Harper is a TODDLER and Kylie is Cheering!

Sorry it's been a long time since I've blogged.  The life of a working Mom doesn't always allow time for blogging!  A couple of weeks ago Harper hit the big 18 month mark and is now officially a toddler! It's bittersweet for me because she will always be our baby, but we love watching her grow, learn and change constantly...she's keeping us on our toes for sure!  

She is so smart and funny.  She is talking up a storm and has quite the obsession with "Tay Tay" and his music. It's the cutest thing.  She knows as soon as we get the car that we listen to music and she wants to hear Tay Tay all the time.  They said she even talks about him at school, which is super cute.  We actually got to see him on September 17th - my Mom's Birthday - because he was in town for a show at House of Blues.  It was so cute to watch Harper look at him and probably think "This is Tay Tay? He's actually here and not just in a video or on the radio?!"  You could see her little mind working.    

Our cousins Kam and Cody also came in for the show and it was great to have a night of family and fun!

We love The Wild Feathers!

Happy 55th Birthday Momma! :-)

Kylie had her first game as an 8th grade cheerleader. We had fun watching her and had the cutest little "Cheer Sister" in the crowd! :-)  It's fun to go to her games each week and watch her perform.  Go Maus Mountain Lions! 

Two of Harper's favorite things - Daddy and Minnie Mouse!

 Here are some fun pictures from the last few weeks...

 Brunching with Mom and Dad

 Fun on the Carousel at the mall!

 Fun play dates with Keaton!

 Our little ham 

 Fish face!

 BEAR DOWN ARIZONA!

Sister love! 

At "Aunt Mike's" game! :-)

Potty like a rock star!

Harper's new favorite words are:

• Mouse (She loves Minnie and Mickey)
• Nook (Milk!)
• Alright (it means Outside?!?)
• Bubbles
• Show (her favorite is Madagascar 3 and Mickey Mouse clubhouse!)
• Sock
• Touch
• Elmo 
• Tister (Sister)
• Chair
• Fruit
• Duck
• Cold
• Hot
• Mar Mar (Marley)
• Daddy (she went from Dada to Daddy - super cute)
• Mama
• Mimi
• Tay Tay!
• Go
• Love
• I love you
• Counts to 5!
• Potty
• Bath
• Hold you! (Means hold me!)
• Pool
• Hot Dog
• See ya later!
• Hug
• Airplane
• Teeth
• Please
• Thank you

Harper is very smart and loves to point out people's things. For example, I will be folding laundry and she will tell me whose pants I'm holding or who's shirt.  It's wild! She has such an amazing memory.  She also points to Daddy's chair at the table, Momma's and "Tister's".  She also points to Daddy's car and the yard equipment and says "Daddy!"   I kinda feel bad that she only associates Daddy with the yard work, but I definitely can't take any credit for how beautiful he keeps our home!

Harper is a pro getting up and down the stairs, even though we are always right behind her.  She loves to open drawers and doors so we're having to be extra careful around the house.  Thankfully our pantry door has a lock on the outside so that helps a ton! :-)  She loves to go to the grocery store and wave at everyone that walks by.  She also loves to play with her friends, even though we are still working on sharing her toys.  

Jeff and I are heading to Austin this weekend for our first full getaway since Harper has been born.  We are celebrating our 5 year anniversary a little early!  We are going to stay at a cute B&B, get spa treatments and then see The Wild Feathers play on Sunday at ACL! We can't wait! Mimi is keeping Harper for the weekend and she is excited to spoil her and play with her! :-)

Jeff has been traveling a lot but he will be home more now in the Fall months. I'm heading out on my first work trip since Harper has been born for 8 days!  Please pray for me! I know it will be fine but I will miss my girl and my sweet little family so much! I know Jeff will be a rock star while I'm gone!

Until next time...

Harper at 16 Months and our Beach Babe Kylie!

Good grief, I cannot believe that it's almost been 16 months since our sweet baby girl was born. (Tomorrow is the official day!)  We are coming up on two years since we found out I was pregnant and it seems like yesterday.  Harper is growing like a weed.  She is so smart and surprises us every day with new words, funny faces and just all around cuteness.  

