On My Honor...I Will Try (not to cry)

Well, if you know me at all (or maybe you can even guess it by the blog title), you know Girl Scouts is a huge part of my life. Not only have I been a professional Girl Scout for 7.5 years, but I was a girl member of the organization for about 10 years, even earning the Gold Award (the highest award in Girl Scouting, and YES it's like the Eagle Boy Scout Award...only harder to earn) as a High School Junior.

But I digress...

This is about my sweet, grown up Brooklyn. Tuesday night, she had her Daisy Girl Scout Investiture Ceremony, where she became an official member of Girl Scouting.

She had to recite the Promise all by herself.

And helped add a petal to the "Girl Scout Law Daisy Flower"

And then all the moms got to pin the membership pins on their daughters...

It was a wonderful ceremony. The girls all did so great! This Daisy troop has been great for so many reasons, but one awesome bonus is that Ms Jeanna's pre-school girls get to have a mini-reunion every other Tuesday night.

And she has two pretty neat leaders (who also happen to be pretty special grandmas).

To say I was proud was a bit of an understatement...

Brooklyn and one of her best friends, Kate. I'm so glad they can do this together!

When did she grow up?

Annual Wonderfulness

Last Saturday, 6 "girls" from UNC gathered together for our annual holiday get-together. This was our 10th annual celebration.

Last year, we looked like this:


And I wish I could show you what we looked like this year...but well, when you have these adorable friends in attendance, somehow we just didn't make it in a picture. :-)

(Sweet Cooper, 5 months)

(Precious Graham, 6 months)

(Gorgeous Nora, 9 months)

We had a great time catching up, laughing, reminiscing, and eating yummy food. Marisa and Marc were wonderful hosts, and Chad and I even got a whole night away, spending the night in Huntersville, while my parents watched Brooklyn and Jake at home. Unfortunately, we returned to a sick little Brooklyn who had encountered a stomach virus while we were gone. Nanny and Grandpa get bonus points for that sleepover. :-)

Way Back When-esday: Jammie Edition

Date: December 2005
Brooklyn's Age: 10 months

And here's Jake in the same pajamas...As a mom of 2, I love moments like this! :-)

(BTW this is totally Jake's "I just got in trouble" face...so irresistible. I'm in trouble now.)

It only took 2+ years...

I haven't publically stated it before, but I am not the world's greatest interior designer. I tend to go simple, symmetric, and predicatable. I wish I could be more creative...let me rephrase. I wish I had the MONEY to be more creative. But I do what I can with what I have. My dining room has always been a work in progress. We did the beadboard the day we moved in (thank you, Dad and Larry!) and painted walls that week. I had big plans to do a "beach theme" where I had all black and white pics of Brooklyn at different ages at the beach. But then, we had Jake and I started to rethink "Brooklyn beach." So, I looked at various artwork in stores- canvas prints, wall sculptures, color prints, black and white drawings, wrought iron, tapestry, and on and on and on...

But then I got a fabulous deal on a family photo session from Molly Cook, and I soon had my vision. Here are some (not great) photos of some wonderful photos of my family of 4. Now, I think my dining room looks perfect. :-)

And my next project will now be a "Brooklyn Beach 1/2 Bathroom." :-)

Three Tricks from the Little Dude

Jake was kind of enough to do three tricks for you in the video. :-)

1. He's walking now!

2. He can say several words, including "dada" and "dog."

3. He is an expert growler. :-)

Fa la la la la. la la. la. la.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...


And the trees were taken out of the shed, dusted off, shaken out, and decorated with all the soft, unbreakable ornaments.

Wait. That's not how you do it?

98% of the time, Chad and I go and purchase a live tree from a local lot or even go to the mountains to cut down our own. But every so often (read: whenever we have a new toddler), we opt for an artificial. It's easy, it's FREE, it takes no time to pick out (especially when the weather has been hovering in the 20 degree region), and again, it's FREE.

Brooklyn was thrilled with decorating a "Jake Tree" and a "Brooklyn Tree" and her Holiday Happiness was contagious, because I was THRILLED that I finally found coordinating boy/girl Christmas pajamas for the kids.

So, a photo shoot was inevitable...


But like all our photo sessions, most of the pics turned out like these...

(ok this one is pretty cute)

It's a good thing they are so darn cute. :-)

Kindergartners + Frigid Christmas Parade = A Surprising Success!

Last weekend was a big weekend for Brooklyn's Girl Scout troop! Not only did they do Candlefest on Saturday, but last Sunday, they marched in their first parade.

I was a bit nervous for my sweet, shy one, but she did so great!

(Thanks, Aunt Misty, for the great pic.)

All the girls did a great job walking the half mile(?) or so parade route down Main Street in the freezing cold.

Our God-Daughter, Allie, also marched with her Girl Scout troop. She looked so grown up with her friends. :-)

Back home, Brooklyn shows off her festive attire...

I hope everyone is having a wonderful December so far...we've been busy but having a great time!

Snow + Candles = Not Happening

Last Saturday, Brooklyn's Girl Scout Daisy troop participated in the 26th annual Candlefest at City Lake Park. This event is done in 4 different parks in our area every December. The Girl Scouts set out thousands (almost 3,000 at this park) of luminaries in patterns around the park, and the public is invited to drive through that evening. Admission is just canned food for the local food pantries.

Brooklyn and her troop practicing the "buddy system."

