Photography by Lainey

I have an older, small camera that we recently came across.  Lainey has taken to carrying it around with her at random times and the results are just too great not to share.  She totally knows how to operate it - how to turn it on and how to review her pictures.  I am loving seeing the world through her eyes.

Wyatt is thinking, "What is that thing and how I can I take it from you?"

I let Lainey bring the camera to the zoo on Monday.  This was a riot.  I asked her if she wanted me to take her picture in the kangaroo but she turned the tables on me.  

This little macaque kept coming right up to the window in the little cave!  We waited a few minutes for him to come back up to the window and Lainey had her camera ready just in time.

Some really good shots from the car...

An abstract view of her Dad's car

Wy wasn't really up for his sister's photo shoot antics.

Apparently you don't even have to teach a kid how to take a selfie.  They just know.

We have been just laughing like crazy going through Lainey's camera each night after she's in bed.  I couldn't wait to get them loaded on the computer and document it. We love her fun loving and silly personality!

Random, random, etc .

 We have been living in the dark ages here in the Johnson house without a working computer for the past several weeks.  Our new one finally arrived today!  Hooray!  So here are 3 new blog posts, bam, bam, bam!

 

The last time I posted was early September and here we are, with October halfway OVER!  So crazy how quickly this fall season is passing.  I LOVE fall..... makes me sad.  I know what's ahead....cold and SNOW! :(  Here is a completely random assortment of what we've been up to and what's been happening around here...!

This sweet girl is just that ... a girl. She loves all things pretty and sparkly and fancy and PRINCESS.  We do a lot of dressing up around here.

These two just simply ADORE each other!

We were excited to have my sister Emily and her kids, Claire and Will visit us in September.  Thankful that we were in our new house so the kids had room to play and we had extra room for them to stay.  We had a fabulous time!  Managing 4 kids is no easy task, even between my sister and I, day in and day out, but we had so much fun.  It was way too quiet when they left.

Here's that cheesy grin from Wyatt :)  Love it.

I managed to pull off a little surprise for Jed and found him a great bike trailer/jogging stroller on Craig'slist to go with his new hobby of biking.  He was excited but not as excited as Lainey.  She asks DAILY for a bike ride. 

I love my sweet pile of kids.  This was from the night of my 29th birthday. We went out to dinner as a family at a small family owned Italian place down here on the south side and it was so fun. I should have included a picture of the cake that Jed and Lainey baked for me... it was in a bundt cake pan and completely fell apart when they took it out of the pan.  It was hilarious and wonderfully sweet.  Lainey was so proud.  It tasted delicious all the same!

This little buddy has been taking some EPIC naps.  I have been needing to wake him up many nights in time for dinner!  Silly guy!

Here's Wyatt and Will watching their big sissy's play at the park!

   I could usually get the girls to pose and smile nice if I said, "Say cheese for PAPA!"  They LOVE their Papa!

We have started a new weekly event of going to the toddler story time at the downtown library on Friday mornings and then going to Starbucks for treats after :)  I'm not sure who likes it more... the little girls or Bo and I.... :)

Lainey keeps asking to hold Wyatt in her lap lately.  This is hilarious because it makes me realize how little she was when her little bro was born... she was obviously not as verbal and didn't really have a clue as to what was happening.  But now, she's very aware and very verbal and wants him to sit in her lap all of the time but he's nearly as big as she is, so that's the funny part.  I'm sure he will really catch up to her in size in the next year and will certainly surpass her some day!

 

Phew, if you're still with me, thanks for reading :)  Excited to share all of the lovely day to day happenings of our growing and sweet kids! :)

Comparisons

Lots of people have asked us if we think Wyatt looks like Lainey did as a newborn ... see for yourself!  Lainey is on the left, Wyatt on the right...

First baths!

Open eyes!

Sleepy smiles!

Snoozin in the swing!

What do you think?!?

Family pictures, friends and my 8 MONTH OLD BABY!

It's been a great, busy week here at our house. First, I must share that we had some family pictures taken this week by the wonderfully talented Justin Meyer. I think it's fair to say that he is officially our family photographer. I could say a thousand complimentary things about Justin himself, his wife who I love dearly and his artistic talent behind the camera. I am a picture person - I like taking pictures, looking at pictures, framing pictures, etc. The memories that Justin has captured from our engagement, to our wedding, when Lainey was a teeny tiny newborn and just this week are truly special to me. Here are a few of my favorites... You can see the entire album here.
Simon was less than cooperative but we never get a picture with him and I always slightly feel bad so we tried...


I love love LOVE that these were taken in our own yard. I'm sure some day when we have moved I will especially treasure that!


My sweet, sweet girl. I LOVE this one.

Today, we got to hang out with Miss Penelope for a little while. I could go on and on about how thankful I am for the Laehn's - it is so much fun to share these seasons of life with good friends! This was the first time Lainey and Penelope genuinely interacted. They kept swapping (aka stealing) toys and putting them right into their little mouths. Precious. Lainey was just tickled pink - she squealed the entire time they were playing. It was so sweet.

"See Penelope, this is how you clap!"
"Cute shirt girlfriend!"

Lainey is 8 MONTHS OLD today. I'm not even going to mention how I feel like it's impossible for her to be that old already...again. Today's photo shoot was especially difficult. I guess she was all modeled out from last night.

Most of the pictures turned out like this, with Lainey attacking the foam letters and shoving them in her mouth. Sigh. Oh well.
So thankful for a great week. So thankful for my sweet family and all that God has blessed us with!

10 fingers and 10 toes...

Today we had another doctor's appointment for beanie baby Johnson and we had a big ultrasound too! It was SO wild to see him or her moving around like crazy in there when I only feel it every once in awhile. The ultrasound tech was in FULL support of us not finding out the sex - she said it's way more fun that way... we agree! :) We did go back and forth even on the way to the doctor's office but decided to stay strong and that it will be so worth it in the end to have such a great surprise! She told us the heartbeat was 158 - any guesses? You can vote on the top of the sidebar as to if you think it's a boy or girl!

The ultrasound tech showed us the four chambers of the heart, a bunch of other organs and it's sweet little arms and legs that were flailing around like wildly! She said everything looked great and was measuring right on track - on her paperwork she had my due date as August 3rd - I thought I had been told August 4th but either way, it's pretty much the same and it will still be blazing hot :).
Here are some photos of our little guy or gal...
10 sweet little toes!
Waving goodbye to you all for now!