Her recent stats at her 15 month check-up were:

Weight: 21 lbs 6 oz (22%)

Height: 30.5 inches (45%)

Head: 19 inches (95%)

My favorite things that she does right now are to give you a big huge hug around the neck. She'll say "Hug" (Really pronouncing her G which makes it even cuter - "Hu-gah")  She also has started this adorable dance where she shakes her hips.  It's really fast and she'll break out into dance at the drop of a hat.  It cracks us all up. She also says "Hi" and almost immediately says "Bye!" to anyone she comes in contact with...at the store, with the neighbors, to her family members, etc., it's the cutest thing! 

Every time my phone rings, she screams "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi!!!" and thinks it's always Mimi calling.  When she hears the garage door open, she automatically says "Dada" or when I get her up in the morning she'll say "Mama.....Dada!" and then point to the video camera because she knows he's watching on the other end. :-)  The other day she pointed to the blower and said "Dada" and I laughed, because yes, that is what Dada does - he keeps our yard clean and beautiful! 

Our patriotic girl on the 4th of July 

She loves her friends at school and has a slight obsession with her friend Joe.  She is constantly saying "Jooooeeeee" and looking for him around our house.  "Yyya" (Lyla) is her little BFF at school and they have so much fun playing.  She also loves playing with Geneveve, Zeeshan, Gavin, Shir-Lee and Aydin but she hasn't quite mastered their names yet.  

The girls at school sunbathing :-)

She has also started climbing, and we have to watch her closely or else we'll see her just like this! ;-)  She is fearless!

Some new words that she has learned since my last post are...

• Thank you!
• Help you! (Meaning help me!)
• Up there! (when she wants to get up in her chair on on the couch)
• Chair
• Hug 
• One - she says it and can hold up her finger for the #1
• Two, Three, Four, Five!
• Yoyo
• Horse - and she says "Nay, Nay" anytime a horse is mentioned or seen in her book
• Baa Baa - she calls a lamb Baa baa because that's the sound they make
• Wawa (she's done this one for a long time now but I forgot to include last time)
• Oh no!
• Aww man!
• Uh-oh
• Bobo  (belly button)
• Poo poo and tee tee (sorry for the potty words!)
• More
• Yes
• All Done!
• Meow (She knows this is the sound a cat makes)
• Hurry
• More
• Whoa!
• Shoe

I'm sure I'm leaving off so many words that she says, but my mind is a little foggy! Harper is such a bright light and joy in our lives.  She is always happy and smiling.  She has started wanting to help with any and everything.  She loves to help put dishes away from the dishwasher, she likes to try and buckle her self in to her car seat, she likes to put dirty clothes in the hamper.  She also loves it when Marley gives her attention and she makes a panting noise when we ask her what Marley says - she'll stick her tongue out too. Priceless. 

Kylie just got back from 2 weeks in the Bahamas with a friend and had a blast! She also got to go to South Padre for a week at the beginning of the Summer with another friend.  She is one lucky beach babe! Here are a few pics from her trip... Can't believe how fast she is growing up! 

 Megan and Kylie 

They got to touch and swim with lemon sharks! 

We are gearing up to head for the beach for a week and can't wait to see her on the sand watching the waves crash into the shore. I'm sure it will be a magical moment for all of us! We are excited to celebrate our dear friends' wedding - and have a week of family fun! 

Of course you can expect to see a post - or two on all the family vacation fun! :-)

Chattanooga!

Harper and I went on a mother-daughter trip while Jeff was at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. It was so fun to visit my best friend Kristin and her sweet little fam.  Her son David is two, so he and Harper had a blast playing! He ran circles around Harper though and she came back walking better, talking more and being more independent. It's amazing how kids can learn so much from older kiddos! So fun!

Harper was a champ on the plane and only cried a little when we were taking off. She's in love with Barney these days, so having a DVD player helped so much!

When we got there, we grabbed lunch for the kiddos and then they had a nap and then the fun began!

We loved their big screened in patio!

Dinner outside on the deck was fabulous! Love these two stinkers!

This picture cracks me up. David was always in motion and Harper just stared in awe. ;-)

Two peas in a pod. David kept calling Harper "Farpo" and it made us laugh every time!

Fun on the roller coaster!

We walked across the windy Tennessee River one day in downtown Chattanooga!

