Christmas At Mom's house

We went to Christmas dinner at my mother's house in Huntsville, AL. It was great to see her and Doug. Ada had a blast chasing the "kik-Kees" around, I am not so sure they enjoyed it as much. We took Bentley down with us. He did fine playing outside and sitting by the stove looking for scraps. When the cat jumped over the makeshift fence, well, that is another story. No wounds, thank goodness, and I am not too sure who was more surprised, us or them.

Christmas Eve at the Park

We went to the park today to entertain ourselves this afternoon, and well, here are the results. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas Eve!!

Early Christmas

Today is Christmas eve, and we celebrated our family Christmas today since we will be up way to early in the morning to head to Grandmother and Bug's house in Huntsville, AL, for a big family dinner day. Ada enjoyed opening her gifts. She got lots of clothes from Uncle Tommy and Aunt Lauren, a handmade sweater and hat from Nanna (Adam's Mom), a tea set and pull toy from us. A week ago a friend of ours was sorting through things getting ready to move and gave us a tricycle and grocery cart so we waited till this morning to give them to Ada as an extra surprise. She loves them all. She took the shopping cart over to the pantry and started emptying the shelves and putting it all in her cart.
It has been a good holiday season so far, and we look forward to seeing even more family tomorrow.

Christmas in the Mountains

This weekend we went to Murphy, NC, to Dad and Denise's new mountain cabin. While there, Ada was able to celebrate Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Martin. Among the new outfits and lego kits, Ada also received a kitchen. We waited till today to set it up, and thanks goodness we did, it need a power drill and lots of screws. Adam and I discovered that trying to put a child's kitchen together while your child is trying to play with it is very difficult, but we worked through it.
As you can tell from the pictures, Ada loves it. We have had lots of fun watching her cook in her kitchen. She loves putting stuff on the stove and talking on the phone. So far she is a great cook and multitask-er! (She gets that from her Mom.) We did not expect her to mimic working in the kitchen so well, so she must have been studying us for a long time! It's a real treat to watch her make coffee!!
We invite all of you to come over because Ada would love to cook something for you now!

Merry Christmas!

It's our first Christmas here in Knoxville and we are excited. Of course there are many things going on. We are starting the holiday celebration this weekend and Dad's new cabin in Murphy, NC, then off to Mom's in AL on Christmas day. Hopefully somewhere in there we will get news that our new nephew will have arrived. Little Spencer is not due till mid January, but I have bets on around the New Year. Here are the Christmas pictures we used for our cards. We were very lucky that it snowed the first weekend this month, so yes, that is real snow on the tree. The pictures were taken at Krutch Park in downtown.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Parade

Lots of pictures from the last month. Some are from Thanksgiving at Dad's house and some are from the Christmas parade here in Knoxville from Dec 4th. Enjoy!

Top 5 things we have learned about the new loft.

Ok, so now that we have been here for a few weeks, there are somethings that we have discovered that are vastly different from our old house. (You may notice, that most of these Ada has been a key figure in them.)

1. If the dead bolt is not locked then Ada can open the door and get out. You will not know this until you hear the door slam shut. Prior to running out after her, make sure you unlock the door handle or you will be locked out.
2. This building requires more keys and door codes to enter than Fort Knox, but hardly none to exit, therefor, grab your keys on your way out to chase after Ada.
3. There is not a pantry in the kitchen, and the only place to store the food is under the island. This means that everything is eye level for Ada and she can go get what she wants when she wants it. (Like cheerios at 7am and bring them to you in bed so you have a wide awake baby and a box of cheerios as your morning wake up call.)
4. The knob to turn the shower on is a pull up on top of the faucet in the bathtub. This is easy access for Ada. So it's very entertaining for her to turn the shower on and off while waiting for her bathwater to rise.
5. The sun is bright. Our wonderful huge windows face west and at sunset we eat supper with sunglasses on. They are also an odd size which makes finding window treatments difficult.

As we continue to live here I am sure that there more things we will figure out. So far it's all been a fun learning experience!

