Having a Dell of a time

Every year when the rest of the country is starting to warm up and my non-Wisconsin friends are all blogging about taking their kids to the park, we have to do something to keep us from crying about the 16 degrees that is still showing on our weather forecast. So...we go to Wisconsin Dells.

Wisconsin Dells is a tiny town a few hours away with nothing but hotels and indoor water parks. This year we got a condo that was almost identical to the one we had last year but we had a slightly different cast. The Harrises and the Hesses have both moved away. (Waaah!)

Our returning families from last year included...

The Johnsons, that's us! We love the Dells. Our kids love the Dells. Seth is the one who plans and organizes the trip each year and we truly look forward to it all year.

The Mortons. Jared and Katelin are super fun adventurous people. They are always game for anything. They are a blast to be around even if Jared did call me, Jen and Emily dumpster garbage (hee,hee...you shall never live that down). The Morton kids, however do not love adventure (they are still fun though). John was bribed into going on a few slides and poor Sara was too sick to do much of anything.

The Vanyperens. The Vanyperen kids were also not crazy about the slides. They did warm up to the water though and had fun crawling around or hanging on the lazy river. We were afraid this might be their last trip to the Dells with us because JJ is just finishing podiatry school, but they got offered a residency in KY this week so they will only be 6 hours away and they have promised to come back and continue the Dells tradition with us...YAY!!!

And new this year...The Hawleys. The Hawleys moved here last summer and we are having lots of fun getting to know them. Their girls LOVED the water. I think Mimi was the last man standing, or should I say sliding, at the end of the trip. Jen is pregnant so she missed a lot of sliding but we had lots of fun chatting and hanging out and she is our new secret weapon for board games, because she killed the guys! Of course the Hawleys are in the military so they will only be here 3 years. I told you , everyone moves. But we still have 2 more years with them at the Dells.

Anyhow, we all had lots of fun. Alyssa and Alex never slowed down for a minute at the water parks. We also had a lot of fun eating too much and sleeping very little. We stayed up late and played and chatted and laughed really hard. It is always fun to have friends you are comfortable enough with to be obnoxious.

By the time we left yesterday afternoon we were all so tired. I was afraid Seth wouldn't be able to stay awake for the drive home. I usually stay awake to talk to him but I could not keep my eyes open. When we got home we were so excited to just rest.

But...as I got Chloe out of her carseat she puked all over herself. So I came in and bathed all 3 kids and got them ready for bed. Then we threw our wet and puky clothes in the washing machine. A few minutes later what sounded like someone bowling in the basement, turned out to be our washing machine dying a loud and painful death. So, as tired as Seth was he took the clothes down to the laundromat. I put the kids to bed and about 20 minutes later I heard Alyssa crying. She puked all over my bed, and her Snuggie! I called Seth to come get our bedding but the laundromat was getting ready to close, so I tried to wash the bedding in the bathtub but all I managed to do was spread the puke chunks around and make everything even nastier.

So now I am home with my puky little girls and Seth and Alex are at church. But here are LOTS of pictures of Wisconsin Dells 2009. This is the first year we have pictures because Seth found out they make waterproof digital cameras and could not live without one of his own.

Where we stayed and NO it did not look like that outside. It looked like ugly winter. I found this pic online. My kids holding hands. They are always best friends at the Dells...I love it! Alex Alyssa Mike and Annie in the wave pool Chillin on the lazy river Alex going under a waterfall Alex in the hot tub Mike and his girls The Mortons The Hawleys Seth's super sexy underwater shot Alyssa Alex wipes out! No more water! Just Chooch Al and Chloe on the lazy river We ended our trip with our traditional stop at Cracker Barrel and Garrett sat at the table and did what I think we all felt like doing. Here is a fantastic video that I took of me, Emily and Katelin on The Hurricane. The water that you see at the end is me falling into the water and under the raft. Moral of the story: Hold on with both hands while riding the Hurricane.

