Easter 2020

Our Easter, like most, looked very different this year. I woke up pretty sad about it honestly. I was sad to not celebrate with family and I was sad to not be in my place of worship. I've never not gone to church on Easter so it all just felt off. We haven't been to church in 5 Sundays now and I miss it. I miss my church family, I miss worshiping with others, I miss seeing my church people and talking to them.

We made the most of our Easter and the boys had a really fun day. The Easter Bunny came and left some fun goodies in their baskets. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, I got in my Peloton ride while Wells took his morning nap, then we all got dressed in our Easter clothes. I bought these outfits long before I could have ever imagined we would never physically be at church for Easter and just because we were home didn't mean we weren't going to get dressed in our sweet Easter outfits!!

We had a simple lunch, put Wells down for his second nap, then we hid eggs in our house so the big boys could do the egg hunt they had been begging to do all day long. It was a beautiful day outside but earlier that morning it had rained really hard so we did the egg hunt inside. I didn't think it would be as much fun but it actually really was and Campbell and Bennett had so. much. fun. hunting their eggs.

After the egg hunt we watched our church service online then I took a quick little Easter nap. When I woke up Scott and I started prepping for a nice Easter dinner. We had delicious steaks and went all out on the sides. I even made a homemade chocolate pie--crust and all. It was so yummy and felt nice. Before we knew it the day was over and it was time to put our three bunnies to bed.

The day was definitely not how I had hoped in my mind it would go. I feared our Easter service would be canceled when all of this began. Easter is really important to me so not being able to do what we traditionally do on Easter Sunday was sad. I was also really sad to be missing our Palm Sunday service as well, as it's probably the most moving church service of our entire year, every year. However, the Lord blessed me in such an unexpected way the day before Easter and it filled my cup and moved my soul. Our church made the most incredible video for our Easter services. A few of my friends shared it right as it was posted on YouTube. I first viewed it when it had less than 100 views and now it has been viewed over 58,000 times. I have probably been at least 1000 of those views. The first time I watched it I was so moved that by the end I had massive tears rolling down my face. I was moved because 1.) I love the song, 2.) I was seeing so many faces that I know and it was good to see them and 3.) the way everyone came together, during this unsettling time in our world, was just so powerful. It was exactly what my heart and soul needed for Easter. I highly encourage you to watch the video because I know it will move you as it has me. Click HERE to view it.
I hope everyone had a great day celebrating our Risen Savior. HE IS WORTHY!!

Christmas at Disney

I wanted to share a little about our Christmas for my memories. I know I'm a bit behind on a recap since Christmas was last year and all but today was my first day that I have felt caught up on life! So I'm finally getting the chance to sit down and blog about it.

After the boys woke up and saw the gifts Santa had brought for them, we quickly got dressed then headed to Magic Kingdom to spend our Christmas day there! We missed our first FastPass because we just didn't leave our hotel in time. I was bummed but it was just Jungle Cruise so I wasn't too terribly worried about it. We got to have SIX FastPasses (more on how we did that next week) so we had plenty of opportunities to hop on rides and have fun. We started our morning eating breakfast at Crystal Palace with the friends in Hundred Acre Woods, then got on the Winnie The Pooh ride as soon as we were finished eating! This is one of my favorite rides at Magic Kingdom....I adore Winnie the Pooh, always have!

After Pooh we had some extra time before our next FastPass so we decided to get on the carousel. I love the carousel and Wells had a great time getting to ride on his very own horse!

Our next FastPass was for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train which is one of the most popular rides at Magic Kingdom. It's considered a thrill ride with small drops but you only have to be 38" to ride it. However, Bennett wanted nothing to do with is so Scott and I took turns taking Campbell twice. He absolutely LOVED it and it was one of mine and Scotts favorite parts of our day--seeing how much Campbell loved it. Mine Train is one of the few rides that has a height restriction. Wells was able to ride nearly every ride with us at Disney and he seemed very intrigued by them all!

