November is flying by!

I can't believe I haven't posted on here for almost a month! crazy. I always want to put pictures on and I never get around to it. :( well, a little update..

We are so busy these days. I started helping at a Christian dance studio in our Parish called Leap of Faith. In exchange for my help, Everly is taking her first dance class for free! I know... she's only 20 months old--we've thought about taking her out and doing it next year, but she seems to like it, after she gets over crying when Mommy leaves. The first night we went she was a champ, but her babysitter Emma was there that night helping and she doesn't anymore. The second time Mommy didn't make it back to her room right away and she cried until I got there. The third time there were other babies already crying when we got there, so needless to say she cried and I stayed for a while hoping that she would get into it, especially when they started Tumbling, cause that's her favorite! She can now do a somersault all by herself on our bed! :) very proud.

So, last week we decided I should just drop her off and leave. Her teacher Hope took her and told us that after about 5 minutes of crying she was having fun, pointing her toes and everything! So, we've decided to keep taking her- I help with 11-13 year olds during her class so it all works out. I also go another night to help with the Competition Team and am going to start dancing Modern with some of the older girls. So, it's been fun, a little hectic, and just taking some time to get used to the studio and how things are run.

I didn't grow up in a dance studio so it's all kinda new--we've already done 2 fundraisers! Today was the second-a fashion show and the girls got to go to a local dance store and pick dance attire to model. The moms made a bunch of food that the older girls served before the show started, and Everly modeled a pink tutu! After waiting with all the girls for her turn, she was crying for her mom, but she did a great job walking the runway with Grace, an older girl. Here's a pictures of our little dancer and I put a video on YouTube--check out our new video bar on the left-pretty nifty! :)

Trick-or-Trunk!

It's our third year to be a part of St. Bernard's Trick-or-Trunk, started in 2006 for kids to have some Halloween fun after Katrina. This year our team decided to be super heros and painted some comic book scenes and cutouts to decorate our truck. We had a bunch of candy, but we had over 2000 things of popcorn to hand out too that a friend from here donated! There were a little over 2000 kids, I believe, because the people next to us had 2000 cups to handout and were just a shy short. It was a lot of fun for the kids--we were one of the last vehicles and they were really excited to see a bunch of their favorite super heros in person ;). Here are some pictures from the day that our friend Amanda took.

Here we are- Aaron was Flash, I was Super Girl, and Everly was batgirl! She was really excited to dress up- we had been practicing the batman theme song with batgirl in it for a month now!


Here's our group with our friends: Parish President Craig and local business man Mark.


Our counselor and his wife, Ron and Becky Koval, were Everly's "bat family"! They're daughter is whose wedding Everly is in in December.


This took us over 3 days to do! It was tedious but a lot of creative fun! :)



The kids could take pictures as Wonder Woman (here's Everly)...


...or Super Man! Since I was Super Girl we had to take a picture :)


A lot of the kids wanted to take pictures with us...


...a lot were dressed like us!...


...and some we're afraid of us, especially Lucas as the Thing from the Fantastic Four!


Some of our new friends joined us later in the day as the Incredibles- they are Robert, David, Meghan and Liz- all from Clemson University and living and serving here now at the Methodist Church and coming to the Gathering too.


By the end of the day, Everly was all tuckered out! But not too tired to climb up into the steering wheel!


She looked like she was resting here, but really she is reaching for my phone! sneaky girl :)

One rough day at the park leads to X-rays...

yesterday we were at the park practicing for our cabbage ball game. when we were done and standing around talking, Everly started throwing a ball down the sidewalk and incline to me and then i would throw it back a little way for her to get. unfortunately, she was leaning down at the edge of the sidewalk and fell head first onto the cement. Ow! She was scratched up and upset, so mommy thought it would be good to go to the playground.

Ev loves to slide, and we didn't have much time so we headed up the playground for one quick slide. she slipped again and fell, just upsetting her more. so i grabbed her and headed down the slide. now, this slide was really fast, which scared me a little bit since she was on my lap, and Ev's foot accidently got caught between me and the slide as we went down. It yanked her foot back really quick and she started crying again. I knew it had probably hurt her, but I thought she was more just still upset from falling and probably ready for a nap. When we got home I told Aaron to put her down to make sure she could walk on her foot since and she couldn't! it was such a sad sight seeing my baby limp and cry! I wanted to go to the Urgent Care in town right away, but Aaron thought it would be better to give her a bath, eat dinner, etc.

