Christmas Report

We had a great Christmas just our small little family. We missed our extended family, but it was nice to have a relaxing Christmas that followed Kimball’s schedule. The best Christmas present Kimball gave us was sleeping in until 7:00 which is normal to late for him.

We woke up to a white Christmas on our deck. We let Kimball sit in it for a few minutes, but then he decided he missed his new bike from Santa and either wanted the bike outside or to be inside with the bike.



We didn’t take too many pictures…mostly video, but here are a few.





Kimball’s present from Santa was a Diego “bike”. He can’t quite reach the pedals so he just goes around the house “Fred Flintstone” style.

Kimball was a little hesitant about opening presents, but developed a ritual for each present. He would take off the bow, put it on his head, walk to the bow box and then deposit the bow in the box before returning to the present. He would rip off the smallest pieces of paper instead of just one big rip.

Here is a picture from Christmas Eve. Kimball and his “friend” are coloring while I work in the kitchen. As you can see, he has a bow on his head. I guess you could say he is our greatest present!



Mid-afternoon in Christmas, Kimball got all snuggly and wanted Joseph to hold him with his blankets. They sat like that for close to 30 minutes.



The Jenga picture is two days after Christmas, but we are including it since it was a present from Joseph’s brother and his wife. It takes an extra amount of patience to play with a 2 year old, but Kimball was surprisingly controlled when he would take his pieces out.



We had one of Kimball’s nursery workers over for Christmas dinner and we were glad she could spend Christmas with us since she didn’t go to her family and we weren’t with ours.

The day after Christmas we actually went shopping to Walmart. I’m not a shopper, but I figured Walmart couldn’t be that bad in such a small town. It wasn’t…we found a close parking spot and we didn’t even wait in line. The only crowded part of the store was the Christmas section with the 50% off sale.

Follow the Prophet

One of Kimball’s favorite Primary songs is Follow the Prophet. Recently as a family we have been talking about the Latter-day prophets so now Kimball asks us to sing Follow the Prophet about John Taylor, David O. McKay, President Benson, President Hinckley and President Monson. If we aren’t thinking fast enough he gets impatient for us to start our song…we have sung about John Taylor and David O. McKay enough that we almost have our impromptu verses memorized. At least he is learning and remembering their names.

Just Like Mom

Kimball loves it when we will put him on the bike. His arms just reach the handlebars when he is on the seat, but he enjoys it. I guess you could say we are training him early to be a cycling fanatic. No wonder I have to cycle when he sleeps because he always wants to ride with me if he is awake!

Quilt Projects

Here are some of the quilting projects I have been working on the past few months. The first quilt is a quilt that I made for our new niece that was born at the end of October.



The second quilt is the one that I made for our baby. I know I didn’t make her a quilt with girl colors, but I just loved the blue print fabric that I couldn’t resist. She’ll have enough pink and purple in her life.



The last blanket is just flannel truck print that someone in the operating room gave to Joseph when she heard that Kimball loved trucks. I put red flannel for the backing and just tied it with yellow and red embroidery floss. Kimball really wanted a quilt when he saw me making the others so it’s one of his Christmas presents.





I have a few more quilt projects planned, but nothing to show yet.

Thanksgiving

Here is a picture of Kimball and me with our Thanksgiving feast. I don’t have much stomach room to feast these days so I left the true feasting to Kimball and Joseph. We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving spending the day as a family. We realized that we have been married for 5 Thanksgivings and each one has been spent in a different apartment, home, etc. It is nice to know we will spend next Thanksgiving in the same place as this year.

Breakfast with Blue

Kimball’s favorite lovey is a blue care bear named “Blue”. Usually Blue stays in the crib or if he comes out he is quickly replaced with a car. This morning Kimball decided that Blue was the toy of the morning. Blue had breakfast with us. Kimball insisted on giving Blue cheerios with milk and a spoon. Thankfully, I was able to get away with just a few cheerios and milk. Kimball ended up “finishing” Blues breakfast which resulted in no wasted food. Kimball also wanted to dress Blue, but the only thing handy was a newborn hat so Blue wore a hat which satisfied Kimball.





We love Blue!

Halloween Carnival

Last Wednesday we attended the Fall Carnival and Trunk or Treat that our church has annually. This was the first year we dressed Kimball up and he had a blast.



I made the mistake of talking about the party too close to naptime so he ended up finishing his nap in his giraffe costume on my bed. Thankfully that isn’t a habit!








Kimball didn’t fully catch the idea of some of the games, but he did his own thing and was always rewarded with candy. He liked following everyone on the cake walk and didn’t care when or if he ever won.