Exercise Update

Since I declared my intentions to start exercising 3 weeks ago now I thought I would update the few of you who may care.

So week one I almost made it, with 4 days of exercise. Week 2 I only went on the treadmill twice and even then I was not focused at all and got off after 20 minutes...so that's an F for week 2, or maybe a D-. The third week I actually hit my goal of 5 workouts, two at the bar and 3 on the treadmill.

Now with Wisconsin Dells just days away I look 0% better than I did 3 weeks ago but I am kind of proud of my lame start to working out. I am usually an all or nothing person which means I work out 2 hours a day and stress out about every calorie, or I eat like a pig and steer clear of all things exercise.

This time I am only working out for 30 minutes and I am not even thinking about what I am eating. I am trying not to be perfect because then I know I will fail. Some exercise must be better than no exercise, right?

And on a somewhat related note....Am I the only flat chested person in the world? I don't think that I am but for some reason they don't seem to make any swimsuits that cover and camouflage a flat chest. I have looked everywhere and I am now considering just purchasing a wet suit. When I was trying on suits Alyssa was kind enough to remind me that they all made my butt look "even bigger than usual" as well. Great! I wasn't even thinking about my butt. I am now!

Hangin' with the Rat

Last night Seth had a banquet after work so I decided to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner.

While we were driving there Alyssa said, "Mommy I hope you went to Chuck E Cheese. com to print money saving coupons." That kid is a walking commercial!

We had lots of fun. I had to carry Chloe the whole time since she won't walk and it is too chaotic in there for a stroller but even I got in on the action and played some one armed air hockey and ski ball.

Chloe Lately

Since Chloe is now 14 months old I thought I would do a little update post.

With 2 teeth to her name, Chloe is officially our early teether. She got one right at 13 months and the next one just a few days later. The other two monkeys got one at 14 months and the second at 18 months. Maybe Chloe will have more than 4 1/2 teeth on her 2nd birthday.

I was trying to get a big smile so you could see Chloe's teeth so I leaned around the camera and made a face at her. So she leaned around the camera and made a face at me...

But then she smiled, or laughed at herself actually.



Another thing Chloe does that Alex and Alyssa did not is go to sleep on her own. Our other kids could not be put down until they were sound asleep for 20 minutes at least. Ever since Chloe quit nursing she just tells me NiNi when she is tired and I lay her down and she SLEEPS. We are loving that!

Chloe is also talking. Not like Alyssa the freakishly early talker but far more than Alex who I am convinced talked late because me and Alyssa never let him get a word in.

She says all of our names, kind of. Mama, Dada, Al and Dee (what Alex used to call Alyssa) Some of my other favorite words include balloon, baby, diaper, and thank you (which is used to express gratitude AND to say "give me that please").

So what is our little genius not doing these days??? Walking!

A few weeks ago we caught her walking from couch to couch a few times but as soon as she knew she was caught she stopped trying. We got a few steps on camera and I think that made her really mad. She refuses to put her feet under her now when we try to put her down.

So stubborn!

It actually cracks me up because I didn't walk until I was 18 months old. My dad always tells me that when I finally walked I did it perfectly on the first try. I bet I was practicing in private because you all know I hate to be seen doing anything I am not good at. So practice away Chloe, no rush.

Proof that I can walk but I don't want you to know so please destroy this tape so Mommy can't embarass me with it. Thanks, Chloe

Celebrity Crushes

I was trying to post a video of Chloe but my computer is not happy about that so in the meantime let's look at Dennis Rodman, shall we?




Many of you already know that Dennis Rodman was my #1, all time hottest celebrity crush. I even had framed pictures of him in my room. Keep in mind that I hate clutter and I don't even have many pictures of my kids out, so if there were pictures out then it was LOVE.

I haven't thought about Dennis much in recent years. It didn't end well between us. As devoted as I was, he somehow never even knew that I existed, so I moved on.

