2008- A Year In Review

It's my first "Year in Review" since I have only been writing this blog for 10 months. :-) What a busy year this was for us!

January

Grace Reigns Down starts the new year off right,

playing several shows at churches and coffee shops.

February

The house is officially on the market and the adventure begins! (This is when the blog is born.) Brooklyn officially turns three (and dispels any myths about the terrible TWOs).

March

We celebrate Brooklyn's 3rd birthday at the Greensboro Children's Museum.

April

Happy Birthday to me!

May

Brooklyn's first trip to the dentist.

June

Brooklyn's first trip to New York!

July

The house is sold! (And we head to the beach)

August

Lots of packing and unpacking!

September

Good times with friends (Loryn's birthday at Chateau Morisette)

October

The Jay-nifer wedding and Brooklyn is Sleeping Beauty for Halloween

November

It's time to start decking the halls!

December

Is there a better way to end the year than to Las Vegas for a family vacation!?

Vegas Baby!

On Sunday, December 28th, 7 of us ventured west to the land of gambling! We headed to Las Vegas! Despite fate trying to keep us away (via Delta airlines and their crappy service), we all made it out there (on separate flights) by mid afternoon. It was a quick trip- just two nights- but we all had a great time seeing the sights, losing (and winning) some cash, and enjoying time as a family. Brooklyn loved the extra time with Uncle Eric and Caroline (it makes us miss them even more when they are back in Florida), and Nanny did a great job showing us the "under 21" sights.

Here is Caroline, Brooklyn, and Nanny in Mandalay Bay's shark reef aquarium.

While we were at the shark reef, the boys were kicking some poker butt! Eric, Dad, and Chad all made it to the final table, with Chad placing #2, and Dad winning the tournament. It was awesome to watch!

At Caesar's Palace, we found FAO Schwartz (and the land of the stuffed animals!)

And we walked down to the Bellagio hotel and saw their "Famous" Fountain Show.

What a whirlwind trip- but so much fun! Thanks to lots of excitement (and a little Jon and Kate Plus 8), Brooklyn was an absolute angel flying home.

The (Second) 12 Days of Christmas

The second 12 days of Christmas went by in a blur for us. We had party after party and food on top of food! Needless to say, my diet went out the window for a month, but now we are back on the wagon. :-) On Friday, December 19th, we attended our 7th annual "Family Christmas Party" with my girlfriends (from UNC) and their husbands. This year, Loryn and Lee hosted in their new home, and they spiced things up by doing a "National Lampoons/tacky 80's Christmas" theme. It was so fun, and I have not stayed up that late in a long time! :-)




McKenzie, Marisa, Heidi, Jennifer, Loryn, and Me (celebrating our 10 year friend-a-versary!)

Chad and me in our Christmas attire (and some yummy "punch" that Loryn made!)

On the 20th, we attended the annual Henzler soiree, which is always fun, and we started our two week hiatus from work- yay!

Christmas Eve is always spent at Oma and Opa's house (my dad's parents). Brooklyn was the star of the show, showing off for everyone, and really enjoying opening her presents. It was a great "warm up" to the next day's festivities.

Brooklyn and me with Oma and Opa

Brooklyn and her two new dolls (the yellow one is straight from Italy!)

Then, we headed to church to lead our 7pm Comtemporary Christmas Eve service. You can see below our annual picture in front of the Chrismon tree.

Then, off to bed, but not before first putting out a plate of cookies and glass of milk for Santa.

Christmas morning! Brooklyn was the last one awake so we were ready with the camera (Don't mind her "capri" Pajamas!).
She started slow with her stocking.

And also found her first Santa gift- a Sleeping Beauty vanity. That was her favorite gift, she said.


Then, she started racking up with more babies, more strollers, and accessories for the vanity.

Later that morning, we went and did Christmas with my side of the family. Around 4pm the ENTIRE side of the family (including Chad's parents and brother) came over to my parents for dinner and more presents. Friday, did our annual (we have a lot of "annuals" I am noticing) Tangelwood Lights and Dinner with Joe, Misty, and Allie Henzler, and Saturday, we did Christmas with Chad's family, including cousins and their kids. Sunday, we left for Vegas...but that's for another post. :-)

I enjoyed myself so much that week that pictures seemed to cease, so I will just have to rely on others for my scrapbooking. :-)

Way Back When-esday!

Hop on over to Cheryl's website and play along with Way Back When-esday!

*All these pictures were taken Christmas Eve in front of our church's Chrismon tree.

Year: 2005
Age: 10 months (exactly)

Year: 2006

Age: 1 year, 10 months

Year: 2007

Age: 2 years, 10 months

The (First) 12-ish Days of Christmas

Well, as it does every year, December is always filled with some wonderful events, parties, and activities for the Johnsons. Here is a recap:

December 1-6: We had three shows with GRD. We went and played at UNCG's Lutheran Campus Ministries, Confluence Coffee in Winston, and Greensboro Academy. Fun shows- fun people!

