Thankful in November - Day Twelve

Day Twelve - Today, I'm thankful for these two ladies.  They are strong, courageous, kind, giving, thoughtful and amazing friends.  I've known Erica (the taller one in the pictures) since our freshman year of college and Mel since they have been together sometime in 2008 I believe (my memory is lacking these days).  These ladies are the best friends we could ask for in life.  Erica has practically been my BFF since we met!  We've been through thick and thin, and I love her like a sister.  Erica and Mel have some things in life that not many people can say they've done.   Times Square at New Years, bicycled cross country, babysat Cooper, and many more things!  These ladies are aunties to my kids, they treat these kids like royalty and spoil them rotten on any occasion they can justify.

The friendship of Erica and Mel has meant so much to me.  I am thankful for these two wonderful friends today.

Five on Friday

I’m linking up today with the good life blog and about a zillion other bloggers for 5 on Friday!  It’s my favorite linkup!

One

                I got off my butt this week and did Days 1 & 2 of Couch to 5k.  I started on Wednesday and I plan to do these runs on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays through next week, then hopefully kick it up a notch and just go every other day.  I need to complete the training by November 2^nd, which will be my first official race.  My husband and two neighbor friends and I are all doing the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon’s 5k.  Someday maybe I’ll do that half marathon, but for now, just focusing on the 5k. 

Two

                Sleep has improved since Tuesday night.  THANK GOODNESS!  Cooper is still waking up in the middle of the night, I cannot figure out why and what to do about it, so I suppose we’ll just continue doing what we’re doing.  Katy has been sleeping much better also, so that’s a blessing!

Three

                My best friend Erica and her partner and my good friend Mel, completed their cross country journey on their bicycles!  Click here to read their day by day journey!  Tonight is the Raise the Roof fundraiser for the Looking Out Foundation.  This is who Erica and Mel were raising money for on their journey.  They are going to be speaking about their journey and their fundraising efforts tonight.  I cannot attend in person, but I did donate enough money to be able to stream the event live tonight!  I’m looking forward to hearing what these awesome ladies have to say!  I am SO PROUD OF THEM!!!

Four

                This weekend should be fairly low key and that is exciting!  I’m taking my kiddos to the children’s museum with my friend Shannon and her kids, and Tim is umpiring a couple of games on Sunday.  Other than that, we’ve got zero plans, woo hoo!

Five

                Katy.  She is so happy, and she brings me such great joy!  I’m so blessed and I thank God each and every day for her and her brother.  But look at this face!  Isn’t she just precious?!?

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

My friends are LOOKING OUT ACROSS AMERICA

Just a quickie post – remember the time I hosted a giveaway for a Looking Out Across America tshirt?  Well that same day, my BFF Erica guest posted for me about the journey she and her wife Mel were going to be embarking on this summer.  Well here’s an update.  They’ve made it from Virginia at the beginning of June to Colorado as of Monday this week.  These ladies have had an amazing trip so far, travelling up mountains in VA, up rolling hills in MO, and across flatlands in KS.  They’ve had chilly nights and crazy hot days.  They’ve camped, stayed in church hostels, lots of hotels and many places in between.

Please, go here to read all about their journey.  They are 50+ days in and they post a blog entry for every day of their journey across this land that we call home. 

Mint Chocolate Cake

I love to bake. It's one of my favorite hobbies. I especially love cake baking. So for everyone important in my life, I bake them a cake for their birthday. Yesterday just happened to be my best girlfriend's birthday. I actually call her my sister from another Mister (and Missus) because she is just like the sister I never had. I love her like family and her mom and pop are my second parents.

So, back to the cake.... Erica loves mint chocolate. So when I asked her what kind of cake she'd like, I wasn't too surprised she asked for this kind of cake. I searched the web, and found a few recipes. Usually, once I find a few that are pretty similar, I take the one that sounds the best to me and go with it as long as the comments/reviews are good. The recipe I used for this cake came from Bird on a Cake. Hers looks much better than mine, but hey, I gave it a shot. See below for recipe and then head to her site to see a prettier version!!

