Aaron & Ashley Visit

I'm always grateful that Aaron & Ashley like us enough to spend a few of their precious Johnson family Christmas days with us! And this year I actually remembered to take some pictures!

These three are actually pretty awful at Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, but they don't need to know.

Practicing paper-chopping karate skills with Aunt Ashley

Seth opts for the arm chop instead of the leg chop

As a special gift, Aaron decided to get (yet ANOTHER) case of Hand, Foot & Mouth disease just in time to be contagious while Elliot & Annie were here:

In true Aaron fashion, it had to be the absolute weirdest case of HFAM ever. Instead of the usual tiny blisters, he had these nasty sores. He also got absolutely NO blisters in his mouth and barely any on his hands & feet. Basically, he looked super gross but really had a mild case. Last time he had it so bad he couldn't eat or walk. My other kids get a fever and maybe a couple of blisters...

He shared with a couple of cousins over the holidays, but no one else got his weird version...sigh...

Mid-December Fun

In co-op this year I teach Elise's class (mostly fun science-type stuff) and Aaron's class (music). Both classes have some energetic souls in them, so I come home quite worn out. But my kids LOVE their friends and we do have a lot of fun in class!

Jingle bell sticks with Elise's class

(Owyn, Aria, Bennett, Cassie, Elise & Peter)

Enjoying the (cold) sunshine with Aaron's class

(Bethany, Aaron, Azylin, Olivia & Aria)

I love how he's always with the girls...

Aaron's class singing Jingle Bells

Bethany, Aaron, Cole, Olivia, Azylin, Bentley, Asher, Caleb, Judah & Caiden

We also did our annual gingerbread houses with the Knoxes. I didn't take too many pictures this year because, really, the houses aren't all that different from year to year. Plus I'm trying to be more focused on enjoying the moment. But I did snap some of Aaron & Elise!

You know your friends really love you when they not only REMEMBER that you like chocolate chip cookies with no chocolate chips, they actually MAKE you some and deliver them to your house!

December in Primary:

Seth is center back, looking like a doofus.
Catherine is center, not looking at the camera (purple coat)
Aaron is just in front of and to the right of Catherine.
At least one of my children was cooperative.

Also, so strange to think this is Seth's last picture in Primary!

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

One time, I needed a coat/bodysuit for Elijah. Obviously the only option worth considering involved looking like a giant teddy bear. When the package finally arrived, we had to have a photoshoot (even though it ended up being too small):

I ordered a size larger since you are apparently not fitting in size 9-12 months. We tried to do another adorable Elijah-bear shoot, but you were NOT HAVING IT:

Thankfully whatever issues you had with your new bear/koala/mouse suit have subsided and you've been nice and toasty warm during our outside time!

Seth Growing Up

Ah, my Seth Man.

I don't have as many pictures of you because they'd mostly all look the same: you sitting in front of your laptop. I'm constantly torn between a desire to let you be on there creating (you're designing a Roblox game, you're writing a blog, you're typing rules for your new game) and worrying because sitting at a computer all day is not good for anyone. So I waver back and forth in my expectations. Sorry!

But you really are very much a computer guy, like your father/grandfather/uncles. Thankfully you're also enjoying playing basketball with the Young Men, taking a stroke & turn class at the community college, and loving the homeschool PE class we go to. You can also outrun me now, which was a very weird experience as a mother. 

At your 11 year checkup you were 5 ft. 2 in. You're also within 5 lbs of my weight (which, granted, is low right now thanks to nursing Elijah). Your feet are bigger than mine and we wear the same size Tshirts. Crazy. You're 90th percentile for weight, 95th for height. Despite being one of the younger boys, you're almost the tallest. I'm curious if you'll stay tall or end up staying put at a young age like Grandpa Russell. 

Despite being the oldest, you have 100% embraced the role of the 'pesterer.' If you're around and bored, someone (usually Elise or Aaron) is screaming. I've tried it all: sending you to your room for a break, making you do their chores, sending you outside to run off the energy, assigning you extra work or schoolwork...nothing seems to be effective. Fingers crossed this is a phase that you'll grow out of soon...