Then on Sunday night I flipped on the TV to make sure Brothers and Sisters was set to Tivo and who should my eyes behold plastered across the TV screen? Dennis Rodman on Celebrity Apprentice. I ran to tell Seth but he was not interested. He didn't even humor me by pretending.

The show was quite lame but I may have to watch until Dennis gets fired. I already sat through a whole torturously awful season of Celebrity Mole when he was on it.

Anyhow, I don't think I will be getting my old pictures out but it is good to see that Dennis is still HOT!

And speaking of celebrity crushes, Seth's first and most serious celebrity crush was Elle Macpherson. He carried a picture of her around with him which I thought was cute until I googled pictures of her...she is rarely fully dressed. Perhaps I should ask to see which picture he carried.




And when Alyssa was about 3 or 4 she saw a couple minutes of Titanic on TV and kept asking who Jack was. Later she told me that when she grew up she wanted to be Rose so that she could marry Jack.



Alex doesn't seem to understand crushes yet. He says he is going to marry me in 60 days when he is grown up and Seth is old.

So, now it's your turn. Who is your celebrity crush???

Snuggie LOVE

If you haven't read my last post (Do you want a Snuggie?) be sure to read that one first.

Not more than an hour after Alyssa expressed her desire for a Snuggie, her daddy (who apparently lives around her finger) was asking me where he could get one. I told him I saw one at the grocery store and he said he was going to go look for it. Just ten minutes earlier he had told Alyssa she would get $1 for cleaning the basement and she could do some other projects until she earned it.

Why the sudden urgency? Oh because Alyssa is very persuasive. She was quoting him fun facts from the infomercial and batting her eyes and NO ONE can resist Alyssa's charm. Seriously, you try.

So Alyssa is now a proud Snuggie owner. As soon as she got it she made sure to tell us it was just as warm and cozy as the ad promised it would be, and that it was also perfect for kids and adults. All said in her cheesy infomercial voice.

After a few minutes of Snuggie bliss she said she needed a sandwich. When I said she didn't need a sandwich because it was almost bedtime she reminded me that, "The snuggie keeps your hands free for eating. It's perfect for s'mores outdoors." You might think I am making all of this up but if you know Alyssa then you can probably picure her saying all of this silly stuff.

Then when it was time for bed, Alyssa quickly pretended to be asleep on the couch in hopes that we would leave her there in Snuggie heaven. How do I know she wasn't really sleeping? Because when I got the camera out to take a picture she was facing the back of the couch and she promptly turned to face the camera, all while keeping her eyes closed and trying not to grin.

Alright feel free to criticize our parenting and call our kids spoiled now. It is just so fun to see our kids smile that we can't help it sometimes.


How did I ever live with just a plain old blanket?

Hallelujah for the Snuggie!

Fake sleeping

Do You Want a Snuggie?

Apparently Alyssa does.

She just came running upstairs waving this piece of paper saying, "I got it, I got it. I got the number for Snuggie. I didn't have time to put the dashes in but I remember where they go."



Evidently she has been dying to get the number for Snuggie and she can never get a piece of paper and pen before the commercial is over. But today she got it. She is now frantically cleaning the basement to earn money for her Snuggie...too funny.

Soon this will be us.

Sophistication and Sabotage

Sophisticated?

Okay so a few of you called me sophisticated after my last post. WOW! I never thought I would fit that bill. I have read a lot but I don't consider myself super bright and certainly not sophisticated although don't worry, the suggestion didn't offend me.

I just like to read, that's all. I have read plenty of unsophisticated garbage. Once upon a time my favorite author was VC Andrews. I think I read the Flowers in the Attic series 5 times in its entirety.

Also, some of my most cherished books are Children's Literature. That was my favorite class in college because I got to sit and read children's fiction all day. I love Newbery Award books and I plan to own all of them in hardcover someday. I know they are written for 10 year olds but I have never stopped loving them.

I just like words. I like to talk. I like to read and I like to write. I fantasize about being a writer someday. Just a childhood dream that I could never quite shake but I know that the reality is that I am just a HUGE fan of the art.