Andes Mint Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (OR 1 c. milk mixed with 1 T. vinegar)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped Andes Mints

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of three 8 inch cake pans with wax or parchment paper and spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray. Bring some water to a boil and keep it simmering while you mix the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer until combined.

Add 1 cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Shake the chopped Andes Mints in a ziploc bag with a tablespoon of flour, until they are lightly coated. Fold the mints into the batter and pour into prepared pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Mint Buttercream Frosting

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• green food coloring
• 1/2 cup milk (may use less - I should have used 1/3 cup maybe, my frosting got pretty thin with a 1/2 cup)

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, peppermint and food coloring on low speed in large mixing bowl. Gradually add milk until you reach the desired consistency. Keep covered.

Ganache (cut this in half I didn't and will be sure to next time, I had a lot leftover)

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Heat cream over medium heat. Watch it closely and immediately remove from heat when it starts to boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 or 2 minutes. Then slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted. Stir in the vanilla.

Enjoy! I cannot wait to dig into it tonight!

Posted with Blogsy

LOAA: Guest Post & Giveaway!

Today, my friends, I have a special post for you – a guest post from my IRL BFF Erica.  That’s her, on the right, in the picture below.  The other lady there is her wife, Mel.  They are more than friends to me, they are my family, and they are about to embark on a journey that I wanted to share with you – so I did what any normal friend would do, I got her to write a post to tell you all about it. 

Hey Bloggers!

I know none of you know me (yet), but I’m that elusive BFF that Emily occasionally mentions on her blog, Erica. 

Hi!  I also occasionally check in on (stalk) the blogs that Emily follows, so I might know more about all of you than you think I do… J

For a little background, Emily and I met in the dorms our Freshman year of college.  We lived on the same floor and hung out first semester, and each had roommates we weren’t entirely thrilled about.  When a room on our floor became available second semester, we’d already become such close friends that we decided to move in there together.  We were roomies all the way up until Emily got married in 2008 – she and Tim and Cooper (and baby Katy!) are family to me.  Emily, Tim and I even work for the same company, in the same building!

I’m not much of a blogger in the sense that most of you are – I don’t have kids (yet) that do entertaining (or crazy) things, I’m not very crafty, and my life is rather average day-to-day.  Yet somehow, I have 12 blogs to my name on Blogger, just none that are really complete or that I have updated in, say, 5 years…  I’m good at starting them, but not on the whole keeping up part.

So why am I here then?  Well…my wife and I are doing something pretty adventurous and kinda cool this summer – we’ve decided to bike (as in bicycle, not the giant kind with motors) across this great country of ours, and raise money for charity in the process.  We’ve coined our journey Looking Out Across America (or LOAA for short), and we’re thrilled to see the country in such a unique way, and raise money for a good cause in the process.

We’ll ride over 4,400 miles on Adventure Cycling’s TransAmerica Trail, from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia to the Pacific in Oregon, then up to Seattle, WA for the big finish.  We’re riding to raise funds and awareness for musician Brandi Carlile’s Looking Out Foundation, which provides funds for some great humanitarian organizations and projects like The IF Project, Easter Seals, Honor the Earth, the Fight the Fear Campaign and Why Hunger.  We’re donating 50% of what we raise to the Fight the Fear Campaign, and the other 50% will go toward the general Looking Out Foundation fund.

You might be asking yourself, why bike across the country?  Well, about four years ago now, I stumbled onto a website where people blog about their bicycle touring adventures.  I’d never bike toured, nor had I spent much time on a bike as an adult – but the more I lived vicariously through the adventure blogs of other riders, the more that trail sunk it’s claws into me.  It wasn’t long before I knew I had to do it someday.   And luckily my partner-in-crime grew to share this dream, and decided she would join me!

So starting in June, we’ll spend about 90 days “in the saddle”, as they say, on loaded touring bikes, struggling to make it to our day-to-day destinations, and having the time of our lives.  We’ll be blogging along the way too!  As often as possible, but hopefully daily we’ll upload some notes and photos (and probably some of that awesome action video that makes everyone queasy) from the road.