So, we had our game at 10:30 last night and Everly was spending the night at our counselors home since it was a late game. We thought we'd wait until the morning since her foot didn't swell up or anything, but she still wasn't walking on it. This morning was the same so we called the Dr. and she had us go to Children's Hospital here to have x-rays done. No visible fracture, though they said it could appear in a couple days (baby's are a little different, or maybe the x-ray just didn't catch it). So, now we're just waiting, watching to see if she will try to stand on it, and giving Ibuprofen. Hopefully it's nothing. Please pray that our little one will heal soon so she can run around again!

Road trip!

Well, kinda. We are heading to Indy, Louisville, and Lincoln-- yea! And, we're going to drive through the night to avoid a crazy full day in the car with Everly and with no AC. So, it should be fun. I'm staying up late Tuesday (or Wednesday night, depending on what day we finally decide we're going to leave on) so that I will be prepared to stay up late the next night to drive. And, I guess I will take naps that day when Everly naps. Then, when I get tired Aaron will wake-up and take over. It will be fun!

More than driving, it is going to be fun to see our family and friends! Here are some of the things we're going to do:
-Help my mom with house construction
-Go to South Louisville Christian Church on Sunday
-Go to an apple orchard and pumpkin patch and revel in the fall beauty!
-Go to Riley Days
-See our Dentist
-Talk to ICCC's elders about Aaron's ordination
-Eat at First Wok in Lincoln hopefuly!!!!
-Recruit some interns, maybe
-And see lots of our beloveds!!!

My sister and brother-in-law even arranged to fly out from San Diego the same week so we can see each other, cause they probably won't make it home for Christmas this year. So, this is going to be a great and very full trip! Please pray for our safety and time--we very much appreciate it!

videos!

here's the video of Everly doing the splits, too.


her other favorite thing to do in her bed is to bounce, or as she says, "boun!" this was when we were on our retreat during labor day weekend, and when Gustav came. Grandma Johnson was with us.

our growing girl

okay, here are some new pictures of Everly. they go from most recent to a few weeks ago- you can tell by her hair! it's getting longer, and a little harder to keep out of her eyes. but we're trying to let it grow as long as we can before our first hair cut. we just bought some new barrettes and are ready to start doing some little pigtails when we get some bands!

here Everly is doing her newest talent- the splits! i caught her doing them after a nap one day- she's going to be a gymnast or dancer i think! ;)


I thought she looked pretty precious having her snack, she loves snacks! i put apples in a basket where she can reach them (unintentionally) and she now helps herself to them. she loves this new freedom!


I tried to teach her to drink her milk from her cereal bowl. she loves to do it, but it gets a little messy!


cheese- so happy!


a favorite part of our grocery trip is getting a cookie at the bakery. it's great because then Everly is mesmerized with her yummy and mommy can check out with no problem. however, chocolate chip cookies are a little messy!


another favorite of Everly's is to play with the chalk outside. course, mommy does most of the drawing--everly likes to take the chalk out and put it back in. she's an organizer we think.


here's her wasp sting from a couple weeks ago- her little foot was all swollen!


mommy let her play with her phone as a comfort after the sting. she loves the phone, or as she says, "hone."

God, Gustav

well, if you haven't heard our plans for the storm yet, here they are:
Our staff was already planning a staff retreat for this weekend, so we are heading to a prayer retreat center about 2 1/2 hours northwest of here tomorrow. we were planning on staying until Monday noon, but the owners, who have been awesome, have told us we can stay as long as we need to. and, we are now bringing the 3 kiddos and two nannies, a good friend and our mother Leah. so, we should have a good weekend.

we met to pray tonight and we can already see how God has provided for our needs so much! there is so much excitement here with everyone nervous about another big storm, so it was a crazy day getting ready to leave and talking to neighbors, getting our oil changed, going to the bank, etc. well, it's time to do the last bit of packing--thank you for your prayers already and please remember this area as Gustav continues it's trek.
lots of love-
the Johnsons :)

creative genius

...right before this she was attacking the vacuum which is pretty funny since she used to be terrified by it. and, she is loving learning new words right now, isn't she cute?!

