have a funny or crazy Mother's Day story to share? Please tell me all about it in the comment section below this post! Here are a few pictures of my beautiful and creative gifts...

Ryan with the flower he and Daddy made this morning for me.


the beautiful card Ryan made with Daddy's help, the Mother's Day gift (flower pot) he made at school, and the beautiful card Chris gave me

Other highlights of today:

• We went to the Cloister Car Wash to get the Acura cleaned and found out that they were giving FREE carwashes to all the Mom's today! WOOHOO...the car was cleaned for free
• We finally after 2 months of searching, found Ryan his "big boy" furniture. It will be delivered on June 5th! I can't wait to put the finishing touches on his new room.
• Chris made my favorite dinner, roast beef with potatoes and carrots. YUMMY!! I can't get enough of meat and potatoes with this pregnancy.

Thank you Chris and Ryan for giving me a fun filled but also very relaxing day. It truly was wonderful and I love you guys very much. Hugs & Kisses to you both!