We can’t wait to get started!  Mosey on over to our website and follow our progress, donate to our cause if you can, buy a fancy t-shirt to help fund our personal expenses during the trip, and “like” us on Facebook too!  Thanks for your time everyone!

Emily again….

You see that logo on the top right side of my blog page?  Looking out Across America…. Yeah, if you haven’t checked that out, please do. 

Finally…. Because I am nice and I want to spread the word about my awesome friends…. I’m giving away one of their LOAA t-shirts!  I love mine, and I wish I could still fit into it, but this pregnant belly has gotten too large!  Please enter below and GOOD LUCK!

Random Tuesday

Here's some radom to go along with whatever your doing today.....

• I forgot to post my 22 week Baby Johnson update last week, so I plan to do that later, hopefully today.  If not, you might just see two weeks worth on Friday.
• TOMORROW..... I am having a guest post from my BFF, Erica, and also a giveaway, so be sure to come back tomorrow and check that out.
• My breakfast today was so delicious I have to share with you - a banana and peanut butter....  yummo!
• Today is a shorter day for me at work, I'm leaving about an hour early to take Cooper to the local bounce house place to play with his buddy Max.  It should be fun.
• The next two weekends should be busy busy busy....  we're going to be working on Katy's room.  Tim wants to have it done by March 9th and we've got stuff going on both of the first two weekends in March, so we'll have to kick butt at it this weekend!
• My little Cooper boy is so crazy.  He's obsessed with water, showers, baths, washing his hands, etc.  If he could, I think he'd be in the water or playing with water 100% of his time.
• If you haven't entered yet, please be sure to head over to my BBFF Holly's blog, to enter in her 1,000 follower giveaway!

• I'm currently overwhelmed with magazines.  I have two months worth of Good Housekeeping,
  Weight Watchers Magazine and HGTV magazine to read.  I make sure I keep up with my People subscription weekly, but it seems everything else falls to the wayside.....
• Babies Pregnant Mamas are everywhere around me.  I have two neighbors that are pregnant, a co-worker and Max's mom is also pregnant.  I feel like I am surrounded by people having babies.  Love having people to commiserate with!
• I haven't seen Kampbell since last week and it's driving me crazy, I need to see that little girl soon!

That's it, enough random from me today.  What's going on with you?  It's Tuesday folks.  One step closer to the weekend.....

Happy New Year

Well, after a looooong break, I’m blogging!  Happy New Year everyone!

We’ve had an eventful 12 days.  I was off work from 1pm December 21 to today.  I cannot explain to you how wonderful and much needed that break was.  I was burnt out, and I really wanted some time to rest, relax and unwind.  I’ve got about 5 months of nonstop work without a day off coming up and I really wanted to enjoy this last Christmas with Cooper before his brother or sister comes.

Speaking of brother or sister….. My anatomy scan is scheduled for January 14 so we are hoping to find out the baby’s gender that day.  Yippee!  Only 12 days away.  Back to our break….

We got to visit lots of family, the weekend before Christmas we visited Tim’s family in Ohio….

All of the cousins

The Johnson Siblings

Then, on Christmas day, we open presents at our house, then we visited with my dad at his house, then my mom at her house.  My brother and his family visit with us at dad’s then mom’s also.

Christmas morning at our house

At Dad’s house Christmas day

At Mom’s house Christmas evening

Our Christmas was wonderful, we are truly blessed.  Time with family was the most precious, and Santa went above and beyond, as usual.

After Christmas, we spent the rest of the week hanging out around the house.  We had about 7-8” of snow on Christmas night, so Tim and Andrew spent the majority of the day after Christmas snow blowing the driveways of our neighbors and our house.  Cooper and I spent the day inside enjoying new toys and watching too much television.

We finally left our house on Friday, only because Tim and I both had dentist appointments.  We were home by 1 and Cooper and I did our normal daily nap from 1-3.  Boy am I going to miss those naps.  Saturday and Sunday we spent at home, not leaving for anything. 