our excitement

well, yesterday, Everly and I were outside after it had rained. I thought she was leaning down to play with the water from the down spout when she suddenly jerked--she was playing with a wasp instead! the mean ol' thing stung her in the little pinky toe and she was pretty uncomfortable for a few minutes, crying- but not too bad. I think she's a trooper, really. the funny thing is that i was filming her at the time but let her play with the camera afterward to distract her from the pain and she deleted the footage!

then, today, i went over to our neighbors' home early this morning to be with the girls while Nick left for work and Danielle still had to finish and come home. While i was there i took the dog out and their neighbor, who i've never met, started talking to me. He was looking for Nick because someone stole his van last night! well, nick and danielle have a video surveillance camera and it caught it all on tape! so, that's what i did this morning. it was kinda scary, kinda fun playing detective. the bad thing is, they person who did it wasn't in a car- a bike, then foot, so there is not way to identify him. but they are giving the footage to the police detective who will take this case from me... hehehe! i did drive around the neighborhood a little today looking for it cause the guy probably lived close since he rode up on a bike, and then walked back. the bad thing was that they had left their van unlocked, with the keys in it, and had it packed full of their stuff because they were heading to Houston this morning for 2-3 months! eek. not good. later i went back to see if they needed anything- they're from Bangladesh, well, have lived in the states for a while. the husband was easy to understand and said he grew up in MS. they're really nice and have three girls- 2 who are in TX with their mom. so, hopefully we will get to know them more- I told them i would love to have some yummy Bangladesh food when they are back. but, they still are finishing their home, so maybe we can help them with that too.

okay, that was long. it is always exciting to meet international people- makes my heart happy. :) besides these excitements, we have been enjoying the olympics--Aaron's parents were here this weekend and we watched the opening ceremony and some of the games with them. how fun, and inspiring! which reminds me, i am starting the fall soccer season this week! yea!!!

a God moment

We had one of those God moments tonight. We decided to go for a walk to see if it was our neighbor's brother's trailer that burnt down today. It's about two blocks away, and when we headed down the street we saw some other people checking it out. We started talking to them, and it turned out that they lived across the street. They confirmed that it was our neighbor's brother's trailer, an electric problem they thought. As we kept talking and told them who we were, the wife, Melanie, asked about our counseling because she had seen it in the paper and was interested in it. She told me later that her 18 year old boy had just died a month ago, and that she also had a 4 day old boy die just days before Katrina happened. Her husband turned out to work at a sign shop- no kidding. So, Aaron and him talked a little about that. They also had a 13 year old, Shane, who didn't say much, and a 19 month old, Justin. Everly warmed up to Justin after a while, mostly cause she really wanted his football that he wasn't about to give up! and he didn't want her pink bouncy ball. Well, Lindley, the husband, said he goes to the Lutheran church in town and they knew the lady that we know who goes there and lives a block from them... and so forth. Anyway, we traded information and will hopefully have play dates and more connections with the counseling and church stuff too! What a neat thing when something happens in your life that you can see the finger prints of God on!

you know you're a mom when...

... the most exciting part of your day is your toddler peeing in her potty training toilet for the first time!

like my sister-in-law, i am making my own one of these statements!

we got the potty the other day from our friends, washed it up and tried to teach Everly what it was for. She knows what poo-poo is--i started teaching her that so she would begin to be ready for potty training. and, she doesn't like to be dirty! so, today we have taken a couple restroom breaks. both times, after a little waiting, she was able to pee! I know this might be weird/gross for some, but it's amazing to see someone so little grasp something like this, absolutely amazing. and exciting! I know it will take a while for Everly to be fully trained, but i think starting early is going to be good.

:)

more of Ev

bathtime pigtails! our camera was being funny...

afterward Daddy let her roam the house naked and she rode her butterfly! heheh

Ev loves to open the door, close the door, open, close, and so forth!

she's becoming a big girl! we moved her to the table and use our beloved place mat!

her new play kitchen- a $5 purchase from our little thrift store in town. now she just needs some play food and maybe a grocery cart. oh, and maybe a doll high chair cause she is such a girly girl and loves her dolls! we gave her a rag with her kitchen and she came into the living room and washed our hands and legs for us--i think she'll be a great mommy some day!

the kitchen in is the corner of our kitchen so she can cook with me. we actually made banana bread together the other day and she never got bored! I let her pour the measurements and stir a little. she liked that she got to see all that was going on. and when i handed her the bananas to put in she started to eat it, but then put them all in the bowl like mommy told her to. what a good little helper! and good self-control since bananas are her favorite!

life in pictures

for Aaron's birthday, we went to a Zephyrs game with some of our friends

the gang enjoying some baseball food- Aaron, Brandon, Ryan, Amanda

Becky and Ron Koval- Ron is the Gathering counselor and Becky teaches reading. Brandon is going to be their new son-in-law this December- Everly's in his and Megan's wedding, and so is Aaron.