Sabotoged!

And now for Seth's sabotage of my "look hot for the Dells plan". I thought we were going to Wisconsin Dells in late April or early May but Seth and his buddies just decided on March 12th. I don't think 2 weeks is enough time to get bathing suit ready so I am going to have to go with the fake tan look instead.

I thought about using this as a way to abandon my get in shape plan. I also considered my exhaustion from caring for sick children all week as a suitable out but I am trying to stick with it. Honestly, if I give in to my excuses this week I will find replacement excuses next week. So I've been on the treadmill twice and at the bar once. I still have to do each one, one more time this week. It looks like I will be pulling double duty tomorrow to stay on track.

What Have You Read?

The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, has estimated that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. How do you do?


1) Look at the list and color those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Remark on the books you LOVE.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen After starting this one a million times I finally got through it and I like her writing but her stories have always been predictable and hard to get caught up in, for me.
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling I am not sure why these are on the list...I like them but top 100, what?
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee LOVE IT!
6 The Bible. LOVE IT...except for the begats but I read those too
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell read this one lots of times...a favorite
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens Started it and never finished...not a Dickens fan
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott Can you be a girl and not read Little Women. As a kid I remember wanting a super nice copy and it was $50 and I thought that was so much money that I wouldn't be able to afford it until I was retired so I would just pick it up and covet every time I went to the bookstore.
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller started this one many times. It is my brother Jeff's favorite but I can never get into it?
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare-No, but I have read LOTS of them
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier this is another one I read often...I LOVE it and the movie is okay too if you are not a reader.
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger Of course, and I love it.
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger I keep trying to borrow this from the library but it is ALWAYS checked out.
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot .
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Another one of my brother Jeff's favorites and I like it but not LOVE
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh.
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky I have tried this one lots too but I always put it down at some point.
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck I am re-reading this one right now...you know I love Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll Yes, and it is so NOT a kids book. I feel like it took me inside the mind of a crazy person.
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy I love this one. One of the best opening lines in any book.
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis A few times and I am sure I will read it a few more
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis Yep, but didn't we already say that?
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini I just read that one a couple weeks ago. I liked it because it took me into a world so much different from the one I know and made me very grateful for where I live. The story was predictable to me but I still really liked it.
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden I LOVE it. I've read it 3-4 times.
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne Of course...I love all things Winnie the Pooh, oh except for cheesy lame baby clothes.
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell LOVE it, but 1984 is better
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown I love this one too but steer clear of the movie. Super clever and interesting but again, Angels and Demons is better
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery I read this as a kid and I liked it but I am going to re-read it with Alyssa soon
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi -Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck More LOVE!
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Well written, but wow, it is disturbing...another one in that category is In Cold Blood...so disturbing but so well done.
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Okay, speaking of disturbing...I read the first chapter of this and felt physically ill. I have never picked it up again and I will never forget that horrific first chapter. I hear it is awesome but I can't go near it.
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett Good book, but I saw the musical in London and it was too lame for me.
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce Someday.
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens The one Dickens book I finished, but still NO love from me
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker Another good one
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White I didn't read this until college in a Children's Lit class and I don't know how I missed it during childhood...SO GOOD!
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom I tried to borrow that one at the library too and it is checked out but I did read For One More Day and I think I am a Mitch Albom fan now.
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams.
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo Love it, the musical and the book...and I am wondering why Hunchback of Notre Dame is not on this list??? That one is maybe even better than Les Mis

I have seen this on a few blogs that I read so I thought I would see how well read I am? I did better than the average of 6 (34, and I think I should get partial credit for reading almost all of Shakespeare's works) but I am not even half way to the 100 mark. I would like to see a list of the top 100 books ever written, not just the top 100 that have been printed because Harry Potter? Seriously? How do you get any points from The National Endowment for the Arts for that? I know, I am a book snob.

