Hey! Hey, Babies!!

KYLEE STAMPER

April 12, 2011

4 lbs 10 oz - 16.5 inches

The New Lizzie Mamma! Proud Daddy Charles!Excited Family!

LUCAS STOUT WEBER

April 19, 2011

8 lbs 3 oz - 21 inches

The darling Weber family! Proud Papa

The busy Grandma!

Welcome to the Johnson Family Kylee & Lucas!!

Conference Weekend

I don't have too much to say about conference except that this session, I was very grateful for DVR. I saw very little of conference live, but have since watched it on my DVR and LOVED the topics and words spoken.

We spent conference weekend in Centerville with family. I captured a few moments.

I put Ben down for a nap. He was very tired, but still wanted to play. He threw a fit when I took his shoes off and put him in bed, so i found him almost out the door. He was able to put one shoe back on and fell asleep before he finished the job.

The boys were boys.

And Lydia was as sweet as she always is. The picture below was funny because I was trying to get a picture of Lydia sitting up. The screen on my camera is broken, so I have to look into the little lense and I didn't even see Ben coming. Right as the camera went off, Ben put this mask over Lydia's face. I didn't see it until I took the camera down. Pretty funny though. It reminded me of Elder Lynn Robbins' talk on parenting.

"A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in parenting 505. .... With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it possibly be that you need this child as much as this child needs you?"

I'm not sure Ben is a child that requires Parenting 505 training, but maybe Parenting 404. Heavenly Father knew I needed that boy. And he also knew I needed my little Lydia to follow.

I love my kids and my family. I am grateful for living prophets, apostles and teachers who are inspired to share the spirit and gospel of our Heavenly Father.

A Few Fun Milestones

We spend LOTS of time at the park and Ben can climb all the ladders and go down all the slides by himself!

Milestone #2: Ben can open ALL doors (& unlock them) & he can crawl out of his bed.

Ben went on a "no-nap strike" for a few months. I fought it for a while and for 2 weeks I was really good about doing as the Super Nanny said and just returning him to his bed. It became such a game. Even if he was literally so drowsy he could barely walk, as soon as I put him in his crib, he got this burst of energy. I was putting him back in his crib 15 times every day.
Finally, I just decided it wasn't worth the fight. He could stay up. Eventually he learned to fall asleep anywhere. I have found him falling asleep on his truck, in his sister's car seat, in his high chair, and right when we got home from church, he fell asleep on the floor...

Milestone #3: I synchronized my kids' naps. (at least for that day)

Milestone #4: Lydia has been introduced to baby food. And she LOVES IT!

Milestone #5: Lydia is rolling over.

And I just think Lydia is cute, so I put this video on too.

VIP Treatment

Levi came with my kids and I to Tony Burgers for lunch. Since he was a former employee our ONE order of fries was very SPECIAL!

YUM!

Mom Knows Best

I used to feel like I was pretty good at what I did. I was a pretty good assistant to 3 great brokers. I was pretty good at making posters, videos, helping plan assemblies, and organizing student functions as an SBO in high school. I was good at school; I always had good grades.

Then...I got pregnant. It did something to me. I am still good at some things. For example, I make some pretty cute kids (not that I'm biased or anything).

When I became a mother, I discovered a whole slew of things I did NOT do well. One of those things is keeping my towels smelling fresh and clean. Now, understand, that I am pretty vigilant about switching my clothes from the wash to the dryer. It is very rare that I forget them and leave them sitting. Even when I did forget, I made sure that those towels got an extra wash or two. Despite my best efforts, my towels still had that mildew smell. I started asking the experts and I heard many tips: wash with Oxyclean, wash them immediately after use, never leave them wet, give them an extra rinse cycle, wash with HOT water, etc. Then I heard the one that made me laugh till I peed my pants (a common occurrence since my children were born!)

Someone told me to add 2 cups of vinegar to the rinse cycle on my towels. Now, all of you expert moms and laundry-doers probably already knew this trick. I really had a hard time believing it though. Aside from believing that something that smelled so bad could possibly make my towels smell better....

You see, vinegar to me is like Windex to Toula in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

Except it wasn't my dad who thought that Windex could fix anything, it was my mother! My mother thought that VINEGAR could fix anything. It could clean anything. It could grow facial hair. It could put hair on your chest (darn you mother). It could make you fly. It could move mountains or even cure cancer! She would make us drink vinegar when we were sick. When I had bad acne, she had me wash my face in vinegar. And when my hair started falling out after I gave birth to my kids, she said I should drink vinegar and probably wash my hair in vinegar for good measure. Seriously.... I thought she was a FREAK!!! And come to find out... she was right.

Not that I thought she was lying to me, I just thought all those paint fumes and marker fumes from so many posters and school projects were finally getting to her.

He's TWO

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!

Thanks to Grandmas, Aunts & Uncles, Ben made out like a bandit with gifts!
We celebrated Robyn, Donny & Ben's birthday at my mom's.
Unfortunately, my camera died, so I was only able to get the above photo.
On the actual day, we went to Carl's Jr for the fries and the big toy! That's all a 2 year old could want on his big day. And that night....

We helped Levi propose to his darling girlfriend Allison!
Congrats Levi!!

Oh What Do You Do In The WINTER Time?

Play!