That being said, you have been my most amazing helper with Elijah. You love him so much and often take pity on him when I don't. He loves you in return and gives you huge smiles when you come to pick him up. You love getting him out of his crib after he wakes up. You love watching him while I cook or teach a sibling. You've even started changing his diapers. I'm so, so grateful for all your help!

One of my favorite things you've done recently is creating your own game. It's called Boom Boom Balls and is a mashup of Exploding Kittens and some kind of Battle Arena game. It's actually pretty fun to play! You put a lot of effort into creating the rules and illustrating the cards. I love it! Game designer is one of the career plans you're currently tossing around. 

Enjoying your campout with Dad and the 11-year-old Scouts

Showing off the shark blanket you sewed in class.

You LOVE sewing class and your teacher loves you!

Watching you grow up is both exciting and depressing. I can't believe how fast the years have gone. Thank you for your constant helpfulness and easygoing nature. 

Catherine Daughter

My little Catherine artist!

It's funny: I've always thought of you as shy, but the older you get the more I realize that you're not shy at all. You're just selective of who you want to spend time with. You also really enjoy making people laugh. Now I feel like I need to recalculate everything I assume about you and your interactions. I love it. 

Some things are still the same. You still love art in all its forms, but most especially painting, drawing and clay. You're still offended by princesses and dolls (and have written off friends who play dolls with Elise instead of doing art with you). And you're still sporting the Skeletor look, as Aunt Bubba calls it. At 8.5 years old you were 4 ft. 4 in (60th) and 47 lbs (5th). But at least you're actually ON the chart for weight now!

With your bat pumpkin carving and your award from Activity Days

Yep.

Still loving on all the insects. 

You spent the evening making videos of you three racing down the stairs on your bellies.

Hanging out with Emma, your "big sister" and favorite entertainment.

More art! Elise is always happy to join in your creating.

You've finally decided to occasionally be interested in braiding and/or 'doing' my hair.

For science you watched a video on how sugar was made and were entranced. From then on it was nothing but sugar for you! We ended the semester with a tasting survey of various types of sugar. Everyone had a blast trying all these kinds of sugar:

I leave my sewing machine out all the time just so you can whip something out when the mood strikes you. At Christmas you headed upstairs and whipped up this adorable snowman:

You're still my strong-willed, independent child who would prefer to do it herself and fail rather than let me explain. But once you decide to do something, you're in 100% (cooking, sewing, art, sugar, whatever). I'm so grateful to have you, my Catherine Cat!

Aaron, My Best Friend

Yes, after all these years, you are still my best friend. If given the option I think you would snuggle next to me all day. Sadly for both of us, snuggles are a rare thing these days. Between Elijah and Elise there's not much room for Aaron on my lap. 

Thankfully you have recently decided that games are lots of fun and will happily play with me or your siblings. Your current favorites are Exploding Kittens and Zeus on the Loose. 

At your 6 year old check up in October, you were 3 ft. 9 in. and 37 lbs.  I was shocked that you were in the third percentile for weight--that's something I expect from Catherine! Guess you're going to be a skinny mini, too. 

For several months we were obliged to participate in daily (often hourly or minutely) sessions of the Aaron "Would you rather?" game. It goes something like this:

-"Would you rather have a ruby or a diamond?"

-"Would you rather have a million dollars or a million rubies?"

-"Would you rather have an iPad or get your arms chopped off?"

Etc., etc. etc. 

Another favorite Aaron-ism: you singing "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep." Instead of the line, "Have you any wool?", you sing "D'you have any wool?" It's the best. I made sure I got it on video for posterity. 

Best Aaron story ever: It was the evening of Trunk or Treat and we were getting ready to go home. We'd taken both cars, so Dad drove his car and I drove the van. As I was loading you in, you kept asking if you could eat your candy. I said I didn't care, but Daddy said, "No. You've had plenty already." You kept asking and I kept saying yes, while Dad said no. The whole way home you agonized over eating your candy, despite my assurances that I was fine with it. Finally, as we pulled into the driveway you burst out, "The prophet said to listen your parents, but I don't know which one to listen to!" Timmy and I were dying of laughter. 