We opted out of trick or treating with Kimball on Halloween because he didn’t need anymore candy, and he didn't know he was missing anything.

Hot Springs

Joseph and I recently went to Hot Springs, AR. We originally planned to go on my birthday, but our babysitting plans fell through so we waited until our friends could watch Kimball.

In Hot Springs we enjoyed doing activities that would have been more difficult if Kimball had been along. We walked down “Bath Row” where the bath houses are. We also walked to a hot spring display. We were surprised just how hot the water was. A sign said that when the water first comes out of the ground it can be as hot as 134°F.







This is a picture of the steam coming off the water.





We also hiked and went canoeing on Lake Ouachita. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the peace and solitude that canoeing on a lake brings.

Needed: More Dad Time

Okay, so I have decided that sometimes Kimball is just with me TOO much. At times he just needs more man time. It isn't that Joseph neglects him by any means, but Joseph goes to work every day and that means Kimball is with me more than anyone else.

Kimball was being awfully quiet this morning and I decided that was dangergous so I went to check on him. I found this:



He had helped himself to my eyeliner and mascara. He has seen me put my makeup on tons of times so he knew the general idea behind makeup. After a brief moment of dismay I had to laugh and tell myself it's washable mascara. I just hope my boy isn't the only boy that has ever gotten in to makeup!

The BIG 3-0

My birthday was Saturday and I’m no longer a twenty-something. I’m excited to be 30. We originally planned to leave Kimball with friends so Joseph and I could go to Hot Springs, AR together. Our friends had an out-of-town family event come up so we had to postpone our plans. We hope to go to Hot Springs in a few weeks.

Anyway, our day ended up being low-key, but it was a nice birthday. Joseph made me French toast for breakfast. I don’t think I had to cook or do any dishes the entire day, diapers, too, for that matter!

Kimball seemed more excited about my birthday than his own, which was in August, probably because he knew how exciting birthdays are now. We told him that we would have cake and presents after he woke up from his nap. Joseph got him up from his nap and the first thing Kimball asked for was cake—another instance where his memory rarely fails him. If we tell him something will happen after his nap it is the first thing he always asks about. He got a little upset when the cards and presents ran out. He asked for more.

Here is a picture of Kimball helping to put the candles on the cake.



Here is a picture of Kimball and me with the lit cake. I have a big sweet tooth and rarely is chocolate too rich for me so I thoroughly enjoyed my chocolate truffle cake. I even risked eating a piece of it Sunday before going in for my glucose screening Monday. I couldn't decide which picture of Kimball I liked better so I included both.





In the evening we went to a Harvest Party that a doctor from the hospital hosted. It was a family event so we didn’t have to worry about any drinking. The doctor has a barn on his property and had games planned for the kids and dinner for all. Kimball had a blast and didn’t want to leave. Here is a picture of Kimball already to leave for the party.

Where's Mom's present?

Kimball has a great memory. He can put his toys down and if we ask him where they are he can go find them right away. If he takes something of ours the same is true; he can show us where he puts it.
On Friday, Joseph got finished with work a little early so he came by the house to get Kimball and they went birthday shopping for me. They found the present they wanted to get me and they took turns holding it. Joseph received a phone call from Dr. Allison so he was slightly distracted for a few minutes. After he got off the phone the presents was gone. Joseph said he and Kimball retraced their steps over and over looking for the present. Joseph kept asking Kimball "Where's Mom's present?" Joseph reported that he finally went back to the aisle where he was pretty sure he last had the present and got down on Kimball's level and asked one more time...probably in a pleading voice..."Where's Mom's present?" Joseph said Kimball walked right up to a spot on the shelf and pulled the present out from behind something else. Joseph had looked up and down the shelves, but hadn't thought to look behind things. Thankfully, Kimball remembered where the present was!
We enjoyed a good laugh about it at home.

St. Louis Vacation

We returned this past Saturday from a vacation to St. Louis. It was nice to get away.

We started the trip with a stop in Conway, AR where Joseph participated in a 52 mile bike tour. Kimball and I were able to see Joseph off before we went shopping. I didn’t find the maternity clothes I was looking for, but we were able to fill the time while Joseph was riding. Joseph’s route was quite hilly, but he managed to finish in under 3 ½ hours which was his goal.

We spent most of our week with Annette’s mom and two sisters. We had fun playing games. (Heather and I lost terribly in dominoes. In the last two rounds we acquired over 120 points. It was fun!)

