It's a.....

Peanut...?
After three months of waiting we finally got to have an ultrasound. It turns out that our baby is actually a peanut.

All Right, All Right, All Right, All Right, ALL RIGHT ALREADY!

So we've had some...stuff...going on. I have been bugged and bothered and bullied into updating folks on our trip to Europe, so OKAY ALREADY!

First, we went to Germany for Daniel's brother's wedding (Aaron for those of you who know, and for those of you who don't, kindly ignore the parenthetical remark). It's a little bit of a blur due to the whole jet-lag thing, but it was a whole lot of fun to be sure. Please note the picture of Daniel, Tim, and Aaron experiencing Germany together.



























Second, we went to Greece to visit my long-lost family. They live in a tiny little town (I'm talking chickens and the occasional cow roaming the streets) that is three hours by bus through the mountains from Athens. My family is pretty awesome. They own a restaurant and live above it - they are straight from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We even got to go see the house my grandma grew up in (it got destroyed by an earthquake).




























Lastly, we went to Rome. I was astounded at how excited Daniel was about everything in Rome. He even got up really early one morning and went sight-seeing without me (I'd like to point out that I got up at 8:30 that morning...so it's not like I was being lazy). We saw the Sistine Chapel , the Colosseum, St. Peter's Basilica etc. I didn't know it was possible to see so much in just a couple of days! Daniel even managed to get an awesome picture of "God Creates Adam" before they yelled "No Pictures! No Talking!"















Since then we've been trying to catch up with school and whatnot, so we've been a little behind in the blogging aspect. We beg forgiveness from the blogging world. :)And don't worry, Daniel took about 600 pictures!

Dealing With Loss

They always say that the teacher ends up learning more than the student. Well, I work in the nursery at church, and I am here to tell you that I got a great idea from an 18-month old named Joshua (okay maybe it was more his parents, but still).

The first time Joshua came into nursery a couple of weeks ago, I kept noticing a little blue knot popping out from his pant leg. I was wrangling seven kids at the time, so I didn't pay too much attention to it. Eventually, I realized that Joshua's shoes - both of them - had fallen off. Both of the shoes were, however, still trailing behind him everywhere he went. His parents - rather ingeniously I think - had looped a string through each of his pant legs and knotted the ends onto his shoes so they wouldn't get lost. Pure genius!

I haven't quite figured out how to apply this to Daniel yet - there would be too many stings involved. Ideas welcome.

The Next 2 Installments of Daniel's Ridiculousness

Most people talk about the ridiculous things their children do...that's why I have Daniel. He always keep me thoroughly entertained. Here are a couple examples of why:
1) Last week it was incredibly snowy, so I woke up early to take Daniel to school (most days he still rides his bike in the snow). When I came home I poured some cereal, went to the fridge, and realized we were out of milk. I distinctly remember thinking, "This is ridiculous! We bought two gallons this week. We cannot be out of milk already." I thought I'd check in the trash for the empty milk jug to assuage my disbelief, and there it was. And it was full. Sitting under the sink next to the trash. Full. Not empty. Not in the trash. Beside the trash. When asked later if he was especially tired that morning, he replied, "No. Why?"
2) Monday night Daniel fell asleep on the couch while we had friends over. When they left, I tried to wake him up so we could have FHE (Family Home Evening - this is a term we use at least on a weekly basis...keep this in mind). Our conversation went like this:
"Wake up, Dan. We need to have FHE."
"Fishies? What fishies?
"F.H.E. Not fishies."
"Whose fishies?" (Here he started getting irritated)
"You're not awake are you?"
"Yes, I am."
"Okay, well we need to have FHE."
"FHE. What's F.H.E.?"
As I giggled, I repeated, "FHE. You know what that is."
"Oh, FHE," he replied and serenely smiled. "Fishies."
As I could no longer control my laughter, I suggested we go to bed and have FHE later.

He Loves Me, He Loves Dan Not

So last week, Daniel's brother and his wife came over with their one-year-old, Zach. I don't have to go too far out on a limb by saying that Zach and I got along really well. We seem to have an understanding. On the other hand, he avoided Daniel at all time by at least two feet. Zach came up to me at various times in the night and held his arms up. I'd pick him up and we'd have a good ol' time. Towards the end of the night, we were all gathered around our coffee table playing a game (Tim, Ange, and Zach on one couch and Dan and me on the other). All of a sudden, Zach walked over to Daniel and held his arms up. Daniel exclaimed, "It's like he's a whole new kid! He wants me to hold him!" Much to Daniel's dismay and much to the rest of our amusement, the moment Zach got on Dan's lap, he pushed away from him and so he could sit on my lap. He then commenced kicking Dan until he got far enough off the couch so that it was just Zach and me. While I was incredibly amused by the evening's events, I can't say that Daniel was after that. But what can you do? Them's the breaks.

The Construction Game

While our Thanksgiving Weekend activities were both many and adventurous (Daniel did buy new jeans after all!), none has been so advantageous as purchasing The Construction Game.

This knock-off of The Farming Game is fantastic! We've spent hours playing it just the two of us already. It's not just that our family has a partiality to all things construction, or that it has a partiality to all things competitive - it's that our family has a partiality to all things that are competitively construction-esque (think the "measuring game"). We're going to bring it home for Christmas so that the whole competitive construction-loving Johnson clan can try their hand at the world's latest gaming wonder.

Daniel Sings Ray Charles and Barney

Before his mission, Daniel had his wisdom teeth taken out - and his friends were kind enough to record his recovery. He is so proud of this moment in his life that he wanted it posted for all the world to see. Turn it up to get the best out of it!