Veterans Day

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."
-José Narosky Quotes-

We all went to the Veterans Day parade here in Knoxville. As always, I got emotional during the National anthem and Taps, but was able to hold it together for the rest of the festivities. Ada loved waving to all the people in the parade. I kinda wish she was old enough to understand the importance that this day holds for me and Adam, but at the same time, her innocents is just as joyful.
We were able to get small flags and she somehow knew what to do with them right off the bat. She loved waving them, then handing them to me, then getting them back and waving them again. I was worried that she wouldn't like the bands of the firetrucks, but she just waved, danced, and looked at them saying "wow" over and over again. Never did get scared. It was a great day. It was a great parade.

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."
-Elmer Davis Quotes-

Hello Knoxville!

Ok, grab a cup of coffee, this is going to be a long one.

So, I have been without internet for about 3 weeks now, and of course this has been the craziest 3 weeks to date. A short recap for those of you who are completely clueless on the details of the Johnson's life this past month, well, we moved to Knoxville, TN. Now, for a bit more detail on the ins and outs of it all.
We still have our house in Fayetteville. It has yet to sell or rent but we have our fingers crossed, of course, if it doesn't do something soon, we may be moving back to NC. Adam is working for Slamdot here in Knoxville selling websites while trying to get his new business, Bingham Johnson, up and running. I am in the process of trying to get into UT in January. I have an appointment next week with the admissions office to see what kind of red tape they can cut through to get me in. After talking with them and looking at our situation, we have decided that going straight into UT and taking an easy semester is better than me going to a community college first. Keep your fingers crossed, prayers and good vibes coming this way that all goes well!!
Now, about our new place. Guess what everyone...we live in a downtown loft again!! We are in The Emporium Lofts, which are only a few blocks from the UT campus and the World's fair park, not to mention the river as well. Ada and Bentley seem to be adjusting well to it all. Ada loves the elevator and the very long hallway we have that she can run up and down in. Surprisingly there are several children in the building. We know this, not only from seeing them coming and going, but apparently all five lofts on the 4th floor (directly above us) all have children and they all play in the loft directly above us during the day. Starting about 8:30 in the morning we hear the "thump thump thumps" of little feet running. We have gotten a kick out of it so far. I hope that once we get a little more settled and feel a little more adventurous, we will meet the 4th floor community and join in on the action.
Adam and I have enjoyed being able to load Ada in the stroller and go for a walk every night. We have set off in a different direction every time and have yet to overlap anything. So far we have discovered that there is not a shortage of coffee shops, pubs or restaurants downtown, and as an added bonus, very very few chains. There is also the historic Tennessee theater that is literally a few blocks up the street that is still in operation and has advertised several acts that we would love to see, i.e. Bill Cosby and the Imagination Movers (Disney kid show for Ada). We have already found a building that we want to buy and convert half of it into a home for us. It even has a little yard, the only problem is that it's 2.5 million and that is a "bit" out of our price range at the moment.
As we settle in more and discover more things, I will keep you all posted. I have added a few pictures of Ada picking out pumpkins for Halloween. We will change our numbers soon and I will send them out. If you have not gotten our new address yet, let me know and I will pass it along too.

Our Knoxville, TN, trip!

Last weekend Ada and I made our way to Knoxville, TN, to see Adam for the weekend. We had plans to spend Saturday at the hot air balloon festival and go to the zoo with Uncle Tommy and Aunt Lauren, unfortunately we were rained out of our plans. We did however have fun at Build a bear at the mall and a fun dinner where Ada played with Aunt Lauren's drink cup and had everyone laughing. Early Sunday morning we were able to see Lauren and Tommy off at breakfast and it turned out to be a gorgeous day for the zoo. Adam, Ada and myself spent five hours walking the Knoxville zoo seeing all the animals. They had a butterfly exhibit that was lots of fun, but Ada seemed to like the red panda's better. The snow leopard made an appearance and Adam and I were very impressed with it's size and beauty, but Ada didn't seem to think too much of it. The otters were very cute but we did not get a swim show. I personally thought the very large turtles were impressive, but I think by that time of day Adam and Ada were ready for a nap. Regardless, it was a wonderful family outing and we enjoyed ourselves very much.
On Monday morning Ada and I left Knoxville and headed south towards Alabama. We stopped in Huntsville to see my mother and Doug. Ada had a wonderful time riding the carousel at the mall with her Grandmother, but I think she had the most fun chasing the cats around at Grandmother's house. Ada and Doug got to walk down the driveway to the mailbox and enjoyed making Doug follow her around. On Tuesday, we had made it to Birmingham to see Dad and Denise, so Grandpa, Ada and I, went to see my Grandmother. She is doing well and enjoyed our two short visits that day. Grandpa also took Ada up to his and Denise's offices to show her off. As to be predicted, Ada made everyone smile.
It was a wonderful trip that we all enjoyed thoroughly, but of course it was way too short and are looking forward to our next one.

