Ballerinas and Baseball

I've been a slacker lately (thanks for reminding me Leesha!) , so I've decided to combine 2 posts into one.
The Red Mountain Multi-generational Center has lots of little classes for kids and I signed Kate up for a "Princess Dance" class. Every week they highlight a different Disney princess and learn basic ballet by dancing to Disney music. Last Tuesday was Kate's first day. Clark and I dropped her off, went to the library and when we went back to pick her up all the girls did a little dance to show the parents. It was really cute. I think Kate likes wearing the leotard and ballet shoes just as much as she does the class!

Last Saturday I went to the dollar store to get a few things and of course the kids had to pick something out for themselves. Clark picked this baseball bat and ball. He didn't have much success with it until Ryan came to the rescue. Last night while I was making dinner Ryan put together a make-shift "T" so the kids could actually hit the ball! Way to go Daddy!

Spring Break

Beware. This is going to be a long post. So save yourself some time and just make up your own story about our spring break by looking at the pictures! For my journaling purposes, I'm going to tell all the stories- and if you want to read them, grab a snack!
We had a fun and very eventful spring break this year. Not that we planned it that way- it just all ended up that way. Friday afternoon we left Mesa with our dynamic-duo friends, Ellen and Josh and drove up to my parents cabin. The cabin had been hit with A TON of snow over the last month so for the first hour we were there Josh and Ryan took turns getting their vehicle stuck in the snow and having the other pull them out. I guess that's why we have a 4 wheel drive Tahoe. Saturday we spent most of the day outside in the snow. It was awesome. The sun was out, it was warm enough to stay out in it for a few hours and tons of snow on the sledding hill. Here's some pics of Saturday:

This is Ellen just about to hit the " Bum Buster" jump. I was a little early with the camera, so you don't get to see her catch some wicked air.

Here's Josh getting a little crazy on the sled. I think he fell off in fear more times that he made it over the jump.

This is what Kate did the whole time we were sledding. She lasted about 5 minutes and then sat on the porch the rest of the time.

Clark had the time of his life. He was making snow balls, snow angels and had fun watching the adults make fools of themselves.

Ok- this needs some explaining. Ellen is having a Peeps contest on her blog- so we each bought a bunch of peeps to do random things with and take pictures to enter her contest. If you want to check it out, go to her blog at wizardofhaws.blogspot.com

This is the pile of all the peeps we had before we did our funny things with them. I'm not going to tell you what- you'll have to check out her blog to see my entry.

On to the next part of our spring break- Thursday we went to the Phoenix Zoo with my sister Nancy and her son Jack and my friend Erin with her kids Ide and Grady. Here's Clark, Kate, Ide and Grady in the back climbing the fence trying to get to the giraffes.

Kate and Clark petting a goat in the petting zoo.

Ide and Kate were best of buds by the end of the day.

The kids had a great time together, although they didn't get to see all the animals, as Erin, Nancy and I talk too much and didn't walk very fast! So I guess we will have to make another trip soon to see the other half of the zoo!

Friday my Mom took some of her grand kids bowling. Here is Kate with my niece Hannah.

Clark and his favorite cousin, Jacob.

Bowling now a days is awesome for kids! They had these ramps the kids just line up and let the ball roll down. That with the bumper rails- my kids scored higher than I ever do!

Here's the whole clan from left to right on the top: Caleb, Nana, Conner, Hannah and Ella. Bottom: Jacob, Eden, Nicki, Clark, Kate, Haylee and Leah.

Thanks Nana!

During the week of spring break the City of Mesa has their WSI (Water Safety Instructor) classes. Basically it's teenagers getting certified to teach swim lessons. So on Wednesday through Friday they have free lessons for the people in the class to practice teaching lessons. You usually have to sign up, but when your sister is the head of the aquatics program- you get hooked up! Although I have taught Kate and Clark how to swim, it is always good for them to get in the water and swim!

The first day was awful. I didn't prepare Kate and Clark and when we got there and they realized that I was not getting in, they freaked. So after lots of talks about how we act at swim lessons and a little bribery, they did great Thursday and Friday.

Here's Kate doing a back float- kind of.

Here's Clark doing freestyle or what we call 'big arms'.

Saturday was Jack's first birthday! Here he is with his daddy Rusty.