December 7: Brooklyn's stage debut in her school's Christmas performance. Notice you will NOT see any pics of her onstage because she was there for only a short moment, but here is her before the show in front of our Christmas tree and with her best friend, Kate, after the show.

December 8: What an awesome night! GRD had the opportunity to go down to Greensboro Urban Ministry and play a concert for the homeless. My mom had my grandmother's crochet group knit 120 hats and another member of our church made 150 fleece scarves to give to everyone who came in for the meal. It was truly an uplifting experience and really made us all remember the Reason for the Season.

December 11: Our annual trip to Four Seasons Mall to visit Santa. Brooklyn and I have an agreement at this point- Mommy will sit with you- you just smile pretty. :-) She exceeded expectations, though, when she SPOKE to Santa, telling him she wanted a baby doll with hair and gave him a high five. I was so proud of my shy little girl!

December 12: TWO holiday parties that day- work for me and our annual Christmas dinner at Memaw's house (both excellent parties with GREAT food)

December 13: We babysat for Zoe, so Luke and Emily could attend Luke's work party. We took the girls to McDonald's mostly so they could go on the Play Place. Brooklyn does awesome on the big slide, but Zoe needed a little help from Chad getting back down. :-)

So, that brings me to this week and several more Christmas parties...I hope I am better about taking pictures for the Second 12-ish days of Christmas!

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Way Back When-esday!

It's time for another Way Back When-esday! Visit Cheryl at Twinfatuation and play along with us!

Year: 2005
Brooklyn's Attitude: Loving Santa and taking all the pictures!


Year: 2006
Brooklyn's Attitude: Not having it with Santa, and barely speaking to Mommy!


Year: 2007
Brooklyn's Attitude: I'm OK with this as long as Mommy is the one that sits on Santa's lap, and I am as far away from him as I possibly can be.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Last year, we went with my parents and Chad's parents to cut down a Christmas tree in the mountains ("Top of the Mountain" tree farm, to be exact). I have never been one that really cared with the tree looked like (Lowes was my tree sponsor for a while), especially when Brooklyn was a baby and didn't notice, but now that she is older and so very much into the Christmas season these days, it has been a fun trip the past two years. I hope we continue to go each Thanksgiving weekend as time (and gas prices) allow.



Brooklyn and Grandpa Brooklyn, Chad, and Pops

Brooklyn and Me

Brooklyn and Nanny

Brooklyn and Gramma

Cutting down OUR tree

Decorating at Nanny's house first (the fattest Christmas tree EVER!)

Brooklyn had so much fun decorating at Nanny's that she was dying to get home and do ours next. We decorated Sunday morning, and I hope to get pics up soon.

(Had to get in a cute shot of the pigtails!)

Way Back When-esday!

Because of illness and the holiday last week, here is a two-weeker for Way Back When-esday!

Date: November 2005 (Thanksgiving Day)


Date: November 29, 2006 (Baby Zoe and Brooklyn)


Date: November 29, 2007 (Loving on Mommy's old baby dolls)


Date: December 8, 2007 (Christmas tree shopping in the mountains...Brooklyn and Nanny)


Now, its your turn to play....visit Cheryl and see how it works!

Where, oh where, did November go?

I cannot even believe that it is December 2nd already. Brooklyn told me today that she cannot wait to hide eggs for Halloween tomorrow, and that about sums up how I feel these days. The holidays are racing by and before we know it, it will be Christmas. Thanksgiving week was pretty much a wash for me. I came down with some sort of upper-respiratory-we-cannot-give-you-antibiotics-virus that lasted a full 8 days, so despite not having to work, it was no fun mouth-breathing for a week. Luckily, I began to feel better on Thursday when 28 of my closest family members came over for Thanksgiving dinner. We loved hosting it in our new home, and utilized every possible space to make it accomodating for everyone (THANK YOU WEATHER!). Everyone pitched in and brought over yummy food, and it turned out great. I hate that I didn't take any pictures, but hey, if you were orchestrating a meal for 2 1/2 dozen peeps, you probably wouldn't be whipping out the camera either. :-) I was exhausted by the evening and was in bed by 8:45 and asleep by 9. Between early bedtime and not being able to breathe at night, I found myself wide awake at 4:45am. So, I did what any other person would do. I took a shower and headed out to Kohls for Black Friday. Craziness ensued, dropped about $200 at Target before daybreak, ate Chick Fil A for breakfast (with a LARGE sweet tea), and then headed to my mom's at 8am to meet her and my mother in law for more shopping. We had a great time Black Friday shopping together and got a lot done before Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch. My darling Chad allowed me a two hour nap that afternoon, and I started feeling myself by Saturday. Saturday morning, we headed up with all the grandparents to pick out and cut down our Christmas tree in the mountains. I'll try to post pics tomorrow. Brooklyn loved decorating the tree on Sunday, and it's been fun decorating the new house. Monday was back to work and back to feeling healthy (thank goodness since the band played at UNCG's Wesley Luther House Monday night). We have four shows with Grace Reigns Down this week, so I am so thankful that my voice has come back, and I am just now praying that Chad stays healthy! :-)