A new beginning

Today marks the beginning of a very big change in our family. Adam left this morning for Tennessee to work with his friend Sean at Slamdot in Knoxville. He will be there all week and will come back on the weekends. The plan is for this to last the month of September, but there is a chance that if all goes well, Adam will continue to work till the end of the year or till we close on the house, which ever comes first. Adam is no longer an owner of ARC Design. This was a sad and rejoices event for us both. Adam and I realized that selling his portion of ARC and starting over was the best thing for our family and we are excited at what the future holds.
Ada, Bentley and myself are staying in North Carolina till the house sells or till we can manage to live all together and still pay the expences of keeping the NC house. Luckly Ada has no idea what is going on, other than today she did point to the door and ask for "Da da" around the time that Adam is normally home. I am sure that as the week goes on she will realize that he is not here but will adjust to having just me to entertain her. To make the time go by faster, I am trying to plan things that she and I can get out of the house and do around Fayetteville, weather permitting. We hope that not only will this week and month fly by, but that it is a safe and sucessfull one for Adam.
We did find out about a Hot air balloon race in Knoxville at the end of the month and have made plans for Ada and I to join Adam for the fun festivites. Adam nor Ada have seen a hot air balloon race, so I will be more than happy to show them the ropes and funnel cakes. It may not be the Mississippi, but I think it will still be fun for us all.

Ready for the Snow!!

I was going through Ada's closet today to weed out the clothes that she no longer can wear. (This is becoming almost a weekly event now.) I realized that the snow suit I asked Meredith to get for Ada's birthday is size 18 months, the current size she is wearing now. Fear ran through me, so to see if I was going to have to give this away, we tried it on. Thankfully it still has LOTS of growing room, but now I can't wait for the winter!! I know Texas is not known for it's freezing cold winters, but I am now hoping for a blizzard because I think that Ada is the cutest little snow bunny ever!! These pictures do not capture how laugh out loud cute she is because you can't see her move around in this thing. If it wasn't 75 degrees in the house and the fear of a heat stroke from her wearing it, I would dress her in it everyday!
I think I am going to plan a trip this winter for the Alps just so she can waddle around in this thing all day long!

