The view from my office window

Days like this make me LOVE my job.

I get to spend the day alone in my car listening to music...

Taking pictures of houses.

Normally that's about all I get to look at... 

But today I took a picture and noticed the sky in the background looked fake.

It was so so blue, and the clouds were just amazing.

I'm a total sucker for clouds and blue skies. 

And the sun shining through as well? Swoon.

I took a million pictures.

All photos are completely unedited.

Think I wasted at least a half hour just staring up at the sky.

Amazing!

Rainy Day

Today it looks like this outside:

Lots and lots of rain.

Normally, I'm a huge fan of the rain...

But with a very active toddler, I'm starting to dislike days we can't go outside.

Luckily I've got 2 munchkins for the morning who keep each other busy and happy...

And even better I've still got toys from Christmas that we haven't even opened yet!

(I'm a planner, can ya tell?)

We broke out the princess tent/ ball pit this morning for the first time :]

The girls loved it

Mikenna didn't want the balls in the tent, she brought me each ball one by one.

Eli brought the balls back in the tent one by one.

I love when they counteract eachother, and don't even notice :] 

It happens a lot!

Funny girls.

By the end of the day we all joined in the fun.

I hopped in of course,

Jalapeno saw balls and assumed this new toy was for him,

and Kenna decided naturally that her babies wanted to play too... "Baby paaay ball? Yeah!"

Gotta love new toys... Christmas in February!

Love Day

I love, love, love Valentine's Day

Why?

Not because of the gifts, flowers, cards or candy. (Ryan, if you're reading this, disregard that statement)

Mainly because I love V-Day arts & crafts and baking...

I love pink, red, purple, hearts...

And because I've always spent the day around kids/preschoolers, which makes the day SUPER fun.

This year I got to spend it with this little peanut:

Isn't she the cutest? Lucky me!

We started off our day the right way with a little love day breakfast:

We also had a special V-Day lunch:

(And if you're wondering, yes my child took down that entire plate of food, and more. Told ya the kid can eat!)

We did some painting and coloring for Daddy.

I was overly excited about the coloring, mainly because this is the first time Mikenna really scribbled on paper for me. She loves to color with chalk outside, but before today she wasn't able to push down hard enough with crayons to color on paper.

Today I officially got a masterpiece:

Ok, so maybe it's not a Da Vinci, but I'm proud none the less. 

Mikenna gave mommy a special Valentine, she took a 4 hour nap! Best gift ever...

When Ryan finally got home from work we ate dinner and exchanged our cards (Oh how I love funny Valentine's Day cards!) and little cheesy gifts (We had a little competition, I totally won, my gift was WAY cheesier, yeeessssss!)

I got flowers and candy from my wonderful hubby.

Kenna and I made Ry a gigantic heart cookie (which I must say, was pretty delicious!)

Next year Mikenna will be able to do ever MORE fun Valentine's stuff, I can't wait!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Johnson fam!

Best Buds

Mikenna has a new BFF... our little Jalapeno! (I like to call him our first born, but Ryan likes to remind me he is just a dog. Then I usually just stick my tongue out at him!) She calls him "Ha" (trying to say Jala) and she LOVES her Ha. Our morning routine usually goes a little like this:
I open Mikenna's door and say good morning, she says "Hi mama", then either "Hi Ha!" if he follows me in, or "Mama, Ha go?" if he doesn't. This morning I didn't even get a hi. I opened her door and first thing out of her mouth was "Hi Ha! Hi buddy! Ha, go side? Go pee pee?" (So much for mommy being her favorite!) Jalapeno is hand fed by miss Mikenna daily, and he now has a playmate who always wants to throw his ball or play tug with him. When we first brought her home he wasn't so sure about this wiggly noisy thing in his house, but she is definitely growing on him!

Her newest fave thing to do is walk her Ha. It's pretty cute, she holds onto that leash for dear life: 

Super cute, I love seeing my babies play together!

By the way, how perfect is this day?

The sky is so so blue, love!

Perfect outside day. 

15 months

15 months old. 

Not sure why, but this age has really hit me hard.