We took Kimball to Suson Park and he had a great time. He enjoyed the playground, but he really enjoyed the 3 barns with all of the animals. We saw sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, pigs, horses, cows, peacocks and a tractor. The tractor was a big hit with Kimball.

Here are a few pictures from the park:











On Wednesday we went to the Zoo. The weather all week was nice and cool, but especially nice the day we went to the zoo. We all enjoyed seeing the animals, especially the giraffes and elephants. We skipped the insect and snake houses, but other than that we were able to see just about everything.

Here are a few zoo pictures:








We did make it to Joseph’s parent’s house and had a nice visit with them. Jonathan and Mandy were there Wednesday evening and we enjoyed seeing them, too. Kimball really warmed up to them and has even asked to go back to Grandma’s house to see Jonathan and Mandy. During our visit Jonathan took our family picture and some Kimball pictures, but you don’t get to see those yet!

A few other highlights were attending the temple together, Joseph going on a few more bike rides, and a second attempt at maternity clothes shopping which ended in success.

It is good to be home, but Kimball keeps asking to “go back Granny’s house”. He loves his extended family.

Lunch at the Counter

I took this picture last week of Kimball sitting at our counter eating lunch. He is such a big boy! He does great sitting on the stool and eats lunch at the counter every day. I love having a counter for him to sit at when I work in the kitchen. He loves to watch me do my “kitchen work” and in our old house always wanted to sit on the counter. Now I tell him he can just sit on a stool at the counter and that keeps him happy.

I choose the flies

Ever since we moved to our new house it seems we always have a few extra guests each night that end up in our room. We always find one or two flies that persecute us. A small annoyance, but manageable.

This morning I found an ant infestation in our mailbox. It looked like the ants were moving all of their soon to hatch babies into our box. It was rather disgusting. I wished Joseph were home to deal with the problem. While I was taking care of the ants I discovered a rather large spider. (Since it was on MY driveway it was too close for comfort. I have had some rather unpleasant experiences with spiders over the past 4 years…usually me in the bathroom with spiders. I now have a fear of large spiders.) After taking care of the ants I tackled the spider. Since he was big it took some effort to kill him…he was too big for me to just step on comfortably. I finally broke out the Raid and after two squirts he died.

A friend of mine thought it was probably a small wolf spider…harmless but huge. Here is a picture of it. I threw a pen in the picture to help with the picture scale. It was a cap less Papermate pen.





So, I will happily face a few flies each night in exchange for a mailbox free from ants and no large spiders.

Homeowners!

Joseph and I bought a house today! We are really excited to be homeowners. It has been a whirlwind adventure the past two weeks, but at least it is all over. We saw our house for the first time two weeks ago today and we both really liked it from the beginning. We kept this under our hat for the most part incase something didn’t work out. The Lord has been very generous in extending to us many tender mercies. Our loan went through very quickly, the inspector admitted that he rarely does next day inspections but had an opening for us, and we were able to find renters to fulfill our current lease.



We bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. It also has an office so that will be nice. The office would be a 4th bedroom if it had a closet, but it doesn’t. The house is in a good neighborhood and is only a few blocks from the elementary school. The middle school is probably a ½ mile away. Joseph’s work is a mile and church is just over a mile.

I guess the only negative is that we are moving again while I’m pregnant. We moved about 6 weeks before Kimball was born two years ago. Being extra tired and sore aren’t the most enjoyable, but it is only for a few days. I told Joseph I didn’t want any more moves when I’m pregnant! I will also miss the pecan tree we had, but that is small peanuts, or should I say pecans, to owning our own home.

The Trend

Today was our ultrasound for the baby. Unfortunately, Joseph was unable to come to the ultrasound because he had a full day of surgery. I called him with the news as soon as I got home. We are excited about the new baby.
The baby will keep the original due date of January 11th, but a c-section has tentatively been scheduled for January 7th.
So, in Annette’s family the trend is to either have all boys or all girls, but no mixing of genders. We have wondered over the past 21 weeks if we would carry on the trend tradition or if we would break the trend and have a mixed family. And now for the unveiling… our family will break the Johnson tradition of one gender families. It’s a girl! We are excited. All along, Kimball has maintained that the baby would be a girl. He was right! She is almost 1 pound and seems healthy from what could be detected during the ultrasound.

Ready, Set, GO!

Within the last week Kimball has learned a new phrase: “Ready, Set, Go!” Kimball loves his new Hotwheels. In the beginning Joseph said “ready, set, go” so Kimball would know to watch the cars; Kimball is now the one to say “Set, go!” We frequently hear him saying it to himself when he plays with his cars.

