1 down 179 to go

just a side note... zakery decided in kindergarten that he wants to have the same backpack until he graduates from high school... so this is the same blue backpack that he wore to his first day of kindergarten. (the mesh football bag is new) GO MATTSON!!!

many of you may know that our school year was delayed by a strike in the Kent school district, but my children finally and joyfully got to attend their first day of school on Tuesday the 15th of September. they finally got to wear their new school clothes. they finally got to meet their new teachers but MOST importantly they FINALLY got to rock their new school shoes. for the past 3 weeks i have been forced to endure constant harassment due to these "new school shoes". i'm tellin ya, my life ain't no walk in the park... but if it were, i'd certainly take my kiddos with me because no one loves a good old fashion walk in the park like they do and if i take them then i'm almost certain they'll want to wear shoes and as they consider their choices of footwear..... well i think you can do the pedi math. anywhoo, i'm glad ,for the sake of my children and their feet, that school is back in session. quick run down: zak 8th, bella 4th, riley 3rd, and my blakey boy kindergarten.

My birthday girl

my sweet Bella turned (a perfect) 10 yesterday! i can't believe it! she's so beautiful and she's the greatest girl ever!(no bias) she makes my life better and i simply adore this chick! she started 4th grade, the day before, and she's lovin life... the highlights of her day... lunch with mom, sharing treats with her class and presents, no doy! her favorites were a fabulous manicure kit from uncle charlie and auntie Faye and her snuggie. WE LOVE OUR BELLA LOU!!! this is a pic of our girl on the first day of school (way back when she was 9)

L is for the way she looks at me.

yesterday our summer love turned 5 months old , she weighs in at a wild and crazy 12 whole pound, she loves her right foot and her mommy. she's gentle and divine and has securely stolen all of our hearts... little thief!

she is our tiny L.O.V.E !!!

Up-dizzle

Today is the last day of school. Too much has happened and changed to write about it all, so I will just say what we are doing now.



Zakery


Zak just finished 7th grade,gorgeous and lounging aboot. (did i mention we have canadian cousins?sometimes it shows, totally involuntary.)



Isabella



Bella just finished 3rd grade. and she's a delight to my soul!




Riley



Riley just finished 2nd grade and he believes he has found just the right smile to accentuate all his magnificent facial features.... man, i dig this dude.



Blake

Blake just finished a sentence...literally, i was like "blakers, smile real quick so aunty jen can put a mansome(manly and handsome cleverly blended) picture of you on the computer" ... so he did. what can i say? with this ray of son-shine ,obedience is the order of the day.



Ava



Ava just finished pushing every button on and around the computer and shoving something shiny into the prinkler.(that's ava-ian for printer) and all i can do is laugh, i'd totally do most of the stuff she does, if i weren't all growed up. it's kinda like having a chubby fat roll on your knee, when you're a wee babe it's just darling and delightsome. when your 31..... not so much! anywhoo, she's a joy!



Summer

Summer just finished making her mommy fall even more deeply in love with her...were talkin, abyss, deep!


..... sooooo, i started this post like 3 months ago (and by "i started" i mean my dear jennifer love sweet sister dear, helped me put pictures on and then she went home... jerk! so here i am now, sept 10th with 7 minutes to spare. so i thought i'd use this precious time to release this little gem to the bloggy type worldy place. i'm going to attempt to post again soon...ish (no promises... i'm just keepin it real! typically, when i have a spare minute or 9, i snooze... i hope life is grand in all the land. AMEN

balance in all things

well dear family, friends and weirdos that read my painfully boring bloggy type thing....IT'S A LADY BABY!!! for any of you lucky souls that don't know me well, that's how i like to refer to the female unborn. we had the ultrasound today and in between blake's constant questioning of the tech(if she was going to hurt me and if she washed her hands with soap.) and what appeared to be the "hammer time" dance being performed by my feminine fetus, we were able to catch a solid peek at the goods... and this baby is all lady! so this means if erik really wants a johansson man child there will have to be a next time....MEOW!

confessions...ish

i have been in love three times...(make out with a dude love not kiss your babies love... although, one of my babies, that is also a dude, does try to make out with me on a daily basis.... and he's 13!!! creepy anyone?)

are we supposed to be numbering these? k, i'll start over.