After Mine Train we headed back to Fantasyland to do the Little Mermaid ride then my parents took Wells back to the hotel so he could get in a good nap. After they left, Scott and I took the boys on a small rollercoaster called The Barnstormer. It's Goofy themed and after Bennett watched the ride for a bit, he decided he would be brave enough to try it. He did awesome and we were so proud of him! Since we knocked those FastPasses out fairly quickly, we decided to wonder around. We road the Magic Carpets, bumped into a friend, and crazy enough decided to skip our last FastPass so we could get back to the hotel and get ready for our Christmas dinner at a delicious restaurant on the Boardwalk called Flying Fish. Of course we couldn't leave the park without getting the boys a balloon which I'm convinced is one of their favorite parts about Disney.

Christmas at Disney was so much fun! It was really crowded and I am so thankful we had so many FastPasses, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten to do much. Scott and I wondered before we went if this would be something we would want to do every year. We are so glad we did it because it was an amazing experience but I don't think we'll do it again. We knew it would be really crowded at Christmas and made the decision to go anyway but it was really crowded. There was no way we could do rides without a FastPass, minus the carousel which was still about a 20 minute wait (it's normally no longer than a 5 minute wait). Seeing Disney decorated at Christmas was unreal. The decorations were incredibly beautiful and I'm so happy I got to see them and say we spent Disney at Christmas one year! But would I recommend doing it? Probably not with young children. We may totally consider it again in 10 years though! Regardless of the crowds, it was a pretty magical Christmas and Christmas 2019 is one I will absolutely remember forever!!!

Christmas Eve

We're doing Christmas a little different this year so we opened presents early! Santa is still coming tomorrow, but we let the boys go ahead and open their presents from us. We filled their buckets full by giving them exactly what they wanted. For Campbell that would be dinosaurs and for Bennett it's superhero costumes.

We kept it a little more lowkey this year with the presents. Last year we went all out, and it was fun, but it was too much. This year we got the boys three toys each--two dinosaurs for Campbell and a dinosaur puzzle. And two superhero costumes for Bennett and Maui's hook (Moana) + one book each, and a cool cookie that you could paint! They loved their Christmas and the amount they received was just right.

And of course we didn't leave out sweet baby Wells! While he already has everything and more thanks to his older brothers old toys, he still got some fun presents too! Two books and two toys. He thought the wrapping paper was the most fun though.

We opened presents and spent the whole day playing with them. The boys kept saying thank you and how did we know that's exactly what they wanted??!! And they had such a fun time painting their cookie. I ordered it from someone local and it was seriously the neatest thing!!! And yes, they were able to eat their cookie once they finished painting it.

This Christmas is going to be different than what we've done in the past but we are all looking forward to it! So Christmas came a little early in the Johnson house but Santa still has to visit so the fun isn't over yet! A lot more fun to come!!

I told the boys to grab their favorite presents so I could get a photo. Campbell grabbed the biggest dinosaur he received and Bennett grabbed all of his costumes. Wellsy loves his new cell phone!

It was a really MARVELous and DINOmite Christmas for our boys this year! (see what I did there?)  More magical Christmas fun is still to come though!

Halloween 2019

We had such a fun Halloween! I think I woke up and sprinted the rest of the day. Why are holidays always like this? Will it ever change?? I'm going to go with--not for a very long time.
Anywho, it was a full day packed with all the fun Halloween things. My littlest boys go to MDO on Thursdays and Bennett decided to go to school as Batman. I took some chicken mini's from CFA for his class to enjoy and as soon as I dropped him and Wells off I popped in Walmart to get some last minute things for Campbell's class party. I was in charge of decorations and needed to get a few more balloons for the balloon garland I made. I got home and put on some finishing touches and before I knew it, it was time to go to Campbell's school to decorate his classroom then enjoy a fall party!
The party was fun and I enjoyed getting to be there and get a little taste of where Campbell spends all of his time these days.
After the party we went home, I donated the balloon garland to our neighborhood clubhouse, and shortly after it was time to get ready for Halloween!

