Ah... a brand new year! Hard to believe that almost 2 months of it are already behind us... For some reason, catching up on the blog seems to keep slipping my mind. So I thought I would take some time tonight and get caught up a bit... It's been a busy but very fun time around here! The girls are growing and changing like crazy... they keep me on my toes, to say the least. It feels like Alexa has grown up overnight. She isn't even my baby anymore, but instead a full fledged toddler! Her hair is past her shoulders and she can definitely hold her own with big sister... It's quite entertaining to watch the two of them together... One of my favorite things to watch is my two girls with their Daddy. They both just adore him and I feel so blessed to be married to a man who makes such good time for his girls!
One of Ellie's favorite parts of her week is her DANCE CLASS... It's only 30 minutes on Wednesday mornings, but boy does she have fun! She has a couple of really good friends in the class, so that makes her happy! She often comes home and shows us all of her new moves. But honestly, I think her favorite part is getting to wear her dance outfit from Nana and Papa Johnson or her dance skirt from Uncle Mark and Aunt Renee!
We've taken advantage of lots of great memory making moments... The girls got this great princess dress up box from Uncle Joe and Aunt Bel for Christmas and we've had some very fun tea parties dressed up like princesses! Thanks Uncle Andrew and Aunt Kristin for our fun table to have our tea parties on!
The weather has been so incredibly mild, we have barely even had to pull out the coats this winter. I think we've only had 2 very small snows... Not even enough to make a snowman! But I have to admit, it's been kind of nice to be out and about and not have to bundle up. We've gotten to spend several afternoons outside playing and riding bikes and playing at the park. Not very many years you can say you get to do that in January and February!
Alexa continues to grow like a weed and her vocabulary is finally taking off! She hasn't been a big talker (probably because big sister does a lot of talking for her!)... but over the last month she has started saying a lot! She has some hilarious little phrases... I think it's mostly the inflection that makes it so cute... but she will often say things like "Oh My!" and "I Love You" in the cutest little voice... "All gone and all done" are a couple of other favorites, as well as "NO ELLIE!" :) A little sibling rivalry already rearing its head... She is a definite lover and loves to give big kisses and hugs. She just absolutely melts your heart... When she smiles, her eyes disappear and she loves to dance! She is still sleeping a TON these days... She goes to bed around 9pm and will easily sleep until at least 9 or 10am the next morning... up for a few hours and then usually down for a 3-4 hour nap. Yesterday I had to wake her up when it got close to 5 hours! I know... doesn't sound real, but I promise it is. My girls love their sleep!!!
Ellie is all grown up these days, too! I think one of the reasons that I forget to blog is because I recently got a twitter account (don't judge me :) I swore I NEVER would, but I tell you what... it's been a lot of fun to "tweet" all of the hilarious things that these girls say and do right when it happens, then I just go to my twitter account and copy and paste all of my tweets into a document on my computer so I remember all of their funny sayings.. It has worked pretty well and even the college students get a kick out of Ellie and Alexa's antics. You can follow me! @jenjohnson11 if you're on twitter! :)
Anyway... Ellie is into everything these days. She LOVES to be my helper. I can't even step foot into the kitchen without her being right there wanting to "help" me. But I have to admit, she is getting pretty good! Tonight we made brownies and she even remembered every ingredient and the amount of each that went into the mix. This girl has a mind of steel... She is also learning to spell, write all of her letters (she is incredibly good at writing her name!), she knows all of her numbers to 100 and is learning to tell time. I think it will be good to get her into preschool next fall because I'm not sure this Mama can keep ahead of her!
And last but not least... we continue to spend a lot of our time each day with college students... which we LOVE! We have had LOTS of meals and parties at our home this semester, so there is rarely a dull moment at our house... Every day Ellie will ask me "who is coming over today?"... We love that our home is filled with lots of life and activity...
This last week we got to have our annual Valentine's Dessert and Dance for StuMo. It's one of our favorite events of the year! Everyone gets all dressed up (over 480 students this year!) and comes out to hear a couple share the story of how they came to know Christ and how God has worked in their dating and marriage... We enjoy a fancy dessert together and end the night with a dance. Our girls LOVE this night! They always dance up a storm and stay up WAY past their bedtime. But it's always worth it... Here is a pic with a few girls and also one of our family! I know Alexa is not dressed up... she was just not having it that night! So we just kept her in her cute outfit from the day. Ha!
So there you have it! An update from the Johnson's little corner of the world... :) I would love to say I'll update again soon, but I feel like I jinx myself whenever I say that. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post... Until next time!