Listening intently...

The girls really were such good listeners!

Listening to the older girls give directions.

The girls measured the distance between each luminary with a rope.

They were awesome at taking turns.

The finished luminary. The girls did everything from filling the bags with sand to placing the candle down in the bottom of the bag.

The girls loved when it started snowing pretty hard, but they stayed focused, and Brooklyn's troop alone set out 100 bags in the park.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Jake loved seeing snow appear in our yard. He was too young to remember snow last winter, so this was exciting for him!

Unfortunately, as beautiful as the snow was, it was too much for our white paper bag luminaries. The event had to be cancelled when the candles would not light, but I still think the girls had an awesome time that afternoon.

deck the halls...eventually

We have been busy getting into the Christmas spirit around the Johnson house lately. Soon I will post about the great Girl Scout holiday weekend that Brooklyn and I shared last week (including Candlefest and the Jamestown Christmas Parade), and more recently, decorating our house.

But, in the meantime, here is just a cute picture of Jake fast asleep on the way to school. The kid wouldn't be so tired if he would just sleep til 7am like a normal kid and not wake up at 5:30am ready to go every day.

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes you just need a little help...

And the medium sugar free vanilla iced coffee from McDonald's gives me that extra caffeine I need for just 90 calories! :-)

(I was not compensated for this post...just a big fan and wanted to share!)

Let's Chew the Fat, Shall We?

So, here's the skinny on the Biggest Loss competition at work...


(and I think I am done with the fat/weight loss puns now.)


On Week 1 (beginning of August), I made this announcement. I was the heaviest weight I have ever been. 188.0. There I said it. It's in print...and ON THE INTERNET. Horror. But I have got to start being honest with myself (and ya'll) if I am ever gonna stay accountable and continue to lose weight and get healthy.

Over the last 16 weeks, I saw encouraging numbers and weight losses as I weighed in on Tuesdays.

Week 2: -3.5 pounds
Week 3: -1.5 pounds
Week 4: -4.0 pounds
Week 5: -3.0 pounds
Week 6: -0.0 pounds
Week 7: -5.0 pounds (*This week was my first celebration/met my first goal because I was officially under my pre-Jake weight by 2 pounds- 171 pounds.)
Week 8: -0.5 pounds
Week 9: -1.5 pounds

*Around here was when I gave you guys this mid-season update, where I shared what I had been doing and how things were going.

Week 10: -2.0 pounds
Week 11: -1.0 pounds
Week 12: -0.0 pounds
Week 13: -2.0 pounds
Week 14: -0.0 pounds
Week 15: -1.5 pounds
Week 16: -2.5 pounds
Week 17: 1.5 pounds (*This was my second goal! At this point, I had lost 29.5 pounds and was official below my pre-Brooklyn weight. I weighed in at 158.5 (was 160 when preggers with B), and was super excited.)

And then Thanksgiving happened...and all the leftovers that followed. But this was a great test for me. You see, we had our last weigh in at work on Tuesday, November 30th. And I have to be honest here and say that I didn't really work hard at the weight loss or exercising over the Thanksgiving break (and I know watching The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now? on TV does not count!). I came in and had gained 2 pounds this final week. I have to say that though I was not surprised, I am a bit disappointed in myself in that I really didn't make any effort over the holiday. It scares me to think just how quickly I can fall back in my old habits of eating. Much like the BL contestants on TV, when they leave the ranch and enter "real life" again, they do all naturally gain a bit of the weight back, but it then becomes a mental challenge to stay strong and stay the course.

But, I cannot dwell on one bad week when I had 16 good ones, so with that two pound weight gain this week, my final weight loss was...


27.5 pounds, or 14.63%!

And that my Blogger and Facebook friends was enough to make me the Season 1 Girl Scouts BIGGEST LOSER!!!!

[you may insert your own cheers and confetti throwing here...I did. :-)]

And my current weight is 160.5. Still not ideal, but much better than 18 weeks prior. :-)


I have a plan to talk to my doctor in a few weeks and find out what I weighed when I graduated college (the summer before I got married). That was probably the healthiest I have ever been and probably the most fit. I could have unrealistic goals of looking at high school weights, but well, 2 children + getting older...you ladies know what I am talking about. Many of you may believe that the number on the scale doesn't matter. "As long as my jeans fit, right?" I used to feel that way, and I have to say that statement (for ME) equals DENIAL. These days, jeans are made out of stretchy material, so yes, my jeans still fit, but I happened to sneak in an extra 20+ pounds in there. So, for me, I have to continue to look at the number, because that number is what held me accountable and gave me the harsh truth week after week.

Several of you have said that I have inspired you over the past 4 months, but I have to say that you all have been so inspiring to me as I have been traveling this journey. To not only be accountable to the scale and people at work, but also to all of you, my wonderful blog readers, it was sooooo helpful for me to stay on the right track. Many of you have emailed or left FB messages or picture comments, and I treasure them so much. Thank you!!! You have all helped me along this very difficult (but long overdo and much needed) journey.

[ok, enough Mrs. America acceptance speech fluff]

We start "Season 2" at work in January. My journey is only about halfway over in the "loss department" (and then it's on to maintanence!). After all, it's not a diet...it's a lifestyle change (Bob & Jillian would be proud!). I'll keep you posted! And again, thank you all so much for the support!

Wordless Wednesday