It was FREEZING in Northwest Arkansas. I was very thankful that the boys costumes allowed for a lot of layers underneath. We bundled everyone up then headed to our clubhouse for a pre-trick or treat pizza party the neighborhood threw for everyone. It was a lot of fun but I think the grown up's enjoyed it more than the kids because mine were dying to go trick or treat and delaying the process was pure torture to them!

I wasn't sure how many houses we would tackle but rest assured, my boys hit up every single one. Their baskets were so full of candy they asked me to take some out and put it in my pockets so they would have room for more. We ended the night going down our street for some final trick or treating and once we got home and got our candy "organized" we managed to talk the boys into going to bed. Campbell declared it the "best day ever" as he always does when it's a fun holiday or party. My little dinosaurs had a great day and Bennett is already talking about what costume he's going to wear for Halloween next year (Spiderman).

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween from my three little dinosaurs!!

July 4th Weekend

We had a fun 4th of July! We woke up early on Thursday and drove to Little Rock to spend the weekend with my parents. They have a pool and it makes for a fun summer. Although the pool makes me a nervous wreck, not going to lie. I pretty much feel on edge the whole time I'm there. BUT, the boys love it and it's so much easier to go swimming at their place vs our neighborhood pool. Plus while the boys nap or stay inside I can lounge in the pool by myself and it's so relaxing and nice.

One nice thing about my parents pool is that it's heated. Even in July we crank the heat up a tiny bit so the pool is never cold. This is perfect for baby Wells because we learned last time we were there that he LOVES to go swimming!! So I made sure to pack his tiny little swimsuits this time so he could take a dip in the pool. He kicks his little legs and splashes his arms and enjoys himself soooo much! I could hardly stand how cute he looked in his little swim outfit on the 4th and he enjoyed a solid 30 minute swim in between his naptime so he considered his first 4th to be a good one!

Scott and my Dad bought some fireworks to shoot off and the boys had so much fun with it, especially Campbell. Bennett watched with his ears covered. We had fun doing that before the big fireworks show that we were able to see from my parents house! We let the boys stay up until 10:00 and boy did we pay for it the next day with the grouchiest set of brothers ever. My kids can completely handle staying up late at night but they are absolute bears the next day. Never, ever worth it.

Overall, such a fun weekend! I love the 4th of July and celebrating our country! This was the first 4th that we've spent with my family in a really long time and while we were doing fireworks I had a moment where I realized how much fun I was having and how glad I was to be there spending it with them.

We did a lot of swimming the rest of the weekend but the highlight of our weekend had to be taking our dino obsessed boy to a dinosaur exhibit one day. I'll have to share more on that later. It deserves it's own blog post for my blogging memories.

Easter 2019

We had a really fantastic Easter yesterday. We celebrated our risen Savior with both sets of our parents and it was really great to have everyone together.

The boys woke up to some special goodies from the Easter Bunny. They were so excited about everything they got! After church we all came back to the house for a yummy lunch then after lunch we did an Easter egg hunt in our backyard and it was so much fun! I went overboard with a lot of eggs but I wanted the hunt to last a long time so that means lots of eggs!! The boys LOVED it and I enjoyed watching them. They walked away with a lot of fun goodies and said the egg hunt was their favorite part of their day!

The reason behind Easter wasn't lost on us. After we put the boys to bed Scott and I sat on our patio and listened to worship music while we reflected on the greatest gift we've been given--Christ laying down his life for us. Our greatest hope as parents is that our boys will have a relationship with Jesus and know that He is all we need. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with family celebrating our risen King!!

Easter Sunday

Coordinated my boys in some Beaufort Bonnet Blue and love how sweet they looked together. The last photo of Wells is my favorite photo ever!!! Happy Easter! He is Risen!!!