Kimball also has two favorite cars. He calls them “Lloyd cars.” A brother at church gave Kimball the two cars and we told him they were from Brother Lloyd. We would ask him where his cars from Lloyd were so he started calling them “Lloyd cars.” The Lloyd cars are also some of the fastest cars so that adds to the attraction.

The Birthday Boy!

Sunday was Kimball’s birthday and he is now 2! It is hard to believe he has been a blessing in our family for the past 2 years. The time really has flown.



In order to prepare Kimball for his birthday we talked about his birthday ALL week. We tried to tell him what it would be like, but he didn’t seem to grasp the idea. Maybe next year he’ll understand better when we say it’s his birthday.




For his dinner we had Spaghetti Carbonara, broccoli, and grapes. All three of those are favorites with Kimball. He wanted yellow cake, but I spruced it up with a ganache frosting.

Kimball received a lot of great gifts, but his favorite new toys are the matchbox cars and the racing track to go with it. Joseph likes it too!





Kimball loves stickers. He was excited to get new ones.


Kimball with Mom.

Just Like Daddy

Kimball’s current mission in life is to be “just like Daddy,” and that is how it should be. Joseph and Kimball are the best of pals right now. They even have a special greeting that they do when Joseph comes home from work. Joseph rides his bike since he is only 2 blocks from the office and 4 blocks from the hospital. He usually calls before coming home and I open the door so Kimball can watch out the storm door for Joseph. I always know when the two of them see each other because Kimball starts shaking his head in their special way. I made the mistake yesterday of doing their greeting to Kimball and he took off for the door saying “Daddy”. I had to quickly smooth things over before Kimball started to cry because Daddy wasn’t really home.

So, I go into Kimball’s room last night as we are starting to get him ready for bed and I saw this:




Before bed each night Joseph will play some hymns on the recorder while I change Kimball’s diaper and get him in his pajamas. Last night Kimball was in Joseph’s chair playing the recorder and had the hymnal wide open. He would play a few notes and then turn to the next song and that continued until Joseph went into Kimball’s room.

I’m glad Kimball and Joseph are buddies. I don’t mind in the least because Kimball saves plenty of hugs and snuggles for me.

Pipes and Marbles

Joseph recently brought home some clean PVC pipes from church that had been used in an activity. Joseph and Kimball have had a lot of fun the past few weeks building routes for marbles. Joseph and Kimball even took a special trip to Hobby Lobby, just the two of them, to buy some marbles. Kimball now asks for pipes and marbles everyday. So far we have managed to keep track of all of the marbles. Sometimes it takes a few days to find them.


First night with the pipes.


The creations are growing.


When Miriam's family visited even the girls got in on the pipe action. That is Joseph with Kim, Courtney, and Michaela with Miriam in the background.


Joseph even made a chair for Kimball. Joseph can build just about anything with pipes, dominoes, or legos.

The 4th of July

Here is a picture of Kimball from our 4th of July Breakfast that our ward had. After the breakfast we helped "coach" some of the softball games. Annette did her best with the kids and Joseph's coaching abilities helped the young men beat the adult men.

Kimball had a blast. He was cared for by so many other people we hardly saw him. To dress for the softball games and holiday he wore his Cardinals outfit from his Grandma. He got a lot of compliments on it.

It has been a few months since we last sent out an update. Time flies!





In May, we celebrated Joseph’s 28th birthday in San Diego. Joseph had his annual medical conference there so Annette when along. Annette enjoyed her first trip to California and the highlight of the trip was seeing Huntington Beach where Joseph grew up. Kimball stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Coffey and had a great time. For weeks after our trip he was asking for his grandparents and his aunts. Annette and Kimball were also able to spend some time with Annette’s family in Barnhart. We saw cousins, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and Granny.




In June, Joseph went to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track Championships in Fayetteville, AR. He had a great time watching the different events and athletes.



Joseph also attended 3 days of Scout camp and enjoyed the great outdoors.
We had a Coffey family reunion at the Lake of the Ozarks. We had fun being with family and Kimball enjoyed meeting his cousins. The weather was hot, but Joseph and Kimball loved spending time in the water, and Annette enjoyed the shade.



With the warmer temperatures we have taken Kimball outside for some water fun. He loves to be squirted with the hose.

Kimball’s vocabulary has really grown over the past two months. He is saying so many new words. It is fun to decipher what he is saying. He loves to help with the chores and is very precise in putting away his books and toys. They have to be “just right”. He is also turning into a climber. Sometimes we think we have a monkey for a child instead of a boy.