My baby is becoming a big girl.

Maybe it's because most moms I talk to rave about their child being 15 months.

It seems to be the age where their little personalities really start to shine through.

For miss Mikenna, this is most definitely the truth. 

She amazes me everyday with her new knowledge. 

We had Kenna's 15 month check up today, it went great!!:

Age: 15 months, 11 days

Height: 32 and 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs 10 oz. (68th percentile)

Head Circumference: 98th percentile (48 cm I think?) She's got a very big brain :)

When we go somewhere I always talk to Mikenna about where we are going and what we will be doing on the way there. So when I told her we were going to the doctor she repeatedly said "Hi Goctor!" the whole way to the appointment. When the nurse opened the door for us, Kenna said, "Hi Goctor!" The nurse laughed and said, "Well thanks for making my day, but I'm just a nurse." Mikenna smiled back and said "Oh, hi urse!!" :) When her Doctor came in a few minutes later she yelled once again, "Hi Goctor!" He was very pleased to listen to her talk and see her interest in the books in the exam room. In fact, he said she is highly advanced in ALL areas, and her language ability is what they hope to see out of a 2-2 1/2 year old. (Oh yeah, I will  be bragging about that one for a while!) She showed off all her tricks for the doctor, including "droppin' it like it's hot", and even blew him a kiss when he left the room. I was very happy that we only had to get one shot this time (we got 6 at her last appointment!). She whined a little but as soon as she had a band-aid on she was happy. Phew... 3 more months until the next immunizations!

Some fun things about Mikenna Faith at 15 months:

She can point to her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, tongue, teeth, lips, belly button, feet, and hands.

She says everyone's names, and says hi to everyone about every 5 minutes.

She can pick out red, yellow, green, blue, and pink if you ask her to.

She has 10 teeth, and at least 2 more on their way.

We have counted over 50 words that she says daily, not including the words she repeats.

Her absolute favorite snack is a pickle. I can bribe her to do anything if I use a pickle as a reward. :)
She knows where I keep the nail polish now, and brings me a new color just about daily to paint her toenails.

She LOVES animals. Real animals, on TV, in books, cartoons... she loves em all.
She loves to sing in the car. Her current faves: Pitbull/T-Pain-Hey Baby, Neon Trees-Animal, Chris Brown-Yeah 3x, Kesha-We R Who We R, and Rihanna-What's My Name. She sings these all day long.
Her new thing is hiding behind her hands. She thinks it's hilarious that we "can't see her."

She prefers to be outside, no matter how cold it is.

We are finally down to one nap a day (most days).

Her new best friend is Jalapeno, and since all she wants to do is throw his ball for him and give him treats, he is becoming quite fond of her too.

Have you ever seen a cuter 15 month old? Me either.

Daddy's Girl

There are a few things I know for absolute certain that Mikenna LOVES:

1. Blankie. I'm pretty sure she will go to college carrying that thing.

2. Food. Honestly, have you seen the kid eat? If not, you should definitely come over for dinner sometime. The kid can put food down. She doesn't discriminate either really, the only thing I've found that she really won't eat is sweets (weirdo). 

3. Daddy. I think Daddy has been #1 on the list of favorite things right from the moment she was born, see:

That is my little peanut about 30 mins after she was born looking at her daddy. I had just put her into her hospital crib thingy to move to our room from the delivery room. Mikenna started to fuss and Ryan went over and started talking to her. She instantly stopped, looked up, and stared at her daddy with pure adoration. 

Melt my heart moment number 1.

Ryan has always had a way of calming our impatient little one. They've had this cute little bond since the day Mikenna was born, she just seems to know that she is safe with Daddy.

Now that missy is getting older, she LOVES to play with her Dada.
"Mom, dada go?" All day long....

I think because I grew up without my Dad, watching them together truly amazes me.

I love seeing her face light up when he comes home from work.

I love love love watching them interact and play.

They are pretty darn cute together.

While mommy is the one to kiss the boo-boo's and listen to the whining (lucky me), I'm pretty sure Daddy is her favorite playmate.

             

   

They melt my heart.