Even if it takes all day

Remembering Sen. Ted Kennedy

Today I watched the funeral of Sen. Ted Kennedy, and was moved in ways that I have never been before. I have, like most in this great country been thinking of him often since learning of his passing on Wednesday. All week there have been stories on the news about his great triumphs and server tragedies. He seemed to, like all the Kennedy's, live a life of extreme highs and lows. His and his family's highs are much greater than any of us would have ever dreamed to have achieved and unfortunately his lows were much harsher than anyone I know personally has gone through. I believe President Obama said what all of us must have thought about Sen. Kennedy at one point that he had been through such hardships in his life that if he had chosen to live his life bitter and in solitude no one would have blamed him, and everyone would have understood, but the amazing thing is that he did not. He strove to heights that were far beyond the capabilities of most.
I never had the honor to meet Sen. Kennedy, but I would have like to. Unfortunately, I did not realize that till today after listing to his sons speak so fondly of him. My own ignorance has blinded me of even being able to fully see how this one single man has made my life better. For the first time in my life, I feel guilty for not being able to name a single legislature that this man fought so hard to pass in his 47 years in the Senate. I know that I have reaped the benefits of them, but I have no idea what they are. They called him the "Lion of the Senate", and I am sure that he must have been. He is quite obviously one of the greats, and no one will ever be able to fill his shoes.
Tonight as the sun set, he was buried in our nations most sacred place, Arlington Cemetery. Of course, as veteran of our United States Army, Arlington holds an honor in my heart that few may be able to fully understand. I, never been, can only imagine the instant feeling of Honor, Courage, Self-Sacrifice and Heroism one must feel the instance that they cross through the gates and see the rows upon rows of tombstones lining the well manicured green lawns. I got into a disagreement today with a former co-worker and still current soldier on weather Sen. Kennedy deserved to have his final resting place within the grounds of the soldiers holy land and was very disappointed. His view is that Sen. Kennedy is not worthy simply for the fact that he did not support the war. I have thought about that all day, and even as the lone bugle player was blasting out Taps over the sunset sky there in Washington, I was reaffirmed that Sen. Kennedy is in his rightful resting place. He is not only with his brothers, but he is in the sacred land of those who gave all that they had to not only to protect the land and people of this country, but to make every citizen's life better by sacrificing theirs.

Like I said before, I could not begin to tell you a single thing that Sen. Kennedy fought to pass in the Senate, but it's not hard to realize that we as Americans lost one of our Greats.

Tonight I hope that you will join me in saying a prayer for the Kennedy family for the loss of the man who held them all together when tragedy struck and for the courage to continue striving to the heights that he fought so hard to achieve.

Thanks be to God.

A new way to recycle

So we had dinner out of a box tonight and Ada found a new use for the box that it came in. She is very creative and wore her new look for about an hour.

Adam and Ada's trip to the beach.

Adam and Ada went to Myrtle Beach, SC, this morning to see Adam's father Lamar. Do to last minute plan changes, I was not able to go so David Allen, Rachel and Harmony could go and see their Grandfather also.
Being Ada's first trip to the beach it was a big deal, but Adam says that she loved every minute. Once they got there and were headed to the beach, Adam says she took off running to the water. Due to the hurricane there were strong rip currents so the water was very shallow when the tide was in. This only allowed for more splashing room for Ada. Adam says that she fell over once, but that didn't deter her from the water. Grandpa Johnson (Lamar) said that she had no fear and was surprised by her enthusiasm to stay out there. All in all, it was a quick but good trip. Adam said that it was good to see his dad and Ada obviously had a great time too.

Home cooking

I decided that I wanted to start cooking healthy from scratch for Ada. I figured out that with all of these reports about don't feed your kids this or if it contains something then your kid will develop something absolutely crazy, I needed to figure out a way to feed her. So, instead of spending half a day in the grocery store reading labels to make sure that these crazy things are not in what I am buying, home cooking seemed to be the easy answer. With all that said, I started looking for healthy cookbooks, and not just healthy, but ones that are geared towards what your kid needs to eat, and surprisingly they were not hard to find. The first one I found is called "Healthy cooking for your kids", shocker, I know, but it's been wonderful!
I have attached two of the recipes that we have tried so far that have been a real hit in our household. Adam has eaten himself sick off of them, so my next project is establishing portion control. This has been very fun, and I have really enjoyed the 500 steps it takes to make these dishes, well one b/c I love to cook and the other is b/c I know that it is healthy for all of us. I have already bought a second cookbook that goes by how old your child is and what they should be eating. It not only has tasty recipes in it, but educational as well.
Well, enough of me rambling about all this, I scanned the recipes so you can click on the picture to make them readable and printable. Let me know if you try any of them and what you think. Also, if you know of any healthy recipes, please email them to me. I do hope you enjoy them!

Adam and Ada

A few weeks ago, Adam needed a few professional pictures taken for work, so he called Raul Rubiera. We went out into this field for about an hour or so and Adam danced around while Raul took some great shots. Once Raul felt that he had what he needed, but before we got all packed up, Adam picked up Ada and Raul was nice enough to take a few shots for us. Of course, Ada stole the show. Here are a few of what we thought were the best.