Another day you wanted to do an "experiment". For some reason, all experiments at our house must involve water and food coloring. You also asked for some black beans. When Dad questioned what exactly you thought you would get by combining red food coloring, water & beans, you answered, "Umm, red, wet, beans??"

I can't even remember what this was from, but it shows your sudden interest in writing. In true Aaron form, you went from zero writing to "nothing but writing" in the course of one day:

From a social media post in October: 

"Last night I asked the kids to each grab a bedtime story for me to read. Elise and Catherine happily grabbed some Halloween picture books. Not Aaron. He returned with this book and his Mohs Scale of Hardness chart. We snuggled up and read all about gems while he charted each one on the scale. His love language is still numbers."

In a similar vein, you've been taking spelling lessons with Sister Bente once a week. Because she's amazing, she's been using gems to help you learn. She even bought you a geode to crack open! 

You were very disappointed that none of the gems inside were worth thousands of dollars and quickly lost all interest. Luckily Elise didn't care about the market value and was happy to keep your rejects:

Smashing up a tiny geode piece:

You earned 30 "attitude points" for school and were so excited to go on a date with me. You picked Red Robin on your big siblings' recommendation. I loved getting to chat with you and watching you quickly snatch up all the mushrooms and blue cheese that fell out of my burger when I took a bite. You have excellent taste in food. 

You still love math and are only about 6 months behind Catherine in your comprehension. It makes my life easier because then I can just work on multiplication with both of you! 

You love finding out new facts about numbers. Current obsession is with ever-decreasing intervals of time (seconds, nanoseconds, microseconds, picoseconds...). 

I sure love all your Aaronisms (especially your crazy hair)! 

The Lady Baby

Oh, little Elise Lady,

In Irish folklore there's what's known as the "fair folk." Basically, they're (often beautiful) little people with magical powers who will totally wreak havoc as soon as your back is turned. I'm pretty sure your DNA is at least 80% fair folk. You're either the most adorable, sweet little snuggle bug or you're rampaging through the house leaving a series of disasters in your wake. 

Related: none of your preschool/church teachers believe me when I talk about your gremlin antics. They only see your adorable, sweet side and just can't believe you'd ever do anything like smear handsoap all over the bathroom mirror (yesterday). 

Here's what you've been up to recently:

-Carla Jackson. This has been the BEST ongoing Elise-ism. One day we were driving in the car and you started talking about your (non-existent) baby sister. I was curious about your thought process, so I started asking questions, like, "What's her name?" "Umm...Cawhla. Cawhla Jackson." I was dying. This has been months ago now and you're still quite set on the idea that we're going to have another baby girl and that her name will be Carla. I told Jon that 'Carla Jackson' does, in fact, fit his stupid 5-syllable name pattern...

Related: later 'Jackson' turned into a boy cousin who died in a car accident, but now he's alive again. You have no cousins named Jackson and no cousins who have died in car accidents. But you've stuck with the storyline for so long now that I may have texted all my sisters and told them not to name any of their kids Jackson because it won't end well.

-You still love Luke Knox the best (probably because his DNA is also almost 100% gremlin). My favorite thing is on Sundays after sacrament meeting when Luke comes to our pew and asks to escort you to nursery. So. Adorable. 

Lately, however, you've really enjoyed playing with Paul when he comes over. He's more into things like Little Critters and dolls (like you) and less into trains and warfare (like Luke). Guess it's nice to have options!

-You found this pink unicorn in our house and were SURE it was Uncle Timmy's. I kept putting it back with your toys and you kept bringing it to me. "This is Uncle Timmy's woo-ni-torn." I think you eventually snuck it into his backpack because I haven't seen it since. 

Timmy's Woonitorn

-My mom brought my old American Girl Felicity doll and you LOVE it. Unfortunately, you're terrible about cleaning up all her accessories. Like the brush with the metal prongs that you left face up on the floor, and then stepped on:

Yes, those are multiple puncture wounds from the brush.

-Your older siblings have a homeschool PE class every Monday afternoon. You love going, but it's not really designed for tiny people (most kids are middle school or up). During one class, we walked to the upper building to play on the playground. Suddenly a group of girls your age in leotards came out of the building (including a friend from the other ward). A preschool gymnastics class at the exact same time and place as something we're already doing?? I signed you up immediately. Gymnastics is now the highlight of your week:

You may not be quite as scrawny as Catherine,

but you are the only girl in class whose leotard is baggy...