1.my daughter looks exactly like what i've always wanted to look like.she's 9.
2.i love my first husband... i always will. however, i'm very thankful to him for our divorce...is that bad? or weird? he never loved me like erik does. he never looked at me like erik does...in 11 years together he and i never shared a life or a love like erik and i have shared in two. and i think he does share that with his new wife ... which is great. no sarcasm here. if we co parent these little wonders the way i know that we can, we'll end up right where we dreamed of being when we were 17. all grown up with happy, healthy, successful children... and happily married, just not to each other. a minor detail ;)
3.in 31 years, i have never been as honest, with anyone, as i am with my husband. i also believe every word he says... here lives irony.
4.i am far too trusting. even people who have done nothing but hurt me, lie to me, try to break me, abandon me... i still trust them. and i always believe that they will wake up the next day the person that they were always capable of being.
5.if i could go back in time, i would... i'd go back to may 22nd 2007 at about noon. everything i would have done differently happened after that.
6. i love washing and folding laundry but i hate putting it away... that's when i get to see all the previously neatly folded clothes crumpled up and lovingly blended with yesterdays sippy cup, still containing just enough milk to bring tears to my eyes , guinea pig food and maybe a cracker or 3...AWESOME!
7.i use three dots the way teenagers and reality stars use the word "like"... excessively and often at the wrong times. (ps sometimes i even say "dot dot dot" when i'm having a conversation... i also say "p.s.")i write/type exactly the way i speak.
8.i think talking animals are freakin hilarious!
9.i have a favorite nephew... i know it's wrong, but i just do!
10.i make fun of people a lot...especially people from my church. sometimes i feel bad but usually i don't. sorry if you think less of me.

that's all folks!

holy past 3 months batman!!

wellll... it's been nearly three months since i started this bloggy mumbo jumbo and as promised i'm fairly horrible at it.
NOT SO QUICK REVIEW:
august 13th-i started a blog.

august 29th- one of my most favoritest of the Lords creations was called back to heaven. i'll never really know what to say about that. i miss every bit of him with every bit of me.

september 1st- we learned about the tiny joy that would be joining our chaos in april'09. for those of you keeping track, this will be lucky number 6!!! ps this means in april i will be the winner(my mom and grandma only had 5) i'm a freakin beast!!!... unfortunately, i mean that both figuratively and literally,DANG IT!

september 2nd- we had our annual new school clothes fashion show/ dance party. the dance party was particularly wonderful this year. did you know that if you dance with your eyes closed no one can see you?

september 3rd- the school year began. zak is in 7th grade(jr.high)yikes! bella is in 3rd grade. riley is in 2nd grade. blake is in preschool and constantly complains about all the awesome stuff bella and riley are doing without him. side note: when asked to sit and read with me blake's typical reply is "oh mommy, you know letters and reading gives me a headache." to which i say "then let's play with numbers and we'll come back to reading later." then blake says in true blake fashion "grrrrrrr, mommy, numbers make me angry!".... he sure will love kindergarten.

september 5th- my momma turned a year hotter!! she's my own personal obama mama!

september 6th- the final goodbye.

september 16th- bella,my big girl turned 9. she's so beautiful! and more importantly ( get ready for a little mush) she's every bit as glorious spiritually as she is physically. she's kind, loving and constantly taking care of someone or something.i'm so proud to be her mommy. she's also one of my most favoritest and greatest blessings.

september 20th- my daddy turned a year older, a year shorter and just a touch more kimchi scented. oh how we love our brown papa!

september 30th- diana turned 26. this means my youngest sibling is officially older than my husband... all the cougars in the house put your hands up!

october 6th- i heard our tiny ones heart beat for the first time! and then it was real and i'm in love again.

fast forward...for some reason most of october is a blur.... i remember alot of soccer, a ninja, a skeleton, a silver screen starlet, a little boy on christmas morning and a duck.

november 4th- like it or not...it's history ; )

november 5th- my sweet sister harassed me into submission and i blogged again.

i hope the past months have been especially kind to any of you, dear ,sweet (lonely) souls ,who've read this far.
next time maybe i'll shock your pants off with a photo or two. i'm kidding... keep your pants on, no one wants to see your underoos...CONNOR BRIDGE!!