On Monday, New Year’s Eve, Tim went to work for 1/2 day, and while he was gone, Cooper and I cleaned some and ran some errands.  Then Tim picked up Kampbell and we spent the rest of the day hanging out with the Coop and the Soup.  That night, we had some friends/family over.  Erica and Mel, Andrew’s friend Garrett and girlfriend Hannah, and Stephanie and Ryan of course.  We played a euchre tournament and had lots of good food.  We also let Cooper stay up until after midnight, it was almost 1am before I put him to bed.  It was the first time he has stayed up that late and he did great.

Yesterday was spent catching up on sleep, laundry, cooking breakfast for all of the overnight guests and getting the house back in order. 

All in all, it was a wonderful break.  I’m so glad I was able to start the New Year fresh and relaxed!  I’m glad to be back in the blogging world too!!  I’ve been reading blogs so I hope to get back into the groove of writing! 

Happy Wednesday ladies and Tim :)

Cooper's 3rd Birthday Party

Prepare for picture overload….

Saturday October 6^th, 2012, we had Cooper’s Circus Birthday Party.    There were many in attendance, and it was a lot of fun.  The kids played with each other, they played on the trampoline, they played with the bean bag toss, they played with Cooper’s toys, they just played.  We ate, we ate some more, and we visited with folks that we haven’t seen in a while and others that we see nearly daily.  I think his party turned out to be pretty successful.

Ryan (RyRy) the juggler.  As the party was winding down, Ryan found enough room to actually perform for the crowd.  Everyone loves watching juggling.

Opening presents.  The pumpkin (From Bill & Mary) was filled with Tim’s not so favorite things, lol.  A Stanford tshirt and a Giants baseball.  Then there was also a Snoopy doll, which Cooper just loves.

Thomas the Train pillow for his big boy bed, from Great Grandma Heil.  J

Cooper’s friend Jackson (my friend Shannon’s son).  He decided to wear a clown nose.  One of the first kids to actually try it on.  Brave soul.

Digging right into the cake.  That boy loves chocolate.

Picture with Mommy and Daddy after blowing out the candles.

Posing with the awesome cake.  (Can you tell he’s already had some M&Ms?)

Julia and Gabby, two of the three neighbor girls and Cooper’s buds.  (Alexis couldn’t make it, boo!)

Party fun.  Layne and Larissa playing with Nana and Pappa Shawn.

More party people.  Mary with Kampbell (Soup) bottom left, Erica and Mel with Addison (Shannon’s daughter) Ryan and Steph, Jill and Jason and Max (Cooper’s best friend) and Layne in the middle of the room.

Janna and Julia, digging into her treat bag.

Grandma Gwen trying on the clown sundglasses.

Larissa going all out in the hat, glasses and nose!!  Oh, and our still open and dirty pool in the background, yuck!

All the kids fighting over the balls.

I couldn’t believe I got them all mid jump!

More trampoline fun.

Max and Jackson checking out the bean bag toss.

Larissa was brave and put her head inside the clown face J

Somebody got sleepy.  Cute Soup!

I just had to share this picture again, aren’t we just the cutest?  Three clowns!

Pappa Smith and Cooper when everyone had left, playing on the iPad.

Finally trying on a nose and a hat!

Nana spoiling Cooper with MORE sugar!

Look at that precious little girl.  She is getting so fun!

Smiley Soup.

Mom, Shawn, Coop and me!  3 generations.  Missing Grandma Heil…

Grandma Gwen, Grandma Kieran, Grandpa Norman, Pappa Smith and Coop and me.  4 generations.

Well, I told you picture overload!  If you made it through all of those, I’m proud of you!  I think everyone had a pretty good time, at least I did.  All of the hard work was definitely worth it! 

I’m so thankful we do not have a crazy full weekend this weekend – visiting the zoo for Zooboo on Saturday, church on Sunday and I think that’s it!  AMAZING!  I hope you have a great Thursday, I can almost taste Friday, it’s almost here!!