It's GO Time!

Every Monday since I had Alex (over 4 years ago) I have said that I was going to start working out. A few times I have even attempted to follow through but I never seem to make it past Wednesday if I try at all.

I want to get in shape! I am sick of being a slave to my body. I know, I am thin and no one wants to hear the skinny girl cry about her weight, but I want to take better care of myself.

I have SERIOUS food issues. I have been blessed and cursed with a good metabolism. Believe me, I don't want it to slow down but it has kept me from taking care of myself. I will eat a package of Oreos for breakfast and half a pan of brownies for lunch just because I can but it is abusive to my body and my spirit and so I want to stop.

This sounds so stupid, but one of the reasons it is hard to stop is because it is part of my identity. Have you ever heard a smoker say that they wouldn't know who they were without the cigarettes? I totally know what they mean. I am an eater. That is not all that I am but it is part of my identity and therefore hard to let go of.

But I want to set an example, for my kids and for other people that I love who are slaves to their appetites as well. I absolutely do believe that food is addictive and I know too many people who are suffering because they share my vice.

So, I am saying it OUT LOUD this time, and not on a Monday because that hasn't worked for me. I am going to take better care of myself. I am not going on "a diet". But I am going to try to limit how much dessert I make and eat. I am also going to exercise...UGH!!! I hate exercise.

But I am going to do it. I begged for a treadmill and a ballet bar a year ago and it is time to dust them off and put them to use. I will be using the treadmill 3 times a week and starting out with the couch potato to 5k plan that my friend Katelin found. Two days a week I will be using my ballet bar to stretch and tone.

We are gearing up for our annual trip to Wisconsin Dells, an indoor waterpark resort town. Last year all my friends looked awesome and I looked "good for someone who just had a baby". This year I want to look just plain GOOD!

So, if you see me ask how my workouts are going. And if you want to join me, then jump in.


Alright, Chloe is napping so I have to go jump on the treadmill...I'll keep you all posted even if I fail and have to start over next week.

Our little island paradise...

I just got a CD in the mail with the pictures we took on Balboa Island over Christmas break. We are not really locals on the island but we all like to pretend we are, or at least honorary islanders. We spent so much of our childhood there.

Sometimes we rented a beach house 3 different times in one summer, once with my dad, once with my mom and once with Nonnie and Papa (my grandparents). When I think of the things and people I love in life, Balboa Island is often featured in my memory.

Walking around the island at night with a yummy treat and chatting with Nonnie is one of the things I miss most. I am so lucky that so many of my island walking buddies still love to go out there every time we get the chance so that we can reminisce and make new memories.

We have houses picked out for each of us to live in one day so that we can all walk around the island together every day. We're just waiting to see who gets rich first and brings our dream to life.

Just Johnsons: I am not sure Seth is as fascinated with Balboa as the rest of us are but he has fun going out and I have fun telling my kids about growing up there. They had a good laugh this year when I told them that me and my brother Jeff tried to sell mudpies there one year. We didn't know why no one bought any. We thought we were so clever. Everyone was selling seashells; we were the only ones on the beach with mud???

The next generation of "islanders"...Alex, Alyssa, Chloe and Luke

Luke's beautiful face

My sisters...Me and Kelly are in the back and Valerie and Kristen are up front

The material for the sitcom that I will someday write. Back row: Seth, Dave (Val's husband), Steven, Glenn, Mom, Jeff, Middle: Alex, me, Kelly, Chloe, Valerie, Luke and Kristen Going solo in the front: Alyssa the superstar

All of us in front of Dad's where you have to go every night for a Balboa bar, frozen banana or a yummy hippo cookie...oh, or maybe a bon bon cookie, or heck, just get one of each.

The whole crew again on the bridge you cross to enter the island.

Siblings....I LOVE this picture!!! Left to right, in birth order: Jeff, Julie, Valerie, Kelly Kristen, and Steven

Us again...same order.

My cute contributions to the family tree!