I love your coach! She's the best:

Getting your ribbon after showing us all your skills:

-You also LOVE co-op. You are a very social little girl, much like your oldest brother. Another mom sent me these pictures of you and your friend Bennett dancing and playing during pajama day:

I'm seriously debating putting you in preschool next year just to give you some social time (and maybe prevent the total destruction of my house). 

-You still love babies and Barbies and princesses (especially Elsa). Lately you've forced me to call you by various princess names. Usually Elsa, but occasionally Cinderella or Belle. When in character you always call me 'Anna'.

-You change your clothes a thousand times a day. And, since it's winter, you are usually dressed in nothing but a leotard or in your favorite 80s rocker costume. I don't know how you survive.

-You still love terrorizing Aaron just to get a reaction.

-Softie blanket is still your favorite thing in the world. Other favorites are Emma (stuffed pink bunny) and Elsa baby. Your bed is always covered in piles of babies and blankets. 

-Every morning you wake up and immediately demand your milk and (usually) breakfast. You are a hungry lady in the mornings. By dinner you barely eat. 

-You love the music to Frozen 2 and will ask me to dance with you while we listen to it. 

I sure love you, despite your barbarian ways!

Eight Months

What a beautiful 8-month-old baby...girl?

Elise is such a good sister.

This month you've spent a lot of time practicing sitting up and rolling around. Still not anywhere close to crawling, but your sitting skills are pretty great! Also pretty great: your face-grabbing skills. 

Poor Catherine put up with a LOT from you that afternoon:

(Notice the grasp you have on the skin by her jaw? Ouch!)

A momentous occasion:

You're finally (mostly) stable enough to sit up in the tub!

Hallelujah!

Sitting like a champ while wearing your array of necklaces from Elise:

I was so excited for your first time in the swing.

What kid doesn't like swinging?

You, apparently. 

Swings are out, but keyboards are officially in:

I now get nothing done while you're around.

You're getting into the best part of babyhood: when you can start sitting up to see and play with the world around you! You are happiest when your siblings are around to entertain you. If you ever find yourself alone in a room, you SCREAM. I guess with this many people around all the time, you're basically only alone when you're sleeping!

You're still not a great eater. We still have to have everything basically pureed. You are definitely a savory (not sweet) tooth. I'll try to give you something like applesauce or peaches and you take a few bites and then refuse more. But turkey & sweet potatoes? Delicious! A boy after my own heart. 

Still solidly between 9 and 12 month clothing. Definitely closer to 12 months than 9. But the growth is slowing down. 

Happy 8 months, Little Man! We're so excited to watch you grow!

End of Semester

We celebrated the end of our homeschool semester by ordering up some snow. It might have only been a pathetic dusting, but it was enough for Catherine to whip up a tiny snowman!

Since we don't have an academic co-op this year, our end-of-semester presentations were given to Daddy instead of friends. Each of them got to pick one topic from history and one topic from science to present about. Aaron opted for the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem (he was intrigued by the idea of the soldiers prying up the melting gold):

For science he wrote/dictated a book about gems (his current obsession):

He also illustrated, with a bit of coercion.

Definitely more of a Seth than a Catherine when it comes to art. 

Catherine learned a lot about sugar (how it's made, different types). She even did a sugar-tasting survey and collected and analyzed the data:

It was a lot of fun tasting all those different sugars (and seeing what our friends and family thought about each type). Generally, the adults preferred the darker sugars and the kids liked white or powdered sugar. But EVERYONE liked the raw cane sugar! And molasses and raw sugarcane were definite losers. 

For history she researched Cleopatra and put together a poster. Thankfully her reading comprehension is still lacking enough that she passed right over the word "incest" without even asking. Gah. 

Seth spent a LOT of time creating his presentation on the division of the Roman Empire. He made a ton of little soldiers in Paint and then created his own infographic:

He also made some Roman honeycake, which was delicious!

His science presentation will be his robotics competition in January.

We're still tweaking and adjusting our new co-op-free schooling, but overall I'm really loving the freedom and the more relaxed academics.