Yum, chili-cheese hot dog

If only she would have sat like this the whole time! We had to roam a bit and found a playground that was a little too big for her to play on, but she was super excited. We had a lot of fun at the game though, with 1/2 price tickets and a surprise to Aaron :)


We have gotten to swim over at the Koval's house- Everly has learned to hold her breath under water!



Aaron and I went on a spontanious date night, thanks to our neighbor watching Everly. We went to the coolest hotel downtown that shows free movies by their pool. it is such a pretty area- a great place to have a wedding!


stars hanging for the trees

where the cars pull in to the hotel parking

i must post, i must post....

okay, every day i come to this blog and am just tired of being on the computer checking email and doing other odds and ends. there are just too many things in the day that something has to give! so, i dont know if i'll get any pics up--i posted the rest from our trip to Indy on facebook, and i think that's it for those.

anyway, we are keeping busy here. I (shauna) am helping with our summer Kids Camp that goes for 4 weeks. so far, Aaron has stayed home a couple mornings and kept everly, and one day Everly came with me for a few hours. I'm helping with the kindergarten/1st grade class, which is crazy! a lot of these kids come from rough homes so we do a lot of disciplining, but we have a lot of fun, too! A family from Indian Creek came down to help with camp for 2 weeks- the Denny's. Eric and Marcy have 6 kids and they are a great bunch! it's been fun having them around. and i think they are enjoying their adventurous mission trip of living at the middle school!

aaron's been doing a lot too--as always! he's at the bowling alley right now. he said they had to repair a piece of roof that came off, and i think they're getting ready for some volunteers to do a little work on it too. he's also been helping a lady that lives down the street from us who is trying to rebuild her house. she's a Christian and she has been through a lot! her husband died a couple years before the storm and when she left for Katrina she was in a bad car accident- had to have wrist surgery i believe. sometimes we find it strange when someone moves back and has no family here, or much else to move back to, but i think her biggest reason is because her husband built their house. so, without any other items left to remember him by, i think she is trying to hold on to the house for that reason. Aaron has also been becoming quite the tiler. he has been helping another small Church body help a lady with the tile in her house. and i'm sure he's doing more- he always has so much going on that i can't always keep up with it!

well, that's all for this post. Everly is as cute as ever- her hair is getting long and she is getting smarter. we'll have some new pics up soon, i promise!

it's cold up here!

i love indiana mornings.
we woke up at 5:45 this morning to the sounds of birds chirping and a cool breeze coming through the windows. The sun was rising slowly and it was just beautiful coming through the trees. i don't have the luxury of this at home and being here makes me miss it. i love green, the grass in my toes and the shade of a tree!
well, it may be summer here, but they just got a cold front in and it's chilly! to us atleast. we have jeans on and my feet are a little cold. poor everly, mom didn't pack her jeans and socks because we haven't used them in months! but, she doesn't seem to mind. she has a new outfit on today, too, from Grandma Johnson- at little skirt and top duo. so cute.
anyway, we've been able to see most of our family so far and are enjoying our schedule falling into place. everly only had one short nap yesterday, but slept hard at night and is finishing her first nap today! love the flexible baby! :) here's some pictures from yesterday.
opening presents with Grandpa

Everly loves baby Keturah!

holding a daisy with Nana

kisses from Aunt Satora

our friend Tammy came to see us

cousin Audrina tries to teach Everly how to say puppy correctly :)

promised pictures

some recent photos:
for Father's day we made a scavenger hunt with some gifts for Daddy. his card from Everly, for instance, was in the paper!


Aaron got Everly to help him while he was changing his oil


we had to wash the oil out of her hair that night!


we enjoy our night time hugs and books with Everly


she's so sweet when she's sleepy!


Everly and I took a weekend trip to see our friend Claudia who's in Birmingham for the summer. It was soooo nice to go somewhere so green and pretty and to be with a good friend!


Everly and I at one of the B-ham malls.


a couple of just Everly: in her shades...


and taking the shades off!


a great wake-up hello!