Jack came over to our house Saturday morning so Nancy and Rusty could clean out their garage. I took him and my kids back to Nancy's about noon for Jack's 'party'. We just came over to eat the cake and ice cream!

Kate is like me and only ate the ice cream.

Here's all the kids helping Jack open his presents.

PHEW! I made it through. That was our spring break!

Home Improvement

Friday night I hosted book club at my house, which is just a good excuse to get all the little projects done around the house. I have to have my house looking good before I can host a party, right? So of course Ryan got volunteered to finish my to-do list before Friday. So this is what we did last week:

I bought the 'Family' sign when I was in Utah and have been really excited about putting it up on the wall. I had all the pictures on the wall before we left, but did some re-arranging of furniture and decided that the pictures would go on this wall. I was acutally pretty proud of myself. I put these all up by myself. However I did not measure all of the pictures exactly- so don't look too close.

Since the flat screen was a new addition when we were in Utah, when we got home I decided that it needed to go over the fireplace. Ryan was not in love with the idea and tried to talk me out of it for a month. However, I won, and the TV stays over the fireplace. So last week we had to move an outlet up under the TV- so you can't see all the cords. Which means, drywall patch and painting. I also got Ryan to hang up the shelf for the XBox and the DVD player.

So TA- DA. Here are the latest home improvements for the Johnson family. I guess I just need to host a party any time I want something done!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's........

Superman and Supergirl!!

Ever since I got my sewing machine for Christmas, I have been itching to get it out and use it. Last week I was surfing the internet and found a blog that had a pattern and instructions to make these cute capes. Clark had been making me tie his blanket around his neck, so I figured it was time to make him a real cape. We went to WalMart and got all we needed and Friday afternoon I started making them. I finished Clark's in about 2 hours. Kate didn't take as long, since I had quite the learning curve on Clark's! (So don't look too close- the sewing on Kate's is a lot better)

As you can see, one side has Superman on Clarks and a Princess on Kates.

The other side is Batman and Supergirl.

If you are interested in the pattern, the website is http://pukingpastilles.com

Good Stuff, Good Work, Goodwill.

Since we got home I have been on a quest for summer clothes for my kids. Yes it is VERY warm here already. So I've been to the usual, Kohls, Target and Once Upon a Child to find clothes for my kids. I have to be thrifty buying for 2 kids at the same time- so I'm always looking for a good deal. Today my sister Nancy needed to go to Goodwill and had a coupon- so I decided to tag along. I found some cute stuff but best of all was the 2 swimsuits we found.

Kate and Clark had to put them on as soon as we got home. Clark was running around and flexing saying "Super Clark to the rescue!"
I also bought these watering cans at Big Lots yesterday and they had a great time watering all our plants and of course the back patio!
Not bad for $4 total!

Happy Valentines Day

I know this post is late, but I still haven't been able to get my rhythm since we moved home. However- I did unpack the last box today. It has been in the front room for 2 weeks now.
We had a good Valentines this year. I made sugar cookies Saturday and the kids decorated them and then made valentines for their grandparents.

They didn't do very well with the frosting- so I ended up doing the frosting and they just did the sprinkles.

Ta-Dah

Sunday morning I made Blintzes (a Haynes family tradition). Ryan ate them as he got ready to leave for meetings (he is ward clerk now). The kids and I enjoyed the rest after he left. We only went to the first hour of church because Kate and Clark had a cold last week.

In the afternoon we delivered cookies and valentines to my parents and then started on dinner. I made lasagna, rolls, fruit salad and pazooki's for dessert. (if you don't know what pazooki's are- it's a HUGE hot out of the oven, soft-baked chocolate chip cookie with ice-cream on top. Needless to say after all that food and goodies- my stomach was not happy with me!

Catch up: 1 of 3

Every Thursday in the month of February there is a free concert at the city of Mesa Arts Center in downtown Mesa. Yesterday was the first one, I took Kate and Clark and we met up with my parents, my sister Nancy and her son Jack, and my sis-in-law Tiffany and her son Nolan. The music was good, but I think it was more fun to see the kids dancing and playing around!
Paco, Kate, Nana and Jack

Here's Clark getting jiggy with it

Clark and his best buddy

Kate dancing with Paco

If you are interested in going, the concert is from 12:30pm to 1:30pm every Thursday through the end of the month. Next week is Dixieland and Big Band. Hope to see you there!