 

 My beautiful bestie and her sweet boy

Me and my girl!

I love the fish face in this one! :-)

 The dogs were as exhausted as we were. Two kiddos kept us all pretty busy! 

 

 David was such a big boy jumping off the steps in his cool Air Jordans :-)

Harper tried to look cute, even in her sleep, for her boyfriend David! ;-)

Love the Pratt family, Harper did too! :-)

Sweet kiddos on their last day together. Didn't want to say goodbye!

We had to wait for our plane to arrive, so we had quite a bit of time in the airport. 

Finally got a little nap on the plane. It was a great trip and we miss our friends so much already!

Kristin and I had a great time catching up and even got a little Mom time and left the kids with her babysitter, which was awesome! It's awesome when you have a friend that you can be 100% yourself with, and no matter how much time passes in between your visits, you pick right up where you left off.  Although I'd give anything to have her back in Dallas, I'm so grateful for her friendship and support, even if it's from Tennessee!  

Thanks so much for a fun vacation, and we hope to see y'all again soon! 

Love you Pratt Family!

Johnson Girls Updates!

Hi friends,

It's been a while. I kinda took a break from blogging, not that I was that great to begin with...but anyway!  Life is good in the Johnson home - just BUSY! Harper is growing like a weed and Miss Kylie is keeping us busy with all her extra-curricular activities.  So here's a little update on each of our girls.

Harper is just over 14 months.  She's walking like a champ, and talking like crazy! She loves to try and say just about anything you ask her to, and it's adorable.  Here's a list of her favorite things to say right now:

• HI! (And she says it with such enthusiasm!)
• Happy
• Harper (it's so cute to hear her say her own name)
• Mama!
• Dada!
• Tister! (Sister)
• Mar Mar (Marley
• Nack (Snack)
• Nana (Banana)
• Night Night
• Bye Bye
• Hop!
• Ba - Barney or Blanket (She says the same thing for both)
• Boo - Book
• Bubble
• Baby
• No no no (She loves to mimic me saying No to Marley, complete with shaking her finger!)
• Mimi
• Popo
• Pop Pop (Poppie)
• Tay Tay
• Apple

Here's a video of her saying "Happy" and a few other things... she definitely is a happy girl!

She's also a little smart thing. She can point to her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, teeth, feet, hands, belly/belly button.  She's just an absolute joy to be around.  She has started making a fish face and leaning in to kiss us and it just melts our hearts.  She will pat us on the back when she hugs us and now likes to carry her own bag into school like a big girl.  They also started using nap mats, and Harper just loves hers. It's the cutest thing. When it's at home, she always wants to roll it out and lay down. Sweetest girl.

She's sleeping great and we have such a fun night time routine these days. We read a couple of books, drink some water, then she says "Ba" and I get her blanket and rock her for a few minutes. We say prayers and then she goes into bed.  She'll play for a few minutes and wiggle around the bed and then she's sound asleep! 

I weighed her the other day and I think she's about 22 pounds although it's hard to keep her still long enough for the scale to get a good reading!  She got in the pool for the first time this past weekend and loved it.  She's definitely a water baby!

We had her child dedication last weekend at church and it was a wonderful, beautiful service.  It was special to have friends and family there to celebrate with us although we definitely missed the family that couldn't be there.  Thank goodness for videos, right? :-)

Now on to Miss Kylie, our busy bee teenager!  

Our weeks have turned into an array of shuttle services and we realize how lucky we've been for so long with not having to be in constant motion...although we wouldn't change a thing! Kylie is so happy and we are loving watch her embrace her new role as a cheerleader!  She has tumbling on Wednesday nights, cheer practice at 7 am on Thursday mornings and then tumble and stunt class on Thursday nights!  

Kylie also just got inducted to the National Junior Honor Society and we are so proud of her! She is such a smart girl and has grown into a very responsible and well rounded young lady.  Keep up the good work Kylie! 

She has just two weeks left of school and is super excited for the summer.  She has lots of fun things planned, including a trip to South Padre with her friend Hailey and of course, our Florida trip at the end of July.  She might even have another trip in the works but we're not sure about that one yet. Lucky girl! 

I'm trying to catch up on current events so I'll keep posting pics/updates! 

Much love!

The J Crew