Sweetums,

If you send me flowers I’ll gape in disgust
If you buy me chocolates I just might combust
Don’t take me to dinner
(I want to be thinner!)
Just help with the dishes, the laundry and dust…

I haven’t been blogging lately because I have not had the time or inclination to do it. This morning I finally had the thought to take some pictures of my two adorable children to post here, but alas, the batteries in the camera were dead and I do not have any extra AA batteries. I have like a zillion AAA batteries (because of the new pulsating toothbrushes we recently invested in). Maybe I’ll have to take some pictures of our super clean teeth for later…

Here’s a little snippet about each person in the extraordinary Johnson family:

Isaac – I have started giving him back rubs in the morning when I go in to wake him up. Ever since I started doing this I have been hearing “I love you mom” more often and have NOT heard “I hate you mom.” Totally worth it! He has had fun reading books like The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham – he is learning new sounds and new words everytime we read together. Potty training is my LEAST favorite thing about parenting (so far), but hearing my kids learn to read has been one of my most FAVORITE things about being a mom!

Sydney – She has recently been learning division and basic fractions in math. Most of her spare time at home she spends reading a drawing. This week a couple of boys in her class were picking on her because she was the slowest runner in her PE class and so she went to the school nurse and said she was sick and needed to go home. She did fess up to me (duh, I could totally tell she wasn’t sick) why she wanted to come home. Well, I gave her two choices: 1. Continue to run the way you do right now and just ignore the kids who are picking on you, or 2. Spend some extra time running outside and on the treadmill so you can get better at it. She chose #2. I remember always being the slowest runner at school (it’s not hard when you’re also the shortest).

Liz – The days have really been running into one another. I have not had time to practice the piano, work on sewing projects, read for leisure, etc. My days have been filled with packing lunches, helping with homework, helping my kids practice the piano, teaching piano lessons. I am looking forward to going to the temple tomorrow with Peter and a new couple that just moved into our ward. Going to the temple always reminds me that all of the mundane days are totally worth it. Peter is back in the swing of traveling for work so I am back in the pseudo-single parenting mode. Phlooey.

Peter – He went to a gun certification or safety class today (I don’t know exactly what it’s for except that he is going to have fun shooting guns all day). He is leaving for Utah on Sunday (sorry folks he probably won’t be able to stop by and visit you). We are still waiting to find out about the job he applied for in the UK but have found out that several people have applied and that he is over qualified or something. I’m pretty sure he’s the one they really want for the job but I think I’m biased.

That’s all I can come up with off hand….

Today in sacrament meeting it was announced that there would be a youth fireside this evening at the stake center featuring David Archuletta of American Idol fame. Although I had never watched American Idol, I did recognize the name from the news.

This evening I had a Relief Society meeting at the church and who should show up at the church to warm up before travelling to the stake center? Well, you can guess. The RS president wanted to see him so she could brag to her daughter so we went out in the hallway as a group of guys (David Archuletta being one of them) were getting ready to drive up to the stake center. Well, I had no clue which guy he was because I had never seen a picture of him before. But now I know because the internet is a wonderful thing.

I went to the following YouTube link to listen to his singing of the song Imagine and I have to say I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. He does have a nice voice but he is very young and I can imagine (no pun intended) that it will mature nicely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIuMcL4Kz44

I hope fame does not spoil him.

All of my previous attempts at making rolls left me with NO motivation to try again. Little bricks are no fun to eat no matter how much butter you slather on them.

Well, in a moment of deep humility, I turned to Peter and asked him to teach me. I wrote down the instructions in detail to help me in the future. The result: the rolls turned out quite nicely! I love my bread baking husband!